sabato 15 febbraio 2014
martedì 11 febbraio 2014
IRIN Africa | Breaking the cycle of youth unemployment, poverty | Angola | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Benin | Botswana | DRC | Central African Republic | Congo | Cote d'Ivoire | Cameroon | Comoros | Cape Verde | Djibouti | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | Ghana | Gambia | Guinea | Equatorial Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Kenya | Liberia | Lesotho | Madagascar | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Malawi | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | Rwanda | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Senegal | Somalia | South Sudan | Sao Tome and Principe | Swaziland | Chad | Togo | Tanzania | Uganda | South Africa | Zambia | Zimbabwe | Children | Economy | Governance | Urban Risk
sabato 8 febbraio 2014
From Crisis to Hope in Europe
<p>The European Union is in my view the shining example of an open and free society. That is why the current crisis is so personal to me. I am very concerned about Europe’s future and the potential dissolution of its open society.</p> <p>In the run up to World War I or in the Weimar Republic, people did not think all those terrible things that followed could happen. But I have a particular sensitivity to these matters, because I lived under both Nazi and Soviet occupation. And I would hate to see a repeat of dark times in Europe.</p> <p>I believe in finding European solutions for the problems of Europe; national solutions make matters worse. So I am hoping for some kind of pro-European political alliance emerging.</p> <p>I believe in the European Union and the principles of open society that originally inspired it, and I should like to recapture that spirit.</p>
venerdì 7 febbraio 2014
Israeli researcher links sleep fragmentation to higher cancer risk
JERUSALEM, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Poor sleep can speed cancer growth and increase tumor aggressiveness, according to a new study led by an Israeli researcher.
The tumors could grow in a shorter amount of time compared to cancer in patients who get a good night's sleep, the research shows.
The study was conducted by the University of Chicago and the University of Louisville in the United States, led by Dr. Fahed Hakim, a pediatric specialist in lungs and sleep from the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, the largest city in northern Israel.
Hakim and his colleagues studied two different sets of rats. One group was allowed an uninterrupted night's sleep while the others were disrupted various times during the night for one week.
"After a week of these sleeping patterns, we injected both groups with cancer cells and observed their growth over a period of four weeks," Dr. Hakim told Xinhua.
"We continued with the same sleep configuration during the four weeks and we observed afterwards that those mice in the sleep-deprived group had grown tumors twice as big as the other group," he said.
The tumors grew not only bigger in the sleep-deprived group but also much more malignant, as they penetrated much deeper into the tissue and at a much faster rate than cancer in those rodents that had a normal sleep, according to the research.
"We found that disrupted sleep affects the immune system and the cells called macrophage, which have to fight the cancer, actually begin helping it grow," the researcher said.
The study was published in December's issue of Cancer Research journal and was originally begun two years ago as a research into sleep apnea, a condition in which the airway in the throat is blocked by soft tissue during sleep. The patients frequently choke during their sleep and wake up continuously.
"We began researching this condition, but this applies also to modern life as there can be multiple reasons for waking up continuously during the night, like a noisy neighborhood, or the cell phones ringing constantly," Dr. Hakim said.
"There is a huge percentage of the population that is not getting a clean sleep everyday, something that affects our health directly," he added.
To combat sleep fragmentation, the researcher recommended turning off all phones and external lights, as well as sports before going to bed.
"Or a good book, something to make you sleep tight, but mostly avoiding any kind of noise," said the researcher, "but really, it's something to be worried about if it happens many times during the night and many nights per week."
Editor: chengyang
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Feature: Incidence of cancer on the rise in north Indian state
by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
BHATINDA CITY, India, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Every day at 9:20 p.m., a passenger train leaves Bhatinda railway station in India's northern state of Punjab for the neighboring Rajasthan's Bikaner district.
The train, known here as "India's cancer train", is carrying cancer-stricken patients for the Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute in Bikaner. The hospital provides free cancer treatment for indigent families.
The incidence of cancer in Punjab has been surging. A survey carried by Punjab government last year revealed that there are 91 cancer patients for every 100,000 population in Punjab.
The Muktsar district alone recorded an astounding 136.3 patients for every hundred thousand population. The figures are higher than the India's national average of 80 patients for every 100,000.
The startling statistics show that there are 24,659 cancer patients in the state and 87,403 people showed symptoms of the dreaded disease.
The survey revealed 34,430 cancer deaths took place in the north Indian state during 2008 and 2013.
Health department officials in Punjab said entire population of 27.7 million was screened during the comprehensive door-to-door survey.
"The survey is a milestone in the battle against cancer," Vini Mahajan, principal secretary for health in Punjab, said. "It is our earnest hope that the early detection of cancer will allow for easier and cheaper treatment and reduced mortality."
