Dialoguepk

© UNICEF/Zahara Abdul Lucy Atokoru, 28 breastfeeds her baby at her home in Omugo, Arua District.         27 May 2020 Health Despite efforts to stop the harmful promotion of breast-milk substitutes, countries are still falling short in protecting parents from misleading information, according to a new UN report released Wednesday.  Titled  Marketing of Breast‐milk Substitutes : National Implementation of the International Code – Status report 2020, the study highlights the need for stronger legislation to protect families from false claims about the safety of breast-milk substitutes or aggressive marketing practices, findings that take on increased importance during the  COVID-19  pandemic. The UN World Health Organization ( WHO ), the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) and the International Baby Food Action Network collaborated in the report’s publication. Impact of aggressive marketing “The aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes, especially through health professionals that parent

25 May 2020 00Author: Murray Hiebert, Bower Group Asia COVID-19 has been tough on the health and economies of Southeast Asia, but the region’s fledgling quasi-democracies are also under threat. Efforts to control the virus are giving authoritarian rulers the perfect cover to adopt draconian levers to rein in their opponents and critics. ‘The authoritarian leaders of Cambodia and the Philippines certainly rode the COVID-19 wave to their advantage in accruing political power and controls, while Thailand and Myanmar are poised to lean in further if they determine the political situation requires it’, says Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director in Asia. In Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha — a general who seized power in a 2014 coup and then became prime minister through  carefully orchestrated elections  in 2019 — took advantage of an existing emergency decree to impose  sweeping control measures  in March. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the control measures grant him the author

Voice of Freedom is no doubt a great news website with quality content on Geo-political current affairs which impact or likely to impact global politics.The topics covered in  Voice of Freedom  also include politics,health,tourism,econmy,education and post COVID-19 World. The news site also give wide coverage to sports activities and Local governments and SDG,s 2030 is also given due coverage.Local governments networks like UCLG ASPAC,UCLG WORLD,UCLG EUROPE,UCLG AFRICA,UCLG AMRICA Etc are also discussed.

17 May 2020 Author: Suisheng Zhao, University of Denver The world is entangled in the blame game between China and the United States as it confronts the largest public health threat in a century. Each is trying to divert attention from its own missteps to the other side,  hampering international cooperation  and multilateral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese government faces strong domestic criticism on their accountability and transparency after suppressing early warnings about COVID-19. Several liberal activists — like Tsinghua University Professor Xu Zhangrun, private entrepreneur Ren Zhiqiang and political activist Xu Zhiyong — publicly denounced the ‘crisis of governance’ provoked by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s concentration of power. While these criticisms were silenced, some foreign organisations and governments filed lawsuits demanding compensation for damages caused by the pandemic. In response, the central government blamed the mishandling on  local leadershi

17 May 2020 Author: Justin Yifu Lin, Peking University In order to realise its goals to double 2010 GDP and per capita GDP by 2020, China needs to achieve at least 5.6 per cent growth this year. This growth target would not have been difficult to achieve if not for the unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 in January. China took  effective measures  to suppress the pandemic. The whole country was under lockdown in February. In March, control measures were relaxed and production and business started to resume. But many export-oriented enterprises encountered a sudden drop or cancellation of orders due to the impact of COVID-19 in Europe, the United States and other parts of the world. China’s GDP fell 6.8 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020. The risk of a possible second wave of COVID-19 infections means prevention measures need to be instilled and normalised as China embarks on the long road to economic recovery. In the second quarter, China’s economic growth is likely to expe

16 May 2020 Author: Jürgen Rüland, University of Freiburg Geopolitical competition between the United States and China is most tangible in Asia. In 2011, Washington responded to China’s growing influence in the region with its ‘Pivot to Asia’. Two years later, Beijing countered with its  Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)  — a US$1 trillion infrastructure development program connecting Asia with Europe via land, sea and the polar route. Although promoted as a way to improve regional integration and economic growth, the BRI is widely viewed as China’s grand strategy to maximise its global clout. The BRI triggered competing infrastructure schemes. In 2015, Japan launched its ‘Partnership for Quality Infrastructure’ and in 2016, ASEAN amended its Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity. Then in 2018, the United States passed the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act and the European Union released its  EU–Asia Connectivity scheme . Connectivity has become the buzzword

15 May 2020 Author: Yen Lian Tan, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for 73 per cent of total deaths in Malaysia in 2015, with half of these being due to cardiovascular diseases. This health burden is growing as the prevalence of  NCD risk factors continue to rise  among Malaysians. The now abolished Malaysian Health Promotion Board (MySihat) complemented the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) role in the prevention and control of NCDs by promoting healthy lifestyles. Its work was in line with the priority areas of the  Malaysia–WHO Country Cooperation Strategy 2016–2020 . MySihat, established as a statutory body by the  Malaysian Health Promotion Board Act  (Act 651), was a semi-autonomous entity within the MOH. Since its inception in 2006, it has promoted healthy lifestyles and chronic disease prevention programs. MySihat initially proposed to secure stable financing by imposing an earmarked tax on tobacco, alcohol and other harmful products. B