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Die Bevölkerung Albaniens ging im Jahr 2022 aufgrund von Auswanderung um 1,3 Prozent zurück, was etwa 36.000 (hauptsächlich jungen) Menschen entspricht und den stärksten Bevölkerungsrückgang seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg bedeutet.

Számtalan olyan eset előfordul, hogy idegen nyelvű könyvet szeretnénk vásárolni. Ilyenkor a legtöbb ember vagy a legközelebbi vagy az általa ismert könyvesboltba megy. Teljesen logikusnak tűnik a lépés, azonban a legtöbbször mégis csalódás a vége.

Hogy miért is? Nos, leginkább azért, mert egy másik nyelv körülbelül ugyanakkora könyvesboltot tud megtölteni, mint a magyar. Ezért aztán nem csoda, ha csak egy szűk váogatás kerül a népszerű könyvesbolti hálózatok üzleteibe. Mai cikkünkben annak járunk utána, hogyan oldható fel ez a patthelyzet.

Angol nyelvű könyvet keresel?

Ha bármilyen angol nyelvű könyvet keresel, akkor felejtsd el a népszerű könyvesboltokat, és vedd inkább az irányt az Oxford Corner Könyvesbolt angol nyelvű könyvei felé. Ez az üzlet ugyanis célirányosan az idegen nyelvi könyvekre specializálódik, így szép számmal találsz a kínálatukban angol könyveket.

Éppen ennek a széles választéknak lesz köszönhető az, hogy egyáltalán nem kell kompromisszumot kötnöd, hiszen ha modern kurzuskönyvet keresel, azt pontosan ugyanúgy megtalálod, mintha meglévő tudásodat szeretnéd vizsgahelyzetben gyakorolni, vagy éppen egy-egy izgalmas kortárs vagy klasszikus regény elolvasásával szeretnéd tovább mélyíteni a nyelvtudásodat.

Milyen könyveket találsz a kínálatban?

Eléggé tévhitbe ringatja magát az, aki azt hiszi, csak kurzuskönyveket lehet az adott nyelven, jelen esetben angol nyelven kapni. Összeszedtük egy listába, hogy milyen könyvekkel segítheted a nyelvtudásod fejlesztését, felélesztését vagy éppen szinten tartását.

• A fentebb említett kurzuskönyvek képezik a nyelvtanulás alapját, de szerteágazó a kínálat itt is, korosztály, szint és nyelvtanulási cél szerint válogathatsz.
• A szótárak kiváló kiegészítők, amelyek vizsgahelyzetben jönnek kapóra.
• Az üzleti könyvek a szakmai nyelvet hivatottak fejleszteni.
• A már meglévő nyelvtudásodat turbózhatod eleinte könnyített olvasmányokkal, majd később olvashatod a műveket eredetiben is.
• Ha nyelvvizsgát szeretnél tenni, kiváló szolgálatot tesznek majd a vizsgafelkészítő kiadványok, amelyek szint és vizsgatípus, valamint vizsgaközpont alapján választhatóak.
• A gyerekkönyvek színes és vidám világa már a legapróbbak kedvét is meghozza ehhez a dinamikus világnyelvhez.
• A nyelvtanuló kártya praktikus kiegészítője lehet minden szinten a nyelvtanulási stílusodnak.
• Szoftverek, e-bookok és hanganyagok széles választéka koronázza meg a nyelvtanulási technikákat.

Láthatod hát, akad bőven választék, nem csoda, ha kell neki egy külön könyvesbolt!

Napi 15 perc!

Biztosan van minden napodban 15 perc, amit hasznosabban tölthetnél: a közösségi oldalakon való szörfölés helyett kapj inkább a kezedbe egy könyvet, amit az Oxford Corner Könyvesbolt polcairól választottál, és meglásd, már egy hónap után érezhető fejlődést tapasztalsz a nyelvtudásodban!

