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Windhoek, Namibia — A top Namibian health official tells VOA the southern Africa country is set to begin distribution of the HPV vaccine to adolescent girls in April as a preventative measure in the fight against cervical cancer.

Namibia has a population of about 1 million women ages 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer.

Each year, about 375 women in Namibia are diagnosed with the disease, and the fatality rate is over 50%.

The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, known as HPV, has been proven to greatly lessen the chance of getting cervical cancer.

Ben Nangombe, executive director at Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services, says health workers will begin vaccinating about 183,000 girls between the ages of nine and 14 next month.

He says the ministry has been allocated $7 million to procure single dose vaccines for this purpose.

Mehafo Amunyela, who works at the #Be Free Youth Program in the capital’s Katutura Township, told VOA that vaccine hesitancy could be a hurdle to fully immunizing the target population. She said she hopes that through awareness campaigns, children and their families can be educated about the advantages of getting the vaccine.

“We saw the reaction of the public toward the COVID vaccine when it came out, but I think we need to be honest with ourselves and remember that the reason we don’t have illnesses like polio is because of vaccines, that they worked then, and they still do now,” she said.

The Cancer Association of Namibia says the vast distances between most towns and villages in Namibia could present another logistical challenge in the immunization program.

The association says to achieve the target of immunizing 183,000 girls, awareness campaigns should be undertaken in the different indigenous languages spoken in the country.

With the rollout of the HPV vaccine, Namibia is on the path to do its part in meeting the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 90% of girls worldwide by 2030, with the long-term goal of eliminating cervical cancer within the next century.

Although cervical cancer is preventable and curable, the disease claimed 350,000 lives worldwide in 2022 according to the WHO. 

(NewsNation) — Severe storms with suspected tornadoes ripped through multiple central U.S. states, leaving homes flattened and at least three people dead, authorities said Friday. The severe weather impacted parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.

At least three people died in the Indian Lake area of Ohio’s Logan County, which is northwest of Columbus. Investigators say more bodies are likely to be discovered.

In Indiana, officials said about 40 people were injured by what’s believed to be a tornado in Winchester. At this point, there have been no known fatalities announced.

“I’m shaken; it’s overwhelming,” Bob McCoy, mayor of the town of 4,700 about 70 miles northeast of Indianapolis, told The Associated Press. “I heard what sounded like a train, and then I started hearing sirens.”

“I’ve never heard that sound before; I don’t want to hear it again,” McCoy said.

Severe storms destroy a Taco Bell restaurant in Indiana. (Photo: WXIN)

The Winchester storm also damaged a Taco Bell restaurant and a Walmart store.

West of Winchester, emergency management officials estimate as many as half the structures in Selma were damaged by a possible tornado. Minor injuries were reported in the town.

The storms also left a path of destruction in Kentucky. Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark told the Courier Journal of Louisville that the storms damaged at least 50 structures. Gov. Andy Beshear said the town of Milton specifically had dozens of damaged buildings.

Large pieces of hail struck Arkansas and Missouri, where there were also reports of probable tornadoes. Southwest of Little Rock, storms hit the retirement community of Hot Springs Village.

According to the National Weather Service, more severe weather is expected Friday for parts of the South, with the possibility of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• The US debt could eventually “break” markets if it keeps growing at this pace, Joao Gomes warned.
• The Wharton finance professor said he worried the debt-to-GDP ratio would double in the next 20 years.
• The US may no longer be able to rely on countries like China and Japan to buy up Treasurys, he added.

The US’s soaring debt threatens to break something in the market if the government doesn’t pull back its pace of spending soon, according to a Wharton finance professor.

Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, Wharton’s Joao Gomes warned of future trouble stemming from the US’s $34 trillion debt load, which experts have been watching grow at an alarming clip. Given the government’s current pace of spending, the federal debt is growing by around $1 trillion every 100 days, Bank of America analysts said this month. 

Public debt accounted for 121% of GDP at the end of 2023, according to data from the US Office of Management and Budget.

“What I’m really worried about is it’s going to double its share of GDP in 20 years. That I can’t see as us being able to afford,” Gomes said. 

While the US can afford its debt now, the growing pile could spell trouble years down the line, Gomes said, as investors could grow worried over the rising cost of servicing that debt and dial back holdings of US Treasurys.  

That could mean the US may one day no longer be able to rely on countries like China and Japan to buy up debt securities that help fund the government. 

“At some point, markets will break,” Gomes said. 

US debt costs could notch a new record by 2025, Goldman Sachs estimated, with total interest payments on the debt potentially amounting to $10.6 trillion over the next decade, per a separate analysis from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. 

Other market commentators have sounded the alarm on the growing national debt balance as the pace of government spending shows no sign of slowing. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio predicted last year the US would eventually see a debt crisis, which could push US growth to near-zero. 

IP Galanternik DU/Getty Images

• Fewer people are sitting on their mortgages as they adjust to higher rates, according to Redfin.
• New listings jumped close to 15% in February, the biggest year-over-year increase since 2021.
• Still, this isn’t translating to lower prices, which climbed 6.6% on an annual basis.

US home-sellers are finally getting accustomed to higher mortgage rates. That’s driving momentum in housing-supply growth and helping alleviate an inventory shortage, Redfin wrote in a new report.

New listings surged 14.8% on an annual basis in February, marking the highest year-over-year gain since May 2021. Month-to-month listings rose 3.8%, hitting the highest levels since September 2022.

“The housing market is nothing like it was two years ago during the pandemic homebuying frenzy, but it’s better than it was last year. It’s coming back,” Redfin premier real estate agent David Palmer said in the report. “Sellers who were on the fence in 2023 are now listing. They’re more used to elevated rates now.”

Mortgage rates have been a point of distress for homeowners looking to sell, as many originally bought their homes when rates were well below current levels. 

As monetary policy tightened sharply in the pandemic’s aftermath, mortgage rates jumped as much as 8% last year, pulling owners off the market. 

With the weekly 30-year fixed mortgage rate now at 6.74%, this homeowner “lock-in effect” is easing, Redfin said. But although that’s boosting housing supply, it hasn’t translated into a meaningful rebound in home buyers.

Mortgage-purchase applications declined through February, as rates rose from early 2024. While mortgage rates are moving back down from last month’s 6.78% average, they are likely to remain elevated for longer, Redfin said.

Meanwhile, home sales fell 3.5% year-over-year, while median sale price jumped 6.6% on an annual basis. That’s as demand is still well above available supply. 

Between mortgage rates and higher prices, the median US monthly housing payment stood $2,686 through February, just $30 below last year’s all-time high.

Recently, the supply-demand imbalance has gotten the attention of the White House, who issued a 10-point plan on how to relieve the market. Proposed initiatives include mortgage-relief credit for first-time homebuyers, as well as legislative incentives to add 2 million homes.

Nissan, Honda partner up to develop EVs, intelligence technologies  CBT Automotive News

Low pass by a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29, armed with a French-supplied AASM 250 HAMMER extended-range guided bomb. pic.twitter.com/FlibJ9VZfm

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 15, 2024

Rebels in Myanmar 3D print drones in the jungle and launch a swarm against the soldiers of the military junta.

pic.twitter.com/p0nDt3H4WA

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 15, 2024

FBI director: Nearly half of all counterintelligence cases relate to China  AOL

China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 elections: US spy chief  The Economic Times

Trump keeps citing the Presidential Records Act in his Mar-a-Lago defence: What does it say?  Yahoo! Voices