In April and May 2017, the Constructing Future Cities project supported by the British Council engaged with 5 women artists on the topic of future cities. Mputa identified the fact that women do not feel safe and are not safe in cities as something that needs to be addressed. Sputa noted that one would experience a space differently if one had an opportunity to contribute and to be informed during the design process. One would take pride in the space, be able to use the space effectively and educate others on spaces in the city. Her vision of a future city; a city that acknowledges its past, celebrates the present and plans for change, an inclusive city designed by its inhabitants and explored by its visitors. Her artwork makes use of hatching to illustrate and merge faces, landscapes and cityscapes. Creating rhythm and pattern emphasised by the use of colour. Mlati identified a need to expand thinking about energy sources, moving beyond solar panels as infrastructure towards thinking of an intersection of art, architecture and energy. Mlati notes that those whose experiences of the city have flourished despite alienation hold clues from future urban practice.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
In her final address to the World Health Assembly (WHA) as WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan identified access to medicines as the most contentious issue of her decade-long tenure. That struggle was engaged, she said, “especially when intellectual property and the patent system were perceived as barriers to both affordable prices and the development of new products for diseases of the poor.” Dr. Chan also had advice for the delegates gathered before her at the Palais de Nations in Geneva: “Listen to civil society. Civil society are society’s conscience.” Just a few hours after Dr. Chan yielded the podium, a spirited demonstration was held outside the grounds of the Palais de Nation. Organised by the student-led advocacy group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, the demonstrators called for the WHA delegates and the new director-general to listen to the WHA’s member states from Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Those nations have long called for WHO to prioritise the medicines issue. The term “de-linkage” was repeated by many panellists at an antimicrobial resistance discussion which happened at a side event. It describes a drug development model that is an alternative to the current intellectual property paradigm, where government-granted patent monopolies allow drug prices to be hiked to levels that are sometimes hundreds of times above the price of production. The justification for the high prices is that the price charged for medicines needs to fund research and development. Deliberately “de-linking” the R&D costs from the price of medicines bypasses those calculations, and instead undercuts the very foundation of the monopoly pricing argument. It calls for taking advantage of the already-significant government and philanthropic commitment to research and using it to fund non-profit R&D to a sufficient level that the price of medicines does not need to be connected to research costs. This would allow medicines to be far more affordable
Over 200 scientists, policy experts and others concerned persons are urging the new World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General to recognise and address factory farming as a growing public health challenge. Just as the WHO has bravely confronted companies that harm human health by peddling tobacco and sugar-sweetened beverages, they argue that it must not waver in advocating for the regulation of industrial animal farming. Total consumption of antibiotics in animal food production is projected to grow by almost 70% between 2010 and 2030. According to the WHO, two of the three most commonly used classes of antibiotics in U.S. animal farming—penicillins and tetracyclines—are of critical importance to humans. Practices such as the constant low dosing of antibiotics and environmental pollution through animal waste make industrial animal farms the perfect breeding ground for antibiotic resistance by allowing transmission into the environment and nearby community. The authors raise other risks of industrial animal farming and call on WHO to strengthen WHO’s Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance to encourage member states of the WHO to ban the use of growth-promoting antibiotics in animal farming, as well as low-dose “disease prevention” antibiotics. Member states should be encouraged to articulate specific, verifiable standards for what constitutes legal antibiotic use in animal farms. Amongst other recommendations they argue that WHO should encourage member states to adopt nutrition standards and implement health education campaigns to inform citizens of the health risks of meat consumption and work closely with ministers of health and agriculture to formulate policies that advocate for a greater proportion of plant-based foods in the diets of member states. Lastly, they recommend that the WHO should consider funding the scientific development of plant-based and other meat alternatives, which have the potential to eliminate or reduce the harms of factory farming.
States should control corporations across national borders to protect communities from the negative impacts of their activities, UN human rights experts have said in an authoritative new guidance * on the Obligations of States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in the context of business activities. “States should regulate corporations that are domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction. This refers to corporations which have their statutory seat, central administration or principal place of business on their national territory,” the experts of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights say in the guidance*, officially termed the General Comment, published today. In practice, the Committee expects home States of transnational corporations to establish appropriate remedies, guaranteeing effective access to justice for victims of business-related human rights abuses when more than one country is involved. In light of the practices revealed by the Panama Papers and the Bahamas Leaks, the General Comment emphasizes that States should ensure corporate strategies do not undermine their efforts to fully realize the rights set out in the Covenant. The new General Comment sets out what States can and must do in order to ensure that companies do not violate rights such as the right to food, housing, health or work, which the States themselves are bound to respect: “Businesses cannot ignore that the expectations of society are changing. The first ones to change shall be rewarded by consumers, whose purchasing choices are increasingly driven by immaterial aspects — the reputation of the company, and the ethical and sustainability dimensions associated with its products.” The issue of business and human rights has been addressed recently in different forums, including the Human Rights Council and the International Labour Conference, and through a combination of tools — regulations, self-imposed codes of conduct, economic incentives and action plans. Zdzislaw Kedzia, the Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights noted that “It may be tempting for States to seek refuge behind the initiatives taken by the corporate sector, rather than adopting the appropriate regulatory and policy initiatives that they must adopt. Our General Comment seeks to recall their obligations under the Covenant and define the role they must assume in regulating corporate conduct.”
