#policy-makers

In case you missed it at The Brooklyn Conference...

Brazil is the latest country to join the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA), the global coalition mobilizing political, technical, and financial capital to prepare the world for harsher droughts. This addition brings the total membership of IDRA to 38 countries and 28 intergovernmental and research organizations, showing an increasing willingness to tackle one of the world’s most deadly and costly natural hazards.

Launched at UN Climate Summit COP27 by the leaders of Spain and Senegal, IDRA drives action against droughts in the face of global warming, acknowledging that we are only as resilient to drought and climate change as our land is. The IDRA secretariat is hosted by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

At a joint event with the UNCCD in Petrolina, in the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil H.E. Marina Silva said: “Brazil's accession to the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA) demonstrates the government's determination to combat drought and desertification, promote food and water security, and combat inequalities. Our objective is to promote sustainable development, while ensuring the protection of biodiversity and the communities of the semi-arid region. The cooperation with UNCCD reinforces Brazil's commitment to combating desertification and climate change.”

The event, which launched a national campaign to combat desertification and drought, put an end to a visit to the semi-arid region of Caatinga, a unique ecoregion that covers around 70 percent of northeastern Brazil, and 11% of the total country area. Brazilian researchers recently identified the country’s first arid region and projected the expansion of semiarid lands across much of the territory. Nearly 38 million Brazilians from 1.561 municipalities are vulnerable to desertification and drought , as are 1,4 million square kilometers of land across 13 states, according to the Environment and Climate Change Ministry. In Caatinga, authorities are supporting community-led initiatives to restore watersheds, improve agricultural practices, and harvest water as a means of building their resilience to drought.

Around the world, addressing challenges at the water-land-and-climate nexus is essential to protecting agricultural and energy production, and to maintaining vital ecosystem services like the provision of clean water and fertile soils for present and future generations.

Speaking at the event in Petrolina, the UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw, said: “I commend Brazil’s commitment to proactively investing in resilient lands and livelihoods. Science and experience show time and again that preparing societies and economies for droughts before they strike prevents human sufering and is much more cost-effective than emergency responses. Drought is a hazard, but in needn’t be a disaster.”

A decisive year for land and drought

UNCCD COP16 will be the largest-ever meeting of UNCCD’s 197 Parties, the first to be held in the Middle East region, and the largest multilateral conference ever hosted by Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom recently hosted the 2024 World Environment Day global celebrations with a focus on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience.

On 17 June, the 2024 Desertification and Drought Day will mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), one of the three Rio Conventions alongside climate and biodiversity.

 On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024, the spotlight is on older people in emergencies. Older people often face mobility issues, chronic health conditions or social isolation –some of the factors that can hinder their ability to access aid, evacuate safely or receive timely medical care and support services. The chaos and stress of emergencies can make such conditions worse, increasing the risk of elder abuse.

Populations are ageing rapidly, with the number of people aged 60 years and above globally expected to rise from 900 million in 2015 to about 2 billion in 2050. Elder abuse is therefore predicted to rise too. Against this backdrop, it is increasingly vital to emphasize that respect and care for older people are human rights that should never be violated.

Abuse of older people may be a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action which causes harm or distress to an older person. Abuse of older people can take many forms, including physical, sexual, psychological or emotional abuse. Financial or material abuse; abandonment; neglect; or serious loss of dignity and respect are also types of elder abuse.

Like other forms of violence, rates of abuse of older people have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency situations such as pandemics, natural disasters or conflicts disproportionately affect older people, by making existing vulnerabilities worse. Emergency planning and response must address the elderly population’s specific needs.

Elder abuse is a growing health issue worldwide. In 2021, about 1 in 6 people aged 60 years and above had experienced some form of abuse in community settings. The Eastern Mediterranean Region is no exception, especially as humanitarian crises affect half its countries and territories. 

Abuse of older people occurs in relationships and places where there is an expectation of trust. Rates of elder abuse are high in institutions such as nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Shockingly, 2 in 3 staff of such facilities reported, in 2021, that they have committed abuse of older people. Acts of violence against elderly people can lead to serious physical injuries and long-term psychological impacts.

