BRINGING YOU CURRENT NEWS ON GLOBAL HEALTH & ECOLOGICAL WELLNESS

PLANETARY HEALTH WEEKLY

September 17, 2015 Volume 1, Issue 28

Joint Action Needed on Link Between Human Trafficking and Corruption Human trafficking is a dramatic reality.

Many of the world's estimated 36 million

slaves are trafficked because corrupt

police, customs, judicial and other

officials take bribes from traffickers.

However, the impact of corruption has

been neglected in the development of

policies and measures to tackle human

trafficking.

Read More on trust.org

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

Should not Hesitate to Vaccinate 2

WHO Mishandled the Ebola Crisis

Measles Outbreak in Congo

——————————————————–

Ecuadoreans Sue Chevron in Canada 3

European’s E-Waste

D-livering on INDCs

———————————————————

Asia-Pacific in Battle Against TB 4

Carbon Credits Undercut Climate

TCM for Aboriginal Women

———————————————————

Weekly Bulletin: QOTW & Events 5

———————————————————

FYI: Career Success Isn’t a Mystery 6

———————————————————

FYI: Five Social Entrepreneurship Reads 7

Scientists Warn of Unprecedented Damage to Forests Across the World

Forests around the world are being affected by humans

both directly by deforestation and indirectly by climate

change. Human impacts such as logging and clearance

for farmland and mining have left less than a quarter of

tropical forests intact. But through the coming century, the

threat of forest clearance will be increasingly combined

with the impacts of rapid climatic changes. Read More on The Carbon Brief

PLANETARY HEALTH WEEKLY

Why We Should Not Hesitate to Vaccinate

Vaccines are widely recognized as the best health

investment available, and their use has increased steadily

since the 1970s, when immunization programs began to

expand. Today, the World Health Organization estimates

that immunization programs contribute to saving the lives

of 2 to 3 million people each year and protect many

millions more from illness and disability from diphtheria,

tetanus, pertussis (DTP3) and measles.

Read More on Devex

PAGE | 2

Measles Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo an “Epidemic Emergency” In high-income countries, measles is generally seen as

a mild ailment. An epidemic raging in equatorial Africa

proves that the measles virus has not lost its power to

kill. The measles epidemic started in February and has

spread to three of the country's 11 provinces. This

epidemic could become as dramatic as the last one,

which broke out in 2010 and lasted 3 years. It caused

an estimated 300,000 cases and 5000 deaths.

Read More on The Lancet

Ebola's Lessons: How WHO Mishandled the Crisis

Understanding the disastrous international response to

the recent Ebola pandemic in West Africa is important to

ensure mistakes won’t be repeated. WHO has struggled

to remain credible, as its financial resources have shrunk,

tensions have grown between its Geneva headquarters

and its regional offices, and rival multilateral

organizations have taken control over much of the

global health action and agenda.

Read More on Devex

Volume 1, Issue 28

PAGE | 3

D-livering on INDCs

Recently, Djibouti, Dominican Republic and Democratic

Republic of Congo submitted their climate pledges to

the United Nations, formally known as Intended

Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). You can

keep up to date with who's submitted what with Carbon

Brief's Paris Tracker. In the latest effort to tot up what it all

means, Grantham Research Institute says pledges fall

short of the reductions needed to avoid more than 2C of

global warming.

Read More on The Carbon Brief

Only a Third of Europe’s E-Waste Goes Where It Should From handheld LCD screens to big washing machines

and refrigerators, electronic and electrical waste in

Europe isn’t going where it should. Proper disposal

methods for e-waste exist, but many European

consumers and companies don’t use them. Only 3.3

million of 9.45 million tons of discarded e-waste ended

up in official collection and recycling programs in 2012.

Read More on Newsweek

Ecuadoreans Can Sue Chevron in Canada, Supreme Court Rules

Ecuadorean villagers can sue Chevron and its Canadian

subsidiary in an Ontario court to enforce a $9.5 billion

judgment from Ecuador. The ruling has major implications

for Canadian multinational companies whose business

activities raise environmental or human-rights concerns

around the globe. The ruling weakens the so-called

“corporate veil” that has shielded subsidiaries from

responsibility for the actions of their corporate parents.

