More often than not, most people overly confuse Somalia and Somaliland, thinking that it refers to the same country. However, the differences are very distinct as explained for you below by 211 Check.
Somalia is an independent state, which acquired self-rule in 1960 from Britain and Italy who had established British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland which later merged and gained independence in 1960 as Federal Republic of Somalia.
However, in 1991 Somaliland declared itself autonomous from Somalia after a rebel group, Somali National Movement (SNM) led a rebellion: toppling the ruling government that year. Somaliland became self-governing with its capital city in Hargeisa, and up to date holds democratic elections.
Regardless of its proclaimed independence, Somaliland is not recognised as a sovereign state. Some analysts, however, assert that the African Union is reluctant to declare Somaliland an independent state fearing that other secessionists might seek to split from already independent states which can subsequently undermine the continent’s stability.
Although Somaliland is not a recognised state, it goes for democratic elections and has a complete structure of government. Its currency is Somaliland Shilling (Sl.Sh) whereas Somalia’s currency is Somali shilling (SOS). Also, both regions are located in the horn of Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean.
But due to different economic levels 1 USD in Somalia is equivalent to about 570 SOS, Somali shilling and also the same US dollar is about 10,000 Somaliland shilling. In Somaliland, due to currency devaluation, people carry bundles of money in bags or wheelbarrows to buy basic items.That compelled the government to introduce cashless transactions through mobile money payments.
A week ago, a post published by tabloids went viral stating that 1 US dollar in Somalia is equivalent to 9,000 Somaliland shilling. The post unintentionally confused Somalia with Somaliland:
“In Somalia, $1 is equivalent to 9,000 Somaliland shillings – the currency is so devalued that people roam the markets with piles of money in wheelbarrows.” The post reads partly.
Screenshot of a Facebook post by Juba TV
Some people assume it’s Somalia that is referred to as Somaliland to mean land of Somali. But they’re different as explained above.
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Somalia-Somaliland.png6281200211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2022-10-14 15:11:532022-10-14 15:17:35Explainer: Somalia and Somaliland differences South Sudanese should know
The message, which warns people against using conventional cancer treatments and claims that mixing lemon fruit with hot water “is 1,000 times better than chemotherapy,” was attributed to Dr. Guru Prasad Reddy BV, who claimed to be a professor at Osh State Medical University in Moscow, Russia.
Screenshot of the claim posted on Facebook
“Screening will not and cannot lower the cancer cases. There are very many people who are going to India. A friend who has been going to India for the last three years because of cancer told me 50% of people in the cancer clinics in India are usually Africans (Kenya/Uganda) etc. Sadly, many don’t make it even after these treatments, this is the bit that we are never told,” reads part of the message on social media.
“Blend a whole lemon fruit with a cup of hot water and drink it for about 1-3 months first thing before food and cancer would disappear, research by Maryland College of Medicine says, it’s 1000 times better than chemotherapy”, the message adds.
Is this true? 211 Check investigates the claims made in the WhatsApp message:
211 Check established that Dr. Guru Prasad Reddy is a specialist in plastic surgery at Apollo Spectra Hospitals, Hyderabad-Kondapur in India, not professor at Osh State Medical University in Russia.
And Osh State Medical University is a public University in Kyrgyzstan not in Moscow-Russia as claimed. The link is here
In 2017, the claim was posted on a Facebook page by Home Ayurvedic remedied which garnered 102 comments, and 280 shares was also referenced to have been written by Dr. Guru Prasad Reddy. The link is here
The same message was also shared many years back and attributed to several doctors from different countries and institutions which some of them debunked as fake and said the claim was completely false.
AFP published a fact-check in August 2021 on the same claim as false which at that time was attributed to Chief Executive Professor Chen Horin from Beijing Military Hospital who according to AFP the professor was faked.
