You are currently browsing the daily Archive for February 27th, 2012.
The Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) supports the worldwide observance of the International Day of Families (15 May) by preparing background information on the family for use by Governments, the UN system, including the regional commissions, and UN Information Centres and NGOs. An annual message of the Secretary-General is prepared for wide distribution.
May is Walking Month!
14-18 May is Walk to Work Week
21-25 May is Walk to School Week.
East Lothian Walks
East Lothian offers a great variety of landscapes for walking, with the Lammermuir Hills to the south, a coast of beaches and cliffs and an expanse of arable farmland in between. Many of the paths go to, or pass vantage points offering views of the surrounding rolling landscape. Amongst the features are many hidden gems – river valleys, woodland, secret bays and historic sites. It is now possible to walk the length of the East Lothian coast, The John Muir Way is almost 73km from Edinburgh to the Borders, leaflets are avaiable below with the route broken down into shorter sections, with opportunities to link into other paths and circular walks along the coast.
A number of walks leaflets have been produced by East Lothian Council and other community groups, highlighting walks along the coast and around towns and villages. Download them below:
| Walks Around | The John Muir Way
Scotways |
Further information about these walks can be found on East Lothian Council’s web site, under Countryside, or by phoning East Lothian Council’s Access Officers on 01620 827671 or 827419.
http://www.british-voice-association.com/events_world-voice-day-2012.htm
Every year, World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of concern for WHO.
The theme for 2012 is Ageing and health. Using the slogan “Good health adds life to years“, campaign activities and materials will focus on how good health throughout life can help older men and women lead full and productive lives and be a resource for their families and communities.
Over the past century life expectancy has increased dramatically and the world will soon have more older people than children.
Populations are ageing everywhere, but less-developed countries are witnessing the fastest change. This social transformation represents both challenges and opportunities. In particular, countries may only have a single generation to prepare their health and social systems for an ageing world.
Key facts
- The number of people today aged 60 and over has doubled since 1980.
- The number of people aged 80 years will almost quadruple to 395 million between now and 2050.
- Within the next five years, the number of adults aged 65 and over will outnumber children under the age of 5.
- By 2050, these older adults will outnumber all children under the age of 14.
- The majority of older people live in low- or middle-income countries. By, 2050, this number will have increased to 80%.
In the 21st century, health is determined by and contributes to broad social trends. Economies are globalizing, more and more people live and work in cities, family patterns are changing and technology is evolving rapidly. One of the biggest social transformations is population ageing. Soon, the world will have more older people than children and more people of very old age than ever before.
1. The world will have more people who live to see their 80s or 90s than ever before
The number of people aged 80 years or older, for example, will have almost quadrupled to 395 million between 2000 and 2050. There is no historical precedent for a majority of middle-aged and older adults having living parents, as is already the case today. More children will know their grandparents and even their great-grandparents, especially their great-grandmothers. On average, women live six to eight years longer than men.
2. The past century has seen remarkable improvements in life expectancy
In 1910, the life expectancy for a Chilean female was 33 years; today, a mere century later, it is 82 years. This represents a remarkable gain of almost 50 years of life in one century, and is largely due to improvements in public health.
3. Soon, the world will have more older people than children
Within the next five years, for the first time in human history, the number of adults aged 65 and over will outnumber children under the age of 5. By 2050, these older adults will outnumber children under the age of 14.
4. The world population is rapidly ageing
Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will double from about 11% to 22%. The absolute number of people aged 60 years and over is expected to increase from 605 million to 2 billion over the same period.
5. Low- and middle-income countries will experience the most rapid and dramatic demographic change
For example, it took more than 100 years for the share of France’s population aged 65 or older to double from 7 to 14%. In contrast, it will take countries like Brazil and China less than 25 years to reach the same growth.
The Facts…
There are over 50,000 people in the UK whose kidneys have failed.
These people will die without dialysis or transplantation.
7,000 of them are on the transplant list but there is a huge shortage of donor organs.
At least 1 of them will die every day.
World Kidney Day UK
Kidneys For Life
Over 3 million people in the UK are at risk of kidney disease
People with diabetes, high blood pressure, a family history of kidney problems or from a black or Asian background are particularly at risk.
Kidney Disease is common, harmful and can be treatable
What can I do to help myself?
- See your doctor for some simple checks
- Stop smoking, exercise regularly, eat a well balanced diet
- Take a look at our Healthy Kidneys Page
What can I do to help others?
Give the gift of life by putting your name on the Organ Donation Register
To learn about celebrations around the world and to download more resources, visit the International WKD site: www.worldkidneyday.org
World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in developing countries.
It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch’s announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch’s discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB.
Tell the world what you want to see in your lifetime
Progress in the global fight against TB cannot wait. For the World TB Day Campaign 2012, you can make an individual call to stop TB in your lifetime.
Do you want to see zero deaths from TB, faster treatment, an effective vaccine?
Visit www.mystoptb.org to make your own poster or upload a video with a personal message.
The World TB Day Campaign 2012 will allow people all over the world to make an individual call to stop TB in their lifetimes.
In their lifetimes, today’s children should expect to see a world where no one gets sick with TB.
In their lifetimes, women and men should expect to see a world where no one dies from TB.
People of different ages and living in different countries could have these hopes for stopping TB in their lifetimes:
- Zero deaths from TB
- Faster treatment
- A quick, cheap, low-tech test
- An effective vaccine
- A world free of TB.
