Rights Group Advocates Improve Education Systems As Nigeria Logs 34854 COVID-19 Cases, 769 Deaths

While a country like Nigeria is not yet decided on reopening schools, a global rights group, Human Rights Watch says COVID-19 has revealed the need to improve education systems around the world.

Its Senior Researcher at the Children’s Rights Division, Elin Martinez, is currently urging governments to focus resources, attention on inclusive education.

This is coming as Nigeria on Thursday recorded 595 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths, which according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has raised the national tally to 34854 cases and 769 deaths.

Interestingly, the Centre says 14292 patients have so far been discharged.

Of the 595 new cases reported from 24 states, Lagos logged 156, Ondo 95, Rivers 53, Abia 43, Oyo 38, Enugu 29, Edo 24, Abuja 23, Kaduna 20, Akwa Ibom 17, Anambra 17, Osun 17, Ogun 14, Kano 13, Imo 11, Delta six, Ekiti five, Gombe four, Plateau four, Cross River two, Adamawa, Bauchi, Jigawa, and Yobe recorded one case each.

However, a new Cleveland Clinic study published in BMC Medicine has identified genetic factors that may influence susceptibility to COVID-19.

The study findings can guide personalised treatment for the rampaging virus.

While the majority of confirmed COVID-19 cases result in mild symptoms, the virus does pose a serious threat to certain individuals.

Morbidity and mortality rates rise dramatically with age and co-existing health conditions, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, even young and otherwise healthy individuals have unpredictably experienced severe illness and death.

These clinical observations suggest that genetic factors may influence COVID-19 disease susceptibility, but these factors remain largely unknown.

In this study, a team of researchers led by Feixiong Cheng, Ph.D., Genomic Medicine Institute, investigated genetic susceptibility to COVID-19 by examining DNA polymorphisms (variations in DNA sequences) in the Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and Transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2) genes.

While ACE2 is an enzyme attached to the cell membranes of cells in the lungs, arteries, heart, kidney, and intestines, TMPRSS2 is a Protein Coding gene.

ACE2 and TMPRSS2 produce enzymes (ACE2 and TMPRSS2, respectively) that enable the virus to enter and infect human cells.

Looking at 81,000 human genomes from three genomic databases, they found 437 non-synonymous single-nucleotide variants in the protein-coding regions of ACE2 and TMPRSS2.

They identified multiple potentially deleterious polymorphisms in both genes (63 in ACE2; 68 in TMPRSS2) that offer potential explanations for different genetic susceptibility to COVID-19 as well as for risk factors.

Several ACE2 variants were found to be associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions by potentially altering the angiotensinogen-ACE2.

In addition, germline deleterious variants in the coding region of TMPRSS2, a key gene in prostate cancer, were found to occur in different cancer types, suggesting that oncogenic roles of TMPRSS2 may be linked to poor outcomes with COVID-19.

These findings demonstrate a possible association between ACE2 and TMPRSS2 polymorphisms and COVID-19 susceptibility, and indicate that a systematic investigation of the functional polymorphisms these variants among different populations could pave the way for precision medicine and personalised treatment strategies for COVID-19.

However, all investigations in this study were performed in general populations, not with COVID-19 patient genetic data. Therefore, Dr. Cheng calls for a human genome initiative to validate his findings and to identify new clinically actionable variants to accelerate precision medicine for COVID-19.

“Because we currently have no approved drugs for COVID-19, repurposing already approved drugs could be an efficient and cost-effective approach to developing prevention and treatment strategies”, Dr. Cheng says.

“The more we know about the genetic factors influencing COVID-19 susceptibility, the better we will be able to determine the clinical efficacy of potential treatments.”

The rights group however, said over the past several days, governments and global policy makers have been meeting online to discuss progress towards the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).

‘’Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 is at the center of their agenda. They should also acknowledge the pandemic’s impact on education’’, Human Rights Watch says.

Unlike conflicts or natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic did not destroy schools, but it has weakened many education systems, testing their responsiveness to emergencies, including their ability to adapt without causing new forms of exclusion.

As more reports of children who did not take part in any formal education emerge from the almost 190 countries that ordered school closures in response to the pandemic, the staggering scale of how many millions of students have been affected during lockdowns in recent months is becoming clearer. But it was also wholly foreseeable.

The impact on children and young people’s education has been enormous and is built on existing gaps: one in five children and youth were excluded from schools even before COVID-19 struck.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Education has warned states that exclusion prior to and during the pandemic exists “against a backdrop of entrenched, recognised structural inequality.”

In many countries, the scrambled roll-out of online learning accompanied by a tech-heavy response has exacerbated learning inequalities, because many governments do not have the policies, resources, or infrastructure to roll it out in a fully inclusive manner.

Governments know who the out-of-school children are– solid evidence exists in most countries on which groups of children are at risk, and those who are not in school.

Since the adoption of the SDGs, Human Rights Watch reporting has highlighted systematic exclusion of children with disabilities, refugees and migrant children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, and girls in many contexts, and identified which policies and practices are causing the most harm.

Addressing evident gaps highlighted by school closures and improving education systems after the pandemic will not be easy.

But all governments, and agencies supporting them, should be firm in their commitments that moving forward, their focus will be on investing and adequately distributing greater resources to strengthen public inclusive education systems, swiftly removing discriminatory policies and practices, and adopting plans to redress the right to education for millions of students.

 

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