Climate change doesn't spare the smallest
(University of Pennsylvania) With a combined century of experience in the tropics, the University of Pennsylvania's Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs have seen a striking contraction of insect numbers and diversity. They share new data suggesting that climate change is the culprit and a way to protect the survivors: a bioliteracy program that aims to educate Costa Rican residents about the diversity around them and empower them to conserve it. It's a model they hope catches on and spreads around the globe. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - January 14, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Keeping Climate Ambition Alive: Challenges Remain but Signs of Progress Abound
By Pablo Vieira SamperWASHINGTON DC, Dec 3 2020 (IPS) For those of us in the international climate action community, 2020 isn’t ending the way we expected when we rang in the new year. Even before 2020 dawned, countries were hard at work planning for their first updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in line with the Paris Agreement’s five-year NDC revision cycle. NDCs are official statements, prepared by countries themselves, outlining the commitments they are making to reduce national emissions and adapt to climate change’s impacts. They are at the heart of putting the Paris Agreement into practice and...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - December 3, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Pablo Vieira Samper Tags: Climate Change Development & Aid Economy & Trade Environment Global Green Economy Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Trade & Investment NDC Partnership Source Type: news
Amphibian die-offs worsened malaria outbreaks in Central America
(American Geophysical Union) The global collapse of frogs and other amphibians due to the amphibian chytrid fungus exacerbated malaria outbreaks in Costa Rica and Panama during the 1990s and 2000s, according to new research. The findings provide the first evidence that amphibian population declines have directly affected human health and show how preserving biodiversity can benefit humans as well as local ecosystems. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - December 2, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
UN Special Session on COVID-19 Must Recognize Right to Health & Access to Vaccines
A healthcare worker at a testing facility collects samples for the coronavirus at Mimar Sinan State Hospital, Buyukcekmece district in Istanbul, Turkey. Credit: UNDP Turkey/Levent KuluBy Riccardo PetrellaBRUSSELS, Nov 30 2020 (IPS) The holding of this Special Session (the 37th in the history of the UN) is of considerable importance. It is a unique opportunity to define and implement joint actions at the global level to fight the pandemic in order to ensure the right to life and health for all the inhabitants of the Earth. As the President of the UN General Assembly wrote in his letter of convocation: “Let us not forg...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - November 30, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Riccardo Petrella Tags: Development & Aid Education Featured Global Globalisation Headlines Health Inequity Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news
Whether Californians vote may hinge on race, ethnicity, UCLA health survey finds
Ballots have been rolling in ahead of Election Day, but a big question remains: How many people will ultimately vote? According to data from the latestCalifornia Health Interview Survey, or CHIS, an estimated 2.8 million eligible Californians never vote in national, state or local elections, and 7.7 million only vote sometimes — which could potentially leave more than 10 million ballots uncast. The findings on voter participation and other demographic and health-related topics are part of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research ’s annual CHIS data release, which takes place online today at noon PT.The 2019 e...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - October 29, 2020 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
What Developing Countries Can Teach Us About How To Respond To a Pandemic
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The post What Developing Countries Can Teach Us About How To Respond To a Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service. (Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health)
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - October 16, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: External Source Tags: Global Headlines Health TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news
Counting the species: how DNA barcoding is rewriting the book of life
We do not know how many species live on Earth. Barcoding could change that – and open the way for incredible discoveries Support Guardian journalism today, by making asingle or recurring contribution, orsubscribingGuanacaste conservation area in north-west Costa Rica is the most DNA barcoded place on Earth. On its western frontier, jaguars hunt turtles from the mangrove swamps that line the Pacific coast. Endangered spider monkeys swing through dry tropical forest, the remnants of a rapidly disappearing ecosystem that once ran from northern Mexico to Panama.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - October 7, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Patrick Greenfield Tags: Biodiversity Costa Rica Endangered species Insects Environment Genetics Biology Animals Conservation Science Wildlife Americas World news Source Type: news
Scientists Discover A Way To Prevent Illegal Trade Of Turtle Eggs
Wildlife poachers sometimes steal sea turtle eggs from their nests on Costa Rican beaches. Now scientists have a way to fight back: decoy eggs embedded with GPS trackers. (Source: NPR Health and Science)
Source: NPR Health and Science - October 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Colors, Youth and Afro Descendant Power