This year, the local government of Punjab launched a "cashless treatment scheme" for cancer patients to provide them monetary assistance up to 2,396 U.S. dollars (INR 150,000) to cover treatment costs.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month laid the foundation of a cancer hospital in Mohali district of Punjab. Media reports quoted Singh as saying that the hospital would be able to attend to 10,000 new cancer cases and provide treatment to 40,000 old cases annually.
Based on information provided by government, an average of 18 people used to die daily during last five years because of cancer. However, people are saying that the situation now is much worse.
People in villages are suffering from breast, stomach, lung and cervical cancers. The disease is forcing poor villagers to incur debts for treatment of their family members. Some people have sold parcels of land and animals to pay for cancer treatment.
Some observers are saying that the surge in cancer in Punjab could be the trade-off for the state's remarkable success in agricultural production.
Punjab is considered as the food bowl of India. Its farmers, following the introduction of "Green Revolution," used chemical fertilizers and pesticides to help India double its farm yields.
With increasing yields India became a food exporter and was able to overcome its status as "a hungry nation" in the 1960s.
Studies show that extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides over the years has contaminated water sources, food and soil. The hazardous chemicals locals said have seeped into groundwater as well.
"Cancer is a multi-factorial disease," said Chandra Bhushan, the Deputy Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi. "There are several reasons for onset of cancer and one of those could be due to exposure to toxins and chemicals in the environment through various routes - air, water, food etc."
CSE is most influential public interest research institution in India.
In 2005, Punjab pollution control board and New Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found during their study that pesticide residues in blood samples of people in affected villages of Punjab.
Experts said pesticide exposure is one among many others that could possibly be linked to cancer.
"We found high amount of a cocktail of pesticides in human blood of residents of Bhatinda and near-by where pesticide use was known to be high," Bhushan said. "Exposure to farmers is acute or chronic while application and people in general can be affected by chronic exposure to pesticide-contaminated food."
Studies conducted on water quality of the villages across several districts in Punjab revealed increasing levels of pesticides and other heavy metals in it.
"We did not test ground water in Punjab for pesticides. However, we understand that pesticide on surface can possibly contaminate groundwater," Bhushan said.
New Zealand researchers call for Banning of junk food ads to fight childhood obesity
| English.news.cn 2014-02-07 12:25:59 |
WELLINGTON, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Manipulative marketing to children by multinational fast food merchants must be banned to effectively fight childhood obesity, New Zealand researchers said Friday.
Lead researcher Dr Gabrielle Jenkin, of the University of Otago, said most children and parents would be familiar with offers of free toys at McDonalds, slogans such as "Open happiness" with Coke, and the use of licensed characters such as Spiderman or Spongebob Squarepants to promote junk food.
"Such marketing has been proven to increase children's requests for the advertised foods, their food preferences and ultimately their diets. For example, free toys, discounts and competitions promote brand loyalty and repeat purchases," she said in a statement.
The researchers called for an outright ban on junk food advertising to children under 16, as had been done in Norway.
In the absence of a ban, new rules would need to be added to the advertising codes around the use of persuasive techniques, as had been done in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.
Jenkin said the ubiquitous marketing of energy-dense, nutrient- poor food and beverages had come under increasing public health scrutiny by international health organizations that had called on governments to monitor and address the problem.
In a study of persuasive marketing techniques on television, they found premium offers, the use of promotional characters, nutritional and health claims, and the themes of "taste" and "fun" were commonly used to promote unhealthy food to children.
"Addressing this issue would make a meaningful contribution to curbing the international obesity epidemic besieging children throughout the world," said Jenkin.
The World Health Organization had recommended the reduction of "both the exposure of children to, and the power of, marketing of foods," she said.
Tsipras: If I Get Elected…
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the leader of the Greek major opposition partyAlexis Tsipras revealed his future plans in the case that he is elected Greek prime minister.
Tsipras, who is currently paying a three-day visit to Italy in light of the upcoming EU elections, mentioned in the interview that 2014 will be an election year and revealed what his first actions as Greek PM would be.
“I would be reviewing the current bankrupt bailout package imposed on Greece and also the entire European policy on responding to the crisis,” he said, while underlining that the solution to the crisis would not be found with Greece exiting the eurozone.
The Greek politician also mentioned that he would seek help in Italy if he was to become head of the government in Greece, so as to combat Angela Merkel’s politics together with the other southern EU countries.
“What has happened since 2008 will be taught in business schools, so as to be prevented in the future. The crisis is the product of a monetary asymmetry. The European political establishment, which was backed by people’s parties and socialists, worsened the situation. But why did they do this? In order to save the banks which held state bonds belonging to countries with large debts,” said the SYRIZA leader, upon being asked about the European financial crisis.
Tsipras also talked about the need of a European “New Deal” and a new EU convention on debt modeled on the one of 1953, which wrote off a big chunk of Germany’s debt enabling the country to grow, and added, “The European Central Bank should act as a true central bank, like the Fed in the U.S., which lends money to states and not to banks.”
