Synergy Online -- June 5, 2003

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

In this issue:
-WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY CELEBRATED
-UNICEF CALLS ON G8 LEADERS TO MEET CHALLENGE OF HIV/AIDS
-WHO CALLS FOR GLOBAL ACTION TO TACKLE RISING CANCER DEATHS
-UNRELENTING CRISIS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA BRINGS NEW RED CROSS APPROACH
-THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AIDS INDIA
-CANADIAN INSTITUTES FOR HEALTH RESEARCH: ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR
SUPPORT
-JOB OPPORTUNITY: ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, HEALTH EQUITY AND AFRICA REGIONAL
PROGRAM, ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
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WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY CELEBRATED

In honor of World No Tobacco Day, celebrated worldwide on May 31, 2003,
PAHO is calling on the film and fashion industries to stop promoting
smoking in movies and in fashion shoots. According to the PAHO
statistics, some one million people in the Americas die each year
because of tobacco. In the 1998 settlement reached between the tobacco
companies and 46 states in the U.S., as well as in a 1990 tobacco
industry voluntary code, tobacco companies promised to stop paying for
tobacco use and brand images on screen. Yet, according to a study by the
Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, smoking and tobacco brand
imagery in the most popular youth-oriented movies increased by 50
percent following the settlement. University of California research
shows that smoking in movies is now more prevalent than in the 1960s,
when the incidence of real-life smoking was much higher. The current
smoking rates among the protagonists of films are 300 percent greater
than in real life, according to the University of California.  For the
full article, visit: http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr030529.htm

World No Tobacco Day is held each year and is celebrated by World Health
Organization member countries. This year’s theme was “Fashion and Films
- Tobacco Free Films, Tobacco Free Fashion, Action!” It is designed to
raise awareness about the prevalence and depiction of tobacco use within
the entertainment and fashion industry, and the negative impact it has
on the rate of tobacco use, especially among teenagers and young adults.
Visit Health Canada's World No Tobacco Day website for more information:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco/wntd.html

In Canada, federal Minister of Health Anne McLellan marked World No
Tobacco Day by attending a special awards ceremony for more than 400
Ottawa high school students who participated in a contest to develop
tobacco control mass media projects. In her remarks to the students,
Minister McLellan announced that Health Canada will invest a further $2M
in new mass media contribution funding this year.  For the full press
release, visit:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/media/releases/2003/2003_37.htm

As countries work on writing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(FCTC) into their national legislation, the World Health Organization is
calling on the world of film and fashion to stop glamorizing tobacco.
The treaty, adopted unanimously by WHO's member states, calls for a halt
to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.  Visit the WHO
webpage for World No Tobacco Day at:
http://www5.who.int/tobacco/page.cfm?sid=86
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UNICEF CALLS ON G8 LEADERS TO MEET CHALLENGE OF HIV/AIDS

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy challenged leaders from the
world’s richest nations meeting at the G8 summit to summon the
collective leadership, resources and political will needed for a
“tide-turning approach” to the global AIDS crisis. She said they would
otherwise be held accountable for allowing millions more people –
increasingly children and young people – to suffer needlessly and die
under their watch. Prevalence rates are lowest among children between
five and 14 years of age, Bellamy said. Because the spread of HIV
depends mostly on the decisions that successive waves of children make
as they reach adolescence and throughout their lives, the global
response needs to ensure that they are fully equipped with the
wherewithal to make the healthy, informed decisions that don’t allow for
infection.
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/2003/03pr42g8.htm
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WHO CALLS FOR GLOBAL ACTION TO TACKLE RISING CANCER DEATHS

Our knowledge about prevention and treatment of cancer is increasing,
yet the number of new cases continues to rise. "Global Action Against
Cancer", a new booklet co-authored by WHO and the International Union
Against Cancer, challenges international organizations, governments and
individuals to turn existing knowledge into action to prevent at least
one third of the 10 million cancer cases that occur worldwide annually.
For further details, visit:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2003/pr44/en/
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UNRELENTING CRISIS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA BRINGS NEW RED CROSS APPROACH

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has
launched an emergency appeal for new forms of response to the
unrelenting crisis consuming southern Africa. The Federation warned that
the policy of donors, governments and humanitarian agencies will soon
lag behind the region's growing challenges. The interaction of HIV/AIDS,
failed health care, poverty and food insecurity has created an
unprecedented disaster that conventional interventions cannot contain.
For full press release, visit:
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/pr03/4903.asp
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THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AIDS INDIA

The 4th International conference on AIDS India is held once every two
years to provide a platform for sharing of new information, experiences
and current updates.  The conference will be held in the IMAGE
conference centre Chennai, India from November 9-12, 2003. For more
information, visit: www.aidsindia2003.org
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CANADIAN INSTITUTES FOR HEALTH RESEARCH: ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR
SUPPORT

The Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) have announced a
number of additional opportunities for support relating to the
institutes' priorities. Once the peer review process for CIHR's open
competition for funding is completed, priority announcements will enable
institutes to fund highly rated applications related to their mandate or
priorities. Priority announcements are aimed at stimulating applications
in the areas of health research of importance to the institutes.  For a
list of the priorities and opportunities, visit:
http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/services/funding/opportunities/strategic_comp
etitions/priority_announcements_june2003_e.shtml
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JOB OPPORTUNITY: ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, HEALTH EQUITY AND AFRICA REGIONAL
PROGRAM, ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION

The Rockefeller Foundation is a knowledge-based, global foundation with
a commitment to enrich and sustain the lives and livelihoods of the poor
and excluded throughout the world. The Foundation is seeking an
Associate Director for its office in Nairobi with overall responsibility
for providing: thematic leadership for grant activities related to AIDS,
and the development of programs related to Health Equity (HE) and the
Africa Regional Program (ARP) in Eastern and Southern Africa. The
deadline for applications is August 8, 2003.  For more information,
visit:
http://www.rockfound.org/display.asp?context=1&Collection=1&DocID=594&Pr
eview=0&ARCurrent=1
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