Tagged: United Nations

  • Women as leaders in conflict response

    The international community is not giving enough attention to the impact that humanitarian crises have on women and girls or to the role they play in emergency response. We need to. It’s time to examine how women are disproportionately affected by conflict and emergencies and how they fill the roles of first responders, caregivers and peacebuilders.

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  • A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals

    This year, I’ve taken A Deeper Look at the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, in conversations with 10 international development leaders. What better way to conclude this series than by talking with Tony Pipa, who was the U.S. government’s lead representative, or “Sherpa,” in the negotiations of the goals at the United Nations. In this final episode of 2017, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the formation of the goals, progress to date toward meeting them and what the future trajectory looks like as we enter year three of the 15-year race to a more prosperous and equitable world. Are we on track? How universal are these goals in reality? Is ending poverty by 2030 possible?

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    quotation: It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity. -Dag Hammarskjold

    Today, the United Nations Development Programme released its 2013 Human Development Report. The theme of the report is The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World and examines the rapid progress made by many developing countries toward improving the lives of their citizens by bringing millions out of poverty.

    “The rise of the South has resulted not from adhering to a fixed set of policy prescriptions, but from applying pragmatic policies that respond to local circumstances and opportunities — including a deepening of the developmental role of states, a dedication to improving human development (including by supporting education and social welfare) and an openness to trade and innovation.”

    Read the report here.

  • Non-communicable Diseases

    Next week, global leaders will meet at the United Nations to take on some of the world’s greatest killers: cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, heart disease, and stroke. The UN High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases on September 19–20, has the potential to finally address these leading causes of death and disability, which until now have been largely ignored.

    Yet when we wake up on Sept. 21, how much will have changed? Will there be a new Global Fund to fight noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)? Will key stakeholders, such as those involved in urban planning, agriculture, trade and current global health priorities be as engaged as they need to be to realize ambitious goals of measurably reducing disease? Will the public even know what an NCD is — even though more than 60 percent of deaths worldwide are from noncommunicable diseases, the majority from cardiovascular disease?

    ncd_blog_full_article_text_graphic_2011-09-13-02The answer to all of these questions is: not yet. September 21 will be the start of the real work. The problems of NCDs are complex, but we have many opportunities to alter the course of what has become a global crisis.

    There are a number of concrete steps that countries and health systems can take immediately to strengthen their commitment to reducing noncommunicable diseases. They can ratify and implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first public health treaty. Many countries already have the makings of NCD plans in existing cancer plans, tobacco control programs and strategies for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They may also have specific programs to address respiratory disease, mental health and other issues. Health systems can make essential drugs, such as aspirin and statins, available immediately and at a low cost because many are off patent.

    As leading researchers and public health officials said in an April 2011 Lancet article, “An effective response to NCDs requires government leadership and coordination of all relevant sectors and stakeholders, reinforced through international cooperation.”

    In the end, we will need to make compromises and learn to share resources with people and institutions with whom we are not accustomed to collaborating. We will need to delay gratification and risk unpopularity in some of our choices. And we will likely not see the payoff in our lifetimes. But with time, effort and investment, we will see results.