The province’s third mobile wellness bus will open its doors April 9 in Saskatoon, offering residents a new way to access primary health care services.
Saskatoon is the most recent community to benefit from a mobile Community Wellness Bus. The launch is part of the Government of Saskatchewan’s $2.4 million investment for the purchase and retrofitting of three wellness buses, located in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert.
“It is wonderful to see the progress being made with primary care in our province,” Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. “Wellness buses provide another avenue for residents to receive the care they need closer to home.”
Community Wellness Buses will provide basic primary care and mental health and addictions services. Services will vary based on population and the needs of the community; not all locations will have the same services, as supports will be customized based on patient needs.
“It’s encouraging to see the positive impact of community health initiatives in our province,” Mental Health and Addictions Minister Lori Carr said. “Mobile clinics are making health care more accessible to vulnerable individuals by bringing essential services directly to residents and contributing to better health care outcomes.”
The Saskatoon bus will be located primarily at 2023 Morse Road (near the old Farmer’s Market) from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. Clients are encouraged to call 306-380-1000 for up-to-date location and schedule information.
A wellness bus was announced in Prince Albert on March 21 and residents can call 306-940-9943 for location and hours of operation.
The Regina wellness bus has been operational since February 12 and is currently operating Monday to Friday 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the rear parking lot of the Lawson Aquatic Centre located at 1717 Elphinstone Street.
Services offered by wellness buses may include:
basic health assessments (physicals);
health education;
chronic disease monitoring;
·vaccinations;
take home naloxone (THN) kits and training;
sexually transmitted and blood borne infection (STBBI) point of care testing;
·opioid agonist therapy/withdrawal management;
reproductive health services/supplies;
mental health and addiction assessments and counselling/referrals;
wound care, stitches, routine health care;
referral to housing, social services;
referral to addictions and mental health treatment and services;
connection to culturally relevant Indigenous services (traditional medicine, connection to spiritual services and Elders); and
·other primary health care services.
“Through the Community Wellness Buses, we are fostering respect and compassion by meeting individuals where they are,” Saskatchewan Health Authority Physician Executive for Integrated Saskatoon Health Dr. Mark Fenton said. “By eliminating barriers to care, we ensure that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, has access to compassionate, culturally responsive, and stigma-free support.”
Health care staff on the bus will include a nurse practitioner, a licensed practical nurse, and assessor coordinators who offer referrals to community supports.
Source: People’s Republic of China Ministry of Health
Lei Haichao, minister of China’s National Health Commission (NHC), along with vice-ministers Zeng Yixin and Cao Xuetao, recently held separate meetings in Beijing with heads of multinationals attending the 2025 annual meeting of the China Development Forum.
Those top executives the NHC officials met with included David A. Ricks, chair and CEO of the US-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly; Albert Bourla, CEO of the US-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer; Michael Nelson, CEO of the US-based company Amway specializing in health and wellness; and Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council.
The meetings highlighted China’s commitment to prioritizing people’s health as an important indicator of socialist modernization. The NHC officials presented China’s efforts to implement a health-first strategy, advance the Healthy China initiative and deepen the reform of the medical and health system, which have contributed to a steady improvement in public health.
It was stated at the meetings that at present, China’s stable economic growth, optimized business environment, expanded opening-up of the medical sector, and unleashed innovation vitality provide multinationals with favorable conditions for long-term investment and growth. China encourages these enterprises to seize new opportunities brought about by Chinese modernization, increase investment and R&D cooperation, and play an active role in building a Healthy China, so as to promote the building of a global community of health for all.
The heads of multinationals gave presentations on the progress of and future plans for their businesses in China, expressing strong confidence in the country’s development prospects. They pledged to provide better products and services to the Chinese market to support the high-quality growth of China’s health sector.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The centre will be staffed by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, including nurses and allied health workers.
The ACT Government is investing in more health and community services in Gungahlin.
This includes building a new health centre for the growing region and taking the next steps on delivering a new ACTAS Ambulance and Fire station and indoor sports facility.
A new health centre in Casey
The 2024–25 ACT Budget will include funding for the design and construction of a new health centre in North Gungahlin.
The North Gungahlin Health Centre will be built on Kingsland Parade in Casey, conveniently close to the shopping centre and other facilities.
The centre will provide more free health services closer to where people need them, with easier access to preventative health services and treatment for chronic disease.
The centre will be staffed by a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, including nurses and allied health workers.
This will continue to expand as the ACT Government recruits to grow Canberra’s frontline public health workforce.
The new centre will complement the territory’s existing network of nurse-led Walk-in Centres, community health centres and the hospital system.
More community facilities
The ACT Government is currently working through additional community uses for the remaining blocks on the 2.4-hectare site.
This includes an indoor sports facility to provide local residents, sporting groups and organisations with access to better amenities and state-of-the-art facilities.
It also includes a new ACTAS Ambulance and Fire Station, which will enhance response times to emergency incidents as the Gungahlin community grows.
Both these will be captured as part of the Estate Development Plan and the Subdivision Design Application to be completed through 2024–25.
The Government has already committed to a study on traffic and transport improvements surrounding the Casey Group Centre.
This work will also be considered in development processes as the ACT Government works with the community to design a precinct that suits the local community’s needs.
Share your thoughts
The community can now have their say on the design and future services of the North Gungahlin Health Centre.
Visit the YourSay Conversations website for survey details and dates for information sessions and pop-up stalls across Gungahlin.
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Over the next few years, the water plants will grow to create a beautiful landscape.
Sections of Tuggeranong Creek in Calwell have been re-naturalised with native plants and grasses replacing concrete. The project will help improve habitat and the quality of water flowing into Lake Tuggeranong.
Concrete sections of the creek have been replaced with naturalised creek beds featuring pools and riffles. Thousands of water plants have been planted at the site.
The new water plants will:
trap sediments
absorb nutrients and pollution
reduce the risk of blue-green algal blooms.
The plants will also provide important habitat for native wildlife such as water bugs, yabbies and water birds. The plants will grow over the next few years to create a beautiful landscape.
The creek channel has been widened to slow the water down. This will allow it to filter into the soil and support the surrounding landscape while still protecting the surrounding suburbs from flooding.
Two viewing platforms will provide a space for the community to enjoy the area.
This project is one of several that are trialling improvements in stormwater quality and waterway healthy. These include:
new wetland designs including floating wetlands
reconnecting street drains and pipes to green space
stormwater recycling to irrigate sports fields
raingardens that treat runoff before it enters big drains.
The Healthy Waterways program is helping to deliver on the goals of the ACT Water Strategy 2014-44. The government is currently seeking feedback from the community on changes to the strategy which aim to find new and adaptable ways to care for our waterways in the ACT.
More information about the Healthy Waterways Program is available on the ACT Environment website.
Have your say on the changes to the ACT Water Strategy 2014-44 on the YourSay website.
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Nova Scotia has appointed lawyer David Nurse as the Province’s new Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) Review Officer.
Mr. Nurse has deep knowledge of the FOIPOP process, gained while working in government and as a private-sector lawyer.
“I am pleased to welcome Mr. Nurse to this important role,” said Becky Druhan, Attorney General and Minister of Justice. “His broad range of experience makes him an excellent fit to deliver the crucial mandate of upholding Nova Scotians’ right to access information while safeguarding their personal and private data. I also want to thank executive director Carmen Stuart for serving as acting privacy review officer until Mr. Nurse was appointed.”
The review officer is responsible for reviewing access to information requests from people and organizations who are dissatisfied with the response they received from a public body under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Municipal Government Act, or the Personal Health Information Act.
The review officer also considers privacy complaints regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by provincial public bodies under the Privacy Review Officer Act.
Mr. Nurse’s past positions have included roles with the Nova Scotia government at the Office of Immigration and the Department of Justice, owning and operating a law firm, and serving as a lawyer with the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Nurse starts work this week. He takes over from Tricia Ralph, whose five-year term ended on February 28.
Quotes:
“I am honoured to take on this role. I look forward to serving Nova Scotians in this capacity and to working collaboratively to strengthen transparency and trust in our public institutions.” — David Nurse, Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Review Officer
Quick Facts:
Nova Scotia’s access and privacy laws apply to all government departments and agencies, municipalities and municipal bodies, hospitals, health authorities, universities and colleges
Additional Resources:
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner: https://oipc.novascotia.ca/
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Two studies published in JAMA Neurology look at diabetes drugs and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Comments on both studies:
Prof Atticus Hainsworth, Professor of Cerebrovascular Disease, St George’s, University of London, said:
“These two studies have looked at drug prescribing databases, to assess whether diabetic medications impact on risk of Alzheimer’s, vascular and other dementia types. The findings are intriguing, even though they are somewhat contradictory. But nothing can substitute for a prospective, hypothesis-testing experiment, which in this context means a prospective clinical trial.”
Prof Mark Evans, University Professor of Diabetic Medicine & Honorary Consultant Physician, Institute of Metabolic Science & Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, said:
Background:
“It is increasingly apparent that there is an association between diabetes and increased risk of dementia. Although it is not clear how this association is mediated (and whether this is to do with elevated blood glucose from diabetes or a broader effect of diabetes for example on the circulation or inflammation pathways), the obvious pragmatic question arising is whether or not treating diabetes with glucose lowering therapies can reduce risk of dementia and importantly whether certain types of glucose lowering therapy are particularly effective.
“Newer glucose lowering treatments used in (type 2) diabetes seem to carry additional health benefits beyond just glucose lowering. For example, treatments that act via signalling at the GLP-1 receptor or by blocking SGLT glucose transporter channels have been shown to carry broader protective effects for the heart and kidneys.
“Some data already exist to suggest that these agents may also have brain-protective effects against the development of dementia. The evidence to date has largely fallen into two different types. Firstly, examining clinical trials of glucose lowering therapies where usually dementia is not the primary focus but in the clinical trials, investigators will document all health changes including a new diagnosis or change in dementia or cognition. Secondly, examining large real-world datasets for the association between diabetes, different types of therapy and a clinical record of dementia.
These two papers:
“These two papers cover each of these areas respectively. Seminer2et al have performed an analysis of clinical trials broadly similar to ones previously reported. They found that glucose-lowering therapies in general were not significantly associated with a reduction in dementia, although when comparing different types of therapy, GLP-1R targeted drugs but not those acting on SGLT channels were associated with a reduction in dementia. There are cautions arising from these data and the authors have acknowledge these appropriately. Overall, the absolute rates of dementia reported in the studies contributing to their analysis were relatively low which thus reduces the ability for this type of analysis to identify differences. There may be a number of reasons for this, for example the clinical trials were not designed to look in detail for possible changes in dementia.
“The other paper from Tang1 et al was a real-world analysis. Consistent with previous data, this did seem to show less dementia in those using either GLP-1R agonists or SGLT2 inhibitors. The authors were aware of the limitations of observational data. In other words, it may be that the type of person receiving these agents was different from the type of person prescribed other glucose lowering therapies. As an example, one obvious potential confounder from their paper was that the groups receiving GLP 1 agonist or SGLT inhibitor therapy were younger than the comparison groups.
General Reflection:
“Overall these papers whet the appetite for two large clinical trials (EVOKE and EVOKE+) that will complete towards the end of this year. These were specifically designed to look at whether semaglutide, a GLP 1 receptor agonist, can reduce progression of Alzheimer’s dementia and may give us a more definitive answer, at least for GLP 1 receptor agonist treatment.”
Prof David Strain, Associate Professor in Cardiometabolic Health, and a clinical geriatrician, University of Exeter, said:
“Living with diabetes is associated with twice the rate of decline towards both vascular and Alzheimer’s Type dementia. Although long-term high blood sugar is recognised to be warm contributor to this, there are many others including genetics, the body’s ability to produce insulin, episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) and inflammation. For years, the best way of preventing this was to attempt to keep the sugar in the “goldilocks zone“ that is not too high but not too low.
“GLP-1 receptor antagonists (such as semaglutide and dulaglutide) and SGLT-2 inhibitors (such as dapagliflozin and empagliflozin) have been demonstrated to control the sugar, and also reduce the inflammation (a key driver of Alzheimer’s disease) and reduce vascular risk (a key driver of vascular dementia) more than would be expected by the sugar control alone. It is therefore no surprise that these data show a lower risk of dementia in people who receive them as part of her routine care.
“We must be cautious how we interpret these data though. Firstly, there were very small numbers of events in the randomised control trials and these were not fully validated so there is a possibility that there were many other cases of dementia missed, indeed that patients reported as having Alzheimer’s type dementia may have had other problems. In the database study, we can never be certain of other unmeasured factors that influenced the doctor to prescribe one medication over another. These may also have had an impact on whether a person would progress to dementia or not.
“It is also important to say this is talking about the risk of dementia in people with diabetes. We have recently seen benefit of the GLP-1 RAs for cardiovascular health in people who do not have diabetes, likewise the SGLT 2 inhibitors are regularly used in other conditions. Today’s studies will need to be replicated prospectively, in people with and without diabetes such as the work we are performing at the University of Exeter, to determine if we can help reduce the progression towards dementia in many more people in the country.”
