PAHO News -- June 5,
2003
PAHO News is also available on the Web!
In this issue:
-WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY CELEBRATED
-PAHO ONLINE BOOKSTORE: WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY DISCOUNTS
-CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: 2003 MANUEL VELASCO-SUAREZ AWARD IN
BIOETHICS
-VACCINATION WEEK IN THE AMERICAS: PHOTOS
-MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLES ON HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR
CHILDREN
-ARGENTINA’S LARGEST HEALTH SYSTEM PIONEERS INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO
LOWER
DRUG COSTS
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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 1 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
As countries work on writing the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control
(FCTC) into their national legislation, the World Health
Organization
(WHO) is calling on the world of film and fashion to stop
glamorizing
tobacco. The treaty, adopted unanimously by the WHO member states,
calls
for a halt to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
Visit the
WHO webpage for World No Tobacco Day at:
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PAHO ONLINE BOOKSTORE: WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY DISCOUNTS
Research in the US has found that non-smoking teens whose favorite
stars
frequently smoke on screen are 16 times more likely to have
positive
attitudes towards smoking in the future. Even more important, 31%
of
teens who saw more than 150 occurrences of smoking in movies
in
theatres, on video, or on television, had tried smoking compared to
only
4% among teens who had seen less than 50 occurrences. The
PAHO
Publications Program is celebrating World No Tobacco Day by offering
a
special discount of 30% to 40% off the original price of
several
publications related to the subject. This promotion will be in
effect
from 23 May up to 7 June. For more information, visit:
=11005835
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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: 2003 MANUEL VELASCO-SUAREZ AWARD IN
BIOETHICS
The Pan American Health and Education Foundation, a
U.S.-based
non-profit collaborating partner of PAHO, is accepting nominations
for
the second annual Manuel Velasco-Suarez Award. The
international award
aims to recognize and stimulate excellence in the field of
bioethics.
The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2003. For further
details,
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VACCINATION WEEK IN THE AMERICAS: PHOTOS
Countries in the region continue to mark Vaccination Week in
the
Americas: June 1-8, 2003. For photos of some of the
activities, visit:
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MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLES ON HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN
Four ministerial round-table discussions on healthy environments
for
children were held concurrently on May 20, 2003, during the
Fifty-sixth
World Health Assembly. Ministers of health or their
representatives
analyzed the issue and indicated how the challenges posed by
unhealthy
environments could best be tackled. They shared information on
best
practices, identified means of overcoming major constraints
and
obstacles to success, highlighted essential policy interventions
and
action strategies, examined the role of the health and other sectors
in
improving children's environmental health, and made recommendations
to
WHO and the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance to take
forward
work in this area. The main issues raised in the round tables
are
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ARGENTINA’S LARGEST HEALTH SYSTEM PIONEERS INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO
LOWER
DRUG COSTS
Argentina is the testing ground for what is believed to be the
world’s
first experiment of its kind to cope with rising drug costs while
it
seeks to improve services to senior citizens and disabled persons,
two
of the country’s most vulnerable population groups. The
National
Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners (NISSRP)
is
Argentina’s largest health system. Among other services, it
provides
outpatient drug coverage and cancer treatment medications to its
more
than 3.3 million beneficiaries, which include the retired
population,
pensioners with a disability such as a physical or mental disorder,
war
veterans, and the dependents of these beneficiaries. As rising
prices
for prescription medications began to take their toll on both the
NISSRP
and its beneficiaries, through the latter’s copayment obligations,
the
Institute turned its attention to the country’s drug companies. For
more
information, visit:
=11005835
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