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  • DR & Central America Agree on Common Health, Pharma Policies/Programs

    Saturday, January 31st, 2009

    It doesn’t get much attention outside this corner of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), but the annual Meeting of the Health Sector of Central America and the Dominican Republic (Reunión del Sector Salud de Centro América y República Dominicana – RESSCAD) is quietly doing important work to change health policy among its seven member […]

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    Una nueva estrategia regional enfocada a la salud y el desarrollo de los adolescentes y jóvenes

    Saturday, October 4th, 2008

    Synopsis in English: The Health Ministers of the Americas, at the annual meeting of the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) top body, agreed to a 10-year regional new strategy and program to tackle issues in the health and development of adolescents and youth (ages 10-24).  The program is seen as an investment in the health […]

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    LAC Health Stats, Trends and Trivia

    Saturday, June 21st, 2008

    Which Latin American or Caribbean nation smokes or drinks the most? In which are you more likely to die from cancer than infectious diseases such as malaria or dengue? Which has the highest percentage of obese people? Which spends the most on the health of their citizens? If you you’ve ever wondered about such questions, […]

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    Trends in Adult Smoking in Mexico

    Monday, September 24th, 2007

    A recent article* published in Salud pública de México, the magazine of Mexico's National Institute of Public Health (INSP) examines trends in four key smoking indicators in Mexico, as revealed through its National Addiction Surveys (MNAS) conducted in 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2002. The author argues that, even though the data do not fit well […]

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    Peru Launches Anti-tobacco Program

    Friday, August 10th, 2007

    Synopsis in English: With much fanfare but few concrete details, Peru’s Health Ministry (MINSA) recently launched a five-year “National Plan to Combat Tobacco Addiction.” According to Health Minister Dr. Carlos Vallejos Sologuren, currently in Peru there are as many as 3.8 million smokers; 60.5% have tried tobacco smoking at least once in their life; the […]

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    Tobacco Use in Individuals with Severe Mental Illnesses / Tabagismo em indivíduos com transtornos mentais graves

    Sunday, July 29th, 2007

    A study* has just been published in the August edition of the Brazilian journal Revista de Saúde Pública (“Public Health Magazine”). I’m mentioning it here in the The Temas Blog out of the conviction that there will be some journalist somewhere (or perhaps many) who, perhaps to get senstional headlines, will misinterpret or mis-report this […]

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    Warped Priorities

    Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

    A snapshot of the cost of tobacco addiction in LAC: yesterday Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation (Fundação Getulio Vargas – FGV) released research results showing that Brazilian households now spend more on cigarettes than on rice and beans, the staple of the Brazilian diet.

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    Youth Smoking in Mexico / Tabaquismo y los jovenes en México

    Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

    Synopsis in English: The Mexican Youth Institute (IMJ), a government-backed body created in 1999 to focus on issues facing Mexicans between the ages of 12 and 29, has released in time for World No Tobacco Day (31 May) the tobacco-related results of a 2005 national survey of 12,000 Mexican youth regarding a wide variety of […]

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    Smoke Signals in Cali

    Sunday, May 27th, 2007

    Synopsis in English: Here’s a snapshot of just how bad tobacco dependence is in some parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Late last week the Municipal Secretary of Health for Colombia’s second largest city, Cali (pop. 2.2 million), released the results of a recent study on risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases conducted […]

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