Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in several Swiss cities against climate change, the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS reported. 

 

Around 50,000 marched in all, the news agency estimated, including 15,000 in Zurich and up to 9,000 in the capital, Bern, and in Lausanne. 

 

“It’s about knowing if finally we want to listen to the voice of science,” high school student Jan Burckhardt told ATS. 

 

“Save the climate, please: It’s the last time we ask politely,” read one of the placards at the Lausanne demonstration, an AFP photographer saw. 

 

The marches were organized by an alliance of activist groups in Switzerland, including Greenpeace, Swiss Youth for Climate and green groups.  

 

“We don’t want to stop our movement as long as our claims have not been heard, as long as we have not obtained concrete results,” said Laurane Conod, one of the organizers of a smaller march in Geneva. 

 

The climate change protests in Switzerland were in part inspired by the teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who started weekly school strikes calling for policy change on the climate issue.
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Belize approved a plan Friday to set aside 10 percent of its territorial waters as a protected area, tripling the size of existing reserves in the world’s second largest barrier reef, according to an environmental group.

The major expansion of the small Caribbean island’s protected areas follows a six-year effort by international scientists and conservation groups led by Belizeans, the Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement.

The coalition found zones that can protect marine habitat and allow for recovery of degraded ecosystems, while helping replenish fish stocks, the EDF said.

Coral reefs, diverse marine ecosystems formed from tiny organisms, have faced intensifying stress worldwide from rising ocean temperatures compounded by overfishing, pollution and tourism.

Scientists say they are key barometers of global warming.

The Belize government did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation of the move.

‘Critical condition’

Parts of the Belize reef, a World Heritage Site, are in “critical condition,” according to a 2018 report from environmental group Healthy Reef for Healthy People.

But a 2017 decision to ban offshore oil and gas activities was a step toward its possible removal from the World Heritage Site’s “in danger” list, the group said.

“A healthy reef and vibrant fisheries sector is necessary for Belize to achieve its goals for reducing poverty, improving food security and nutrition and increasing investment,” said Belize Fisheries Administrator Beverly Wade in the EDF statement.

Katie McGinty, EDF’s Senior Vice President for Oceans at Environmental Defense Fund, called Friday’s expansion of protected sites a “remarkable accomplishment that is setting an example for the rest of the world.”
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Belize approved a plan Friday to set aside 10 percent of its territorial waters as a protected area, tripling the size of existing reserves in the world’s second largest barrier reef, according to an environmental group.

The major expansion of the small Caribbean island’s protected areas follows a six-year effort by international scientists and conservation groups led by Belizeans, the Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement.

The coalition found zones that can protect marine habitat and allow for recovery of degraded ecosystems, while helping replenish fish stocks, the EDF said.

Coral reefs, diverse marine ecosystems formed from tiny organisms, have faced intensifying stress worldwide from rising ocean temperatures compounded by overfishing, pollution and tourism.

Scientists say they are key barometers of global warming.

The Belize government did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation of the move.

‘Critical condition’

Parts of the Belize reef, a World Heritage Site, are in “critical condition,” according to a 2018 report from environmental group Healthy Reef for Healthy People.

But a 2017 decision to ban offshore oil and gas activities was a step toward its possible removal from the World Heritage Site’s “in danger” list, the group said.

“A healthy reef and vibrant fisheries sector is necessary for Belize to achieve its goals for reducing poverty, improving food security and nutrition and increasing investment,” said Belize Fisheries Administrator Beverly Wade in the EDF statement.

Katie McGinty, EDF’s Senior Vice President for Oceans at Environmental Defense Fund, called Friday’s expansion of protected sites a “remarkable accomplishment that is setting an example for the rest of the world.”
…

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Japan’s space agency said its Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully dropped an explosive designed to make a crater on an asteroid and collect its underground samples to find possible clues to the origin of the solar system.

Friday’s crater mission is the riskiest for Hayabusa2, as it had to immediately get away so it won’t get hit by flying shards from the blast. 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said that Hayabusa2 dropped a “small carry-on impactor” made of copper onto the asteroid Friday morning, and that data confirmed the spacecraft safely evacuated and remained intact. JAXA is analyzing data to examine if or how the impactor made a crater.

The copper explosive is the size of a baseball weighing 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds). It was designed to come out of a cone-shaped piece of equipment. A copper plate on its bottom was to turn into a ball during its descent and slam into the asteroid at 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) per second. 

JAXA plans to send Hayabusa2 back to the site later, when the dust and debris settle, for observations from above and to collect samples from underground that have not been exposed to the sun or space rays. Scientists hope the samples will be crucial to determine the history of the asteroid and our planet. 

If successful, it would be the first time for a spacecraft to take such materials. In a 2005 “deep impact” mission to a comet, NASA observed fragments after blasting the surface but did not collect them.

After dropping the impactor, the spacecraft was to move quickly to the other side of the asteroid to avoid flying shards from the blast. While moving away, Hayabusa2 also left a camera to capture the outcome. One of its first photos showed the impactor being successfully released and headed to the asteroid.

“So far, Hayabusa2 has done everything as planned, and we are delighted,” said mission leader Makoto Yoshikawa. “But we still have more missions to achieve and it’s too early for us to celebrate with ‘banzai.”’ 

Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on a tiny flat surface on the boulder-rich asteroid in February, when the spacecraft also collected some surface dust and small debris. The craft is scheduled to leave the asteroid at the end of 2019 and bring surface fragments and underground samples back to Earth in late 2020.

The asteroid, named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale, is about 300 million kilometers (180 million miles) from Earth.
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U.S. health officials say that between January and March, 387 cases of measles have been reported in 15 states, exceeding the count for all of last year. In 2018, 372 cases were reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Public health authorities worry about outbreaks in communities where vaccination rates are low, fueled by a growing movement of people who view the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella as dangerous. The measles component of the vaccine has been in widespread use since the 1960s, and medical experts say the MMR vaccine is safe and highly effective.

