PAHO News -- December 12, 2002

PAHO News is also available on the Web!
http://www.csih.org/synergy/synergy.html

In this issue:
-HEALTH PROMOTION: AN INNOVATIVE AND EFFECTIVE APPROACH
-PAHO CENTENNIAL EDITION OF PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
-VOICES OF THE CENTENNIAL
-WHO LAUNCHES CARTOON TO PROMOTE ACTIVISM ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH
-THE PREVENTION OF NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS WITH FOLIC ACID
-WHO JOB OPPORTUNITY: TECHNICAL OFFICER (INFORMATICS) FOR BRAZZAVILLE,
CONGO
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HEALTH PROMOTION: AN INNOVATIVE AND EFFECTIVE APPROACH

Health promotion is a process, not a quick fix, according to a report
from the PAHO Division of Health Promotion and Prevention. Health
Promotion is directed at achieving an outcome over the long term with
specific results in the medium and short term. Specific outcomes differ,
but they may involve citizen and community participation and may also
contribute to improvement in quality of life. PAHO has been carrying out
activities to promote a broad concept of health as a basis for human
development and an acceptable quality of life. To this end, it has urged
Member States to work in the five action areas or strategies for health
promotion: building healthy public policies; creating supportive
environments; strengthening community action; developing personal
skills; and reorienting health services. For more information on PAHO's
approach on health promotion strategy, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/100/100feature47.htm.
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PAHO CENTENNIAL EDITION OF PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE

As part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Pan American
Health Organization, a special centennial edition of Perspectives in
Health was published and is now available online. The issue features
essays by five distinguished authors exploring future developments in
public health. For the special issue, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/Number14_index.htm.
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VOICES OF THE CENTENNIAL

As PAHO's centennial celebrations draw to a close, it is a good time to
take a last look at some of the features of the centennial website.  In
"Voices of the Centennial," people who were part of PAHO's efforts to
improve health in the Western hemisphere added their voices to the
celebration. You can read or listen to the words of former directors,
advisers, and representatives at the Centennial website:
http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/100/english.htm.
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WHO LAUNCHES CARTOON TO PROMOTE ACTIVISM ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH

To raise awareness of health as a human right among the general public,
the World Health Organization has launched "The Right to Health," a
colourful, interactive cartoon booklet. The goal of the cartoon is to
reach out and demystify the right to health, clarifying what it means
for health practitioners, government officials, and individuals,
including adolescents and children. The story takes place in a classroom
where a teacher interacts with children from Africa, Asia, the Americas
and Europe, emphasizing the universality of human rights. They talk
about children's rights, women's rights, discrimination, freedom to make
personal life choices and the right to healthy living conditions and
education. They also discuss access to affordable health services, how
governments must strive to increase their ability to promote and protect
the right to health and how rich countries should help poor countries in
making this right a reality. The cartoon illustrates how a lack of
awareness of health-related human rights can contribute to poor
treatment of individuals by peers and health professionals in the
context of mental health problems and HIV infection. The comic is
available in PDF format at: http://www.who.int/hhr/news/en/.
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THE PREVENTION OF NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS WITH FOLIC ACID

The PAHO document "The Prevention of Neural Tube Defects with Folic
Acid" includes an overview of the morphogenesis and epidemiology of
neural tube defects; the evidence for an association between folic acid
and NTDs; the proposed mechanisms for the prevention of NTDs with folic
acid; and the options available for increasing folic acid consumption in
communities. The document is available in PDF format at:
http://www.paho.org/English/HPP/HPN/MNN/folic_acid.pdf.
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WHO JOB OPPORTUNITY: TECHNICAL OFFICER (INFORMATICS) FOR BRAZZAVILLE,
CONGO

The WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) is seeking a Technical Officer
for its station in Brazzaville, Congo.  The successful candidate will
join the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Unit providing
services to WHO/AFRO programs at the regional office and other projects
in the region. The Unit is also responsible for the formulation,
implementation and coordination of ICT strategies and policies in the
region. The Technical Officer will: lead the development and maintenance
of the AFRO web-based services, including the full deployment of the
AFRO Intranet and Internet and hosting and/or mirroring of Country
Office web sites; install and support web servers and web technology
tools, including development of web interface for various applications;
assist with content preparation in close collaboration with substantive
offices; and advise and support country offices in the region in the use
of Internet/Intranet technology tools.  The application deadline is
January 10, 2003.  For the full job description, visit:
http://erecruit.who.int/e-jobs/public/hrd-cl-vac-view.cfm?jobinfo_uid_c=
130&vaclng=en.
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