| MAY 2003
MAY 2003 IN
THIS ISSUE: ·
ICSW Partnerships ·
Upcoming Events ICSW and WHO in close Health Promotion collaboration for the sixth year!The
Health Promotion unit of the WHO in Geneva has collaborated with
ICSW through the NGO Ad Hoc Advisory Group for Health Promotion
since 1997. This
is an informal group of international NGOs which formed at the WHO 4th
International
Conference on Health Promotion in Jakarta, in July 1997 and was
reinforced later the 5th Global Conference on Heath Promotion in
Mexico 2000. The
members of the group
saw the need to get NGOs involved in the implementation of the
Jakarta Declaration and other milestones in the WHO Health Promotion
work: the Ottawa Charter, the Mexico City Ministerial statement on
National plans of Action for Health Promotion, etc.
The
group members come
from widely different areas of activity: Education; Health
cooperatives; Traditional health practices; Nursing; Social
development, welfare and justice; Rural women and Women’s health. Among
the larger members of the groups are the International Council of
Nurses and the International Baccalaureate Organisation and together we represent many millions of members around
the world. Working
together and individually, and in close liaison with the Non
communicable Disease Prevention and Health Promotion department at
the WHO headquarters, we have endeavoured to keep the Jakarta and
Mexico agendas in the forefront of the NGO community.
One of the latest examples of collaboration was the briefing
at the World Health Assembly in May 2003 in front of some 100
participants from governments, who and NGOs.
Planning has also started for a joint African project,
sponsored by WHO, aiming to get the national member of the group’s
members in Benin, Kenya and South Africa to be involved in the
Governments National Plan for Health promotion, a commitment made at
the conference in Mexico in 2000. In
May at the annual meeting of the World Health Organisation,
ICSW was inviting to a briefing on “Risks to Health: Co-operation and Partnership among NGOs, WHO and Governments.” Introductions were made by: Dr. Pekka Puska,
Director, Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion Department of the WHO; Dr. Morissandra Kouyaté, Guinea, from
an NGO called the Inter-African Committee on traditional practices
and Ruth Kobia from World Young Women’s Christian Association. Over 100 people were attending the briefing representing some
15 governments, WHO officials and other NGOs.
The conclusion was, from all sides, that the successes in
diminishing the risks to health, hade been much more successful in
cases when governments and WHO had been working in partnership with
the Civil Society, like with NGOs. ICSW Executive Director, Denys Correll attended a NGO consultation in Geneva on the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. The WHO report Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases was released in 2003. It has had a spirited response, particularly from food industry. The WHO report documents the evidence that many foods are the cause of obesity, diabetes cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cancers and dental disease. While this evidence is well documented, less well presented is the contribution the lack of physical activity makes to poor health, increased risk and premature death. There
was support at the consultation for a life course approach to the
prevention of ill health. A major step is the control of the
promotion of foods that are shown to damage health. NGOs called on
WHO to develop a charter to ensure that we all are able to consume
healthy food and drink. The control of marketing of food is a more
complex issue than the control of the tobacco industry. NGO’s were
largely critical of the food industry tactics in targeting health
damaging foods to children. This will be a long hard battle. For
further information http://www.who.int/hpr/global.strategy.shtml
In addition to the report mentioned above, WHO has produced loose
leaf fact sheets on chronic diseases and physical activity. A CD-ROM
is available providing country data on risk factors. A copy can be
obtained by emailing dcdsurf@who.int ICSW Special
Representatives to the UN in Geneva The Executive Director has had the opportunity of meeting with our three UN representatives in Geneva on two occasions. Our representative Anne Herdt has an interest in human rights, particularly women, nutrition and traditional practices. Representative Homayra Etemadi’s interests are migrants, refugees, the World Trade Organisation, violence against women, women and employment, European Economic Commission, Commission on Human Rights. Homayra is also the Convenor of the Working Group of Refugee Women in the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in Geneva. Mats Ahnlund, another representative, is Secretary to the NGO Ad Hoc Advisory Group for Health Promotion and until 31st January 2002 Mats was Secretary General International Health Cooperatives Organisation (IHCO) the health arm of the International Cooperative