A new report, A Portrait of California, uses a modified version of the United Nations Human Development Index(HDI) to rank communities.  The HDI incorporates five indices related to life expectancy, education, and income.  The online California Planning and Development…

The CDC conducts the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Risk Factor Survey each year in 28 communities across the nation.  The 2009 data analysis gives us reasons to be concerned about the effectiveness of public health departments in developing interventions that can begin to narrow the gap between racial/ethnic groups and the White population.  The conclusion recommends developing more culturally appropriate community-level interventions that address social…

A study from the University of South Carolina traces the increase in overweight and obesity to a reduction in occupation-related physical activity.  Simply stated the study concludes:

Over the last 50 years in the U.S. we estimate that daily occupation-related energy expenditure has decreased by more than 100 calories, and this reduction in energy expenditure accounts for a significant portion of the increase in mean U.S. body weights for women and…

     This evening I attended a public meeting for the One Bay Area sustainable communities planning process.  The meeting is one of several public input meetings being held in communities across San Francisco Bay  Area counties and cities that are members of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). 

     Public health policy advocates are not strangers to political opposition; however, the pro-freedom of choice and anti-government contingent present at the planning meeting held…

Hundreds or perhaps thousands of individuals last week began receiving notices from the UN, letting them know that their registration had been approved to attend the June 16 Civil Society Listening Session on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York.  This is welcome news for those advocates and practitioners who had been patiently waiting since the registration process for the meeting closed in April. The Civil Society Listening Session is meant to be a precursor to the upcoming…

Millennium Development Goal 5 aims to improve maternal health through two targets: (1) Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio, and (2) Achieve, by 2015 universal access to reproductive health. While maternal deaths worldwide have dropped 34% since 1990, maternal mortality remains remarkably high (more than 358,000 women die annually from complications during pregnancy or childbirth) and large disparities remain in providing women with family planning…

Today the Presidents of the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association published an unprecedented joint statement concerning support for the UN High Level Meeting on Non Communicable…

From Kaiser Family Foundation

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Cartoons/2011/May/Romney-Redux.aspx…

Charlotte Block of Project Hope organized a session on May 12 at the CORE Group in Baltimore on "Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) -- The Unheralded Global Epidemic."  In addition to Ms. Block, who spoke on the global reach of diabetes, the session also featured presentations by Dr. Vivien Tsu of PATH on cancers…

Continuing our advocacy efforts on behalf of adolescent girls, AGALI will be working intensively in Malawi for the…

For those following the trail leading to the UN High Level Meeting on Non Communicable Diseases (UN HLMNCD) in New York this September, a couple of important things have happened recently.

The UN has announced the identities of the seven members of the civil society task force for the UN HLMNCD.  They are:…