WELLNESS FOR PEACE IN OCEANIA: Finland places 8th in social progress index Finland placed among the top ten in the Social Progress Index (SPI) compiled by the non-governmental organisation, the Social Progress Imperative. The first official version of report attempts to measure countries’ social and environmental performance and to add them to the scorecard of national success.

The 2014 Social progress Index measures national social development and wellbeing among 132 states. A beta version of the index released in 2013 measured social progress in just 50 states and did not include Finland. In its first year of assessment in the index, Finland has been ranked in 8th position globally, trailing Nordic neighbours Norway (5th) and Sweden (6th), but outstripping Denmark (9th). Last year the trial version of the index ranked Sweden in first place; this year the honour went to New Zealand. The Social Progress Index reviews 50 variables in three main categories. They include basic human needs such as shelter, safety, water and sanitation and nutrition and basic medical care; foundations of wellbeing such as health and wellness, access to information and communications and access to basic knowledge; and opportunity including personal rights, personal freedom and choice, access to advanced education and tolerance and inclusion. The index found that the best performing regions were Europe, North America and Oceania (New Zealand and Australia), while the worst performing were sub-Saharan Africa, central Asia and south Asia. The researchers also found that high GDP alone does not guarantee social progress – major economies such as the United States (16th), Japan (14), Germany (12th), France (20th) and the UK (13th) did not place in the top ten. Countries at the bottom of the list all hailed from the African continent and included Chad in last place, Central African Republic (131) and Sudan (128).

WELLNESS FOR PEACE IN SOUTH AMERICA: ASPA Health Ministers will meet in Lima to strengthen integration and cooperation between two regional blocs, Peru's Health Minister Midori de Habich has said. The Peruvian Health Minister, Midori de Habich. Photo: ANDINA/Archive. The Peruvian Health Minister, Midori de Habich. Photo: ANDINA/Archive. The 2014 ASPA Health Ministerial Meeting will address topics such as universal healthcare, climate change, medicines, technology transfer, among others.