“This matter is very important..…lemon slices in a glass of hot water can save you for the rest of your life. Hot lemon water kills cancer cells. Cut a lemon into three pieces and put them in a cup. Then pour hot water in it. It’s done (alkaline water). Drinking it on a daily basis will give special benefits”, AFP quoted a post on Facebook in 2018 which was shared 125,000 times as said by Professor Chen Horin.
However, AFP found out that the real chief physician Chen Huiren at Beijing Military Hospital name was the one faked in the claim, not Horin.
A cancer specialist at Bangladesh Cancer Society Hospital, Prof Dr Golam Mohiuddin Faruque, who was quoted by AFP said the claim was a hoax but said lemon can prevent some types of cancer however, not cure.
“No one can say hot lemon water…..can cure cancer and such claims have no scientific basis. There are different types of cancers and many of these have their own ways of treatment but drinking hot lemon water is definitely not among them. Citrus fruits including lemon sometimes can have some positive impact in preventing certain types of cancers but that’s not a treatment.” he was quoted as saying by AFP.
Scientific facts:
The lemon cure claim for cancer has been also disputed by the National Center for Health Research as untrue after modified citrus pectin – a carbohydrate in the peels of citrus fruits studied with humans’ prostate cancer was unsuccessful.
Dr. Manish Singhal termed the claim as myth but it is a good idea to have lemon either in hot or cold water because it will keep one very hydrated by washing toxins and acids in the stomach. However, thinking that it can cure cancer is not true.
Cancer Research UK in 2013 has also clarified that “there’s no scientific evidence to show that lemon juice can cure cancer, despite what is on the internet”.
And the U.S. National Centre for Health Research, “lemons are not a “proven remedy against cancers of all types,” and no studies have ever been done that would compare the effectiveness of a lemon to chemotherapy.”
There is currently no World Health Organization (WHO) factsheet on lemon curing cancer in patients, and what is circulating on the internet about lemon hot water curing cancer remains just a hypothesis not scientifically proven.
Conclusion:
211 Check investigated posts on lemon hot water curing cancer that have been going on for years in various platforms, with others claiming that the lemon is 10,000, 10, and 1,000 times more effective than chemotherapy are unproven. And because no scientific studies have proven the claim to be true, it remains a health myth.
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Hot-lemon-curing-cancer.png788940211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2022-10-14 14:47:442022-10-14 14:47:47Fact-check: Can drinking hot lemon water cure cancer? Not scientifically proven
South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations have no data on how much okra South Sudan produces. Official statistics name Nigeria as the largest producer of okra in Africa.
By Emmanuel Bida Thomas
African Report files, a Facebook blog page with 183K followers, claimed in a post on September 3, 2022, that South Sudan is the largest producer of Okra in Africa.
Screenshot of a Facebook post claiming that South Sudan is the largest producer of Okra in Africa
The claim drew 1.6K interactions, 180 comments, and 357 shares on Facebook and was re-posted by The Mail and ACC Tv.
The same claim was shared by a Twitter user here on September 7, 2022. While some audiences believed it was accurate, others argued it was false.
However, according to data on the global production of okra by Atlas, Nigeria is the second largest producer of Okra in the world, with 1,819,018 tonnes of yearly production, making it the first in Africa. The same data can be found in the diversity times.
Screenshot showing World Okra Production by Country
The database of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, FAOSTAT, which has a wealth of agricultural information, including okra, also names Nigeria as the largest producer of okra in Africa.
An internet search on okra production in South Sudan returns no data on how many tonnes the country produces yearly.
Statistics on FAOSTATS indicate “missing value (data cannot exist, not applicable)” for okra production in South Sudan.
211 Check reached out to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, but they could not immediately provide statistics on okra production in South Sudan.
Conclusion:
211 Check has looked into a claim that South Sudan is the largest producer of okra in South Sudan and finds it to be false. Both South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations have no data on how much okra South Sudan produces. Official statistics name Nigeria as the largest producer of okra in Africa.
