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Agricultural biodiversity plays key role in food and nutritional security

While over 1 billion people are overweight and obese around the world, an estimated 868 million are undernourished. This paradox is explored in a new book, Diversifying Food and Diets, co-edited by Professor Danny Hunter who is an Adjunct Lecturer in Botany and Plant Science at NUI Galway.

2 May 2013

Packard Children's recognized for leadership in health care food service

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford has been honored with the "Food, Climate, Health Connection Award" from the Health Care Without Harm Healthy Food in Health Care program.

25 Apr 2013

New study of Antarctic clams reveals age matters when it comes to adapting to effects of climate change

A new study of Antarctic clams reveals that age matters when it comes to adapting to the effects of climate change. The research provides new insight and understanding of the likely impact of predicted environmental change on future ocean biodiversity.

22 Apr 2013

Private sector involvement, measuring results are key to ending poverty

Noting two global development goals recently proposed by World Bank President Jim Kim -- "to end extreme poverty, with a target reduce the global extreme poverty rate to three percent by 2030" and "to promote shared prosperity, fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population in every country" -- Nigel Twose, director of International Finance Corporation's newly created development impact department, writes in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, "While many threats remain -- including, most notably, the risk that climate change will reverse past gains -- today many developing countries can realistically aspire to end extreme poverty within a generation."

17 Apr 2013

New data on T cells' protective role suggests need for new approach to dengue vaccine design

As efforts to create a strong and effective vaccine for the dreaded dengue virus continue to hit snags, a new study from researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology offers surprising evidence that suggests the need for a revamped approach to dengue vaccine design.

15 Apr 2013

Disease burden from air pollution underestimated, U.N. reports

"Air pollution is an underestimated scourge that kills far more people than AIDS and malaria and a shift to cleaner energy could easily halve the toll by 2030, U.N. officials said on Tuesday" at a conference in Oslo focusing on new development goals for the post-2015 development agenda, Reuters reports.

11 Apr 2013

New Orleans to host scientific conference on energy and food

Renowned for its cuisine and chefs and as a global hub of the energy industry, New Orleans this week hosts what news media have described as the "World Series of Science," one of the year's largest and most important scientific conferences.

8 Apr 2013

Global interconnectedness influences population health

In a global health review article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Anthony McMichael of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University examines the effects of globalization and "international connectivity" on "human health, international health care, and public health activities."

5 Apr 2013

Ending extreme poverty by 2030 is possible, World Bank President says

"World Bank President Jim Kim has unveiled a series of new institutional goals aimed at ending extreme poverty by 2030 and focusing on the promotion of 'shared prosperity' -- increasing the incomes of the poorest 40 percent in each country while placing increased focus on dealing with climate change," Inter Press Service reports.

4 Apr 2013

Policymakers should help improve food security in urban areas, report says

"Tackling hunger is not only a question of producing more food in rural areas, but requires looking at why poor urban populations struggle to eat enough -- a problem aggravated by climate change, a report from the International Institute for Environment and Development said on Thursday," AlertNet reports.

3 Apr 2013

Texas Tech Professor receives NIH grant to research on leishmaniasis

A Texas Tech University biology professor received a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the biochemistry of a microscopic parasite responsible for the tropical disease leishmaniasis in the hope of finding a cure.

2 Apr 2013

Study: Two-thirds of asthmatics also have allergy

Asthma is becoming an epidemic in the United States. The number of Americans diagnosed with asthma grows annually, with 26 million currently affected. And according to a new study, nearly two-thirds or more of all asthmatics also have an allergy, which can make this spring season particularly bothersome.

2 Apr 2013

WFP director says food security crisis in Sahel is not over

The World Food Programme (WFP) "is helping feed more than 10 million people in eight countries" in the Sahel, but WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin "stressed the crisis was not over," AlertNet reports.

30 Mar 2013

Diarrhea incidence higher in dry seasons, study shows

"Diarrhea, killer of 1.5 million children annually, is likely to become more prevalent in many developing countries as the climate changes, a report says,"

29 Mar 2013

Guardian examines African environmental outlook report

The Guardian highlights the African Environment Outlook-3, a report released last month by the United Nations Environment Programme that examines "[t]he multifaceted connection between environmental and human health."

27 Mar 2013

International support rising for adopting universal water security

Amid changing weather and water patterns worldwide and forecasts of more severe transformations to come, calls have been growing for the UN Security Council to include water issues on its agenda.

25 Mar 2013

Climate change could worsen global hunger; Upcoming conference to explore links

"The links between climate, hunger and poor nutrition are becoming increasingly clear: a recent report for the Committee on World Food Security warned that climate change could significantly change the amount and quality of food consumed -- with potentially devastating consequences for those most at risk of hunger," Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore; Mary Robinson, president of the Mary Robinson Foundation Climate Justice; Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme; and Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, write in the CGIAR blog.

19 Mar 2013

Studies uncover impacts of contaminants on Arctic inhabitant's health

People living in Arctic areas can be more sensitive to pollutants due to their genetics, says researcherArja Rautio at the Centre for Arctic Medicine in theUniversity of Oulu, Finland.

16 Mar 2013

Developing countries making gains in life expectancy, education, other markers, Human Development Index says

The U.N. Development Programme on Thursday in Mexico City launched the Human Development Index 2013, which "combines measures of life expectancy, literacy, school enrollment and gross domestic product per capita," the U.N. News Centre reports.

16 Mar 2013

Stakeholder associations offer limited support for 'Enroll America' efforts

CQ HealthBeat reports that insurers, hospitals and trade groups are offering only "limited interest" in the campaign to educate Americans about the health law's coverage expansion. Meanwhile, other supporters are backing the grassroots effort to keep the Obama administration's agenda -- including the Medicaid expansion -- on track.

15 Mar 2013