 

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Polen will sich dafür einsetzen, dass der EU-Vorschlag zu Methanemissionen es Bergwerken erlaubt, acht statt fünf Tonnen Methan pro Kilotonne geförderter Kohle zu emittieren, und dass Kokskohle von den neuen Vorschriften ausgenommen wird.

Die spanische Regierung und die Europäische Kommission haben sich in letzter Minute auf eine umstrittene Rentenreform geeinigt, die Madrid den Weg für den Erhalt der nächsten Tranchen aus dem EU-Wiederaufbaufonds ebnet.

Benson Musyoka rides his motorcycle from Kamboo health centre to transport vaccines to Yindalani village. Photo Joyce Chimbi/IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Mar 13 2023 (IPS)

Up until 2019, nurses in three health facilities located in the semi-arid south-eastern Kenya region of Makueni County struggled to bring critical health services closer to a hard-to-reach population scattered across three remote, far-flung villages.

“Kamboo, Yindalani and Yiuma Mavui villages are located 17 and 28 kilometres away from Makindu sub-county hospital, and 10 and 22 kilometres away from the nearest electricity grid,” Benson Musyoka, the nurse in charge of Ndalani dispensary in Yindalani village tells IPS.

Without a cold chain capacity to store vital vaccines and drugs, health facilities records show vaccination coverage across these villages was well below 25 percent.

Babies were delivered at home because mothers could not raise 6 to 12 USDs to hire a boda boda or motorbike taxi, which is the only means of transportation in the area. Others could not reach the hospital in time to deliver.

“Every morning, I would collect vaccines at Makindu sub-county hospital and transport them inside a vaccine carrier box to Ndalani dispensary. Once the vaccines are inside the carrier box, they are only viable for up to six hours, at which point whatever doses will have remained unused must be returned to storage at Makindu sub-county hospital for refrigeration or thrown away,” Musyoka expounds.

In February 2019, a groundbreaking donation of a solar-powered freezer to the Kamboo health centre significantly improved availability and access to vaccinations as well as maternal health services across the three villages and surrounding areas.

Francis Muli, the nurse in charge of Kamboo health centre, tells IPS that without a fridge or freezer, “you cannot stock Oxytocin, and without Oxytocin, you cannot provide labour and delivery services.”

He says it would be extremely dangerous to do so because Oxytocin is injected into all mothers immediately after delivery to prevent postpartum haemorrhage. Oxytocin is also used to induce labour.

As recommended by the World Health Organization, Oxytocin is the gold standard for preventing postpartum haemorrhage and is central to Kenya’s ambitious goal to achieve zero preventable maternal deaths.

In 2017, the Ministry of Health identified sub-standard care in 9 out of 10 maternal deaths owing to postpartum haemorrhage. Overall, postpartum haemorrhage accounts for 25 percent of maternal deaths in this East African nation.

Usungu dispensary and Ndalani dispensary are each located 10 kilometres away from Kamboo health centre in different directions. Nurses in charge of the facilities no longer make the long journey of 28 kilometres to and another 28 kilometres from Makindu to collect and return unused vaccine doses on vaccination days.

“We collect vaccine doses from Makindu sub-county hospital at the beginning of the month and store them in the freezer at Kamboo health centre. The freezer is large enough to store thousands of various vaccine doses collected from the sub-county hospital for all three facilities,” says Antony Matali, the nurse in charge of Usungu dispensary in Yiuma Mavui village.

Two to three times a week, Matali and Musyoka collect doses of various vaccines, including all standard routine immunization vaccines, with the exception of Yellow Fever. The vaccines are transported to their respective dispensaries in a carrier box that can hold up to 500 doses of different vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccines. All three facilities have recorded significant improvement in immunization coverage from a low of 25 percent.

At Kamboo health centre, where the freezer is domiciled, records show measles immunization rate has surpassed the target of 100 percent to include additional clients outside the catchment population area of 4,560 people. Overall immunization coverage is at 95 percent, well above the government target of 90 percent.