What are your expectations for this week’s ASPA Health meeting? -There is great expectation for hosting representatives from countries of South America and Arab nations. This is process of consolidation and integration in the health sector taking place within the framework of a political forum which brings together two regional blocs. At the 2012 ASPA Lima Summit, it was agreed that health ministers should meet to discuss this matter and this week we have met the said pledge. Is this gathering the first one of its kind? - Yes it is. This is the first-ever work meeting among health ministers from South America and Arab countries. It is a vital opportunity for cooperation and integration among our nations. Exchange of experience is also emphasized. How many delegations are attending the event? We have 15 delegations from Arab countries and 12 delegations from South America. In some cases, top officials have flocked to Lima to taker part of the gathering, but at least eight Health ministers are working on the joint statement. What topics will be addressed at the meeting? -We have four key themes. The first relates to health systems, where issues such as integrated health networks, primary and specializing care will be discussed as well as development of human resources, access to quality generic drugs and productivity of medicines, research, innovation and technology transfer. Likewise, universal health coverage, hospital modernization and e-Health are issues to be addressed. What another strategic theme will be discussed? -Prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases will also be analyzed. Besides this, other issues such as disability, as well as prevention and control of health problems related to use of tobacco will be discussed. What is the third theme about? -The third one concerns the promotion of health and social and environmental determinants. A monitoring to the accomplishments in meeting the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (UN-MDGs) will be carried out, also the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Post-2015 development agenda, plus advocacy and communication in health; social determinants, climate change and human health will be under review. Furthermore, the fourth thematic area is related to the preparation, surveillance and response of humanitarian aid. Management of health emergencies and disasters will be also under study; which adds to topics such as International Health Regulations (IHR) and specialized medical care addressed to refugee populations and children. Will the parties involved make a commitment on climate change? -We are interested in making a statement with the Arab countries on climate change and health as the UN Climate Meeting COP20 is due to be held in Peru by year-end. Therefore, we are preparing a consensus on the effects of climate change on health and how to address this discussion. Political statement What are your personal expectations for the 1st ASPA Health Ministerial Meeting? -We want to develop a policy statement. We want to reach a work plan, a plan of action; that is our goal and the reason why delegations have been working thoroughly on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd divided into six technical groups for having concluded on Friday 4th not only a political statement but also a plan of action which is expected to continue the agenda and achieving concrete results on the topic in the coming years. How the meeting is organized? -Preparatory meetings have been carried out on Wednesday and Thursday, while the political statement and the action plan is set to be approved today. Several topics are very important to us. The first one is to discuss our participation in defining indicators of the post-2015 MDGs. It is very important to reach a consensus to place as a Millennium Development target the aim of universal health coverage for our countries. Moreover, we plan to reach concrete results in access to quality medicines with rational prices within the framework of a globalized market. Does this meeting strengthen the relationship between the two regional blocs? -This event has been organized to be a very successful one, given the number of delegations accredited. The gathering has a very ambitious and powerful agenda. Will there be scholarships available for Peruvian professionals? -There is a point on the development of human resources where not only scholarships are planned, but also exchange of experiences and capacity building. In pursuing these goals, we have to seek our common strengths for supporting each other and, thus, having a successful cooperation. Will there be technology transfer? -We need to see how the technical groups have analyzed plans of technology transfer among our nations. We will seek to set up the transfer of knowledge through the strengths of each of our countries, either in the manufacture of some medical supplies or in materials. What should ordinary citizens expect of this kind of meeting? -For the good performance of its health system, it is required for Peru to open up to the world as there are successful experiences of other countries needed to be collected. We need new technologies and all these elements will result in an improved patient care. Is the universal coverage plan being achieved? -The universal health coverage is one of the post-2015 MDGs. Since our point of view, each country may have its own path to achieve universal coverage since there is not only one way traced. For this reason we plan to expand universal insurance nationwide. We expect to achieve the health insurance coverage to 80 percent of the population by executing the government’s reforms. How are the sector reforms going? -We have began the year with a new legal framework which enables us to develop rules for legislative decrees approved last December. Currently, the sector is developing its own regulations. Likewise, we have launched the Health Insurance Scheme (SIS) Entrepreneur for all those who tribute to the State and are engaged in the Single Simplified System. We are talking about nearly 200,000 people and we expect to have half a million people by the end of the year. In addition, our sector has launched a strategy called “Learning Healthily” on behalf of preschool and primary children alongside the Ministries of Education and Development and Social Inclusion. There are also school health plans for detecting learning disabilities. And what about the services improvement plan? -Whit regard to this matter, we are working hard for provide a second shift services in hospitals, some of them strategics in Lima and in inner regions, in order to enhance the care of patients. In addition, we will launch the inclusive pharmacy program, for local drugstores, so that our insured members will be able to pick up medications near their homes. What about pregnant mothers? -We plan to approve regulations to include all pregnant mothers by the year’s second half with which, by year-end, we expect to say every child born in Peru, is a child born insured. This is a viable goal and we can meet it. What about investments? -There is a massive spending totaling six billion soles (US$ 2.14 billion) which is being allocated for equipment and infrastructure. A massive amount like the aforementioned has not been seen in many years. What other major international events will the Peruvian Health Ministry (MINSA) organize this year? -Peru will have a very strong presence in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Conference which is set to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2014. (END) DOP/LOG

WELLNESS FOR PEACE IN ASIA: Southeast Asia is polio-free, World Health Organization rules. Marking a global health milestone for India, where the disease accounted for nearly half of all worldwide cases just five years ago. The announcement comes after an independent commission of public health experts determined that the 11-nation region, as defined by the WHO, has not had a confirmed polio case for the last three years. Map: Worldwide Polio Eradication India’s official polio-free status came after a massive billion-dollar campaign, largely government-funded, that alerted the public to the importance of vaccinations and enlisted nearly 2.4 million volunteers to immunize 170 million children. It has had no confirmed polio case since January 2011. Experts once were pessimistic about India’s chances of wiping out the disease, because of its large areas with poor sanitation, high population and low immunization rate. But John E. Lange, a retired U.S. ambassador, attributed India’s success to effective monitoring and the use of comprehensive plans to target remote populations. “This is, in a sense, a proof of concept that polio can be eradicated in some of the most difficult places to work in,” said Lange, a senior fellow for global health diplomacy at the United Nations Foundation, which was created in 1998 to support U.N. programs. Southeast Asia, home to one-quarter of the world’s population, is the fourth of six worldwide regions to earn a polio-free status. In 1995, the Americas became the first region WHO declared polio-free, followed by the Western Pacific region in 2000 and the European region in 2002. The Southeast Asia region as listed by the WHO comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. Although the WHO said 80% of the world’s population now live in polio-free regions, officials note more work is needed, especially in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, where the disease remains prevalent. http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-fg-wn-southeast-asia-india-polio-free-world-health-organization-20140327,0,3567601.story#ixzz2y4mr7ErZ

