2011
Living a culture of disaster resilience at all levels
“Building, strengthening and enriching the resilience of nations, cities and communities to disasters is every citizen, family and community’s responsibility” – was the message which resonated on the occasion of the Joint WHO Kobe Centre (WKC) and University of Hyogo Forum held on 20 November 2011 at the University of Hyogo, Akashi City, Japan.
The forum highlighted the whole-of-government and civil society approach to counteract all hazards and risks of potential and actual emergencies and disasters they could lead to.
Dr Aiko Yamamoto, Professor and Executive Director, Research Institute of Nursing Care for People and Community, University of Hyogo, welcomed participants and informed them about guidelines available for the general public to prepare for disasters with specific guidelines for the elderly, children, people with chronic illnesses, pregnant and postpartum women. In a statement read by Dr Jostacio M. Lapitan on behalf of Mr Alex Ross, the new Director of WKC, he noted that aside from the tragic loss of lives, the global economic loss during the first six months of 2011 alone, arising from disasters caused by natural hazards, has been estimated at a staggering US$ 265 billion, the largest disaster loss so far in 3 decades. He advocated for political commitment to systematic disaster risk reduction as well as building back better than before.
Dr Art Pesigan, Technical Officer, Urban Health Emergency Management of WKC, expressed that humanity has tried its best to apply lessons learned from disaster experiences worldwide (including Japan’s Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 and Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011). Yet, he expressed concern that the current and future landscape characterized by the interaction of driving forces such as urbanization, environmental change (including climate change), demographic change and aging as well as technological change on health and development would need more imagination in disaster risk assessment, communication and reduction in operationalizing the “Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.”
Shifting from global to local (“glocal”) issues and priorities, Mr Hiroto Taki, Chief, City of Akashi and Dr Hatsumi Kanzaki, Professor, University of Hyogo, emphasized the need for intensive and extensive city-wide and university-wide vulnerability and disaster risk reduction through knowledge management and education throughout a person’s life course. Both alluded to sustainable empowerment of and innovation for populations - children, adolescents, adults and older people – and professionals (doctors, nurses, teachers, etc) working together for safer and healthier settings (cities and universities).
The Joint WKC and University of Hyogo Forum ended with a community emergency preparedness game where each participant tried his/her best to approach and communicate with another participant asking him/her about the role that s/he would be able to play during an emergency. Potential roles were classified as follows: 1) overall volunteer; 2) logistician; 3) first aider; 4) cook; 5) firefighter; 6) caregiver; 7) foreign language translator; 8) emergency kit organizer; and 9) other related tasks and responsibilities. Participants expressed their appreciation of the game stating that emergency preparedness begins with knowing one’s self and one’s capacities and that disaster resilience requires equal understanding of capacities of persons in the neighborhood and the larger community.
Breast cancer: the advantage of early detection
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer in women both in developed and developing countries and is also the main cause of cancer for women in Japan. Globally, it is estimated that 519 000 women died in 2004 due to breast cancer. Breast cancer survival rates vary greatly worldwide, ranging from 80% or over in North America, Sweden and Japan to around 60% in middle-income countries and below 40% in low-income countries.
On the first of October, Kobe City lit its Port Tower pink to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout the month of October campaigns are organized around the world to encourage women to be screened. For WHO, early detection remains the primary means to fight breast cancer and improve survival.
Graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging on the increase
Over one billion people in 19 countries are now covered by laws requiring large, graphic health warnings on packages of tobacco, nearly double the number of two years ago. The WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2011, released today, includes key findings on the progress of tobacco control measures worldwide. Requiring large, graphic health warnings is among the six demand-reduction measures recommended by WHO.
WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2011: warning about the dangers of tobacco
Concert part of final push to end polio
The "End Polio Now" Charity Concert by Rotary International District 2680 was held at the Hyogo House on 19 June. Polio usually strikes children under the age of five, and can cause paralysis for life (in around 0.5% of cases), or even death. However, it is preventable by vaccine. In 1988, representatives from 166 countries adopted a resolution to eradicate polio at the 41st World Health Assembly and since then, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has been undertaken by WHO, Rotary International, Centers for Disease Control and UNICEF. Tremendous progress has been made, with a 99% reduction in polio cases since the initiative began. However, it remains endemic in four countries.
Based on the long-running global partnership, WHO Kobe Centre Director Jacob Kumaresan was invited to open the concert together with Hyogo Governor Toshizo Ido. During the ensuing panel discussion, former WHO Headquarters medical officer and current head of the polio team at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Dr Kazutoshi Nakashima presented photos from Nigeria’s immunization programme, while Dr Giichi Maruyama, director of the Maruyama Pediatric Hospital, spoke of his experience treating polio in 1960s Japan. Dr Takeshi Maruo, director of Hyogo Prefectural Pediatric Hospital, canvassed the debate on the merits of live vaccines, which in rare cases can lead to paralysis, and the possible move to non-live vaccines. Facilitator Naoki Nakazono, professor of Kobe University, showed a video about the challenge of pursuing 100% immunization in India.
"Separate smoking areas in no way control smoke adequately" - head of tobacco control society
WHO Kobe Centre presented its research on Smoke Free Cities at a public lecture in Sanda City, Hyogo entitled “I Love Clean Air – preventing secondhand smoke” on Saturday, 11 June. First, head of the Sumoto City Health and Welfare Division and executive of the Japanese Association of Smoking Control Science, Dr Masaaki Yamaoka used research data and video footage to demonstrate the health damage done by active smoking and secondhand smoke. He explained that separate smoking areas in no way control smoke adequately and that fully smoke-free indoor spaces are the only real way to prevent secondhand smoke.
