Spain this year will allocate one million euros, or about $1.3 million, for research into the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine as part of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Wednesday, Xinhuanet reports. The money primarily will go to laboratories in Kenya and Uganda. According to Xinhuanet, the fight against HIV/AIDS is Spain's No. 1 international priority, and the funding allocation marks the first time Spain has contributed one million euros to IAVI. The initiative has identified six potential HIV/AIDS vaccines and has begun trials in 11 countries, mostly in developing countries, Xinhuanet reports (Xinhuanet, 6/14).
"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
вторник, 31 мая 2011 г.
понедельник, 30 мая 2011 г.
New AIDS Tech Transfers Reinforce Roche Commitment To Strengthen African Manufacturing
Roche has announced the agreement of two new technology transfers with local manufacturing companies in Africa -- Addis Pharmaceutical Factory in Ethiopia and Varichem Pharmaceuticals in Zimbabwe. As part of Roche's Technology Transfer Initiative, these companies will be provided free of charge with the technical expertise and guidance to manufacture generic HIV medicine, based upon the processes to produce saquinavir, Roche's 2nd line[1] HIV medicine. To date, Roche has Technology Transfer agreements with a total of five companies across Africa since its launch in January 2006. Roche has received expressions of interest from a total of 32 manufacturers in 15 eligible countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Roche is working with these individual applicants to assess production over the coming weeks.
William M. Burns, CEO Division Roche Pharma, stated, "These new agreements highlight the positive contribution that the Technology Transfer Initiative is making to help strengthen and expand local manufacturing capabilities for HIV medicines in Africa. Now entering its second year, the initiative reinforces Roche's commitment to find long-term, sustainable solutions to help increase access to healthcare in the world's poorest countries. With more African manufacturers now looking to scale-up production of essential medicines, the launch of this initiative in 2006 highlights Roche as an innovative leader in supporting sustainable solutions to deliver HIV healthcare where it is needed most."
Roche's dedicated team will work onsite at the manufacturing facilities in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe and from its headquarters in Switzerland to undertake the technology transfers. The companies will be able to produce saquinavir for supply throughout Ethiopia and Zimbabwe in addition to any country within sub-Saharan Africa or defined as Least Developed by the United Nations, encompassing 64% of all people living with HIV/AIDS globally.
Archibald Chimuka, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Varichem Pharmaceuticals, Zimbabwe commented "For us the benefits go beyond the production of saquinavir, it improves our entire technical and quality systems. We are eager to work with Roche on this initiative which helps to meet the needs of our people suffering HIV, who simply otherwise would not have access to these badly needed medications."
About Roche's Technology Transfer Initiative
Announced in January 2006, the Roche Technology Transfer Initiative aims to provide local manufacturers with the technical expertise required to produce generic HIV medicines. Manufacturers in sub-Saharan Africa and the Least Developed Countries wishing to produce generic saquinavir for use in these countries will not be required to apply for a voluntary licence, as Roche has committed as part of its global policy not to enforce patents on HIV antiretroviral medicines within these countries. Interested manufacturers should contact the Project Manager, Technology Transfer Initiative at the Roche Kenya office.
Interested local manufacturers in the following countries are invited to contact Roche to discuss the Technology Transfer Initiative: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Cete d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
About Roche's patent and pricing policy
In addition to its Technology Transfer Initiative, Roche will maintain its current pricing and patent policy. No patents for any of Roche medicines - across all disease areas - will be filed in the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs), as defined by the UN. Roche will not file patents on new HIV antiretroviral medicines in LDCs or sub-Saharan Africa. Roche will not take action in these countries against the sale or manufacture of generic versions of antretroviral medicines. Generic versions of such HIV medicines can therefore be produced in LDCs and sub-Saharan Africa without the need for a voluntary or compulsory licence. Roche makes its HIV protease inhibitors Invirase and Viracept available at no profit prices for direct supplies from Roche Basel to LDCs and sub-Saharan Africa.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world's biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people's health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, a market leader in virology and active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammation, metabolism and central nervous system. In 2006 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 33.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.7 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 75,000 worldwide and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet at roche/.
All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.
Additional information
Roche & HIV/AIDS: roche-hiv/
Access to Roche's medicines: roche/sus_med.htm
Baschi D'rr
Katja Prowald (Head of R&D Communications)
Martina Rup
Claudia Schmit
[1] WHO treatment guidelines for resource limited settings: who.int/3by5/publications/documents/arv_guidelines/en
Contact: Michelle Sykes
Ketchum
View drug information on Invirase; VIRACEPT.
William M. Burns, CEO Division Roche Pharma, stated, "These new agreements highlight the positive contribution that the Technology Transfer Initiative is making to help strengthen and expand local manufacturing capabilities for HIV medicines in Africa. Now entering its second year, the initiative reinforces Roche's commitment to find long-term, sustainable solutions to help increase access to healthcare in the world's poorest countries. With more African manufacturers now looking to scale-up production of essential medicines, the launch of this initiative in 2006 highlights Roche as an innovative leader in supporting sustainable solutions to deliver HIV healthcare where it is needed most."
Roche's dedicated team will work onsite at the manufacturing facilities in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe and from its headquarters in Switzerland to undertake the technology transfers. The companies will be able to produce saquinavir for supply throughout Ethiopia and Zimbabwe in addition to any country within sub-Saharan Africa or defined as Least Developed by the United Nations, encompassing 64% of all people living with HIV/AIDS globally.
Archibald Chimuka, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Varichem Pharmaceuticals, Zimbabwe commented "For us the benefits go beyond the production of saquinavir, it improves our entire technical and quality systems. We are eager to work with Roche on this initiative which helps to meet the needs of our people suffering HIV, who simply otherwise would not have access to these badly needed medications."
About Roche's Technology Transfer Initiative
Announced in January 2006, the Roche Technology Transfer Initiative aims to provide local manufacturers with the technical expertise required to produce generic HIV medicines. Manufacturers in sub-Saharan Africa and the Least Developed Countries wishing to produce generic saquinavir for use in these countries will not be required to apply for a voluntary licence, as Roche has committed as part of its global policy not to enforce patents on HIV antiretroviral medicines within these countries. Interested manufacturers should contact the Project Manager, Technology Transfer Initiative at the Roche Kenya office.
Interested local manufacturers in the following countries are invited to contact Roche to discuss the Technology Transfer Initiative: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Cete d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
About Roche's patent and pricing policy
In addition to its Technology Transfer Initiative, Roche will maintain its current pricing and patent policy. No patents for any of Roche medicines - across all disease areas - will be filed in the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs), as defined by the UN. Roche will not file patents on new HIV antiretroviral medicines in LDCs or sub-Saharan Africa. Roche will not take action in these countries against the sale or manufacture of generic versions of antretroviral medicines. Generic versions of such HIV medicines can therefore be produced in LDCs and sub-Saharan Africa without the need for a voluntary or compulsory licence. Roche makes its HIV protease inhibitors Invirase and Viracept available at no profit prices for direct supplies from Roche Basel to LDCs and sub-Saharan Africa.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world's biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people's health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, a market leader in virology and active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammation, metabolism and central nervous system. In 2006 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 33.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.7 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 75,000 worldwide and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet at roche/.
All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.
Additional information
Roche & HIV/AIDS: roche-hiv/
Access to Roche's medicines: roche/sus_med.htm
Baschi D'rr
Katja Prowald (Head of R&D Communications)
Martina Rup
Claudia Schmit
[1] WHO treatment guidelines for resource limited settings: who.int/3by5/publications/documents/arv_guidelines/en
Contact: Michelle Sykes
Ketchum
View drug information on Invirase; VIRACEPT.
воскресенье, 29 мая 2011 г.
CDC Response To Hurricane Katrina Detailed In Report
CDC's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was hampered by repeated changes in the line of command, which caused confusion, communications breakdowns and duplicative efforts, according to a report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Young, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/16). Earlier this month, CDC said it planned to use the report to analyze the agency's response to the hurricane and make improvements in emergency preparedness (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/7). CDC repeatedly has declined to publicly release the report, which was issued last year by the consulting firm BearingPoint. According to the Journal-Constitution, the 160-page report states that CDC's response to the hurricane was effective at monitoring for diseases, vaccinating evacuees and sending medical supplies. The report found that the agency had operational success in three areas: information technology support staff responded to requests efficiently; field teams obtained necessary equipment quickly; and CDC staff in a joint field office expedited assistance requests from states. However, the report said those successes occurred despite management problems that "worked against the ability to provide an orchestrated, timely and efficient response." According to the report, managerial changes at the agency prior to Katrina "impacted leadership, the chain or lines of command and communications channels, which contributed to the sense of chaos and frustration, both within the (emergency operations center) and for the deployed CDC personnel." The report continues, "The confusion associated with the initial response/reaction to Katrina, the media attention and the desire to 'do something' resulted in some personnel deploying without an assigned mission. Although the desire to provide immediate assistance in the time of a catastrophic incident is understandable, it is better to clarify Mission Assignments prior to deploying resources." A "key recommendation" of the report states that "CDC leadership must agree to follow an established organizational structure within (its emergency operations center) and embrace the corresponding (procedures), lines of authority, communication and information flow processes."
CDC Reaction
CDC Director Julie Gerberding referred all questions about the report to her spokesperson, Tom Skinner. Skinner said the agency considers its response to Katrina "one of our shining moments" but added, "Dr. Gerberding as well as all of the senior leadership who have a role in emergency preparedness and response take this report very seriously and believe there is a lot to learn from the report." In response to the report's finding that CDC does not regularly conduct emergency response exercises, Skinner said that CDC since Katrina has conducted about 18 emergency exercises, put 1,000 employees through emergency response training and put more than 400 through incident-management courses. "CDC is light years ahead of where we once were. Can we do better? Yes. Will we do better? Absolutely, yes," Skinner said (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/16).
"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
суббота, 28 мая 2011 г.
Injured And Ill Children In Iraq Treated At U.S. Military Hospital
Based on the experience of Air Force personnel at an expeditionary military hospital in Iraq, military hospitals should be prepared with the proper staff, training and equipment to treat injured and noninjured children who require medical care, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Military hospitals are likely to encounter injured children as wars move away from the battlefield and into civilian territories, according to background information in the article. Children sometimes serve as soldiers or are used as human shields. In addition, because war disrupts medical facilities in the affected area, children with other injuries or illnesses may seek medical care at U.S. military hospitals as well. When U.S. and coalition forces entered Iraq in 2003, Iraqi civilian hospitals were already understaffed and lacked the supplies and infrastructure needed to effectively care for citizens. From early in the conflict, medical care was offered to injured civilians in cases of severe injury, and hospital commanders could approve care for children with medical needs that could not be handled by the Iraqi system.
Lt. Col. Christopher P. Coppola, U.S.A.F., M.C., and colleagues at the Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, reported on the children treated at one level III (medical facility in a combat area) hospital in Balad, Iraq, from January 2004 to May 2005. The 332nd Air Force Theater Hospital is approximately 40 miles north of Baghdad and consists of a series of tents with concrete floors, linked by a corridor. The facility has a staff of 420 and can accommodate up to 24 intensive care unit beds and 80 additional beds; up to six surgeries can be performed at once.
"Our primary mission as a level III hospital was to provide evaluation, resuscitation and surgical care to combat-injured troops," the authors write. "However, our facility experienced 'mission creep' because of the presence of injured civilians, including children. Children additionally had dehydration and malnutrition, which contribute to increased mortality. After Jan. 1, 2005, a pediatric surgeon was available and a broader range of non-traumatic conditions were treated in children."
During the time period studied, 85 children with an average age of 8 years (age range one day to 17 years) were evaluated and treated at the hospital, accounting for 5.2 percent of all patients and 18 percent of treated Iraqi civilians. Forty-eight (56 percent) of the children were treated for traumatic injury, including 25 (52 percent) with a fragmentation wound, such as that inflicted by improvised explosive devices, mines or blasts. Of the children with injuries, 18 (38 percent) had wounds in the leg, 11 (23 percent) in the head, eight (17 percent) in the arm, eight in the abdomen and three (6 percent) in the chest. A total of 134 operations were performed on 63 children (74 percent of the total); each of the children had an average of 2.1 procedures. Five children died--two from burns, two from infection and one from complications following a traumatic head injury and transfer to a civilian facility.
The experience illuminates several key points regarding caring for children in a war zone, the authors conclude. Hospitals near battlefields should expect to treat civilians, including children. These children are likely to have fragmentation injuries, which are generally contaminated and likely to become infected, requiring multiple procedures. "Local health resources may be so disrupted that children cannot be safely discharged until they are well enough to survive under the care of their families," they continue. "To provide adequate care for children during war, expeditionary medical hospitals must prepare for them by providing the proper personnel, training and equipment."
(Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:972-976.)
Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Contact:
Wilford Hall Medical Center public affairs office
JAMA and Archives Journals
Military hospitals are likely to encounter injured children as wars move away from the battlefield and into civilian territories, according to background information in the article. Children sometimes serve as soldiers or are used as human shields. In addition, because war disrupts medical facilities in the affected area, children with other injuries or illnesses may seek medical care at U.S. military hospitals as well. When U.S. and coalition forces entered Iraq in 2003, Iraqi civilian hospitals were already understaffed and lacked the supplies and infrastructure needed to effectively care for citizens. From early in the conflict, medical care was offered to injured civilians in cases of severe injury, and hospital commanders could approve care for children with medical needs that could not be handled by the Iraqi system.
Lt. Col. Christopher P. Coppola, U.S.A.F., M.C., and colleagues at the Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, reported on the children treated at one level III (medical facility in a combat area) hospital in Balad, Iraq, from January 2004 to May 2005. The 332nd Air Force Theater Hospital is approximately 40 miles north of Baghdad and consists of a series of tents with concrete floors, linked by a corridor. The facility has a staff of 420 and can accommodate up to 24 intensive care unit beds and 80 additional beds; up to six surgeries can be performed at once.
"Our primary mission as a level III hospital was to provide evaluation, resuscitation and surgical care to combat-injured troops," the authors write. "However, our facility experienced 'mission creep' because of the presence of injured civilians, including children. Children additionally had dehydration and malnutrition, which contribute to increased mortality. After Jan. 1, 2005, a pediatric surgeon was available and a broader range of non-traumatic conditions were treated in children."
During the time period studied, 85 children with an average age of 8 years (age range one day to 17 years) were evaluated and treated at the hospital, accounting for 5.2 percent of all patients and 18 percent of treated Iraqi civilians. Forty-eight (56 percent) of the children were treated for traumatic injury, including 25 (52 percent) with a fragmentation wound, such as that inflicted by improvised explosive devices, mines or blasts. Of the children with injuries, 18 (38 percent) had wounds in the leg, 11 (23 percent) in the head, eight (17 percent) in the arm, eight in the abdomen and three (6 percent) in the chest. A total of 134 operations were performed on 63 children (74 percent of the total); each of the children had an average of 2.1 procedures. Five children died--two from burns, two from infection and one from complications following a traumatic head injury and transfer to a civilian facility.
The experience illuminates several key points regarding caring for children in a war zone, the authors conclude. Hospitals near battlefields should expect to treat civilians, including children. These children are likely to have fragmentation injuries, which are generally contaminated and likely to become infected, requiring multiple procedures. "Local health resources may be so disrupted that children cannot be safely discharged until they are well enough to survive under the care of their families," they continue. "To provide adequate care for children during war, expeditionary medical hospitals must prepare for them by providing the proper personnel, training and equipment."
(Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:972-976.)
Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Contact:
Wilford Hall Medical Center public affairs office
JAMA and Archives Journals
пятница, 27 мая 2011 г.