In a statement, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, director of the WHO’s Southeast Asia region, celebrated the “momentous victory” but warned “all countries are at risk and the region’s polio-free status remains fragile” until global eradication of the disease. In many countries, health workers face tough political obstacles, Lange said, with threats from extremist groups such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Boko Haram in Nigeria. This week, news reports documented the brutal kidnapping and killing of a polio worker in Pakistan. But to overcome the challenges posed by extremists, the eradication effort is pursuing a strategy that succeeded before: collaborating with regional governments. “We’ve been able to work through the government and the local actors to ensure we have access into some of the districts and areas that may be occupied by some of the antigovernment elements,” said Tim Petersen, deputy director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s polio team. Polio, a viral disease that affects the nervous system, often spreads through regions with poor sanitation, where it largely affects children under age 5. In 1998, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution calling for an end to polio by 2000. At the time, an average of 1,000 children a day were paralyzed by the disease worldwide, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The effort has made significant strides and last year the organization reported about 400 cases. GPEI, which hopes to eradicate the disease by 2018, is a partnership between national governments, the WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It receives additional support from the Gates Foundation and the U.N. Foundation. Ariel Pablos-Mendez, a top official at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said eliminating the disease in Southeast Asia should serve to generate momentum for global eradication. http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-fg-wn-southeast-asia-india-polio-free-world-health-organization-20140327,0,3567601.story#ixzz2y4mljrMO

WELLNESS FOR PEACE IN AFRICA: World Bank report and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that Africa is making significant progress against infectious diseases. Measles has dropped to 33rd place as a cause of death on the continent from the sixth position in 2010. Africa is the region where disease conditions are changing the fastest, the World Bank's Tim Evans told Shots last September. "We are seeing [infectious disease] rates coming down from very, very high levels," he said. "They had a long way to descend. And they still have a fair way to go." Glaxo's Witty says the company sees a growing business opportunity in the area. "I would say we're on the bridge from aid to trade here," Witty says. "I can't guarantee success, but that shouldn't stop us from being ambitious."

One of the world's largest drugmakers says it will invest more than $200 million in Africa over the next five years in a push for better treatment of noncommunicable diseases there. GlaxoSmithKline said the funding would be focused on sub-Saharan Africa, where the company already employs about 1,500 people and operates three factories. The money would go toward building five more factories and funding of research and development focused on the region. A centerpiece of the expansion is a new lab focused on noncommunicable illnesses in Africa based at a company research center in Stevenage, England, north of London. The British hub will help researchers from Africa and elsewhere collaborate with each other and with Glaxo scientists on projects involving noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer and heart disease. Andrew Witty, CEO of Glaxo tells Shots, that the lab may be the most valuable part of the project in the long run. "It's really the first time that I think anybody is really moving the whole focus on African disease on from infectious disease into noncommunicable diseases," Witty says. Why the shift? As one looks at the leading-edge countries in Africa, Witty says, there's evidence of widespread vaccination and the beginning of good management of HIV. "We're starting to see some sense of control over the infectious disease burden, which has always existed in Africa and dominated," he says. "What you then start to see is other diseases, which have essentially been hidden, if you will, by the cloud of infectious disease, come more to the surface."

WELLNESS FOR PEACE IN EUROPE: Public health: Commission stresses need for greater effectiveness, accessibility and resilience for EU’s health systems In a Communication adopted today, the Commission lays out an EU agenda for making Europe’s health systems fit for facing current challenges and pressures. It highlights a number of initiatives the EU can develop and build upon to help Member States ensure that citizens’ aspirations to high quality care can be met. The focus will be on methods and tools that will allow Member States to achieve greater effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of their health systems, in line with reform recommendations addressed to them in the context of the European Semester. Member States are also encouraged to make good use of European funding instruments, such as structural funds, in implementing the recommended reforms. Tonio Borg, European Commissioner for Health, said: "In recent years, due to the economic crisis and at the request of the Member States, the Commission has put the issue of sustainability of healthcare systems under the microscope. I am confident that we have amassed a robust evidence-base of principles and tools that can support Member States in developing accessible, resilient and effective health systems that not only add more years to life, but add more life to our years." The Communication recommends to Member States, which have primary responsibility for their health systems, that they: Strengthen effectiveness, keeping in mind that the first objective of a health system is to improve the health of the population. This can be done through applying performance assessment results, ensuring safety and quality of care for patients, and developing an integrated approach to care so as to avoid over reliance on hospitals. Increase accessibility, so that health systems provide healthcare services to the whole population. This result can be achieved through better planning of the health workforce and a more effective use of medicines. Furthermore, the Directive on cross-border care will provide increased transparency, and better affordability and availability of care. Improve resilience, so health systems are capable of adapting to changing environments and identifying innovative solutions. This capacity can be strengthened by choosing more effective and efficient treatments which respond to patients’ needs. Of equal importance is building efficient information flows and innovative Information and Communication Technologies in health.

