An Andean Medicines Policy
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Last Friday the 30th Meeting of the Health Ministers of the Andean Area (RMSAA) agreed on other important health measures — a coordinated epidemiological surveillance system, joint plans to combat HIV/AIDS, protect health in border areas and to combat child malnutrition — but the one that caught my eye was the new Andean Medicines Policy. […]
Promoting TV Reuse Instead of Recycling in Mexico
Sunday, March 1st, 2009From Retroworks: American Retroworks Inc. adopts novel approach to criticism of CRT reuse at its facility in Mexico. “Exchange Program” pays Mexicans for bringing in one junk CRT for each refurbished sale. For sale in Latin America – tested, refurbished, black 2001 brand name TV, 27″, only $40. Or, bring in an old junky clunker, […]
Economic Growth Model is Rapidly Transforming/Degrading the Amazon
Thursday, February 19th, 2009From the UN Environment Programme (UNEP): A Strong Impact is Made on the Amazonia by its Economic Growth Model However, responses by the governments of Amazonian countries indicate that efforts are under way on concrete action to deal with their environmental challenges. The population is increasing, reaching a level of 33.5 million inhabitants in 2007. […]
Eradicating an Ancient Disease
Monday, January 26th, 2009Leprosy. What images does that word invoke for you? The stories of ostracized lepers from the Bible, Torah or Koran? The scenes involving isolated “leper colonies” from Papillon or Motorcycle Diaries? How much do you know about it? Is it very contagious? (No.) Is it curable? (Yes.) Hasn’t it disappeared except for isolated communities in […]
The Ecoclubs Movement in Latin America and the Caribbean
Friday, January 2nd, 2009A couple of years back, while I was working on a series of posts for the Green Team about Dominican cities attempting to come to grips with their litter problems, I ran into some local news posts about how the mayor of La Vega attributed some of his success in cleaning up that city to […]
$14 mil. to Sustainably Manage the Caroni River Watershed / US$14 millones para un el manejo sostenible de la cuenca del río Caroní
Thursday, January 1st, 2009Venezuela and the IDB have signed a $14 million loan for a program to sustainably manage the Caroní River watershed. Venezuela’s environment ministry will carry out the project, which will focus on strengthening institutions charged with managing the Caroní River watershed, protecting land rights and improving living conditions for local communities, including indigenous ones in […]
MERCOSUR Adopts Guidelines on Promotion, Advertising & Marketing of Pharmaceuticals
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008I’ve said here many times that Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations tend to take seriously the recommendations, guidelines and other soft norms of the World Health Organization (WHO) on any issue involving public health and/or the environment, and I’ve tried to provide a few examples where WHO work has translated into national laws and […]
Progress Towards the Health MDGs in LAC / Progreso hacia los ODM relacionado con la salud en ALC
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008Recently 14 United Nations (UN) agencies* released a report (English, Spanish) reviewing the status of efforts of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations toward meeting the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report addresses the following health-specific MDGs: reducing the under-five mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015; reducing the maternal mortality ratio by […]
Outlook for “Green Jobs” / Prognóstico para “empleos verdes”
Monday, December 15th, 2008While the idea of creating a “green economy” with “green jobs” has been around quite a while, it really started to gain serious consideration as the climate change debate heated up, and recently moved front-and-center during the US presidential elections and the debates about how best to respond to the global financial crisis (here, here, […]
Malaria in LAC: No Time to Relax / Paludismo en ALC: No es la hora para relajar
Thursday, December 11th, 2008When the World Health Organization (WHO) released the first-ever World Malaria Report (English, Spanish, French) in September, I read through it with the intention of doing a post an update to my 2007 post on malaria in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), complete with the appropriate charts and graphs from the report that you’ve […]
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