Wellness Pilipinas International: WHO Update: Investing in health targets within the...

WHO Update: Investing in health targets within the Sustainable Development Goals could prevent 97 million premature deaths globally between now and 2030, and add as much as 8.4 years of life expectancy reports the new publication, "The SDG Health Price Tag

"World Health Organization estimates cost of reaching global health targets by 2030

News release

17 JULY 2017 | GENEVA - The SDG Health Price Tag, published today in The Lancet Global Health, estimates the costs and benefits of progressively expanding health services in order to reach 16 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) health targets in 67 low- and middle-income countries that account for 75% of the world’s population.

The analysis shows that investments to expand services towards universal health coverage and the other SDG health targets could prevent 97 million premature deaths globally between now and 2030, and add as much as 8.4 years of life expectancy in some countries. While most countries can afford the investments needed, the poorest nations will need assistance to reach the targets.

"Universal health coverage is ultimately a political choice. It is the responsibility of every country and national government to pursue it," Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, wrote in a commentary accompanying the paper in The Lancet Global Health.

The SDG Health Price Tag models two scenarios: an “ambitious” scenario in which investments are sufficient for countries to attain the health targets in the SDGs by 2030, and a “progress” scenario in which countries get two thirds or more of the way to the targets.

In both scenarios, health systems investments such as employing more health workers; building and operating new clinics, hospitals and laboratories; and buying medical equipment account for about 75% of the total. The remaining costs are for medicines, vaccines, syringes and other commodities used to prevent or treat specific diseases, and for activities such as training, health campaigns and outreach to vulnerable communities.

Under the "ambitious" scenario, achieving the SDG health targets would require new investments increasing over time from an initial US$ 134 billion annually to $371 billion, or $58 per person, by 2030.

The analysis shows that 85% of these costs can be met with domestic resources, although as many as 32 of the world’s poorest countries will face an annual gap of up to US$ 54 billion and will continue to need external assistance. High-income countries were not included in the analysis but other estimates show they can all afford to provide universal health coverage with essential health services to their citizens.

The ambitious scenario includes adding more than 23 million health workers, and building more than 415 000 new health facilities, 91% of which would be primary health care centres.

These investments would boost health spending as a proportion of gross domestic product across all 67 countries from an average of 5.6% to 7.5%. The global average for health spending as a proportion of GDP is 9.9%. Although higher spending does not necessarily translate to improved health, making the right investments at the right time can.

Read more: Wellness Pilipinas International: WHO Update: Investing in health targets within the...: "World Health Organization estimates cost of reaching global health targets by 2030 News release 17 JULY 2017 | GENEVA - The SDG H...

Study finds our Sun is like other stars, resolving mystery

"Our Sun is much like other stars, and not an anomaly because of its magnetic poles that flip every 11 years, scientists said.

The report in the journal Science aims to lay to rest the controversy over whether our solar system's star is cyclic, like other nearby, solar-type stars.

"We have shed light on a fundamental mechanism which determines the length of these cycles, which helps us understand the cycle itself over the long-term," lead author Antoine Strugarek, a researcher at the University of Montreal, told AFP.

"We can therefore say of the Sun's next magnetic cycle in 10 or 20 years will be intense, long or short, which helps us understand among other things what kind of satellites to put in orbit and the most favorable launch windows."

Activity on the Sun, from the number of sunspots to levels of radiation and ejection of material, varies on an 11-year cycle.

These changes are driven by the Sun's magnetic field.

Scientists have long believed that our Sun was unusual because it did not match the magnetic cycles observed on other solar-type stars.

So researchers carried out a series of simulations of stellar magnetic fields, and showed that the Sun's magnetic cycle depends on its rotation rate and luminosity, said the report.

They compared their simulations with observations of cyclic activity in nearby solar-type stars, and found that indeed, the cycle periods of the Sun and other solar-type stars all follow the same relationship.