At Ndalani dispensary, the immunization rate for measles has also surpassed the target of 100 percent as additional patients, or transit patients from four surrounding villages and neighbouring Kitui County, receive services at the dispensary. The overall vaccination rate for all standard vaccines is 50 to 65 percent.

In the Usungu dispensary, the vaccination rate for measles is at 75 percent, and for other vaccines, coverage is hovering at the 50 percent mark.

“Usungu and Ndalani have not reached the 90 percent mark because we suffer from both missed opportunities and dropouts. Missed opportunities are patients who drop by a facility seeking a service and find that it is not available at that very moment. Dropouts are those who feel inconvenienced if they do not find what they need in their subsequent visits, so they drop out along the way,” Musyoka explains.

A cold chain or storage facility such as the solar-powered freezer, Muli says, is the cornerstone of any primary health unit in cash-strapped rural settings, and all services related to mother and child are the pillars of any health facility. Without these services, he emphasizes, all you have is brick and mortar.

“At Usungu and Ndalani, we are currently not offering labour and delivery services because we do not have Oxytocin in the facility at all times due to lack of storage, and we cannot carry it around in the hope that a delivery will materialize that day due to the six-hour time limit,” Musyoka expounds.

Still, pregnant women receive the standard tetanus jabs and all other prenatal services, but close to the delivery period, Ndalani and Usungu refer the women to the Kamboo health centre and follow-up to ensure that they receive referred services. Facility records show zero infant and maternal mortality.

Annually, the Ministry of Health targets to vaccinate at least 1.5 million children against vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, polio, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and pneumonia. Currently, one in six children under one year does not complete their scheduled vaccines.

Only one in two children below two years have received the second jab of Measles-Rubella, and only one in three girls aged 10 have received two doses of the HPV vaccine which protects against cervical cancer.

Ongoing efforts are helping address these gaps. For instance, the HPV vaccine was introduced in Makueni in March 2021. Musyoka vaccinated 46 girls aged 10 years with the two doses of HPV vaccine in 2021, and another 17 girls received their first HPV dose in 2022 and are due for the second dose in November 2022.

Healthcare providers say the freezer has transformed the delivery of mother and child services in the area by bringing critical immunization services closer to a marginalized and highly vulnerable community.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Die ausgelassene Stimmung, mit der die italienische Ministerpräsidentin Georgia Meloni auf der Geburtstagsfeier von Matteo Salvini am Wochenende feierte, hat angesichts des Schiffsunglücks von Cutro eine Woche zuvor Kritik hervorgerufen.

Zwei Wochen nach dem Tankerunglück vor den Philippinen wird das Ausmass des Schadens klar. Über 100'000 Menschen leiden unter der Umweltkatastrophe.

Delegates at the Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments: Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence, held in Jakarta, Indonesia held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: APDA

By Cecilia Russell
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 13 2023 (IPS)

Child marriage, gender-based violence (GBV), sexuality education, religion, and tradition came under the spotlight during a conference, Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments: Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence, held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Professor Keizo Takemi, MP Japan, Chair of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), reminded delegates that GBV is on the rise in conflict situations, during disasters, and during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

“Furthermore, children in some countries are at higher risk of child marriage due to economic pressures and school closures caused by the pandemic. Globally, about one in five (21 percent) girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriage not only deprives girls of educational opportunities, but early pregnancy and childbearing also come with a higher risk of complications and death.

Pierre Bou Assi, MP Lebanon, President of the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAPPD), told the delegates it was necessary to acknowledge and confront the issues of GBV in the region. It was clear from a series of case studies from the Arab and Asia Pacific region that while there has been some success, there was plenty of work to do.

Dr Dede Yusuf Macan Effendi, MP for Indonesia and Chair of the Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (IFPPD), said the country had had some successes – for example, the incidence of GBV dropped from 33 percent in 2016 to 26 percent in 2021. However, many incidents were unreported, and this was considered “the tip of the iceberg.”

