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InterAmerican Heart Foundation 6th Journalism Contest |
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It is our
pleasure to invite you to enter your journalistic works
in the Sixth Interamerican “Vital Air” Journalism
Contest for reporting on the tobacco-related health
problems.
Awards will be given to recognize journalistic |
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works
appearing between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 within
the following categories: print media (dailies,
magazines, supplements), radio, television and internet.
Individuals may nominate the work(s) of another with
written consent from the journalist whose work(s) are
being nominated. More info... |
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InterAmerican Heart Foundation - New Officers for 2009 -2010 |
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III Regional Seminar on Epidemiology and Prevention |
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The III
Regional Seminar on Epidemiology and Chronic Disease
Prevention will be held on February 8-13, 2009 in the
Hostería Obelisco in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. This
spanish-language seminar is being organized by the
International Society on Epidemiology and Chronic
Disease Prevention and by ASCARDIO.
The scientific
committee members are: Ricardo Granero (AMNET, MPPS,
Elizabeth Infante (MPPS, ASCARDIO), Albert Navarro
(Barcelona University, Grupo GRAAL, Spain), and Andreas
Wielgosz (University of Ottawa, Canada). |
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Members of the
organizing committee include: Ing. Marielba Cordido and
María Celia Véliz with support from the Universidad
Autónoma de Barcelona (Spain), Grupo GRAAL, ASCARDIO
(Venezuela), MPPS Cardiovascular Disease Program (Estado
Lara, Venezuela), Venezuelan Heart Foundation,
Venezuelan Society of Cardiology, the InterAmerican
Heart Foundation, AMNET and the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO).
More information |
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11th
IAHF Civil Society Leadership Workshop 2009 |
The
InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF) is planning the
11th IAHF Civil Society Leadership Workshop beginning at
noon on Monday, November 9, 2009 and ending at 5:00 p.m.
on Thursday, November 12, 2009. The program will be held
at the national center of the American Heart Association
(AHA) in Dallas, Texas, USA. For those of you planning
to attend the AHA Scientific Sessions meeting in
Orlando, Florida on Sunday, November 15th, this would be
a good opportunity to spend some time at the National
Center of the AHA.
The objectives of the program are: |
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Support the
development of heart foundations and other civil society
entities through the exchange of experiences with one of
the largest heart foundations in the world—the AHA. |
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Provide civil
society organizations dedicated to health promotion and
prevention of cardio and cerebrovascular diseases with
the most effective methods of advancing the prevention
agenda. |
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Discuss
subjects of particular interest to civil society
entities particularly strategic planning, fundraising,
advocacy, health policy changes, scientific medical
programs, mass media initiatives and others. |
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More info... |
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Heads
of State of Caribbean Countries Commit to Curbing the Epidemic of
Chronic Disease |
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Prime
Ministers of Caribbean Countries met on September 15th
in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in the First Caribbean
Summit on Chronic Diseases and signed a declaration for
the prevention of chronic diseases in the Caribbean
countries. This declaration represents a major regional
assault against chronic non-communicable diseases.
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This
historic first step of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
is intended to galvanize the Region against obesity,
high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attack and
some kinds of cancer. See graph of obesity trends in the
Caribbean. Chronic diseases result largely from poor
diet and low levels of physical activity as well as
tobacco smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke. They come
at a high cost to individuals and to the region’s nation
states in terms of human suffering, expensive treatment
and loss of productivity. IAHF is working with member
organizations to facilitate an appropriate civil society
response to this opportunity. |
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Interamerican Youth for Health |
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Young
people from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and
Uruguay participated in an event to highlight advocacy
projects in their countries. They signed “The Latin
American and Caribbean Youth Declaration for a Tobacco
Free Life.” They request governments of the region to
ratify and implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC), to inform and educate health |
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professionals and the public about the damage caused by
tobacco, to include youth in the deliberations and
actions about tobacco control affecting them, to support
and provide tools to build capacity among youth in
tobacco control, and to promote joined work by civil
society and international entities to prevent and
control tobacco in our societies. Young people presented
their Declaration during the Closing Ceremony of the Rio
Iberoamerican Tobacco Control Conference. This youth
participation was the result of a partnership between
the World Heart Federation and the InterAmerican Heart
Foundation. |
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Women and Tobacco |
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The
InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF) and International
Network of Women Against Tobacco (INWAT) organized a
Pre-Conference Workshop focus on Women and Tobacco
during the First SRNT Latin America & Second
Iberoamerican Conference on Tobacco Control in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. The purpose of the meeting was to
provide a platform for debate; share experiences and
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lessons
learned about women and tobacco in the fields of
advocacy, research and policy; and facilitate the
development of women's leadership in the Ibero-American
regions.