Supporting Crisis Management Operations Via Improved Mapping Of Human Settlements
When a major disaster strikes in remote parts of the world, knowing if the area is populated, and how densely, is crucial for the effective organisation of humanitarian operations. The Global Human Settlements Layer (GHSL), developed by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), will soon provide this detailed information for the first time on a global scale. The breakthrough is new advanced algorithms, developed by the JRC, that allow automatic analysis of medium resolution data provided by European satellites. The first test results confirm that the combined use of ICT technologies permit fast and precise mapping of built-up areas, anywhere in the world. In addition, the algorithms allow massive datasets to be processed more efficiently and rapidly, making it possible to monitor the changes in human settlements regularly and equally importantly, to collect the same information from heterogeneous satellite data. This can help to reduce risks in areas that experience recurrent disasters and to focus post-disaster humanitarian interventions on the most likely populated places in disaster affected countries and regions.
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre, in collaboration with the European Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Observation Ground Segment Department (EOP-G) has produced the first prototype of a new Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) using European radar satellite (ENVISAT) capacity and advanced automatic pattern recognition algorithms.
One of the major problems in disaster-struck areas in less developed countries is the lack of relevant and up to date pre-disaster information that can help to quickly locate and assess the type and extent of damage, especially in populated places. The GHSL will help to focus damage analysis very quickly over populated places, leading to improvements in emergency rescue and humanitarian relief operations.
The GHSL will help to improve the quantification of the building stock which is valuable information both for risk assessment activities and for emergency rescue operations. As the building stock is an indicator of human presence, this critical piece of information on population (often lacking in remote areas) can help the first responder communities to focus their efforts in a particular area.
Human settlements in Africa - successful test of JRC??s algorithms
The first test results produced by the automatic inferential system, designed and developed by the JRC, cover most of the African continent's surface, proving that the combined use of medium resolution imagery and advanced algorithms allow fast and precise mapping of built-up areas anywhere in the world.
The inferential system successfully classified about 4 billion image elements related to 270 scenes pertaining to the ENVISAT ASAR sensor provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). The results confirm notable expected improvements using 75m resolution data processed by means of the JRC's method over already available human settlement data.
These previous data were produced from 500m resolution data of the US MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer instrument aboard the Terra EOS satellite and of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) data at 3 km resolution.
As can be seen in the pictures below, the JRC method allows for a more detailed mapping of the settlements.
During 2011, the rest of the global landmass will be processed by the JRC using available European radar satellite capacity in order to complete the production of the first ever global human settlement layer. Moreover, the GHSL concept has an open and scalable design based on semantic interoperability and consistent multi-scale reasoning. This means that heterogeneous platforms, including existing and planned optical and radar sensors can contribute to refining the overall GHSL picture in a consistent manner.
The added value of geo-spatial information for crisis management in an urban world
Only one hundred years ago, the world's population was less than 2 billion people. Today, the current world population is approaching 7 billion and by 2030 it is expected to reach 10 billion. It is expected that 70% of the world population will be urban by 2050 and that most urban growth will occur in less developed countries. Furthermore, a high proportion of this urban growth is expected to be in cities that are at risk of an increased frequency and intensity of natural and man-made disasters.
The combined use of better spatial resolution satellite data and of an automatic pattern recognition algorithm means that we can now process massive datasets more efficiently and rapidly than ever before. It also allows regular monitoring of the changes in the patterns of human settlement landscape anywhere in the world. These advances also imply that we are able to potentially look at human settlement characteristics and patterns in more detail than previous global analysis attempts.
Source:
Elena Gonzalez Verdesoto
European Commission Joint Research Centre
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre, in collaboration with the European Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Observation Ground Segment Department (EOP-G) has produced the first prototype of a new Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) using European radar satellite (ENVISAT) capacity and advanced automatic pattern recognition algorithms.
One of the major problems in disaster-struck areas in less developed countries is the lack of relevant and up to date pre-disaster information that can help to quickly locate and assess the type and extent of damage, especially in populated places. The GHSL will help to focus damage analysis very quickly over populated places, leading to improvements in emergency rescue and humanitarian relief operations.
The GHSL will help to improve the quantification of the building stock which is valuable information both for risk assessment activities and for emergency rescue operations. As the building stock is an indicator of human presence, this critical piece of information on population (often lacking in remote areas) can help the first responder communities to focus their efforts in a particular area.
Human settlements in Africa - successful test of JRC??s algorithms
The first test results produced by the automatic inferential system, designed and developed by the JRC, cover most of the African continent's surface, proving that the combined use of medium resolution imagery and advanced algorithms allow fast and precise mapping of built-up areas anywhere in the world.
The inferential system successfully classified about 4 billion image elements related to 270 scenes pertaining to the ENVISAT ASAR sensor provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). The results confirm notable expected improvements using 75m resolution data processed by means of the JRC's method over already available human settlement data.
These previous data were produced from 500m resolution data of the US MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer instrument aboard the Terra EOS satellite and of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) data at 3 km resolution.
As can be seen in the pictures below, the JRC method allows for a more detailed mapping of the settlements.
During 2011, the rest of the global landmass will be processed by the JRC using available European radar satellite capacity in order to complete the production of the first ever global human settlement layer. Moreover, the GHSL concept has an open and scalable design based on semantic interoperability and consistent multi-scale reasoning. This means that heterogeneous platforms, including existing and planned optical and radar sensors can contribute to refining the overall GHSL picture in a consistent manner.
The added value of geo-spatial information for crisis management in an urban world
Only one hundred years ago, the world's population was less than 2 billion people. Today, the current world population is approaching 7 billion and by 2030 it is expected to reach 10 billion. It is expected that 70% of the world population will be urban by 2050 and that most urban growth will occur in less developed countries. Furthermore, a high proportion of this urban growth is expected to be in cities that are at risk of an increased frequency and intensity of natural and man-made disasters.
The combined use of better spatial resolution satellite data and of an automatic pattern recognition algorithm means that we can now process massive datasets more efficiently and rapidly than ever before. It also allows regular monitoring of the changes in the patterns of human settlement landscape anywhere in the world. These advances also imply that we are able to potentially look at human settlement characteristics and patterns in more detail than previous global analysis attempts.
Source:
Elena Gonzalez Verdesoto
European Commission Joint Research Centre
четверг, 26 мая 2011 г.
Pfizer, PlaNet Finance Partner To Study Options For Expanding Access To Healthcare In China
Pfizer Inc and PlaNet Finance announced that they will team up to conduct an in-depth research project on the healthcare needs of the working poor in China. The study will examine the availability and existing sources of medicines, patient purchasing patterns, and the level of access to medical services. The study ultimately aims to help both organizations identify models that may enhance and expand access to medicines and healthcare services for the working poor in China.
The Chinese Ministry of Health recently released the results of its 4th National Health Survey, an extensive document covering healthcare patterns across the country. The Pfizer and PlaNet Finance collaboration is designed to solicit additional information from low-income populations in China to complement existing and planned government efforts to improve healthcare.
Pfizer's mission in China is to meet the diverse medical needs of the country's population through a broad portfolio of innovative medicines and partnerships with local healthcare providers, academics, and government in order to support the rapid development of the country's healthcare system.
"Pfizer's partnership with PlaNet Finance is aligned with the strategy to expand our geographic reach across China. I am extremely confident that this partnership will also achieve the broader aim of identifying unique and workable solutions for the diverse medical needs of patients in Emerging Markets," stated Jean-Michel Halfon, President & General Manager of Pfizer's Emerging Markets Business Unit. "This is another step forward under our Global Access program, which is unique in that we are taking a broad, holistic approach to understanding the various barriers to healthcare access, so that we can implement solutions that are effective and sustainable."
For over ten years, and in over 60 countries, PlaNet Finance has been active in development and financing in the microfinance and microinsurance sectors. "Healthcare plays a major role in the fight against poverty. PlaNet Finance understands this challenge and has developed specific programs which link microfinance to healthcare - leveraging existing microfinance institution (MFI) infrastructure to implement awareness and prevention campaigns for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. PlaNet Finance has also developed sustainable life and health insurance solutions for low-income populations through its subsidiary PlaNet Guarantee dedicated to microinsurance," explained PlaNet Finance President Jacques Attali. "We are very pleased to team up with Pfizer; this partnership will enhance our work in meaningful and lasting ways to reach out to such a vital part of Chinese society to determine their healthcare needs."
This collaboration with an international non-profit organization, expert in microfinance and microinsurance, marks another milestone for Pfizer in its goal to increase access to medicines for more patients in the developing world. The company reiterated its position to adopt strategies that are commercially viable and socially responsible.
Pfizer and PlaNet Finance look forward to sharing the results of this research with the Chinese government, in order to maximize its impact and reach throughout the country.
About Pfizer
Pfizer Inc., founded in 1849, is dedicated to better health and greater access to healthcare for people and their valued animals. Every day, colleagues in more than 150 countries work to discover, develop, manufacture and deliver quality, safe and effective prescription medicines to patients.
Pfizer began its business operations in China in the 1980s and is now one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical enterprises in the country, with a presence in over 100 cities nationwide. In 2008, Pfizer announced plans to expand its business in China and opened a new manufacturing facility in Dalian in China's Northeast Liaoning province in February 2009. Pfizer has been present in Dalian since 1989.
About PlaNet Finance
A world leader in microfinance, PlaNet Finance is an international non-profit organization with the mission to alleviate poverty through the development of microfinance and microinsurance. PlaNet Finance, based in Paris, has been active in developing the microfinance and microinsurance sectors for more than ten years and has an international network of 40 offices and programs running in more than 60 countries. PlaNet Finance has supported 1,500 microfinance institutions.
PlaNet Finance has operated in China since February 2003 and has contributed significantly to improving the lives of nearly 100,000 people through technical assistance to microfinance institutions in China, the 2007 launch of Nanchong MicroCred, a pilot microfinance institution in Sichuan and subsidiary of China Limited MicroCred, and through support of Harbin Bank in its downscaling programs.
PlaNet Finance China is based in Beijing and works with local partners in the Chinese microfinance industry.
Pfizer
pfizer
The Chinese Ministry of Health recently released the results of its 4th National Health Survey, an extensive document covering healthcare patterns across the country. The Pfizer and PlaNet Finance collaboration is designed to solicit additional information from low-income populations in China to complement existing and planned government efforts to improve healthcare.
Pfizer's mission in China is to meet the diverse medical needs of the country's population through a broad portfolio of innovative medicines and partnerships with local healthcare providers, academics, and government in order to support the rapid development of the country's healthcare system.
"Pfizer's partnership with PlaNet Finance is aligned with the strategy to expand our geographic reach across China. I am extremely confident that this partnership will also achieve the broader aim of identifying unique and workable solutions for the diverse medical needs of patients in Emerging Markets," stated Jean-Michel Halfon, President & General Manager of Pfizer's Emerging Markets Business Unit. "This is another step forward under our Global Access program, which is unique in that we are taking a broad, holistic approach to understanding the various barriers to healthcare access, so that we can implement solutions that are effective and sustainable."
For over ten years, and in over 60 countries, PlaNet Finance has been active in development and financing in the microfinance and microinsurance sectors. "Healthcare plays a major role in the fight against poverty. PlaNet Finance understands this challenge and has developed specific programs which link microfinance to healthcare - leveraging existing microfinance institution (MFI) infrastructure to implement awareness and prevention campaigns for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. PlaNet Finance has also developed sustainable life and health insurance solutions for low-income populations through its subsidiary PlaNet Guarantee dedicated to microinsurance," explained PlaNet Finance President Jacques Attali. "We are very pleased to team up with Pfizer; this partnership will enhance our work in meaningful and lasting ways to reach out to such a vital part of Chinese society to determine their healthcare needs."
This collaboration with an international non-profit organization, expert in microfinance and microinsurance, marks another milestone for Pfizer in its goal to increase access to medicines for more patients in the developing world. The company reiterated its position to adopt strategies that are commercially viable and socially responsible.
Pfizer and PlaNet Finance look forward to sharing the results of this research with the Chinese government, in order to maximize its impact and reach throughout the country.
About Pfizer
Pfizer Inc., founded in 1849, is dedicated to better health and greater access to healthcare for people and their valued animals. Every day, colleagues in more than 150 countries work to discover, develop, manufacture and deliver quality, safe and effective prescription medicines to patients.
Pfizer began its business operations in China in the 1980s and is now one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical enterprises in the country, with a presence in over 100 cities nationwide. In 2008, Pfizer announced plans to expand its business in China and opened a new manufacturing facility in Dalian in China's Northeast Liaoning province in February 2009. Pfizer has been present in Dalian since 1989.
About PlaNet Finance
A world leader in microfinance, PlaNet Finance is an international non-profit organization with the mission to alleviate poverty through the development of microfinance and microinsurance. PlaNet Finance, based in Paris, has been active in developing the microfinance and microinsurance sectors for more than ten years and has an international network of 40 offices and programs running in more than 60 countries. PlaNet Finance has supported 1,500 microfinance institutions.
PlaNet Finance has operated in China since February 2003 and has contributed significantly to improving the lives of nearly 100,000 people through technical assistance to microfinance institutions in China, the 2007 launch of Nanchong MicroCred, a pilot microfinance institution in Sichuan and subsidiary of China Limited MicroCred, and through support of Harbin Bank in its downscaling programs.
PlaNet Finance China is based in Beijing and works with local partners in the Chinese microfinance industry.
Pfizer
pfizer
среда, 25 мая 2011 г.
UNICEF Calls On Governments, Donors And The Private Sector To End Child Labour
UNICEF is calling for renewed urgency to tackle the world worst forms of child labour on the 11th World Day against Child Labour with the theme "Go for the Goal. Eliminate Child Labour".
UNICEF estimates that 150 million children 5-14 years old worldwide are engaged in child labour, which is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, and compromises children's education and safety".
"We know that progress against MDG's in Education, poverty, gender and HIV/Aids are being systematically undermined by Child Labour and that no single policy will unilaterally end child labour," said Dr. Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. "Evidence has shown that an effective, coherent response to child labour requires a mix of decent work employment measures, child sensitive social protection systems and the extension of basic services to the most vulnerable".
Overall figures tend indeed to show that child labour is diminishing worldwide but earlier limited gains in Sub-Saharan Africa have now gone into reverse and the most recent data indicates that the current incidence of 1 child in every 4 involved in child labour-the highest in the world-has worsened. This compares to 1 child in every 8 in Asia Pacific and 1 child in every 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The number of children combining work and school has escalated in some regions too by as much as 300 per cent.
But even these figures can be misleading, as migrant children, orphans, trafficked children and, above all girls, are too often frequently missing from current data sets and surveys which rely upon static household data. We must developed new data collection systems to ensure that these invisible children become visible and are systematically addressed.
At the recent global conference against the Worst Forms of Child labour which took place in The Hague, UNICEF committed itself to focus on developing new data methodologies to capture the invisible work of girls to ensure their visibility to the world.
Such visibility is key, since recent evidence suggests that the food, fuel and economic crises that have shaken the global order have had irreversible impacts upon children's lives. Child labour - a key household buffer in some countries against economic shocks - has led to more children being propelled from school into labour force earlier and in more hazardous areas than would normally occur."
While studies show that education for girls is among the best investment a country can make for its development, girls are the first ones to be taken out of school to work for the family in times of hardships. Keeping girls in school has been shown to raise family income, reduce child and maternal mortality and result in lower child marriage and fertility rates.
UNICEF calls upon governments and donors to increase investment in accessible and quality education, and to support the establishment of social protection measures that cover all children. UNICEF also calls upon the private sector to use its potential as agents of social change to ensure that children's rights are protected in their supply chains.
Source
UNICEF
UNICEF estimates that 150 million children 5-14 years old worldwide are engaged in child labour, which is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, and compromises children's education and safety".