Referring to Golden Dawn, the Greek leader said that the party is a “political product of liberalism,” mentioning that it rose to power during the years of austerity.
giovedì 6 febbraio 2014
Development’s Missing Ingredient
How can we eradicate global poverty and deliver sustainable development for all?
That is the question that governments are now considering at the United Nations in the process that will determine the world’s post-2015 development priorities.
As head of a global network of foundations that provides almost $1 billion of funding every year to civil society groups around the world, I care about development very much. And I welcome the UN’s stated commitment that this process “should also promote peace and security, democratic governance, the rule of law, gender equality, and human rights for all.”
These are issues that are at the heart of our work at the Open Society Foundations, and they are vital to peace and development.
But when UN members drew up the current set of measurable global development targets in 2000, they didn’t include goals for the rule of law, or governance. The skeptics argued that these things were too political, they infringed on sovereignty, or they couldn’t be measured.
Now, we have an opportunity to change that. Together, we need to come together to persuade members of the UN General Assembly that development targets should involve not just access to education, healthcare, clean water, and other vital services, but also access to justice.
What does that mean? It means that anyone should know and be enabled to claim the protections and services due to them under the law, be it in a formal court, an administrative procedure or a community-based forum. It means that no one is left behind because they don’t have the right legal identity documents. It means that people should know about and play a role in shaping the laws and regulations that govern their lives, and that communities should have the power to manage their land and natural resources.
I am happy to join global leaders, development experts, and grassroots groups in endorsing a statement that sets out in more detail how these five principles can become measurable goals in the new global development framework. As UN members begin to prepare the first drafts of that new strategy for the world, this statement makes compelling reading.
It’s my hope that they hear this simple message: development needs justice.
domenica 2 febbraio 2014
Gioco d'azzardo riconosciuto come dipendenza
(Ln - Milano) "Il gioco d'azzardo patologico è ufficialmente riconosciuto in Lombardia come una dipendenza, al pari di altre piaghe sociali come la droga e l'alcolismo. Servono strumenti efficaci e radicati sul territorio per prevenirlo, ridurre il rischio di nuovi casi e fornire adeguata assistenza a chi già ne è colpito". Lo hanno detto gli assessori regionali Mario Mantovani (Salute, vice presidente) e Maria Cristina Cantù (Famiglia, Solidarietà sociale e Volontariato), annunciando l'approvazione in Giunta del 'Programma 2014 per il contrasto, la prevenzione e la riduzione del rischio della dipendenza da gioco d'azzardo patologico'.
LOMBARDIA CAPOLISTA PER SPESE PRO CAPITE SLOT - "Il programma, che secondo la legge regionale approvata lo scorso ottobre dovrà essere rinnovato ogni anno, - ha aggiunto l'assessore Cantù - riconosce l'aggravarsi del fenomeno della ludopatia, che causa preoccupanti ricadute economiche e sociali soprattutto sulle fasce più deboli della popolazione. In Lombardia, in particolare, si segnala una delle più alte spese pro capite nazionali per il gioco e una diffusione record delle cosiddette 'slot'".
ATTIVITÀ DI PREVENZIONE - "Per il contrasto alla ludopatia - ha spiegato l'assessore Mantovani - è previsto il coinvolgimento delle 15 Asl regionali e ci si avvale anche della partecipazione di associazioni di categoria e Comuni, che entreranno a far parte di un apposito gruppo di lavoro, con il compito, tra l'altro, di mappare con precisione il fenomeno in Lombardia". Le attività di prevenzione si collocheranno all'interno del Piano regionale delle dipendenze, con interventi diretti nelle scuole e di informazione mirata ai cittadini, agli esercenti e a chi, come la Polizia locale, sarà tenuto a far rispettare le nuove regole contenute nella legge.
SOSTEGNO E CURA DELLA LUDOPATIA - La seconda parte del programma è dedicata al sostegno delle persone con problema di dipendenza da gioco e delle loro famiglie, che potranno essere seguite direttamente dalle Asl, le quali si potranno inoltre avvalere del contributo fondamentale delle associazioni di volontariato.
I TRE PILASTRI DELLA LEGGE - L'assessore Viviana Beccalossi (Territorio, Urbanistica e Difesa del suolo), designata dal presidente Maroni, come team leader della legge sul contrasto al gioco d'azzardo patologico, ha precisato che "l'approvazione dei provvedimenti attuativi in campo socio-assistenziale segue di pochi giorni quelli urbanistici. Le nuove norme fissano in 500 metri la distanza minima per l'installazione di nuovi apparecchi da luoghi sensibili come ospedali, scuole, centri anziani, chiese e oratori. In dirittura d'arrivo anche il terzo pilastro previsto dalla legge regionale contro il gioco d'azzardo, quello della leva fiscale". Nei prossimi giorni, infatti, verrà fissata una riduzione dell'aliquota Irap per gli esercenti che decideranno di disinstallare gli apparecchi da gioco nei loro locali.
(Lombardia Notizie)
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