Pelvic floor dysfunction

• Prigozhin, as leader of the notorious Wagner Group, had been the point man for Russia in Africa since Wagner first began operations on the continent in 2017.
• More than a single entity, the Wagner Group is an amalgamation of shell companies deploying paramilitary forces, disinformation and political interference in Ukraine, Syria and Africa.
• Its leaders have been sanctioned by 30 countries for the group’s destabilising activities.
• Prigozhin advanced Russian influence in Africa by propping up politically isolated and unpopular authoritarian leaders.

Maintaining Wagner without Prigozhin

• It is no surprise that Russia would want to keep the Wagner enterprise going.
• In Mali, Wagner is linked to more than 320 incidents of human rights abuses and hundreds of civilian deaths.
• Wagner has also been accused of driving away local communities where it has secured mining concessions, effectively annexing African territory.
• But this will change when it owns the repressive tactics Wagner has deployed.

Reassessments in Africa

• Russia’s reach in Africa may be exceeding its grasp, however.
• There is a growing awakening on the continent of how little Russia actually brings to Africa in terms of investment, trade, jobs creation or security.
• Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal that had enabled 33 million tonnes of grain to get from Ukraine to Africa and other parts of the world.
• This disregard, coupled with recognition that Russia offers relatively little to Africa, contributed to only 17 African heads of state attending the St. Petersburg summit.
• Russia’s lawlessness at home and abroad is bringing into sharp focus what his world order would look like.

• As a cancer researcher who knows very well about the high incidence and decreased survival rates of prostate cancer in the Caribbean, I anguished over these words.
• Even though I study cancer in my day job, I struggled to take in this news.
• “They are recommending treatment.” However, I understood from my work that not undergoing treatment was also an option.

Prostate cancer diagnosis

• His battle with his prostate health started 10 years ago with an initial diagnosis of benign prostate hyperplasia, or BPH.
• Although research suggests that the factors that contribute to BPH similarly contribute to prostate cancer, there is no evidence that an enlarged prostate will necessarily develop into cancer.
• PSA is a protein that both normal and cancerous prostate cells produce, and elevated amounts are considered red flags for prostate cancer.

Cancer risk categorization

• I explained that categorizing how aggressive the cancer is and how far it has spread can help determine the best course of treatment.
• Some patients with early-stage or intermediate-risk prostate cancer undergo additional treatment, including surgery, radiation or radioactive seed implants called brachytherapy.
• Patients with late-stage prostate cancer typically undergo hormone therapy along with surgery or radiation, or chemotherapy with or without radiation.

Prostate cancer screening problems

• Even with all my expertise studying cancer genetics and working with cancer patients, I couldn’t help second-guessing our decisions, and I sometimes questioned our decision not to immediately treat his cancer.
• Nearly half of all patients with prostate cancer are overdiagnosed, often leading to overtreatment.
• Several studies in the U.S. have shown that patients with early-stage prostate cancer have a good prognosis, and the cancer rarely progresses further.
• Overdiagnosis and overtreatment of prostate cancer led the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to recommend against PSA-based screening in 2012, with caveats for high-risk groups including African American men and those with a family history of prostate cancer.
• Those recommendations have resulted in reduced screening and increased prostate cancer diagnoses.

Surviving prostate cancer

• I still worry about my father’s diagnosis, because his cancer is at risk for progression.
• His doctors are monitoring his PSA levels as part of his survivorship plan, which is a record of information about his cancer diagnosis, treatment history and potential follow-up tests.
• Many were under the impression that prostate cancer required immediate treatment.

• After launching nationwide virtual care in April, this expansion marks another key milestone toward Origin's vision and mission.
• Pelvic floor dysfunction is extremely common, in fact, it's 3x more common than seasonal allergies and impacts 40M women annually.
• They currently offer in-network care at their clinics in Texas and California, and are working with payors to bring covered care to Atlanta.
• "And we're excited to be offering PT students in Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Diego, an amazing new place to learn."

• Andre de Ruyter’s book Truth to Power is not the first exposé of the country’s political and economic woes under the African National Congress.
• But it strikes a sensitive chord because of the impact of recurring power cuts on the economy and daily life, a crisis De Ruyter was hired to deal with.
• Beyond his description of Eskom’s corruption and ineptitude is a subtler message that is equally disturbing.
• It’s De Ruyter’s prescription to end the state’s involvement in the economy, which he sees as a major obstacle to economic growth.
• Botswana’s post-colonial experience, discussed in my 1999 book, is most relevant to South Africa.

De Ruyter’s key claims

• Many were not only ill-equipped for their jobs but sought to profit from their assignments through irregularities.
• Second is a coalition of actors he calls the “coal mafia” in control of coal supply to Eskom.
• Read more:
  Corruption in South Africa: former CEO's explosive book exposes how state power utility was destroyed

  Fourth, De Ruyter claims the ANC government failed to retain experienced white engineers.

• In fact, some of the leaders flouted the ethical principles of the ANC itself by joining the ultra wealthy as inequality in the country deepened.

Neo-liberalism will not deliver

• The beneficiaries of racist policies and the ANC’s neo-liberalism would be put on steroids.
• His remedies are based on the policies the World Bank imposed on the rest of Africa in 1981, policies that devastated the continent.
• He forgets that past segregationist policies gave nearly 87% of the land to white South Africans and heavily subsidised their education.

What went wrong with the ANC government?

• One of the most precious assets the ANC brought into power in 1994 was the trust of the majority of citizens.
• But successive ANC administrations, particularly since 2004, betrayed the trust of the majority in three ways.
• Third, the moral decline of the ANC leadership most cruelly exposed by the Marikana massacre and state capture underscored the party’s impotence.

Seeing beyond the nightmare

It is widely acknowledged that neo-liberal policies and corruption are companions in the contemporary developing world. Thus, what South Africa needs is not an extreme version of neo-liberalism, but a new social pact that creates productive jobs and achieves transformative social justice. Only then can South Africa hope for an African renaissance.