Despite progress, societies continue to fail women at key times of their lives
Despite considerable progress in the past decades, societies continue to fail to meet the health care needs of women at key moments of their lives, particularly in their adolescent years and in older age, a WHO report has found.
Launching the report, entitled Women and health: today's evidence tomorrow's agenda, WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan called for urgent action both within the health sector and beyond to improve the health and lives of girls and women around the world, from birth to older age.
"If women are denied a chance to develop their full human potential, including their potential to lead healthier and at least somewhat happier lives, is society as a whole really healthy? What does this say about the state of social progress in the 21st century?" asked Dr Chan.
Women provide the bulk of health care, but rarely receive the care they need
Worldwide, women provide the bulk of health care - whether in the home, the community or the health system, yet health care continues to fail to address the specific needs and challenges of women throughout their lives.
Up to 80% of all health care and 90% of care for HIV/AIDS-related illness is provided in the home - almost always by women. Yet more often than not, they go unsupported, unrecognized and unremunerated in this essential role.
When it comes to meeting women's health care needs, some services, such as care during pregnancy, are more likely to be in place than others such as mental health, sexual violence and screening and treatment for cervical cancer.
However, in many countries, sexual and reproductive health services tend to focus exclusively on married women and ignore the needs of unmarried women and adolescents. Few services cater for other marginalized groups of women such as sex workers, intravenous drug users, ethnic minorities and rural women.
"It's time to pay girls and women back, to make sure that they get the care and support they need to enjoy a fundamental human right at every moment of their lives, that is their right to health," said Dr Chan.
Women live longer than men but these extra years are not always healthy
HIV, pregnancy-related conditions and tuberculosis continue to be major killers of women aged 15 to 45 globally. However, as women age, noncommunicable diseases become major causes of death and disability, particularly after the age of 45 years.
Globally, heart attacks and stroke, often thought to be "male" problems, are the two leading killers of women. Women often show different symptoms from men, which contributes to under diagnosis of heart disease in women. They also tend to develop heart disease later in life than men.
Because women tend to live on average six to eight years longer than men, they represent a growing proportion of all older people. Societies need to prepare now to deal with the health problems and costs associated with older age and anticipate the major social changes in the organization of work, family and social support.
Despite some biological advantages, women's health suffers from their lower socio-economic status
Lack of access to education, decision-making positions and income may limit women's ability to protect their own health and that of their families. Though major differences exist in women's health across regions, countries and socio-economic class, women and girls face similar challenges, in particular discrimination, violence and poverty, which increase their risk of ill-health.
For example, in the case of HIV/AIDS the risk posed by a biological difference is compounded in cultures that limit women’s knowledge about HIV and their ability to negotiate safer sex.
"We will not see significant progress as long as women are regarded as second-class citizens in so many parts of the world," Dr Chan said. "In so many societies, men exercise political, social and economic control. The health sector has to be concerned. These unequal power relations translate into unequal access to health care and unequal control over health resources," she added.
Policy change and action is needed within the health sector and beyond
The report seeks to identify key areas for reform, both within and outside the health sector. These include identifying mechanisms to build strong leadership with the full participation of women's organizations, strengthening health systems to better meet women's needs throughout their lives, leveraging changes in public policy to address how social and economic determinants of health adversely impact women, and building a knowledge base that would allow a better tracking of progress.
Strategies to improve women's health must also take full account of gender inequality and address the specific socioeconomic and cultural barriers that prevent women from protecting and improving their health, the report points out.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
ENERGY COMPLEX APPOINTS CBRE AS PROPERTY MANAGER
Energy Complex Co. Ltd. has recently appointed CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Thailand as the property manager of the Energy Complex, a new landmark in the energy industry in Thailand and offering the latest in energy-saving and green building technology.
The Energy Complex is located on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road and consists of two grade A office buildings of 36 and 25 storeys, one service building, and two parking garages. The total space of approximately 300,000 square metres within this project will be occupied by the PTT group of companies including PTT Exploration & Production Plc., PTT Chemical Plc., Thai Oil Plc., and other companies related to the energy industry. An office of the Ministry of Energy will also be situated here. This project is scheduled for completion in Q4 2009.
