Foreign news

Beyond the Mountains: Life in Xinjiang

Published

5 years ago

April 20, 2021

Tianshan Mountains, stretching for thousands of miles across China’s northwestern frontier, divides the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in half – the relatively affluent north and the less developed south. For some time, people in the south with a bigger ethnic minority population didn’t understand the rapid development in the north while those in the north lacked accurate views of the south, let alone people from outside the region.

After decades of development and interaction, people from both sides of the mountains became acquainted with each other. Mountains are physical boundaries that can be crossed, but “a dose of prejudice comes from the mountains in our mind that prevent us from seeing the truth,” according to Han Bin, director of the documentary “Beyond the Mountains: Life in Xinjiang.”

Terrorist attacks that have plagued the region for almost three decades left people in and outside the region in shock and panic. A number of people from other provinces and regions of China unwittingly looked at Uygurs with tainted spectacles, noted Chen Ruijun, a construction firm official who went to support Xinjiang’s development in 2008 and 2009 when extremist riots were rampant in the region. The fear and accompanying preconception have gradually subdued with greater understanding and faster development.

In recent years, a fair portion of Western media coverage regarding China have painted a negative picture due to lack of information as well as lack of trust. Xinjiang, home to over 12 million Uygurs, has experienced a larger share of the stigma and distortion. Foreign reporting on Xinjiang has predominantly centered around allegations of so-called “human rights abuses by the Chinese government.”

As such, the real Xinjiang is drowned in endless outrageous and sensational headlines about “detention camps” and “forced labor” in textile, tomato production, and even solar power sectors, to name just a few. Such rhetoric, imbued with prejudice and presumption, amounts to an insurmountable mountain in the minds of many people.

“Beyond the Mountains: Life in Xinjiang,” the 80-minute documentary, is told through a collection of individual stories that, together, chronicle the process of change in the region. It’s also about breaking stereotypes and clearing up misconceptions for people in and outside the region.

The film features the magnificent landscape of this vast land, as well as the modern-day life of its people from different ethnic groups. It contains four parts: “Changing times,” “Following the money,” “New generations” and “Man and nature,” presenting multiple facets of today’s Xinjiang and its people.

The following are a few stories from this documentary.

Sabyt Abukhadir lives in north Xinjiang’s Zhaosu County where generations depend on the lush, rolling highland meadows for a living. His grandson Erjanat Nurkidir is majoring in dance at Ili Normal University. The two had a fight as Sabyt believed dancing was only for girls. The wrangle didn’t end until Sabyt watched Erjanat dancing on the stage. “My kid was so good that it made me cry,” he said.

In south Xinjiang, such a change in mentality is much harder. Many women in the four prefectures of south Xinjiang have never left home. “Women who leave home to work won’t find a husband,” according to the traditional thinking there.

But Zileyhan Eysa, a farmer from Kuqa County of Aksu, decided to leave for the north to work in a textile factory in hopes of earning money so that her seriously ill mother could get proper treatment. “If I didn’t come here, Mom would already be dead,” she said.

There’s also Samira Arkin, who is now a bridal shop owner in Kashgar where an intriguing mixture of heritage and modernity makes the city even more charming. But women there were very conservative, from what they do to what they wear. “Every girl is born a diamond; they want to shine. Every girl has a wedding dress dream, and this is her right,” said Samira. She came back home after graduation from college in 2010 and found many women covered themselves up and even some women in the Old Town couldn’t go out as they like. “It’s hard for me to take. I wanted to change how they dress and how they think about it.”

When she said she wanted to wear a white bridal gown at her own wedding, her relatives were against it. But that didn’t stop her. Over the years in operating the wedding business, she’s pleased that she’s changed how young brides think at least.

Besides the stories that depicts Xinjiang’s changes where young people exert immense passion to bring a change in the thinking, the documentary also tells stories of people who work to protect the land that they love. Yang Zongzong has a very “peculiar” hobby – finding and cataloguing every species of plants. “To me, it is the appreciation of the beauty in the most ordinary,” he said. So far, he’s gathered 10,000 to 20,000 specimens, studying their morphology, genetics and environmental signature. Plant growth is mostly affected by the environment, so any shift in climate recorded by their growth is indicative of changes in climate change and natural conditions.

These stories of dedication and breaking with tradition isn’t so much disregard for the past as much as looking toward a more progressive future. Their courage stems from wanting to better themselves or to realize their potential, often at great personal cost. They understand that the old way of life may not be suitable for them. As Erjanat Nurkidir says, “Perhaps the herder’s life suits my Grandpa’s generation. But in the new era I can have my own ideas and pursue my own dreams.”

(Film by Han Bin and his production team; text by Wang Xiaonan)

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Financing Health Futures: Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda Turn to Tobacco and Telecom Taxes in Big Push Against Malaria

Published

1 month ago

September 28, 2025

The Gleamer

African leaders, parliamentarians, health experts, and development partners have renewed their commitment to ending malaria by 2030, with a bold call for domestic financing through innovative taxation on tobacco, alcohol, and telecom services to close critical funding gaps.