Read More on The Globe and Mail

September 17, 2015

CURRENTNEWS

PLANETARY HEALTH WEEKLY

Asia-Pacific Unites in Battle Against Tuberculosis

The Asia-Pacific TB Parliamentary Caucus is the first

regional meeting to come out of the Global TB Caucus,

which was established in October 2014. In less than 12

months, the global caucus now counts as members 551

parliamentarians from 81 countries, a massive

achievement to highlight an often overlooked disease,

which kills 1.5 million people annually.

Read More on Devex

PAGE | 4

TCM Health Clinics Reach Out to Aboriginal Women First Nations women facing health issues in Vancouver’s

Downtown Eastside now have a new, unconventional

option for help: Traditional Chinese Medicine. Tzu Chi

Canada, the local branch of the Buddhist non-profit

based in Taiwan, opened the first clinic focusing on the

First Nations community about two years ago. The

response has been so positive that two more Downtown

Eastside locations are now operating.

Read More on The Vancouver Sun

Carbon Credits Undercut Climate Change Action

The UN's carbon credits scheme may have increased

emissions by 600 million tonnes, according to a new

study. Russia and Ukraine in particular come under fire

for using the mechanism to earn money instead of

cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. The useless

credits have undermined the EU's emissions trading

scheme.

Read More on BBC

Volume 1, Issue 28

WEEKLYBULLETIN

EVENTSTABLE

PAGE | 5 September 17, 2015

DATE CONFERENCE LOCATION REGISTER

Oct.

5-9 Ryerson Social Justice Week

Toronto

Canada

http://www.ryerson.ca/

socialjustice/

Nov.

5-7

Canadian Conference on Global Health

2015

Montreal

Canada

http://www.csih.org/en/events/

ccgh2015

Nov.

16-18

2015 Canadian Undergraduate

Conference on Healthcare (CUCOH)

Kingston

Canada http://www.cucoh.com/about

Nov.

18-20

9th World Alliance For Risk Factor

Surveillance (WARFS) & The Americas'

Network for Chronic Disease Surveillance

(AMNET) Global Conference 2015

St. John's

Antigua http://warfs15.squarespace.com

Nov.

25-27

7th Canadian Science Policy Conference

2015

Ottawa

Canada http://www.sciencepolicy.ca/

Apr.

9-11

Annual CUGH Global Health Conference

2016

San Francisco

U.S.A

http://cugh.org/events/2016-

annual-cugh-global-health

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “To say you’re going to ignore that there’s a huge risk here,

the way we’re filling the atmosphere with heat-trapping

gases, is folly, ignorance and totally irresponsible. I don’t

think climate change is anywhere near the issue that it’s

going to be, but the concern is rising in the public mind.

The facts can’t be concealed forever.”

Jerry Brown,

California Governor

Commenting on the giant

drought in his state (August, 2015)

CONNECT WITH

Planetary Health Weekly @PlanetaryWeeky Planetary Health

Weekly

@PlanetaryHealthWeeky

PAGE | 6 Volume 1, Issue 28

Lean In: Career Success Isn't a Mystery, It's Hard Work

There’s no mystery. Just work!

Follow your heart and be there.

Be yourself, always. Be truthful to yourself and to your principles, to what you think, because at

the end of the day, it’s about being passionate in what you do.

Don't sit at the back of the room waiting for someone to invite you to sit at the table. If you

have things to say, be there, be heard and don’t be afraid.

Work with others so that they can understand that you are prepared to collaborate. Reach

out, work with people, talk to them so they know where you’re coming from and they’ll

understand.

Read More on Devex

FYI

September 17, 2015 PAGE | 7

FYI

Five Social Entrepreneurship Must-Reads

Here are five must-reads that explore what social entrepreneurship is, how it can deliver

sustainable impact, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem as a whole.

1. The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship

2. Reshaping Social Entrepreneurship

3. Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition

4. Two Keys to Sustainable Social Enterprise

5. 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

Read More on Devex

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Professor Wang Wei, head of the Genomics Institute at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia and

former Dean of Family Medicine and Public Health at Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

explaining how Traditional Chinese Medicine integrates well with the theory of Sub-Optimal Health

at a conference in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China - September 12, 2015.

See Prof. Wang's recent paper: http://www.epmajournal.com/content/5/1/4