Prof Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine/Honorary Consultant, University of Glasgow, said:
“These two papers on potential for GLP-1RA medicines to lower dementia risk are somewhat encouraging but they are FAR from definitive, given the design of one is observational and the numbers of people with dementia in the trial meta-analyses were incredibly small, leading to limited power. Hence, we need to await the results of ongoing randomised trials in this area before drawing sensible conclusions. There is optimism GLP-1RAs (and related medicines) may lower future dementia risk, however, given they favourably impact multiple diseases (cardiovascular, hypertension, kidney and diabetes) known to increase dementia risk, it might be that it is having a lower risk of stroke /heart disease and diabetes that actually then is linked to a lower risk of dementia. Hopefully, far more robust trial evidence – needed before any clinical implications are drawn – should be forthcoming in the near future.”
Dr Ivan Koychev, Clinical Reader in Neuropsychiatry and Consultant Neuropsychiatrist, Imperial College London and Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Both papers are of good quality. Tang et al is a large epidemiological study; the limitation comes from the fact that such designs limit the ability to draw conclusions about causality. Seminer et al look at clinical trial data where dementia and cognitive effects were not the primary targets of the studies. Therefore, it is possible that some of these effects were missed or over-reported due to the opportunistic nature of the data collection.
“The two studies add to a growing and remarkably consistent body of evidence that GLP1 receptor agonists associate with a reduction in dementia incidence. The Seminer et al paper is significant as it shows that GLP-1 RAs outperform SGLT-2 inhibitors in clinical trial settings. This suggests that the dementia protection effects are not due to glucose control mechanisms. Instead, inflammation and cerebrovascular effects are likely involved. Overall, these data support the urgent exploration of GLP1 RAs as a preventative treatment in people at risk for dementia.”
Prof Tara Spires-Jones, Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, Group Leader in the UK Dementia Research Institute, and President of the British Neuroscience Association said:
“The study by Tang1 and colleagues examined data from over 90,000 people with diabetes to determine whether treatment with two different glucose lowering drugs were associated with risk of developing dementia. Both glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RAs) and
sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT2is) drugs were associated with reduced risk of developing dementia over 8 years from starting treatment compared to people taking other glucose lowering treatments. There was no difference in risk between people taking the GLP-1Ras and SGLT2is. This is a strong study that adds to the growing data suggesting that diabetes increases risk for developing dementia.
“The paper from Seminer2 and colleagues examined data from 26 clinical trials to determine whether glucose lowering treatments were associated with developing dementia. They observed that GLP-1Ras but not but not SGLT2is were associated with a reduction in dementia in these trials.
“Together, these data are encouraging for the potential of using GLP-1Ras to lower dementia risk in people with diabetes, but even within these 2 strong studies, there are slightly conflicting results over SGLT2is highlighting the need for further research. It is important to note that these drugs do have side effects and that they are not guaranteed to prevent dementia. The studies had important limitations including a relatively short follow up time. Future work will be important to understand how risk factors like diabetes and obesity increase risk of dementia to develop effective treatments and prevention strategies.”
Dr Emma Anderson, Principal Research Fellow and Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Division of Psychiatry, UCL, said:
“Regarding the systematic review of glucose lowering therapies2, my comments are as follows:
“These results should be interpreted with caution for several reasons. Firstly, although an effect of GLP-1RAs was identified for all cause dementia, the heterogeneity in the studies included in this analysis was high (meaning that the studies included are not necessarily comparable, undermining the validity of the combined results). There was tentative evidence that this heterogeneity could have been explained, at least in part, by the proportion of women included in these studies.
“Secondly, there was no evidence of an effect of GLP-1RAs with either Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia; the two most common causes of dementia. Thus, overall, there is still a question around whether GLP-1RAs would actually reduce dementia risk.
“For the emulated target trial1, my comment is:
“This study should be interpreted with caution, as emulated target trials are as susceptible to confounding by indication bias as traditional observational epidemiology studies. This means that there is a possibility that the results they have observed are actually due to the underlying reason people are prescribed these glucose-lowering medications in the first place, rather than the medication itself. More robust study designs, which overcome this very important limitation, are needed before such conclusions can be made.”
Prof Masud Husain, Professor of Neurology & Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford, said:
“For me, these new retrospective analyses suggest that GLP-1 receptor agonists, particularly semaglutide, might reduce the risk of developing dementia in people with type 2 diabetes. But we need data from prospective trials to provide stronger evidence.
“The wider question of whether such drugs might also be protective against dementia in people who don’t have diabetes is a really intriguing one, and the focus of several ongoing clinical trials.”
Prof Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, Open University, said:
“I’ll restrict myself to pointing out a few things about these two studies, which may well all be obvious. I’m writing as a statistician and did not spot any important statistical flaws – but I can’t comment on non-statistical aspects.
“Both studies are only in people who already had type 2 diabetes. I believe there’s been wider interest in whether GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs (GLP-1RAs), such as semaglutide (e.g. Ozempic or Wegovy) might reduce dementia risk, in people who are taking them for other reasons than having diabetes. These studies can’t directly tell us anything about that – though the wider context discussed in the linked editorial by Dr Diana Thiara does make some points about the wider context. That editorial is definitely worth reading to make sense of all this, in my view.
“At first sight it might look like a sort of contradiction that one1 of the studies (Tang et al.) found evidence of a decreased risk of certain dementias in people with type 2 diabetes taking either GLP-1RAs or drugs of another class (SGLT2is) used to lower glucose in people with type 2 diabetes, compared to people with type 2 diabetes taking other glucose-lowering drugs, while the other2 study (Seminer et al.) found no evidence that passed the usual statistical criteria that people with type 2 diabetes taking any of GLP-1RAs, SGLT2is, or another drug called pioglitazone did reduce all-cause dementia. It looks as if one is saying that, in people with type 2 diabetes, taking GLP-1RAs and SGLT2is is associated with reduced dementia risk, and the other is saying that it isn’t associated with reduced dementia risk. But there’s no contradiction, for the following reasons:
The Tang study1 has quite a complicated type of study design (target trial emulation), but that’s still a type of observational study and so cannot completely rule out the possibility that the differences it found in dementia risk are actually caused by something other than the drugs being taken. The Seminer study2 is a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials so doesn’t carry the same bias issues about cause and effect.
The comparator (control) treatments were different in the two studies. In the Tang study1, patients taking either GLP-1RAs or SGLT2is were compared with patients taking a different glucose-reducing drug. In the Seminer study2, patients taking the drugs were compared, in each of the RCTs they considered, with patients taking a placebo (that is, something with no active ingredients that otherwise is just like that drug under trial), so not a drug at all.
The two studies were considering different outcome measures. The Tang study1 considered only Alzheimer’s dementia and related dementias. The Seminer study2 included, as its primary outcome, dementia (of any type) or cognitive impairment.
“Therefore the two studies differ in terms of the treatments involved (taking the comparator, control, treatment into account), the type of study design, and the risk of bias. So direct comparison of their findings doesn’t make as much sense as you might think at first. Again, the Thiara editorial makes this all clearer, I think.
“Despite the overall finding of the Seminer2 meta-analysis that the three drug classes that it considered weren’t associated with a reduction in overall risk of dementia or cognitive impairment, on average, compared to controls taking a placebo, they found that GLP-1RAs (considered on their own, leaving out the other drug classes) were associated with a reduction in dementia risk.
“Tang found overall no difference between the risk of Alzheimer disease and related dementias between type 2 diabetes patients taking GLP-1RAs or SGLT2is, but it did find a lower risk in patients taking semaglutide compared to patients taking SGLT2is.
“Though both studies involved large numbers of patients overall, the number of patients who actually had a dementia diagnosis was pretty low, particularly for newer drugs, and the follow-up time was short, given how long it can take for dementias to develop. This is quite a big limitation.”
Dr Richard Oakley, Director of Research and Innovation, Alzheimer’s Society, said:
“Last year, the Lancet Commission in Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care – funded by Alzheimer’s Society – highlighted diabetes as one of 14 risk factors for dementia.
“Drugs that lower blood glucose are often used as part of diabetes treatment, and research has shown they might also be effective in reducing dementia risk.
“Whilst both of these studies found a link between GLP-1RAs and reduced dementia risk, only one found SGLT2is, another class of diabetes drug, were also associated with a reduced risk. More research is needed to properly understand how diabetes treatments may lower the risk of dementia, by tracking people for longer, especially as they get older.
“Alzheimer’s Society is interested to hear results from ongoing clinical trials of the GLP-1RA drug semaglutide for people with early Alzheimer’s disease, to learn whether these drugs can slow the course of the disease.”
Comments on just the Tang et al study:
Dr Leah Mursaleen, Head of Clinical Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“This study1 used health records from nearly 400,000 people who had type 2 diabetes who were taking drugs called SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1RAs to control their condition. These drugs are usually taken to lower blood sugar levels in diabetes. The researchers compared these drugs with other standard medications used to manage diabetes to evaluate the risk of developing dementia.
“People who were taking the SGLT-2 inhibitors or GLP-1RA medications appeared to have a decreased risk of developing dementia compared with those taking other diabetes medicines.
“The results from this study support the growing evidence that GLP-1RA and SGLT-2 inhibitors medicines may be linked with a lower risk of developing dementia. We don’t know yet why these medicines may be protective, and will need more research to understand how they are affecting the brain.
“Clinical trials are already looking at the use of these types of drugs, including the EVOKE study, which is testing semaglutide (Ozempic) as a potential treatment for people with early Alzheimer’s.
“While the findings of this study are interesting, it’s important to consider whether any other factors might be influencing the results such as the severity of type 2 diabetes, health, income, and education.”
1: ‘GLP-1RA and SGLT2i Medications for Type 2 Diabetes and Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias’ byHuilin Tanget al.was published in JAMA Neurology at 16:00 UK time on Monday 7 April 2025.
DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2025.0353
2: ‘Cardioprotective Glucose-Lowering Agents and Dementia Risk A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’ byAllie Semineret al.was published in JAMA Neurology at 16:00 UK time on Monday 7 April 2025.
DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2025.0360
Declared interests
Prof Atticus Hainsworth: “I lead the Vascular Experimental Medicine team within DementiasPlatformUK:
Prof Mark Evans: “I have received personal fees from Medtronic, Ypsomed, Dexcom, Abbott, Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Zucara, Pila Pharma and research support from NovoNordisk, this includes a current PhD student who is funded by Novo Nordisk to examine the mechanisms underpinning the relationship between diabetes/ metabolic disease and dementia but does not include examining the effects of therapies. Abbott, Eli Lilly, Sanofi. The University of Cambridge has received salary support for MLE from the National Health Service in the East of England through the Clinical Academic Reserve.”
Prof David Strain: “I have received speaker fees from AstraZeneca (dapagliflozin) and Novo Nordisk (semaglutide). I lead the UK Stakeholders consensus document for the management of diabetes in older adults which the current UK guidelines are based.”
Prof Naveed Sattar “Has consulted for several companies that make diabetes medicines but also contributed to several lifestyle trials.
“For Novo Nordisk: have consulted for company in advisory boards but not on any of their weight loss drug trial committees; am on steering committee for ZEUS trial but this is not a weight loss trial product but anti-inflammatory. Do not have any shares either for any product in health etc.
“N.S. declares consulting fees and/or speaker honoraria from Abbott Laboratories, Afimmune, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi; and grant support paid to his university from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Roche Diagnostics.”
Dr Ivan Koychev: “IK has received speaker fees as well as an investigator initiated grant to explore the effects of semaglutide in people at risk for dementia from Novo Nordisk.”
Prof Tara Spires-Jones: “I have no conflicts with this study but have received payments for consulting, scientific talks, or collaborative research over the past 10 years from AbbVie, Sanofi, Merck, Scottish Brain Sciences, Jay Therapeutics, Cognition Therapeutics, Ono, and Eisai. I am also Charity trustee for the British Neuroscience Association and the Guarantors of Brain and serve as scientific advisor to several charities and non-profit institutions.”
Dr Emma Anderson: “I have no conflicts of interest.”
Prof Masud Husain: “I don’t have any conflicts of interest.”
Prof Kevin McConway: “Previously a Trustee of the SMC and a member of its Advisory Committee.”
Dr Richard Oakley: “No conflicts of interest to declare from Richard or the Society.”
Dr Leah Mursaleen: “Leah has no conflicts of interest to declare.”
Source: Republic of France in English The Republic of France has issued the following statement:
On this World Health Day, France reiterates its support for a coordinated approach at the international level aimed at guaranteeing solid healthcare systems and universal access to care while resolutely combating inequality This is a prerequisite for collective health security.
During this difficult international period, France reaffirms its full support for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the central role it plays in the global health architecture. It embodies international cooperation, scientific rigor and scrupulous standard-setting.
France also reiterates its support for all international organizations that deal with global health. It is one of the main funders of such efforts and remains committed to the swift adoption of a pandemic agreement.