"We know that progress against MDG's in Education, poverty, gender and HIV/Aids are being systematically undermined by Child Labour and that no single policy will unilaterally end child labour," said Dr. Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. "Evidence has shown that an effective, coherent response to child labour requires a mix of decent work employment measures, child sensitive social protection systems and the extension of basic services to the most vulnerable".
Overall figures tend indeed to show that child labour is diminishing worldwide but earlier limited gains in Sub-Saharan Africa have now gone into reverse and the most recent data indicates that the current incidence of 1 child in every 4 involved in child labour-the highest in the world-has worsened. This compares to 1 child in every 8 in Asia Pacific and 1 child in every 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The number of children combining work and school has escalated in some regions too by as much as 300 per cent.
But even these figures can be misleading, as migrant children, orphans, trafficked children and, above all girls, are too often frequently missing from current data sets and surveys which rely upon static household data. We must developed new data collection systems to ensure that these invisible children become visible and are systematically addressed.
At the recent global conference against the Worst Forms of Child labour which took place in The Hague, UNICEF committed itself to focus on developing new data methodologies to capture the invisible work of girls to ensure their visibility to the world.
Such visibility is key, since recent evidence suggests that the food, fuel and economic crises that have shaken the global order have had irreversible impacts upon children's lives. Child labour - a key household buffer in some countries against economic shocks - has led to more children being propelled from school into labour force earlier and in more hazardous areas than would normally occur."
While studies show that education for girls is among the best investment a country can make for its development, girls are the first ones to be taken out of school to work for the family in times of hardships. Keeping girls in school has been shown to raise family income, reduce child and maternal mortality and result in lower child marriage and fertility rates.
UNICEF calls upon governments and donors to increase investment in accessible and quality education, and to support the establishment of social protection measures that cover all children. UNICEF also calls upon the private sector to use its potential as agents of social change to ensure that children's rights are protected in their supply chains.
Source
UNICEF
вторник, 24 мая 2011 г.
Second Round Of Floods Expected In Bangladesh
Bangladesh is bracing itself for potentially devastating new flooding after major rivers swelled 'alarmingly' and exceeded or neared danger levels, according to the governments Flood Forecasting Centre.
More than one million people have been evacuated or stranded as rivers in northeastern India and Bangladesh rose to alarming levels and submerged vast swathes of countryside. In India's Assam state, the army helped shift an estimated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries - swollen by monsoon rains - breached their embankment.
An additional 300,000 people further downstream in Bangladesh were displaced or marooned, most of them for the second time in many months. An official bulletin said the Brahmaputra river, which flows from Tibet through India to Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal, was above the danger level in 17 places.
These floods are expected to be very serious and to pose further distress to those living in the affected districts. Many embankments had been re-built and seedlings planted but this second wave of floods could wash away the recent rebuilding and cause potential food shortages.
Government figures declared over 800 deaths since the beginning of the floods mostly from drowning and snakebites.
The fresh floods threaten major damage on newly sown rice paddies and vegetable fields - over a million hectares of land across the inundated districts. If the waters do not recede fast in these districts, these crops could be totally lost and contribute to the looming food crisis.
As part of its emergency relief operations, UNICEF is providing essential life saving drugs, high protein (BP5) biscuits, bags of IV saline, 10,000 family kits and shelter equipment.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
unicef
More than one million people have been evacuated or stranded as rivers in northeastern India and Bangladesh rose to alarming levels and submerged vast swathes of countryside. In India's Assam state, the army helped shift an estimated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries - swollen by monsoon rains - breached their embankment.
An additional 300,000 people further downstream in Bangladesh were displaced or marooned, most of them for the second time in many months. An official bulletin said the Brahmaputra river, which flows from Tibet through India to Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal, was above the danger level in 17 places.
These floods are expected to be very serious and to pose further distress to those living in the affected districts. Many embankments had been re-built and seedlings planted but this second wave of floods could wash away the recent rebuilding and cause potential food shortages.
Government figures declared over 800 deaths since the beginning of the floods mostly from drowning and snakebites.
The fresh floods threaten major damage on newly sown rice paddies and vegetable fields - over a million hectares of land across the inundated districts. If the waters do not recede fast in these districts, these crops could be totally lost and contribute to the looming food crisis.
As part of its emergency relief operations, UNICEF is providing essential life saving drugs, high protein (BP5) biscuits, bags of IV saline, 10,000 family kits and shelter equipment.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
unicef
понедельник, 23 мая 2011 г.
Washington Post Examines Commitments To Africa Made At G8 Summit, Reaction From Advocates
The Washington Post on Thursday examined the pledges made by the Group of Eight industrialized nations at its summit earlier this week in Japan to help Africa address development issues, including the fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. According to the Post, G8 members "reiterated their commitment to doubling aid to Africa by 2010, seeking to assuage growing concern that they will miss the ambitious targets they set" at their 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. G8 leaders also created new "accountability" methods to ensure that rich nations meet their African aid pledges, the Post reports.
Aid to Africa has been of "particular interest" to President Bush, and his aides said that they were pleased with progress at the summit, especially by programs to train health workers, combat tropical diseases and provide 100,000 insecticide-treated nets to fight malaria, according to the Post. "The lesson of this summit is that the emphasis is on implementation and delivery," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, adding, "The emphasis is on turning words into action and making them far more concrete than ever they have been in the past." Bush also praised "progress on alleviating sickness in Africa," adding that G8 leaders "had a comprehensive agenda on helping those who are being affected by disease live healthy lives."
However, several not-for-profit groups and advocates expressed concern over recent studies that found G8 countries likely will not meet overall development goals unless efforts are increased drastically. Although the U.S. is not seen as at risk of missing its targets, some advocates believe the country is not doing enough when considering its size and resources, according to the Post. In addition, others said that the final G8 language on accountability is "relatively modest," the Post reports. "Accountability is good," Kel Currah of World Vision International said, adding that accountability for low development commitments is "not going to achieve that desired impact we are all looking for. We need more money" (Abramowitz, Washington Post, 7/10).
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Aid to Africa has been of "particular interest" to President Bush, and his aides said that they were pleased with progress at the summit, especially by programs to train health workers, combat tropical diseases and provide 100,000 insecticide-treated nets to fight malaria, according to the Post. "The lesson of this summit is that the emphasis is on implementation and delivery," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, adding, "The emphasis is on turning words into action and making them far more concrete than ever they have been in the past." Bush also praised "progress on alleviating sickness in Africa," adding that G8 leaders "had a comprehensive agenda on helping those who are being affected by disease live healthy lives."
However, several not-for-profit groups and advocates expressed concern over recent studies that found G8 countries likely will not meet overall development goals unless efforts are increased drastically. Although the U.S. is not seen as at risk of missing its targets, some advocates believe the country is not doing enough when considering its size and resources, according to the Post. In addition, others said that the final G8 language on accountability is "relatively modest," the Post reports. "Accountability is good," Kel Currah of World Vision International said, adding that accountability for low development commitments is "not going to achieve that desired impact we are all looking for. We need more money" (Abramowitz, Washington Post, 7/10).
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
воскресенье, 22 мая 2011 г.
HHS Secretary Declares Public Health Emergency For Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, And Alabama
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt declared a public health emergency to ensure that individuals, including those enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama continue to receive their health care items and services.
"Hurricane Gustav is quickly approaching the Gulf Coast and the actions we are taking should immediately help our beneficiaries and providers, as well as some of the area's most vulnerable patients, in communities where hospitals and other health care delivery systems are affected," said Secretary Leavitt. "These steps will allow beneficiaries to continue to receive their health care services when they leave their communities as encouraged by their local officials."
Given the potential impact of Hurricane Gustav on the health care of hundreds of thousands of affected beneficiaries in these states, Secretary Leavitt declared the public health emergency under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, and, under section 1135 of the Social Security Act, waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP requirements. States can submit waiver requests through their Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Regional Offices.
"HHS and CMS have the flexibility to take steps ensuring that vital health care services can be maintained for our beneficiaries," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "Many of the agency's normal operating procedures will be temporarily relaxed so health care services will continue to be provided to the elderly, people with disabilities and vulnerable children as they leave the areas affected by the hurricane."
CMS will take the following actions, among others, to ensure sufficient items and services are available to meet the need of Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries. The agency will make certain that health care providers that provide items and services in good faith are exempt from sanctions for noncompliance with otherwise applicable requirement, provided there is no fraud or abuse.
CMS will waive certain program requirements for the following institutional providers:
- Critical Access Hospitals: Allow these hospitals to take more than the statutorily mandated limit of 25 patients and not count the expected longer lengths of stay for evacuated patients against the 96-hour average;
- Skilled Nursing Facilities: Waive the three-day prior hospitalization requirement for admission for evacuated patients and relax limitations on the benefit period for those evacuated patients;
- Long-Term Care Hospitals: Not count the evacuated patients in determining compliance with the 25 day average length of stay requirement;
- Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities: Not count the evacuated patients in determining compliance with the 60 percent rule requirement. The 60 percent rule requires that at least 60 percent of a facility's patient population fall into certain clinical conditions.
CMS will expand the definition of "home" to allow those Medicare beneficiaries who are receiving home health services to receive those services in alternative sites.
For the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, CMS has been working with prescription drug plans to ensure that rules preventing early refills are waived. This will assist those beneficiaries who left their prescriptions in evacuated homes or lost their prescriptions when they had to leave their homes.
Beneficiaries in Medicare health plans will be able to go out of network during this emergency. CMS is working with the health insurance industry to ensure there are no barriers to this service for those enrolled in these plans.
CMS will work with affected State Survey Agencies and providers to temporarily adjust quality assurance enforcement actions where the immediacy of direct patient care needs due to Hurricane Gustav is appropriate.
End Stage Renal Disease Networks in the Gulf States have already initiated arrangements to ensure the continuation of dialysis and health services for end stage renal disease patients. Also, CMS will be working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to manage lost, stolen, or abandoned durable medical equipment.
The HHS Web site homepage is featuring a link to public health and safety information specifically related to hurricanes at hhs/hurricane. The Declaration and the Waiver are available at Hurricane Gustav Public Health Actions.
hhs
"Hurricane Gustav is quickly approaching the Gulf Coast and the actions we are taking should immediately help our beneficiaries and providers, as well as some of the area's most vulnerable patients, in communities where hospitals and other health care delivery systems are affected," said Secretary Leavitt. "These steps will allow beneficiaries to continue to receive their health care services when they leave their communities as encouraged by their local officials."
Given the potential impact of Hurricane Gustav on the health care of hundreds of thousands of affected beneficiaries in these states, Secretary Leavitt declared the public health emergency under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, and, under section 1135 of the Social Security Act, waived or modified certain Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP requirements. States can submit waiver requests through their Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Regional Offices.
"HHS and CMS have the flexibility to take steps ensuring that vital health care services can be maintained for our beneficiaries," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "Many of the agency's normal operating procedures will be temporarily relaxed so health care services will continue to be provided to the elderly, people with disabilities and vulnerable children as they leave the areas affected by the hurricane."
CMS will take the following actions, among others, to ensure sufficient items and services are available to meet the need of Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries. The agency will make certain that health care providers that provide items and services in good faith are exempt from sanctions for noncompliance with otherwise applicable requirement, provided there is no fraud or abuse.
CMS will waive certain program requirements for the following institutional providers:
- Critical Access Hospitals: Allow these hospitals to take more than the statutorily mandated limit of 25 patients and not count the expected longer lengths of stay for evacuated patients against the 96-hour average;
- Skilled Nursing Facilities: Waive the three-day prior hospitalization requirement for admission for evacuated patients and relax limitations on the benefit period for those evacuated patients;
- Long-Term Care Hospitals: Not count the evacuated patients in determining compliance with the 25 day average length of stay requirement;
- Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities: Not count the evacuated patients in determining compliance with the 60 percent rule requirement. The 60 percent rule requires that at least 60 percent of a facility's patient population fall into certain clinical conditions.
CMS will expand the definition of "home" to allow those Medicare beneficiaries who are receiving home health services to receive those services in alternative sites.
For the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, CMS has been working with prescription drug plans to ensure that rules preventing early refills are waived. This will assist those beneficiaries who left their prescriptions in evacuated homes or lost their prescriptions when they had to leave their homes.
Beneficiaries in Medicare health plans will be able to go out of network during this emergency. CMS is working with the health insurance industry to ensure there are no barriers to this service for those enrolled in these plans.
CMS will work with affected State Survey Agencies and providers to temporarily adjust quality assurance enforcement actions where the immediacy of direct patient care needs due to Hurricane Gustav is appropriate.
End Stage Renal Disease Networks in the Gulf States have already initiated arrangements to ensure the continuation of dialysis and health services for end stage renal disease patients. Also, CMS will be working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to manage lost, stolen, or abandoned durable medical equipment.
The HHS Web site homepage is featuring a link to public health and safety information specifically related to hurricanes at hhs/hurricane. The Declaration and the Waiver are available at Hurricane Gustav Public Health Actions.
hhs
суббота, 21 мая 2011 г.
An Unsung Hero Rescuing Lives At The Gaza-Israel Checkpoint
At the end of last month, with fighting between Gaza and Israel already in full swing, Israeli medic Moshe "Moshon" Vaknin drove an ambulance to the Erez Crossing, between Israel and Gaza, and got ready to evacuate an injured Palestinian child.
With Israeli mortars fired on one side, and bullets passing overhead from the other, Vaknin, the deputy director for the south district at
Magen David Adom
(MDA), Israel's version of the Red Cross, risked his life to bring the Palestinian child out of Gaza and take him to an Israeli hospital for life-saving treatment.
Since then, he's brought out two more wounded Palestinian children for treatment in Israeli hospitals, and last week, was one of a team of medics who drove in to the checkpoint, the most dangerous in Israel and possibly the Middle East, in a special bulletproof ambulance to rescue Palestinian truck drivers, hired by the United Nations, and attacked while delivering humanitarian aid.
"It's unbelievably dangerous. It's crazy. The scariest place," says Vaknin, who took the injured truck drivers to Barzilai Hospital in Israel, and normally never goes so deep inside the checkpoint.
Vaknin doesn't look like a hero, but over the last four years in his job working for the MDA, he has helped bring thousands of sick and injured Palestinian children and adults from the Gaza strip to Israeli hospitals for vital medical care, often on a daily basis.
Even before the current conflict began, it was a dangerous job. So dangerous in fact his wife simply "doesn't want to know about it." Hamas sniper fire and rockets have been aimed many times at both Vaknin and the Palestinian patients he was transporting.
From babies in incubators to seniors
"I really don't know why they were firing at us. They don't care, even if we were transporting a child or baby," says Vaknin, whose goal it is to save lives. "We don't choose who we treat. We take who there is," he tells ISRAEL21c.
Vaknin is responsible for all the humanitarian efforts at the Erez checkpoint. "Every day, almost, we're taking injured and sick people to Israel through the Erez crossing," he says. "We have a coordinator in Gaza working with us. He will tell us if it's a baby in an incubator, a child, an adult, or an elderly person. It's pretty unpredictable, and I've stopped asking questions. Sometimes they will tell us to expect a five-year-old child. When we get to the crossing it's a one-month-old baby."
Each month, the MDA normally transfers about 120 Palestinians for care. "Taking the ICU car, we get to the border and walk down to the cement fence," he says. Palestinians can throw stones, Qessams or sniper fire at them, he says noting that the reaction is the same whether he is trying to rescue a child, an adult, or even a baby in an incubator.
Of course Vaknin has a special helmet and protective gear, but these things don't count for much when a rocket can land on you at any time, he says, explaining that much of the medics' work is done in the outlying fields surrounding Gaza, before they take the ICU-equipped ambulance to the hospital. The Israeli medics have to make sure the incubator is working, or that basics like blood pressure is stabilized and that the proper medications are delivered to the patient.