Effendi noted the region’s issues – like the high proportion of child marriage and exposure to HIV/Aids.

Dr Hasto Wardoyo, the chairperson of BKKBN, said parliamentarians played a critical role, with various “studies suggesting that the government should take steps such as increasing care capacity and access to services such as health services, social services, developing children’s abilities, opening and equalizing access, strengthening family and social bonds.”

A professor from UIN Jakarta, Dr Nur Rofiah, gave a perspective from Islam and said the religion had a  concept of maslahah or goodness. This recognizes women’s bodily experiences are different from men’s, and it would be important to consider actions that “cause painful experiences for women’s bodies, including gender-based injustice.”

Rofiah emphasized the adverse effects of child marriage for women saying that child brides lost out on their childhood, dropped out of school, experienced domestic violence, often were adversely impacted by divorce, were stigmatized by being widowed, lacked competitiveness in the work environment, very often experienced single parenthood and were susceptible to child marriage.

COVID-19 had impacted the ICPD25 programme of action, especially on health care, with malaria and tuberculosis neglected, as was gender equality, said  Nadimul Haque, an MP in India. The Regional Sexual and Reproductive Health Adviser, UNFPA ASRO Professor Hala Youssef, developed this theme, saying policymakers need to change strategy during this decade of action to 2030 – without which it would be difficult to achieve the goals. She called on delegates to move from the idea of “funding” ICPD goals to “financing” them. Funding was reliant on the government, but financing involved the wider society.

Delegates took a deep look at the pressing issues of child marriage, sexuality education, religion and gender-based violence during the Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments: Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: APDA

Youssef called on parliamentarians to concentrate on the needs of young people, people with disabilities, universal health coverage, budgetary and financial allocations, social determinants of health, maternal deaths among adolescent girls, strengthening health workforce numbers, and capacity building.

The case study presented by Professor Ashraf Hatem, an MP from Egypt, showed that his country’s Universal Health Insurance (UHI) would soon remove the issue of what he called “catastrophic health expenditure” of the poor. The scheme rolled out in phases, would decrease out-of-pocket expenditure from 62 percent to 32 percent in 2032.

The government was subsidizing about 35 percent of the population. He gave an example of open heart surgery done in a UHI facility that would cost a patient 300 Egyptian pounds or about USD 10.

A grim picture of the social, psychological, economic, and medical burdens resulting from unintended pregnancies in her country was painted by Soukaina Lahmouch, an MP from Morocco. While there had been an improvement in the legal arsenal regarding abortion, marriage, and access to quality health services, much was still to be done. She explained that in Morocco, about 153 newborns are born out of wedlock each day, of which 24 children are abandoned at birth.

About 11,4 percent of pregnant women still received no prenatal care; however, in rural areas, about one-fifth of mothers received no prenatal care, and 13.4 percent gave birth without the assistance of qualified personnel.

“More than half of the women affected by poverty do not seek follow-up during pregnancies,” Lahmouch said, adding that education was a determinant, with almost all women with secondary school education giving birth in a health facility, but those without education more likely to give birth at home.

About 12 percent of women were married under 18, and a recent survey showed that 62.8 percent of women aged between 18 and 64 experienced violence during the year before the survey.

Dr Suhail  Alouini, a former MP of Tunisia, quoted a World Bank study, saying 18 percent of women were married before 18 in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. While in many countries, the legal minimum age for marriage is set at 18, there were exceptions for the marriage of underage individuals due to court decisions.

Alouini said conflict and displacement increased the risk of GBV, including sexual violence and forced marriages.

“In some conflict-affected areas in the Arab region, the rates of child marriage have increased, and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in reports of GBV in the Arab region and around the world. The pandemic also disrupted efforts to prevent child marriage as school closures and economic hardships made girls more vulnerable to early marriage.”