Apart from its unique building architecture, the Energy Complex has been well designed to meet the standards of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system for new constructions in order to save energy and be environmentally friendly. The aerodynamic shape of its facade will help reduce the temperature and heat on the building’s surface. The buildings have also been designed to withstand earthquakes measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale that are 200 kilometres away on the fault line in Kanchanaburi. High-tech building management systems have also been installed.
Furthermore, retail space and facilities including a fitness centre, business centre, seminar rooms and an auditorium for 30-500 people, an exhibition room, restaurants, a 1,000-seat food court, banks, a roof garden, an outdoor exercise area, and parking for around 3,700 vehicles, have been provided for workers and visitors.
Ms. Aliwassa Pathnadabutr, Managing Director of CBRE Thailand, said, “We are pleased that Energy Complex Co. Ltd. has appointed CBRE as the property manager of this major project which has a competitive edge in terms of technology, energy savings, and environmentally friendliness. This is a further step in the expansion of CBRE’s property management services in managing buildings with LEED standards which are well recognized as the global standard for green buildings. This appointment will help reinforce CBRE’s position as the leader in property management in Thailand.”
“We have set up teams of specialists for specific scopes of work based at the Energy Complex, including an environmental engineer as one of almost 50 engineers and safety professionals who have gained a Bachelor’s degree or a Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety for High-rise Buildings, in order to ensure our client’s optimum level of satisfaction and confidence,” added Ms. Chanpen Tawoncharoenpon, Director of Asset Services at CBRE Thailand.
CBRE Thailand currently manages offices, retail, condominiums, apartments, and villas in Bangkok, Phuket and Samui. For the sixth year in a row, National Real Estate Investor, the leading magazine for professional real estate investors, has ranked CBRE No. 1 out of the world’s top 25 property managers. The ranking is based on the total amount of space under management globally each year. As of 31 December 2008, CBRE was responsible for the management of 220 million square metres.
Picture: Mr. Jakchai Barlee (4th from right), the President of Energy Complex Co. Ltd., presents the property management agreement for the Energy Complex on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road to Ms. Aliwassa Pathnadabutr (4th from left), Managing Director of CBRE Thailand, witnessed by executives from both companies. CBRE will manage these energy-saving commercial buildings which will be fully occupied by the PTT group of companies, and the Ministry of Energy.
The Energy Complex is located on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road and consists of two grade A office buildings of 36 and 25 storeys, one service building, and two parking garages. The total space of approximately 300,000 square metres within this project will be occupied by the PTT group of companies including PTT Exploration & Production Plc., PTT Chemical Plc., Thai Oil Plc., and other companies related to the energy industry. An office of the Ministry of Energy will also be situated here. This project is scheduled for completion in Q4 2009.
Apart from its unique building architecture, the Energy Complex has been well designed to meet the standards of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system for new constructions in order to save energy and be environmentally friendly. The aerodynamic shape of its facade will help reduce the temperature and heat on the building’s surface. The buildings have also been designed to withstand earthquakes measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale that are 200 kilometres away on the fault line in Kanchanaburi. High-tech building management systems have also been installed.
Furthermore, retail space and facilities including a fitness centre, business centre, seminar rooms and an auditorium for 30-500 people, an exhibition room, restaurants, a 1,000-seat food court, banks, a roof garden, an outdoor exercise area, and parking for around 3,700 vehicles, have been provided for workers and visitors.
Ms. Aliwassa Pathnadabutr, Managing Director of CBRE Thailand, said, “We are pleased that Energy Complex Co. Ltd. has appointed CBRE as the property manager of this major project which has a competitive edge in terms of technology, energy savings, and environmentally friendliness. This is a further step in the expansion of CBRE’s property management services in managing buildings with LEED standards which are well recognized as the global standard for green buildings. This appointment will help reinforce CBRE’s position as the leader in property management in Thailand.”