Family under rocket fire near Gaza
Meanwhile, Vaknin's wife doesn't really know the details about what her husband Moshe does every day. She prefers not to know, he says, while his four children ask questions and he answers. It's a bit strange, he admits, that living about a mile from the Gaza border in Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, he knows that he's treating the same people who are throwing rockets on his family.
"They also live this reality of fear, because rockets are falling around us. We've learned to live like this. It's not a normal situation," says Vaknin, who is temporarily sick with a cold. "They're throwing rockets at my family and I am still helping them."
In the last week, the checkpoint has been closed, and the Palestinian coordinator has stopped calling. News reports suggest that the Palestinian Authority has reversed its long-standing policy and is now banning all medical transfers to Israel.
Magen David Adom
With Israeli mortars fired on one side, and bullets passing overhead from the other, Vaknin, the deputy director for the south district at
Magen David Adom
(MDA), Israel's version of the Red Cross, risked his life to bring the Palestinian child out of Gaza and take him to an Israeli hospital for life-saving treatment.
Since then, he's brought out two more wounded Palestinian children for treatment in Israeli hospitals, and last week, was one of a team of medics who drove in to the checkpoint, the most dangerous in Israel and possibly the Middle East, in a special bulletproof ambulance to rescue Palestinian truck drivers, hired by the United Nations, and attacked while delivering humanitarian aid.
"It's unbelievably dangerous. It's crazy. The scariest place," says Vaknin, who took the injured truck drivers to Barzilai Hospital in Israel, and normally never goes so deep inside the checkpoint.
Vaknin doesn't look like a hero, but over the last four years in his job working for the MDA, he has helped bring thousands of sick and injured Palestinian children and adults from the Gaza strip to Israeli hospitals for vital medical care, often on a daily basis.
Even before the current conflict began, it was a dangerous job. So dangerous in fact his wife simply "doesn't want to know about it." Hamas sniper fire and rockets have been aimed many times at both Vaknin and the Palestinian patients he was transporting.
From babies in incubators to seniors
"I really don't know why they were firing at us. They don't care, even if we were transporting a child or baby," says Vaknin, whose goal it is to save lives. "We don't choose who we treat. We take who there is," he tells ISRAEL21c.
Vaknin is responsible for all the humanitarian efforts at the Erez checkpoint. "Every day, almost, we're taking injured and sick people to Israel through the Erez crossing," he says. "We have a coordinator in Gaza working with us. He will tell us if it's a baby in an incubator, a child, an adult, or an elderly person. It's pretty unpredictable, and I've stopped asking questions. Sometimes they will tell us to expect a five-year-old child. When we get to the crossing it's a one-month-old baby."
Each month, the MDA normally transfers about 120 Palestinians for care. "Taking the ICU car, we get to the border and walk down to the cement fence," he says. Palestinians can throw stones, Qessams or sniper fire at them, he says noting that the reaction is the same whether he is trying to rescue a child, an adult, or even a baby in an incubator.
Of course Vaknin has a special helmet and protective gear, but these things don't count for much when a rocket can land on you at any time, he says, explaining that much of the medics' work is done in the outlying fields surrounding Gaza, before they take the ICU-equipped ambulance to the hospital. The Israeli medics have to make sure the incubator is working, or that basics like blood pressure is stabilized and that the proper medications are delivered to the patient.
Family under rocket fire near Gaza
Meanwhile, Vaknin's wife doesn't really know the details about what her husband Moshe does every day. She prefers not to know, he says, while his four children ask questions and he answers. It's a bit strange, he admits, that living about a mile from the Gaza border in Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, he knows that he's treating the same people who are throwing rockets on his family.
"They also live this reality of fear, because rockets are falling around us. We've learned to live like this. It's not a normal situation," says Vaknin, who is temporarily sick with a cold. "They're throwing rockets at my family and I am still helping them."
In the last week, the checkpoint has been closed, and the Palestinian coordinator has stopped calling. News reports suggest that the Palestinian Authority has reversed its long-standing policy and is now banning all medical transfers to Israel.
Magen David Adom
пятница, 20 мая 2011 г.
Quincy Jones Lends Time And Talent To Support Red Cross Relief Efforts In China And Myanmar
Legendary music producer and entertainment icon Quincy Jones is mobilizing assistance for survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that struck China and the deadly cyclone that swept through Myanmar. Jones recently recorded several public services announcements for the American Red Cross, which are now available to the media.
"This is a critical time for the survivors of the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar, which devastated lives, homes and dreams," said Jones. "By contributing to the American Red Cross, people can help their neighbors around the world get back on their feet and give them greater hope for the future."
Since the quake hit, the American Red Cross has been supporting relief efforts of the Red Cross Society in China, which has over 35,000 employees and volunteers on the ground providing assistance and care to survivors. The American Red Cross is also helping survivors in Myanmar by providing financial assistance and delivering relief supplies - such as tarps, insecticide-treated bed nets, and other emergency items. As of May 23, six relief flights carrying American Red Cross relief supplies had arrived in country.
Already, the American Red Cross has contributed more than $12 million in financial assistance for these two disasters, and will provide additional relief through financial support, emergency supplies and relief workers, as needed.
"We are deeply grateful to Mr. Jones for supporting our efforts to help people in China and Myanmar," said David Meltzer, senior vice president, International Services for the American Red Cross. "Through his compassion, Mr. Jones is demonstrating the same leadership and humanitarian spirit that has earned him so much respect in the entertainment industry, and his efforts will directly improve people's lives in their time of need."
You can help the victims of countless crises around the world each year, crises like the Myanmar Cyclone and China Earthquake, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting redcross.
American Red Cross
"This is a critical time for the survivors of the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar, which devastated lives, homes and dreams," said Jones. "By contributing to the American Red Cross, people can help their neighbors around the world get back on their feet and give them greater hope for the future."
Since the quake hit, the American Red Cross has been supporting relief efforts of the Red Cross Society in China, which has over 35,000 employees and volunteers on the ground providing assistance and care to survivors. The American Red Cross is also helping survivors in Myanmar by providing financial assistance and delivering relief supplies - such as tarps, insecticide-treated bed nets, and other emergency items. As of May 23, six relief flights carrying American Red Cross relief supplies had arrived in country.
Already, the American Red Cross has contributed more than $12 million in financial assistance for these two disasters, and will provide additional relief through financial support, emergency supplies and relief workers, as needed.
"We are deeply grateful to Mr. Jones for supporting our efforts to help people in China and Myanmar," said David Meltzer, senior vice president, International Services for the American Red Cross. "Through his compassion, Mr. Jones is demonstrating the same leadership and humanitarian spirit that has earned him so much respect in the entertainment industry, and his efforts will directly improve people's lives in their time of need."
You can help the victims of countless crises around the world each year, crises like the Myanmar Cyclone and China Earthquake, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting redcross.
American Red Cross
четверг, 19 мая 2011 г.
Donation From Wellcome Trust Boosts HIV Research In Sub-Saharan Africa
The Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, based in an area of South Africa where over one in five people are HIV infected, is to receive approximately 15 million pounds over five years, subject to a three year review, from the Wellcome Trust, the UK's largest medical research charity. The Centre will use the funding to improve the health status of people in the area, with a particular focus on HIV infection.
Initiated in 1998 in KwaZulu-Natal, the Africa Centre is a research collaboration between the South African Medical Research Council, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Wellcome Trust. It carries out a multidisciplinary programme of research reflecting population and health priorities in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly HIV. Recent successes of the Centre include a study showing the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child.
"The Wellcome Trust grant will help us in our goal of keeping HIV negative people negative and HIV infected people optimally cared for," says Professor Marie-Louise Newell, Director of the Centre. "In South Africa, as in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is a major problem, compounded as it is by poverty, migration and lack of access to effective treatments."
With the renewal of funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Africa Centre aims to address questions that will inform the development of appropriate interventions for a community with an HIV prevalence in adults of over 20% and high levels of poverty and unemployment. Researchers at the Centre will monitor the impact of HIV on individuals, their households and the wider community, combining data collected within the bi-annual household survey with that from the annual individual level HIV, health and behaviour surveillance.
In particular, the researchers will look at key questions, such as how communities, households and individuals are affected by simultaneous epidemics of HIV, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis; how HIV negative people can be supported to remain uninfected; how best to deliver HIV-related health care in a low-income, resource-poor setting; and how to improve the health of children and adults in an environment challenged by HIV and other adversities. The researchers will extend their HIV research to the over-50s, a vastly under-researched group.
The Africa Centre will also play an important role in monitoring and evaluating the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Programme, currently being rolled out across Africa, the largest public health programme ever contemplated on the continent. The Centre is one of the few settings where the effects of ART delivery can be monitored and evaluated comprehensively at both population and individual level, through data collected within the population-based HIV and household surveillance linked with the clinical cohort information collected within the HIV-ART programme.
"The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on societies is without precedent in recorded human history, and South Africa is particularly severely affected," says Professor Newell. "In the last 3 years, there has been an enormous effort to roll-out ART across sub-Saharan Africa. Over the coming 5 years, the Africa Centre will evolve from a research centre focused on description to one focused on intervention and implementation. The detailed knowledge of the population obtained since 2000, in addition to the well-resourced ART programme in the sub-district, uniquely places the Africa Centre to answer our primary research question: what is the long-term impact for the population of a well-functioning and comprehensive ART programme in a resource-poor, rural setting"
"The research at the Africa Centre is highly relevant for South Africa, but also will impact on the rest of Africa," says Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust. "Professor Newell and colleagues are tackling some of the most important questions in HIV research, particularly those dealing with interventions for preventing HIV transmission and the impact of antiretroviral therapy on HIV incidence."
The support was welcomed by Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, Vice-Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
"The research at the Africa Centre, situated in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal is unique, cutting-edge and of profound importance to the understanding and interventions on the HIV/AIDS epidemic locally and globally," says Professor Makgoba. "The renewed funding from the Wellcome Trust is a welcome boost that serves as an inspiration to the programme itself and the scientists researching at the Centre. The University of KwaZulu-Natal is honoured to be associated with this Centre of excellence."
The Africa Centre is one of four Wellcome Trust major overseas programmes. Others include programmes in Kenya, looking in particular at malaria and childhood infections, and in Malawi, focusing on health problems of local and regional significance such as malaria, HIV, anaemia, tuberculosis and other bacterial and viral infections.
Source: Craig Brierley
Wellcome Trust
Initiated in 1998 in KwaZulu-Natal, the Africa Centre is a research collaboration between the South African Medical Research Council, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Wellcome Trust. It carries out a multidisciplinary programme of research reflecting population and health priorities in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly HIV. Recent successes of the Centre include a study showing the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child.
"The Wellcome Trust grant will help us in our goal of keeping HIV negative people negative and HIV infected people optimally cared for," says Professor Marie-Louise Newell, Director of the Centre. "In South Africa, as in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is a major problem, compounded as it is by poverty, migration and lack of access to effective treatments."
With the renewal of funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Africa Centre aims to address questions that will inform the development of appropriate interventions for a community with an HIV prevalence in adults of over 20% and high levels of poverty and unemployment. Researchers at the Centre will monitor the impact of HIV on individuals, their households and the wider community, combining data collected within the bi-annual household survey with that from the annual individual level HIV, health and behaviour surveillance.
In particular, the researchers will look at key questions, such as how communities, households and individuals are affected by simultaneous epidemics of HIV, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis; how HIV negative people can be supported to remain uninfected; how best to deliver HIV-related health care in a low-income, resource-poor setting; and how to improve the health of children and adults in an environment challenged by HIV and other adversities. The researchers will extend their HIV research to the over-50s, a vastly under-researched group.
The Africa Centre will also play an important role in monitoring and evaluating the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Programme, currently being rolled out across Africa, the largest public health programme ever contemplated on the continent. The Centre is one of the few settings where the effects of ART delivery can be monitored and evaluated comprehensively at both population and individual level, through data collected within the population-based HIV and household surveillance linked with the clinical cohort information collected within the HIV-ART programme.
"The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on societies is without precedent in recorded human history, and South Africa is particularly severely affected," says Professor Newell. "In the last 3 years, there has been an enormous effort to roll-out ART across sub-Saharan Africa. Over the coming 5 years, the Africa Centre will evolve from a research centre focused on description to one focused on intervention and implementation. The detailed knowledge of the population obtained since 2000, in addition to the well-resourced ART programme in the sub-district, uniquely places the Africa Centre to answer our primary research question: what is the long-term impact for the population of a well-functioning and comprehensive ART programme in a resource-poor, rural setting"
"The research at the Africa Centre is highly relevant for South Africa, but also will impact on the rest of Africa," says Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust. "Professor Newell and colleagues are tackling some of the most important questions in HIV research, particularly those dealing with interventions for preventing HIV transmission and the impact of antiretroviral therapy on HIV incidence."
The support was welcomed by Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, Vice-Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
"The research at the Africa Centre, situated in rural northern KwaZulu-Natal is unique, cutting-edge and of profound importance to the understanding and interventions on the HIV/AIDS epidemic locally and globally," says Professor Makgoba. "The renewed funding from the Wellcome Trust is a welcome boost that serves as an inspiration to the programme itself and the scientists researching at the Centre. The University of KwaZulu-Natal is honoured to be associated with this Centre of excellence."
The Africa Centre is one of four Wellcome Trust major overseas programmes. Others include programmes in Kenya, looking in particular at malaria and childhood infections, and in Malawi, focusing on health problems of local and regional significance such as malaria, HIV, anaemia, tuberculosis and other bacterial and viral infections.
Source: Craig Brierley
Wellcome Trust
среда, 18 мая 2011 г.
New Machel Report Calls For Urgent Action To Protect Children Affected By Armed Conflict
UNICEF and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict launched the Machel Study 10-Year Strategic Review today, calling on governments, UN agencies, and civil society to urgently step up efforts to protect all children affected by conflict.
The report emphasizes that war violates children's rights: the right to life, the right to family unity, the right to health and education, the right to protection from violence and abuse, and the right to receive humanitarian assistance.
Globally, it is estimated that over one billion children live in countries or territories affected by armed conflict - almost one sixth of the total world population. Of these, some 300 million are under the age of five. They suffer from both the direct consequences of conflict, as well as the long-term effects on their development and well-being.
With the changing nature of armed conflict, the impact of war on children and young people is more brutal than ever. They are affected by the proliferation of small arms and armed groups, landmines and unexploded ordnances, as well as terrorism and counterterrorism measures. They are recruited as combatants, targeted during attacks against schools and hospitals, victims of aerial bombardments, or illegally detained. Girls and boys also face sexual violence, including rape, which has been used as a weapon of war.
Children living in countries of conflict are also more likely to be out of school and threatened by poverty, malnutrition, displacement, and diseases.
Since the groundbreaking study by Gra?§a Machel on the impact of armed conflict on children in 1996, the international community has achieved a number of milestones in developing a solid legal protection framework and international standards to prevent the recruitment of children in armed conflict, and ensure their reintegration into communities.
Children's concerns are now also more frequently reflected in peace negotiations and agreements, as well as in the mandates of peacekeeping missions.
"Progress has been made in improving international legal protections for children in armed conflict," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. "Children who have lost their childhoods to war should not also lose their futures."
The report recommends that all states uphold their responsibility to protect their youngest citizens by stepping up efforts to develop legislation, policy, and action on behalf of children at the national level.
"However, much more needs to be done to implement international standards and to ensure compliance in order to hold perpetrators accountable and to stop grave violations against children in times of war. Everybody has a role to play," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
Children and young people also have a powerful role to play in shaping their own futures and in building peace. They can be empowered to rebuild communities, and need to be involved in relief, recovery and reconstruction programs, as part of transition and national reconciliation.
