Muslim World Archives - HBCC | Hornbills: Concepts and Communications

In a think piece “Ensuring Good Health During the Hajj in a Time of the H1N1 Pandemic”, Hornbills co-founder Sofiah Jamil – together with researchers at the RSIS Centre for NTS Studies – commented on the progress and prospects of H1N1 pandemic mitigation efforts in Saudi Arabia leading up to the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 2009.

The piece noted that despite the complex circumstances surrounding pandemic preparedness during the Hajj, successful mitigation of a pandemic spread is possible with efficient multi-sectoral cooperation amongst Hajj officials and pilgrims. Such efforts must also be given greater emphasis in the media so as to ensure accurate and holistic reporting of events thereby reduce the likelihood of media hypes of a pandemic outbreak.

To read the article, click here.

On 27 February 2007, The Straits Times published an op-ed by Hornbills’ co-founder, Sofiah Jamil. The article entitled “Not enough heat of a hot issue” discussed the lack of attention that the Muslim World has on the issue of climate change.

Many countries affected by climate change are also members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), an international organisation of predominantly Muslim states. Environmental degradation has the potential to retard the OIC’s efforts at alleviating poverty and promoting progress in the Muslim world. Moreover, stalled economic development may feed into despair and instability in the Muslim world, which in turn may exacerbate existing political crises in the Muslim world that often hog the media limelight.

The op-ed is based on a piece written under the RSIS Commentaries series entitled Climate Change and the Muslim World: The OIC Can do with ‘Captain Planet’.