the drop » Health & Nutrition

The (RED) ALERT for AIDS. Keep the Promise.

More than twenty-five million human beings have died of AIDS since the first case of HIV was reported in 1981: on average, over a million people a year every year for the past two and a half decades. So far in 2006, according to UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, 2.9 million people died of AIDS and 4.3 million more were infected with HIV. As of today, December 1, 2006 — the nineteenth annual WORLD AIDS DAY — there are 39.5 million men, women and children in the world living with HIV, of whom 63% (around 25 million) live in Africa south of the Sahara.
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The Most Polluted Places on Planet Earth

The international non-profit environmental action group, the Blacksmith Institute, last week released its rankings of the world’s most polluted places. Out of over 300 sites nominated by NGOs and local communities, 35 were identified by an advisory board of international environment and health experts as meriting special emphasis. Of these, ten locations were singled out for tragic infamy, ranked together as the Top 10 worst polluted places on the planet:

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Global Hunger Index/World Food Day

To coincide with World Food Day, the International Food Policy Research Institute published the 2006 Global Hunger Index. The index combines three measurements on child mortality, child malnutrition, and calorie deficiencies to provide a progress report dating back to 1981. In addition to noting improvements or a decline, the index looks at how well countries are allocating resources to solving hunger issues in comparison with the level of development.
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Abortion Ban Debate

The Fall issue of Ms. features the cover story â��We Had Abortions.

On November 7th, South Dakotans will vote on whether to ban abortion or not. The choice is whether to approve a sweeping ban on all abortions or not, an intentional provocation meant to set up a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. The law makes it a felony to perform any abortion except in a case of a pregnant woman’s life being in jeopardy.
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Violence Against Women Is A Violation Of Human Rights

WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women

The United Nations released a report late last week officially classifying violence against women as a human rights violation. From the Human Rights Watch press release:

“Human Rights Watch and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership welcomes the report that classifies abuse against women - whether it happens in the home or elsewhere - as a human rights violation. As such, states are obliged by international human rights standards to hold perpetrators accountable.”
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Ban on Underweight Models

30 percent of models participated last year were disqualified (Getty Images)

Madrid shocked the fashion world last week, not because of the clothes seen on the catwalks during Fashion Week, but because organizers put world’s first ban on overly thin models. The ban has caused outrage among modelling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues. Madrid’s regional government imposed weight restrictions in line with World Health Organization guidelines for healthy height-to-weight ratios used to calculate a person’s body mass index (BMI), which estimates the portion of fat in the body. “This is a great call to global action,” says Lynn Grefe, chief executive officer of the Seattle-based National Eating Disorders Association.
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Regulating What We Eat

NYC Board of Health proposes regulating trans fats in restaurants

As obesity and diabetes statistics are climbing steadily in the U.S., health experts are caught in between public policy makers and the food industry. The numbers have been debated and revised without any viable public health strategies developing. Yesterday, the New York City Board of Health voted to propose regulating the maximum amount of trans fats used in NYC restaurants. Stepping out of the obesity debate, the regulation is focused on reducing heart disease.

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“Are brands more powerful than governments?”

A post on the ‘Think Progress’ website shows a segment from a recent BBC report that revealed a “direct link between the tobacco companies and the claim that climate change isn’t happening.” In 1993 Philip Morris set up a grass roots coalition to “cast doubt on studies showing that second-hand tobacco smoke is dangerous for health.” In order not to raise suspicion that the company was involved, Philip Morris decided to “‘link the tobacco issue with other more politically correct products’ and campaign on issues like global warming.” The result was The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), which was the first and most important of the corporate-funded organisations denying that climate change is taking place. It has done more damage to the campaign to halt it than any other body.

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Reinventing School Lunch

Let's get the grease out of school lunches

In relation to my ASK YOURSELF Blog Post from August 28, ‘Where can I find open-source food?’ I came across an article by Micheal Ableman from the Center for EcoLiteracy on the Alternet site: “Imagine a world where students could plant, harvest and cultivate the foods they eat in their school cafeterias.” Here are some highlights from the article:
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Post-Katrina: New Orleans’ Culinary Heritage

As the rest of the world relives Katrina through the media’s one year after specials, New Orleans residents have been working through the aftermath, day by day. In last week’s New York Times, there’s an interesting glimpse into the attempts to preserve New Orleans’ culinary heritage, despite the everyday struggle.