Alliance. ICSW and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) ICSW has a long history of cooperation with the IFSW. Denys Correll, Executive Director met with the Secretariat in Berne Switzerland in April and in May, the World President visited the ICSW Global Office in London. We discussed the possibility of the ICSW and the IFSW conferences being linked again. There have been eleven linked conferences since 1968 and there are benefits to both organisations in doing this. Planning for international conferences occurs years ahead, so it will take many years for linked conferences to occur again. But we shall try. We had enthusiastic discussions about the official journal of IFSW, ICSW and the International Association of Schools of Schools of Social Work. We met with the publishers, Sage and it was quite clear that the Sage staff were delighted to see the fervent support that IFSW and ICSW are showing to do the Journal. It has an excellent subscription base which indicates its popularity. In the past there has been joint meetings of our two organisations. We are keen to have this happen again. Finally, we talked of sharing our resources in the massive task of representing global welfare and development issues at the UN International Social Work
is the official journal of ICSW, IFSW and the International
Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW.) International Social Work is a scholarly,
refereed journal designed to extend knowledge and promote
communication in the fields of social development, social welfare
and human services. Its major focus is on international themes in
the delivery of services, the functions of social work professionals
and the education of social workers. Social policy and social
service provision provide the context for this focus. The
journal places particular emphasis on articles concerned with
comparative analysis and cross-national research. In each issue you
will find discussions and analyses of trends and issues in social
welfare policy and social work practice, with a scope extending far
beyond any single country. International Social Work also provides
timely thematic issues dedicated to specific international
developments both in the developing and developed world. To download
your FREE sample copy of International Social Work or to sign up to
our Sage’s Contents Alerting emails please visit the journal
website at: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/details/j0022.html
ICSW Members are entitled to a 25% discount on the 2003 individual subscription rate. To order the journal contact SAGE Publications directly and provide the name of your organization. Regional Civil Society Forum North Africa and the Middle East
The
Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD), Jordan’s
leading national NGO will co- host with ICSW a Regional Civil
Society Forum for North Africa and the Middle East in Amman in late
October. The themes of
the forum will centre around Arab Region Civil Society Responses to
Global Challenges. The forum aims to identify regional trends in
policy, which impact human development and examine the changing role
of civil society moving towards advocacy and influence at the policy
level. A future issue of Global Cooperation will
provide an update on the forum. CHANGE
of DATE - 30th ICSW Asia-Pacific Conference - Taipei,
Taiwan We
regret to inform you that the 30th ICSW Asia-Pacific
Regional Conference will be postponed until December 2003.
This change is due to the current uncertainty of SARS and the
importance of a safe and healthy environment for all participants.
The exact dates of the conference will be provided in the Second
Announcement and posted on the ICSW website and in an upcoming issue
of Global Cooperation. Should
you have any inquiries, please feel free to contact The National
Council of Social Welfare, Taiwan by emailing: icsw_taiwan@yahoo.com The content of Global Cooperation may be freely
reproduced or cited provided the source is acknowledged. The views
expressed in this publication are not necessarily the policy of ICSW.
Would you please distribute this newsletter as widely as possible
to:
o your
organisation’s staff
o your
Board/Committees
o your
members
o other
interested people
Newsletter Editor: Felicity Daly, Project Officer, London Global Office ICSW Contact Details Website: www.icsw.org
Email icsw@icsw.org London Global Office: 16 Hatton Wall, London EC1N 8JHN, Tel: + 44 20 7404 9780, Fax: + 44 20 7404 9527 Kampala Global Office: PO Box 28957, Kampala, Uganda. Tel: +256 41 531036, Fax: +256 41 531037, Roselyn Nakirya, Programme Assistant /Administrator
Global
President: Qazi Faruque
Ahmed
Global Vice Presidents: Solveig Askjem and Bushra Gohar
Treasurer:
Michael Raper
Executive
Director: Denys
Correll
If you have any questions or need further information on any of the activities or issues mentioned in this newsletter, please contact: Felicity Daly, Project Officer, at the Secretariat in London, or reply to this email. icsw@icsw.org.
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