He noted that GBV and child marriage requires a comprehensive and multi-sectorial approach focusing on prevention response and political leadership, and ICPD25 recommendations provide a road map for action emphasizing the importance of investing in data and research and engaging a wide range of stakeholders and political leadership. The role of parliamentarians is critical in addressing GBV and child marriage.

Laissa Alamia, MP of Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Philippines, spoke about the situation in the self-governing region and the Philippines.

“One in four Filipino women aged 15 to 49 experienced physical, emotional, and sexual violence by their partner or husband. One in six Filipino girls finds herself married before hitting the age of 18.”

This is the case even though the Philippines is known for its “most vibrant woman’s rights movement and the most comprehensive anti-GBV legal frameworks and mechanisms in the world.”

Bangsamoro region is disproportionately poor, and 62 percent of the women belonged to poor communities; the approximate number of child brides was 88,600 out of a population of 2.46 million women.

He said ethnic minority Muslim women continue to face different forms of discrimination, and the code of Muslim personal laws in the country gives a prescribed age for marriage of 15 for men and 15 or at puberty for females.

Alamia said the Philippines law, which prohibits child marriages, is not universally accepted by all communities and brings up religious freedom debates.

Dr Jetn Sirathranont, MP Thailand, noted in his closing remarks that there was still a long way to go to achieve the ICPD25 programme of action, but he hoped this conference would give an impetus to finding solutions.

Tomoko Fukuda, Regional Director of IPPF ESEAOR, encouraged parliamentarians to continue their work on the ICPD programme of action, despite conflicting priorities.

“So we as the older generation have to be committed to ensuring that the world is a better place for the young people and the children born into this world,” she said.

Anjali Sen, UNFPA Representative in Indonesia, shared a study by Schneider and Hirsch in 2020 that showed that “comprehensive sexuality education meets the characteristics of an effective GBV prevention … comprehensive sexuality education is based on human rights and gender equality.”

She called for it to be implemented, stating that it needed support and involvement from teachers, parents, healthcare providers, young people, and the government. Parliamentarians had a role in ensuring that policy and financial support were available.

Note:. This conference was organized by APDA and FAPPD, hosted by IFPPD and supported by UNFPA and Japan Trust Fund (JTF).

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Vor einem wichtigen, von der EU unterstützten Treffen zwischen dem Kosovo und Serbien am 18. März in Ohrid, Nordmazedonien, äußerte sich der kosovarische Premierminister Albin Kurti über die mangelnde Bereitschaft des serbischen Präsidenten Aleksander Vucic, ein Abkommen zu unterzeichnen. Er äußerte jedoch Hoffnung für die bevorstehenden Gespräche.

Die Oscars sind nicht nur der wichtigste Filmpreis des Jahres – sondern auch eine riesige Modenschau. Hier siehst du die Looks der Stars auf dem roten Teppich.

Während einer Demonstration gegen Krieg und Armut am Samstag (11. März) in Prag waren unter den Tausenden von Demonstranten auch russische Kriegssymbole zu sehen. Einige versuchten, eine ukrainische Flagge vor dem Nationalmuseum herunterzureißen.

Nicht immer laufen die Oscar-Verleihungen in Los Angeles so ruhig und gesittet ab wie dieses Jahr. In der Vergangenheit kam es immer wieder zu Aufreger und Skandalen. Welche das waren, das siehst du in diesem Video.

A tűzjelző rendszer mellett az energiaelosztásban is fontos szerep jut a vállalat megoldásainak az épülő piliscsabai raktárban.

Piliscsabán épül az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár archivális raktára. A 2023 első felében várható átadást követően a nemzeti könyvtár elsősorban a kötelespéldányként beérkező, megőrzésre szánt könyveket és időszaki kiadványokat helyezi el a raktárban, valamint itt valósulhat meg georedundáns módon a nemzeti bibliotéka digitális objektumainak hosszú távú megőrzése is.