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Okra-in-South-Sudan-1.png788940211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2022-09-26 17:09:282022-09-26 17:09:32Fact-check: South Sudan is NOT the largest producer of okra in Africa
Content that shocks or horrifies or makes us feel anxious or fearful is often used by disinformers.This week we show how our emotional responses are used to cloud rational thought and how disinformation can entrench stereotypes.
By Daily Maverick
Those who wish to spread disinformation often play on our emotions. It’s a tactic that is also used by salespeople. How many of us, for example, have been in a shop where we are thinking of making a purchase (usually an expensive one) and seeing us hesitate, the salesperson tells us how much interest there has been in the same item and how the one we are looking at is the last one? This is designed to make you anxious about losing a possible bargain, while encouraging you to make a decision based on another person wanting the same item. It adds urgency and pressure.
Most of the media organisations in South Sudan, which adhere to professional standards of ethical journalism, don’t publish fake news. Our media usually think very carefully when using graphic and disturbing images, and offer context and warning and, crucially, some kind of justification for showing unverified images.
If you see suspicious content on a social media platform, ask: Why is it there? Who has posted it? What do they hope to achieve? Ask if there is any justification for using such graphic content and if it advances the story in any way.
If you find content about issues you are uncertain of, or if you are vaccine-hesitant, and suddenly your emotional buttons are being pressed, exercise extreme caution, check credible media and then avoid sharing, unless there are clear reasons to do so.
A quick note on credible media – how do you know? Well, you can look to see if the media organisation subscribes to accepted standards of professional journalism. Do they offer a credible means of addressing complaints? Do they tell you who the editor is? Any media organisation that avoids such mechanisms is not helping with their or the media’s credibility.
Another role as a reader and active member of the public is to keep reporting those who seek to exploit and heighten fear. It won’t stop disinformation, but it may reduce its spread and cause less harm. It is critical that we all play our part in combating and mitigating these digital offences. If you suspect that content on digital media is disinformation, hate speech, harassment of journalists or incitement to violence, report it to relevant authorities in your area.
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Explainer-on-relational-thoughts.png10801080211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2022-02-27 15:17:342022-02-27 15:17:40Explainer: Beware of fake content that exploits emotions and clouds rational thought
TinEye is an image search and recognition company with experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, neural networks and machine learning with a mission to make images searchable.
By #defyhatenow Cameroon
Social media has made it easier to share memories, pictures, and communication across distances. Even the most basic social media sites have enabled users to upload photos, share information about themselves and make friends.
According to a publication on Social Media today; Social media dates back as far as the early 1840s. The first recognizable social media site, “Six Degrees”, was created in 1997 by Andrew Weinreich. It enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users.
In 1999, the first blogging sites became popular, creating a social media sensation that’s still popular to this day. As years have passed, an increasing number of social media platforms and sites such as WhatsApp, WeChat, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn among others have come up.
These sites have attracted billions of users for diverse reasons. With the increase of user numbers on these platforms there has been a rise in the propagation of misinformation, disinformation, malinformation and Hate Speech.
When the term “fake news” comes up, people think of social media posts with rather implausible stories. While posts shared on social media are the most visible aspect of it, there is so much more to fake news than exaggerated article titles on social media feeds. Given that “fake news” is often spread with the use of texts, images, videos, animated graphics, fact checkers have resorted to using open source platforms for verification to debunk “fake news”.
Some of these open source platforms include; TinEye, Yandex, RevEye, Reverse Image Search, Google Reverse Image Search, Jeffrey’s Exif Viewer, Google Advanced Image search, Forensically among others.
TinEye is an image search and recognition company with experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, neural networks and machine learning with a mission to make images searchable.
