Thursday 22 December 2011

Do they know its Xmas?


As Xmas approaches another famine is unfolding on the scale of the 1980s when Bob Geldoff responded to the ITV news report sent by Michael Beurk. More than 10 million people are thought to be at risk and close to starvation, however, despite thirty years of experience the same issues appear to be at the root of the problem in getting aid to where it is needed. Read the following accounts of the situation form inside Africa. Will 9,00 tonnes of food aid be sufficient?

Use the information and links to help with your notes on Famine and Millenium Development Goals

Thursday 15 December 2011

Poole Geo4b Research

Here goes folks:
If you find useful background above and beyond the resources in the shared area drop me an email and I will post them here for everyone to access:


NEW MATERIAL - CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
- Poole Harbour Management Plan


NEW - IMAGES of POOLE from OS Geograph - check out different parts of Poole - try to link to Census Map and your OS extract - create annotated Picture Map







Hasan is first up having found this site:  http://www.pooleoldtown.co.uk/Pages/STOPHome.htm

Newspaper article on Planning http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/districts/poole/8370075.Campaigners_fight_to_save_historic_Poole_building_from_bulldozers/

Planning Rejected:
http://www.regen.net/Housing/article/1102598/councillors-reject-poole-regeneration-scheme/

Hamworth Power Station Site - outline Masterplan
http://www.newmasterplanning.com/news_article.php?id=39

News on Hamworthy Power Station Site
http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/tidnews/9169071.Regeneration_work_on_Poole_s_former_power_station_site_is_a_step_closer/

Concerns and objections about Hamworthy Development http://www.thisisdorset.net/news/8847595._Spectacular_views_would_be_ruined_if_Poole_marina_goes_ahead_/

Central Area Plans
http://poolelocalplan.wisshost.net/text/text14.htm

Harbour Masterplan
http://www.phc.co.uk/masterplan/

Windsurfers Concerns
http://www.poolewindsurfing.co.uk/hamworthy-marina-development/

Hamworthy Residents (windsurfers campaign)
http://dropapianoonthismarina.webs.com/apps/photos/

Monday 12 December 2011

NHS Then & Now Comparing Health Care









who has the best healthcare system, the USA or the UK? Answer - neither. While total spending on health is very different - 9% of GDP in the UK and 17% in the USA - the extent to which both healthcare systems save lives show the USA as the worst in the developed world and the UK not far behind. France, Japan and Australia are the best.
Moreover, it is interesting to point out that while the other nations have improved dramatically in reducing preventable deaths between 1997–98 and 2002–03, the USA has improved only slightly. The preferred measure, ‘decline in amenable mortality’ in all countries averaged 16% over the period studied. The USA was an outlier, with a decline of only 4%; the UK among the best with a 20% reduction.
But is this improvement related to spending? Not necessarily. Over the period of the study above total spending per capita (US$ purchasing power parity) grew across the board: UK by 79%, USA by 62%, Australia 61%, and France 53.2%. So without radical reform healthcare costs in the USA will continue to spiral and lives that could be saved will be lost. The same could be said about the UK.
Instead of arguing about which flawed healthcare system should be adopted, the question should be, 'How do we deliver better outcomes for less money?' In France, Australia (and the USA), patients have pretty much unrestrained choice over which doctor to visit. However, the incentive structures in the USA lead to costly oversupply of services without consideration to the value they provide. Experts suggest up to 30% of total spending in the USA could be saved by changing this incentive structure.
In the UK - despite the political rhetoric - choice is confined to patients choosing hospital rather than individuals being able to choose GP, physician or surgeon. There is little or no information on relative performance at individual physician level so competitive pressures for improvement are absent. Although oversupply is much less in the UK, payment systems still reward activity rather than clinical quality or improved outcome.


Check the video below for a more objective view.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02p101&continuous=1


http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5230000/newsid_5237000/5237070.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=6&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

Malnutrition, Famine and Food Security

Over 1 billion people are going hungry every day.
One child is dying every five seconds of hunger-related causes.

Follow the links from these webpages to investigate the current global situation

Friday 9 December 2011

Sudan's Oil - which way does the wealth flow?