The discussions took center stage at the Big Push Against Malaria: Harnessing Africa’s Role high-level political engagement in Abuja, where Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda showcased new homegrown financing strategies aimed at reducing dependence on dwindling donor support.

Africa’s Heavy Burden

Malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases. In 2023, the world recorded 263 million cases and nearly 600,000 deaths, with 94% of cases and 95% of deaths occurring in Africa. Nigeria alone accounted for 26.6% of global cases and 31% of deaths, according to the World Malaria Report 2024. Children under five remain the most vulnerable, making up 76% of deaths.

Despite progress — with Nigeria cutting malaria deaths by more than half since 2000 through insecticide-treated nets, preventive treatments, and the rollout of the new R21 malaria vaccine — leaders warned that global targets are off-track. The World Health Organization’s technical strategy for malaria (2016–2030) has stalled since 2017, with Africa unlikely to meet its 2025 and 2030 milestones without urgent action.

Taxing for Health Futures

The Nigerian Parliament’s Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (ATM) announced plans to fund malaria elimination through “sin taxes” and telecom levies.

According to the House Chair on ATM, Hon. Linda Ogar, a bill is underway to restructure the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) into a multi-disease agency that will address HIV, TB, and malaria.

The new financing mechanism proposes:

Taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and other luxury items

Dedicated levies on telecom airtime and mobile money transactions

A percentage of the nation’s consolidated revenue

“These resources will provide sustainable funding to strengthen health systems and accelerate malaria elimination,” Ogar said, stressing that Africa must stop relying solely on foreign donors. “We cannot continue to take two steps forward and five steps backward. Africa must begin to show the world that we are ready to solve our problems ourselves.”

Similar models are already being piloted in Ghana and Uganda, where levies on mobile money and telecoms are being redirected to finance health interventions. The Abuja meeting urged other African countries to adopt this approach as part of a continental framework for sustainable financing.

Leaders Call for Urgent Action

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, emphasized that while malaria is preventable and treatable, it still kills hundreds of thousands yearly due to funding shortfalls, climate change, insecticide resistance, and humanitarian crises.

“To truly defeat this disease, we must rethink, join forces, and mount a concerted ‘Big Push’. Funding gaps remain a major obstacle, and innovative domestic financing is the way forward,” Salako declared.

From the civil society front, grassroots representatives pledged to act as “foot soldiers”, demanding that communities have a seat at the decision-making table. The World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, and other partners reaffirmed support but stressed the need for stronger political will and local ownership.

Private Sector and Global Support

Representing billionaire philanthropist Aliko Dangote, the Nigeria Malaria Council reiterated that private sector investment must complement government financing. Meanwhile, the Global Fund confirmed it has invested nearly $2 billion in Nigeria’s malaria response and committed an additional $500 million for 2024–2026, including support for local production of malaria drugs.

The Gates Foundation’s Uche Anaowu noted that while progress has slowed, malaria remains beatable:

“Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated. The question is — can malaria be next? I believe Africa has both the burden and the opportunity to lead the world in making that happen.”

Financing Health Futures: Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda Turn to Tobacco and Telecom Taxes in Big Push Against Malaria

Abuja, Nigeria – African leaders, parliamentarians, health experts, and development partners have renewed their commitment to ending malaria by 2030, with a bold call for domestic financing through innovative taxation on tobacco, alcohol, and telecom services to close critical funding gaps.

Africa’s Heavy Burden

Taxing for Health Futures

The Nigerian Parliament’s Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (ATM) announced plans to fund malaria elimination through “sin taxes” and telecom levies.

The new financing mechanism proposes:

Taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and other luxury items

Dedicated levies on telecom airtime and mobile money transactions

A percentage of the nation’s consolidated revenue

Leaders Call for Urgent Action

Private Sector and Global Support

The Gates Foundation’s Uche Anaowu noted that while progress has slowed, malaria remains beatable:

“Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated. The question is — can malaria be next? I believe Africa has both the burden and the opportunity to lead the world in making that happen.”

The Big Push: From Talk to Action

Speakers acknowledged that Africa has hosted too many malaria meetings without concrete outcomes. This time, however, leaders insisted the Abuja gathering must mark a turning point — from dependency to self-reliance.

With Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda setting the pace on tax-based health financing, the continent now faces the challenge of replicating and scaling up these models.

“Now that Africa is at a critical point, the need for a Big Push against malaria cannot be overemphasized. If we align political will, innovative financing, and community engagement, we can end malaria within our lifetime.”

Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda are pioneering a shift from donor dependence to domestic revenue mobilization via tobacco, alcohol, and telecom taxes — a model hailed as central to financing Africa’s health futures and ending malaria by 2030
Speakers acknowledged that Africa has hosted too many malaria meetings without concrete outcomes. This time, however, leaders insisted the Abuja gathering must mark a turning point — from dependency to self-reliance.

With Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda setting the pace on tax-based health financing, the continent now faces the challenge of replicating and scaling up these models.

“Now that Africa is at a critical point, the need for a Big Push against malaria cannot be overemphasized. If we align political will, innovative financing, and community engagement, we can end malaria within our lifetime.”

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