Announcements
CONFERENCES

The Conference will take place in the Portopia Hotel and the adjoining International Conference Center, and the Kobe International Exhibition Halls, in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture from 18-22 January 2005.

This conference aims to:

• Report on the review of the Yokohama Strategy and its Plan of Action, with a view to updating the guiding framework on disaster reduction for the 21st century.
  
  
• Identify specific activities aimed at ensuring the implementation of relevant provisions of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (1) on vulnerability, risk assessment and disaster management.
  
  
• Share best practices and lessons learned to further disaster reduction within the context of sustainable development, and to identify gaps and challenges.
  
  
• Increase awareness of the importance of disaster reduction policies, thereby facilitating and promoting the implementation of those policies.
  
  
• Increase the reliability and availability of appropriate disaster-related information to the public and disaster management agencies in all regions, as set out in relevant provisions of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

Based on the objectives, the main outcome of the Conference is foreseen in the following areas:

• Increased awareness, recognition and political endorsement for implementing disaster risk reduction and mobilizing local, national and international resources.
  
  
• Clearer directions and priorities for action at international, regional, national and local levels to ensure implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and to support the achievement of the objectives of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Millennium Development Goals.
  
  
• Adoption of a set of goals and policy measures to guide and stimulate the implementation of disaster risk reduction, both on what to achieve and 'how-to-do' risk reduction.
  
  
• Launching of specific initiatives and partnerships to support the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

For more information, see: http://www.unisdr.org/eng/wcdr/wcdr-index.htm

* If you are a U.S. citizen or resident, you may need special U.S. government authorization to travel to Cuba. Please contact Bob Guild bguild@marazul.com at Marazul Charters for details.

The Editorial de Ciencias Médicas (Medical Sciences Publishing House) recently released the book Control de Calidad en la Atención de Salud(Quality Control in Health Care), by Benito Narey Ramos Domínguez, Consulting Professor, 2nd Degree Specialist in Health Administration, Member of the Editorial Staff of the Revista Cubana de Salud Pública (Cuban Journal of Public Health), and Head of the Health Department at the Comandante Manuel Fajardo Faculty of Medical Sciences in Havana.

The author gives a wide review on quality control in health services. As Dr. Francisco Rojas Ochoa says in the prologue to the book, “it implicitly reflects the aspects that…constitute the essential elements of quality in health services: a) professional excellence (in the technical and, not least important, ethical conduct); b) the efficient use of resources, so that economic evaluation becomes unnecessary; c) patient safety and minimum risk in health care interventions; and e) efficacy of the service and the final result obtained.”

This book is available online at: http://bvs.sld.cu/libros/control_decalidaddelaatencion_desalud/indice_h.htm

Also published by the Editorial de Ciencias Médicas (Medical Sciences Publishing House) , is the new book Examen Clínico al Recién Nacido(Clinical Examination of the Newborn). Throughout 18 chapters, it discusses the most outstanding aspects of the newborn using an integral approach. Special emphasis is placed on the symptoms and signs typical of this early age, as well as the most important physiopathological aspects for carrying out correct diagnosis and rationally applying the most useful and representative complementary tests.

The study was carried out by a group of pediatricians, neonatologists and specialists in other disciplines headed by Drs. Reina G. Valdés Armenteros and Dulce M. Reyes Izquierdo, neonatologists with vast experience, both 2 nd Degree Specialists in Pediatrics and professors at the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana (Instituto Superior de Ciencias Médicas de la Habana). Dr. Dulce Maria Reyes was the first specialist in neonatology in Cuba (1973).

The book is available online at: http://bvs.sld.cu/libros/examen_clinicodelreciennacido/indice_p.htm

¿ Qué Nos Pasa en la Pubertad ? (What Happens to Us During Puberty? ) , published by Editorial Pueblo y Educación (Pueblo y Educación Publishing House) with the support of the Cuban Ministry of Education and the United Nations Population Fund, is a book that tries to give answers to multiple questions which arise during this important stage of life. The author, Mariela Castro Espin, is a Psychology and Education graduate with a Master's degree in Human Sexuality, director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX; www.cenesex.sld.cu) and director of the journal Sexología y Sociedad, (Sexuality and Society; www.cubasexologia.com).

The book appeared as part of the Program "Towards a Responsible and Happy Sexuality" and was based on the concerns of a group of adolescents, mainly from the capital, the central provinces and Santiago de Cuba province. In its 75 pages, the author emphasizes that “being different is normal” and uses very pleasant and audacious scientific language that blends well with the intelligent illustrations created by the author. While many books addressing the same themes have been available in Cuba previously, this is the first publication of its kind written by Cubans, for Cubans.

A first edition of 10,000 copies is already being distributed free in all secondary schools and the nationwide library network. It will also be sold for national currency at the Havana Book Fair in February.

At present it is being adapted to other media, including multimedia, tape recordings for children with sight impairment and even a series of cartoons for broadcasting on Cuban television.

In October, 2004 the International Red Cross released World Disasters Report 2004: Focus on Community Resilience ( http://www.ifrc.org/publicat/wdr2004/). Outlining goals and steps aid organizations can take to augment, rather than impede, community resiliency, the report states that “in the hours after sudden disaster strikes, most lives are saved by the courage and resourcefulness of friends and neighbors. During slow-onset crises such as drought, some rural societies have developed extraordinary capacities to cope and bounce back." Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of a popular, participatory education approach that empowers communities to define their particular needs and design sustainable solutions.

The report features:

• From risk to resilience - helping communities cope with crisis
• Disaster data: key trends and statistics
• Heat waves: the developed world's hidden disaster
• Building community resilience to disaster in the Philippines
• AIDS: Communities pulling out of a downward spiral
• Surviving in the slums