Category: In the News

Posted on in Equity, ICTs, In the News, Sustainable development, Underserved populations

Online Seminar: Globalization & health equity towards sustainable development

SDE Seminar Series towards Rio+20

Sustainable Development and Environmental Health – SDE – PAHO/WHO

Globalization & health equity towards sustainable development

Seventh Seminar: 21 March 2012 – PAHO/WHO Rio+20 (in English with simultaneous translation to Spanish)

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm – Eastern Standard Time (Washington DC USA)

To check local time in WDC against your time zone, see the World Clock at:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Website PAHO/WHO Rio+20 at: http://bit.ly/oxoRdS

– Globalization is affecting social determinants of health and the health status of different population groups, within and between nations.

– Globalization creates new opportunities and risks for health and equity in health;

– How can the action on the social determinants enhance those opportunities and reduce those risks?

– Could the Rio+20 Conference strengthen opportunities and minimize the risks of globalization? How?

Towards Health-Equitable Globalisation: Rights, Regulation and Redistribution

Final Report to the Commission on Social Determinants of Health WHO –

Globalization Knowledge Network: Ronald Labonté (Chair); Ted Schrecker (Hub coordinator)

Final Report Writing Group: Ronald Labonté (Lead author); Chantal Blouin; Mickey Chopra; Kelley Lee; Corinne Packer; Mike Rowson;

Ted Schrecker ;David Woodward

Available online at: http://bit.ly/xY58AT

“….Globalization affects health and Social Determinants of Health through changes in social stratification, differential exposure or vulnerability, health system characteristics and differential consequences. It describes a number of key ‘clusters’ of pathways leading from globalization to changes in SDH ,provides an inventory of potential “interventions,” and provides a list of the specific research synthesis papers….”

See more on the Globalization and Health at: http://bit.ly/Ayqbvg

Agenda:

12:00 Introduction: Dr. Kira Fortune, Regional Advisor on Determinants of Health, PAHO/WHO

12:05 Globalization & health equity towards sustainable development: Dr. Ronald Labonté, Canada Research Chair in Globalization & Health Equity, Institute of Population Health, and Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, at the University of Ottawa

12:30 Comments: Dr. Oscar Mujica, Regional Advisor on Social Epidemiology, PAHO/WHO

12:35 Comments: Dr. Isaac Cohen, President, INVERWAY LLC

12:40 Debate

01:00 Closing remarks

Moderator: Dr. Kira Fortune, Regional Advisor on Determinants of Health, PAHO/WHO.

How to participate:

In person:

PAHO/WHO

525 23rd ST NW

Washington DC, 20037 Room 812 – 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm Eastern Time (WDC)

Online: via Elluminate link:

– Spanish room: http://www.paho.org/virtual/SeminariosSDE

– English room http://www.paho.org/virtual/SDESeminars

SDE Seminar Series towards Rio+20

“Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development.

They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature” – Principle 1 of the Rio…..” Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992.

The Rio Declaration of 1992 recognizes that healthy populations are central to human progress and sustainable development, and remains equally true today. However, the economic pillar has been prioritized at the expense of the social and environmental pillars of sustainable development over the last few decades, becoming itself a source of volatility and destabilization.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, now offers an opportunity to re-examine the relationship between health and sustainable development. The proposed SDE Seminar series towards Rio+20 aim at contributing to this important debate by bringing different themes of relevance to sustainable development and health to inform all areas of the Pan American Organization about the themes under discussion in the Rio Conference, but also to inform public health stakeholders and other decision makers in the health sector, to better take part in the debate.

The SDE Seminar series will happen every Wednesday from 12 to 1pm (Washington time), from February 8 to June 13th.

All Seminars will be life-streamed, and opened for participation in person at the PAHO/WHO HQ, or via Elluminate, or via telephone line.

Some of the Seminars will be in English, others in Spanish.

For those who cannot follow the seminar alive, they will be available later at PAHO Rio+20 Toolkit at: http://bit.ly/oxoRdS

KMC/2012/SDE

Twitter http://twitter.com/eqpaho

Posted on in Equity, ICTs, In the News, Underserved populations

Online Seminar: Incorporating Equity in Health Technology Assessment & Evidence-based Decision Making

Free Upcoming Webinar on:

Incorporating Equity in Health Technology Assessment & Evidence-based
Decision Making

When is equity important? How do you address it your systematic review?

Join Erin Ueffing from the Canadian Cochrane Centre for this interactive
webinar

WHO Collaborating Center for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology
Assessment in Health Equity

March 12th 2012 at 13:00-14:45 (GMT-4), will be broadcast from the
University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.

To check you local time – the World Clock at:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html>

“….Examples of equity-oriented reviews will be given, along with
strategies and methods for considering the effects of interventions
in vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.

