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Nigeria to immunise 4.6 million children against polio
"A Type 1 polio outbreak is right now raging in northern Nigeria. Of every 10 children paralysed by the Type 1 polio virus this year, eight are in Nigeria," Margaret Chan, WHO director-general told a Rotary conference in California last month. "A Type 1 polio outbreak is right now raging in northern Nigeria. Of every 10 children paralysed by the Type 1 polio virus this year, ... more
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World Health Organization documents failure of US drug policies
The release of this article is telling. Many of the United States news organizations are spinning the data in the report to say that drug use is up across the world. The truth that is revealed in the article is simple. Countries with the strictest drug laws are also the countries with the highest drug use. Those countries with more tolerant drug laws show astonishingly lower rates of drug use.
"The numbers are startling. In the United States, 42.4 percent admitted having used marijuana. The only other nation that came close was New Zealand, another bastion of get-tough policies, at 41.9 percent. No one else was even close. The results for cocaine use were similar, with the United States leading the world by a large margin."
Our government officials are trying to play the report off by discrediting the World Health Organization.
Bloomberg News reported:
"The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy tried to dismiss the study.
Trying to find a link between drug use and drug enforcement doesn't make sense, said Tom Riley, spokesman for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington. "The U.S. has high crime rates but we spend a lot on law enforcement and prison,'' Riley said yesterday in a telephone interview. "Should we spend less? We're just a different kind of country. We have higher drug use rates, a higher crime rate, many things that go with a highly free and mobile society."
It's about time Americans and the rest of the world wise up. Adults are smart. They can and should be allowed to pick and choose what they do with their lives and bodies. The things they consume and activities pursued in the privacy of the home are beyond the reach of law or government. The release of this article is telling. Many of the United States news organizations are spinning the data in the report to say that d... more -
WHO results on drug use internationally - surprising, non?
A few choices excerpts:
"This study is important because it's the first time a respected international group has surveyed drug use around the world, using the same questions and procedure everywhere.
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Some of the most striking numbers are from the Netherlands, where adults are permitted to possess a small of marijuana and purchase it from regulated businesses. Some U.S. officials have claimed that these Dutch policies have created some sort of decadent cesspool of drug abuse, but the new study demolishes such assertions: In the Netherlands, only 19.8 percent have used marijuana, less than half the U.S. figure.
Even more striking is what the researchers found when they asked young adults when they had started using marijuana. Again, the United States led the world, with 20.2 percent trying marijuana by age 15. No other country was even close, and in the Netherlands, just 7 percent used marijuana by 15 -- roughly one-third of the U.S. figure." A few choices excerpts: ... more -
World Health Organization to open Baghdad headquarters
The World Health Organization, one of United Nations' most important agencies, is opening a permanent office in Baghdad, a move that underscores recent security improvements in Iraq's capital.
WHO's representative in Iraq, Nae'ema Al-Gasseer, will be permanently based in the Iraqi capital.
The move comes nearly five years after the U.N. headquarters in Iraq was bombed, killing 22 people and curtailing a lot of the agency's work. One of those killed in the strike was the chief of the U.N. mission in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
In the post-Saddam Hussein era, the U.N. has lent support to Iraqi elections and the political process, as well as reconstruction.
WHO has performed vaccination campaigns in Iraq and has dealt with outbreaks such as cholera and avian influenza.
The World Health Organization, one of United Nations' most important agencies, is opening a permanent office in Baghdad, a move that u... more -
UN classifies rape a 'war tactic'
"The UN Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war. The document describes the deliberate use of rape as a tactic in war and a threat to international security. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said violence against women had reached "unspeakable proportions" in some societies recovering from conflict.
The UN is also setting up an inquiry to report next June on how widespread the practice is and how to tackle it. Human-rights group hailed the resolution as historic.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan said China, Russia, Indonesia and Vietnam had all expressed reservations during the negotiations, asking whether rape was really a matter for the UN security council. But the US-sponsored resolution was adopted unanimously by the 15-member council.
It described sexual violence as "a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group". The document said that the violence "can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security".
During the debate in the council, Mr Ban said: "Responding to this silent war against women and girls requires leadership at the national level. National authorities need to take the initiative to build comprehensive strategies while the UN needs to help build capacity and support national authorities and civil societies," he added.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the world now recognised that sexual violence profoundly affected not only the health and safety of women, but the economic and social stability of their nations. Other speakers identified the former Yugoslavia, Sudan's Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Liberia as regions where deliberate sexual violence had occurred on a mass scale.
The former commander of the UN peacekeeping force in eastern Congo, Maj-Gen Patrick Cammaert, told the BBC he personally witnessed its impact.
"It's a very effective weapon, because the communities are totally destroyed," he said. "You destroy communities. You punish the men, and you punish the women, doing it in front of the men."
In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, some 40 women are raped every day, our correspondent says. Sometimes women are even raped by peacekeepers who are supposed to be protecting them, she adds.