It has a feature known as Compare Feature that lets you quickly switch back and forth between your search and result image by highlighting any differences between the two images. It’s especially useful to see how images have been cropped, resized, skewed or manipulated.Today,
TinEye’s image recognition is used by millions of people and powers billions of searches across a wide range of industries. TinEye is privately owned, profitable and its revenues are generated by its clients. Using TinEye, one can search for detailed information on an image or perform a reverse image search. This can be done by uploading an image or searching by URL (Uniform Resource Locator), the address of a World Wide Web page. You can also simply drag and drop your images in the search box to start your search.TinEye constantly crawls the web and adds images to its index.
Today, the TinEye index has over 41.9 billion images. To check about an image, you can upload it from your computer or mobile device by clicking the upload button to locate the image you wish to search for. To search by URL, simply copy and paste an image URL address into the search box. One can as well drag an image from a tab in his/her browser and drop it in a browser tab where TinEye is open.Lastly, it’s possible to simply Copy and Paste an image from your clipboard.
How to use Tineye to search for an image
You can search for an image with TinEye in three ways:
by drag and drop
by uploading an image
by giving TinEye a URL (this can be a page URL or an image URL)
The easiest way to search with TinEye is to drag and drop an image onto the TinEye webpage in your browser.
To search by uploading an image, just click the upload button (blue arrow in a circle) to select from your computer or device the image you’d like to search with.
You can search with a web address (URL) by simply copying the link into the search box on Tineye.
Below are some YouTube videos on how to use TinEye in identifying a doctored image.
Most images found online are protected by copyright and should you like to use any image found through TinEye, you will need to find the image owner and contact them directly.
Unless an image is identified as a public domain image, you need to ensure that you get in touch with any image copyright holder and secure the rights to use the image you have found.
Unfortunately, in South Sudan, because of the weak legal system in the country, image copyrights are greatly abused as individuals, institutions and other reputable bodies extract people’s images from the internet and use them without their consent.
TinEye can be used to find out where an image came from or get more information about it and research or track the appearance of an image online. One can also find higher resolution versions of an image, locate web pages that make use of an image, discover modified or edited versions of an image, debunk an image or help with attribution.
Access wise, there is a paid and free version of TinEye. The former allows for virtually unlimited search by prepaid bundles while the latter gives room for one to do 100 searches per day and up to 300 per week.
Conclusion:
TinEye is a peculiar and unique search engine in that this technology takes an image file and goes through the internet scanning it with the help of crawlers and making sure it looks for matched images or the source of the image as inserted or based on the option one has input in the search bar. Given the fact that it possesses a Reverse Image Search option or Reverse Search Engine, it is used to find plagiarised work, lost connections, suspicious characters and much more.
Recommendations To Journalists:
TinEye is an effective open source image search engine. Journalists can therefore use it amidst others mentioned above to be able to minimize the spread of images of doubtful origin.
To Tineye:
Tineye should find a way to alert its clients when their content is being used.
There should be sensitization on the application and its usage so that many more people can easily use the app.
Some images are not copyright protected and there are difficulties tracing the originator. Tineye may find a way to protect these images.
Tineye should make it possible to search images greater than 10mb.
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/TinEye-Essential-for-Fact-Checkers-870x347-1.png347870211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2022-02-02 09:28:142022-02-02 09:28:22Explainer: Using TinEye; Essential for Fact Checkers
This story looks into the trends of obstetric fistula treatment of the local population in Aweil, Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State from 2019 to 2021.
The treatment exercises were carried out by the Ministry of Health and its partners including United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
In 2019, 41 cases of fistula from Aweil were successfully treated, 57 cases were successfully treated in 2020, and 10 cases were successfully treated in 2021.
Only 10 of the 17 patients registered in 2021 received treatment, with the remaining seven not receiving treatment due to a lack of financial support to travel from villages. One hundred and eight patients have been treated in total since 2019.
Fistula Treatment in Aweil By Year
Year
Number of Patients Treated
2019
41
2020
57
2021
10
Table Showing Fistula Treatment in Aweil By Year
Total Cases Treated and Not Treated Since 2019
Total Cases Treated
108
Total Cases Not Treated
07
Total Cases Registered
115
Table Showing Total Cases Treated and Not Treated Since 2019
What is obstetric fistula?
