Wednesday Video: WHO- Global Noncommunicable Disease Network

WHO: Global Noncommunicable Disease Network

A short video produced for the launch by WHO of a network of organizations and experts from around the world to scale up action to combat noncommunicable diseases. The new Global Noncommunicable Disease Network (NCDnet) will strengthen global partnerships and help governments plan and implement measures to reduce the burden of these diseases. The Network will unite currently fragmented efforts by bringing the cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes and respiratory communities together with tobacco control, healthy diets and physical activity advocates.


For more information:

http://www.who.int/topics/chronic_dis...

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Wednesday Video: Non-communicable diseases -- why should we be worried?

Non-communicable diseases -- why should we be worried?

Nearly 70% of the world's population dies from non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Health Sciences student Hannah Burgess asks the Liggins Institute's Professor Sir Peter Gluckman what we can do about the problem.

Find out more about the Liggins Institute: http://www.liggins.auckland.ac.nz
Find out more about LENScience - bringing students and scientists together: http://www.lenscience.auckland.ac.nz

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Evidence-based guidance on nutrition

WHO

WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) subgroup on diet and health

The WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) subgroup on diet and health has just closed its 6th meeting which was held at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen, Denmark. The NUGAG was established in 2010 to implement the new guideline development process and has met regularly since its establishment.

NUGAG consists of scientists and experts from various areas, representing all WHO regions. The subgroup focuses on updating the dietary goals for the prevention of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

Contributing to the implementation of the political declarations of the United Nations high-level meeting on NCDs and the "WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020", the main objectives of this meeting were:

1. to review the updated systematic reviews and asses the available evidence on saturated fatty acids (SFA) and trans-fatty acids (TFA);
2. to update the recommendations on SFA and TFA for the prevention of NCDs;
3. to review the issues related to replacement of SFA and TFA as public health measures related to diet, nutrition and health.

The meeting and its outcomes are important steps toward the implementation of the WHO agenda on NCDs.

From, WHO

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Equity, education and health

7–9 October, Odense, Denmark

• Health promotion in schools improves learning – what action can we take?
• Equal opportunities – how can schools contribute?
• Policies work – why don’t we use them?
• Interventions are more successful in well-off children – how can we extend the benefits to other children?
• Better education, more equity, better health – what is schools’ role in achieving these?

These are some of the issues to be addressed at the 4th European Conference on Health Promoting Schools, held in Odense, Denmark. The Conference focuses on equity, education and health, and equity’s links with sustainability, social inclusion, innovation and change. It aims to consolidate, strengthen and support the sharing of research, policy and practice related to school-based health promotion across Europe, and outline what can be done to promote equity in health and education.

The 250 Conference participants include decision-makers, researchers and practitioners from the health, education and social sectors; government, nongovernmental, local and youth organizations; and academic institutions.

Research findings on child health and educational achievement

• Overall child health status affects educational performance and attainment.
• Evidence indicates that smoking or poor nutrition has a greater negative effect on educational outcomes than alcohol consumption or drug use.
• Initial research has found that physical exercise has a significant positive impact on academic performance.
• Obesity and overweight are associated negatively with educational outcomes.
• Sleeping disorders can hinder academic performance.

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Conference website

Press release – Healthy children learn best

7-10-2013

Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)

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New PhD Opportunity in NCDs, for Eastern Mediterranean Region Candidates

A new PhD project and scholarship for a suitable candidate from the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) to join the Global Health Research Group at the Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh.

The link to the advertisement is:

http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=48736

The candidate must have strong quantitative skills and have worked in a health related area within a key EMR country that has high quality of published epidemiological data in the local language or in English (e.g. Iran, Qatar, UAE).

