Synergy Online – October 23, 2003

In this issue:
-FINAL PROGRAM FOR THE 10TH CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL HEALTH
NOW AVAILABLE
-THE GLOBAL TREATMENT ACCESS GROUP (GTAG) AND MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES
(MSF) SEEK CANADIAN PHYSICIANS TO SUPPORT A CAMPAIGN TO ALLOW FOR THE
EXPORT OF GENERIC DRUGS TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD
-ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS TO CHILDREN’S HEALTH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE
WESTERN PACIFIC
-STOVE INTERVENTION STUDY AND ARI IN YOUNG CHILDREN
-PAI REPORT DOCUMENTS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S “GLOBAL GAG RULE”
-JOIN THE CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGISTRY!
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FINAL PROGRAM FOR THE 10TH CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL HEALTH
NOW AVAILABLE
The 10th Canadian Conference on International Health (CCIH) will be held
in Ottawa October 26-29, 2003.  The theme of this year's conference is
"The Right to Health: Influencing the Global Agenda.  How Research,
Advocacy and Action Can Shape Our Future."  To view the final program in
PDF format, visit: http://www.csih.org and follow the links.
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THE GLOBAL TREATMENT ACCESS GROUP (GTAG) AND MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES
(MSF) SEEK CANADIAN PHYSICIANS TO SUPPORT A CAMPAIGN TO ALLOW FOR THE
EXPORT OF GENERIC DRUGS TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD
GTAG is requesting support from Canadian physicians in its campaign
to have the federal government amend the Patent Act to allow the export
of generic drugs for any public health problem in any country that is
unable to produce its own medicines.  MSF, on behalf of the GTAG group,
is asking Canadian physicians to endorse a letter to Prime Minister
Chretien and other federal ministers involved in the issue.  The letter
reads: “As physicians, we know the importance of the place of
medications in modern medicine. We therefore applaud the decision of the
Canadian government to amend the Patent Act to allow for the production
and exportation of generic drugs even though the products are still
under patent in Canada.  In the Doha Declaration of November 2001, the
World Trade Organization (WTO) recognized that member countries have a
“right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to
medicines for all”, and to this end, to use the full flexibility found
in the WTO's Trade Related Aspects of International Property Rights
(TRIPS) Agreement on patents. This access is for “public health problems
afflicting… developing and least-developed countries, especially those
resulting from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics… We
strongly urge the Canadian government to move quickly to implement its
decision to change the Patent Act.”  Interested physicians are asked to
send their name, professional qualifications and any institutional
affiliation (for identification purposes only) to Carol Devine, Medecins
Sans Frontieres, at [log in to unmask]
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ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS TO CHILDREN’S HEALTH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE
WESTERN PACIFIC
According to the article "Environmental Threats to Children's Health in
Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific" (published in Volume 111, Number
10, August 2003, Environmental Health Perspectives), the South-east Asia
and Western Pacific regions contain half of the world's children and are
among the most rapidly industrializing regions of the globe.
Environmental threats to children's health are widespread and are
multiplying as nations in the area undergo industrial development and
pass through the epidemiologic transition. These environmental hazards
range from traditional threats such as bacterial contamination of
drinking water and woodsmoke in poorly ventilated dwellings to more
recently introduced chemical threats such as asbestos construction
materials; arsenic in groundwater; methyl isocyanate in Bhopal, India;
untreated manufacturing wastes released to landfills; chlorinated
hydrocarbon and organophosphorous pesticides; and atmospheric lead
emissions from the combustion of leaded gasoline. To address these
problems, pediatricians, environmental health scientists, and public
health workers throughout South-east Asia and the Western Pacific have
begun to build local and national research and prevention programs in
children's environmental health. To download the full article in PDF
format, visit:
http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/en/hecanet_ehparticle.pdf
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STOVE INTERVENTION STUDY AND ARI IN YOUNG CHILDREN
Indoor air pollution arising from the use of biomass fuels in developing
countries is responsible for a substantial burden of disease among the
poor, resulting in acute respiratory infections (ARI) in young children
and chronic respiratory illness in women. In response to this, WHO has
supported the development of an intervention study to directly measure
the change in incidence of acute lower respiratory infections in young
children as a result of measured reductions in exposure to indoor air
pollution. After several years of development work and through funding
by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a study is
underway in the rural highlands of western Guatemala, led by a team from
the universities of del Valle (Guatemala City), Berkeley (USA), and
Liverpool (UK). In these poor highland areas, most families are
dependent on wood for their cooking and space heating needs, and many in
the poorest areas still use an open three-stone fire with very little
ventilation. Some 500 homes with very young children (aged less than six
months), using open fires, were invited to join the study.  Half of the
homes were then offered a locally made improved chimney stove, the
plancha, which studies have shown is very well accepted, meets all
household needs, and substantially reduces indoor air pollution levels
as well as the exposure of women and children. More information on this
study and its preliminary results, visit:
http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/guat/
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PAI REPORT DOCUMENTS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S “GLOBAL GAG RULE”
The Bush administration's ban on funds to family planning clinics that
offer abortion counselling ("Mexico City Policy” or "Global Gag-Rule”)
is adversely affecting the supply of condoms to countries hit by
HIV/AIDS.  In a report entitled "Access Denied: U.S. Restrictions on
International Family Planning,” a coalition of reproductive health care
organizations, including Population Action International (PAI), takes an
in-depth look into the policy's effects in developing countries such as
Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia and Romania. According to the report, health
services have been scaled back and closings of reproductive health
clinics have left some communities with no health care provider. Because
of the gag rule, many family planning organizations have been cut off
from supplies of USAID contraceptives, including condoms. USAID is the
world's biggest source of development funding and the most important
single donor of condoms to the developing world, procuring and
delivering more than a third of all donated supplies worth about $75
million a year. A copy of the report, as well as video footage, can be
viewed at http://www.popact.org/news/press/news_092403_accessDenied.htm.
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JOIN THE CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGISTRY!
Join the Canadian Society for International Health's on-line Canadian
International Health Registry! Professionals seeking employment and
volunteer opportunities in health and development can let CSIH's
contacts work for them.  At the request of potential employers
(organizations, institutions and private firms), CSIH carries out a
search of the directory for an expert with specific knowledge or skills.
Let us help you connect! http://209.87.224.165/csih-reg/eReg1.asp
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