“We have growing pockets of susceptibility,” said epidemiologist Arthur Reingold of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, as the virus is carried from regions where measles is more widespread. “When we do have someone travel from New York to Israel or from Europe to Disneyland or whatever you envision, we have the opportunity for much larger outbreaks.” 

Measles deaths declined worldwide from 550,000 in 2000 to 110,000 in 2017. Public health officials say the vaccine is the reason. The World Health Organization says measles immunizations prevented 21 million deaths between 2000 and 2017.

The organization says more than 95 percent of such deaths occur in countries with low per capita incomes and poor health infrastructure. 

In 2017, however, 20 million infants did not receive at least one of the recommended two doses of the measles vaccine, putting their communities at risk. India, Pakistan and Nigeria are among the countries with large concentrations of unvaccinated children.

In the United States, where the inoculations are widely available, anti-vaccine sentiment has led to children at risk of contracting measles. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.

The anti-vaccine movement gained momentum when a 1998 study — which was later retracted — linked autism, a developmental disability, to the MMR vaccine that inoculates against measles, mumps and rubella. 

Repeated studies have shown no link between vaccines and autism, says infectious disease expert Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

“The scientific community responded with studies involving hundreds of thousands of children,” he said. “And we’ve clearly shown that children who get the MMR vaccine are no more likely to get autism than children who don’t.” He added that children with autism were no more likely to have received the vaccine than those without the condition.

This issue is personal for Hotez, whose grown daughter has autism. He has laid out his evidence in the book “Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism.”

Critics are unconvinced. “Nobody can scientifically say whether the MMR is actually causing more harm than measles, mumps and rubella,” maintains Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an activist attorney. “The reason for that is, like other vaccines,” he said, “it’s not required to be safety tested.”

It is true that vaccines have not been subjected to double-blind tests, medical experts say, tracking children who have received the vaccine against others who have not, with parents unaware of which children were vaccinated. The experts say that in the United States, measles typically kills one in 1,000 who contract it, and mortality is far higher in the developing world, so a controlled trial would put many children at risk.

Major medical groups and public health agencies agree, says epidemiologist Arthur Reingold.

The “CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) or ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices), WHO or the American Academy of Pediatrics are all in total agreement about the benefits of vaccination against measles and other diseases radically outweighing any conceivable risks,” he said.

The CDC says that study after study has verified the safety of the measles vaccine, and that the risk of severe allergic reaction is one in a million.

Growing numbers of unvaccinated children have given measles a foothold in the United States and Europe, however. Vulnerable communities include tightly knit or isolated groups, for example, of the Amish in Ohio, Orthodox Jews in New York, and eastern European immigrants in Washington State. 

California, Mississippi and West Virginia have responded by refusing exemptions from vaccination, except for medical reasons. Forty-seven states allow broader exemptions.

“Of those 47,” Hotez said, “there are 18 that also allow non-medical exemptions for reasons of personal or philosophical belief, and that’s where the battleground is.” 

He says misinformation about vaccine safety is spread on the web and through books sold on Amazon, while medical experts face more difficulty in having their message heard.

“We’re looking at over 500 anti-vaccine websites that are out there,” he said, adding that each of them is “amplified on Facebook and other forms of social media.” 

Hotez says vaccine opponents tailor their message by region.

“So with Texas, they see the soft underbelly being the far political right, the Tea Party, and they use Tea Party language,” he said. “Up in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington State or Oregon, they might use language of the far left.”

Kennedy says the CDC works hand in hand with the industry and hides the risks.

“The parents should know more about what’s good for that child than corrupted regulatory agencies and big pharmaceutical companies,” he said.

Medical experts worldwide say the MMR vaccine is essential for public health because measles is highly contagious and potentially deadly, and one infected person may infect three others. 

“Then, each of those three people might infect three other people,” said Arthur Reingold. “And then another generation after that. Each of those people might infect some other people, and we could end up having sustained transmission.” 

Health experts say that could bring a return to conditions of decades ago, when measles killed millions of children each year around the world.
…

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U.S. health officials say that between January and March, 387 cases of measles have been reported in 15 states, exceeding the count for all of last year. In 2018, 372 cases were reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Public health authorities worry about outbreaks in communities where vaccination rates are low, fueled by a growing movement of people who view the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella as dangerous. The measles component of the vaccine has been in widespread use since the 1960s, and medical experts say the MMR vaccine is safe and highly effective.

“We have growing pockets of susceptibility,” said epidemiologist Arthur Reingold of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, as the virus is carried from regions where measles is more widespread. “When we do have someone travel from New York to Israel or from Europe to Disneyland or whatever you envision, we have the opportunity for much larger outbreaks.” 

Measles deaths declined worldwide from 550,000 in 2000 to 110,000 in 2017. Public health officials say the vaccine is the reason. The World Health Organization says measles immunizations prevented 21 million deaths between 2000 and 2017.

The organization says more than 95 percent of such deaths occur in countries with low per capita incomes and poor health infrastructure. 

In 2017, however, 20 million infants did not receive at least one of the recommended two doses of the measles vaccine, putting their communities at risk. India, Pakistan and Nigeria are among the countries with large concentrations of unvaccinated children.

In the United States, where the inoculations are widely available, anti-vaccine sentiment has led to children at risk of contracting measles. The disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000.

The anti-vaccine movement gained momentum when a 1998 study — which was later retracted — linked autism, a developmental disability, to the MMR vaccine that inoculates against measles, mumps and rubella. 

Repeated studies have shown no link between vaccines and autism, says infectious disease expert Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

“The scientific community responded with studies involving hundreds of thousands of children,” he said. “And we’ve clearly shown that children who get the MMR vaccine are no more likely to get autism than children who don’t.” He added that children with autism were no more likely to have received the vaccine than those without the condition.