The Machel Review is an advocacy tool, resulting from a broad consultation process with governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society representatives, including young people.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
About the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
In 1996, Ms. Gra?§a Machel, appointed as an independent expert by the Secretary-General, submitted her report to the General Assembly entitled Impact of Armed Conflict on Children (A/51/306). The report led to the establishment of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG). The Special Representative serves as a moral voice and independent advocate for the protection and well-being of boys and girls affected by armed conflict. To learn more about the OSRSG's work, please visit: un/children/conflict
Source
UNICEF
The report emphasizes that war violates children's rights: the right to life, the right to family unity, the right to health and education, the right to protection from violence and abuse, and the right to receive humanitarian assistance.
Globally, it is estimated that over one billion children live in countries or territories affected by armed conflict - almost one sixth of the total world population. Of these, some 300 million are under the age of five. They suffer from both the direct consequences of conflict, as well as the long-term effects on their development and well-being.
With the changing nature of armed conflict, the impact of war on children and young people is more brutal than ever. They are affected by the proliferation of small arms and armed groups, landmines and unexploded ordnances, as well as terrorism and counterterrorism measures. They are recruited as combatants, targeted during attacks against schools and hospitals, victims of aerial bombardments, or illegally detained. Girls and boys also face sexual violence, including rape, which has been used as a weapon of war.
Children living in countries of conflict are also more likely to be out of school and threatened by poverty, malnutrition, displacement, and diseases.
Since the groundbreaking study by Gra?§a Machel on the impact of armed conflict on children in 1996, the international community has achieved a number of milestones in developing a solid legal protection framework and international standards to prevent the recruitment of children in armed conflict, and ensure their reintegration into communities.
Children's concerns are now also more frequently reflected in peace negotiations and agreements, as well as in the mandates of peacekeeping missions.
"Progress has been made in improving international legal protections for children in armed conflict," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. "Children who have lost their childhoods to war should not also lose their futures."
The report recommends that all states uphold their responsibility to protect their youngest citizens by stepping up efforts to develop legislation, policy, and action on behalf of children at the national level.
"However, much more needs to be done to implement international standards and to ensure compliance in order to hold perpetrators accountable and to stop grave violations against children in times of war. Everybody has a role to play," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
Children and young people also have a powerful role to play in shaping their own futures and in building peace. They can be empowered to rebuild communities, and need to be involved in relief, recovery and reconstruction programs, as part of transition and national reconciliation.
The Machel Review is an advocacy tool, resulting from a broad consultation process with governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society representatives, including young people.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
About the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
In 1996, Ms. Gra?§a Machel, appointed as an independent expert by the Secretary-General, submitted her report to the General Assembly entitled Impact of Armed Conflict on Children (A/51/306). The report led to the establishment of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG). The Special Representative serves as a moral voice and independent advocate for the protection and well-being of boys and girls affected by armed conflict. To learn more about the OSRSG's work, please visit: un/children/conflict
Source
UNICEF
вторник, 17 мая 2011 г.
Poverty-Reduction Programs Need To Also Look At Improving People's Well-Being
There is more to life satisfaction than money, and public policy programs aiming to tackle poverty need to move beyond simply raising people's income to also improving their quality of life in other areas. These findings1 by Professor Mariano Rojas from Mexico's Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales are published online in Springer's journal, Applied Research in Quality of Life.
The reduction of poverty is one of the main considerations in the design of both domestic and foreign-aid programs. To date, the focus of these programs has been to get people out of poverty by increasing their buying power and there has been an assumption that raising people's income translates into greater well-being. Professor Rojas challenges this assumption and argues that measures of life satisfaction should also be taken into account when designing and evaluating poverty-abatement programs.
Professor Rojas used data from a yearly national survey run by the University of Costa Rica covering the years 2004-2006. In addition to questions about household income and dependency on household income, he added more subjective questions about life satisfaction in general, as well as satisfaction with health, job, family relations, friendship and self, as well as the community environment.
The majority of people rated their lives as satisfactory or more than satisfactory. Not all people who were considered 'poor' experienced low life satisfaction and not all people who were not considered 'poor' were happy with their lives. Professor Rojas observed that only 24 percent of people classified as 'poor' rated their life satisfaction as low. Furthermore, 18 percent of people in the 'non-poor' category also reported low life satisfaction. It is therefore clear that poverty alone does not define an individual's overall well-being and it is possible for someone to come out of poverty and remain less than satisfied with his life. On the other hand, a person can be satisfied with his life even if his income is low, as long as he is moderately satisfied in other areas of life such as family, self, health, job and economic.
Professor Rojas argues that social programs need to recognize that well-being depends on satisfaction in many domains of life, and that many qualities and attributes need to be considered when designing these programs, including leisure, education, the community and consumer skills (learning to spend higher income sensibly).
Professor Rojas concludes: "This paper has shown that it is possible to jump over the income poverty line with little effect on life satisfaction. Income is not an end but a means to an end. There is a big risk of neglecting and underestimating the importance of well-being-enhancing factors when focusing only on income poverty. It is important to worry about getting people out of income poverty, but it is more beneficial to also worry about the additional skills people need to have a more satisfying life."
Reference
1. Rojas M (2009). Enhancing poverty-abatement programs: a subjective well-being contribution. Applied Research in Quality of Life; DOI 10.1007/s11482-009-9071-0
Source:
Ana Granadillo Markl
Springer
The reduction of poverty is one of the main considerations in the design of both domestic and foreign-aid programs. To date, the focus of these programs has been to get people out of poverty by increasing their buying power and there has been an assumption that raising people's income translates into greater well-being. Professor Rojas challenges this assumption and argues that measures of life satisfaction should also be taken into account when designing and evaluating poverty-abatement programs.
Professor Rojas used data from a yearly national survey run by the University of Costa Rica covering the years 2004-2006. In addition to questions about household income and dependency on household income, he added more subjective questions about life satisfaction in general, as well as satisfaction with health, job, family relations, friendship and self, as well as the community environment.
The majority of people rated their lives as satisfactory or more than satisfactory. Not all people who were considered 'poor' experienced low life satisfaction and not all people who were not considered 'poor' were happy with their lives. Professor Rojas observed that only 24 percent of people classified as 'poor' rated their life satisfaction as low. Furthermore, 18 percent of people in the 'non-poor' category also reported low life satisfaction. It is therefore clear that poverty alone does not define an individual's overall well-being and it is possible for someone to come out of poverty and remain less than satisfied with his life. On the other hand, a person can be satisfied with his life even if his income is low, as long as he is moderately satisfied in other areas of life such as family, self, health, job and economic.
Professor Rojas argues that social programs need to recognize that well-being depends on satisfaction in many domains of life, and that many qualities and attributes need to be considered when designing these programs, including leisure, education, the community and consumer skills (learning to spend higher income sensibly).
Professor Rojas concludes: "This paper has shown that it is possible to jump over the income poverty line with little effect on life satisfaction. Income is not an end but a means to an end. There is a big risk of neglecting and underestimating the importance of well-being-enhancing factors when focusing only on income poverty. It is important to worry about getting people out of income poverty, but it is more beneficial to also worry about the additional skills people need to have a more satisfying life."
Reference
1. Rojas M (2009). Enhancing poverty-abatement programs: a subjective well-being contribution. Applied Research in Quality of Life; DOI 10.1007/s11482-009-9071-0
Source:
Ana Granadillo Markl
Springer
понедельник, 16 мая 2011 г.
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Prepares Department For Red River Flooding
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today discussed how the USDA is preparing to assist regions affected by flooding. USDA is prepared to provide personnel and resources to help save lives and support recovery operations in areas devastated by flooding.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who will be impacted by flooding in the Nation's heartland," said Vilsack. "We are working tirelessly to identify and send all of the resources we can offer to those who are in need and will expedite delivery of these services however we can."
The USDA is mobilizing the following resources:
- Food Assistance - USDA'S Food and Nutrition Service assists disaster survivors by providing food and infant formula to shelters and mass feeding sites and issuing Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (formerly food stamps). USDA is assessing food commodity inventories and will be ready to provide them to shelters if requested.
- Food Safety - USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service continues to provide information about how to keep food safe during power outages. A series of public service messages have been issued throughout the affected region and will continue through various available communications tools. Consumers can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 24 hours a day at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854); for the hearing-impaired (TTY) 1-800-256-7072.
- Housing Assistance: USDA's Rural Development is ready to help individuals needing payment assistance on their existing USDA Rural Development Single and Multi-family housing loans who are affected by the Red River flooding. They are encouraged to contact the Centralized Servicing Center at (800) 414-1226.
- Community Assistance: USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service is immediately making available $500,000 for exigency needs through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program. The purpose of the EWP Program is to provide emergency assistance to protect life and property through recovery measures such as debris removal from streams and stream bank stabilization.
- Farmer and Rancher Assistance: USDA's Farm Service Agency is anticipating an increase in prevented planting claims due to ground moisture. USDA has several disaster programs for qualified farm operators, including low-interest emergency loans, the Emergency Conservation Program and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. The North Dakota and Minnesota State and County Emergency Boards, chaired by the USDA Farm Service Agency, are on stand-by to assist with the response and quickly assess agricultural needs.
- Rescue Assistance - USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is monitoring pet evacuation and sheltering needs as well as assisting with Zoo inspections.
The USDA Risk Management Agency is prepared to authorize emergency loss procedures that streamline, on a crop specific basis, certain loss determinations and payments.
Additional information and updates about USDA's Red River flood relief efforts are posted on the Web site at usda/besafe.
Source
USDA
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who will be impacted by flooding in the Nation's heartland," said Vilsack. "We are working tirelessly to identify and send all of the resources we can offer to those who are in need and will expedite delivery of these services however we can."
The USDA is mobilizing the following resources:
- Food Assistance - USDA'S Food and Nutrition Service assists disaster survivors by providing food and infant formula to shelters and mass feeding sites and issuing Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (formerly food stamps). USDA is assessing food commodity inventories and will be ready to provide them to shelters if requested.
- Food Safety - USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service continues to provide information about how to keep food safe during power outages. A series of public service messages have been issued throughout the affected region and will continue through various available communications tools. Consumers can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 24 hours a day at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854); for the hearing-impaired (TTY) 1-800-256-7072.
- Housing Assistance: USDA's Rural Development is ready to help individuals needing payment assistance on their existing USDA Rural Development Single and Multi-family housing loans who are affected by the Red River flooding. They are encouraged to contact the Centralized Servicing Center at (800) 414-1226.
- Community Assistance: USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service is immediately making available $500,000 for exigency needs through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program. The purpose of the EWP Program is to provide emergency assistance to protect life and property through recovery measures such as debris removal from streams and stream bank stabilization.
- Farmer and Rancher Assistance: USDA's Farm Service Agency is anticipating an increase in prevented planting claims due to ground moisture. USDA has several disaster programs for qualified farm operators, including low-interest emergency loans, the Emergency Conservation Program and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. The North Dakota and Minnesota State and County Emergency Boards, chaired by the USDA Farm Service Agency, are on stand-by to assist with the response and quickly assess agricultural needs.
- Rescue Assistance - USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is monitoring pet evacuation and sheltering needs as well as assisting with Zoo inspections.
The USDA Risk Management Agency is prepared to authorize emergency loss procedures that streamline, on a crop specific basis, certain loss determinations and payments.
Additional information and updates about USDA's Red River flood relief efforts are posted on the Web site at usda/besafe.
Source
USDA
воскресенье, 15 мая 2011 г.
Raging Cholera Is Tip Of Zimbabwe's Humanitarian Crisis
Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis continues to rapidly deteriorate, causing appalling suffering, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/M?©decins Sans Fronti??res (MSF) warned today. The organization's medical teams have now treated almost 45,000 people for cholera, an estimated 75 percent of the total number of cases in the current outbreak, and the crisis is far from over.
The severity of the cholera outbreak is just one manifestation of the disastrous state of Zimbabwe's health system and its collapsed infrastructure, as described by MSF in a new briefing paper, "Beyond Cholera: Zimbabwe's Worsening Crisis," released today. Many health facilities in Zimbabwe have now closed or are not functioning. Others demand exorbitant fees in foreign currencies. This makes it effectively impossible for most Zimbabweans to access medical care.
MSF is appealing to the government of Zimbabwe to immediately remove existing barriers and facilitate independent assessments of needs in order to be able to provide timely, essential humanitarian and medical aid. The organization also calls on the international community to respect the distinction between political goals and the urgent humanitarian imperative to ensure that Zimbabweans receive the assistance they need today.
MSF has had to respond on such a massive scale to the cholera outbreak as local health structures simply could not cope.
"There has been a devastating implosion of Zimbabwe's once-lauded health system, which doesn't just affect cholera patients," said Manuel Lopez, MSF head of mission in Zimbabwe. "We know that public hospitals are turning people away, health centers are running out of supplies and equipment, there is an acute lack of medical staff, patients can't afford to travel to pick up their HIV medication or to receive treatment, and many of our own clinics are overflowing," he said. "From what we see each day it couldn't be clearer - this is a massive medical emergency spiralling out of control."
Zimbabwe's political crisis and resulting economic breakdown have led to abysmal access to public healthcare, a collapsed infrastructure, a crushing HIV epidemic, political violence, food shortages and malnutrition, internal displacement, and displacement to neighbouring countries. An estimated three million Zimbabweans have sought refuge in South Africa, the most extraordinary exodus from a country not in open conflict.
In Zimbabwe, despite the glaring humanitarian crisis, MSF often experiences restrictions and enforced delays when carrying out its work. To make matters worse, there is a clear lack of a strong, coordinated, international response to the unfolding humanitarian emergency.
"The situation in Zimbabwe is causing inexcusable suffering," said Dr. Christophe Fournier, MSF's international president. "Urgent measures must be taken to ensure Zimbabweans have unimpeded access to the humanitarian assistance they so desperately need. The Zimbabwean government must guarantee that aid agencies can work wherever needs are identified and ease bureaucratic restrictions so projects can be properly staffed and drugs quickly procured," he said.
"Governments and international agencies must recognise the severity of this crisis and ensure that the provision of humanitarian aid remains distinct from political processes," he continued. "Their policies towards Zimbabwe must not come at the expense of the humanitarian imperative to ensure that malnourished children, victims of violence, and people living with HIV/AIDS or other illnesses have unhindered access to the assistance they need to survive."
Doctors Without Borders/M?©decins Sans Fronti??res (MSF) has been working in Zimbabwe since 2000 and providing medical assistance to Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa since 2007. Since the beginning of the cholera outbreak in August 2008, MSF has treated 45,000 patients. MSF also provides care for more than 40,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, including 26,000 who are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), and provides nutritional support to severely malnourished children.
Michael R. Goldfarb
Press Officer
Doctors Without Borders/M?©decins Sans Fronti??res (MSF)
333 Seventh Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: +1 212.763.5783
Cell: +1 917.353.5408
Fax: +1 212.679.7016
doctorswithoutborders
The severity of the cholera outbreak is just one manifestation of the disastrous state of Zimbabwe's health system and its collapsed infrastructure, as described by MSF in a new briefing paper, "Beyond Cholera: Zimbabwe's Worsening Crisis," released today. Many health facilities in Zimbabwe have now closed or are not functioning. Others demand exorbitant fees in foreign currencies. This makes it effectively impossible for most Zimbabweans to access medical care.
MSF is appealing to the government of Zimbabwe to immediately remove existing barriers and facilitate independent assessments of needs in order to be able to provide timely, essential humanitarian and medical aid. The organization also calls on the international community to respect the distinction between political goals and the urgent humanitarian imperative to ensure that Zimbabweans receive the assistance they need today.
