AIDS / Vienna conference : Activists lobby for ‘Robin Hood’ levy to raise funds
A “Robin Hood” tax of just a fraction of a percent on financial transactions could smash the funding crisis gripping the war on AIDS, activists said at the world AIDS forum here on Wednesday. “Robin Hood taxes are the answer to the question that everyone at this conference has been asking, which is: ‘How can we keep financing a great scale-up in services against HIV/AIDS?’,” Khalil Elouardighi of Coalition PLUS, a group of anti-AIDS organisations, told journalists. A micro-tax of just 0.005 percent on all... Lire la suite
Health prevention : Beach umbrellas do not block all solar radiation
Hiding out under a beach umbrella may offer you far less protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation than you expect, according to a new study by Spanish researchers. As much as 34 percent of ultraviolet radiation, found to cause skin cancer and cataracts, reaches the ground covered by a beach umbrella, the University of Valencia researchers found. This is because the umbrellas catch almost all of the direct rays but not the diffused radiation that penetrates through from the sides, according to the research published in... Lire la suite
ImpactOnDemand, a new real-time catastrophe risk management tool by Aon Benfield
Aon Benfield today announces the launch of ImpactOnDemandSM. ImpactOnDemand is a new generation of its flagship risk management tools which continue to allow insurers to visualize, quantify and connect their exposures to catastrophic events. Insurers can upload their most current portfolios for viewing and analysis at any time. ImpactOnDemand combines the functionality of Aon Benfield’s award-winning ExposureView and CatPortal solutions in one comprehensive package, and includes new features that can be tailored to clients’ individual... Lire la suite
World economic crisis hits AIDS funding, 25 billion dollars has to be mustered
Funding by rich economies for poor countries fighting HIV/AIDS fell back slightly last year, to 7.6 billion dollars after 7.7 billion dollars in 2008, as a result of the economic recession, a report card issued at the world AIDS forum said on Sunday. The 7.6 billion dollars were provided by the Group of Eight (G8) nations, the European Commission and other donors. “The 2009 totals ended a run of annual double-digit percentage-point increases in donor support for international AIDS assistance since at least 2002, when donor governments provided... Lire la suite
Health : Experts urge US government to restrict drug Avandia
A majority of members of a key advisory committee recommended Wednesday that the US government allow diabetes drug Avandia to stay on the market with greater restrictions on its sale. A majority of the panel’s members agreed that the drug does increase the risk of heart problems, but only 12 members of the 33-member expert panel voted to remove GlaxoSmithKline’s one-time blockbuster medication from the market. A bloc of 20 members voted that the drug should stay on the market, with 17 urging greater restrictions such as revisions to... Lire la suite