This issue is personal for Hotez, whose grown daughter has autism. He has laid out his evidence in the book “Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism.”

Critics are unconvinced. “Nobody can scientifically say whether the MMR is actually causing more harm than measles, mumps and rubella,” maintains Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an activist attorney. “The reason for that is, like other vaccines,” he said, “it’s not required to be safety tested.”

It is true that vaccines have not been subjected to double-blind tests, medical experts say, tracking children who have received the vaccine against others who have not, with parents unaware of which children were vaccinated. The experts say that in the United States, measles typically kills one in 1,000 who contract it, and mortality is far higher in the developing world, so a controlled trial would put many children at risk.

Major medical groups and public health agencies agree, says epidemiologist Arthur Reingold.

The “CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) or ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices), WHO or the American Academy of Pediatrics are all in total agreement about the benefits of vaccination against measles and other diseases radically outweighing any conceivable risks,” he said.

The CDC says that study after study has verified the safety of the measles vaccine, and that the risk of severe allergic reaction is one in a million.

Growing numbers of unvaccinated children have given measles a foothold in the United States and Europe, however. Vulnerable communities include tightly knit or isolated groups, for example, of the Amish in Ohio, Orthodox Jews in New York, and eastern European immigrants in Washington State. 

California, Mississippi and West Virginia have responded by refusing exemptions from vaccination, except for medical reasons. Forty-seven states allow broader exemptions.

“Of those 47,” Hotez said, “there are 18 that also allow non-medical exemptions for reasons of personal or philosophical belief, and that’s where the battleground is.” 

He says misinformation about vaccine safety is spread on the web and through books sold on Amazon, while medical experts face more difficulty in having their message heard.

“We’re looking at over 500 anti-vaccine websites that are out there,” he said, adding that each of them is “amplified on Facebook and other forms of social media.” 

Hotez says vaccine opponents tailor their message by region.

“So with Texas, they see the soft underbelly being the far political right, the Tea Party, and they use Tea Party language,” he said. “Up in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington State or Oregon, they might use language of the far left.”

Kennedy says the CDC works hand in hand with the industry and hides the risks.

“The parents should know more about what’s good for that child than corrupted regulatory agencies and big pharmaceutical companies,” he said.

Medical experts worldwide say the MMR vaccine is essential for public health because measles is highly contagious and potentially deadly, and one infected person may infect three others. 

“Then, each of those three people might infect three other people,” said Arthur Reingold. “And then another generation after that. Each of those people might infect some other people, and we could end up having sustained transmission.” 

Health experts say that could bring a return to conditions of decades ago, when measles killed millions of children each year around the world.
…

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The U.N. Children’s Fund says climate change in Bangladesh is threatening the lives and futures of 19 million children or one-third of all children under age 18 in the country.

The report forecasts a grim future for millions of children who live in Bangladesh’s flood- and drought-prone lowlands in the country’s north and in the storm-ravaged coastline along the Bay of Bengal. They are the areas most likely to be devastated by floods, cyclones and other environmental disasters.

Included among the 19.4 million vulnerable children are nearly one-half-million Rohingya refugee children. They and their parents fled to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar. They are living in fragile bamboo and plastic shelters, which will not be able to withstand a climatic disaster.

The report’s author, Simon Ingram, says climate change will have direct implications on children’s lives, especially the poor, who are most at risk from its devastating impacts. He says more than 6 million climate change refugees have migrated from rural to urban areas. He warns many of the children who end up in Dhaka and other large cities are forced to fend for themselves.

“Many children being pushed into very hazardous forms of child labor. Many girls who end up being pushed into taking early marriages because their families can no longer look after them,” Ingram said. “And, there are other girls who also end up in what is clearly a flourishing and expanding sex trade in the cities. Girls who are left with simply no other outcome available to them.” 

Despite the magnitude of the problems ahead, Ingram says the children he met during a visit to Bangladesh are not fatalistic. He tells VOA they are very resilient and determined to take their future into their hands. He says more and more youth activists are coming to the fore and becoming agents of change.

“In the report, you can read about one particular network down in the south of the country where there are something like 1,500 activists who go out to communities helping people understand the risks that face them; helping them basically to get ready for whatever might be around the corner in terms of a climatic shock,” Ingram continued.

Ingram says this sort of work is expanding and getting the recognition it deserves. He says Bangladesh as a whole is pulling together to meet the climatic challenge. 

The report is calling on the international community to support the government in implementing a range of initiatives aimed at shielding children from the effects of climate change. It says children must be put at the center of any response.
…

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The U.N. Children’s Fund says climate change in Bangladesh is threatening the lives and futures of 19 million children or one-third of all children under age 18 in the country.

The report forecasts a grim future for millions of children who live in Bangladesh’s flood- and drought-prone lowlands in the country’s north and in the storm-ravaged coastline along the Bay of Bengal. They are the areas most likely to be devastated by floods, cyclones and other environmental disasters.

Included among the 19.4 million vulnerable children are nearly one-half-million Rohingya refugee children. They and their parents fled to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar. They are living in fragile bamboo and plastic shelters, which will not be able to withstand a climatic disaster.

The report’s author, Simon Ingram, says climate change will have direct implications on children’s lives, especially the poor, who are most at risk from its devastating impacts. He says more than 6 million climate change refugees have migrated from rural to urban areas. He warns many of the children who end up in Dhaka and other large cities are forced to fend for themselves.

“Many children being pushed into very hazardous forms of child labor. Many girls who end up being pushed into taking early marriages because their families can no longer look after them,” Ingram said. “And, there are other girls who also end up in what is clearly a flourishing and expanding sex trade in the cities. Girls who are left with simply no other outcome available to them.” 

Despite the magnitude of the problems ahead, Ingram says the children he met during a visit to Bangladesh are not fatalistic. He tells VOA they are very resilient and determined to take their future into their hands. He says more and more youth activists are coming to the fore and becoming agents of change.