In order to ensure global health security, France works in particular to advance the fight against epidemics; the promotion of maternal and child health; the One Health approach, which underscores the close ties between human health, animal health and ecosystems; universal health coverage; and the strengthening of healthcare systems. In this regard, the WHO Academy in Lyon, which opened its doors in December 2024, aims to become a global center of excellence for the training of healthcare workers.
France reaffirms its commitment to global health and its conviction that health is a fundamental right for every human being. Since 2000, we have helped provide antiretroviral treatments to 25 million people with HIV/AIDS, treat more than 7 million tuberculosis patients, and distribute nearly 230 million mosquito nets. We have also participated in the vaccination of more than a billion children since 2000 and, through the Muskoka Fund, we funded care for more than 22 million women and children in 2023 to reduce maternal and child mortality.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on the new Health Data Research Service, funded by the UK Government and the Wellcome Trust.
Understanding Patient Data,said:
“We welcome today’s announcement of a new health data research service, jointly funded by Wellcome and the UK government.
“The Health Data Research Service aims to create a secure single access point for existing datasets, streamlining the process for researchers and potentially speeding up life-saving medical breakthroughs.
“This is a valuable step towards implementing the Sudlow review recommendations and making better use of existing health data to support research, innovation, and improved health outcomes.
“At Understanding Patient Data, we’ve consistently seen that people are supportive of their data being used for public benefit — when there are clear safeguards in place, transparency about how decisions are made, and visible patient and public involvement in decision-making. The governance arrangements put in place for the health research service need to meet these expectations to ensure that public trust is earned and maintained.
“In light of ongoing financial pressures and substantial change to how the NHS is managed, continued investment in public engagement is more critical than ever. The health data research service has the opportunity to build strong foundations from the start: transparent governance, clear accountability, and a commitment to delivering measurable public benefit.”
Janet Valentine, Executive Director Innovation and Research Policy, ABPI said:
“The scale and ambition of the Prime Minister’s announcement today shows he understands the huge opportunity for the UK to be a global leader in clinical research, and that unlocking research access to health data and speeding up the set-up of clinical trials are fundamental to achieving that goal.
“Public and patient confidence in the responsible use of health data will be critical to the success of the service, which is why the government is right to work closely with a trusted partner like the Wellcome Trust.
“To make the most of this opportunity, it will be essential to build on the existing strengths and expertise within the UK health data system. It will also be vital that the pharmaceutical industry, as a major investor in research and development of innovative medicines, plays an integral role in the design and implementation of the new health data research service.”
The nature of this story means everyone quoted above could be perceived to have a stake in it. As such, they are implicit in each person’s affiliation.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave remarks at Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing site in the West Midlands.
Thank you Rachel and thank you Adrian.
And can I just say a big thank you to the entire workforce here. Some of you are here with us this afternoon. I just want to say thank you for showing us what you do. We have been able to see some of the skill and experience that you put into this incredible product, years and years in the making and the technology.
But thank you also for making us proud to be British, because as each car rolls off here, that is rolling off your production line. That is your commitment, your toil, your work, your professionalism. But it is then a product which you should be rightly proud of, and we are really proud of as a country.
I know how much you put into that, and I want you to know just how much we appreciate what you do.
Thank you for everyone for joining us this afternoon.
Jaguar Land Rover, our leading exporter of goods, employing thousands of people across the West Midlands and beyond.
That proud symbol of British engineering brilliance. And brilliance is the right word. It is our industrial heritage, but also in my strongly held view, it is our industrial future, not just our heritage.
My message to you is simple: these are challenging times, but we have chosen to come here because we are going to back you to the hilt.
I think it’s really significant that after the announcement on Wednesday, we had Adrian with us in Downing Street at 7 o’clock the next morning, and here we are on Monday, so read into that a statement of intent because it is a statement of intent about how important this is for you, for us and for the country.
As Rachel has said, there is no doubt about the challenge, but this is a moment for cool heads.
No one wins from a trade war.
But it is also a moment for urgency.
Because we have to rise, together as nation to the great challenge of our age, and it is the great challenge to renew Britain so that we are secure in this era of global instability.
Nobody is pretending that tariffs are good news. You know that better than anyone.
25% tariffs on automative exports. 10% on other goods.
That is a huge challenge to our future. The global economic consequences could be profound. But this moment has also made something very clear.
That this is not a passing phase. And just as we’ve seen with our national security and defence, particularly in relation to the war in Ukraine, now with our commerce and trade,
This is a changing and completely new world.
An era where old assumptions, long taken for granted, simply no longer apply.
Before the election – I called it an age of insecurity. And that is the right phrase. Insecurity. Because that’s how this is felt in the lives of working people. Insecurity and worry for builders, for carers, for nursers, for factory workers like people here in Coventry, working harder and harder for the pound in their pocket, yet watching this rising tide of insecurity threaten to sweep away the things we cherish in our communities.
Trust me – I know people will be feeling that right now.
But to those people, I say, we have your back.
This government will not just sit back and hope.
That is how politics has failed you in recent years.
Attempting to manage crises without fundamental change just leads to managed decline.
So no – we’re going to seize the possibilities.
Fight for the future. On defence spending, on AI, on clean British energy and on manufacturing, including car building.
Make those forces work for Britain. Rewire our economy and our state so that once again they serve the interests of working people.
This is why we are rewiring the state completely.
Ripping up the regulation that stops it being a force for good.
Building new homes, new towns, new infrastructure.
Accelerating the investment that will finally unlock the potential of every community.
And let me be really clear as well. Our future is in our hands.
And so of course – we will keep calm and fight for the best deal with the US and we have been discussing that intensely in the last few days.
But we’re also going to work with our key partners to reduce barriers to trade across the globe.
Accelerate trade deals with the rest of the world and champion the cause of free and open trade – right across the globe. And just like car building, that has always been our heritage – and we won’t turn our backs on it now.
And look, when it comes to the US, I will only strike a deal if it is in the national interest. If it is the right thing to do for our security. If it protects the pound in the pocket that working people, across our country, work so hard to earn for their family.
That is my priority. That is always my priority. Strength abroad – security and renewal at home.
And on that journey of renewal we take another step today with our car industry.
You know, there are people in this country who love to talk down our manufacturing. They say – we don’t make anything important anymore. ‘That’s not Britain’. Well – I would invite anyone who thinks like that to come here and see what you do in this factory.
Anyone who is talking down manufacturing. Come here to Jaguar Land Rover and see what you are doing and they wouldn’t say that again.
Because just as I’ve said, when we were going around earlier, what I saw made me proud.
And I hope that if I feel proud of what you are doing, you are entitled to feel proud of what you are doing.
This is British brilliance in the flesh.
You’re making cars here – but you’re also representing our country with each car as it departs. That’s the pride that always goes with making things.
And I’ve said it many times before, but I will say it again: my dad worked in a factory. He was an engineer. He made things with his hands. And he taught me as I was growing up, you should value the things that we make.
And that’s what brilliant about manufacturing. And manufacturing shapes the identity of a place. This place, and of a community and a country. And that’s how it gets in your blood.
Which is why electric vehicles are so important. Yes – of course it’s about the climate and you won’t hear me undermining the urgency of that cause.
But it’s also about taking the pride, the heritage, the identity of places like this and securing it for the future.
That’s what the previous government never understood. The link between manufacturing and who we are as a country.
But those days are over. They are finished. This is a government of industrial renewal.
Because my choice, in this volatile world is to back British brilliance.
I believe that British car companies should be at the forefront of the electric revolution. This is a race we belong in.
And so I think EV targets are a good thing.
They are good for the climate. Good for business certainty and investment. Good for British manufacturing.
But I accept – those targets have to work for British manufacturers.
And I don’t want British firms, like this one put in a position where you have to pay a hefty fine or buy credits from foreign EV companies.
So today – we’re going to introduce much more flexibility into EV mandates.
We’re going to help car companies based in Britain reach the targets in a way that supports growth.
We’re going to cut any fines – which I do not want or expect to see – by 20% and any money that is raised – would be invested directly back into support for the British car industry.
We’re also going to take action on hybrids because these cars make a massive difference to reducing emissions.
I mean, if you drive a Toyota Prius around town. Or, perhaps if you work here, a Range Rover you probably spend a lot of the time in electric mode. So I think for these vehicles a 2030 ban is too soon. So we’ll push that back to 2035 – for all hybrids. That’s a new step we are taking and a new announcement today.
And because we’re not ideological about how we cut carbon emissions, we’ll also make sure that cleaner, efficient, petrol cars sold before 2030 count towards your EV mandate. That will be good for British car manufacturers like this one.
As Rachel has said, we are also putting £2.3 billion pounds into the British car industry, giving people tax breaks worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year to help them switch to electric.
Improving charging infrastructure. That is a massive factor when people are thinking about switching and our approach means we are seeing a new public charging point popping up every half an hour.
Because this is the moment when we back British business and charge up the electric revolution.
British electric cars running off clean British power, made by British workers.
British cars for British workers!
And as you know by the way switching to electric can also save you up to £1100 a year so if we get this right it can help the cost of living as well.
But look – it’s not just our car industry we need to back.
In the coming days and weeks, we are going to use industrial policy to shelter British business from the storm.
Take our life sciences sector, another shining example of British brilliance. An absolutely pivotal part of our export economy. We’re going to back them, as well.
We’re going to rip up the red tape. Cut the stifling bureaucracy that slows down clinical trials. Now Britain used to be better at this but we’ve taken our foot off the pedal.
The latest data says it takes over 250 days to set up a clinical trial. I’m going to slash that to 150.
And on top of that, I can also announce – a new investment up to £600 million in a new Health Data Research Service. A welcome partnership with the Wellcome Trust strengthening the genome cluster in Cambridge.
Making sure that patient data in our NHS is unlocked for the public good. An opportunity for growth – but more importantly to save lives with cutting edge medicine and Britain is so good at this.
We saw that in the pandemic. And we now need to pick up the pace again. This country has never waited around for history to shape us. We have shaped history – and we will do so again now.
Take our future into our hands. Do everything necessary to defend our national interest.
Strengthen our alliances, increase our defence power, support our businesses, jobs and workers.
Rebuild, in defiance of a volatile world, our industrial strength.
That is the purpose of this Government. Security and renewal. The world may be changing but we are driving forward securing our future with a clear Plan for Change.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (12th District of Michigan)
Representatives Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Gwen Moore (WI-04), and Lucy McBath (GA-06) today sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, expressing deep concern about staff and budget cuts to programs that support survivors of domestic and sexual violence and their families. They also requested an explanation into the Administration’s decision to fire Shawndell Dawson, the Director of the Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (OFVPS), along with thousands of federal employees whose work focuses on preventing gender-based violence and informing violence prevention efforts.
“The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) program, under the HHS Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is the only federal funding source dedicated to domestic violence and sexual assault shelters and programs and is the cornerstone of our nation’s efforts to address domestic and sexual violence,” the lawmakers wrote. “It supports lifesaving services including emergency shelters, counseling, and crisis hotlines- including the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which has provided comprehensive, often lifesaving support for over 7 million contacts. There are approximately 2,000 FVSPA-funded community-based domestic violence programs and over 240 tribes and tribal organizations for victims and their children. FVPSA also supports a children’s services program that allows communities to receive targeted training and funding to meet the specific and unique needs of children coping with the impacts of domestic violence.”
“On March 31st, Shawndell Dawson, the Director of the Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (OFVPS), responsible for administering FVPSA, was placed on administrative leave, leaving OFVPS without the leadership and expertise of someone with more than 28 years of experience in supporting survivors and their families,” the lawmakers continued. “OFVPS plays a unique role in domestic and sexual violence response and prevention, and requires an office dedicated solely to this unique role, led by someone with appropriate expertise. We request your swift response to explain the grounds for this action, and what your plan is to reinstate Director Dawson and limit the negative impact on the Office’s ability to administer FVPSA. We would also like to request a meeting with Katherine Chon, who is currently overseeing the OFVPS.”
“We are also concerned over reports that thousands of federal employees at the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were subject to a reduction in force, including those in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. The Injury Center administers the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) and the Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership Through Alliance (DELTA) grants, which are the only federal funds dedicated to the primary prevention of domestic and sexual based violence,” the lawmakers concluded. “The center also administers the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, which collects comprehensive data that informs both public health response and violence prevention efforts. These critical programs are evidence based, successful, and require adequate staffing at the CDC to help local grantees to implement their work. We ask that you immediately rescind the reduction in force for these important initiatives, and explain how you will ensure that these programs continue to operate effectively. We would also like to request the contact information for the official who is currently overseeing the CDC Injury Center.”
The Members requested a response to their letter by April 30, 2025.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Budget funding will be allocated to recruit more than 137 new full-time equivalent nurses and midwives
The ACT Government is continuing to invest in the nursing and midwifery workforce to support staff safety and wellbeing and improve patient care.
More than $86 million will be allocated in the 2024–25 ACT Budget to recruit more than 137 new full-time equivalent nurses and midwives.