MSF has had to respond on such a massive scale to the cholera outbreak as local health structures simply could not cope.
"There has been a devastating implosion of Zimbabwe's once-lauded health system, which doesn't just affect cholera patients," said Manuel Lopez, MSF head of mission in Zimbabwe. "We know that public hospitals are turning people away, health centers are running out of supplies and equipment, there is an acute lack of medical staff, patients can't afford to travel to pick up their HIV medication or to receive treatment, and many of our own clinics are overflowing," he said. "From what we see each day it couldn't be clearer - this is a massive medical emergency spiralling out of control."
Zimbabwe's political crisis and resulting economic breakdown have led to abysmal access to public healthcare, a collapsed infrastructure, a crushing HIV epidemic, political violence, food shortages and malnutrition, internal displacement, and displacement to neighbouring countries. An estimated three million Zimbabweans have sought refuge in South Africa, the most extraordinary exodus from a country not in open conflict.
In Zimbabwe, despite the glaring humanitarian crisis, MSF often experiences restrictions and enforced delays when carrying out its work. To make matters worse, there is a clear lack of a strong, coordinated, international response to the unfolding humanitarian emergency.
"The situation in Zimbabwe is causing inexcusable suffering," said Dr. Christophe Fournier, MSF's international president. "Urgent measures must be taken to ensure Zimbabweans have unimpeded access to the humanitarian assistance they so desperately need. The Zimbabwean government must guarantee that aid agencies can work wherever needs are identified and ease bureaucratic restrictions so projects can be properly staffed and drugs quickly procured," he said.
"Governments and international agencies must recognise the severity of this crisis and ensure that the provision of humanitarian aid remains distinct from political processes," he continued. "Their policies towards Zimbabwe must not come at the expense of the humanitarian imperative to ensure that malnourished children, victims of violence, and people living with HIV/AIDS or other illnesses have unhindered access to the assistance they need to survive."
Doctors Without Borders/M?©decins Sans Fronti??res (MSF) has been working in Zimbabwe since 2000 and providing medical assistance to Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa since 2007. Since the beginning of the cholera outbreak in August 2008, MSF has treated 45,000 patients. MSF also provides care for more than 40,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, including 26,000 who are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), and provides nutritional support to severely malnourished children.
Michael R. Goldfarb
Press Officer
Doctors Without Borders/M?©decins Sans Fronti??res (MSF)
333 Seventh Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: +1 212.763.5783
Cell: +1 917.353.5408
Fax: +1 212.679.7016
doctorswithoutborders
суббота, 14 мая 2011 г.
HIV/AIDS Infected Children Can Now Benefit From A European And Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Funded Trial
In August, the United States (US) Federal Drug Administration (FDA) gave a tentative approval to a fixed-dose anti-HIV drug specifically formulated for paediatric use. The fixed-dose combination scored tablet of lamivudine 30mg, stavudine 6mg and nevirapine 50mg (Triomune Baby) and double this strength (Triomune Junior) is manufactured by CIPLA pharmaceuticals.
It is administered twice daily, according to a simple weight-based table, allowing for easy prescribing. It can also be 'snapped in half' and dissolved in water for young children who cannot swallow tablets. As a result of this tentative approval, this FDC antiretroviral drug will be included in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Prequalification Programme and will become available for distribution under the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) and Clinton Foundation programmes.
EDCTP, the funder of the pharmacokinetic study leading to this tentative approval, congratulates Professor Chifumbe Chintu from the School of Medicine and Department of Paediatrics, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka and his Zambian team, along with research collaborators from the Netherlands and the Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Trials Unit, United Kingdom on their work. Triomune Baby and Junior have already been approved in Zambia and are currently being used to treat children there.
Treatment of HIV/AIDS in children is a great challenge in resource-constrained settings. One of the reasons for this is the difficulty and cost of giving paediatric formulations, particularly syrups, of anti-HIV drugs to children. The absence of appropriate paediatric formulations often necessitates administering divided adult tablets to HIV-infected children. This can lead to incorrect dosing, especially under dosing, and increases the risk of the rapid development of resistance to the drugs. The problem is compounded by underlying malnutrition in these children, and the lack of knowledge about how malnutrition affects drug levels in the body.
The pharmacokinetic study undertaken by Professor Chintu and colleagues is part of a larger ongoing randomised trial that is evaluating the necessity of lead-in treatment for one of the anti-HIV drugs (nevirapine) in the triple combination pill. Data generated from the pharmacokinetic (dosing) study were included in the submission for registration and contributed to the US FDA granting tentative approval for the registration of this drug for use in children. This will be the first FDC drug specifically designed for young children to be registered by the FDA.
Triomune Baby and Junior tablets are scored, crushable and water soluble for children who cannot swallow tablets. The fact that all three drugs are combined in one tablet (which is layered to ensure equal distribution of drugs if snapped in half), and that tablets can be stored, distributed, and administered easily to children represents a significant advance in HIV treatment for children in resource-limited settings. The tentative FDA registration paves the way for the drug to receive WHO prequalification status. Additionally, it will allow programmes such as PEPFAR and the Clinton Foundation, which make antiretroviral drugs available in many resource-constrained countries, to purchase the drug for widespread use in HIV-infected children.
Commenting on this achievement Professor Charles Mgone, the Executive Director of EDCTP said, "This is a great achievement which underpins the primary goal of EDCTP of accelerating new or improved interventions against diseases of poverty through north-south collaboration."
Professor Chifumbe Chintu thanks EDCTP for funding the trial and offering much needed assistance during the still ongoing study. He sends his special gratitude to colleagues: Professor Diane Gibb and her team at MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London; Dr David Burger and his colleagues at Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Dr David Bangsberg and colleagues at the Epidemiology and Prevention Intervention Centre, San Francisco General Hospital and in particular, to the team at the CHAPAS Clinic Lusaka, Zambia. Special thanks go to CIPLA pharmaceuticals for providing the Triomune Baby and Junior tablets for the study.
Tentative approval
An FDA tentative approval is based on the FDA opinion that the product meets all of manufacturing quality and clinical safety and efficacy requirements. Although existing patents and/or marketing exclusivity prevent the approval of the product in the United States, the product can be used for the treatment of AIDS patients abroad.
World Health Organisation Prequalification Programme
This is a program many countries with developing economies use to guide their purchasing of drug products from specific manufacturers so they can be assured they are purchasing quality medicinal products.
EUROPEAN AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CLINICAL TRIALS PARTNERSHIP (EDCTP)
Laan van Nieuw Oost Indie 300
PO Box 93015
edctp
It is administered twice daily, according to a simple weight-based table, allowing for easy prescribing. It can also be 'snapped in half' and dissolved in water for young children who cannot swallow tablets. As a result of this tentative approval, this FDC antiretroviral drug will be included in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Prequalification Programme and will become available for distribution under the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) and Clinton Foundation programmes.
EDCTP, the funder of the pharmacokinetic study leading to this tentative approval, congratulates Professor Chifumbe Chintu from the School of Medicine and Department of Paediatrics, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka and his Zambian team, along with research collaborators from the Netherlands and the Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Trials Unit, United Kingdom on their work. Triomune Baby and Junior have already been approved in Zambia and are currently being used to treat children there.
Treatment of HIV/AIDS in children is a great challenge in resource-constrained settings. One of the reasons for this is the difficulty and cost of giving paediatric formulations, particularly syrups, of anti-HIV drugs to children. The absence of appropriate paediatric formulations often necessitates administering divided adult tablets to HIV-infected children. This can lead to incorrect dosing, especially under dosing, and increases the risk of the rapid development of resistance to the drugs. The problem is compounded by underlying malnutrition in these children, and the lack of knowledge about how malnutrition affects drug levels in the body.
The pharmacokinetic study undertaken by Professor Chintu and colleagues is part of a larger ongoing randomised trial that is evaluating the necessity of lead-in treatment for one of the anti-HIV drugs (nevirapine) in the triple combination pill. Data generated from the pharmacokinetic (dosing) study were included in the submission for registration and contributed to the US FDA granting tentative approval for the registration of this drug for use in children. This will be the first FDC drug specifically designed for young children to be registered by the FDA.
Triomune Baby and Junior tablets are scored, crushable and water soluble for children who cannot swallow tablets. The fact that all three drugs are combined in one tablet (which is layered to ensure equal distribution of drugs if snapped in half), and that tablets can be stored, distributed, and administered easily to children represents a significant advance in HIV treatment for children in resource-limited settings. The tentative FDA registration paves the way for the drug to receive WHO prequalification status. Additionally, it will allow programmes such as PEPFAR and the Clinton Foundation, which make antiretroviral drugs available in many resource-constrained countries, to purchase the drug for widespread use in HIV-infected children.
Commenting on this achievement Professor Charles Mgone, the Executive Director of EDCTP said, "This is a great achievement which underpins the primary goal of EDCTP of accelerating new or improved interventions against diseases of poverty through north-south collaboration."
Professor Chifumbe Chintu thanks EDCTP for funding the trial and offering much needed assistance during the still ongoing study. He sends his special gratitude to colleagues: Professor Diane Gibb and her team at MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London; Dr David Burger and his colleagues at Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Dr David Bangsberg and colleagues at the Epidemiology and Prevention Intervention Centre, San Francisco General Hospital and in particular, to the team at the CHAPAS Clinic Lusaka, Zambia. Special thanks go to CIPLA pharmaceuticals for providing the Triomune Baby and Junior tablets for the study.
Tentative approval
An FDA tentative approval is based on the FDA opinion that the product meets all of manufacturing quality and clinical safety and efficacy requirements. Although existing patents and/or marketing exclusivity prevent the approval of the product in the United States, the product can be used for the treatment of AIDS patients abroad.
World Health Organisation Prequalification Programme
This is a program many countries with developing economies use to guide their purchasing of drug products from specific manufacturers so they can be assured they are purchasing quality medicinal products.
EUROPEAN AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CLINICAL TRIALS PARTNERSHIP (EDCTP)
Laan van Nieuw Oost Indie 300
PO Box 93015
edctp
пятница, 13 мая 2011 г.
World Bicycle Relief Opens Second Assembly Facility, Continues Fight Against HIV/AIDS In Zambia
World Bicycle Relief today announced
the opening of a second assembly operation in the African nation of Zambia,
scheduled for Monday, June 4, in Ndola.
"With this facility, we are able to expand our geographic coverage
beyond the area around the capital of Lusaka," said F.K. Day, president of
World Bicycle Relief. "We are well on our way to training 400 field
mechanics throughout the country, and are currently delivering between 300
and 500 bicycles per week."
The $2.9 million program will provide over 20,000 bicycles to
volunteer, community-based HIV/AIDS care givers and disease prevention
educators in Zambia in the next 12 months. It also includes training of
youth and adults in bicycle maintenance and life skills, and improvements
to the bicycle technologies currently available. The bicycles will be
assembled in eight locations across the country.
Day said he was encouraged by President Bush's request for $30 billion
to combat HIV/AIDS, and believes bicycles can be a key component in the
battle against the disease.
"Simple, sustainable mobility in the form of bicycles is an essential
tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he said. "There is a strong link
between disease and poverty -- bicycles are a way to break that link by
providing access to healthcare, education and economic development
opportunities."
The bikes themselves, which cost $109 each, are purpose-built and
culturally appropriate. World Bicycle Relief has partnered with RAPIDS, a
USAID-funded consortium of six relief organizations, to provide the bikes
to home-based, community volunteers caring for their neighbors affected by
HIV/AIDS, including orphans and vulnerable children.
These caregivers utilize the bicycles to increase their reach fourfold:
while walking, they might cover 2-1/2 miles per hour; by bicycle they are
able to go 10 miles. This allows them to better attend to their caseload,
and at the same time decreases fatigue and helps them to further contribute
to their families and communities.
World Bicycle Relief has also launched a pilot program to extend its
scope to include micro-loans for bicycles in Zambia and other countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, Day said, he is working with
suppliers to increase the quality and durability of the bicycles available.
More information is available on the group's web site,
worldbicyclerelief.
World Bicycle Relief
worldbicyclerelief
the opening of a second assembly operation in the African nation of Zambia,
scheduled for Monday, June 4, in Ndola.
"With this facility, we are able to expand our geographic coverage
beyond the area around the capital of Lusaka," said F.K. Day, president of
World Bicycle Relief. "We are well on our way to training 400 field
mechanics throughout the country, and are currently delivering between 300
and 500 bicycles per week."
The $2.9 million program will provide over 20,000 bicycles to
volunteer, community-based HIV/AIDS care givers and disease prevention
educators in Zambia in the next 12 months. It also includes training of
youth and adults in bicycle maintenance and life skills, and improvements
to the bicycle technologies currently available. The bicycles will be
assembled in eight locations across the country.
Day said he was encouraged by President Bush's request for $30 billion
to combat HIV/AIDS, and believes bicycles can be a key component in the
battle against the disease.
"Simple, sustainable mobility in the form of bicycles is an essential
tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he said. "There is a strong link
between disease and poverty -- bicycles are a way to break that link by
providing access to healthcare, education and economic development
opportunities."
The bikes themselves, which cost $109 each, are purpose-built and
culturally appropriate. World Bicycle Relief has partnered with RAPIDS, a
USAID-funded consortium of six relief organizations, to provide the bikes
to home-based, community volunteers caring for their neighbors affected by
HIV/AIDS, including orphans and vulnerable children.
These caregivers utilize the bicycles to increase their reach fourfold:
while walking, they might cover 2-1/2 miles per hour; by bicycle they are
able to go 10 miles. This allows them to better attend to their caseload,
and at the same time decreases fatigue and helps them to further contribute
to their families and communities.
World Bicycle Relief has also launched a pilot program to extend its
scope to include micro-loans for bicycles in Zambia and other countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, Day said, he is working with
suppliers to increase the quality and durability of the bicycles available.
More information is available on the group's web site,
worldbicyclerelief.
World Bicycle Relief
worldbicyclerelief
среда, 11 мая 2011 г.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Microbes And Oil Spills But Were Afraid To Ask
Is it true that microbes cleaned up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Can bacteria really "eat" oil, and if so, how? To help clear up the confusion the American Academy of Microbiology has brought together the nation's leading experts to consider and answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding microbes and oil spills.
"Long before the Gulf oil spill microbes evolved the ability to degrade the complex hydrocarbon mixture we call petroleum. They were already present in the Gulf of Mexico and ready to attack the oil when the spill occurred," says Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville, a member of the steering committee.
The report entitled FAQ: Microbes and Oil Spills is based on the deliberations of over 20 of the nation's leading experts who came together for one day to develop clear answers to seven frequently asked questions regarding the role of microbes in the oil spill.
The questions considered by the report are:
What does it mean to say microbes can 'clean up' an oil spill?
Where do the 'oil-eating' microbes come from?
What do the microbes need in order to biodegrade oil and how long does it take?
How do dispersants and nutrients affect oil biodegradation?
Is it possible to engineer microbes so they work even better?
What happens to the oil after the microbes degrade it?
What happens to the microbes when the oil is all gone?
Most answers begin with a simple paragraph summarizing what is known, followed by a more detailed explanation. Spread throughout the report are sidebar boxes discussing issues related to the questions such as a brief introduction to oil or new ways to find oil-eating microbes.
FAQ: Microbes and Oil Spills is the first in a new series of reports designed to provide a rapid response to emerging issues. Traditionally Academy reports are based on multi-day colloquia after which the final report can take up to a year to develop. The FAQ series will be based on single-day meetings focused on specific questions after which a final report will be published in 2-3 months.
"The Academy FAQ reports explain complex microbiological problems in a timely, balanced format that is easily understandable by the public, the media, and policymakers," says Stanley Maloy of San Diego State University who moderated the colloquium.