“In the report, you can read about one particular network down in the south of the country where there are something like 1,500 activists who go out to communities helping people understand the risks that face them; helping them basically to get ready for whatever might be around the corner in terms of a climatic shock,” Ingram continued.

Ingram says this sort of work is expanding and getting the recognition it deserves. He says Bangladesh as a whole is pulling together to meet the climatic challenge. 

The report is calling on the international community to support the government in implementing a range of initiatives aimed at shielding children from the effects of climate change. It says children must be put at the center of any response.
…

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Public health authorities are coping with outbreaks of measles in communities where vaccination rates are low.  In the United States, this is fueled by a growing movement of people who view vaccines as dangerous. Mike O’Sullivan reports that the battle is being fought on the Internet and in state legislatures.
…

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Public health authorities are coping with outbreaks of measles in communities where vaccination rates are low.  In the United States, this is fueled by a growing movement of people who view vaccines as dangerous. Mike O’Sullivan reports that the battle is being fought on the Internet and in state legislatures.
…

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As candidates jostle to head the United Nations’ multibillion dollar food agency, experts called on Thursday for a strong leader to tackling rising hunger and climate change threats.

Levels of hunger have grown for the past three years, with one in nine people — or 821 million — worldwide without enough to eat, due to drought, floods, conflict and economic slowdowns, U.N. figures show.

“We don’t see improvement in terms of poverty and hunger. What we see is degradation and resources that would be lost for future generations. So there’s an emergency,” said Frederic Mousseau, a food policy expert at U.S.-based Oakland Institute.

“Agriculture and the way we produce our food and the way we consume our food has to have a major solution. That’s the key challenge for the new director.”

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has a budget of $2.6 billion for 2018 and 2019, employs nearly 6,000 people and works in more than 130 countries with governments to reduce rural poverty and hunger.

The four contenders include a European Union-backed French agronomist, who could become the FAO’s first female head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and an agriculture vice-minister from China, whose global influence is on the rise.

 Georgia and India have also fielded candidates for the June vote by delegates from the FAO’s 194 member states.

“There is very much at stake in an election like this,” said Mousseau, adding that governments are under constant pressure “to expand the corporate-driven model of agriculture that is polluting and unsustainable”.

“We need someone strong enough at the FAO to stand against that and to be able to propose a different path which is about farmers and sustainability,” he added.

Rising populism and nationalism

The elections come at a time of rising populism and nationalism with major powers cutting aid budgets, including the United States — FAO’s largest funder.

The current director-general Jose Graziano da Silva, architect of Brazil’s landmark Zero Hunger program, has overseen a drive to push through ambitious internal reforms. His predecessor, Jacques Diouf, served an 18-year term amid donor criticism about inefficiencies.

Times have changed since FAO was founded in 1945, when hunger was the main concern, said Patrick Caron, chairman of the U.N. High-level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition.

“Food security is no longer only a question of food supply but also of nutrition,” he said, as limited progress is being made to tackle malnutrition, ranging from child stunting to adult obesity.

“Now is time for a new deal … We absolutely need a huge transformation of our food systems.”

France’s Catherine Geslain-Laneelle said her priorities would include boosting sustainable agricultural output to keep pace with population growth, building farmers’ resilience to climate change and creating jobs for young rural Africans.

The former head of the European Food Safety Authority also said she was keen to support women farmers.

“Although they are present everywhere in the food system, sometimes women have difficulties to access land, to water, to the forums where decisions are made,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Davit Kirvalidze, former agricultural minister in Georgia said his experience growing potatoes during the difficult period when Georgia emerged from Soviet rule gave him an insight into the needs of farmers, “especially in times of trouble.”

“Not only did I manage to feed my family but also eventually my community,” said Kirvalidze, who also sits on the board of Washington-based non-profit Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture and advises Georgia’s prime minister.

Representatives from the embassies of India and China did not respond to requests to interview their candidates.
…

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As candidates jostle to head the United Nations’ multibillion dollar food agency, experts called on Thursday for a strong leader to tackling rising hunger and climate change threats.

Levels of hunger have grown for the past three years, with one in nine people — or 821 million — worldwide without enough to eat, due to drought, floods, conflict and economic slowdowns, U.N. figures show.

“We don’t see improvement in terms of poverty and hunger. What we see is degradation and resources that would be lost for future generations. So there’s an emergency,” said Frederic Mousseau, a food policy expert at U.S.-based Oakland Institute.

“Agriculture and the way we produce our food and the way we consume our food has to have a major solution. That’s the key challenge for the new director.”

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has a budget of $2.6 billion for 2018 and 2019, employs nearly 6,000 people and works in more than 130 countries with governments to reduce rural poverty and hunger.

The four contenders include a European Union-backed French agronomist, who could become the FAO’s first female head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and an agriculture vice-minister from China, whose global influence is on the rise.

 Georgia and India have also fielded candidates for the June vote by delegates from the FAO’s 194 member states.

“There is very much at stake in an election like this,” said Mousseau, adding that governments are under constant pressure “to expand the corporate-driven model of agriculture that is polluting and unsustainable”.

“We need someone strong enough at the FAO to stand against that and to be able to propose a different path which is about farmers and sustainability,” he added.

Rising populism and nationalism

The elections come at a time of rising populism and nationalism with major powers cutting aid budgets, including the United States — FAO’s largest funder.

The current director-general Jose Graziano da Silva, architect of Brazil’s landmark Zero Hunger program, has overseen a drive to push through ambitious internal reforms. His predecessor, Jacques Diouf, served an 18-year term amid donor criticism about inefficiencies.

Times have changed since FAO was founded in 1945, when hunger was the main concern, said Patrick Caron, chairman of the U.N. High-level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition.

