WHO Launches Campaign Urging Global Adoption Of Single-Use Syringes By 2020 February 23, 2015 News Summary BBC News: WHO urges shift to single-use smart syringes “Smart syringes that break after one use should be used for injections by 2020, the World Health Organization has announced. Reusing syringes leads to more than two million people being infected with diseases including HIV and hepatitis each year…” (Gallagher, 2/23).…
Air Pollution Slows Economic, Agricultural Growth, Cuts Lifespans In India, Study Says February 23, 2015 News Summary New York Times: Polluted Air Cuts Years Off Lives of Millions in India, Study Finds “More than half of India’s population lives in places with such polluted air that each person loses an average of 3.2 years in life expectancy, according to a recent study by researchers from the University…
Inclusion Of Persons With Disabilities In Post-2015 Development Agenda Fundamental, U.N. Experts Say February 23, 2015 News Summary U.N. News Agency: Rights of people with disabilities cannot be ignored in development agenda, U.N. experts “‘One billion people — 15 percent of the world’s population — are persons with disabilities, and their rights cannot be ignored,’ a group of United Nations human rights experts said [Friday], as they urged…
Small-Scale, Indigenous Food Systems Should Be Included In Sustainable Development Plans February 23, 2015 News Summary Inter Press Service: Indigenous Food Systems Should Be on the Development Menu “Overcoming hunger and malnutrition in the 21st century no longer means simply increasing the quantity of available food but also the quality. … Organized to reflect on this, among other issues, the second Global Meeting of the Indigenous…
Infrastructure Improvements, Agricultural Research Would Help Lower Food Waste, Study Shows February 23, 2015 News Summary Wall Street Journal: Better Infrastructure Would Cut Food Waste “…Reducing post-harvest waste by just 10 percentage points could lower food prices and prevent 60 million people from going hungry, [a recent study by the Copenhagen Consensus Center] says. That means building more reliable infrastructure so food gets to markets and…
HIV/AIDS Patients In Burkina Faso Face Potential Cuts To Food Aid, WFP Says February 23, 2015 News Summary Associated Press: Burkina Faso: Food aid shortage threatens HIV patients “Thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso could soon face cuts in food assistance because of a funding shortage, the World Food Programme has warned. The shortage threatens more than 12,000 patients and other people affected by HIV/AIDS,…
In Working Toward Zero Ebola Cases, World Must Prepare For Future Outbreaks February 23, 2015 News Summary New York Times: Finishing Off Ebola Ron Klain, former White House Ebola response coordinator “…[E]ven as America takes pride in the job we have done [in the Ebola response], it is also important to remember that the job is far from done. We must get to zero Ebola in West…
New York Times ‘Room For Debate’ Features Several Opinion Pieces Examining Use Of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Eliminate Dengue February 23, 2015 News Summary New York Times: Room for Debate: Can Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Eliminate Dengue Fever? Multiple authors “Dengue fever has become pandemic, its range expanding even to places like the Florida Keys where it hadn’t existed. One solution proposed in Florida and tried elsewhere, is to kill the mosquitoes that spread the…
India’s Government Must Address Country’s Air Pollution Problem February 23, 2015 News Summary New York Times: Cutting Through India’s Smog Editorial Board “Proof of the grave air pollution problem confronting India is seen not just in the suffocating smog that on many days crowds out the sun in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted city. It can be measured as well in the…
SDGs Present Opportunity To Address NTDs, Other ‘Lost Causes’ February 23, 2015 News Summary The Guardian: Will the SDGs be the last hope for lost causes? Dominic Haslam, director of policy and program strategy at Sightsavers “…Despite many NTDs being straightforward to prevent or treat and progress being made to treat more people than ever before, they are still rarely prioritized in global health…