Nurse-to-patient ratios
The ACT Government is committed to ensuring safe nurse and midwife to patient ratios – something the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation has advocated for on behalf of its ACT members.
These are being implemented in a phased approach, with this investment supporting the Government’s commitment to implementing phase two of Mandated Minimum Nurse/Midwife-to-patient ratios.
Nurse and midwife to patient ratios are mandated minimum staffing levels.
These are necessary to support safe nursing and midwifery care and improve working conditions for nurses and midwives.
The implementation of phase two will see both minimum staffing levels on each ward and additional team leaders or support nurses and midwives.
This will ensure there are even more nurses and midwives across frontline hospital services and an appropriate skill mix on each shift to provide the best possible care for patients, including women and babies in maternity services.
In 2022, the ACT Government delivered the first phase of nurse-to-patient ratios across general medical and general surgical medical wards and acute aged care and mental health. This occurred through an investment of $50 million through the 2021–22 Budget.
Phase two ratios will be implemented across Canberra’s public hospitals and Clare Holland House, including:
maternity services
neonatal intensive care unit and special care nurseries
critical care, including intensive care units and emergency departments
perioperative areas
subacute mental health units
cancer services
rehabilitation units
palliative care services.
By including ratios across maternity services, including postnatal wards, the ACT will be the second jurisdiction in Australia to implement ratios that count the baby in the ratio as part of minimum staffing levels.
Further support for nurses and midwives
This investment follows the more than $21 million allocated in the mid-year Budget Review to support other elements of the proposed ACT Public Sector Nursing and Midwifery Enterprise Agreement, which is currently being considered by public health system nurses and midwives.
This includes a $2000 education and development boost, an annual $750 professional development allowance, an increase in pay, and a comprehensive review of rostering in nursing and midwifery to improve work patterns and health and wellbeing.
This will help to ensure Canberra has a health workforce that is highly skilled and supported, to continue to deliver great care to the community.
The ACT Government will continue to invest in the nursing and midwifery workforce to ensure staff are supported to deliver the best care to the Canberra community.
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EW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that her office secured a multistate settlement in principle with pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc. (Mylan) that will deliver up to $335 million nationwide to help combat the opioid crisis. Mylan, which is now a part of Viatris, has manufactured and sold a variety of opioids since 2005, including generic fentanyl patches, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and buprenorphine products. The attorneys general allege Mylan deceptively promoted its products as less prone to abuse despite knowing for years that many of its opioid products – particularly its fentanyl patches – were actually more vulnerable to abuse. The company fueled the opioid crisis by marketing directly to doctors, leading to dangerous overprescribing and diversion of its opioids into the illegal drug market. Under the multistate settlement in principle, Mylan will pay up to $335 million to participating states over nine years.
“When drug companies put profits over people, innocent patients can get sucked into deadly cycles of addiction and overdoses,” said Attorney General James. “Mylan deceptively marketed its opioid products as safe, despite knowing they would be abused and sold illegally. While no settlement can fully repair the damage caused by dangerous opioids, these funds will help New York and other states fight the opioid crisis.”
This settlement in principle was negotiated by Attorney General James and the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia in coordination with the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, and Vermont.
Attorney General James is a national leader in holding accountable the companies that fueled the opioid crisis and securing resources to help combat the epidemic of addictions and overdoses. To date, Attorney General James has secured more than $3 billion to support New York opioid abatement, treatment, and prevention efforts from companies including Purdue, Indivior, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Allergan, Endo, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen. Attorney General James has also led multistate coalitions in reaching settlements for billions of dollars with CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart for their roles in failing to properly regulate opioid prescriptions. Additionally, Attorney General James and a bipartisan coalition of states secured settlements with consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the marketing firm Publicis Health for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.
For New York, this settlement with Mylan was negotiated by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy, Special Counsel Monica Hanna, and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Conrad, of the Executive Division, and Data Scientist Ken Morales of the Research and Analytics Department.
SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas is commemorating National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW) April 6–12, by recognizing recent criminal cases involving victims.
This year’s NCVRW theme—Connecting Healing—recognizes that shared humanity drives vital connections to services, rights, and healing. KINSHIP is where victim advocacy begins. The annual observance challenges us to build a world where every connection built through KINSHIP — between survivors, advocates, and communities — holds the potential to heal. It asks us to ensure that resources are available to all survivors and that we show up for one another with empathy and intention.
With a dedicated team of prosecutors and victim assistance professionals who work together to ensure victims of crime receive the services and support they need, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas comprises 68 counties located in the central and western areas of Texas, encompasses nearly 93,000 square miles and is home to an estimated population of 7.6 million people.
“Federal crimes against victims will not be tolerated in this district—regardless of whether they are violent crimes, drug crimes, or white collar,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas. “It is a priority of our prosecutors, our victim assistance specialists, and the entire Department of Justice, that we advocate in the best interests of victims and that crime victims have access to proper effective resources.”
Recently prosecuted cases include the 40-year federal prison sentence of Saint Jovite Youngblood in Austin for four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Youngblood committed wire fraud against his victims by claiming Mexican drug cartel members were planning to commit violence against them. Youngblood falsely claimed to have been part of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force special operations unit and offered protection to his victims from the cartels in exchange for money. Youngblood also represented that funds obtained from his victim “investors” would be paid back with a significant return on the money. Instead, Youngblood used most of the money on junkets to Las Vegas to gamble in casinos. Over the course of his scheme, Youngblood defrauded 32 victims for more than $12 million, which he was ordered to pay in restitution.
In Waco, a former U.S. sailor was sentenced to life in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of coercion and enticement of a minor. Bailey Warren Lowe used a Snapchat account to request sexually explicit images from a 13-year-old girl on multiple occasions. If she acted slowly or the photos did not meet his expectations, Lowe would become angry and threaten to expose her. On one occasion, in early 2022, Lowe drove to the minor’s residence, where they engaged in sexual activity in his vehicle. Lowe did not use a condom and, when the minor repeated that she was 13 years old, he demanded she not tell anyone about them because he was 22 and could get in trouble. An FBI investigation revealed multiple chat conversations and instances of sexual exploitation between Lowe and additional victims between the ages of 10 and 15 years old.
In July 2024, an Odessa man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for carjacking and discharging a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. Isaac Ramirez Carrasco carjacked a couple on Jan. 30 by pointing a shotgun at the driver and ordering both occupants out of their vehicle. The victim did not initially comply, and Carrasco fired the shotgun at least one time in the air before returning his aim to the victim. The couple ultimately exited the truck and Carrasco drove away in it. Odessa Police were able to track the truck to a nearby residence, where they also located Carrasco and the shotgun.
In November, Alex Georges Tannous, of Ain-Akrine, Lebanon, was sentenced in a federal court in San Antonio to 240 months in prison for wire fraud. Tannous told his victims he was a prince from Dubai who was charged with bringing U.S.-based businesses to market in Dubai. He claimed millions were available, but that an initial payment from the victim was required to initiate the flow of funds. Once the funds were secured, he used the money to support his lavish lifestyle and the lifestyles of multiple family members. In total, Tannous stole more than $2 million from his victims. In addition to his 20-year federal prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution.
And most recently, David Manuel Garcia was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison on March 20 for engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. Garcia had traveled from the U.S. to Mexico between July 2003 and August 2008 and engaged in forced sexual acts with a minor victim under the age of 18, which resulted in the birth of two children. Records indicate that the victim was 13 years old at the time of the first birth, and 15 years old when she gave birth to the second child.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas will commemorate NCVRW 2025 throughout the week in various ways. Most publicly, employees will be encouraged to wear this year’s theme colors of “midnight,” “mauve,” and “melon,” or colors closely similar, on Thursday, April 10. Community members across the district and beyond are invited to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this endeavor, using the hashtag #NCVRW2025 and tagging @USAO_WDTX on X (formerly known as Twitter), as a symbol of solidarity.
On April 9, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) will host the 2025 NCVRW Candlelight Vigil at 3:30pm (EST) to pay tribute to victims of crime and the many dedicated professionals and volunteers who advocate on their behalf. We hope you’ll save-the-date and join via the livestream at www.ovc.ojp.gov/live or www.justice.gov/live.
NCVRW began in 1981 to honor victims and survivors of crime, raise awareness of victims’ rights and services and recognize the dedication of those who work with crime victims.
For more ideas on supporting crime victims, visit OVC’s website at www.ovc.gov.
New initiative unveiled at CPD58 on World Health Day aims to reverse preventable deaths and invest in frontline care
New York, 7 April 2025 – On World Health Day, and at the opening of the 58th Session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD58), UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, and global partners launched the Midwifery Accelerator — a coordinated effort to reduce preventable maternal deaths by expanding access to quality care provided by midwives.
The launch comes as new UN data confirms that 260,000 women died from pregnancy or childbirth in 2023 — one every two minutes. While this represents a 40% drop since 2000, progress has slowed and remains highly unequal, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
“We can and must end preventable maternal deaths,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA. “We have the knowledge and tools to ensure safe births. We now need to step up what works: skilled midwives, quality care, and strong political commitment. This new initiative is about delivering on all three with the urgency they deserve.”
Co-led by UNFPA, WHO, UNICEF, International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and Jhpiego, and developed with governments, civil society and technical partners, the Midwifery Accelerator provides a clear roadmap for action. It aims to train more midwives, deploy them where they’re most needed, and ensure they are well-equipped, supported and integrated into national health systems. In short, it puts midwives at the center of building stronger, more equitable and resilient health systems to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes for women and their newborns.
UNFPA has long been a global leader in this space, championing midwife-led care as a cornerstone of maternal health. Since 2008, UNFPA has supported over 120 countries to strengthen their midwifery workforce, from education and midwifery schools to workforce development and deployment. Over 600,000 midwives have been trained with UNFPA’s support, helping bring life-saving care closer to women and communities.
Progress is being seen across the world. Tanzania has reduced maternal deaths by 52%, and Sierra Leone by 79% — clear proof that investments and political will can save lives. In both these countries, midwives play a key role in improving maternal and newborn health outcomes. But these gains are fragile. With massive global funding cuts threatening essential services, countries risk losing hard-won progress.
Despite the growing need, midwives remain underfunded, under-paid, undervalued and not adequately deployed. Yet universal access to midwives could prevent over 60% of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths — and every dollar invested in midwifery has the potential of yielding up to a 16-fold return in health and economic benefits, as a study from Morocco shows.
“This plan puts midwives at the heart of the solution,” said Julia Bunting, Director of Programmes at UNFPA. “Now is the time for governments and donors to step up. Without investing in midwives, we cannot end preventable maternal deaths.”
About the Midwifery Accelerator Launched by UNFPA, WHO, UNICEF, ICM, and Jhpiego, the global Midwifery Accelerator is a shared framework to support countries in integrating midwifery models of care into national health systems. The initiative was informed by country consultations in six high-burden countries (Bangladesh, Cote D’Ivoire, Nepal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Zambia) and reflects key priority areas that need to be addressed through accelerated actions to improve global availability of and access to quality midwifery care.
About UNFPA UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, works in over 150 countries and territories to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Madhav Joshi, Research Professor & Associate Director, Peace Accords Matrix (PAM), Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
South Sudan is likely to return to full-blown civil war unless the international community takes a radical approach to stabilise the country and re-engage in the peace process.
The agreement had a 36-month transition period. It established a unity government to reform institutions, draft a constitution, ensure transitional justice and conduct the country’s first election.
Seven years into the implementation process, however, South Sudan has yet to fulfil many of the peace deal’s commitments. These include demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of combatants, and training and establishing necessary unified forces.
The timeline for holding elections, another benchmark of the transition, has been extended until December 2026. This moves the completion of the transition process to February 2027 from the initial January 2021. It is the fourth such mutually agreed extension.
The challenges of the slow implementation of the peace agreement escalated in March 2025, with violent clashes in the Upper Nile State and a political crisis. First vice-president Machar was put under house arrest. Reports say a convoy of more than 20 heavily armed vehicles forcefully entered Machar’s residence, disarmed his bodyguards, and held him and his wife Angelina Teny. Teny is South Sudan’s interior minister.
It is my view that the current crisis has little to do with the recent clashes. This crisis in South Sudan has been long in the making. It has its roots in the country’s faltering peace implementation process.
As part of my ongoing research, I have gathered data on the content and implementation of 42 comprehensive civil war peace agreements in 33 countries dating back to 1989. In none of these agreements and countries have I observed delays in implementation like in South Sudan – or the arrest of a main opposition leader who is a signatory to a peace agreement.
South Sudan’s path to peace since its independence in 2011 has been challenging. Key to achieving stability is the peace process itself. The international community must lead a radical push to get signatories to the 2018 peace deal to implement it. This approach is necessary for regional peace and stability – the ongoing violence could easily escalate and merge with the Sudan war and drag in Uganda.
What’s happening
The current crisis in South Sudan began in early March 2025 when the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces clashed with the White Army militia group. The White Army took control of the town of Nasir in the oil-rich Upper Nile State.