Next, Ms Mina Kashiwabara, a consultant at WHO Kobe Centre, presented the Smoke Free Cities project, looking at the trend of Japanese local governments restricting smoking in streets and other public outdoor areas. Most such municipal ordinances, however, do not originate with health concerns but rather have environment and aesthetic goals. Overseas, comprehensive regulations (including indoor smoking bans) are gaining ground at the municipal level. More such regulations are expected to emerge to combat secondhand smoke in Japan too.
Read more about Smoke Free Cities project
(this should link to page http://www.who.or.jp/smokefree.html project section)
Symposium highlights issue of indoor smoking bans in Japan
Physician and tobacco control advocate Dr Junpaku Miyamoto called for “simple and clear” measures to provide people with full protection from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) in Japan, at a public forum, “WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)”, on 4 June. He shared examples of smoking bans enforced in more than 20 cities worldwide adopting the global standard of smoking bans in indoor public environments. The event was organized by Tobacco Free Advocacy, a tobacco control group in Hyogo and Hyogo Prefecture Medical Association to mark No Tobacco Week in Japan – part of World No Tobacco Day celebrations.
Exposure to SHS contributes to more than 600 000 deaths a year worldwide. While the Japanese government has signed up to the WHO FCTC, advocates discussed the need for more protection against SHS. To date, Kanagawa Prefecture pioneered an ordinance for the prevention of exposure to indoor SHS in April 2009, and Hyogo Prefecture launched a committee on effective measures against SHS in June 2009. Dr Adachi, a member of the Hyogo SHS committee, informed participants that an ordinance would be introduced to the Prefectural Assembly by the end of this year.
WKC has been involved in the Hyogo SHS committee meetings and advocates measures in line with the WHO FCTC. The Centre will contribute to increase smoke-free environments by providing practical lessons on international and national smoke-free legislation. At the symposium, Ms Mina Kashiwabara, from the WHO Centre for Health Development, shared research results and three examples of smoke-free interventions led by Liverpool (UK), Mexico City, and Chandigarh (India), focusing on the important role of local governments in promoting smoke-free environments.
Total smoking ban at Kobe City Government Offices
As of 31 May, World No Tobacco Day, Kobe Municipal Government implemented a total smoking ban in all spaces of the city’s main and ward offices. A fully smoke-free environment without any partitions, including in the City Hall restaurant and cafes, is now in effect. Indeed, local governments can play a role in promoting Smoke Free Cities, and contributing the enforcement of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The challenge to protect the health of 1.6 billion people
The large population in the Western Pacific Region – 37 countries home to 1.6 billion people – is culturally, economically, geographically and climatically diverse, and faces a disproportionate number of natural disasters and health risks. The need for coordinated response is an essential element in dealing with the health response to future tragedies. At the latest WHO Kobe Centre public health seminar, experts from the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), Manila discussed health risk management and emergency disaster medicine at the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine on 25 May.
At the seminar, the challenge of managing infectious diseases was also discussed, particularly in light of the fact that the Western Pacific Region has more than 200 disease outbreaks with the potential to threaten the whole world every year. Over the past decade the region has been the site of a number of emerging infectious diseases, such as SARS and A/H5N1, or “bird flu”. The damage wrought by such outbreaks on human health and economies can be immense. Dr Tamano Matsui gave an overview of WHO’s action on infectious disease including information gathering, response, and training to boost the capacity of countries to address disasters and health risks.
The WHO Kobe Centre will host the first First Regional Health Cluster Forum on Health Emergencies in August 2011.
Historical agreements at the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly
In her closing address Director-General Dr Margaret Chan praised delegates for consensus on issues that profoundly affect public health. Apart from discussions on unprecedented reforms at WHO, Member States reached agreements that expand the capacity of all countries to respond to pandemic influenza and other emergencies, strengthen health systems to improve access to quality care, tackle chronic noncommunicable diseases, and give the world a better chance to reach the health-related MDGs.
WHO launches one-stop shop for health data in cities
With urbanization as a leading trend in health issues over the next decade and beyond, the WHO has launched the first-ever global access to urban health data. Recent decades have seen increased availability in evidence-based information for national health indicators, but there is a dearth of city level data using globally agreed standards. Urban data for 45 countries is now available as part of the WHO Global Health Observatory Database.
“This is a significant milestone to improve urban policies by providing the data needed to formulate evidence-based legislation and regulations around health,” notes Dr Kumaresan, Director of the WHO Centre for Health Development. “But more work is needed for cities to collect that data. This marks the beginning of the long road ahead to provide a statistical view into the lives of people living in cities.” The WHO Centre for Health Development serves as the coordinating research centre for global urban health data.
Urban health is one of 20 themes contained in the WHO Global Health Observatory. Other themes include women and health, road safety, and noncommunicable diseases. The Global Health Observatory theme pages provide data and analyses on global health priorities (of which urban health is one). Each theme page provides information on global situation and trends highlights, using core indicators, database views, major publications and links to relevant web pages on the theme.
For example, analysis shows urban under-five mortality rates have improved in 86% of the countries studied (comparing the periods of 1990-1999 and 2000-2007). However, the data also shows that differences in health outcomes between the urban rich and urban poor are present in almost all countries. Key urban health indicators such as infant mortality, tobacco consumption, air pollution, access to safe water, and HIV/AIDS can be accessed in the newly launched database.