Attached resources:

•  

  WCLS_Agenda_9Oct2013.pdf (download, 332.2 KB)

•  

  Grant_Award_YLI_2013.pdf (download, 574.8 KB)

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Announcement: Global Health Hospitalist position -- Harvard Medical School & Nyaya Health

Nyaya Health and Harvard Medical School are excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for a position that will be divided half-time between the Brigham & Women's Hospital (Boston, USA) and Bayalpata Hospital (Achham, Nepal). This is an ideal position for an Internal Medicine or Medicine/Pediatrics-trained physician interested in launching a career in global health hospital medicine and medical education. While in Boston, the candidate will serve as an associate physician at Brigham & Women's Hospital -- a Harvard University teaching hospital. In Achham, the candidate will be responsible for programmatic development, medical education of Nepali clinical staff, quality improvement initiatives, and implementation research regarding best practices for healthcare in resource-poor settings.

Applications will be accepted from August 26th, 2013 on a rolling basis. The interview and hiring process will be finalized by October, 2013. Start date will be July, 2014, and minimum contractual agreements will be for one year (12 months); however, longer contractual agreements are preferred.

For more information about the position, please see attached, or: http://bit.ly/16vvWf9
For additional information about Nyaya Health and Bayalpata Hospital: http://www.nyayahealth.org
For additional information about the Brigham & Women's Hospital: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/

Interested applicants should send a cover letter and CV to hospitalist@nyayahealth.org

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Global Health Hospitalist Fellowship

Global Health Hospitalist Fellowship

Started by Vince DeGennaro on 13 Aug 2013

University of Florida Global Health-Hospitalist Fellowship

In July 2014, the University of Florida and Project Medishare will begin the Global Health-Hospitalist Fellowship. Project Medishare is a medical service delivery and public health non-profit organization. We are looking for internal or family medicine doctors interested in spending one or two years learning the skills for a career in global health and hospitalist medicine.

Clinical Work: The fellowship will be one or two years in duration, with the fellows spending six months of each year as Hospitalists in the growing and dynamic University of Florida Division of Hospital Medicine at UF Health. The other six months will be spent in Haiti with Project Medishare.

Education: Fellows will receive instruction through the Department of Epidemiology classes and complete a Global Health Certificate by the end of two years. During the optional second year, fellows will attend a two-month course for a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in either Peru or Uganda/Tanzania.

Research: Fellows will work on Project Medishare’s public health grants throughout the fellowship and are expected to present at a conference or publish by the end of the fellowship.

Teaching: The fellows will serve as faculty for residents and medical school students when they are in Haiti, and they will have teaching opportunities while at UF Health as well.

Benefits: Fellows will have Adjunct Clinical Post Doctorate appointments at the University of Florida and commensurate salary.

Requirements
--Internal Medicine or Family Medicine, Board-eligible or Board-certified
--Proficiency in French or Haitian Creole preferred
--Prior global health experience preferred
--Adaptable, flexible, and good communicator
--Strong clinical skills
--Willingness to live in Haiti six months of the year

If you’re interested, please send a CV, a brief personal statement, and a letter of recommendation to the email below. Acceptance is on a rolling basis and the deadline for applications is September 30, 2103.

Vincent DeGennaro, MD, MPH
Medical Director of Global Health-Hospitalist Fellowship, University of Florida
Vincent.DeGennaroJr@medicine.ufl.edu

From, ghdonline.org

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Part 3 of the HBO Weight of the Nation

Part 3 of the HBO Weight of the Nation

For more information on The Weight of the Nation, visit http://hbo.com/theweightofthenation.

Connect with The Weight of the Nation on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theweightofthenation

Talking about it on Twitter? Follow @WeightoftheNtn and use #weightofthenation.

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Obesity: The little things

In this animated video, we follow a character that comes to the realization that he's become overweight due to making poor choices.

 He blames his achy joints and feeling winded on his age. When he realizes his weight is affecting his quality of life, he begins to make small changes in order to drop the extra weight.

Learn more at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/publi... or www.hhs.gov/onepoundatatime.