South Sudan’s kleptocratic leaders have been quick to associate Machar, the SPLM-IO leader, with the White Army. This is largely because the militia group primarily recruits from the Nuer ethnic group, which Machar belongs to.
However, at the centre of these latest tensions – fanned by a slow peace implementation process – are leaders looking to strengthen their political dominance to gain unhindered access to revenue from natural resources. South Sudan’s economy is heavily reliant on oil.
The training and deployment of unified forces, and establishment of a Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing are lagging behind. So are constitutional and electoral reforms, including a census to determine voter numbers, as well as a hybrid court for war crimes and a reparations authority.
The implementation process began to slow down when military leaders loyal to Kiir started to co-opt generals loyal to Machar. Leadership positions within the army were divided between military officials loyal to Kiir, Machar and other groups in June 2023. This diluted SPLM-IO’s influence in the unity government.
Rising tensions led to the Tumaini Peace Initiative, launched in May 2024 and hosted by the Kenyan government. This initiative aimed to bring other armed groups under the fold of the peace process. However, it undermined the 2018 peace deal by not tying the initiative to the revitalised agreement.
Over several rounds of peace talks, it has became clear that a segment of the ruling elite wants to influence the implementation of the 2018 deal to control political power – and therefore, South Sudan’s resources. The unfolding events show an effort to hold the peace process hostage towards this end.
A narrow path forward
The path to peace and stability in South Sudan is challenging. In my research, I have examined situations where multiple armed groups either continue to fight or new ones emerge in conflict situations.
My research consistently shows that the implementation of comprehensive peace agreements stabilises such situations by addressing security uncertainties, reforming institutions and addressing underlying grievances.
Stakeholders in South Sudan must prioritise the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement. Since the signatory parties are unwilling to implement the agreement, someone must step in to fill this void. With the entire peace process held hostage and key signatories of the peace agreement sidelined, this narrow path forward can only be charted with the support of and pressure from the international community.
– South Sudan on the brink of civil war: bold action from the international community is needed – https://theconversation.com/south-sudan-on-the-brink-of-civil-war-bold-action-from-the-international-community-is-needed-253555
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Press release
Prime Minister turbocharges medical research
Better and faster access to NHS data for researchers with gold standard security and privacy measures.
Latest in a series of pro-growth measures to build a strong, resilient economy with more well-paid jobs.
Changes will help make Britain the best country in the world for medical research, driving growth that puts more money in people’s pockets as part of the Plan for Change.
Next step in delivering the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy and unlocking the potential of the Oxford‑Cambridge Growth Corridor.
The Prime Minister has today announced action to accelerate the discovery of life-saving drugs, improve patient care and make Britain the best place in the world for medical research.
The Government and the Wellcome Trust will invest up to £600 million to create a new Health Data Research Service. This will transform the access to NHS data by providing a secure single access point to national-scale datasets, slashing red tape for researchers.
Clinical trials will also be fast-tracked to accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future, with the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up cut to 150 days by March 2026 – where latest data collected in 2022 was over 250 days. This will be achieved by cutting bureaucracy and standardising contracts so time isn’t wasted on negotiating separate details across different NHS organisations, and ensuring transparency by publishing trust level data for the first time.
Through this new drive, patients will have improved access to new treatments and technologies. We already saw the power of health data during the pandemic and this will allow the NHS to make huge strides in patient care.
The changes are a major boost for the life sciences sector as the Government goes further and faster in delivering the Plan for Change and reshaping our economy in response to the new era of global insecurity.
They follow key steps to support the British car industry and form part of our modern Industrial Strategy, which includes life sciences. Full plans will be published alongside the Spending Review later this year.
Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said:
The new era of global insecurity requires a Government that steps up, not stands aside.
That is why we are going further and faster in reshaping our economy and delivering our Plan for Change.
Life sciences, like our brilliant car industry, is a great British success story.
The measures I am announcing today will turbo-charge medical research and deliver better patient care. I am determined to make Britain the best place in the world to invest in medical research.
That is not just good for patients and their families. It means growth that puts more money in working people’s pockets with more, better paid jobs.
Patient confidentiality will continue to be held to a gold standard with these changes – with rigorous security measures being in place, like anonymity and virtual locked rooms, to ensure no one’s health data is compromised.
The Health Data Research Service brings access to data for medical research into one secure and easy-to-use location, meaning a researcher doesn’t have to navigate different systems or make multiple applications for information for the same project.
This improvement – which will begin from the end of 2026 – will speed up the process and could set the UK on a path to cure cancer, dementia, and arthritis quicker, which will improve patient outcomes and help turbocharge the economy.
It follows the recent decision to scrap NHS England to do away with unnecessary bureaucracy and make government work better for people, patients, and the economy.
The new service will be housed at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridgeshire, where Wellcome is building a range of new R&D lab and office spaces to expand the current campus’s capacity for innovative genomics and biodata companies.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:
Our Plan for Change will unleash the unparalleled power of NHS data, catalysing our efforts to fix the broken health service.
We will unblock the barriers preventing our greatest scientists from safely accessing what they need to save patients’ lives – while keeping data secure.
This venture will drive vital investment into the UK and put us at the epicentre of breakthroughs in science.
If we can combine the care of the NHS with the ingenuity of our world-leading scientists, our health service could truly become the envy of the world.
Science Secretary, Peter Kyle, said:
Building an NHS fit for the future is central to this government’s Plan for Change. Ensuring our research community can access the data which will drive untold improvements for patients across the country is key to that ambition.
This is a service which has truly transformative potential – giving health experts access to the insights they need to drive forward more research and more clinical trials quicker than ever before.
Protecting the data and anonymity of patients is non-negotiable. That’s why we’re also putting robust protections in place to make sure the incredible benefits we will all receive from this service will never come at a personal cost.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, said:
Improving health for future patients and future generations depends on medical research, and that depends on data.
Bringing health data together will allow scientists to understand diseases, to prevent them and to develop new treatments more quickly and more effectively to improve future health.
John-Arne Røttingen, Chief Executive of Wellcome, said:
There is so much more we could learn from health data in this country by joining it up better.
The new service will give researchers a way to easily harness the data held across different parts of the NHS. The simpler it is to analyse data or identify patients to join clinical trials, the more quickly we can improve our understanding of illness and develop new treatments.
Providing a single, secure service for approved researchers will take away the significant overhead associated of locating, accessing and comparing disparate datasets. It will create opportunities for patients to access new treatments through trials that would otherwise have been hard to arrange or conduct.
We’re pleased to be providing our support to help establish the new service quickly. This public-philanthropic partnership will put public trust in the use of health data at the heart of its approach.
Dr Vin Diwakar, National Director of Transformation at NHS England, said:
We’ve seen over the past few years the vital role that research plays in improving healthcare – from the rollout of the Covid vaccine to the development of new cancer treatments – and this new service will transform how that research is carried out.
The Health Data Research Service will remove the complexities of accessing data through multiple systems while making sure the very highest security and privacy measures remain in place, including using secure data environments to protect patient confidentiality and ensure NHS data doesn’t leave NHS IT systems.
We’ll continue to seek feedback from the public as we develop the service and will only allow access to NHS data where there is likely to be a direct benefit to NHS patients – so that health researchers can get the data they need faster, and patients can benefit from advances in treatments much sooner.
Executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, Dr Ian Walker, said:
This is a welcome and much-needed investment from the government. The information held within NHS data could help to improve our understanding of diseases like cancer and contribute to the creation of effective new treatments.
Despite its huge potential, access to this data has long been a significant challenge for the research sector, and anything that unleashes the power of NHS data, whilst protecting the security and anonymity of patients, will help enormously.
The UK can lead the world in data science for the benefits of patients both at home and abroad. It will be essential to consult with patients every step of the way.
STAKEHOLDER REACTION
Professor Cathie Sudlow, Former Chief Scientist and Strategic Advisor, Health Data Research UK, and author of the Sudlow Review: Uniting the UK’s Health Data: A Huge Opportunity for Society, said:
Today’s announcement of a Health Data Research Service, a central recommendation of my recently published review of the UK’s health data landscape, is a major step forward for UK health research. It has the potential to be a game-changer, by accelerating secure, trustworthy, data-driven research to improve patient care and public health for the tens of millions of people in this country and beyond.
The service should enable faster, more reliable access for approved researchers to the data needed to tackle society’s most pressing health research needs – to develop and test new approaches for preventing, diagnosing and treating health conditions such as cancer, dementia, heart disease, depression, arthritis and infectious outbreaks. It should support better studies, quicker answers for the health and care system and, ultimately, faster, better outcomes for patients and their families.
Turning this investment from the UK Government and Wellcome into something that delivers will demand focus, cooperation across multiple organisations, attention to detail and – crucially – ongoing, meaningful involvement of patients, public and health and care professionals. However, with the UK’s rich health data assets and strong life sciences and data science research capabilities, I am confident that we can make this work for everyone’s benefit.
Nicola Perrin, Chief Executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities, said:
The announcement of a Health Data Research Service is excellent news – for patients, for the NHS and for UK life sciences. Sustained, ringfenced funding – from the Government and Wellcome as a charitable funder – is the best way to unlock the power of NHS data to transform research and to improve health outcomes.
This partnership is exactly what is needed to help to ensure a trustworthy approach, and to build confidence among public, patients and healthcare professionals which will be so crucial for success. We look forward to engaging closely with the new HRDS as the plans develop, building on and consolidating the multiple initiatives that currently exist for data access.
Dame Cally Palmer, Chief Executive of The Royal Marsden, said:
I’ve seen first-hand how harnessing NHS data can accelerate and improve cancer research – so today’s news is hugely welcome for cancer patients and researchers alike.
By offering our world leading researchers a centralised, convenient and highly secure central hub for medical research, innovative and potentially life changing developments could become more likely, helping to transform cancer patient lives.
Emma Walmsley, Chief Executive Officer, GSK, said:
We welcome the ambition and urgency of today’s announcements on health data and clinical trials. The UK has unique potential to bring health data securely together with an NHS system that recognises the value of innovation, to accelerate and deliver the next generation of medicines and vaccines for patients. This offers value to society and to the economy. What matters now is execution at pace and we stand ready to support.
Hilary Evans-Newton, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
This is a game-changing initiative that could drive faster progress for people with dementia and bring us closer to a cure. Better access to high-quality NHS data will help researchers understand the diseases behind dementia in greater detail, spot those at risk sooner, and develop effective new treatments more quickly.
The UK is home to some of the most detailed, nationwide, life-long health datasets in the world, with huge potential to transform how we prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat major health conditions. But right now, researchers face barriers that stop them unlocking this data’s full, life-saving power. By cutting red tape around data access and clinical trials, the UK can accelerate the development of new diagnostics and treatments, and become a magnet for global investment. Dementia is the nation’s biggest killer, and with no treatments currently available on the NHS that slow or stop the condition, this momentum couldn’t come at a more urgent time.
To make the new Health Data Research Service work, people affected by dementia must be at the heart of how the system is designed. With the right safeguards in place, trusted access to NHS data can be a powerful force for good – helping the UK lead the world in life sciences and transform the outlook for everyone affected by dementia in the UK.
Dr Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Innovation at Asthma + Lung UK, said:
The new health data service has the potential to make a huge difference to the health of the nation. Improved access to such a wealth of data is fantastic news for health research, and will help researchers better understand lung disease, which will affect 12 million people in the UK during their lifetime.
Decades-long underinvestment has left lung research on life support. But this new investment into data will help scientists better understand early development and progression of lung disease, ultimately leading to better diagnosis, treatment and management.
Every five minutes, someone in the UK dies a from lung condition. Urgent action is needed to increase investment into lung research to give everyone fighting for breath a future. Because breakthroughs can happen and when they do, they save lives. Our vision is a world where everyone has healthy lungs.
Professor James Leiper, Director of Research at the British Heart Foundation, said:
This investment in the huge potential of data science is a welcome and farsighted move.
Health data has the power to give us unparalleled insights into cardiovascular disease, and will supercharge research which promises to save lives in the years to come.
Ensuring cardiovascular researchers have simplified access to the wealth of data the NHS holds, while also ensuring security and patient confidentiality, will place the UK at the cutting edge of data science for health. We look forward to hearing further detail on plans in the coming months.
Jacob Lant, Chief Executive at National Voices, said:
As patients, our health records can fuel a revolution in medical research that will both help the NHS and ensure communities across the country get faster access to groundbreaking new treatments.
The Government’s new partnership with the Wellcome Trust can unlock this potential by offering scientists easier access to data, but crucially also giving the public concrete guarantees around data security and anonymity. This is vital to building the public trust needed to move forward and realise the full benefits of modern medical research.
Dr. Sam Barrell, CEO of LifeArc, said:
Rapid, transparent, and secure access to high-quality linked health data is essential for translation of research into tangible patient benefit. This is especially crucial for those with rare diseases, where large-scale data and international collaboration are vital.
Today’s funding announcement is a welcome signal to the sector that the UK is committed to making life science life changing, powered by health data.
