New Development In Fighting Against Disasters

The World Risk Report 2011 created by the U.N. University Institute for Environment and Human Security along with five German NGOs has launched a risk index that could help donors and aid agencies to have a better idea about the vulnerability of different countries to natural calamities. This index could help donors to effectively respond to disasters and come up with resilience-building initiatives to disaster-prone countries.

According to Jörn Birkmann, the scientific head of the team in charge of developing the index, “The index gives you all that information at a glance — showing the strength of a particular area’s capacity to adapt or cope in percentages, which is useful to communicate the strengths and weakness of a particular area when you are seeking funding from donors.”

The index focuses on a country’s economic, political and ecological factors in determining its response-capacity, and examines four key components: exposure to hazards, susceptibility to damage caused by potential disasters, capacity to cope, and existing adaptation strategies. The index identifies that the Vanuatu, Tonga, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Guatemala are the top five counties that are most at risk of disasters.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: DEVEX

UN Call To World Leaders: End Aids By 2020!

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for global action to end Aids by 2020! "That is our goal- zero new infections, zero stigma and zero Aids-related deaths," stated Ban at the UN Summit on Aids in New York. Ban acknowledged that in order to eradicate Aids, the world is going to have to face sensitive issues including drug users, homosexuality and the sex trade. Ban urged the global community to come together to achieve universal access to treatment by 2015 by lowering costs. Meanwhile, African leaders have called for greater access to resources to battle the pandemic.

The meeting in New York was attended by 30 presidents and heads of government. African leaders spoke of the desperate need in their countries for better funding to fight the disease. The Nigerian President stated, "to say that adequate funding is critical to the success of our HIV and Aids response is an understatement." Nigeria has the second highest number of HIV positive people after South Africa. Still, the resources available for Africa are insufficient against the enormous size of the HIV impact on the continent.

More than 9 million people are not able to access retroviral treatment and an estimated 1.8 million people die each year from Aids. That does not account for the other 34 million that are estimated by the UN to have Aids and not be aware of it. However, new infections have dropped by 20% since 2001 and infection rates are continuing to decrease. With the new technology available and a strong sense of global solidarity, it is likely the goal for 2020 can be achieved!

-Gabrielle Gurian

SOURCE: BBC NEWS