The Junta de Andalucía will work with government departments of Chile and Canada to seek “innovative solutions that improve access to public services for especially vulnerable groups”, mainly people who, “due to age, training or economic resources, are alien to the digital world” , and those who live in rural environments far from in-person care centers. In this way, the OECD has selected a project from the Andalusian Government, among more than 72 proposals presented by 25 countries, for the ‘Gov2Gov’ innovation incubator program between governments, as reported this Saturday by the Board in a note in which He explained that this is an initiative that promotes collaboration between countries to find solutions to similar problems faced by different public administrations. On the one hand, problems raised by different governments have been selected – called ‘challenge owners’ – and, on the other, proposals for initiatives to address them also developed by government teams – ‘solution providers’ – that have already faced before with similar challenges. Among all the challenges raised, the OECD has selected four presented by the Ministry of Justice, Local Administration and Public Function of the Government of Andalusia; the French Ministry of Ecological Transition; the General Secretariat of Participation of the Presidency of Brazil; and the Department of Social Security and Welfare of the Administration of the Republic of Italy. The selected challenges were made public in May so that governments with experience addressing similar problems could present their proposals for solutions and, from there, make a selection and put them in contact with each other. In the case of the challenge launched by the Junta de Andalucía, the OECD has selected the Chilean Government Laboratory and the Canadian Department of Employment and Social Development as solution providers. During the coming months, the General Secretariat of Public Administration of the Board will work with both countries to build a network of assistance and support that gives “full coverage” to citizens, eliminating barriers to access to services in general and, especially to those provided through electronic administration, which are provided to people in vulnerable situations – due to age, disability, economic situation or other circumstances – and those who live in rural areas far from in-person care centers. The objective of the ‘Gov2Gov’ program is for public administrations ‘owners of challenges’ to learn about the initiatives launched by other countries, as well as the ideas that these ‘solution providers’ can contribute based on their experiences.
World
Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly
Niamey, September 28 (MAE-ANP)-The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Nigeriens Abroad, BAKARY Yaou Sangaré led this year, the Niger delegation to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the Nations United in New York (USA), reports the communications service of the said ministry.
He is accompanied in this trip by the Minister of Tourism, Madame Soufiane Aghaichata Guichene, the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr. Ousmane Samba Mamadou and several senior executives from his ministerial department.
On the sidelines of the work of the high-level session of the General Assembly, the delegation of Niger participated in several side events, notably the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), coupled with the meeting emergency meeting of the Arab League which aims to debate the military escalation of the Israeli state in Palestine and Lebanon.
In his speech at this meeting, Minister BAKARY Yaou Sangaré reaffirmed Niger’s full commitment to the Al Quds Al Sharif Committee and its constant support for the Palestinian cause.
Minister Sangaré once again formulated our country’s request to rewrite resolution No. 59-50/POL, which aims to provide the OIC Regional Mission in Niger for the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin with adequate resources. for its operationalization.
Finally, note that the Nigerien delegation also participated in several meetings including that of the Foreign Ministers of the G77 + China where questions of financing development and strengthening solidarity between the countries of the South were discussed; at the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), which examined the progress of the Vienna Program of Action and took stock of the preparations for the holding in November 2024 of the third PDSL Conference in Gaboronne (Bostwana); at the meeting of Ministers of Affairs of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) during which Ministers reviewed the implementation of the Doha Action Plan adopted on March 17, 2022.
Com/MAÉ/ANP 0134 September 2024
Tourist rushes to disappearing glaciers, increasing danger and death toll (1/2) – CNN.co.jp
(CNN) One evening in the summer of 2019, Alaska tourist guide Zach Sheldon saw a section of Valdez Glacier give way, sending a huge chunk of ice cascading into the lake below. The next morning, Mr. Sheldon led a group of tourists to the top of the glacier to see the site. However, the moment I looked down at the water, something caught my eye. Tourists were instructed not to move from their spots.
The bodies of the first two men were clinging to the canoe. A third body was found about 50 meters away. The three men were so close to the glacier’s edge that they became entangled in ice, snowmelt and debris as they tried to escape to safety.
The victims were identified as two Germans and one Austrian. Apparently, he was riding a boat on Lake Valdez when he approached the glacier because he was attracted by the blue color of the ice. Little did I know that the striking color was a sign that the glacier was about to collapse.
The three people who died are just a few of the many tourists who have died while visiting Alaska’s rapidly disappearing glaciers. The death toll may be relatively small, but each tragedy illustrates the dangers that lurk in a changing landscape.