Kieran Winterburn, Alzheimer’s Society’s Head of National Influencing, said:
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. Research will beat dementia, but we need to make it a reality sooner – through more funding, more partnership working, better access to data and more people taking part in dementia research.
That’s why Alzheimer’s Society welcomes the Prime Minister’s announcement today that red tape will be slashed for researchers, with a new secure, single access point to NHS data. Dementia researchers can face gridlock with a lengthy and complex process to access NHS data, navigating through various systems to gather the information they need for vital population and clinical studies.
As well as improving access to existing data, we also need to see improvements in the recording, analysis and collation of health data generally. There’s a serious disconnect between the scale and urgency of dementia as a condition and the relative scarcity of existing data on it. Having more data on dementia published will be crucial to improving diagnosis, care, and service planning.
We’re so proud that Alzheimer’s Society-funded research 30 years ago led to the breakthroughs in disease-modifying treatments we’ve seen recently. Research we fund now, powered by better access to data, will be pivotal in unlocking more breakthroughs.
Dr Jeanette Dickson, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said:
We know the UK can deliver high quality international practice-changing research and this tremendous initiative will enable our scientists to perform at their best by providing safe access to essential data – which in turn will improve care, speed up innovation and drive economic growth.
Anna Steere, Head of Understanding Patient Data, said:
This is a really welcome step toward improving how health data is used to speed up research and deliver public benefit. Research shows that people are generally supportive of their data being used in this way — but they want to see transparency, strong governance and security at the heart. We are pleased to see a commitment to working with patient groups in shaping how the service is designed and run. Getting this right from the outset is key to building lasting public confidence.
Professor Ford is also the Co-Founder and Director of the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank in Wales, said:
I am really delighted to hear of this recent announcement, which will bring a very substantial and much needed investment into the UK’s data infrastructure. The SAIL Databank looks forward to playing its part in making the new exciting vision a reality.
The National Data Guardian, Dr Nicola Byrne, said:
Access to data is essential for researchers and innovators to transform great ideas into real health improvements. With the right safeguards in place, the public is eager to see data used to drive new treatments, improve services, and tackle health inequalities.
To maintain the public’s trust, it’s crucial that data security, clear public benefits, and full transparency around data access and use remain at the forefront. I look forward to working with others to ensure the new Health Data Research Service meets these expectations, unlocking the power of data to benefit patients and the public alike.
Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK, said:
As a doctor and researcher, the announcement of a Health Data Research Service is a day many of us have been waiting for. It is a big investment in the future health of the nation.
We have a rich abundance of health data in this country thanks to the NHS. The team at HDR UK demonstrated for the first time last year that UK wide studies harnessing data on 68M people is possible for public benefit. But the system remains slow and fragmented which means that safe and secure research using the data is delayed or prevented for months and years. This is stalling advances that could benefit millions of patients and is wasting taxpayers’ money and medical charity donations invested in research.
A Health Data Research Service was the main recommendation of the Sudlow Review, which offered a set of solutions to tackle these problems and for which Health Data Research UK provided the secretariat. So I am delighted that within a few months of publication.
Plans for new football and basketball facilities in Southwick to help tackle inequalities in access to sport are taking a step closer to being delivered.
The start of the construction phase of a Football Foundation PlayZone in Southwick, has been made possible thanks to Sunderland City Council securing a £198,076 grant from the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation, £10,000 from North Sunderland Area Committee and £34,955 from the city’s Healthy City Fund.
The new multi-sport pitch will be one of more than 200 PlayZones to be delivered across the country, offering a wide range of opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to be active in a way that suits them and get involved in sport and physical activity.
This investment will support the development of brand-new facilities, as well as bringing back to life old facilities through refurbishment works. The PlayZone will also include smart -access technology and a booking system.
The PlayZone in Southwick will be managed by Southwick Neighbourhood Youth Project and will be open to the public to book seven days a week.
Ruth Walker, who operates the project, said: “This is an exciting development for the area, bringing a former games area back to use and making the area look great, it’s going to be fantastic. The new facility is for the local community to use, it’s going to make an enormous difference to getting our local community active as well as giving young people something positive to do.”
Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation said: “When it comes to tackling the greatest inequalities to becoming active, the Football Foundation knows a ‘one-size fits all’ approach doesn’t work. That’s why community engagement is at the heart of our PlayZones programme.
“As with all PlayZones, the new facility in Southwick has been shaped by the local community who’ll be able to step out onto the pitch and get active in a way that suits them.
“Thanks to the funding we receive from our partners – the Premier League, The FA and Government, the Foundation will be delivering over 200 PlayZones like this one across the country.”
Cllr Beth Jones Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Tourism at Sunderland City Council, said: “We are delighted to have been able to secure this funding from the Football Foundation to help regenerate a local community.
“The PlayZone represents our commitment to ensuring that sport, physical activity and play are central to the well-being of communities and that everyone can access safe and modern facilities. This space will not only enhance physical well-being but also serve as a gathering place for families and friends to develop new, positive experiences with sport, play and physical activity.”
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Madhav Joshi, Research Professor & Associate Director, Peace Accords Matrix (PAM), Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
South Sudan is likely to return to full-blown civil war unless the international community takes a radical approach to stabilise the country and re-engage in the peace process.
The agreement had a 36-month transition period. It established a unity government to reform institutions, draft a constitution, ensure transitional justice and conduct the country’s first election.
Seven years into the implementation process, however, South Sudan has yet to fulfil many of the peace deal’s commitments. These include demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of combatants, and training and establishing necessary unified forces.
The timeline for holding elections, another benchmark of the transition, has been extended until December 2026. This moves the completion of the transition process to February 2027 from the initial January 2021. It is the fourth such mutually agreed extension.
The challenges of the slow implementation of the peace agreement escalated in March 2025, with violent clashes in the Upper Nile State and a political crisis. First vice-president Machar was put under house arrest. Reports say a convoy of more than 20 heavily armed vehicles forcefully entered Machar’s residence, disarmed his bodyguards, and held him and his wife Angelina Teny. Teny is South Sudan’s interior minister.
It is my view that the current crisis has little to do with the recent clashes. This crisis in South Sudan has been long in the making. It has its roots in the country’s faltering peace implementation process.
As part of my ongoing research, I have gathered data on the content and implementation of 42 comprehensive civil war peace agreements in 33 countries dating back to 1989. In none of these agreements and countries have I observed delays in implementation like in South Sudan – or the arrest of a main opposition leader who is a signatory to a peace agreement.
South Sudan’s path to peace since its independence in 2011 has been challenging. Key to achieving stability is the peace process itself. The international community must lead a radical push to get signatories to the 2018 peace deal to implement it. This approach is necessary for regional peace and stability – the ongoing violence could easily escalate and merge with the Sudan war and drag in Uganda.
What’s happening
The current crisis in South Sudan began in early March 2025 when the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces clashed with the White Army militia group. The White Army took control of the town of Nasir in the oil-rich Upper Nile State.
South Sudan’s kleptocratic leaders have been quick to associate Machar, the SPLM-IO leader, with the White Army. This is largely because the militia group primarily recruits from the Nuer ethnic group, which Machar belongs to.
However, at the centre of these latest tensions – fanned by a slow peace implementation process – are leaders looking to strengthen their political dominance to gain unhindered access to revenue from natural resources. South Sudan’s economy is heavily reliant on oil.
The training and deployment of unified forces, and establishment of a Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing are lagging behind. So are constitutional and electoral reforms, including a census to determine voter numbers, as well as a hybrid court for war crimes and a reparations authority.
The implementation process began to slow down when military leaders loyal to Kiir started to co-opt generals loyal to Machar. Leadership positions within the army were divided between military officials loyal to Kiir, Machar and other groups in June 2023. This diluted SPLM-IO’s influence in the unity government.
Rising tensions led to the Tumaini Peace Initiative, launched in May 2024 and hosted by the Kenyan government. This initiative aimed to bring other armed groups under the fold of the peace process. However, it undermined the 2018 peace deal by not tying the initiative to the revitalised agreement.
Over several rounds of peace talks, it has became clear that a segment of the ruling elite wants to influence the implementation of the 2018 deal to control political power – and therefore, South Sudan’s resources. The unfolding events show an effort to hold the peace process hostage towards this end.
A narrow path forward
The path to peace and stability in South Sudan is challenging. In my research, I have examined situations where multiple armed groups either continue to fight or new ones emerge in conflict situations.
My research consistently shows that the implementation of comprehensive peace agreements stabilises such situations by addressing security uncertainties, reforming institutions and addressing underlying grievances.
Stakeholders in South Sudan must prioritise the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement. Since the signatory parties are unwilling to implement the agreement, someone must step in to fill this void. With the entire peace process held hostage and key signatories of the peace agreement sidelined, this narrow path forward can only be charted with the support of and pressure from the international community.
Madhav Joshi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force has announced the agenda and panelists for its April 11 roundtable, “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading.”
“Hearing the public’s concerns and suggestions helps the SEC create a clear, sensible, and fair path forward for the crypto industry,” said Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, leader of the Crypto Task Force. “I look forward to this roundtable and the rest of the series as we move toward crypto clarity for the benefit of the American public.”
The roundtable, announced in March as part of a series, will be held at the SEC’s headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. The event will be open to the public and webcast live on the SEC’s website. Doors will open at 12 p.m.
For online attendance, registration is not necessary; a link to watch the event will be available on April 11 on www.sec.gov. For in-person attendance, please register here.
Attendees will be able to submit suggestions and questions on note cards available in the lobby on the day of the event, or by emailing crypto@sec.gov during the event.
To learn more about the Crypto Task Force and the roundtable topics, please visit the Crypto Task Force webpage.
Agenda
1 p.m. –
1:20 p.m.
Opening Remarks from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:
Richard Gabbert, Chief of Staff, Crypto Task Force; Senior Advisor to the Acting Chairman
Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda
Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw
Commissioner Hester Peirce
1:20 p.m. –
3 p.m.
Roundtable: Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading
Moderator:
Nicholas Losurdo, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP
Panelists:
Tyler Gellasch, President and CEO, Healthy Markets Association
Jon Herrick, Chief Product Officer, New York Stock Exchange
Richard Johnson, CEO & Founder, Texture Capital
Dave Lauer, Co-Founder, Urvin Finance and We the Investors
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Recipients of the Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grants.
Two popular cafés are among the four recipients of the Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grants.
Each receives a share of $150,000 for projects that protect against climate change.
The four projects aim to show how living infrastructure can improve Canberra’s resilience to the heat impacts of climate change.
Healthy living infrastructure includes trees, plants, soils, and water systems. These are essential to a city’s success in adapting to the risks of a changing climate.
The four funded projects will tackle the ‘heat island effect’. Heat islands are a result of too much concrete and not enough plant life, bushland and tree canopy coverage in an urban area.
This year’s successful recipients are:
Three Mills Bakery – Will transform an urban heat island in Woden from an expanse of concrete into an urban oasis near their new café.
The Climate Factory – Will grow a native micro-forest in an urban heat island in Dunlop using the Miyawaki method of dense planting to ensure rapid growth.
The Woodlands and Wetlands Trust – Will install native species trellis walls, a rainwater irrigation system for an existing green wall, and permeable paving to increase water retention on site.
Café Stepping Stone, Dickson – Will conduct a feasibility study to gather valuable insights and data to inform the long-term sustainability and maintenance of a green wall and assess how well such a project might mitigate urban heat.
From trees to planter boxes to garden beds, simple projects can cool the local climate and make the most of rainwater, also reducing the risk of flooding.
As well as being great for the natural environment, projects like this can help reinvigorate public spaces.
“Stepping Stone Social Enterprise aims to create a welcoming and inclusive community space for our employees and customers,” Café Stepping Stone CEO and Founder Vanessa Brettell said.
“This grant will enable us to improve the comfort of our space, especially in the heat of the afternoon sun and make the most of our Dickson cafe space, both indoors and outdoors through sustainable and green building methods.”
All grant recipients engaged with the local community and stakeholders to inform their projects.
Samsung recently launched the Galaxy Ring, a ground-breaking AI-powered healthcare device designed to seamlessly integrate into your daily routine and elevate your overall wellbeing[1]. As World Health Day approaches on 7 April 2025, the Galaxy Ring emerges as the perfect solution for individuals seeking to monitor and enhance both their physical and mental health1. Now available in South Africa, this wearable device blends state-of-the-art technology with sleek, stylish design for an all-encompassing wellness experience.
Enhance Your Health and Wellbeing with the Galaxy Ring
The Galaxy Ring is more than just a stylish accessory; it’s a personalised wellness tool that offers a wealth of health benefits. By continuously tracking your physical and mental health, it helps you take proactive steps toward a balanced lifestyle1. Whether it’s monitoring your heart rate, skin temperature, or stress levels, the Galaxy Ring provides real-time data that empowers you to make healthier choices every day.
Samsung has always been exceptional in creating products that focus on the user experience, and the Galaxy Ring continues this legacy. From improving sleep quality to enhancing mental wellbeing, this device is designed to help you live a healthier, more informed life.
