| June 2006
Development Assistance & Foreign Aid |Disaster Relief | Health, HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases | Humanitarian Issues |
Development Assistance & Foreign Aid
H1 - Public Choices, Private Decisions: Sexual and Reproductive
Health and the Millennium Development Goals
Bernstein, Stan with Charlotte Juul Hansen
UN Millennium Project Report, May 30, 2006, online edition,
197p (summery 20p)
“The Millennium Declaration articulated a comprehensive call
for development efforts to address poverty in all its dimensions
by 2015. The vision of the Millennium Summit is a deeply humanitarian
one. The international community, including the experts associated
with the UN Millennium Project, recognizes the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) generated in the follow-up processes to the Millennium
Summit as markers and priorities for the whole set of recommendations
that emerged from the international conferences of the 1990s and
early 21st century. Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is linked
particularly to the attainment of the health MDGs, but it is also
essential to gender equality and progress against poverty. […]This
report details the centrality of SRH to progress on human development.
It necessarily builds on and reinforces the analyses and recommendations
made by the Task Forces of the UN Millennium Project.” Stan
Bernstein is Senior Policy Advisor for the Millennium Project.
Fulltext
H2 - Globalization of Disaster: Trends, Problems and Dilemmas
Alexander, David
Journal of International Affairs, Spring-Summer 2006, v59,
#2, pp1-21
“Over the last half-century the massive growth of worldwide travel and telecommunications has brought what were once essentially regional and local problems onto the world stage. In considering such momentous changes, this article surveys the global pattern of catastrophes and offers an analysis of modern systems of emergency preparedness and processes of disaster relief, with particular attention to the problems of creating resilience and the moral and practical dilemmas of prevention and response.” David Alexander is Professor of Disaster Management in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University if Florence and Director of the Region of Lombardy’s Advanced School of Civil Protection, based in Milan. Fulltext
Health, HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases
H3 - A New Assault on HIV
Stix, Gary
Scientific American, Jun2006, v294, #6, pp76-79
"The field of virology spends a substantial chunk of its resources inspecting every minute step of the HIV life cycle -- from the binding and entry of the virus into an immune cell to its replication and release of a new virus from the host cell and, finally, the seeking of a new cell on which to prey. The last major new class of anti-HIV drugs emerged about a decade ago with the introduction of the protease inhibitors, which curb the action of an enzyme that is critical to a late stage of viral replication." This article focuses on new developments in fighting the HIV virus and reviews how the field of virology spends a substantial chunk of its resources inspecting every minute step of the HIV life cycle. Gary Stix is staff writer at "Scientific American". Fulltext
H4 - Stem Cells: The Real Culprits in Cancer?
Clarke, Michael; Becker, Michael
Scientific American, Jul2006, v295, #1, pp52-59
"This article explores research suggesting that stem-like cells may be at the root of many cancers. Cancer cells are often perceived as all having the same potential to proliferate and expand the disease, but in many types of cancer only a small subset of tumor cells has that power. The tumor-generating cells share key traits with stem cells, including an unlimited life span and the ability to generate a diverse range of other cell types, and are therefore considered cancer stem cells. These malignant progenitors are believed to spring from regulatory failures in damaged stem cells or their immediate offspring. Cancer treatments must target cancer stem cells to eradicate the disease." Michael F. Clarke is Associate Director, as well as Professor of Cancer Biology and Medicine, at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Fulltext
H5 - Forging A Global Culture of Human Rights: Origins and Prospects of the International Bill of Rights
Kabasakal Arat, Zehra F.
Human Right Quarterly, Volume 28, Number 2, May 2006, pp.416-437
“Although the concept of human rights has advanced since the adoption
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations,
the universal applicability of its content has been challenged.
Employing historicism, this article treats the Universal Declaration
and the subsequent international human rights treaties as social
constructs that are not theoretically grounded and argues that
human rights instruments serve as critics of all prevailing cultures
and attempt to curb the traditional notions and practices that
tend to undermine human dignity. The second major argument of
the article holds that the Universal Declaration ushered in a
new international culture that has been evolving.“ Zehra F.
Arat Kabasakal is professor of political Science at Purchase Colloge,
SUNY. Her research focuses on Democracy and Human Rights. Order
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