current affairs 26 May 2022

WHO honours India’s one million all-women ASHA workers for "outstanding" contribution to advancing global health.

• India’s one million all-women ASHA workers were awarded and honoured by WHO for their outstanding contribution to advancing global health, demonstrated leadership and commitment to regional health issues.
• They were honoured for their crucial role in linking the community with the health system and ensuring those living in rural poverty can access primary health care services, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced six Global Health Leaders Awards.

Historian and Professor A.R. Venkatachalapathy honored with Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Historian and professor of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), A.R. Venkatachalapathy, has been selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award (Iyal Award), of the Canada-based Tamil Literary Garden, for 2021.
• He has been writing on historical past, language, tradition, society and politics for the final 40 years and has written over 60 books and articles.
• Shri Venkatachalapathy has also translated several works and has been visiting professor at Harvard and Chicago Universities.

India signs MoU with Jordan for cooperation in fertilizer sector.

• A high-level group led by Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya visited Jordan in a first-of-its-kind endeavour with the goal of securing fertilisers and raw materials for the short and long term.
• Jordan Phosphate Mining Company (JPMC) inked MOUs with Indian public, cooperative, and private sector companies for supplies of 30 LMT Rock Phosphate, 2.50 LMT DAP, and 1 LMT phosphoric acid for the current year.
• India has signed a 5-year MOU with Jordan for yearly shipments of 2.75 LMT of MoP, which will gradually increase to 3.25 LMT each year.
• These shipments will be critical for India’s continued fertiliser supply in the coming agricultural seasons.

Belgium becomes the first country in the world to make 21-day quarantine mandatory for monkeypox patients.

• Belgium has become the first country to make the 21-day quarantine compulsory for the monkeypox patients.
• Monkeypox is a disease in the same family as smallpox and symptoms include a distinct bumpy rash, a fever, sore muscles and a headache.
• However, Monkeypox is less deadly than smallpox, with a mortality rate below 4 percent.
• Cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the UK, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, the US, Canada and Australia, as reported by Saudi Gazette.

New venomous green snake named Maya's pit viper has been discovered in Meghalaya.

• A new venomous green snake named Trimeresurus mayaae or Maya’s Pit viper was discovered from Umroi Military station in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
• The snake measures about 750 mm in length.
• It looked very similar to Pope’s Pit Viper but the colour of the eyes was different.
• This snake and the Pope’s Pit Viper have very different hemepenis, the copulatory organ.
• According to a herpetologist, this new species was relatively common in Meghalaya, Mizoram and even in Guwahati.