Obstetric Fistula is a severe birth injury that causes a hole between the birth canal, bladder, and rectum. The infection is caused by both prolonged labor without medical care and early pregnancy. The conditions typically affect patients, particularly women, because they promote uncontrolled urine and faeces.
Challenges:
The following are some of the setbacks in the fight against fistula in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal; patients claim that they are neglected by relatives, particularly husbands, due to the smell. Inadequate financial support to cater for or facilitate logistics during the rare treatment that takes place in Wau. Lack of doctors in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, as well as low patient turnout due to a lack of mobilization.
Way forward:
To ensure the success of the fight against fistula, the following recommendations are being made: The Ministry of Health should encourage pregnant women to visit the hospital on a regular basis for medical checks, and child marriage should be discouraged because the majority of cases involve women who marry at a young age.
The government of Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal should plan to establish treatment centers within the state to avoid the need to travel from Aweil to Wau, and the public has urged the Ministry of Health to increase awareness of the campaign to end child marriage.
About the Authors:
Ngor Deng Matem at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.
About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship:
This is a two-month and half data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.
The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualization for two months and half (October to Mid December)
Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Fistula-Treatment-in-Aweil-By-Year.png575796211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2021-12-08 14:14:032021-12-08 14:14:08Data Story: Statistics of Obstetric Fistula Treatment in Aweil from 2019 to 2021
As late as 2019, infant mortality rate in South Sudan remained among some of the highest in Africa.
By Charles Lotara
Ten years before South Sudan attained independence in 2011, the infant mortality rate was already alarming with 44,508 children dying annually before reaching age five. Boys accounted for 23,395 of this tally compared to 21,113 girls. That was as late as 2001.
This mortality ratio was attributed to inadequate midwifery services in the country. According to Global Health Workforce Alliance, a subsidiary of the World Health Organization, the ratio of midwives in the country was 1 per 38,088 populations. This was even so after the referendum.
The above factor was also compounded by the unavailability of a formal system for the supervision and support of nursing and midwifery practice in the country, especially at state level.
Similarly, at national stage, there was no legal and regulatory framework guiding midwifery practice according to a 2011 report from the Ministry of Health titled Special Supplement: Development of Nursing and Midwifery Services in South Sudan, produced in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
But amid the above challenges, the country had made strides on mitigating infant mortality. Data from the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reveals that 35,711 and 35,288 children (boys and girls) below five died in 2011 and 2012 respectively, a sharp drop from ten years earlier.
These improvements were a result of the creation of an ambitious Health Sector Development Plan spanning from 2011 – 2016 with emphasis on Strategic Plan for Human Resources for Health (HRH).
However, the country is witnessing a stunning reversal on the achievements it has made just two years after independence thanks to a protracted civil war which weakened a nascent health system. In 2013, 35,319, an increase of 13 children under five from 2012, died.
In 2015, the World Health Organisation documented that the probability of a child dying by age five was 90.7 percent in every 1000 live births.
As late as 2019, the death toll of children aged five years and below rose to 36,916. This means the country has lost 1,597 children below five years within a seven-year span with male accounting for 852 of the total and females accounting for 588.
This alarming trend is projected to continue if no urgent action is taken according to the World Health Organization.
Mortality Rate By Year
Year
Number of Infant Mortality
2001
44,508
2011
35,711
2012
35,288
2013
35,319
2019
36,916
Efforts made
Three years after the referendum, the national Ministry of Health crafted the National Health Policy, another ambitious initiative that was to run from 2016-2026, to provide the overall vision and strategic direction for development in the health sector and also curbing maternal mortality rate.
Dubbed the NHP, the initiative was to be implemented through two five-year strategic plans: 2016 -2021 and 2021-2026. The policy – the government said at the time – draws its mandate from the Transitional Constitution, Vision 2040, the South Sudan Development Plan (SSDP), and that it was cognizant of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.