A kulturális örökség védelméhez a Siemens eszközei is hozzájárulnak: az elektromos kivitelező a német technológiai vállalat megoldásait választotta az épület teljes közép- és kisfeszültségű energiaelosztási rendszerének kialakításához, amelyben 8DJH, Sivacon S8 és S4, valamint Alpha berendezések teljesítenek szolgálatot. A H1 Systems Kft. által telepített tűzjelző rendszer is a Siemenstől érkezik: a dokumentumok biztonságára a Cerberus Pro tűzjelző központ és a hozzá csatlakozó közel félezer periféria ügyel.

A projekt alapja az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár archívumainak elhelyezését szolgáló archivális raktár fejlesztéséről szóló, 1953/2020. (XII. 21.) számú kormányhatározat. A raktárépületben a nemzeti könyvtár végleges megőrzési kötelezettségű dokumentumait fogják tárolni. A közbeszerzési eljárásban megadott tervezési program szerint 81 ezer polcfolyóméter befogadóképességű könyvraktár 11 ezer négyzetméternyi bruttó alapterületén többek között egy speciális szerverterem is helyet kap. A beköltözéskor a tervek szerint 35 ezer polcfolyóméternyi állományrészt helyeznek el Piliscsabán, amelyet később az OSZK éves gyarapodása követ. A modern, minden állományvédelmi szempontnak megfelelő raktárat a Fejér-Bál Zrt. és a West Hungária Bau Kft. közös konzorciuma építi.

 

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Seit Ausbruch des Ukraine-Krieges hat die EU gegen Russland die härtesten Sanktionen ihrer Geschichte verhängt. Während die Lage in der Ukraine selbst jedoch weiter brenzlig ist, gehen der EU nach zehn Sanktionspaketen langsam die Optionen aus.

The WHO working group met to consider 307 amendments proposed by governments to update current regulations. February 2023. Credit: World Health Organization (WHO)

By Ashka Naik and Nicoletta Dentico
GENEVA, Mar 13 2023 (IPS)

As countries recently gathered in Geneva for the fourth round of negotiations on the WHO proposed pandemic treaty or accord, close examination of the current text by civil society experts has revealed significant gaps.

Critical concerns about the underlying vision of the draft text have been highlighted in a public statement led and endorsed by civil society organizations globally. The statement has been shared with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB4) that is mandated with the pandemic treaty negotiation.

These concerns still stand true. And it is urgent that the INB begins to tackle them before the next round of negotiations are upon us.

First and foremost, our analysis focuses on the fact that several parts of the text rely on voluntary arrangements, and that the binding regime of the text appears discouragingly vague and weak. One such instance relates to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,” which the draft borrows from the climate instruments.

This notion is extremely important to avoid pandemics, and it cannot be made voluntary, if the world is serious about the goal of reaching systemic capacity to respond to future health crises.

The draft text’s failure to provide safeguards or an accountability framework regarding the role of the corporate sector is another major source of concern. The WHO negotiation places the new UN’s ‘whole of society’ approach – which has been pushed in other negotiating fora – at its core through multistakeholderism, against the backdrop of striking and unfettered geopolitical power asymmetries. The involvement of the private sector in the COVID-19 response has been extremely problematic.

Countries desperately needing a concerted effort to tackle the pandemic were held ransom to the whims of power and profits of both the philanthropic and pharmaceutical industry.

The proposed treaty or accord mustn’t make the same mistakes, and all attempts to bring the corporate sector into the negotiation of any pandemic prevention, preparedness, or response must be strictly regulated at best, and prevented whenever there is a risk of public interest health policies being hijacked for profit.

It is clear that the financing approach outlined in the draft text blatantly ignores that the global financial system has historically prevented low- and middle-income countries from investing in public health.

Tax dodging by corporations, lack of fiscal and policy space for domestic resource mobilization, and crippling national debts are major barriers that prevent many countries from strengthening their public health services and institutions.