Source:
Jim Sliwa
American Society for Microbiology
"Long before the Gulf oil spill microbes evolved the ability to degrade the complex hydrocarbon mixture we call petroleum. They were already present in the Gulf of Mexico and ready to attack the oil when the spill occurred," says Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville, a member of the steering committee.
The report entitled FAQ: Microbes and Oil Spills is based on the deliberations of over 20 of the nation's leading experts who came together for one day to develop clear answers to seven frequently asked questions regarding the role of microbes in the oil spill.
The questions considered by the report are:
What does it mean to say microbes can 'clean up' an oil spill?
Where do the 'oil-eating' microbes come from?
What do the microbes need in order to biodegrade oil and how long does it take?
How do dispersants and nutrients affect oil biodegradation?
Is it possible to engineer microbes so they work even better?
What happens to the oil after the microbes degrade it?
What happens to the microbes when the oil is all gone?
Most answers begin with a simple paragraph summarizing what is known, followed by a more detailed explanation. Spread throughout the report are sidebar boxes discussing issues related to the questions such as a brief introduction to oil or new ways to find oil-eating microbes.
FAQ: Microbes and Oil Spills is the first in a new series of reports designed to provide a rapid response to emerging issues. Traditionally Academy reports are based on multi-day colloquia after which the final report can take up to a year to develop. The FAQ series will be based on single-day meetings focused on specific questions after which a final report will be published in 2-3 months.
"The Academy FAQ reports explain complex microbiological problems in a timely, balanced format that is easily understandable by the public, the media, and policymakers," says Stanley Maloy of San Diego State University who moderated the colloquium.
Source:
Jim Sliwa
American Society for Microbiology
вторник, 10 мая 2011 г.
UNICEF Receives Contribution Of Euro 450,000 From Irish Aid For Nutrition Programmes In Lesotho
A remarkable partnership has been sealed, through Irish Aid's contribution of Euro 450,000 to UNICEF, in support of the Government of Lesotho's (GOL) response to the current food insecurity. The aid comes at a time when the country is facing one of the worst droughts experienced in 30 years.
Many in Lesotho have been forced in a state of chronic vulnerability as a result of a streak of consecutive droughts that have hit the country over the past decade. Twenty percent of children are underweight and 38% of children under 5 years are chronically malnourished. This situation is expected to worsen because of the current drought and the increase in acute malnutrition.
Moreover, food shortages worsen the plight of people living with and affected by HIV and diminish an individual's overall health status. Children, especially orphans and under 5's, are more likely to suffer the effects of acute or chronic malnutrition and are in turn more susceptible to disease. In addition, malnutrition increases the likelihood that a child will be less responsive to HIV treatment.
It is against this backdrop that UNICEF seeks to support the GOL to reduce excess mortality related to the impact of the drought through appropriate management and prevention of severe malnutrition in children under 5 yeas of age. "This generous contribution will go a long way in helping vulnerable children by building on already existing programmes and ensuring a more comprehensive response." said Ms. Aichatou Diawara-Flambert, UNICEF Representative in Lesotho.
The Irish funds will help to address the specific needs of children in Lesotho, in the context of the drought, through the establishment of 60 therapeutic feeding centers (30 in health centres and 30 in schools) for severely malnourished children in support of the Ministry of Health's efforts as well as provision of supplementary feeding. Through the contribution, UNICEF will promote increased coordination of interventions to improve the concerted efforts of implementing partners. The contribution will also be used to strengthen the national nutrition surveillance system and the establishment of sentinel sites to regularly monitoring the trends in malnutrition and support evidence based programming.
Speaking at the signing ceremony between Irish Aid and UNICEF, His Excellency, Paddy Fay, the Ambassador of Ireland to Lesotho, commented on how pleased he is to enter into such a momentous agreement. He expressed the hope that UNICEF will strive to strengthen coordination among all partners working in nutrition.
About 4,000 severely malnourished children will benefit from Therapeutic feeding interventions and 16,000 moderate to severely malnourished children and their mothers will benefit from supplementary feeding interventions through this project. The contribution covers a six month period as part of the UNICEF Flash Appeal for the current emergency.
Background:
UNICEF is closely monitoring the nutrition status of under 5 children admitted to hospitals because of malnutrition and is supporting the finalisation of national guidelines and protocols for the management of severe malnutrition and training of health functionaries; the promotion of appropriate feeding practices; and the provision of therapeutic foods and micronutrients along with anthropometric scales.
A number of other heath activities are underway, as provision of immunization and Vitamin A supplementation (through the upcoming measles campaign 09-18 October) that will contribute to the reduction of malnutrition in children. The construction and rehabilitation of health care facilities is ensuring improved service delivery along with the provision of supplementary foods, medical supplies, vehicles and transport costs for monitoring and expansion of health services. Provision of operational costs for mentoring health service providers and expanding outreach programmes is another area of support. UNICEF also assists Government and partners with supplies such as ARVs, testing kits, vaccines, cold chain and related consumables and garden seeds and tool kits.
unicef
Many in Lesotho have been forced in a state of chronic vulnerability as a result of a streak of consecutive droughts that have hit the country over the past decade. Twenty percent of children are underweight and 38% of children under 5 years are chronically malnourished. This situation is expected to worsen because of the current drought and the increase in acute malnutrition.
Moreover, food shortages worsen the plight of people living with and affected by HIV and diminish an individual's overall health status. Children, especially orphans and under 5's, are more likely to suffer the effects of acute or chronic malnutrition and are in turn more susceptible to disease. In addition, malnutrition increases the likelihood that a child will be less responsive to HIV treatment.
It is against this backdrop that UNICEF seeks to support the GOL to reduce excess mortality related to the impact of the drought through appropriate management and prevention of severe malnutrition in children under 5 yeas of age. "This generous contribution will go a long way in helping vulnerable children by building on already existing programmes and ensuring a more comprehensive response." said Ms. Aichatou Diawara-Flambert, UNICEF Representative in Lesotho.
The Irish funds will help to address the specific needs of children in Lesotho, in the context of the drought, through the establishment of 60 therapeutic feeding centers (30 in health centres and 30 in schools) for severely malnourished children in support of the Ministry of Health's efforts as well as provision of supplementary feeding. Through the contribution, UNICEF will promote increased coordination of interventions to improve the concerted efforts of implementing partners. The contribution will also be used to strengthen the national nutrition surveillance system and the establishment of sentinel sites to regularly monitoring the trends in malnutrition and support evidence based programming.
Speaking at the signing ceremony between Irish Aid and UNICEF, His Excellency, Paddy Fay, the Ambassador of Ireland to Lesotho, commented on how pleased he is to enter into such a momentous agreement. He expressed the hope that UNICEF will strive to strengthen coordination among all partners working in nutrition.
About 4,000 severely malnourished children will benefit from Therapeutic feeding interventions and 16,000 moderate to severely malnourished children and their mothers will benefit from supplementary feeding interventions through this project. The contribution covers a six month period as part of the UNICEF Flash Appeal for the current emergency.
Background:
UNICEF is closely monitoring the nutrition status of under 5 children admitted to hospitals because of malnutrition and is supporting the finalisation of national guidelines and protocols for the management of severe malnutrition and training of health functionaries; the promotion of appropriate feeding practices; and the provision of therapeutic foods and micronutrients along with anthropometric scales.
A number of other heath activities are underway, as provision of immunization and Vitamin A supplementation (through the upcoming measles campaign 09-18 October) that will contribute to the reduction of malnutrition in children. The construction and rehabilitation of health care facilities is ensuring improved service delivery along with the provision of supplementary foods, medical supplies, vehicles and transport costs for monitoring and expansion of health services. Provision of operational costs for mentoring health service providers and expanding outreach programmes is another area of support. UNICEF also assists Government and partners with supplies such as ARVs, testing kits, vaccines, cold chain and related consumables and garden seeds and tool kits.
unicef
понедельник, 9 мая 2011 г.
Eastern Congo - Goma Update By World Food Programme
On Friday, WFP moved vitally-needed BP5 high-energy biscuits for
malnourished children to an important medical centre for the
displaced north of Goma.
Following an assessment at the main site of displacement north of
Goma, WFP hopes to commence general distributions over the
weekend.
WFP has sufficient stocks in Goma for its immediate response to
the newly displaced, although the longer-term food supply picture
is a major concern.
Although movement within and outside Goma is still limited due
to the fragile security situation, humanitarian agencies successfully
delivered some relief supplies on Friday. WFP (in a joint mission
with UNICEF and UNHCR) moved BP5 high-energy biscuits to a medical
centre in Kibati, 15 kilometres north of Goma. These are vital
supplies for young children immediately threatened by malnutrition.
There has been further displacement of people around Kibati in
recent days and many thousands are now living there without shelter
(it has been raining heavily), clean water and other basic
necessities. A rapid assessment is being completed on Friday so that
food supplies can be delivered as quickly as possible.
With the assessment complete and given the right security
conditions, WFP hopes to begin general distributions to the displaced
in Kibati over the weekend.
WFP has sufficient food supplies in Goma for its initial
response to the new displacement. A contingency stock is also
available in Bukavu, although all traffic across Lake Kivu has been
stopped temporarily.
In its capacity as Logistics Cluster lead, WFP has loaned five
Rubhalls (temporary warehousing) to UNHCR to be used as temporary
shelter in Kibati.
In an effort to prepare for any outflow of refugees from North
Kivu to Uganda - as has happened in the past - WFP Uganda is
pre-positioning 500 metric tons of food in the likely area of influx
- enough to feed 30,000 people for a month, or 60,000 for two weeks.
WFP's office in the area is also being reinforced with an additional
staff member and sufficient warehouse space is being secured.
WFP Rwanda has pre-positioned enough food for 2,000 people at
the Nkamira transit centre in Gisenyi, just across the border from
Goma. Included in the food are BP5 high-energy biscuits for 1,000
people. UNICEF, UNHCR and UNFPA have also pre-positioned non-food
items.
On Thursday, WFP staff and their dependents, as well as staff
and dependents from other UN agencies and international NGOs, spent a
second successive night in a secure compound in Goma.
In both Masisi and Rutshuru, WFP was able to deliver 14-day
food rations to newly displaced people through most of October,
before the clashes intensified to the point where access became
impossible. Many of the displaced have been able to carry some of
these rations with them as they fled.
WFP has recently been delivering 14-day rations because they
are easier for people to carry, in the event that they are
subsequently forced to move again - a family ration for 14 days
weighs 41.5 kg as opposed to 83 kg. As high food prices bite across
eastern DRC, these smaller rations also mean the recipients are less
of a target for theft and violence.
WFP is facing new demands on its food supplies at a time when
there is a major break in supply - only 4,000 metric tons of the
estimated 10,000 tons required for this month in the Kivus is
available for distribution.
The total projected shortfall for WFP's operations in DRC from
November 2008 through April 2009 is more than 27,000 metric tons,
valued at US$44 million. Shortfalls do not reflect any additional
caseloads since fighting resumed in late August 2008.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN's frontline
agency for hunger solutions. This year, WFP plans to feed 90 million people
in 80 countries.
WFP
malnourished children to an important medical centre for the
displaced north of Goma.
Following an assessment at the main site of displacement north of
Goma, WFP hopes to commence general distributions over the
weekend.
WFP has sufficient stocks in Goma for its immediate response to
the newly displaced, although the longer-term food supply picture
is a major concern.
Although movement within and outside Goma is still limited due
to the fragile security situation, humanitarian agencies successfully
delivered some relief supplies on Friday. WFP (in a joint mission
with UNICEF and UNHCR) moved BP5 high-energy biscuits to a medical
centre in Kibati, 15 kilometres north of Goma. These are vital
supplies for young children immediately threatened by malnutrition.
There has been further displacement of people around Kibati in
recent days and many thousands are now living there without shelter
(it has been raining heavily), clean water and other basic
necessities. A rapid assessment is being completed on Friday so that
food supplies can be delivered as quickly as possible.
With the assessment complete and given the right security
conditions, WFP hopes to begin general distributions to the displaced
in Kibati over the weekend.
WFP has sufficient food supplies in Goma for its initial
response to the new displacement. A contingency stock is also
available in Bukavu, although all traffic across Lake Kivu has been
stopped temporarily.
In its capacity as Logistics Cluster lead, WFP has loaned five
Rubhalls (temporary warehousing) to UNHCR to be used as temporary
shelter in Kibati.
In an effort to prepare for any outflow of refugees from North
Kivu to Uganda - as has happened in the past - WFP Uganda is
pre-positioning 500 metric tons of food in the likely area of influx
- enough to feed 30,000 people for a month, or 60,000 for two weeks.
WFP's office in the area is also being reinforced with an additional
staff member and sufficient warehouse space is being secured.
WFP Rwanda has pre-positioned enough food for 2,000 people at
the Nkamira transit centre in Gisenyi, just across the border from
Goma. Included in the food are BP5 high-energy biscuits for 1,000
people. UNICEF, UNHCR and UNFPA have also pre-positioned non-food
items.
On Thursday, WFP staff and their dependents, as well as staff
and dependents from other UN agencies and international NGOs, spent a
second successive night in a secure compound in Goma.
In both Masisi and Rutshuru, WFP was able to deliver 14-day
food rations to newly displaced people through most of October,
before the clashes intensified to the point where access became
impossible. Many of the displaced have been able to carry some of
these rations with them as they fled.
WFP has recently been delivering 14-day rations because they
are easier for people to carry, in the event that they are
subsequently forced to move again - a family ration for 14 days
weighs 41.5 kg as opposed to 83 kg. As high food prices bite across
eastern DRC, these smaller rations also mean the recipients are less
of a target for theft and violence.
WFP is facing new demands on its food supplies at a time when
there is a major break in supply - only 4,000 metric tons of the
estimated 10,000 tons required for this month in the Kivus is
available for distribution.
The total projected shortfall for WFP's operations in DRC from
November 2008 through April 2009 is more than 27,000 metric tons,
valued at US$44 million. Shortfalls do not reflect any additional
caseloads since fighting resumed in late August 2008.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN's frontline
agency for hunger solutions. This year, WFP plans to feed 90 million people
in 80 countries.
WFP
воскресенье, 8 мая 2011 г.
World Food Program Scales Up Food Assistance Operation To Haiti Earthquake Victims
The United Nations World Food Program WFP) says it has begun a major increase of its operation with the start of the first systematic food distribution program to reach victims affected by the Haiti earthquake.
In coordination with the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and under the leadership of the Haitian government, plus some key NGOs (non-governmental organizations), "WFP is rolling out distributions at 16 fixed sites across the Haitian capital, with the aim of reaching over two million people during a two-week period".
"WFP is working with all of its partners to mobilize a regular flow of food to reach all of those devastated by the earthquake," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran from Rome. "It is the most complex challenge we have ever confronted, but this distribution system will not only allow us to reach more people, it will give us the qualitative step we need to facilitate the delivery of all kinds of humanitarian assistance in the weeks and months to come. The 16 fixed sites are an important step towards food stability. "
The scale-up of the operation started today, 30th January 2010, with distributions of coupons across the Port-au-Prince (the capital), and families will be targeted in coordination with local authorities. The first distributions will then take place at all 16 sites today and continue for 15 days.
Each family will receive a 25 kg ration of rice, with only women being allowed into distribution sites to collect their share. WFP and its partners will work with the local authorities to ensure that men in need of assistance are not excluded.
"Up until now the nature of this emergency has forced us to work in a 'quick and dirty' way simply to get food out. This new system will allow us to provide food assistance to more people, more quickly through a robust network of fixed distribution sites. The entire humanitarian family and the military forces on the ground in Haiti have come together to make this possible," said Sheeran.
Separate from this new operation, distributions to those affected by the earthquake currently living outside Port-au-Prince will continue, as will specialist support to hospitals and orphanages.