Clouds floating over Byron Glacier in Chugach National Forest, Alaska, USA/Colin D. Young/Alamy
Glacier tours have been booming in recent years. For various reasons, an increasing number of people want to see glaciers before they disappear.
The market known as “last chance tourism” is growing, said Jackie Dawson, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa who studies the phenomenon.
The glacier has become the quintessential last-chance tourist destination. Many of the world’s glaciers are shrinking as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and warm the planet. Even with the best efforts to combat climate change, half of the world’s glaciers could disappear by 2100.
As glaciers melt, they become more accessible and more dangerous.
When ice melts, it moves more. Glaciers are becoming increasingly unstable, falling more rocks and sediment, and crevasses are accelerating.
In August, an American tourist was killed when an ice cave collapsed on the Breidamerkurjökul glacier in Iceland. The accident shook the country, which relies heavily on tourism. Summer ice cave tours have been canceled and the government is considering new safety regulations.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation to relieve depression
Eva Ruiz Verde | Seville (EFE).- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive neuromodulation physical therapy, has become the “adequate key” to achieve rapid treatments with which “in a few days” results are obtained in cases even of resistant depression, explains Dr. Joan Albert Camprodon, psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA), to EFE.
Camprodon is one of the more than 200 mental health experts participating in Seville in a day of the Spanish Society of Clinical Psychiatry (SEPC) to address the latest developments in neuromodulation, among which this is one of the main protagonists, since it has demonstrated “very atypical remission rates in psychiatry” and which have reached 80 percent of patients.
He acknowledges that he himself was “very skeptical” at first about the response of patients with a “high severity level” but, after numerous studies with different groups, very encouraging progress has been observed that allows for optimism for the future. especially taking into account that one in five people – 20 percent of the population – will suffer from depression at some point in their lives.
No miracle, no panacea
“It is not a miracle nor is it a panacea, we have not solved the problem of depression, far from it, but we have changed the paradigm a little,” says the doctor, who insists on “the need for these more sophisticated tools because these patients “They suffer a lot, as do their families and their environment.”
The objective, he indicates, is not so much to replace other tools that also work, such as drugs or psychotherapy, but rather to increase the options for patients and doctors to treat these ailments in a more personalized way based on the characteristics of each case. “Having more options allows us to advance in precision, because each patient is different,” he says.
Dr. Joan Albert Camprodon, psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA), posing in Seville for EFE. EFE/ Raúl Caro
A coil at one point on the head
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive therapy that does not require anesthesia and allows the activity of the cerebral cortex to be modulated through a magnetic field that is generated with a coil that is placed on the surface of the skull.
Camprodon explains that it is an outpatient procedure that can be received several days a week for an average of six in which the patient goes to the clinic, sits in a chair “just like going to the dentist” and a medical professional applies a coil on top of a specific point on the head.
“What this coil does is generate magnetic fields that when they reach the brain allow us to vary the language that neurons use to communicate with each other and to process information such as emotions, thought, movement or behavior,” he details.
Although initially its use was intended for patients with more serious or resistant pathologies, as it is a “very safe and very well tolerated” treatment, it is indicated for those who also suffer from mild or moderate depression, or are in the earliest stages. of them. In all of them positive results have been observed even “in one or two days.”
As the psychiatrist highlights, the side effects of this technique are “much cleaner” than those of drugs. “When you take a pill, its contents go to the intestine and blood. This goes to the brain, but not only there, it also goes to the lungs, the heart or the liver.” However, with TMS “you can choose, with a fairly high level of precision, which part of the brain we know is affected by a specific ailment.”
Much cheaper
Although depression is the pathology on which it is most focused, transcranial magnetic stimulation is useful to treat other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), migraines, stroke, Parkinson’s disease or addictions to tobacco, opiates, cocaine or alcohol.
Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency, it has been used in the United States since 2008 and today, according to Camprodon, it is a tool “fully integrated into the standard of treatment for patients with depression.
In Spain at the moment it is used mainly in private clinics, although there are twenty public hospitals in communities such as Andalusia, Catalonia or Valencia in which pilot experiences have been carried out for which magnetic stimulation machines have been acquired.
“Healthcare is complex and implementation can be complicated, but the scientific evidence is there and that is undeniable,” says Camprodon, who is confident that this procedure will be implemented in the coming years and considers it important that doctors know this tool and receive information.
He also highlights that in a public health system like the current one, in which “launching drugs is part of everyday life”, EMT, beyond being effective and safe, from a cost and health economics point of view public is “much cheaper.” EFE