PAHO News – April 18, 2002

In this edition:
-9TH ANNUAL CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL HEALTH: DEADLINE FOR
ABSTRACTS EXTENDED
-CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: THE ABRAHAM HORWITZ AWARD FOR INTER-AMERICAN
HEALTH
-PAHO INTERNATIONAL POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH TRAINING FELLOWSHIPS
-PAHO/WHO 2002 MANUEL VELASCO-SUAREZ BIOETHICS AWARD
-CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES IN LATIN AMERICA
-PRESENTATIONS ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE, HEALTH AND RIGHTS IN THE
AMERICAS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
-POLIO PUSHED TO LOWEST LEVELS IN HISTORY
-REVEALED: TOBACCO INDUSTRY STRATEGIES TO DEFEAT A EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
BAN ON TOBACCO ADVERTISING
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

9TH ANNUAL CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL HEALTH: DEADLINE FOR
ABSTRACTS EXTENDED

The deadline for submitting abstracts for the 9th Annual Canadian
Conference on International Health has been extended to May 15th!  The
conference will be held in Ottawa, October 27-30th, and is organized and
hosted each year by the Canadian Society for International Health
(CSIH).  This year the theme is “Poverty, Health & Equity: From Global
Challenges to Innovative Solutions”.  Submission forms and guidelines
can be found in the Call for Abstracts PDF document, now available at:
http://www.csih.org/what/FINALcallforabstracts9thCCIH.pdf.

Conference information is listed on the CSIH website:
http://www.csih.org/what/conferences.html.  For more information, please
contact CSIH at [log in to unmask] or Helene Thibault, the CSIH Liason
for PAHO/WHO, at [log in to unmask]
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: THE ABRAHAM HORWITZ AWARD FOR INTER-AMERICAN
HEALTH

The Abraham Horwitz Award for Inter-American Health was created to
recognize leadership and excellence in individuals whose public health
achievements have resulted in major improvements to the lives of the
people of the Americas.  The award is named after Dr. Abraham Horwitz,
four-time Director of the Pan American Health Organization, for his
outstanding contribution to health in the Americas.  PAHO is now calling
for nominations for the 2002 Awards.  Nomination forms and further
information can be found at the website:
http://www.paho.org/English/PAHEF/horwitz.htm.  Nominations must be
submitted by May 30, 2002.
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

PAHO INTERNATIONAL POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH TRAINING FELLOWSHIPS

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization
(PAHO/WHO) and the National Institutes of Health of the United States
(NIH) invite researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean to apply
for one-year postdoctoral training in the NIH intramural laboratories.
This initiative is aimed at training researchers, with the ultimate goal
of building research capacity where it is most needed, by offering the
necessary conditions for advanced-level continuing education in priority
areas related to public-health issues in the Region.  Biomedical,
clinical, epidemiological and behavioral studies are the priority
research areas.  The application deadline is July 31, 2002.  For more
information, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/HDP/HDR/fogarty.htm
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

PAHO/WHO 2002 MANUEL VELASCO-SUAREZ BIOETHICS AWARD

The Pan American Health and Education Foundation has announced the
introduction of a new international award to recognize and stimulate
excellence in the field of bioethics. The 2002 Manuel Velasco-Suarez
Bioethics Award is intended to stimulate young scholars in the
development of their capacities for bioethical analysis. The award
carries a cash prize of US$10,000.   PAHO/WHO named the award in honor
of Manuel Velasco-Suarez, Mexican physician, researcher, scholar and
founder of the Instituto Nacional de Neurología and of the Mexican
National Bioethics Commission.  For more Award information, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/PAHEF/velasco.htm.  Nominations are due by
June 15, 2002.
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES IN LATIN AMERICA

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) will cause three times more deaths and
disability in South America and the Caribbean than infectious diseases
over the next 20 years, and health systems in the Region are not
adequately prepared.  According to a PAHO report, the two most
significant cardiovascular diseases are ischemic heart disease and
cerebrovascular disease. Both can be prevented by controlling and
avoiding primary risk factors, the most important of which are smoking,
an inadequate diet, lack of physical activity, obesity, hypertension,
and high cholesterol.  Prevention and control of cardiovascular disease
can be improved with an integrated approach to the health of the
population. Within this approach, some interventions target individuals,
while others target the environment in which they live, and still others
focus on the health system to make it more efficient.
http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/100/100feature15.htm
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

PRESENTATIONS ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE, HEALTH AND RIGHTS IN THE
AMERICAS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE

The text versions of presentations made at the 2001 Symposium on
Gender-Based Violence, Health and Rights in the Americas are now
available online. The Symposium was an inter-agency effort at the
regional and country level that brought together representatives from
the ministries of health, women's organizations, civil society and UN
agencies from 30 countries, as well as international donor agencies, to
identify priorities and formulate strategies for strengthening the
response of the health sector to gender-based violence.  If you missed
the symposium, you can now read the presentations online at the
following address: http://www.paho.org/English/HDP/HDW/symposium.htm.
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

POLIO PUSHED TO LOWEST LEVELS IN HISTORY

With only 537 polio cases reported globally in 2001, efforts to
eradicate the disease have driven the incidence of polio to its lowest
point in history. However, experts overseeing the initiative to
eradicate polio warn that, given the current prevalence of conflict, the
last vestiges of polio must be extinguished now because any delay will
jeopardize the success of the entire effort.  In 2001, more than 575
million children under five years of age were vaccinated in 94 countries
as part of the global effort to eradicate polio. Vaccinators, numbering
over 10 million, went house-to-house, boat-to-boat, across borders,
through rivers and over mountain ranges to find and immunize every child
under five years of age, often in internationally-coordinated
immunization activities.  With the target for stopping polio
transmission worldwide looming at the end of 2002, successful National
Immunization Days this spring will be essential. Several of the
remaining endemic countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, India,
Somalia, Sudan) are undertaking mass immunization campaigns this week as
part of their final push to eliminate the virus.
http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-25.html
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

REVEALED: TOBACCO INDUSTRY STRATEGIES TO DEFEAT A EUROPEAN COMMUNITY BAN
ON TOBACCO ADVERTISING

The tobacco industry sought to defeat a European Community initiative to
ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship, an article published in The
Lancet reveals. The tobacco industry lobbied EC member states and
covertly enlisted the aid of high level European politicians to prevent
the passage of a total ban on tobacco advertising. Advertising and
sponsorship bans are key elements of the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control which is currently being negotiated.  For more information,
visit: http://tobacco.who.int/page.cfm?sid=70
^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

To unsubscribe from CANCHID send: unsubscribe CANCHID to: [log in to unmask]  -  for help see http://listserv.yorku.ca