"This research shows that the 11-year cycle is the principal cycle of all solar-type stars," said Allan Sacha Brun, Head of the Laboratory Dynamics of Stars and their Environment and principal investigator of the European Research Council project called STARS2.


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Cook Islands creates huge Pacific Ocean marine reserve: "The idea is not to ban commercial fishing or mineral exploration outright, but to ensure it is carried out in a sustainable manner. However, there will be a core no-fishing zone totalling about 320,000 sq km, extending 50 nautical miles from the coastline of each island", Kevin Iro, Environmentalist

 "The Cook Islands has created one of the world's largest marine sanctuaries, protecting a vast swathe of the Pacific Ocean more than three times the size of France.

Legislation setting up the 1.9 million square kilometre (735,000 square mile) reserve passed through the tiny nation's parliament late Thursday.

Environmentalist Kevin Iro, who first proposed the idea more than five years ago, said it was a landmark achievement that would help preserve the ocean for future generations.

"It's a historic time, particularly because everyone supported it, including our traditional leaders who spearheaded the whole thing," he told AFP.

The Cook Islands has a population of just 10,000 and its 15 islands have a combined landmass of 236 sq km, barely the size of Washington DC.

But its isolated position in the Pacific, about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii with no near neighbours, means it has a huge maritime territory.

Iro said Cook Islanders had an affinity with the ocean and viewed it as sacred but overfishing and pollution had damaged the marine environment, including the coral reefs that once ringed all the islands.

He said the marine reserve, known as Marae Moana, would give the environment a chance to heal, allowing the islanders to protect their legacy.

"When I moved back here (from New Zealand) about 16 years ago I saw what was happening to the lagoons and reefs and really wanted to protect them for my kids," he said.

"I want them to have the same experience I did as a boy growing up."

The idea is not to ban commercial fishing or mineral exploration outright, but to ensure it is carried out in a sustainable manner.

However, there will be a core no-fishing zone totalling about 320,000 sq km, extending 50 nautical miles from the coastline of each island.

Prime Minister Henry Puna said Marae Moana provided a blueprint for managing ocean environments worldwide.

"Together we had a vision to turn our little country into the cleanest and greenest tourism destination in the whole wide world," the Cook Islands News quoted him as telling parliament.

"We not only recognise that the ocean brings us revenue in terms of fishery and tourism and potentially sea bed minerals -– it also provides us with clean air, clean water, and clean food to nourish and sustain us.""



'via Blog this'Cook Islands creates huge Pacific Ocean marine reserve:- AFP News

Cook Islands creates huge Pacific Ocean marine reserve: "The idea is not to ban commercial fishing or mineral exploration outright, but to ensure it is carried out in a sustainable manner. However, there will be a core no-fishing zone totalling about 320,000 sq km, extending 50 nautical miles from the coastline of each island", Kevin Iro, Environmentalist

"The Cook Islands has created one of the world's largest marine sanctuaries, protecting a vast swathe of the Pacific Ocean more than three times the size of France.

Legislation setting up the 1.9 million square kilometre (735,000 square mile) reserve passed through the tiny nation's parliament late Thursday.

Environmentalist Kevin Iro, who first proposed the idea more than five years ago, said it was a landmark achievement that would help preserve the ocean for future generations.

"It's a historic time, particularly because everyone supported it, including our traditional leaders who spearheaded the whole thing," he told AFP.

The Cook Islands has a population of just 10,000 and its 15 islands have a combined landmass of 236 sq km, barely the size of Washington DC.

But its isolated position in the Pacific, about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii with no near neighbours, means it has a huge maritime territory.

Iro said Cook Islanders had an affinity with the ocean and viewed it as sacred but overfishing and pollution had damaged the marine environment, including the coral reefs that once ringed all the islands.

He said the marine reserve, known as Marae Moana, would give the environment a chance to heal, allowing the islanders to protect their legacy.

"When I moved back here (from New Zealand) about 16 years ago I saw what was happening to the lagoons and reefs and really wanted to protect them for my kids," he said.