Participants attending the Conference signed the Rio
Declaration which announces the creation of the “Latin
American and Caribbean Women’s Network for Tobacco
Control”. |
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Focusing Tobacco Control Research in Latin America and the Caribbean |
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The
InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF) and Research for
International Tobacco Control (RICT/IDRC) organized a
regional meeting that |
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took
place March 22-25, 2007 in Colonia, Uruguay, with the
objective of establishing research priorities in tobacco
control in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean
(LAC). The workshop participants were 30 key researchers
and activists in tobacco control in LAC, from a wide
range of professions and disciplines including
economists, lawyers, journalists, nurses, physicians,
psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, political
scientists, among others, as well as government and
non-government organizations. There were also
representatives from some important organizations such
as: American Cancer Society, Johns Hopkins University,
Johnson & Johnson and the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO).
More... |
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Community Interventions for Health (CIH) |
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The
IAHF received a grant to implement the CIH program in
Mexico City over three years. The Principal Investigator
is Dr. Jorge Ramírez, an epidemiologist and health
economist associated with
the
Foundation. The aim of CIH is to |
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develop
and showcase sustainable interventions, demonstrating
their effectiveness in a way that is both practical and
scientifically rigorous. Project outcomes include:
In
other words, CIH will provide evidence and practical
advice on what does and does not work in chronic disease
prevention.
More... |
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CARMELA Study: Publication of main paper |
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The
main paper entitled “CARMELA: assessment of
cardiovascular risk in seven Latina American cities” was
accepted for publication by the American Journal of
Medicine and is expected to appear in January 2008. This
study recruited 11,550 |
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individuals, ages 25 to 64, from Bogotá
(Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Lima (Peru),
Mexico City, Quito (Ecuador), Santiago (Chile), and
Barquisimeto (Venezuela) to be representative of the
population of their respective cities. Each of these
individuals completed an interview in his or her home
and then visited a medical center where physical and
biochemical measures where obtained. All participants
also had carotic intima media thickness (IMT) measured
by echography. The CARMELA Study objectives are to
determine the prevalence of arterial hypertension,
diabetes and dislipidemia, their correlations and
associations; measure the IMT of carotid arteries,
investigating its association with risk factors;
evaluate socio-economic factors; determine other
cardiovascular risk factors including tobacco use, diet
and physical activity; and evaluate the pertinent
treatment of the evaluated risk factors and adherence to
them. CARMELA investigators met in mid October 2007 in
Buenos Aires to complete the 7 articles on specific risk
factors that will make up a Supplement. The Supplement
topics are hypertension, diabetes, tobacco, obesity,
lipids, metabolic syndrome and IMT. The Mario Negri
Institute of Milan, Italy, is the study’s main
statistical analysis consultant. The Mario Negri brings
to CARMELA a wealth of experience in data management,
analysis and interpretation that will contribute
significantly to the CARMELA enterprise. |
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Emergency Cardiovascular Care |
The IAHF ECC Executive
Committee is guided by a Strategic Plan that was approved by the
IAHF Board of Directors. The sustained growth in the ECC program
is a testament to the advancement of the mission of the
Committee. Dr. Saúl Drajer serves as the President of the ECC
Executive Committee.
Public Access Defibrillation initiatives are being implemented
throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Uruguay passed a law
requiring automatic defibrillators in public places with more
that 1,000 people and is on the way to becoming the first
country in Latin American to have a national resuscitation
program. Additional initiatives include preventing sudden death
in sports and the creation of "cardio-safe" stadiums.
Watch for more news regarding the First Iberoamerican Congress
on CPR and ECC scheduled for 2009.
For more information please contact:
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