In low-income countries, debt has increased from 58% to 65% between 2019 and 2021. Thirty nations in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 50% just in 2021.

While the current draft misses taking into account the challenges of the global financial architecture, there is a blind spot with no substantive acknowledgement that public health crises are often engendered or exacerbated by a systematic destruction of the planet, at the intersection of the climate and environmental crises, food insecurity, and the mounting inequality crisis enshrined in gender and racial discrimination.

So far, the draft text hardly does justice to the urgency of preventing pathogen spillover at the animal-human interface. A narrow focus on the biomedical approach to dealing with future pandemics, without considering these intrinsic systemic factors, is bound to remain largely insufficient in dealing with any future pandemics.

Way Forward

Governments and various relevant socio-political actors engaged in the WHO diplomatic initiative on the pandemic treaty or accord have different and diverging interests and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), which has done impressive work to keep pace with the agreed negotiations’ roadmap, has to reckon with these diverse political demands and conflicting pressures.

However, it is clear that to carry out the original intent of the new pandemic treaty or accord, unambiguous wording is needed that conveys a binding character of the agreement. This also means that the multistakeholder model under which the entire process of the treaty is being managed has to be re-examined and re-imagined instead of its current ‘whole of society’ form.

In future, none of the promises made by member states in the WHO pandemic treaty or accord will result in the desired change needed if the robust and reliable compliance mechanisms that enable governments to be held accountable are absent.

These demands are not unique to this treaty, but have similarly been made by civil society in ongoing negotiations in the UN on climate change and in the UN treaty on business and human rights. These were also incorporated into the tobacco control binding policy that the WHO established nearly 20 years ago.

At the same time, public health, public governance, public systems, and public funding must be at the center of the pandemic planning, prevention, and response. It is important to finally recognise that the global financial architecture must be overhauled, especially for low income and developing countries to have sovereign control over their fiscal and policy space, and to resource their public health needs through progressive taxation policies.

It is imperative to understand that the private sector cannot fulfill the current funding gaps and needs no leveraging by international development and financial institutions. Healthcare privatization is not the way to go to face the health challenges of the present and the future.

Lastly, all efforts must be made to make sure that the text creates a deliberate interconnection between the right to health and the right to a healthy environment, now explicitly adopted as a human right by the United Nations, as well as the rights of nature to exist and thrive.

It is about time that this global public health discourse reckons with the reality of populations and the environments from the ground, rather than from the ivory towers of corporate investors and vested policy-making.

Ashka Naik is the Director of Research and Policy at Corporate Accountability, and directs its food program, which focuses on structural determinants of food systems, nutrition, and public health

Nicoletta Dentico leads the Global Health Justice program at Society for International Development and co-chairs the Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2)

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BERICHT über die Beziehungen zwischen der EU und Aserbaidschan
Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten
Željana Zovko

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2023 - EP

Jetzt tobt die Vogelgrippe auch in der Schweiz. Dabei spielt die Ansteckung durch Wandervögel aus dem Ausland nur noch eine Nebenrolle. Alles deutet auf eine Seuchensituation.

Eine Mehrheit der Schweizerinnen und Schweizer wünscht sich die Atomkraft zurück. Entsprechende politische Forderungen liegen vor. Doch bis eine neuer Meiler ans Netz geht, würde es dauern.

Die grossen Überraschungen sind ausgeblieben: Das amerikanische Sci-Fi-Drama «Everything Everywhere All at Once» ist der grosse Gewinner des Abends, die deutsche Produktion «Im Westen nichts Neues» überzeugt mit vier Preisen.

Journée Internationale des droits de la femme !

Vous êtes toujours à l'honneur.

Chez nous à la Générale des Assurances du Bénin vous le serez toujours.

Venez chercher vos cadeaux dans nos agences. Nous vous célébrons toujours.

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