“Food security is no longer only a question of food supply but also of nutrition,” he said, as limited progress is being made to tackle malnutrition, ranging from child stunting to adult obesity.

“Now is time for a new deal … We absolutely need a huge transformation of our food systems.”

France’s Catherine Geslain-Laneelle said her priorities would include boosting sustainable agricultural output to keep pace with population growth, building farmers’ resilience to climate change and creating jobs for young rural Africans.

The former head of the European Food Safety Authority also said she was keen to support women farmers.

“Although they are present everywhere in the food system, sometimes women have difficulties to access land, to water, to the forums where decisions are made,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Davit Kirvalidze, former agricultural minister in Georgia said his experience growing potatoes during the difficult period when Georgia emerged from Soviet rule gave him an insight into the needs of farmers, “especially in times of trouble.”

“Not only did I manage to feed my family but also eventually my community,” said Kirvalidze, who also sits on the board of Washington-based non-profit Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture and advises Georgia’s prime minister.

Representatives from the embassies of India and China did not respond to requests to interview their candidates.
…

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New data finds women everywhere live on average 4.4 years longer than men because they see the doctor more frequently and generally take better care of their health.

While women outlive men around the world, the World Health Organization’s Statistics Overview 2019 says their life expectancy is sharply reduced because of maternal deaths. It says this highlights the big health gap that still exists between rich and poor countries.

The World Health Organization reports one in 41 women die from maternal causes in poor countries where access to health services are scarce. This compared with one in 3,300 maternal deaths in rich countries.

Samira Asma is WHO assistant director general for data, analytics and delivery. She says men die earlier than women because they do not take as good care of their health as women. Also, they tend to be exposed to greater risks.

“In many circumstances, men use health care less than women. They are less likely to seek care and to continue care once diagnosed of a certain condition. And also, men are more likely to die from preventable and treatable noncommunicable diseases and road traffic accidents,” says Asma.

Leading causes of death

Of the 40 leading causes of death, the report says men have higher death rates than women from 33 of the risk factors. For example, the report says men smoke and drink alcohol much more than women. It finds global suicide mortality rates are 75 percent higher in men than in women.

Asma says noncommunicable diseases are on the rise in most of the low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa. She tells VOA this is due to the emergence of risk factors such as tobacco use, increase in alcohol consumption and unhealthy diets.

“In terms of leading causes of noncommunicable disease-related deaths, are cardiovascular and ischemic heart disease. And hypertension. Though it is preventable and treatable, a risk factor is not being addressed,” she said.

Asma says statistics on NCD-related deaths underscore the need to prioritize primary health care. She says people in these facilities can receive the medicine and treatment they need for their ailments. She notes that people who seek primary health care are made aware of the risk factors that can cause premature deaths.

 

 

 

 
…

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New data finds women everywhere live on average 4.4 years longer than men because they see the doctor more frequently and generally take better care of their health.

While women outlive men around the world, the World Health Organization’s Statistics Overview 2019 says their life expectancy is sharply reduced because of maternal deaths. It says this highlights the big health gap that still exists between rich and poor countries.

The World Health Organization reports one in 41 women die from maternal causes in poor countries where access to health services are scarce. This compared with one in 3,300 maternal deaths in rich countries.

Samira Asma is WHO assistant director general for data, analytics and delivery. She says men die earlier than women because they do not take as good care of their health as women. Also, they tend to be exposed to greater risks.

“In many circumstances, men use health care less than women. They are less likely to seek care and to continue care once diagnosed of a certain condition. And also, men are more likely to die from preventable and treatable noncommunicable diseases and road traffic accidents,” says Asma.

Leading causes of death

Of the 40 leading causes of death, the report says men have higher death rates than women from 33 of the risk factors. For example, the report says men smoke and drink alcohol much more than women. It finds global suicide mortality rates are 75 percent higher in men than in women.

Asma says noncommunicable diseases are on the rise in most of the low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa. She tells VOA this is due to the emergence of risk factors such as tobacco use, increase in alcohol consumption and unhealthy diets.

“In terms of leading causes of noncommunicable disease-related deaths, are cardiovascular and ischemic heart disease. And hypertension. Though it is preventable and treatable, a risk factor is not being addressed,” she said.

Asma says statistics on NCD-related deaths underscore the need to prioritize primary health care. She says people in these facilities can receive the medicine and treatment they need for their ailments. She notes that people who seek primary health care are made aware of the risk factors that can cause premature deaths.

 

 

 

 
…

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The day after Tarek Saoud contemplated ending his life, the college student reached out for help on the campus of the university in Ohio he attended.

“I called the student mental health services and they told me I could see one of their therapists in, like, two months, which wasn’t going to work for me, unless it was urgent,” he recalls. “So I called back a week later when I was like, ‘I’m not going to survive this any longer, and they asked if it was urgent and I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Does that mean suicidal?’ I said ‘Yes’ and then at that point they got me an appointment the next week.”

The delay frustrated Saoud, now 22, who by that point had been thinking about suicide for months.

“For me it was a do-or-die situation,” he says. “When I called health services and told them I was suicidal, that was very true. I don’t want to say I made an attempt the night before but it looks like it was very close. A friend found me and told me straight up what I needed to hear, which was, ‘You can’t be here anymore. You need help now.’”

The delay Saoud experienced in getting the mental health care he was desperate for highlights a growing unmet need on college campuses throughout the country.

In the spring of 2018, more than 63 percent of college students experienced overwhelming anxiety, according to the American College Health Association. But those who seek help increasingly are likely to find they have to get in line.

For example, students at the University of California wait up to six weeks to see an on-campus counselor or therapist if it’s not an emergency. At California State University, it can take two to four weeks to get an appointment.

A 2017 special report by STAT, which is affiliated with the Boston Globe newspaper, found it could take up to three weeks to get a counseling appointment at Northwestern University in Illinois. The average wait time at Washington University in St. Louis, was nearly 13 days, while delays were so routine at Seattle’s University of Washington that the wait times, between two and three weeks, were posted online.