“We have set up teams of specialists for specific scopes of work based at the Energy Complex, including an environmental engineer as one of almost 50 engineers and safety professionals who have gained a Bachelor’s degree or a Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety for High-rise Buildings, in order to ensure our client’s optimum level of satisfaction and confidence,” added Ms. Chanpen Tawoncharoenpon, Director of Asset Services at CBRE Thailand.
CBRE Thailand currently manages offices, retail, condominiums, apartments, and villas in Bangkok, Phuket and Samui. For the sixth year in a row, National Real Estate Investor, the leading magazine for professional real estate investors, has ranked CBRE No. 1 out of the world’s top 25 property managers. The ranking is based on the total amount of space under management globally each year. As of 31 December 2008, CBRE was responsible for the management of 220 million square metres.
Picture: Mr. Jakchai Barlee (4th from right), the President of Energy Complex Co. Ltd., presents the property management agreement for the Energy Complex on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road to Ms. Aliwassa Pathnadabutr (4th from left), Managing Director of CBRE Thailand, witnessed by executives from both companies. CBRE will manage these energy-saving commercial buildings which will be fully occupied by the PTT group of companies, and the Ministry of Energy.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
EA hooks Playfish, cuts jobs
Electronic Arts plans to cut its workforce by 17% as it tries to align its business with a transforming video game industry.
The company announced the lay-offs of 1,500 people just hours after it said it would pay at least $275 million to buy Playfish Inc, a maker of social online games popular on Facebook, MySpace and the iPhone. The lay-offs are expected to save about $100 million a year.
"We are focusing on what works and what matters," chief financial officer Eric Brown said in an interview.
Digital content makes up about 12%of EA's revenue. But it's growing, while industry sales from packaged video games are on the decline.
The cuts are in addition to the 1,100 jobs the company already slashed this year as part of a restructuring plan to shift focus to hit games.
On Monday, EA posted a net loss of $391 million, or $1.21 a share, in the fiscal second quarter, wider than the loss of $310 million, or 97 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company behind games such as "Madden NFL 10" and "The Beatles:Rock Band" reported net sales of $788 million in the July-September period,down 12% from the same time a year earlier.
These results only paint a partial picture of how EA performed during the quarter. When counting deferred revenue from packaged games with online components and games that are completely digital, EA reported adjusted earnings of $19 million, or 6 cents per share. That is up from an adjusted loss of $20 million a year earlier, and it compares with average analyst estimates of 7 cents per share.
With the acquisition of the two-yearold start-up, Playfish, EA is diving further into the lucrative world of social online games, which tens of millions of people play on Facebook, MySpace, the iPhone and other platforms.
Broadpoint Amtech analyst Ben Schachter said games on social networks "are a dynamic space, and the deal suggests EA sees a big potential for this market."
The company announced the lay-offs of 1,500 people just hours after it said it would pay at least $275 million to buy Playfish Inc, a maker of social online games popular on Facebook, MySpace and the iPhone. The lay-offs are expected to save about $100 million a year.
"We are focusing on what works and what matters," chief financial officer Eric Brown said in an interview.
Digital content makes up about 12%of EA's revenue. But it's growing, while industry sales from packaged video games are on the decline.
The cuts are in addition to the 1,100 jobs the company already slashed this year as part of a restructuring plan to shift focus to hit games.
On Monday, EA posted a net loss of $391 million, or $1.21 a share, in the fiscal second quarter, wider than the loss of $310 million, or 97 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company behind games such as "Madden NFL 10" and "The Beatles:Rock Band" reported net sales of $788 million in the July-September period,down 12% from the same time a year earlier.
These results only paint a partial picture of how EA performed during the quarter. When counting deferred revenue from packaged games with online components and games that are completely digital, EA reported adjusted earnings of $19 million, or 6 cents per share. That is up from an adjusted loss of $20 million a year earlier, and it compares with average analyst estimates of 7 cents per share.
With the acquisition of the two-yearold start-up, Playfish, EA is diving further into the lucrative world of social online games, which tens of millions of people play on Facebook, MySpace, the iPhone and other platforms.
Broadpoint Amtech analyst Ben Schachter said games on social networks "are a dynamic space, and the deal suggests EA sees a big potential for this market."
Magnificent seven
In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
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