Conflict in Sudan revolves around oil. In this article and its links the BBC explore the issue of oil money and its impact on Sudan.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Live healthy, live long, but be unhappy





Nearly half of cancer cases in the UK each year are avoidable by chnaging our lifetstyles. However with an ageing population, diseases such as cancer are going to increase in number. Is the healthy lifestyle a sacrific that simply delays the inevitable? Read this article and make your choice.

Famine

As a recent EU bulletin raises concerns about Famine in Niger what are the causes and concerns about fine and food security. Read this article and follow the links for further insight.

The Famine Early Warning System monitors food shortage across the world, look at this site for lots of useful information and maps.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

HIV 30 Years Old!!

Look at the Ads on HIV AIDS - consider their impact now and the cointribution they made in the 1980s on Aids awareness.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Housing Crisis - Could Tower Blocks Return?

In the post war housing crisis local authorities under guidance from the government of theday turned to Tower Blocks as the solution to the housing crisis. With the UK population forecast to reach 70 million by 2016 could the tower block be returning to the skyline of urban Britain?

Read this article and follow the links

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Disunited Kingdom


For your work on Conflict and the United Kingdom this series of blogs and links from the Guardian has a lot of very interesting and useful material for you to get a perspective on Scottich devolution.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Sudan - conflict continues?



Conflict over oil continues to undermine the peace in south Sudan.

Check out this article and the links from the bottom of the page.

Who are the rebel groups?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7039360.stm

Monday 23 May 2011

India's unwanted girls

The recently published cenus in India has revealed a rather disturbing trend. Follow the link for the full details.

Make notes from this site

Saturday 26 March 2011

Health matters in a globalising world

TNCs are the driving force behind economic globalisation
The significance of TNCs
  • They control economic activities between countries and develop trade within the countries.
  • They exploit differences in the availability of capital and costs of labour, land and building.
  • They take advantage of government policies in other countries and can get around trade barriers.
  • They can achieve economies of scale, allowing them to reduce costs.
  • Large companies have a wider choice of location and governments are keen to attract TNCs.
These companies make large profits but the research and development of new drugs can be very expensive.
Branded pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals can be sold under two broad categories: generic or branded.
Branded drugs are more expensive up to 30 times,
Generic drugs are simply their chemical description. They are therefore identical to their brand named equivalent. The generic name is often complex but the brand names are more well known, fluoxetine hydrochloride is branded as Prozac by Eli Lilly. The cost of the branded drugs tends to make them prohibitive for much of the world's population.
Essential drugs
WHO regularly publishes lists of 'essential drugs'. They are "those drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in appropriate dosage forms, at a price the community can afford." 

These are generic drugs that can provide safe, effective treatment for most diseases such as diarrhoea. They are seen as important in improving the 'world's health'. But the lists are unpopular in countries which have a strong pharmaceutical industry, it is not implemented in the USA or the EU. In the USA legal action has meant that generic drugs are no longer encouraged.
Drug development
The largest profit comes from the sale of brand names in developed counties. Therefore most research is done on drugs to control 'diseases of affluence'. Patents for new branded drugs last 20 years and so are not available in generic form. Patents last for 20 years and it is illegal to make a generic copy. Therefore many new drugs that WHO regard as essential are not available to poorer countries. 

Some companies use the profits they make in wealthier countries to subsidies research onto diseases affecting poorer countries. This leads to improved health in poorer countries, (e.g. Malaria)

Marketing and distribution
Drugs cost a lot of money to research and develop, which companies get back from the sale of their drug.
The cost of patented drugs affects global health because some poorer countries may not be able to afford the drugs they need.
Some pharmaceutical companies, often through deals with wealthier countries, provide free or cheaper drugs for poorer countries (e.g. antiretroviral -HIVAIDS drugs).
The industry targets doctors as they prescribe the drugs for their patients. Therefore the consumer often has little say in the product used.
Another criticism is that pharmaceutical companies and the WHO tend to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of the problem. To prevent anemia in pregnant women iron foliate, a vitamin supplement, is recommended by the WHO. But the compound is found in leafy green vegetables. It is possible that encouraging the growth of these vegetables would be more valid than promoting vitamin supplements
GlaxoSmithKline
GSK produces almost four billion packs of medicines and health care products each year, including one-quarter of the world's vaccines.
It produces products for wealthy countries (e.g. Pravastatin-RL) , a drug for Coronary Heart Disease), and for poorer countries (e.g. polio vaccines).