"I want them to have the same experience I did as a boy growing up."

The idea is not to ban commercial fishing or mineral exploration outright, but to ensure it is carried out in a sustainable manner.

However, there will be a core no-fishing zone totalling about 320,000 sq km, extending 50 nautical miles from the coastline of each island.

Prime Minister Henry Puna said Marae Moana provided a blueprint for managing ocean environments worldwide.

"Together we had a vision to turn our little country into the cleanest and greenest tourism destination in the whole wide world," the Cook Islands News quoted him as telling parliament.

"We not only recognise that the ocean brings us revenue in terms of fishery and tourism and potentially sea bed minerals -– it also provides us with clean air, clean water, and clean food to nourish and sustain us."

Puna's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment."



'via Blog this'AFP News, Cook Islands creates huge Pacific Ocean marine reserve:

UPDATE: Land mammals and reptiles in the Pacific islands facing extinction due to habitat loss, hunting and other threats could be decimated by climate change...

Ocean-bound wildlife is particularly vulnerable to environmental pressures, especially endemic species living on only one or a handful of islands. Among other things, this remoteness makes migrating to another land mass nearly impossible.

Dozens of species -- especially birds -- have also been wiped out over the last century by invasive species and disease brought by human settlers.

For most Pacific island vertebrates -- animals with a backbone -- the current risk of extinction has been measured and catalogued in the Red List of threatened species, maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Scientists, however, had not systematically looked at the added threat posed of rising seas and megastorms brought on by global warming.

Impacts due to an increase in temperature of only one degree Celsius (1.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-19th century have already begun to wreak havoc in dozens of small island nations.

Lalit Kumar and Mahyat Shafapour Tehrany of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, matched the Red List conservation status of 150 mammals and reptiles against two scenarios for future climate change that assume either weak or moderate efforts in curtailing greenhouse gas emissions.

- Triple threat -

One would result in global warming of about 4 C (7.2 F) by century's end, and the other roughly 3 C (5.4 F).

The question they asked for each species was simple: to what extent will a hotter world increase the danger of extinction?

"Projected increases in sea level rise and ... wave heights, together with more intense tropical cyclones, are likely to exacerbate these vulnerabilities and result in signficant habitat destruction," the researchers concluded.

Eighteen animals -- including Bulmer's fruit bat, half-a-dozen species of gecko, and several lizards -- faced a triple threat.

Not only are they already listed as "critically endangered", the last step before the category "extinct in the wild", they are also unique to this part of the world and exist on a single island, though mostly larger ones.

"These species are only found in this region, and so deserve extra attention since a loss of any of these species will mean global extinction," the authors warned.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, could help conservationists and policy makers outline strategies for preventing the disappearance of these creatures from the face of the Earth, they added.

The 196-nation Paris Agreement has set a goal of holding global warming to "well below" 2 C, a goal that many scientists say may be out of reach." -Marlowe Hood, AFP News



Source: Climate change deepens threat to Pacific island wildlife: 'via Blog this'

UPDATE: A large portion of an ice shelf that was said to be “hanging by a thread” last month has broken off from the Antarctic mainland, creating one of the world’s largest icebergs...

According to the report by British Antarctic research group Project MIDAS, the iceberg, which is estimated to have separated from Larsen C ice shelf between Monday and Wednesday, will be named A68. It weighs one trillion tons and contains twice the volume of water held in Lake Erie, the report said. It is 5,800 square kilometers, making it nearly twice the size of Rhode Island.

The ice shelf’s calving has been expected for some time. Project MIDAS wrote that is was “watching with bated breath” after the rift separating the iceberg from the main shelf grew 11 miles in six days in late May. At the time, lead investigator of Project MIDAS Adrian Luckman wrote that the separation of the ice shelf would “fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.”

Here’s a look at images of the threatened ice shelves and glaciers of the South Pole.

See FULL STORY by Taylor Rogers /Yahoo News

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr."Antarctica's fragile ice:



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