This year’s World Elder Abuse Awareness Day campaign emphasizes the urgent need to protect older people from abuse during crises. It calls on governments to foster a more inclusive and protective environment for elderly people in emergencies. The campaign also encourages the development of inclusive policies that ensure older people are not overlooked during crises.

The campaign calls on policy-makers, international donors, organizations and communities to prioritize the safety and well-being of older people in emergency preparedness and response strategies. Another focus is to educate and train emergency responders, caregivers and the public on how to support elderly people in ways that ensure their dignity.

Unpacking the Nexus and Finding Solutions on Gender, Corruption and Access To Natural Resources.

Building on previous research on the nexus between corruption and gender, the distinguished speakers will be invited to reflect on the role corruption plays in hampering women's leadership and their economic empowerment and how policy-makers can promote gender-responsive policies in access to the natural resources sector. The side-event will also serve as an opportunity to address corruption in humanitarian settings, peace and mediation efforts and discuss the recommendations and the key highlights of OSCE's latest publication titled "Gender and corruption in the access to natural resources: preliminary findings".

Concept Note

Watch No woman's land? Unpacking the nexus and finding solutions to gender, corruption and access to natural resources (CSW68 Side Event).

Few large organizations in any sector across the world operate effectively without a clear, simple set of objectives that govern strategic and operational activities and areunderstood and owned by all staff. Establishing these at high-level for a system helps to focus all existing policies and activities of the health care system towards a common purpose. If few in number, and appropriately formulated, they can enable progress to be reviewed at strategic level and also at the level of the clinical team. The objectives should not create an extra burden, nor replace existing measures of performance within countries, nor in their systems and facilities. Instead, they should serve to unify the work of the leadership, the endeavours of managers and the care of doctors, nurses and other health workers. They should provide a test of everything from everyday clinical work to big strategic decisions about the design of health care systems. They should also provide a simple public accountability framework. That is the purpose of the seven strategic objectives this framework provides for the global action plan. They are broad enough to make sense of the myriad of tasks required to reduce the risks and to improve the safety of patient care in every part of the world. They are articulated so that it is entirely permissible within their scope to formulate programmes of action that fit with local needs and priorities and that are shaped by the specific context. They do this precisely because they are intended to empower and not to constrain. So, for example, Objective 2 has meaning whether “high reliability” is being developed in a teaching hospital in Western Europe or in a rural health centre in a poor country in West Africa. Each will be aiming to do the very best they possibly can within their operating context and resource availability. In turn, Objective 3, which deals with the important area of designing and operating safe care processes and pathways, is equally applicable to a high technology maternity service in a large Canadian city as it is to a service in a remote part of Sierra Leone trying to reduce maternal deaths from post-partum haemorrhage.

Comprehensive action on patient safety across all countries worldwide is a complex endeavour and requires the collective efforts of numerous stakeholders, ranging from policy-makers to health workers. To achieve the goal and strategic objectives of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030, it is important that partnerships develop at both the strategic and the operational levels. Collaboration in this way will add particular value to patient safety endeavours and strengthen the efforts of individual organizations. By working together to achieve the vision of the action plan and improve the safety of care for all, partners can also accelerate progress to achieve their own respective goals. As shown below, four broad categories of partners have been identified to support implementation of the global action plan.

The action plan also envisages patients, families and communities as key partners at all levels of action.

Global CEOs, Policy-Makers, Economists, Entrepreneurs And Notable Experts To Speak At New York Times Energy For Tomorrow Conference In … Provide it by The Funding World for Entrepreneurs

Moody’s now positive on India, Jaitley promises more

New Delhi, April 9 : Global ratings agency Moody’s on Thursday enhanced India’s sovereign rating to positive from stable, expecting positive steps from policy-makers to spur growth and put the country ahead of peers — a development that FINANCE ministry said was significant.

“Moody’s decision to revise the ratings outlook to positive from stable is based on its view that there is an increasing…