The question is whether those in conflict zones who use rape in war will be at all deterred by the new measures, she says." "The UN Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war. The document describes ... more -
Bird Flu spreads, prompts mass cull
Hong Kong ordered a mass cull of all poultry on Wednesday in a bid to stop the spread of the H5N1 virus between birds in hundreds of markets scattered across the territory. Hong Kong ordered a mass cull of all poultry on Wednesday in a bid to stop the spread of the H5N1 virus between birds in hundreds of ... more
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We Become Silent - The Last Days Of Health Freedom
International award-winning filmmaker Kevin P. Miller of Well TV announced the release of a new documentary about the threat to medical freedom of choice. 'We Become Silent: The Last Days of Health Freedom' details the ongoing attempts by multinational pharmaceutical interests and giant food companies — in concert with the WTO, the WHO and others — to limit the public’s access to herbs, vitamins and other therapies. 'We Become Silent’ is narrated by Dame Judi Dench, the noted UK actress who has won multiple Golden Globe awards, an Oscar, and a Tony for her on-stage work, in addition to dozens of other honors throughout her prestigious career.
International award-winning filmmaker Kevin P. Miller of Well TV announced the release of a new documentary about the threat to medica... more -
World Health Organization (WHO) Calls on Governments to Ban Tobacco Advertising
By Diane Smith// eFluxMedia
The World Health Organization (WHO) called on all governments to forbid all sorts of tobacco advertising. The main goal of this measure is to protect the world's youth from becoming addicted to tobacco. WHO estimated that tobacco could cause as much as one billion premature deaths this century.
The call was made by the WHO on World No Tobacco Day. The surveys carried out by the U.N. organization have shown that the young people who are more exposed to tobacco advertisement are also more likely to start smoking and less likely to quit.
WHO officials accused tobacco producers of using increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques to ensnare young people. The most exposed segment of the population is the girls in poorer countries.
The U.N. organization said only 5% of the world's population was covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship...
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Full story at link. By Diane Smith// eFluxMedia ... more -
The health care I want is in France
MANY advocates of a universal healthcare system in the United States look to Canada for their model. While the Canadian healthcare system has much to recommend it, there's another model that has been too long neglected. That is the healthcare system in France.
Although the French system faces many challenges, the World Health Organization rated it the best in the world in 2001 because of its universal coverage, responsive healthcare providers, patient and provider freedoms, and the health and longevity of the country's population. The United States ranked 37.
The French system is also not inexpensive. At $3,500 per capita it is one of the most costly in Europe, yet that is still far less than the $6,100 per person in the United States. MANY advocates of a universal healthcare system in the United States look to Canada for their model. While the Canadian healthcare sys... more -
Check Out Your Chewing Gum, It May Cause Cancer
A substance used to make chewing gum could soon be declared toxic by the federal government after an international agency found that it might cause cancer in lab rats. A substance used to make chewing gum could soon be declared toxic by the federal government after an international agency found that i... more
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What's really in the food you eat?
Discovering what's really in the food you eat can be depressing. You've surely heard that Americans eat as much as two pounds of insects per year without knowing it. But that seems pretty benign compared with the other stuff you may be ingesting. Pesticides, rodent droppings, way more fat than you had ever imagined... Fortunately there are web resources to scare you / gross you out / educate you about what you're throwing down the hatch. This new information may not keep you from your favorite greasy spoon — nor should it — but it may help you choose some healthier or more sanitary options for your general snacking and dining. Discovering what's really in the food you eat can be depressing. You've surely heard that Americans eat as much as two pounds of insec... more
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Global Warming To Spread More Disease
Group Says Malaria, Floods, Hunger To Go Up With Rising Temperatures, Changing Rainfall.
Millions of people could face poverty, disease and hunger as a result of rising temperatures and changing rainfall expected to hit poor countries the hardest, the World Health Organization warned Monday.
Malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and floods cause an estimated 150,000 deaths annually, with Asia accounting for more than half, said regional WHO Director Shigeru Omi.
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes represent the clearest sign that global warming has begun to impact human health, he said, adding they are now found in cooler climates such as South Korea and the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
He said poorer countries with meager resources and weak health systems will be hit hardest because malnutrition is already widespread, with the young, women and the elderly at particular risk.
Omi said governments need to strengthen current systems providing clean water, immunizations, disease surveillance, mosquito control and disaster preparedness. Group Says Malaria, Floods, Hunger To Go Up With Rising Temperatures, Changing Rainfall. ... more -
Gazans die waiting for medical treatment
The World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report on Tuesday that dozens of Palestinians have died while waiting for Israeli permission to receive medical care in Israel.
The WHO says thirty-two Gaza residents have died awaiting treatment since October.
The victims ranged from a one-year child to a seventy-seven-year old man.
Six of the dead were waiting for permits. Others were denied permits because Israeli officials labeled them a security risk - including a 65-year-old woman. Others had received permits for themselves but had to await Israeli permission to admit Palestinian doctors. Others died while waiting to cross the border into Israel. The World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report on Tuesday that dozens of Palestinians have died while waiting for Israeli permi... more
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