The overall goal of the NHP was to deliver a strengthened national health system and partnerships that overcome barriers to effective delivery of the Basic Package of Health and Nutrition Services and a system that efficiently responds to quality and safety concerns of communities while protecting the people from impoverishment and social risk.
No much change
Six years later, the aforementioned initiatives have done very little to improve the health system and in particular, service delivery at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, especially at the country’s main referral health facility, Juba Teaching Hospital.
Most health infrastructures remain dilapidated; essential medical and surgical equipment are either outdated or lacking. The management and human resource capacity has weakened.
The World Health Organisation says the Nongovernmental Organisations are still responsible for 80% of the country’s health service delivery, which complicates the coordination of service delivery.
In its Country Cooperation Agenda 2014 – 2019, the first priority of the World Health Organisation was to contribute to the reduction of maternal, newborn and child morbidity and mortality. By the year 2019, the infant mortality rate was the highest since 2011.
The World Health Organisation did very little to provide technical support for the development and implementation of policies, strategies and plans for integrated maternal, newborn, and child health.
Support for the Ministry of Health to improve the accessibility and availability of integrated maternal, newborn, and child health services at all levels of the health system has stalled and the promise to ensure accessibility and availability of emergency obstetric and newborn care within the primary health care and referral system remained unfulfilled according to a report by the Global Health Observatory.
The future looks bleak. Development assistance has remained a major source of revenue for South Sudan, especially following the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic that sparked a sharp fall in oil prices and shrinking national revenue.
As countries around the world fret over the spread of the omicron variant, possibilities of another lockdown are imminent. This could further affect oil production and national revenue which would otherwise be used to revamp the health sector and curb the runaway infant mortality rate.
To break beyond this uncertainty, the government must utilise funding from the non-oil revenue and development assistance from the donor community and adjust the national budget for the health sector. This could significantly reduce the worrying trend of infant mortality.
Background information
Since the inception of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, the Ministry of Health, through the Department of Reproductive Health, has been putting in place systems and mechanisms for coordinating the integration, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Sexual and Reproductive Health services in South Sudan.
Based on data from 2006, five years before the referendum, the country had arguably the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world with 2,057 children per 100,000 live births dying before the age of five.
In 2011 and 2012, health partners, including the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Population Fund, scaled up support to the country’s health sector. This saw a significant reduction in the ratio of infant deaths.
Two years after independence, the government maintained efforts to eradicate infant deaths. It is against this background that in 2013, the Family Planning Policy was launched.
One of the aims of this policy was to provide comprehensive and integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services in line with the recommendations of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Egyptian capital Cairo according to the then Minister of Health Dr. Michael Milly Hussein.
The Ministry of Health noted that one in five women of reproductive age (15-49 years) has unmet needs for spacing or limiting childbirth. This, according to the government, has also contributed tremendously to the rise in infant mortality ratio.
In December 2013, civil war broke out. This further affected the already-faltering health system and jeopardised the efforts to eradicate infant mortality rate even after the conflict.
The Family Planning Policy also provided that obstetricians give expectant mothers the necessary guidelines required to ensure safe delivery. However, this has not been implemented. Instead, obstetricians who go for months without salaries have been blamed for negligence.
As late as 2019, infant mortality rate in South Sudan remained among some of the highest in Africa. But the government is confident that the Family Planning Policy crafted eight years ago will promote an integrated approach in studies to provide insights in the development of culturally accepted and appropriate materials to be used for safe motherhood and family planning services.
About the Authors:
Charles Lotara, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.
About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship:
This is a two-month and half data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.
The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualisation for two months and half (October to Mid December)
Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Number-of-Infant-Mortality-in-South-Sudan-2001-2020.png575796211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2021-12-08 11:15:452021-12-08 11:15:52Data Story: South Sudan Losing Battle Against Infant Mortality
Because being on social media platforms means you have many competitors, you are expected to create good content for your audience to follow you. In South Sudan, the most influential people and talented artists use Social Media platforms to express their artistic talents and share their opinion with their fans.