Design and Comfort – A Device You’ll Want to Wear Every Day
Designed with both functionality and style in mind, the Galaxy Ring features a sleek, curved titanium[2] body that’s as lightweight as it is durable. Available in silver, gold, and black, the ring can be worn on any finger, ensuring comfort without sacrificing aesthetics. Additionally, LED lights on the ring indicate its charging status, so you’ll always know when it’s time to power up.
Advanced Technology for Precise Health Monitoring
Packed with advanced sensors, the Galaxy Ring provides reliable health insights[3]. These include an Optical Bio-signal Sensor, Skin Temperature Sensor, and Accelerometer. These sensors track critical health metrics, such as heart rate, body temperature, and physical activity, giving you a comprehensive overview of your health in real-time. By continuously monitoring both your physical and mental wellbeing, the Galaxy Ring helps you stay ahead of potential health concerns and empowers you to make data-driven decisions that improve your overall quality of life.
Long-lasting Battery and Seamless Experience
With a seven-day battery life on a single charge[4], the Galaxy Ring ensures that you spend more time tracking and less time charging. It also features automatic or manual pairing with your smartphone, allowing you to control calls with simple gestures—such as answering or ending calls directly from the device.
Size Matters – Find the Perfect Fit
To ensure comfort and the perfect fit, a Sizing Kit will be shipped directly to your home. Try on a sample ring for more than a day to make sure it’s just right before confirming your order.
Sleep Better with Personalised Insights
Sleep plays a crucial role in your overall health, and the Galaxy Ring provides essential tools to improve your sleep quality. With the Sleep Time Guidance feature, it offers personalised suggestions, including the optimal bedtime tailored to your unique sleep patterns. Additionally, the Sleep Score provides in-depth analysis of your sleep quality, including snore detection and actionable tips for better rest. Improving your sleep has never been easier.
Available in South Africa
The Galaxy Ring is now available in South Africa to let you embrace a more personalised and stylish approach to health and wellness. It is available in Samsung stores, online, the Samsung Shop App, as well as participating retailers and operators, at a recommended retail price of R7,999[5].
[1]Samsung Health tracking features are intended for general wellness and fitness purposes only. Not intended for use in detection, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring or management of any medical condition or disease. Any health related information accessed through the device and application should not be treated as medical advice. Users should seek any medical advice from a physician.
[2]Titanium is only applied on Galaxy Ring device frame.
[3]For Samsung Health AI features, the health data tracked from Samsung Galaxy Ring must be synchronised with the Samsung Health app. Needs at least the previous day’s activity and sleep data, and heart rate data during sleep. Not intended for use in detection, diagnosis, treatment of any medical condition.
[4]Based on the battery life of a size 13 product. Battery life will vary depending on ring size.
[5]Recommended Retail Price Only. Prices may vary per retailer.
Across the UK, Mother’s Day represented a vital revenue opportunity for the hospitality sector. Bars, restaurants, cafés and pubs would have anticipated a boost courtesy of family groups – and some spring-like weather. Sadly though, due to some harsh financial realities including higher tax and wage bills coming into force now, many of these establishments may not survive to serve customers next Mother’s Day.
The budget has introduced measures that are projected to directly increase the average hospitality wage bill by up to 8.5% thanks to increases in the minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions.
The UK’s most recent GDP figures showed the country’s economy shrank by 0.1% in January. But behind this small decline there was a more concerning trend. Trade in the hospitality industry fell by 2.4% – the biggest economic contraction among the figures – after it had shown promising growth of 0.9% in December.
It’s likely that customers saw so-called “awful April” on the horizon – bringing rises in a range of utility and consumer costs – and were beginning to curb their spending. But costs are rising for venues too. Many of those bars, cafés, restaurants and hotels that remain open will have to increase prices and cut opening hours to make the numbers add up.
Behind each closed pub or empty restaurant lies a story that goes far beyond its four walls. I’ve worked in the sector since my teenage years – from family-run establishments on the Northern Irish coast to venues in London and overseas – and I’ve seen firsthand how business closures affect people. Now, as a lecturer in hospitality, I can see what support this unique sector needs to weather the storm.
I have seen small seaside cafes where owners knew every customer by name, providing essential social connections for elderly visitors who may not have had another social interaction that day. When these cafes closed, the community bonds were severed overnight.
Every shuttered hotel or bar means people losing their livelihoods, perhaps mothers working part-time to balance employment and childcare or students funding their education. The impact of these closures is immediate and profound, and extends throughout the supply chain.
They affect the dairy farmer who supplied the milk, the baker who made fresh pastries each morning, and the technician who serviced the coffee machines. This interconnected web generated £121 billion in economic activity in 2022 across the UK.
Weddings and wakes
Pubs and cafes are more than just businesses. Often, they’re the beating hearts of communities. These are the spaces where neighbours stop to chat, where chance encounters bloom into lifelong friendships and romances, and where people come together for weddings and wakes. When the shutters come down, it represents a tear in the community fabric and threatens the cohesion of neighbourhoods.
As the gathering places where communities come together, pubs and cafes simultaneously create livelihoods that support those same communities. Hospitality in the UK employs an extraordinary 3.5 million people directly (and another three million indirectly through supply chains and support industries). This makes it the UK’s third largest employer, behind only retail and healthcare.
This dual role, as both social hub and major employer, makes these establishments uniquely valuable.
The stark GDP figures for hospitality at the start of 2025 expose a concerning shift in consumer habits, with fewer people choosing to book a table in a restaurant, instead making do with buying in groceries for a meal at home. This harks back to the times of COVID lockdowns. Even people who still visit hospitality venues are spending less per visit, compounding the revenue challenges.
When a family chooses to eat at home rather than visit their local restaurant, the impact extends far beyond that empty table. Farmers, delivery drivers, kitchen manufacturers and cleaning services (to name just some) all feel the pinch.
For the small businesses in the hospitality supply chain – many of which derive more than 80% of their income from the sector – this spending shift is an existential threat. Historically, such changes in consumer behaviour have been early indicators of broader economic downturns, making this pattern particularly worrying.
A VAT reduction offers a compelling solution for UK hospitality business. European countries like Italy and France charge 10% on “food for immediate consumption”, while in Greece it’s 13%. These are far below the UK’s 20%. A change along these lines could protect customers against price rises, improve business cash flow, and offset the wage and NI contribution increases.
And there is precedent for this. During the 2008 recession, Chancellor Alistair Darling cut VAT from 17.5% to 15% for 13 months as part of a stimulus. The following year’s budget reported “positive early signs” of lower prices supporting consumer spending.
But right now, this combination of rising costs and reduced consumer spending creates a perfect storm for an industry that has traditionally underpinned economic recoveries. With millions of people relying on hospitality for their livelihoods, this trajectory of decline must be corrected – or there will be profound implications for the wider pattern of economic growth across the UK.
Zoe Adjey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Faculty, staff and students, including then-Ph.D. student A.D. Carson, protest at Clemson University in 2016.AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins
Describing my 2017 appointment as a faculty member, the University of Virginia dubbed me the school’s “first” hip-hop professor. Even if the job title and the historic nature of the appointment might have merited it, the word was misleading.
Kyra Gaunt, a Black woman who is a foundational figure in the study of hip-hop, worked as a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Virginia from 1996 to 2002. Her book “The Games Black Girls Play,” which focuses on Black music practices, was published in 2006. I cited her in my work and in the interview I gave before accepting the job.
After pushback from readers online, UVA Today amended its original headline documenting my appointment and added Gaunt’s contributions to the article.
As a rapper and scholar, I have experienced and seen misleading hip-hop stories that highlight an impulse to inaccurately document the genre’s history and present. I raised this issue recently in a TikTok “office hours” video – part of a series in which I respond to audience questions from the vantage of hip-hop art and research.
The trend of misrepresenting hip-hop history isn’t unique to communications from places such as Johns Hopkins University or the University of Virginia.
In 2024, the publisher of musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s “Hip-Hop is History” described it as “the book only Questlove could write: a singular, definitive history” of hip-hop.
Questlove’s book is not, as the publisher claims, a definitive history. It might more accurately be described as Questlove’s take on hip-hop history, or a memoir. Without this necessary distinction, unknowing readers might misinterpret the publisher’s claims.
Questlove writes about finally coming to appreciate Southern rap in the 2000s. But Southern rap history predates Questlove’s appreciation by decades. It doesn’t begin when someone like him finally recognizes its importance.
Similarly, hip-hop doesn’t begin when it’s finally recognized by an exclusive institution or when someone gets a degree for it.
Lupe Fiasco will teach rap at Johns Hopkins University starting in fall 2025. Steve Jennings/WireImage
“Owning My Masters (Mastered)” is the next phase of the dissertation album project. Published in 2024, it contains new audio, video, images and historical context. It’s published with University of Michigan Press through the same process of an academic book.
“Owning My Masters (Mastered)” demonstrates how hip-hop resists the ways American history often excludes Black resistance, Black achievement, Black storytelling and, ultimately, Black people.
But the exclusion that my work highlights is muted when the seeming novelty of my job appointment or my dissertation album are the focus. When I’m asked if I’m the first person to earn a Ph.D. for making a rap album, I try to answer more expansively to avoid misleading anyone, or ignoring what might be more informative.
It’s also important to understand the barriers that might have made a project like mine impossible before 2017. These include technological barriers that made recording and releasing music prohibitively expensive. And, more specific to hip-hop, it involves a mistrust based on racist history that prevented students from even proposing such a project.
No such “first” happens without the unsung work of others creating the conditions to make it possible.
Undeniably, I believe important hip-hop texts, albums and moments should be studied and documented with academic rigor. But this should not solely focus on “firsts,” record sales or prestigious awards.
Hip-hop’s popularity, its constant revision and its accessibility make it a powerful vehicle for disrupting inaccurate, exclusionary and fabricated tales passed off as objective facts.
The media ecosystem in which hip-hop has thrived is also steeped with the scapegoating of its art and artists. This scapegoating is weaponized by critics to devalue the culture.
It seems unwise to me to trust institutions such as universities and the media to determine what’s deemed culturally significant. Along with influencers and podcasters who benefit from hip-hop, they can learn valuable lessons from it.
Their ability to determine what’s deemed culturally significant is especially problematic if their choices are primarily in exchange for revenue or credibility. If hip-hop is viewed as a cultural inheritance, then its value – and what’s considered historically important – may be better arbitrated by people in the culture, not outside forces.
A.D. Carson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Alcohol, whether consumed regularly or only on special occasions, takes a toll on your body. From your brain and heart, to your lungs and muscles, to your gastrointestinal and immune systems, alcohol has broad harmful effects on your health – including causing cancer.
Alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually. In comparison, alcohol-related vehicle crashes cause around 13,500 deaths each year in the U.S.
In 2000, the U.S. National Toxicology Program concluded that consuming alcoholic beverages is a known human carcinogen. In 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified alcohol a Group 1 carcinogen, the highest classification indicating there is enough evidence to conclude a substance causes cancer in people. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health concur that there is conclusive evidence that alcohol causes several types of cancer.
I am a researcher studying the biological effects of moderate and long-term alcohol consumption. My team is working to uncover some of the mechanisms behind how alcohol increases cancer risk, including damage to immune cellsand the liver.
The U.S. surgeon general called for including cancer risk in alcohol warning labels.
How does alcohol cause cancer?
Cancer occurs when cells grow uncontrollably in the body. Alcohol may lead to tumor formation by damaging DNA, causing mutations that disrupt normal cell division and growth.
Researchers have identified several mechanisms associated with alcohol and cancer development. A 2025 report from the U.S. surgeon general highlights four distinct ways alcohol can cause cancer: alcohol metabolism, oxidative stress and inflammation, alterations in hormone levels, and interactions with other carcinogens such as tobacco smoke.
Alcohol metabolism is the process by which the body breaks down and eliminates alcohol. When alcohol breaks down, its first byproduct is acetaldehyde, a chemical that is itself classified as a carcinogen. Researchers have found that certain genetic mutations can lead the body to break down alcohol faster, resulting in increased levels of acetaldehyde.
There is also considerable evidence that alcohol can trigger the body to release harmful molecules called free radicals. These molecules can damage DNA, proteins and lipids in cells in a process called oxidative stress. My lab has found that free radicals formed from alcohol consumption can directly affect how well cells make and break down proteins, resulting in abnormal proteins that promote inflammation that favors tumor formation.
Alcohol consumption is a highly preventable cause of cancer. However, there isn’t currently a way to determine someone’s personal cancer risk from alcohol. Each person’s individual genetic background, lifestyle, diet and other health factors can all influence the effects of alcohol on tumor formation. Nevertheless, rethinking your alcohol drinking habits can help protect your health and reduce your cancer risk.
Pranoti Mandrekar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Research estimates that one-third or more of the unhoused population in the U.S. is age 50 or older.
Unhoused people of all ages face high rates of chronic and serious illness. They also die at younger ages compared with people who are not unhoused.
