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« Previous Entries Next Entries »Ceará Limits Public Smoking
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009Today Ceará (CE) became the latest Brazilian state (after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) to severely restrict smoking in public areas. The governor signed a law that prohibits smoking any product, whether derived from tobacco or not, in “collective enclosures” except in segregated areas that have a physical barrier separating them from nonsmokers with […]
Brazil Launches Unparalled Study of Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009Diseases of the circulatory system are the leading cause of death in Brazil. According to the Health Ministry (MS) there are 300,000 deaths and over one million hospitalizations per year, and hypertension and diabetes mellitus are major risk factors. Hypertension affects approximately 35% of the Brazilian population over the age of 40 years and of […]
Improving Water Supply and Sanitation Services for the Urban Poor
Thursday, August 20th, 2009I’ve discussed in the past here on The Temas Blog some of the challenges Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) faces in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water supply and sanitation (here, here, here and here), particularly in providing these services to the region’s poor. The Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP), a multi-donor […]
A Smokeless Rio?
Monday, August 17th, 2009If you’ve ever been to Rio de Janeiro (RJ), you know that it’s not exactly a nonsmoker’s paradise. Despite all the health warnings and studies issued over the years, quite a bit of smoking still occurs in public places within the state. Not for much longer. Or at least that’s the stated legislative intent of […]
Brazil Producing Generic Version of Tamiflu
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009Synopsis in English: Brazil’s Pharmaceutical Technology Institute (commonly known by its old name, Farmanguinhos), a subsidiary of the state-run public health entity Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (“Fiocruz“), has started producing capsules of oseltamivir phosphate, the generic version of the marketed by pharma multinational Roche as Tamiflu, for distribution by the Health Ministry (MS) to reference hospitals […]
Supreme Court: Comprehensive Clean Up of the River Plate, Not Piecemeal
Friday, July 31st, 2009Argentina’s Supreme Court, in a case initiated in 2003 by the Municipality of Berazategui against Aguas Argentinas SA (now known as Aguas y Saneamientos Argentinos SA – AySA) and the national government, has annulled an injunction issued by the Federal Appeals Court of La Plata ordering the construction — within eighteen months — of a […]
Trinidad and Tobago Takes the Caribbean Lead in Tobacco Control
Friday, July 31st, 2009Trinidad and Tobago’s Health Minister presented a pretty tough tobacco control bill in Parliament the other day, and seems confident it will emerge as a law in just a few months with little watering down. It appears that Trinidad and Tobago will take the lead in CARICOM’s recent pledge to ban smoking in public places […]
Colombia’s Surprising New Tobacco Control Law
Friday, July 24th, 2009Colombia has just passed a law on tobacco that is, well, surpising, given the language of the original bill and how strongly the industry lobby fought against against any amendments to toughen it. Among other things, the new law: bans sales to minors of any tobacco product, and requires vendors to check for proof of […]
Nutrition Labeling for Airline Food in Brazil?
Thursday, July 16th, 2009Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry (MPF) has “recommended” to all Brazilian airline companies* to comply with Law 10.674 (requiring consumers to be informed whether foods contain gluten or not) and existing National Sanitary Vigilance Agency (Anvisa) regulations on nutrition labeling (Resolutions RDC 359/03 and 360/03) within the next 30 days. The Anvisa regulations impose mandatory nutrition […]
A New Initiative on Chagas / Nova iniciativa sobre Doença de Chagas
Saturday, July 11th, 2009From Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi): Forgotten and with few treatment options, Chagas debilitates and kills 100 years since Chagas disease was discovered, DNDi launches an international campaign “Wake Up. Time to Treat Chagas Disease!” with a call for better medicines and treatment of patients. One hundred years after the discovery of Chagas disease, […]