There’s actually not as much research as you would think supporting the theory that economically integrated communities or even buildings benefit the poor.
Yes, you read that correctly. Required. The law is called the “bed mandate” and calls for the U.S. to keep 34,000 immigrants incarcerated every day, regardless of whether such a high number makes any policy sense. The rule represents a perfect storm of xenophobia and America’s exceptional fondness for solving all of its problems by throwing someone in a jail cell — and it’s even more problematic than you’re imagining.
Cuba has just eliminated HIV transmission between mother and baby This is huge.
FIONA MACDONALD
The World Health Organisation has confirmed that Cuba has become the first country in the world to effectively eliminate mother-to-baby transmission of HIV and syphilis.
“[This is] one of the greatest public health achievements possible,” WHO director general, Margaret Chan, told the press. And the best part is that it was brought about by relatively simple strategies: namely, better testing and treatment of expectant parents, and providing HIV- and syphilis-positive mothers with options to protect their babies, such as bottle-feeding and C-sections.
What Cuba has done differently is integrate these treatments into accessible and affordable universal healthcare, so that they’ve become a normal part of treatment for all pregnant women.
“This is a major victory in our long fight against HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and an important step towards having an AIDS-free generation,” said Chan. “It shows that ending the AIDS epidemic is possible.”
Around the world each year, an estimated 1.4 million HIV-positive women become pregnant. Without any intervention, they have a 15 to 45 percent chance of passing the virus onto their children while they’re in the womb, as well as during labour, delivery and breastfeeding. But that risk drops to just 1 percent if both mother and child receive antiretrovirals.
The rate of syphilis isn’t far behind, with around 1 million expecting mothers worldwide each year infected. Similarly, the risk of transmission is greatly reduced by treating the mother with penicillin during pregnancy.
In fact, the hard part about stopping mothers from passing the diseases on has simply been giving women access to these treatments, which Cuba has now done.
WHO counts a country as having eliminated mother-to-baby transmissions when the rate of children born with HIV or syphilis is so low that it “no longer constitutes a public health problem”.
Basically that means a country needs to have less than 50 cases of HIV and syphilis per 100,000 live births, maintained for at least a year, as well as at least 95 percent of pregnant women being tested for the diseases, and 95 percent of those who test positive receiving proper treatment.
WHO reports that Cuba has now met those targets, with only two babies being born with HIV in 2013, and five with congenital syphilis.
But it’s not the only country making big improvements in this area, and Chan now expects others to follow Cuba’s lead and seek validation that they’ve ended mother-to-baby transmission. Worldwide, childhood infection rates are quickly dropping, with just 240,000 children born with HIV in 2014 - nearly half the 2009 amount.
Still, we have a long way to go before WHO reaches its global target of just 40,000 new child infections per year, and Cuba has shown that better healthcare can help get us there.
“Cuba’s success demonstrates that universal access and universal health coverage are feasible and indeed are the key to success, even against challenges as daunting as HIV,” said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organisation. “Cuba’s achievement today provides inspiration for other countries to advance towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.”
The rising tide of land values pulsing away from Midtown and the Financial District, engulfing their surrounding neighborhoods is the story being told in the above map.
The lack of fiscal support for anti-hunger initiatives doesn’t end upstate. Sure, pantries across New York have been pressing for $16 million in emergency funding to augment another $34.5 million already allocated – a testament to how out of hand the food crisis is getting statewide. But even New York City is being asked to raise the Emergency Food Assistance Program baseline funding to $14.4 million, with providers noting that the City Government spends less than a percentage of its budget on a food crisis ensnaring about 16% of the population.
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These are the 9 victims of the terrorist shooting attack at “Mother” Emanuel AME church in Charleston, SC. Now that he’s been arrested, let’s delete all our pictures of the shooter and remember the victims instead. His name should be forgotten. Theirs deserve to be remembered.
Their names, from left to right, top to bottom, are:
Tywanza Sanders: Recent graduate of Allen University in Columbia, SC.
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton: Mother of three, reverend, and beloved high school track coach.
Clementa Pinckney: Church pastor and S.C. state senator.
Cynthia Hurd: A 30+ year veteran librarian at Charleston County Public Library.
Myra Thompson (not pictured): Wife of Anthony Thompson, a vicar at Holy Trinity REC.
Ethel Lee Lance (not pictured): A 70 year old grandmother who had worked in the church for over 30 years.
Daniel Simmons (not pictured): A staff member at the church.
Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor: Mother of 4, sang in the church choir.
Susie Jackson: 87 years old. Longtime church member and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.