The lack of access to mental health care is not solely limited to college campuses.

Nearly six in 10 — 56 percent — of Americans report seeking or wanting to find mental health services for themselves or a loved one. But it’s not always easy to get the care they’re looking for.

“We have a real unmet need in this country,” says Dr. Vaile Wright of the American Psychological Association (APA). “And what I mean by that is when we look at those who need or want to seek out mental health services and then we look at how many providers, there’s a gap where we just don’t have enough providers now and/or projection going forward to meet the need of those with mental and behavioral health issues.”

While demand psychiatric services increases, there’s a growing shortage of outpatient and inpatient programs, according to the National Council for Behavioral Health, which also found that more than 60 percent of practicing psychiatrists are over the age of 55 and will soon near retirement.

By 2030, there will be 22,000 fewer psychiatrists than required to meet growing demand, according to APA projections.

Right now, almost three-fourths of Americans — 74 percent — don’t feel mental health care is accessible for everyone, while almost half — 47 percent — believe their options are limited.

Sometimes it comes down to not knowing how to seek the help they need.

“I think people still don’t necessarily know who to see for their problem, or how to find them, or how to pay for it,” Wright says. “If you are experiencing a mental or behavioral health issue, your emotional distress can often interfere with your ability to figure some of this stuff out, and the stigma which continues to surround mental health, then makes it hard to ask those around us to maybe assist us.”

Wright says expanding access to national programs like Medicaid — the number one provider of mental health services in the United States — and the Affordable Care Act, could help provide more low-cost options for individuals in need of mental health care.

“We know that individuals with untreated mental and behavioral health issues, if they are working, have lower productivity, more absenteeism, so there are economic and workforce costs associated with mental health disorders,” Wright says.

Saoud, the college student, eventually got an appointment at the campus mental health center, but his frustrations continued.

“And then after that, I couldn’t get a follow-up appointment,” he recalls. “They scheduled me for a month later for a follow-up and that ended up getting canceled. Then it was summer at that point.”

Saoud ultimately left the Ohio college for good three weeks before the end of his sophomore year. Once he returned home, he started seeing both a psychiatrist and a psychologist, and he is now on medication.

After taking a semester off, Saoud is living at home while attending a nearby community college. He hopes to transfer to a different four-year university when he feels ready.

 
…

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The day after Tarek Saoud contemplated ending his life, the college student reached out for help on the campus of the university in Ohio he attended.

“I called the student mental health services and they told me I could see one of their therapists in, like, two months, which wasn’t going to work for me, unless it was urgent,” he recalls. “So I called back a week later when I was like, ‘I’m not going to survive this any longer, and they asked if it was urgent and I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Does that mean suicidal?’ I said ‘Yes’ and then at that point they got me an appointment the next week.”

The delay frustrated Saoud, now 22, who by that point had been thinking about suicide for months.

“For me it was a do-or-die situation,” he says. “When I called health services and told them I was suicidal, that was very true. I don’t want to say I made an attempt the night before but it looks like it was very close. A friend found me and told me straight up what I needed to hear, which was, ‘You can’t be here anymore. You need help now.’”

The delay Saoud experienced in getting the mental health care he was desperate for highlights a growing unmet need on college campuses throughout the country.

In the spring of 2018, more than 63 percent of college students experienced overwhelming anxiety, according to the American College Health Association. But those who seek help increasingly are likely to find they have to get in line.

For example, students at the University of California wait up to six weeks to see an on-campus counselor or therapist if it’s not an emergency. At California State University, it can take two to four weeks to get an appointment.

A 2017 special report by STAT, which is affiliated with the Boston Globe newspaper, found it could take up to three weeks to get a counseling appointment at Northwestern University in Illinois. The average wait time at Washington University in St. Louis, was nearly 13 days, while delays were so routine at Seattle’s University of Washington that the wait times, between two and three weeks, were posted online.

The lack of access to mental health care is not solely limited to college campuses.

Nearly six in 10 — 56 percent — of Americans report seeking or wanting to find mental health services for themselves or a loved one. But it’s not always easy to get the care they’re looking for.

“We have a real unmet need in this country,” says Dr. Vaile Wright of the American Psychological Association (APA). “And what I mean by that is when we look at those who need or want to seek out mental health services and then we look at how many providers, there’s a gap where we just don’t have enough providers now and/or projection going forward to meet the need of those with mental and behavioral health issues.”

While demand psychiatric services increases, there’s a growing shortage of outpatient and inpatient programs, according to the National Council for Behavioral Health, which also found that more than 60 percent of practicing psychiatrists are over the age of 55 and will soon near retirement.

By 2030, there will be 22,000 fewer psychiatrists than required to meet growing demand, according to APA projections.

Right now, almost three-fourths of Americans — 74 percent — don’t feel mental health care is accessible for everyone, while almost half — 47 percent — believe their options are limited.

Sometimes it comes down to not knowing how to seek the help they need.

“I think people still don’t necessarily know who to see for their problem, or how to find them, or how to pay for it,” Wright says. “If you are experiencing a mental or behavioral health issue, your emotional distress can often interfere with your ability to figure some of this stuff out, and the stigma which continues to surround mental health, then makes it hard to ask those around us to maybe assist us.”

Wright says expanding access to national programs like Medicaid — the number one provider of mental health services in the United States — and the Affordable Care Act, could help provide more low-cost options for individuals in need of mental health care.

“We know that individuals with untreated mental and behavioral health issues, if they are working, have lower productivity, more absenteeism, so there are economic and workforce costs associated with mental health disorders,” Wright says.

Saoud, the college student, eventually got an appointment at the campus mental health center, but his frustrations continued.

“And then after that, I couldn’t get a follow-up appointment,” he recalls. “They scheduled me for a month later for a follow-up and that ended up getting canceled. Then it was summer at that point.”

