United Nations (UN)

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Strengthening The Health Workforce through eHealth Innovation: Reflections From The GETHealth Summit

Kate Tulenko | CapacityPlus | March 1, 2013

I recently had the privilege of representing CapacityPlus at the Global Education and Technology Health (GETHealth) Summit at the United Nations in New York City, speaking in sessions on distance learning in rural communities and leveraging social media to address the global health workforce gap. Read More »

Study Suggests Wi-Fi Exposure More Dangerous To Kids Than Previously Thought

Robert J. Szczerba | Forbes.com | January 13, 2015

...he International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRIC), part of the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO), classifies these and more than 250 other agents as Class 2B Carcinogens – possibly carcinogenic to humans.  Another entry on that same list is radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF/EMF)...

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Study: Over 1.4 Billion Jobs and Food Supplied Worldwide Depend on Saving Bees

Press Release | University of Reading | November 28, 2016

World food supplies and jobs are at risk unless urgent action is taken to stop global declines of pollinators, leading scientists have warned. The authors of a landmark United Nations report on pollinator decline - including from the University of Reading, University of East Anglia and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the UK - blame loss of habitat, climate change and farming changes for the falls. Building ‘bee highways', reducing so-called green deserts, and helping farmers work with nature could all help, the researchers say in a new report...

Sugar Can harm Like Alcohol and Tobacco; Regulate It, Article Says

Karen Kaplan | Los Angeles Times | February 1, 2012

In a provocative commentary coming out in Thursday’s edition of the journal Nature, Dr. Robert Lustig and two colleagues from UC San Francisco argue that the added sugars in processed foods and drinks are responsible for so many cases of chronic disease and premature deaths that their use ought to be regulated, just like alcohol and tobacco.

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The @UN Deputy Secretary-General Writes About Why Toilets Matter

Jan Eliasson | Elsevier Connect | April 8, 2014

Why do toilets matter? They matter because they prevent disease and malnutrition, helping children to survive and thrive, communities to flourish and nations to prosper. Every dollar spent on sanitation brings a five-fold return in health and productivity. That is why, community by community, town by town, country by country, we need action to provide sanitation for all. Read More »

The Future Of Crisis Data

Jonathon Morgan | Ushahidi | May 20, 2014

The excitement around big data for social good is palpable, and its capacity for change is enormous. However, in order to realize this capacity the humanitarian community needs to embrace a fundamental shift in the relationship between data and crisis...

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The National Science Foundation Bets Big On Open Source Platforms

The National Science Foundation (NSF) wants to grow the community of researchers who develop and contribute to open source and enable pathways for collaboration that lead to new technologies that have broad impacts on society...[NSF] just announced US $21 million to fund open source development through a new program: Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (PEOSE).

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The U.N. Will Not Stand For Killer Robots

Alexander Abad-Santos | Nextgov | May 31, 2013

President Obama may have finally clarified the U.S. position on armed assassins in the sky, but the next wave of drone controversy may now center on whether robots on the field of battle are smart enough to gun down human beings... Read More »

The Underreported Side Of The Ebola Crisis

Rose Ann DeMoro | The Blog | September 6, 2014

Amid the media accounts of the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded some significant context is largely missing from the major media reporting.  Atop this list are links of the outbreak to the climate crisis and global inequality, mal-distribution of wealth, and austerity-driven cuts in public services that have greatly contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola...

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There’s a Disaster Much Worse than Texas. But No One Talks about It

Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian | September 1, 2017

A quick quiz. No Googling, no conferring, but off the top of your head: what is currently the world’s worst humanitarian disaster? If you nominated storm Harvey and the flooding of Houston, Texas, then don’t be too hard on yourself. Media coverage of that disaster has been intense, and the pictures dramatic. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this supposedly once-in-a-thousand-years calamity – now happening with alarming frequency, thanks to climate change – was the most devastating event on the planet...

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Top Scientific Publisher Chooses Not To Advance Open Access

Jon Tennant | The Conversation | September 3, 2014

Access to research is limited worldwide by the high cost of subscription journals, which force readers to pay for their content. The use of scientific research in new studies, educational material and news is often restricted by these publishers, who require authors to sign over their rights and then control what is done with the published work...

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U.S. To Begin Ebola Hospital Equipment Lift To Liberia

David Morgan | Reuters | September 17, 2014

The first planeload of hospital equipment in the U.S. military's battle against West Africa's deadly Ebola outbreak will arrive in Liberia on Friday, a senior administration official said on Wednesday...

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Uganda Makes "Intentional Transmission" Of HIV A Crime

Elias Biryabarema | Reuters | May 14, 2014

Uganda has made it a crime to "wilfully and intentionally" transmit the HIV virus and made it legal for medical staff to disclose a patient’s HIV status to others without his or her consent.  The law was passed on Tuesday, a parliamentary spokeswoman said, in response to a resurgence in HIV infections in a country that was once hailed as a success in the global fight against AIDS...

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UN Invests $9m in 'Open Source' Tech to Aave Children's Lives

Matt Burgess | WIRED | February 1, 2016

The United Nations will fund 60 startups to create open source technologies to improve the lives of children in developing countries. Unicef, the children's charity run by the UN, will channel more than $9 million into startups based on venture capital-style investing. But it isn't concerned if the companies fail. The money from Unicef's Innovation Fund will go to around 50 to 60 startups using open-source technology, and which have working prototypes. Each will get approximately $50,000 to help them grow. Companies have to be at an early stage and will be picked based on the strength of their teams, the work's relevance to children, and their future potential...

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UNICEF launches Cryptocurrency Fund to Support Open Source Technology Benefiting Children

Press Release | UNICEF | October 9, 2019

UNICEF will now be able to receive, hold and disburse donations of cryptocurrencies ether and bitcoin, through its newly-established UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund. In a first for United Nations organizations, UNICEF will use cryptocurrencies to fund open source technology benefiting children and young people around the world. Under the structure of the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund, contributions will be held in their cryptocurrency of contribution, and granted out in the same cryptocurrency. "This is a new and exciting venture for UNICEF," said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. "If digital economies and currencies have the potential to shape the lives of coming generations, it is important that we explore the opportunities they offer. That's why the creation of our Cryptocurrency Fund is a significant and welcome step forward in humanitarian and development work." Read More »