SAN JOS É, Costa Rica - Speaking with Leonela is refreshing and inspiring. At 22, she has that youthful attitude of wanting to embrace the world and make the best out of everything. “I studied sociology and I have always been interested in getting involved in extracurricular activities and volunteering to enhance my knowledge,” she explains. (Source: UNFPA News)
Source: UNFPA News - September 18, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund Source Type: news
Coronavirus live news: hospitalisations of 15 to 49-year-olds rising, says WHO; 9,784 new cases in France
Average age of people infected with Covid-19 is coming down, says WHO expert;third-highest new caseload in France;local lockdowns in Madrid‘It’s getting worse by the day’: India’s Covid battle rages onWhy Covid may have already peaked in many African countriesSweden spared European surge as infections stay low‘I up-played it’: Trump disputes own admission on pandemicUS coronavirus updates – live7.28pmBST Latin America has started to resume normal social and public life at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic still requires major control interventions, theWorld Health Organization regional directorCarissaEtienne ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - September 16, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Lucy Campbell (now); Kevin Rawlinson, Haroon Siddique, Amy Walker and Helen Sullivan (earlier) Tags: Coronavirus outbreak World news UK news US news Australia news Science Infectious diseases Source Type: news
‘A Hail Mary’: Psychedelic Therapy Draws Veterans to Jungle Retreats
Ayahuasca, a vomit-inducing hallucinogenic brew, draws thousands of people each year — including former soldiers — to jungle retreats that have become an unlicensed and unregulated mental health marketplace. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - August 30, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ernesto Londo ño and Adam Ferguson Tags: Alternative and Complementary Medicine Therapy and Rehabilitation Drug Abuse and Traffic Mental Health and Disorders Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Veterans Depression (Mental) Antidepressants Veterans Affairs Department Costa Rica Ama Source Type: news
Tourism Trauma and COVID-19
By External SourceAug 21 2020 (IPS-Partners) Pandemic-related lockdowns, flight cancellations, and border closures may be putting a crimp on summer vacation plans. However, the precipitous drop in tourism will have an outsized impact on countries that rely on foreign travelers—with potentially large-scale effects on their economies’ national accounts.
Costa Rica, Greece, Morocco, Portugal, and Thailand could be among the hardest hit with losses in tourism proceeds exceeding 3 percent of GDP, according to the IMF’s recently released 2020 External Sector Report.
The chart calculates direct tourism impacts on imports, ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - August 21, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: External Source Tags: Economy & Trade Health Humanitarian Emergencies Source Type: news
Call for Urgent Action by 275 World Leaders on Global Education Emergency In Face of Covid19
Credit: UNICEF Mali / DickoBy External SourceNEW YORK, Aug 18 2020 (IPS) We write to call for urgent action to address the global education emergency triggered by COVID-19. With over 1 billion children still out of school because of the lockdown, there is now a real and present danger that the public health crisis will create a COVID generation who lose out on schooling and whose opportunities are permanently damaged. While the more fortunate have had access to alternatives, the world’s poorest children have been locked out of learning, denied internet access, and with the loss of free school meals – once a lifelin...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - August 18, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: External Source Tags: Economy & Trade Education Featured Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Source Type: news
Put Climate at the Heart of COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plans
By Pablo Vieira SamperWASHINGTON DC, Jun 29 2020 (IPS) Cast your mind back. Six months ago—it seems like a lifetime—the world’s attention was on Madrid. The United Nations was meeting to take stock of international progress in fighting climate change. Headlines were dominated by young people pointing out—rightly—that governments were still not doing enough. They demanded urgent and ambitious action to cut emissions and help the most vulnerable.
Pablo Vieira SamperFast forward to today. A then-unheard-of disease has swept around the world, with a death toll of almost half a million and climbing. Whole societies h...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - June 29, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Pablo Vieira Samper Tags: Climate Change Development & Aid Economy & Trade Environment Global Green Economy Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Trade & Investment Source Type: news
Sweden-Costa Rica: Same Paths on Climate Change, Different on COVID-19
Cloud forest in Costa Rica. Credit: Germán Miranda/IPSBy René Castro Salazar and Brian HarrisROME/SANTIAGO, Jun 24 2020 (IPS) The lack of a coordinated international response had led to varying results worldwide in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Two countries that have long coordinated their response to global goals like promotion on democracy, human rights and environmental issues, Sweden and Costa Rica highlight how public policy matters. While with their similar approaches to climate change the two walk together, their different approaches to COVID-19 have reaped disparate results, and death tolls.
Using Gompertz...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - June 24, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Ren é Castro Salazar and Brian Harris Tags: Climate Change Environment Global Headlines Health TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news