Saoud ultimately left the Ohio college for good three weeks before the end of his sophomore year. Once he returned home, he started seeing both a psychiatrist and a psychologist, and he is now on medication.

After taking a semester off, Saoud is living at home while attending a nearby community college. He hopes to transfer to a different four-year university when he feels ready.

 
…

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One in five deaths globally is linked to poor diet, experts said in a study released Thursday, warning that overconsumption of sugar, salt and meat was killing millions of people every year. 

 

The United Nations estimates that nearly 1 billion people worldwide are malnourished, while nearly 2 billion are “overnourished.”  

 

But the latest study on global diet trends, published in The Lancet, showed that in nearly every one of the 195 countries surveyed, people were also eating too much of the wrong types of food — and consuming worryingly low levels of healthier produce. 

Sugar, sodium

 

For example, the world on average consumes more than 10 times the recommended amount of sugar-sweetened beverages, and 86 percent more sodium per person than is considered safe. 

 

The study, which examined consumption and disease trends between 1990 and 2017, also cautioned that too many people were eating far too few whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

 

Of the 11 million deaths attributed to poor diet, by far the largest killer was cardiovascular disease, which is often caused or worsened by obesity. 

 

“This study affirms what many have thought for several years — that poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,” said study author Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.  

 

“Our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium, or low intake of health foods.”  

The report highlighted large variation in diet-related deaths among nations, with the highest-risk country, Uzbekistan, having 10 times the food-based mortality rate of the lowest risk, Israel.  

Earlier report

In January, a consortium of three dozen researchers called for a dramatic shift in the way the world eats. 

 

The EAT-Lancet report said that the global population must eat roughly half as much red meat and sugar, and twice as many vegetables, fruits and nuts in order to avert a worldwide obesity epidemic and avoid “catastrophic” climate change. 

 

Authors of Thursday’s study noted that economic inequality was a factor in poor dietary choices in many countries.  

 

It found that on average, reaching the “five a day” fruit and vegetable servings advocated by doctors cost just 2 percent of household income in rich nations, but more than a half of household income in poorer ones. 

 

“This study gives us good evidence of what to target to improve diets, and therefore health, at the global and national level,” said Oyinlola Oyebode, associate professor at Warwick Medical School in Coventry, England, who was not involved in the research. 

 

“The lack of fruit, vegetables and whole grains in diets across the world are very important — but the other dietary factor highlighted by this study is the high intake of sodium,” Oyebode said.
…

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One in five deaths globally is linked to poor diet, experts said in a study released Thursday, warning that overconsumption of sugar, salt and meat was killing millions of people every year. 

 

The United Nations estimates that nearly 1 billion people worldwide are malnourished, while nearly 2 billion are “overnourished.”  

 

But the latest study on global diet trends, published in The Lancet, showed that in nearly every one of the 195 countries surveyed, people were also eating too much of the wrong types of food — and consuming worryingly low levels of healthier produce. 

Sugar, sodium

 

For example, the world on average consumes more than 10 times the recommended amount of sugar-sweetened beverages, and 86 percent more sodium per person than is considered safe. 

 

The study, which examined consumption and disease trends between 1990 and 2017, also cautioned that too many people were eating far too few whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

 

Of the 11 million deaths attributed to poor diet, by far the largest killer was cardiovascular disease, which is often caused or worsened by obesity. 

 

“This study affirms what many have thought for several years — that poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,” said study author Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.  

 

“Our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium, or low intake of health foods.”  

The report highlighted large variation in diet-related deaths among nations, with the highest-risk country, Uzbekistan, having 10 times the food-based mortality rate of the lowest risk, Israel.  

Earlier report

In January, a consortium of three dozen researchers called for a dramatic shift in the way the world eats. 

 

The EAT-Lancet report said that the global population must eat roughly half as much red meat and sugar, and twice as many vegetables, fruits and nuts in order to avert a worldwide obesity epidemic and avoid “catastrophic” climate change. 

 

Authors of Thursday’s study noted that economic inequality was a factor in poor dietary choices in many countries.  

 

It found that on average, reaching the “five a day” fruit and vegetable servings advocated by doctors cost just 2 percent of household income in rich nations, but more than a half of household income in poorer ones. 

 

“This study gives us good evidence of what to target to improve diets, and therefore health, at the global and national level,” said Oyinlola Oyebode, associate professor at Warwick Medical School in Coventry, England, who was not involved in the research. 

 

“The lack of fruit, vegetables and whole grains in diets across the world are very important — but the other dietary factor highlighted by this study is the high intake of sodium,” Oyebode said.
…

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Spain’s health minister called on Wednesday for so-called conversion therapy to be abolished after a report that a branch of the Catholic Church had offered to “cure” gay people.

El Diario, an online newspaper, said a reporter posing as a gay man trying to change his sexuality was told to stop watching porn and masturbate less in a counselling session provided by a diocese of the Catholic Church close to the capital Madrid. Its representatives called the report “fake news.”

Minister expresses regret

But Maria Luisa Carcedo Roces, Spain’s minister for health, consumption and social welfare, expressed regret that the practice persisted, saying it was illegal and calling for it to be “completely abolished.”

“I thought that in Spain, accepting the various sexual orientations was assumed in all areas, but unfortunately we see that there are still pockets where people are told what their sexual orientation should be,” she said at a press conference.

“I regret that this is happening and that a law is being broken,” she said, according to an audio recording sent to the Thomson Reuters Foundation by the ministry press office.

Conversion therapy, which can include hypnosis and electric shocks, is based on the belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is a mental illness that can be cured.

Promoting or carrying out conversion therapy is banned in the region of Madrid, regardless of whether the person undergoing it has consented or not. Punishments include fines of up to 45,000 euros ($51,000).