Today, the ways and means of technology access and usage are suggested by the author to be driven by power dynamics centering on the needs of specific demographics and experiences, channeling a colonialist exercise of control, establishing who gets to use a tool or service, and to which extent. A growing number of researchers, scholars, artists and advocates has been looking into how a colonialist approach sits at the core of how a great deal of digital technology is developed, distributed, and capitalised. This has progressively contributed to a new lens through which to analyse the subject matter, which can be referred to as the concept of decolonizing technology. With the objective to build a resource to inspire new learning and reflections on the concept of decolonizing technology, this post includes a reading list on the topic. This list represents a snapshot of some the work done to date on the concept of decolonizing technology. It aims to inspire further research and discoveries of any other possible resource and initiative delving deeper into this subject, from many more and different perspectives.
The authors argue that an insular, authoritarian wave has been on the rise that is playing on people's fears and insecurities, undermining democratic institutions that are vital to maintaining the ties of accountability between the elected and the public: and multilateral infrastructures. Global health is argued to rely on an outward-looking, internationalist stance, since the threats that are faced know no borders. So how can global health advance in an era of retreat? Politics drive policies and the public drives the political. All sectors must thus, it is argued, be politically active in order to affect the development and implementation of public policies, including academia and the knowledge it brings. To successfully advance financial and political capital investments in global health, arguments must be framed by how they improve the security and prosperity of citizens and the nation. Investing in global health and multinational actions is a path to address these threats that know no borders.
This document discusses guidance on ethical procurement for health and for protecting labour rights in medical supply chains. It is an update to an earlier document in response to evidence of abuse of worker rights at several factories manufacturing health-care products destined for global markets. Poor labour conditions should concern all those in health care. Work is inextricably correlated to physical and mental well-being: unsafe working conditions risk bodily injury; inadequate remuneration links to malnutrition, poor housing and lack of opportunity. Long or irregular working hours and a lack of respect at work contribute to stress, anxiety and depression. Working conditions found in the manufacture of some health-care products have been among the worse encountered anywhere. The document reports on the measures taken by other countries and that comply with the International Labour Organisation Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, as well as with local employment and health and safety legislation. For example for high-risk products, suppliers are contractually required to allow independent audit of manufacturing sites to identify problems and to oblige remedial action, a measure that has led to demonstrable improvements in working conditions for the people making products for the health-care system. The paper also notes that there are still limited measures for protection of health and safety in the growing global market for health-care products, estimated to soon be worth over US$ 500 billion annually.
This study describes the status of occupational health and safety in Tanzania and the challenges in provision of occupational health services in an expanding economy, with growth being driven by communications, transport, finance services, construction, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. The workers exposed to hazards from these activities are found suffer from illness and injuries, but to not access adequate occupational health services, with services limited to a few enterprises that can afford it. Existing laws and regulations are reported by the authors to not cover the entire population and implementation to be weak. The authors argue for an occupational health and safety services strategy, backed by legal review, training and the necessary skills, financial and technological resources to cover the whole working population, to match the growing economy.
Malawi is the world’s largest producer of burley tobacco and its population is affected by the negative consequences of both tobacco consumption and production. In producer countries, tobacco control involves control of the whole tobacco supply chain, rather than only control of consumption. The authors reviewed the impact of tobacco cultivation in Malawi to illustrate through this example the economic, environmental, health and social issues faced by low- and middle-income countries that still produce significant tobacco crops. The authors placed these issues in the context of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly goal 3a, which calls on all governments to strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Other goals address the negative effects that tobacco cultivation has on development. The authors suggest that without external assistance, Malawi has relatively limited capacity to develop alternatives to tobacco production that are economically viable, but could benefit greatly from becoming a party to the FCTC to receive assistance through the incorporation of the FCTC into the SDGs.
Studies were carried out in Krugersdorp, South Africa, to evaluate the ecological and human health risks associated with exposure to metals and metalloids in contaminated soils in mine tailings from gold mining. Human health risk was assessed using Hazard Quotient (HQ), Chronic Hazard Index (CHI) and carcinogenic risk levels, where values of HQ > 1, CHI > 1 and carcinogenic risk values > 1×10−4 represent elevated risks. Values for HQ indicated high exposure-related risk for arsenic, chromium, nickel, zinc and manganese. Children were more at risk from heavy metal and metalloid exposure than adults. Cancer-related risks associated with metal and metalloid exposure among children were also higher than in adults. The authors identify that there is significant potential ecological and human health risk associated with metal and metalloid exposure from contaminated soils around gold mine tailings dumps. They note that this could be a potential contributing factor to poor health of residents in informal settlements in the mining area, particularly for those whose immune systems are already compromised by HIV.