WFP's response has been hampered by the almost complete decimation of the city's infrastructure, the destruction of the supply chain to move food and other supplies into and around the country, and the huge scale of need. The congested, densely populated urban setting has also presented the humanitarian effort with a huge challenge.
Despite all these obstacles, WFP has reached nearly 600,000 people with over 16 million meals since the earthquake struck.
Source: WFP (World Food Program)
Written by
In coordination with the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and under the leadership of the Haitian government, plus some key NGOs (non-governmental organizations), "WFP is rolling out distributions at 16 fixed sites across the Haitian capital, with the aim of reaching over two million people during a two-week period".
"WFP is working with all of its partners to mobilize a regular flow of food to reach all of those devastated by the earthquake," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran from Rome. "It is the most complex challenge we have ever confronted, but this distribution system will not only allow us to reach more people, it will give us the qualitative step we need to facilitate the delivery of all kinds of humanitarian assistance in the weeks and months to come. The 16 fixed sites are an important step towards food stability. "
The scale-up of the operation started today, 30th January 2010, with distributions of coupons across the Port-au-Prince (the capital), and families will be targeted in coordination with local authorities. The first distributions will then take place at all 16 sites today and continue for 15 days.
Each family will receive a 25 kg ration of rice, with only women being allowed into distribution sites to collect their share. WFP and its partners will work with the local authorities to ensure that men in need of assistance are not excluded.
"Up until now the nature of this emergency has forced us to work in a 'quick and dirty' way simply to get food out. This new system will allow us to provide food assistance to more people, more quickly through a robust network of fixed distribution sites. The entire humanitarian family and the military forces on the ground in Haiti have come together to make this possible," said Sheeran.
Separate from this new operation, distributions to those affected by the earthquake currently living outside Port-au-Prince will continue, as will specialist support to hospitals and orphanages.
WFP's response has been hampered by the almost complete decimation of the city's infrastructure, the destruction of the supply chain to move food and other supplies into and around the country, and the huge scale of need. The congested, densely populated urban setting has also presented the humanitarian effort with a huge challenge.
Despite all these obstacles, WFP has reached nearly 600,000 people with over 16 million meals since the earthquake struck.
Source: WFP (World Food Program)
Written by
суббота, 7 мая 2011 г.
Health Minister Announces Plans To Improve Care For Victims Of Sexual Assault, Wales
New plans to improve care to adults that have suffered sexual assault or abuse are announced by Health Minister Edwina Hart.
Care for victims will be rolled out through Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) - where specialist staff are trained to counsel victims, and where police and other health practitioners can refer victims for examination, screening and treatment.
The proposals aim to provide more timely, appropriate and co-ordinated care. The recommended range of services for SARCs includes:
A dedicated, forensically secure facility, integrated with hospital services
Availability of forensic examination 24 hours a day, within 4 hours if necessary
Immediate on-site access to emergency contraception and drugs to prevent sexually transmitted infections including HIV
Integral follow-up services, including psycho-sexual support/counselling, sexual health and support throughout the criminal justice process
Health Minister, Edwina Hart, said: "Sexual assault is both a common and very serious crime. For victims, these crimes represent a violation of the basic right for an individual to be treated with dignity and respect, and to live without fear of sexual violence. Such incidents can have significant and ongoing consequences for health and wellbeing.
"The Welsh Assembly Government takes the problem of violence against women and domestic abuse very seriously. It has set aside an extra ??1 million for the violence against women and domestic abuse budget next year, taking the total budget to ??4.7 million."
This proposal forms a key part of the Welsh Assembly Government's strategic plan to tackle domestic abuse.
Last week, Social Justice Minister Dr Brian Gibbons launched a new campaign raising awareness of the 'early warning signs' of an abusive relationship and publicising the Wales Domestic Abuse helpline which provides support to people experiencing domestic abuse.
The proposals will now go out for a 12 week consultation. The closing date for responding to the consultation is 24 February 2010.
Source
The Welsh Assembly Government
Care for victims will be rolled out through Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) - where specialist staff are trained to counsel victims, and where police and other health practitioners can refer victims for examination, screening and treatment.
The proposals aim to provide more timely, appropriate and co-ordinated care. The recommended range of services for SARCs includes:
A dedicated, forensically secure facility, integrated with hospital services
Availability of forensic examination 24 hours a day, within 4 hours if necessary
Immediate on-site access to emergency contraception and drugs to prevent sexually transmitted infections including HIV
Integral follow-up services, including psycho-sexual support/counselling, sexual health and support throughout the criminal justice process
Health Minister, Edwina Hart, said: "Sexual assault is both a common and very serious crime. For victims, these crimes represent a violation of the basic right for an individual to be treated with dignity and respect, and to live without fear of sexual violence. Such incidents can have significant and ongoing consequences for health and wellbeing.
"The Welsh Assembly Government takes the problem of violence against women and domestic abuse very seriously. It has set aside an extra ??1 million for the violence against women and domestic abuse budget next year, taking the total budget to ??4.7 million."
This proposal forms a key part of the Welsh Assembly Government's strategic plan to tackle domestic abuse.
Last week, Social Justice Minister Dr Brian Gibbons launched a new campaign raising awareness of the 'early warning signs' of an abusive relationship and publicising the Wales Domestic Abuse helpline which provides support to people experiencing domestic abuse.
The proposals will now go out for a 12 week consultation. The closing date for responding to the consultation is 24 February 2010.
Source
The Welsh Assembly Government
пятница, 6 мая 2011 г.
Over 9,000 Cholera Cases In Haiti, With Tens Of Thousands More Likely To Come
The Pan American Health Organization says over 9,000 cases of cholera have been reported. If this epidemic is anything like the last one in this continent, we should expect tens of thousands more cases, said Dr. Jon Andrus, Deputy Director of PAHO (Pan American Health Organization). Haitian health authorities reported yesterday 583 deaths so far due to cholera and 9,123 hospitalized patients, 73 of which are citizens of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
PAHO says its focus at the moment is to work with the Haitian government and other organizations in the area to "integrate the additional numbers into the official surveillance system". At the moment it is likely the number of cases are higher, because other organizations also report cases.
Dr. Andrus stressed:
The case numbers are not as important as the underlying trends, and our top priority is treating the sick and preventing new cases.
Hurricane Tomas was mercifully much less damaging and severe than people had expected.
Referring to Hurricane Tomas, Dr. Andrus said:
We have every reason to expect that the widespread flooding has increased the risk of cholera spreading.
Andrus expects a sudden rise in cases over the next few days because of the flooding.
Cholera has reached the capital, Port-au-Prince, a city with 3 million people. Experts said this was practically inevitable and should not come as a surprise. However, that fact that the epidemic has reached the city is of concern.
Port-au-Prince used to have very poor water and sanitation infrastructure before the devastating earthquake struck at the beginning of this year. Conditions are ideal now for cholera to spread throughout the city rapidly.
Andrus said:
We have to prepare for a large upsurge in cases. We have to be prepared with all the resources that are needed for a rapid response.
In 1991, when the last cholera epidemic occurred in the Americas, it started in Peru and made its way to 16 other nations, spanning from Canada to Argentina. Between 1991 and 1997 there were 650,000 cases in Peru alone. Andrus believes that if we extrapolate from what happened then, and make some geographical and population adjustments, Haiti should expect up to 270,000 cases of cholera.
Andrus added:
We have to think about and plan for the long term. The bacteria have a foothold in the rivers and the water system, so it will be there for a number of years.
PAHO says everybody is working to the limit trying to get prevention messages and urgent medical supplies to people throughout the country, including PAHO itself, Haitian health authorities and NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Supplies are getting through to remote villages as well.
Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health, examples of NGOs, are setting up special treatment centers in the most affected areas, including Port-au-Prince.
Stefano Zannini, Doctors Without Borders head of mission in Haiti, said:
The increasing numbers of cases of suspected cholera in our facilities throughout Port-au-Prince are certainly alarming. Cholera is a highly treatable and preventable disease, especially once symptomatic patients are treated in a controlled, isolated environment like a CTC. The presence of CTCs (cholera treatment centers) in cholera-affected areas can relieve pressure on local hospitals and health structures, greatly reducing the risk of infection among pre-existing inpatients and the wider community.
As the number of cases grows, Andrus predicts things will become more difficult. "The system is going to be stretched."
PAHO says the current epidemic will in no way interfere with the country's general elections on November 28th.
Andrus said:
There is no reason to expect the elections to have a negative impact on the cholera epidemic. And in fact, the Ministry of Health is planning to use the occasion to disseminate prevention messages to the population. It will help prevent the spread of infection.
Source: PAHO, Doctors Without Borders
Written by
PAHO says its focus at the moment is to work with the Haitian government and other organizations in the area to "integrate the additional numbers into the official surveillance system". At the moment it is likely the number of cases are higher, because other organizations also report cases.
Dr. Andrus stressed:
The case numbers are not as important as the underlying trends, and our top priority is treating the sick and preventing new cases.
Hurricane Tomas was mercifully much less damaging and severe than people had expected.
Referring to Hurricane Tomas, Dr. Andrus said:
We have every reason to expect that the widespread flooding has increased the risk of cholera spreading.
Andrus expects a sudden rise in cases over the next few days because of the flooding.
Cholera has reached the capital, Port-au-Prince, a city with 3 million people. Experts said this was practically inevitable and should not come as a surprise. However, that fact that the epidemic has reached the city is of concern.
Port-au-Prince used to have very poor water and sanitation infrastructure before the devastating earthquake struck at the beginning of this year. Conditions are ideal now for cholera to spread throughout the city rapidly.
Andrus said:
We have to prepare for a large upsurge in cases. We have to be prepared with all the resources that are needed for a rapid response.
In 1991, when the last cholera epidemic occurred in the Americas, it started in Peru and made its way to 16 other nations, spanning from Canada to Argentina. Between 1991 and 1997 there were 650,000 cases in Peru alone. Andrus believes that if we extrapolate from what happened then, and make some geographical and population adjustments, Haiti should expect up to 270,000 cases of cholera.
Andrus added:
We have to think about and plan for the long term. The bacteria have a foothold in the rivers and the water system, so it will be there for a number of years.
PAHO says everybody is working to the limit trying to get prevention messages and urgent medical supplies to people throughout the country, including PAHO itself, Haitian health authorities and NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Supplies are getting through to remote villages as well.
Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health, examples of NGOs, are setting up special treatment centers in the most affected areas, including Port-au-Prince.
Stefano Zannini, Doctors Without Borders head of mission in Haiti, said:
The increasing numbers of cases of suspected cholera in our facilities throughout Port-au-Prince are certainly alarming. Cholera is a highly treatable and preventable disease, especially once symptomatic patients are treated in a controlled, isolated environment like a CTC. The presence of CTCs (cholera treatment centers) in cholera-affected areas can relieve pressure on local hospitals and health structures, greatly reducing the risk of infection among pre-existing inpatients and the wider community.
As the number of cases grows, Andrus predicts things will become more difficult. "The system is going to be stretched."
PAHO says the current epidemic will in no way interfere with the country's general elections on November 28th.
Andrus said:
There is no reason to expect the elections to have a negative impact on the cholera epidemic. And in fact, the Ministry of Health is planning to use the occasion to disseminate prevention messages to the population. It will help prevent the spread of infection.
Source: PAHO, Doctors Without Borders
Written by
четверг, 5 мая 2011 г.
WFP Condemns Looting Of Food Warehouses During Unrest In Guinea
The United Nations World Food Programme has condemned the looting of three food warehouses in Guinea over the weekend - resulting in the loss of nearly 450 metric tons of food aid destined for school children and the poorest communities.
WFP estimates the value of the losses at US$ 350,000.
During violent disturbances in the eastern city of Kankan on Sunday, a WFP warehouse was stripped bare, and a total of 350 tons of rice, yellow split peas and cooking oil was stolen by marauding local inhabitants. Other items such as cooking pots, plates and spoons were also looted.
In addition, WFP's office in Kankan was attacked by a mob throwing stones, forcing the evacuation of the only international staff across the border into Mali.
Further disturbances, again involving local inhabitants, near the town of Lab?© in central Guinea over the weekend caused the loss of a further 97 metric tons of food commodities from two warehouses belonging to WFP's government partners - in Pita (Saturday) and Dalaba (Sunday).
The stolen food was meant for children enrolled in WFP's school feeding programme. Each year, over 200,000 children in Guinea receive school meals on a regular basis. The looted food was also intended for other non-emergency activities which include food-for-work projects, nutrition programmes for young children and their mothers and support to people suffering from HIV/AIDS.
"This food was for the poorest of the poor in Guinea - it has been mindlessly plundered by people who have no respect for the property of others," said WFP Guinea Country Director, Philippe Guyon LeBuffy.
"At this point, it's hard to know when we will next be able to provide schools and other institutions with the food aid they rely on for their programmes. We understand there is widespread frustration and anger in the country, but actions such as these will only make the lives of the poorest even worse," Guyon LeBuffy added.
The looting means there are now no remaining food stocks in Kankan. Some 500 metric tons for operations around Lab?© are still intact as are food aid stocks for WFP's refugee operation in the Forest Region of Guinea.
The violence which is sweeping through Guinea forced WFP last weekend to suspend temporarily all its operations, although February distributions to the most needy Liberian and Ivorian refugees have been completed.
WFP is monitoring the situation closely, including the possibility that new food needs may arise should the situation deteriorate further, as many people are suffering an acute loss of income resulting from the strike action and civil unrest.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries.
WFP Global School Feeding Campaign - For just 19 US cents a day, you can help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school - a gift of hope for a brighter future.
For further information please go to:
World Food Program WFP - We Feed People
WFP estimates the value of the losses at US$ 350,000.
During violent disturbances in the eastern city of Kankan on Sunday, a WFP warehouse was stripped bare, and a total of 350 tons of rice, yellow split peas and cooking oil was stolen by marauding local inhabitants. Other items such as cooking pots, plates and spoons were also looted.
In addition, WFP's office in Kankan was attacked by a mob throwing stones, forcing the evacuation of the only international staff across the border into Mali.
Further disturbances, again involving local inhabitants, near the town of Lab?© in central Guinea over the weekend caused the loss of a further 97 metric tons of food commodities from two warehouses belonging to WFP's government partners - in Pita (Saturday) and Dalaba (Sunday).
The stolen food was meant for children enrolled in WFP's school feeding programme. Each year, over 200,000 children in Guinea receive school meals on a regular basis. The looted food was also intended for other non-emergency activities which include food-for-work projects, nutrition programmes for young children and their mothers and support to people suffering from HIV/AIDS.
"This food was for the poorest of the poor in Guinea - it has been mindlessly plundered by people who have no respect for the property of others," said WFP Guinea Country Director, Philippe Guyon LeBuffy.
"At this point, it's hard to know when we will next be able to provide schools and other institutions with the food aid they rely on for their programmes. We understand there is widespread frustration and anger in the country, but actions such as these will only make the lives of the poorest even worse," Guyon LeBuffy added.
The looting means there are now no remaining food stocks in Kankan. Some 500 metric tons for operations around Lab?© are still intact as are food aid stocks for WFP's refugee operation in the Forest Region of Guinea.
The violence which is sweeping through Guinea forced WFP last weekend to suspend temporarily all its operations, although February distributions to the most needy Liberian and Ivorian refugees have been completed.
WFP is monitoring the situation closely, including the possibility that new food needs may arise should the situation deteriorate further, as many people are suffering an acute loss of income resulting from the strike action and civil unrest.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries.
WFP Global School Feeding Campaign - For just 19 US cents a day, you can help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school - a gift of hope for a brighter future.
For further information please go to:
World Food Program WFP - We Feed People
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