Programmes that promote the health, education and economic opportunities of women are the most effective way to improve the lives of children according to a new report, State of the World's Mothers, published this month by Save the Children. "A mother's well-being directly impacts on the well-being of her children." In developing countries, maternal death in childbirth "almost always" results in infant death, the report says. Those children who do survive have a 10 times higher risk of death in their first two years compared with children whose mothers are alive. Those who survive beyond two years are less likely to attend school and are less likely to receive healthcare. Save the Children proposes five policy changes to improve the status of women and mothers in the developing world. These include ensuring adolescents have access to sexual and reproductive health education and expanding legal protections for women, especially those regarding forced sex and prostitution. (Reuters)
Widespread use of the egg quality assurance logo on hotel, restaurants and cafe menus would go a long way to protect consumers' health, Dr Patrick Wall, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, told a recent symposium on the Safety Assurance of Foods of Animal Origin. After a number of outbreaks of salmonella linked to eggs in Ireland last summer, An Bord Bia and the FSAI developed this egg quality assurance scheme. Eggs from producers affiliated to the scheme are individually marked to show they come from salmonella controlled flocks. [SBX]
Premature deaths due to heart disease have been halved in the USA and Australia in recent years, partly due to the extensive education and prevention programmes in place in these countries. The Irish Heart Foundation has similar aims to reduce the figure of 13,500 Irish people who die annually of coronary heart disease. Encouraging healthy eating, regular exercise and no smoking are the basics of such programmes. Training nurses and in cardiac rehabilitation is another essential task. This year's Happy Heart Weekend takes place between Thursday, May 20th and Sunday, May 23rd.
"By confronting the pain of your childhood, you can finally put to rest the issues that unconsciously haunt you as an adult," the American clinical psychologist, John Bradshaw told The Irish Times earlier this year. "Children who dare to feel anger, disappointment, even joy are stifled by being shamed in such families while the parents 'don't talk' about the real problems in the family," he continued. Unfashionable as it may be to heal your inner child in this more affluent Ireland, Bradshaw is giving a two-day workshop in Jury's Hotel, Dublin on May 29/30 entitled "Healing the Shame that Binds You". Cost £160. Details from 01 4518681.