GSK makes a large profit from drug sales but also donates some drugs to poorer countries for free.
For example, GSK's donated 750 million albendazole tablets to treat over 130 million people with elephantiasis (an infectious inflammatory disease).
GSK also invests a large amount of its profit in community programmers to help people in need - 3.8% of their pre-tax profits (£282 million) in 2007.
GSK has been working on new vacancies to combat H1N1 flu strains and they have recently lowered their prices.
Check out the issues behind the Big Brands

Background and information on the The Pharmaceuticals Industry in the UK

Sunday 13 February 2011

Has HIV/AIDS infection turned the corner?

As new HIV infections are steadily declining around most of the world, 22 of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa have reduced HIV incidence by more than 25%. Leading
the drop or stabilization of new HIV infections are countries with some of the largest epidemics—Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, eastern Europe and Central Asia remains the only region where new HIV infections are on the rise. There has also been a resurgence of HIV infections among men who have sex with men in several high income countries.



For the latest data and insight into these trends check out the following documents:


http://www.unaids.org/globalreport/Global_report.htm


http://data.unaids.org/pub/Outlook/2010/20100713_outlook_report_web_en.pdf



For a detailed Sub-Sahel Case Study - make notes from the following:


http://www.avert.org/aids-uganda.htm


You need to know details of the global PREVALENCE and DEATHS associated with HIV/Aids. You also need detail case study material on the Sub-Sahel and how governments and NGOs are managing the disease at a global, regional and local level Both of the above documents have a wealth of key facts available for you to enhance your notes; N.B. the Outlook document has an excellent section on the BRIC countries and South Africa.

Thursday 10 February 2011

China's One Child Policy is 30 years old

China is currently experiencing huge changes as it advances with its industrial growth. The consequences of this are being experienced throughout the country and the once draconian One Child Policy is under close scrutiny.
Follow this link from Mike B
Some great links from this page - good background and facts.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

China's One Child Policy - can the Chinese afford to continue with the policy?

Twenty-five years after it was launched, China's "One Child" population control policy is credited with cutting population growth to an all time low and contributing to two decades of spectacular economic development. But the costs associated with the policy are also apparent and are rising: a growing proportion of elderly with inadequate government or family support, a disproportionately high number of male births attributable to sex selective abortion, increased female infant and child mortality rates, and the collapse of a credible government birth reporting system. Today, as China contemplates the future of the policy, many argue that a change that allows couples to have two children will not lead to uncontrollable population growth. Instead, it could help meet the fertility desires of most Chinese couples; avoid a worsening of the demographic and social consequences already evident; and relieve the Chinese government of the immense financial and political costs of enforcing an unpopular policy. But changes will need to come soon if China is to avert even greater negative consequences of the policy.

Read the PDF from the attached url and link the strategies and consequences to your work on the theories of Population and Resources.

You might want to download the article and cut and paste sections - it contains a good summary of the points For and Against the One Child Policy


Chinese One Child Policy - social impacts


The introduction of the One Child Policy had an impact on fertility rates in some areas of China but the long-term consequences for population growth and social reform are quite different


Watch the video on the link and make notes to accompany your Class Notes.

How will the TFR be influenced by the points raised in the programmes?

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Malthus was right? Discuss

Alarming news about the global food price rises follow the link for more details
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12119539

Where does the MEDCs fit in the shifting balance of power as the emerging economies of China, India and Brazil have to feed themselves?

Some interesting questions related to our studies on Population & Resources.

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Population and Resources

As the world's population approaches 7 billion maintaining the balance of population growth with available resources is an issue facing all nations. How can we maintain our current levels of resource consumption with the projections for a global population reaching 10 - 15  billion by 2050?

Watch this video and make notes on the key issues. How can we plan for a sustainable future? Which theory appears to address the issue - Mathus, Boesrup or the Club of Rome?

http://numaga.com/global/bbc-horizon-how-many-people-can-live-planet-earth-hd


BBC Horizon - How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?