CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Is there a role for law(yers) in public health?

ITS not often that speakers forgo the chance to present in favour of opening up debate, but this is exactly what happened here at the World Congress Public Health 2012 (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,Tuesday April 24), in the session “Law: a public health tool”. Moderator, Michele Forzley, chose not to talk on access to medicines in favor of a longer group discussion, following presentations from 3 African speakers on law related to women’s rights, public health emergencies, and setting up NGOs.

Split into small groups,  we, the audience, were asked to identify public health issues which persisted despite knowing the cause and cure, and despite the existence of laws providing protection. The speaker panel then commented on the identified issues, relating them to existing law in their various countries and suggesting why the law had failed to protect.. Michelle Forzley supplied the international perspective. 

Issues identified by the groups related to LMICs (low and middle income countries) and included khat use by young people in Ethiopia; environmental pollution from mining; migrant rights; counterfeit drugs, poor quality breast milk substitutes; training needs of public health workers to enable them to defend and advocate effectively for public health law enforcement; and food labelling/quality, particularly of imported foods.

Mobilize the Earth - Earth Day 22 April 2012

Blue Marble Earth from Suomi NPP

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the Earth Day Network (EDN) has worked with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. Earth Day 2012 is on Sunday 22^nd April 2012 and the 42^nd anniversary of Earth Day is on the theme ‘Mobilize the Earth’. Read on to see how you can help the campaign!

How tai chi is good for the heart

As an Editor with varied responsibilities at CABI, information I come across at work often overlaps with what I do away from my desk. Thus, as a long-time practitioner of tai chi who isn't getting any younger, I was interested when looking for subjects to write about for the Leisure Tourism Database, to come across the latest piece of research on the health benefits of tai chi for 'older adults'.

The study from Hong Kong, recently published online in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found that older subjects regularly practicing tai chi were less likely to suffer high blood pressure, and were physically stronger in particular areas such as the knees.