Submitted by Blog Moderator on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 11:33am
October 13 marks the International Day for Disaster Reduction. On this day, we at USAID pause to reflect on everything done to prevent or reduce the damage caused by natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and storms. This year, together with the international community, we pay extra attention to the role played by women and girls around the world to keep their loved ones safe from harm, not just today or tomorrow, but every day.
As executive director of UNAIDS from 1994 to 2008, I was privileged to have a front row seat at one of the great global health struggles of modern times. Although our work against AIDS is far from finished, we have stabilized the pandemic and started to imagine a world without AIDS.
Unfortunately, the same is not true of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes, which cause nearly two out of three deaths in the world (80 percent of those in developing countries).
We live on a planet where 925 million people are hungry, and 1.4 billion are overweight.
Both of these horrifying situations have to do with food insecurity. For many years, most people thought of food insecurity as being about hunger caused by an insufficient quantity of food, but this is no longer always the case.
Increasingly, programs must include those who are getting excess energy and insufficient vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber from the wrong kinds of food or an imbalanced diet.
As world leaders make their way to New York this month to attend the United Nations General Assembly, we call on them to renew their commitments to combating noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Tackling NCDs with a woman-centered focus is a critical step towards reaching all development goals.
Recently in Bangladesh, some agricultural farmers showed their agitation against the government by through tons of paddy in the main road of capital city. The cause of their grief was that, they couldn’t make profit by selling paddy due to the high production costs and also excess production of paddy in this year. In last winter some vegetable farmers also through tons of tomato in the roads of several cities of Bangladesh due to same cause. When supplies of paddy exceed the demand then the farmers fall in a big trouble, their production become loosing concern!!!
Because five just aren’t enough! Earlier this week, Mashable hosted its annual Social Good Summit at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. This three-day conference is a forum where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions for social problems. Held during UN Week from September 22-24, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic lung diseases and diabetes – four of the biggest killers among the group together known as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – have emerged as one of the greatest social and economic development challenges of this century. From a global health perspective, NCDs now account for more deaths every year than AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and all other causes combined – they result in roughly two out of three deaths worldwide.
This November 27th will be the first #givingtuesday in America (and perhaps elsewhere), a new national day focused on getting everyone – individuals and organizations alike – to make a fresh commitment to give.
In 2008 Malita Chimwemwe was 6 years old living in the remote village of Mayaka. Her family was hit by chronic poverty and HIV/AIDs. Malita was in first grade at the local primary school but was speech-impaired. She was lucky; her village was part of Save the Children’s early childhood development (ECD) sponsorship program and through this program, Malita attended a community-based center where she was given speech training. Government-supported community health workers provided Malita’s family with medical assistance.