Rebuilding recipe boxes, replacing cookbooks
The New Orleans Times Picayune Dining section has turned into a recipe exchange, where people looking for damaged and lost recipes can replace a part of their family history.
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ASK YOURSELF: “Where can I buy open-source food?”

This question was donated by Marco Steel, 28, of Berlin, Antigua and Barbuda. It reminded me of the recent documentary ‘We Feed the World’ by Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer, which offered some unappetizing answers to the question ‘what do we know about the food on our plates?’. Consumer Awareness is the key.
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Managing the World’s Water Resources

(Photo: Stockholm International Water Institute)

The successful WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Initiative dramatized the global water crisis by adapting a familiar nursery rhyme.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water:
After a drink of the water,
Jack died of cholera
and Jill from amoebic dysentery.

The problems of managing the world’s water resources and providing clean water will be revisited from August 20-26 during the World Water Week 2006 conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Cola Controversy in India

NGOs say colas contain high levels of pesticide in India. (AP)

Six Indian states have announced partial or complete bans on soft drinks after a report released by the non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSA) claimed that the drinks contain harmful pesticides. Five states have since announced partial bans on soft drinks in schools, colleges and hospitals, while the state of Southern Kerala has placed an outright ban on their production and sale.
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XVI International AIDS Conference - Toronto

The 26th International AIDS Conference starts today in Toronto, Canada and continues until August 18. Released to the press before the conference, a Human Rights Watch report notes that discriminatory HIV testing is on the rise. HRW’s statement cites a decrease in testing costs that has led to an increase in coercive and non-confidential HIV testing programs, which often do not provide prevention, education or treatment.
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Prosperity, Poverty and Personal Responsibility: The Causes of Obesity

Obesity in babies and children is becoming a global problem © www.fitnessworld.ca 2006

Scientists at Harvard have published the results of a study which shows that the percentage of babies suffering from obesity in the USA has gone up by nearly 2/3 since the early 1980s. They suggest that the increase is a result of poor eating habits in pregnant women and gestational diabetes. Breast feeding can help – babies who are breastfed are leaner on average than those who were fed formula milk from an earlier age. In Australia, researchers are looking for pregnant women with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more to participate in a project to determine how maternal nutrition affects newborns.
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Romanian HIV-Positive Teens Abused and Excluded

Romania has over 7,000 HIV+ children and teenagers

“My mother doesn’t treat me right. She beats me with a poker, and she hit my head against a stove… I spent two weeks living with a neighbor, and then my mother went to the police to tell them I ran away to hang out with boys and the police told me that I couldn’t leave home because I was sick. They said I couldn’t have a boyfriend or get married, I had to stay inside.”

This testimony of an 18 year-old HIV positive Romanian girl is one of many cited in a new report by Human Rights Watch.

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112 Free Voices: Andries Botha, sculptor of wisdom

“I decided to participate at the Table of Free Voices for two small reasons: (1) I consider it a rare opportunity to be with individuals who have committed their lives to contemplation and social justice. (2) To have the global community generate questions around issues that are deeply significant to them affords for us an opportunity not only to hear these but also to struggle to offer real and sincere answers to our struggling humanity.”

Internationally renowned sculptor and human rights activist Andries Botha has worked with both governmental and non-profit organizations to promote and preserve South African culture. In the early ’90s, he served as the National Visual Arts Chairperson for the newly elected democratic government.
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Relearning to Eat: Nutrition and Refugees

An Illinois state-funded program is helping resettled refugees adjust to eating responsibly in the United States, reports BBC News. Faced with overconsumption and overabundance, resettlers have problems finding familiar and healthy foods in their new American communities.
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112 Free Voices: Anuradha Mittal speaks out about economic injustice

“Is it fear that makes us move the way we do, as the Sufi poet Rumi says? Why are the lives of poor people and their livelihoods so expendable? Why is the rest of the world ‘the other’?”

Anuradha Mittal is one of the most eloquent and unflinching advocates of social and economic justice in the United States. Born in India, Mittal has written and spoken widely on human rights, food security, free trade, globalization, and foreign policy. She is the founder and director of The Oakland Institute, a California-based think tank that aims to “help bridge policy think tanks with activist networks and social movements”.
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features

Upgrading International Development, Part II

Upgrading International Development

Fighting Corruption: Bribe Payers Index 2006

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

A Look Behind the Prison Walls

The Homeless World Cup 2006

Reach Out and Finance Someone

Arundhati Roy asks herself: What form of resistance is effective and acceptable?

Iranian Bloggers Joined by President Ahmadinejad

Creating A New Universe

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