Some milestones that have paved the way for the Communication are: 2006: Member States agree on common values and principles of the health systems of the European Union. 2011: Adoption of Directive 2011/24 on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. 2011: The Council of Health Ministers establishes an EU-level reflection process to help Member States provide modern, responsive and sustainable health systems. 2013: In December, the Council of Health Ministers endorses the progress made and calls for further work in this area in its conclusions on the ’reflection process on modern, responsive and sustainable health systems’. 2014: The Annual Growth Survey emphasizes the need to improve the efficiency, financial sustainability and effectiveness of healthcare systems, to reach the objective of building competitiveness and growth. It also acknowledges the importance of the healthcare sector in tackling the social consequences of the economic crisis, stressing that healthcare services are an area that will generate significant job opportunities in years to come. The evidence-base The Commission’s Communication is backed by several studies, in particular on access to healthcare, effectiveness of health systems, and reforms of the hospital sector. Some findings are: In general, assessing the effectiveness of health systems is a complex process: healthcare measures may only show their effects after a long period, and reliability of data is a challenge. Early diagnosis of colorectal, cervical and breast cancer through organised population-based screening programmes is a useful means for the healthcare system to improve results. Healthcare access is directly affected by the organisation and management models used in healthcare systems, with patients having more difficulty in accessing healthcare if health systems are complex and lack transparency. For more information: http://ec.europa.eu/health/healthcare/health_systems_organisation/index_en.htm Commissioner Borg's website: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/borg/index_en.htm Follow us on Twitter: @EU_Health Contacts : Frédéric Vincent (+32 2 298 71 66) Aikaterini Apostola (+32 2 298 76 24) For the public: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by e­mail http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-376_en.htm

UPDATE: U.N. Panel Urges World Leaders To Take Climate Change Action In New Report. The implications of climate change affect both current and future generations and will hit both rural farms and big cities, according to the report. Saleemul Huq, International Centre for Climate Change and Development Director at the Independent University in Bangladesh and is one of the authors of the report, said that the current state of the globe's climate change has exceeded group's initial prediction back in 2007. "Things are worse then we had predicted," Huq said. "We are going to see more and more impacts, faster and sooner than we had anticipated." The 2,610-page report is taken seriously at the White House, Fox News reported, as Secretary of State John Kerry said, "the costs of inaction are catastrophic." Rajendra Pachauri, the panel's chairman, told The Associated Press, that the effects of global warming "could get out of control" if humanity doesn't reduce pollution of carbon emissions and other heat-trapping gases. Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution for Science in California said the time where climate change was hypothetical is in the past. "We're now in an era where climate change isn't some kind of future hypothetical," Field said. "We live in an area where impacts from climate change are already widespread and consequential."

A group of Nobel-prize winning scientists released a report Monday outlining the how critical global warming will be on humanity, Al Jazeera America reported. The study cites the recent natural disasters of Europe's heat waves, wildfires in the U.S., Australia's drought, and the over flooding in Mozambique, Pakistan and Thailand as how vulnerable humans are to climate change. According to the report, climate change will get worse and so will the implications and dangers caused by the extreme weather. Princeton University professor Michael Oppenheimer, one of the study's main authors, said, "We're all sitting ducks," during an interview at the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Japan. More than 100 governments unanimously approved the 32-volume report meant for the world's political leaders. The word "risk" is used an average of more than five per page, according to Al Jazeera. Many of those risks include some places not having enough water while other will have too much, food prices soaring as availability becomes scarce while disease and war could break out as a result. http://www.latinpost.com/articles/9858/20140331/global-warming-news-and-update-u-n-panel-urges-world-leaders-to-take-climate-change-action-in-new-report.htm