However, the challenges of internet access in South Sudan affect content creators’ ability to satisfy their audience in the country. They attract a large audience to their pages and engage in the creation of various content through social media platforms such as Facebook.
From November 2020 to October 2021, 211 Check used the CrowdTangle platform to analyze the 16 Facebook Pages of the most influential South Sudanese Celebrities and their interactions with their fans. The analysis revealed total followers for 11 months, as well as follower growth per page.
The number of followers on a page indicates the audience’s interest in specific pages or people; it also depends on how the post is written (Photo, Video or Live and content created).
The trends of various posts on various platforms in South Sudan are primarily about discussions on influential topics such as promoting national football teams, basketball teams, or music and political news across the country.
About the Authors:
David Uku, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.
About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship:
This is a two-month and half data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.
The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualization for two months and half (October to Mid December)
Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/16-Most-Influential-South-Sudan-Celebrities-on-Facebook.png575796211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2021-12-08 09:55:032021-12-08 09:55:10Data Story: 16 Most Influential South Sudanese Celebrities on Facebook
Data collected by 211 Check, according to multiple media reports from November of this year, show that at least 267 individuals were killed in several incidents around South Sudan.
In comparison to October, when 79 persons were slain, November’s figures show an increase of 237.97 percent.
The majority of deaths last month happened in Jonglei State, where about 89 individuals were killed by an unknown illness and over 70 others died largely in intercommunal confrontations.
The following state, Warrap, comes in second with 32 deaths, the most of which were caused by intercommunal violence and road ambushes.
Following that is Western Equatoria State, where 24 people are said to have died last month and Eastern Equatoria State with 18 deaths.
Upper Nile State, Central Equatoria and Unity States each had 14, 12 and 5 deaths respectively.
In Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State there were two reported deaths and 1 killing in Lakes State.
In any of the three administrative areas of Abyei, Ruweng, or Greater Pibor, there were no documented cases of violence-related deaths as well as in Western Bahr-el-Ghazal.
About the Authors:
Data Speaks Fellows at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.
About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship:
This is a two-month and half data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.
The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualization for two months and half (October to Mid December)
Each fellow will produce a minimum of three (03) data stories during the fellowship. The focus will be on increasing access to information
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Reported-Killings-Across-South-Sudan-November-2021-1.png493796211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2021-12-08 08:52:592021-12-08 08:53:05Data Story: Reported Killings in South Sudan, 267 slain last month
These pictures showing livestock allegedly killed by floods in Bentiu, Unity State are misleading
By 211 Check Editorial Team
Pictures shared by Bentiu tv, a Facebook page with the caption, “This is how flood kills livestock in Bentiu” are FALSE
Reverse image search of the pictures leads to a story published by the Star Kenya two days ago in which raging water as a result of heavy rains at the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro in neighbouring Tanzania killed livestock in Kenya’s Taita Taveta county.
Conclusion:
The images do not show livestock killed by floods in Bentiu, Unity State. They instead show livestock killed in Taita Taveta county, Kenya.
#FactsMatter, Don’t be a victim of fake news; instead, let’s fight misinformation on both mainstream and alternative media. To avoid spreading false information, don’t share content you’re not sure about or don’t know where it came from.To learn more about our fact-checking process, go to https://211check.org/how-to-fact-check/ or send us a WhatsApp message at +211 917 298 255 to present a claim, and our team will immediately fact-check it and respond.
https://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Bentiu-tv-Misleading-Image.jpg526526211 Checkhttps://211check.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/211Check_logo-1-300x120.png211 Check2021-12-03 10:30:102021-12-03 10:30:17Fact-Check: Do these pictures show livestock killed by floods in Bentiu? No
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
211 Check
211 Check