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EPHA highlights Vienna Declaration to combat diet-related, non-communicable diseases

European Health Ministers adopt Vienna Declaration to combat diet-related, non-communicable diseases

but chose a safe watered-down path through voluntary regulations and weak commitment to breastfeeding

At the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Context of Health 2020, held in Vienna, Austria on 4-5 July 2013, European Ministers of Health renewed their commitment to fight the obesity and poor nutrition-related rise in non-communicable diseases by adopting a declaration calling for evidence-based solutions from across the Region - the so-called Vienna Declaration. One might think that with soaring levels of obesity - especially among the child population - innovative and brave solutions would be called on, such as though legislations, strong push towards exclusive breastfeeding or putting better nutrition at heart of agriculture and food supply chain. Instead, the Declaration seem to be ’yet another safe watered-down path’ not to anger the industry responsible for the problem in the first place.

The Vienna Declaration on Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) in the Context of Health 2020 underlines the importance of cooperation across sectors: involving not only health but also other ministries in initiatives ranging from food-product reformulation and labelling, to school meals and international trade. It builds on the commitments of the 2006 European Charter on Counteracting Obesity and the new WHO Policy Framework - Health 2020.

The ministers pledged to improve monitoring of the impact of the problem, and to act more effectively to address the root causes of obesity and to inform and empower their citizens to make healthy choices. The actions they explored included:

 reducing the pressure of marketing on children to consume foods high in fat, sugar and salt;

 reducing NCDs by addressing priority concerns such as excessive intake of energy, saturated and trans fats, free sugars and salt, as well as low consumption of vegetables and fruit;

 development of a new food and nutrition action plan, as well as a physical activity strategy;

 promoting the health gains of a healthy diet throughout the life-course, especially for the most vulnerable by investing in nutrition from the first stages of life, starting from before and during pregnancy, protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, followed by healthy eating in the family and school environments during childhood, adolescence and the elderly;

 ensuring that the food industry is less a part of the problem and truly contributes to its solution, using an appropriate blend of regulation and voluntary agreements;

 monitoring, surveillance, evaluation and research more intensively key issues such as overweight and obesity – conditions that affect almost 30% of children wherever they are measured in Europe – across different groups in society;

 fostering healthier food choices through such means as innovations in labelling, pricing and reformulating products and in the promotion of shorter farm-to-table food chains that make local produce affordable and accessible;

 reinforcing health systems to promote health and to provide services for NCDs;

 strenghtening governance, alliances and networks and empowering communities to engage in health promotion and prevention efforts.

Re-affirming status quo of the ongoing actions and political take on the issue of poor nutrition and diet-related NCDs, the Declaration could have put a stronger emphasis on the following issues: (1) maternal health and nutrition and exclusive breastfeeding - in line with the WHO recommendations and as an explicit counter-act to intrusive advertising and marketing of baby-milk and foods in direct competition with breastmilk; (2) synergies between nutrition and food systems and agriculture, climate change, environment, trade and justice, inter alia; (3) food and nutrition poverty as well as the ongoing economic crisis and poverty and exclusion-related determinants of nutrition and NCDs. Compared to the draft Declaration, the final text was scrapped clean from any specific mentioning of which NCDs were actually meant - supposedly counting on universal recognition and agreement on NCDs. No clear timeline or figures were mentioned in terms of by when and by how much any specific targets are to be achieved. Therefore, the Declaration fell short of any sense of urgency and seriousness of the problem and its burdersome consequences for our societies and individuals. Last but not least, for largely vague reasons an issue of ’exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life’ was removed piece by piece, squeezed into an insignificant and of no political meaning paragraph, and those who were there to represent and protect health of citizens, their current and future children approved.

Seizing the opportunity a range of health organisations issued a statement in support of actions towards better food and nutrition policies in Europe, and complement the Declaration with some more concrete ideas.

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 [WHO website] Vienna conference on nutrition and noncommunicable diseases.

 Vienna Declaration on Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Context of Health 2020

From epha.org

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