‘Fake news’

In a statement on its website the diocese of Alcala de Henares called the report “fake news” and said that while it acknowledged the “respect and love due to all people,” it would offer help to “all those who freely request it.”

Books recommended on the Alcala diocese website include “How to prevent homosexuality: children and gender confusion.”

The minister also said offering such courses to children would contravene their rights, and that if the law continued to be broken, the Department of Justice would have to decide what action to take.

El Diario said the therapist at the Regina Familiae counselling center had told the undercover reporter that she “could go to jail” for trying to help him become straight.

Treatment outlawed

Malta, Ecuador and just over a dozen U.S. states have outlawed conversion therapy, according to the ILGA, a network of LGBT+ rights groups. Countries including Britain, New Zealand and Australia are considering bans.

A fifth of gay, lesbian and bisexual British people who have tried to change their sexuality have attempted suicide, according to a study of the controversial practice in Britain that was released in February.
…

your ads here!

Spain’s health minister called on Wednesday for so-called conversion therapy to be abolished after a report that a branch of the Catholic Church had offered to “cure” gay people.

El Diario, an online newspaper, said a reporter posing as a gay man trying to change his sexuality was told to stop watching porn and masturbate less in a counselling session provided by a diocese of the Catholic Church close to the capital Madrid. Its representatives called the report “fake news.”

Minister expresses regret

But Maria Luisa Carcedo Roces, Spain’s minister for health, consumption and social welfare, expressed regret that the practice persisted, saying it was illegal and calling for it to be “completely abolished.”

“I thought that in Spain, accepting the various sexual orientations was assumed in all areas, but unfortunately we see that there are still pockets where people are told what their sexual orientation should be,” she said at a press conference.

“I regret that this is happening and that a law is being broken,” she said, according to an audio recording sent to the Thomson Reuters Foundation by the ministry press office.

Conversion therapy, which can include hypnosis and electric shocks, is based on the belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is a mental illness that can be cured.

Promoting or carrying out conversion therapy is banned in the region of Madrid, regardless of whether the person undergoing it has consented or not. Punishments include fines of up to 45,000 euros ($51,000).

‘Fake news’

In a statement on its website the diocese of Alcala de Henares called the report “fake news” and said that while it acknowledged the “respect and love due to all people,” it would offer help to “all those who freely request it.”

Books recommended on the Alcala diocese website include “How to prevent homosexuality: children and gender confusion.”

The minister also said offering such courses to children would contravene their rights, and that if the law continued to be broken, the Department of Justice would have to decide what action to take.

El Diario said the therapist at the Regina Familiae counselling center had told the undercover reporter that she “could go to jail” for trying to help him become straight.

Treatment outlawed

Malta, Ecuador and just over a dozen U.S. states have outlawed conversion therapy, according to the ILGA, a network of LGBT+ rights groups. Countries including Britain, New Zealand and Australia are considering bans.

A fifth of gay, lesbian and bisexual British people who have tried to change their sexuality have attempted suicide, according to a study of the controversial practice in Britain that was released in February.
…

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Boeing’s new space capsule for astronauts faces more launch delays.

The Starliner capsule was supposed to make its debut this month, after a series of postponements. But the first test flight is now off until August. And the second test flight, with astronauts, won’t occur until late in the year.

NASA announced the revised lineup Wednesday. At the same time, officials said the first Starliner crew will remain at the International Space Station longer than the few weeks originally anticipated. The mission length will be decided later.

SpaceX, NASA’s other commercial crew provider, successfully flew its new Dragon capsule without a crew to the International Space Station last month. The first flight with astronauts could be as early as this summer, but the schedule is under review.

Boeing said the last major milestones have been cleared and the capsule is almost finished. But scheduling conflicts with an early summer Air Force launch helped push the Starliner’s debut into August. 

The Starliner will fly on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, the same kind of rocket needed for the Air Force’s critical mission in late June, from the same pad.

While the first SpaceX astronauts will visit the space station for a few weeks at most, the Starliner’s three-person crew will move into the orbiting complex for an extended period. The typical station stay is about six months.

NASA wants to reduce its reliance on expensive Russian Soyuz capsules as soon as possible, and so the Boeing test flight will double as a taxi mission for station residents. NASA astronauts have been riding Russian rockets since the end of the space shuttle program.

SpaceX Dragons and Boeing Starliners will return human launches to Florida, following the eight-year hiatus. NASA contracted with the two companies to handle space station ferry flights, so it could focus on getting astronauts to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
…

your ads here!

Boeing’s new space capsule for astronauts faces more launch delays.

The Starliner capsule was supposed to make its debut this month, after a series of postponements. But the first test flight is now off until August. And the second test flight, with astronauts, won’t occur until late in the year.

NASA announced the revised lineup Wednesday. At the same time, officials said the first Starliner crew will remain at the International Space Station longer than the few weeks originally anticipated. The mission length will be decided later.

SpaceX, NASA’s other commercial crew provider, successfully flew its new Dragon capsule without a crew to the International Space Station last month. The first flight with astronauts could be as early as this summer, but the schedule is under review.

Boeing said the last major milestones have been cleared and the capsule is almost finished. But scheduling conflicts with an early summer Air Force launch helped push the Starliner’s debut into August. 

The Starliner will fly on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, the same kind of rocket needed for the Air Force’s critical mission in late June, from the same pad.

While the first SpaceX astronauts will visit the space station for a few weeks at most, the Starliner’s three-person crew will move into the orbiting complex for an extended period. The typical station stay is about six months.

NASA wants to reduce its reliance on expensive Russian Soyuz capsules as soon as possible, and so the Boeing test flight will double as a taxi mission for station residents. NASA astronauts have been riding Russian rockets since the end of the space shuttle program.

SpaceX Dragons and Boeing Starliners will return human launches to Florida, following the eight-year hiatus. NASA contracted with the two companies to handle space station ferry flights, so it could focus on getting astronauts to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
…

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