Yet, there are few options for palliative and end-of-life care for unhoused people.
Palliative care is a type of medical care that addresses pain, symptom management and the social and emotional needs for people with a serious illness, such as cancer.
End-of-life care, such as hospice, is a type of palliative care for someone in the terminal stage of an illness and nearing the end of their life.
As a health care and aging researcher, I focus on social and policy issues that impact how people experience illness and who has access to the care they need. In my recent study, I interviewed 17 health care and social service providers in Colorado to understand how they try to address palliative and end-of-life needs for their unhoused clients.
Homelessness and end-of-life care
In 2024, Colorado saw a 30% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness from the year before. Nationally, 771,480 people — the highest number ever recorded — experienced homelessness last year.
As the number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. grows, so too does the need for palliative and end-of-life care for these individuals.
“We’re dealing with an inhumane lack of resources,” said one provider I interviewed.
Providers like this one described few good options for hospice placement for unhoused patients. They cited a lack of collaboration between health care and homeless services to coordinate care, and staffing shortages across health care and homelessness service providers, all of which made it difficult to provide care to unhoused people with serious illnesses.
Other studies have also found an overall lack of palliative resources for unhoused individuals across the U.S. and in other countries. Those include financial barriers for health care institutions to provide care to those without insurance coverage, a lack of palliative care knowledge among health care and homeless providers alike, and homeless shelters that are not equipped to support end-of-life care for residents.
“Shelters are not designed to take care of people like this. Hospices are also not designed to do this,” one provider said. “It’s a gap of care between the two organizations, and they really struggle with it.”
Many people experiencing homelessness are eligible for long-term care Medicaid benefits that will help pay for hospice in a nursing facility. However, long-term care and nursing facilities often have a limited number of beds available for Medicaid recipients and may even refuse unhoused patients.
A humanizing approach
Despite the lack of resources in Colorado and across the U.S., the providers I interviewed said they try to care for unhoused patients with humanizing approaches.
“Everyone is deserving of care,” said a medical social worker during one of the interviews. “Health care, housing – those are human rights, in my opinion.”
The providers prioritized building rapport and trust between homeless service providers and unhoused clients, and honoring the dignity and autonomy of these individuals.
“The approach we take is patient-centered …” one provider said. “It’s about showing someone respect no matter what’s going on socially in their life, and proving to them that you care, and showing up.”
One way that providers showed respect was by advocating for their unhoused clients when they noticed that colleagues or other agencies involved in their care were neglecting their needs or using stigmatizing language to talk about their clients.
“We try really hard to humanize these people because usually they’ve done some amazing stuff. … ‘Did you know that this person did this?’” one provider said. “So that it changes people’s automatic ‘She’s just a bipolar, homeless frequent flyer’ and trying to take away those labels. We love to find the gems and share them, because it stops people in their tracks.”
Another provider said, “We do a really good job of meeting people where they’re at, give them the choice of how much or how little support they want.”
Several providers described ways their agencies were trying to make positive change – for example, providers working within a hospital created a new service dedicated to providing case management to unhoused patients.
In Denver, several health systems have launched initiatives to try to fill the gaps in health care for their unhoused patients. For example, UCHealth and Denver Health have processes dedicated to improving discharge planning, connection to housing services and care continuity for unhoused patients with health needs.
Solutions
To better meet the palliative needs of unhoused Coloradans, several providers suggested more specialized palliative care services that exclusively serve unhoused patients. This could include mobile palliative care services that meet people at a shelter or on the streets.
Unhoused people are more likely to die on the streets or in hospitals than people who are housed. Ruben Earth/GettyImages
My study suggests that a deeper compassion for patients experiencing homelessness, palliative or not, is an important approach for health care organizations and their providers to take, even when resources are sparse. This approach can lead to better patient satisfaction and improve health outcomes for unhoused people.
Another solution — and one that starts before unhoused people need palliative care — is better housing solutions. Providers said many of the gaps in care for unhoused people would be solved if housing were more affordable and accessible.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin
April 04, 2025
Durbin, Sanders to Trump: “Ideas are not illegal, and there is no controversial speech exception to the First Amendment. No president should be allowed to exclude or remove people from our country simply because they disagree with their political speech.”
WASHINGTON – Following the arrests of Rumeysa Ozturk, Mahmoud Khalil, and reports of numerous other students, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today called on President Donald Trump to release all those targeted solely for political activities protected by the First Amendment and immediately terminate all removal proceedings against those individuals.
“We understand Ms. Ozturk’s case to be a part of a pattern of retaliatory action to punish lawful immigrant and foreign students for publicly expressing opinions that your Administration opposes. This effort threatens the fundamental right to engage in free speech and expression under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the Senators wrote in a letter to President Trump.
On March 6, the State Department reportedly began a “Catch and Revoke” initiative to use artificial intelligence to review the social media accounts of lawful immigrant and foreign students and revoke their green cards or visas, giving immigration enforcement authorities a basis to detain and deport them. To justify the arrest and detention of Mr. Khalil, Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used authority that allows him to deport a noncitizen for “beliefs, statements, or associations” if he “personally determines” that there is a “compelling foreign policy interest” for such deportation.
“Congress intended for this authority to ‘be used sparingly and not merely because there is a likelihood that [a noncitizen] will make critical remarks about the United States or its policies.’ Yet, federal agents have arrested noncitizens (including lawful permanent residents) around the country in retaliation for political affiliations or activity,” the Senators wrote. “Secretary Rubio admitted that he has revoked the visas of hundreds of students for First-Amendment protected speech that is disfavored by the current Administration.”
Their letter continues, “Ideas are not illegal, and there is no controversial speech exception to the First Amendment. No president should be allowed to exclude or remove people from our country simply because they disagree with their political speech.”
Their letter concludes, “No one is above the law, and even you must uphold and respect the fundamental American values of free speech and political dissent.”
Full text of today’s letter is available here and below:
April 4, 2025
Dear President Trump:
Last week, Tufts University Ph.D. candidate Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested and placed in an unmarked car by unknown agents in plainclothes—some masked—claiming to be police. The agents did not identify themselves or give Ms. Ozturk any information for her arrest and detention. By the time a judge could issue an order to keep her in Massachusetts, she had been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana. We understand Ms. Ozturk’s case to be a part of a pattern of retaliatory action to punish lawful immigrant and foreign students for publicly expressing opinions that your Administration opposes. This effort threatens the fundamental right to engage in free speech and expression under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
On March 6, the State Department reportedly began a “Catch and Revoke” initiative to use artificial intelligence to review the social media accounts of lawful immigrant and foreign students and revoke their green cards or visas, giving immigration enforcement authorities a basis to detain and deport them. On March 8, federal authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University and lawful permanent resident. White House officials made clear that he broke no laws, and Mr. Khalil was not issued any official notice explaining why he was subject to removal until after his arrest. To justify his arrest and detention, Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a rarely used authority that allows him to deport a noncitizen for “beliefs, statements, or associations” if he “personally determines” that there is a “compelling foreign policy interest” for such deportation.
Congress intended for this authority to “be used sparingly and not merely because there is a likelihood that [a noncitizen] will make critical remarks about the United States or its policies.” Yet, federal agents have arrested noncitizens (including lawful permanent residents) around the country in retaliation for political affiliations or activity. Secretary Rubio admitted that he has revoked the visas of hundreds of students for First-Amendment protected speech that is disfavored by the current Administration.
The First Amendment protects both citizens and noncitizens in the United States from being targeted by the government for their political speech, even if we strongly disagree with their views. Noncitizens like Mr. Khalil and Ms. Ozturk have the constitutional right to freedom of expression, including taking part in demonstrations and publicly expressing opinions critical of government policy.
Ideas are not illegal, and there is no controversial speech exception to the First Amendment. No president should be allowed to exclude or remove people from our country simply because they disagree with their political speech. In the words of Justice Robert H. Jackson, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion […].”
We call on you to abandon this effort, release all those targeted solely for political activities protected by the First Amendment, and immediately terminate all removal proceedings against those individuals. No one is above the law, and even you must uphold and respect the fundamental American values of free speech and political dissent.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin
April 05, 2025
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement regarding Senate Republicans advancing their budget resolution, which proposes cuts to Medicaid, the Social Security Administration (SSA), veterans’ benefits, and more to pay for tax cuts for billionaires:
“Last night, Senate Democrats were on the Senate floor fighting for working families one amendment at a time while Republicans struck down each one. Their message was clear: Let’s give billionaires a tax break and have everyday Americans pay for it by slashing Medicaid, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and more.
“If Republicans continue to push forward with their cruel and unpopular budget resolution, working families will lose and billionaires will win. It is simple and devastating math.”
House Republicans have proposed $880 billion in cuts to the Medicaid program in order to pay for President Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires, and Senate Republicans have similarly put this program in the crosshairs. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program provide health coverage to approximately 80 million people nationwide—including nearly 40 million kids, or nearly half of all children in America, as well as 60 percent of seniors in nursing homes. In addition, Medicaid is the largest funder of addiction and mental health treatment.
In Illinois, 3.4 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, including 1.5 million children. In Illinois, Medicaid covers nearly half of all births, two-thirds of nursing home residents, the majority of patients with behavioral health needs, and is a lifeline for children’s and rural hospitals. Under Republican plans to slash Medicaid, 775,000 adults in Illinois who gained health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act could lose coverage almost overnight.
Sunderland venues are signing up to support breastfeeding mothers and their families through the Breastfeeding Friendly Sunderland Pledge.
Venues across the city are now proudly displaying the Breastfeeding Friendly Sunderland logo after signing up to be friendly and welcoming places for breastfeeding mothers. Cafes, restaurants, leisure centres and more have now joined this pledge, helping mothers feel comfortable and confident to breastfeed their babies when they’re out and about in the city.
Councillor Kelly Chequer, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Safer Communities at Sunderland City Council, said: “We’re really excited about rolling out the Breastfeeding Friendly Sunderland Pledge, which is all about creating friendly and welcoming places for breastfeeding mams and families.
“This is a real step forward in making our city more supportive and welcoming for breastfeeding, one of the most natural things in the world with benefits for baby’s and mother’s health too.”
“Legally, women can breastfeed in any public space and when you see the Breastfeeding Friendly Sunderland logo, you know that the venue has staff and volunteers who support breastfeeding mothers and that there will be a clean and comfortable place to breastfeed in.
“We’re delighted that over 30 venues have already signed up to the pledge and we’re looking forward to seeing more signing up in the coming months, making it easier for breastfeeding mothers to get out and about and enjoy everything our city has to offer.”
Breastfeeding has numerous health benefits for both babies and mothers. It provides essential nutrients, strengthens the baby’s immune system, helps women recover after birth, and can even lower the risk of some cancers. Also, it’s eco-friendly and free.
Registered venues include Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Creative City Smart Hubs, Family Hubs, University of Sunderland, Everyone Active Centres, Sunderland City Council Registrars, local restaurants, cafes and community venues. Just look for the Breastfeeding Friendly Sunderland logo to find them.
The owner of Coffee 57 Michael Johnson said: “We are more than happy to support the initiative, and hope we play a part in making it a success.”
Tamsin Austin, Venue Director at The Fire Station, stated: “As an inclusive venue it’s important to us that we provide a safe and welcoming space for all, which includes mothers who wish to breastfeed their babies. We’re delighted to be part of Breastfeeding Friendly Sunderland to show our support for families in Sunderland and beyond.”
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Additional funding will help community organisations to continue assisting Canberrans.
A new ACT Government funding package will give a one-off financial boost to non-government health sector organisations.
This will help community organisations that face financial pressures. These may be because of increased costs or service demand.
The extra funding will support these organisations to deliver vital services over the next year.
Organisations receiving funding include:
Arthritis ACT
Asthma ACT
Australian Breastfeeding organisation
Capital Region Cancer Relief
Companion House
Diabetes Australia
Directions Health Care
Epilepsy ACT
Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation
Haemophilia Foundation
Interchange Health Co-op
KidSafe ACT
MSI Australia
Palliative Care ACT
RSI Overuse Foundation
Women’s Health Matters.
Community Assistance and Temporary Supports program
This package also includes more funding for the Community Assistance and Temporary Supports (CATS) program.
The program provides support for people experiencing difficulties with daily living. These could be due to a short-term health issue, illness or injury.
Organisations included in funding for CATS include:
ADACAS
Anglicare
Capital Region Community Services
Carers ACT
Community Services #1
Life without Barriers
Northside Community Services.
Chifley Health and Wellbeing Centre
More funding will help ensure gym services to continue at the Chifley Health and Wellbeing Centre.
The gym closed in April 2024. Since then, the government has worked to find a new service provider to ensure this valued service can continue.
The government is speaking with the preferred providers and expects to announce a new service provider soon.
With this funding, the new provider will be able to re-establish the service as quickly as possible.
The ACT Government will continue to engage with the wider sector on the findings of previous reports and recommendations.
It continues to seek better understanding of community needs, the costs involved in delivering services to the community, and the cost pressures non-government organisations face in the ACT.
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