This webinar will be presented as a segment of a workshop on Health
System Strengthening: Systematic Reviews and Health Technology
Assessment,
which will be hosted by the University of the West Indies Clinical
Epidemiology Unit, and conducted in collaboration with its partners and
sponsors,
The Canadian Society for International Health, the Pan American Health
Organization PAHO/WHO, the Cochrane Collaboration,
the University of Ottawa WHO Collaborating Centre, and Health
Canada….”

WHO Collaborating Center for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology
Assessment in Health Equity:

Website: http://bit.ly/wxili0 <http://bit.ly/wxili0>

How to participate online:  No registration is required

To login to the Elluminate session, use the link below and type your
name on the sign in page:

http://bit.ly/wM0jYB <http://bit.ly/wM0jYB>

To sign-in to the webinar, click on the corresponding URL at least 10
minutes before the scheduled start time.

The webinar room will be open as of 30 minutes before the start time;
there is not need to log in before 12:30 pm.

Contact information: Kimberly Manalili at kmanalili@csih.org
<mailto:kmanalili@csih.org>

Video
Posted on in ICTs, In the News, Media Advocacy, New Media, Policy

How to participate in the UNAIDS CrowdOutAIDS strategy drafting!

As we discussed before in our earlier posts, we all have the opportunity to participate in the development  of the UNAIDS Crowdsourcing strategy. This short video explains how. Perhaps a good question to ask though is why? Why should I spend the time to make a contribution?

Here are some reasons:

1. Only you know the experience you have and what you think should be done to improve the situation. Whether you work for a non profit or the government (or wherever), your insight might be valuable and actually make a difference.

2. You might learn something from others by participating in the chat.

3. You can make contact with other participants from around the world.

4. You can ensure that the unique issues the Caribbean faces are addressed.

5. You can learn how to use a new collaborative tool (Google docs) you may have never used before.

6. Show Andre Robb, the Caribbean representative on the drafting committee some support!

Can you think of any more reasons?

Please visit http://www.crowdoutaids.org/wordpress/ to view the calendar and find out about the next live drafting sessions. Let’s make sure the Caribbean is well represented!

Video
Posted on in Career, In the News, Inspiration

“Never worry about what you will do next…” Reflections from Dr. George Alleyne, Director Emeritus of the Pan American Health Organization

A conversation with Dr. George Alleyne begining from his formative years in the University of West Indies to his current views about Panamericanism, Equity and a wide range of public health issues. Dr. Alleyne chronicles his career development and his ascendency as an academic and as Director Emeritus of PAHO. He states that he learned not to worry too much about the next steps in life, just to work hard, and the next steps will be become very obvious.

 

 

Posted on in In the News, Media Advocacy, Policy, Research

Can regulating our airwaves help lower NCD rates?

Coutesy of blogs.worldbank.org

The carnival season just ended for many islands  (and is beginning for others) and one of the things that struck me while listening to radio stations from Dominica is the number of advertisements for businesses pushing high-saturated fat foods and alcoholic drinks. Now, I have to say that these ads are not just a carnival phenomenon. In fact, I think they’ve become quite prevalent on our airwaves. For example, one show might be sponsored by a large distributor of alcoholic beverages. Usually within such shows, the hosts painstakingly tells listeners to ‘drink safely’ and ‘don’t drink and drive’. What I noticed about these messages is that they are often said in somber tones while the music pumps up for a lively discussion of how such and such drink is the best to have while out and about. In regards to the food ads with high-fat content, they are often lauded as quick meals to have on-the-go. Grab a pizza! Get yourself some tasty fired chicken!

These commercials reminded me of a fabulous blog I read a few months ago titled “Is fried chicken setting back development in the Caribbean?” In the write-up, Carmen and Shiyan discuss how, in trying to decide what to eat for lunch (fried chicken because it’s ubiquitous, low-cost and fast), they realized the irony of working on addressing non-communicable diseases in the region and having to swallow their guilt and eat the fried chicken for lunch.

Carmen and Shiyan write:

“This simple encounter brought to light the challenges countries and individuals face in addressing NCDs which as a group represent the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide –two-thirds of global deaths are the result of chronic diseases. In the Caribbean, the burden of NCDs has escalated to the point that five times as many people are dying from chronic diseases than from all other illnesses combined.”

As we in the region and organizations around the world fight to change the course of the burden of NCDs, we have to start thinking of what role, if any, does advertising play in our food and alcohol consumption choices? Are there any regional or national policies that regulate what companies can advertise and at what times? The regulation of food, alcohol ( and tobacco) is never an easy task. But, research shows that local and global policies developed to regular tobacco sales and use has had the greatest impact on lowering smoking rates. If anyone has examples of laws and policies from the region that address these issues, we at CaribbeanHealth.org would love to know about them.