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National Efforts (national + effort)
Selected AbstractsHigh School, Community Colleges, and Universities: Partners in Teacher Education and National EffortsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, Issue 121 2003Fred Gaskin This chapter focuses on the activities and outcomes of the Teacher Education Partnership Commission in Arizona and the efforts of the newly formed National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs. [source] On the Tasks of a Population Commission: A 1971 Statement by Donald RumsfeldPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 3 2003Article first published online: 20 APR 200 In its most familiar form, analytic assessment of the impact of demographic change on human affairs is the product of a decentralized cottage industry: individual scholars collecting information, thinking about its meaning, testing hypotheses, and publishing their findings. Guidance through the power of the purse and through institutional design that creates and sustains cooperating groups of researchers can impose some order and coherence on such spontaneous activity. But the sum total of the result may lack balance and leave important aspects of relevant issues inadequately explored. Even when research findings are picked up by the media and reach a broader public, the haphazardness of that process helps further to explain why the salience of population change to human welfare and its importance in public policymaking are poorly understood. The syndrome is not unique to the field of population, but the typically long time-lags with which aggregate population change affects economic and social phenomena make it particularly difficult for the topic to claim public attention. A time-tested, if less than fool-proof remedy is the periodic effort to orchestrate a systematic and thorough examination of the causes, consequences, and policy implications of demographic processes. Because the most potent frame for policymaking is the state, the logical primary locus for such stocktaking is at the country level. The Commission on Population Growth and the American Future was a uniquely ambitious enterprise of this sort. The Commission was established by the US Congress in 1970 as a result of a presidential initiative. Along with the work of two earlier British Royal Commissions on population, this US effort, mutatis mutandis, can serve as a model for in-depth examinations conducted at the national level anywhere. Chaired by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the Commission submitted its final report to President Richard M. Nixon in March 1972. The background studies to the report were published in seven hefty volumes; an index to these volumes was published in 1975. Reproduced below is a statement to the Commission delivered on April 14, 1971 by Donald Rumsfeld, then Counsellor to President Nixon and in charge of the Office of Economic Opportunity. (Currently, Mr. Rumsfeld serves as US Secretary of Defense.) The brief statement articulates with great clarity the objectives of the Commission and the considerations that prompted them. The text originally appeared in Vol. 7 (pp. 1-3) of the Commission's background reports, which contains the statements at public hearings conducted by the Commission. National efforts toward comprehensive scientific reviews of population issues have their analogs at the international level. Especially notable on that score were the preparatory studies presented at the 1954 Rome and 1965 Belgrade world population conferences. The world population conferences that took place in Bucharest in 1974, in Mexico City in 1984, and in Cairo in 1994 were intergovernmental and political rather than scientific and technical meetings, but they also generated a fair amount of prior research. The year 2004 will break the decadal sequence of large-scale international meetings on population, and apart from the quadrennial congresses of the IUSSP, which showcase the voluntary research offerings of its members, none is being planned for the coming years. A partial substitute will be meetings organized by the UN's regional economic and social commissions. The first of these took place in 2002 for the Asia-Pacific region; the meetings for the other regions will be held in 2003-04. The analytic and technical contribution of these meetings, however, is expected to be at best modest. National efforts of the type carried out 30 years ago by the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future would be all the more salutary. [source] Modern India and the vitamin D dilemma: Evidence for the need of a national food fortification programMOLECULAR NUTRITION & FOOD RESEARCH (FORMERLY NAHRUNG/FOOD), Issue 8 2010Uma S. Babu Abstract India is located between 8.4 and 37.6°N latitude with the majority of its population living in regions experiencing ample sunlight throughout the year. Historically, Indians obtained most of their vitamin D through adequate sun exposure; however, darker skin pigmentation and the changes which have accompanied India's modernization, including increased hours spent working indoors and pollution, limit sun exposure for many. Inadequate sun exposure results in reduced vitamin D synthesis and ultimately poor vitamin D status if not compensated by dietary intake. Dietary vitamin D intake is very low in India because of low consumption of vitamin D rich foods, absence of fortification and low use of supplements. All these factors contribute to poor vitamin D status as measured by low circulating levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D. Our review searches the published literature specific to India for evidence that would confirm the need to fortify food staples with vitamin D or stimulate public health policies for vitamin D supplementation and dietary guidelines tailored to the Indian diet. This review documents findings of widespread vitamin D deficiency in Indian populations in higher and lower socioeconomic strata, in all age groups, in both genders and people in various professions. Moreover, poor vitamin D status in India is accompanied by increased bone disorders including osteoporosis, osteomalacia in adults and rickets and other bone deformities in children. Without a concerted national effort to screen for vitamin D status, to implement policies or guidelines for vitamin D fortification and/or supplementation and to re-assess recommended dietary intake guidelines, dramatic increase in the number of bone disorders and other diseases may lie ahead. [source] Coming In: An Examination of People With Co-Occurring Substance Use and Serious Mental Illness Exiting Chronic HomelessnessAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2009Alisa K. Lincoln PhD Despite national efforts, the number of people who are chronically homeless in our cities remains high. People with serious mental illness and substance abuse problems continue to represent the majority of those experiencing long-term homelessness. Traditional shelters have difficulty engaging and addressing the needs of this group; however, there are an increasing number of alternative models, including the Safe Haven shelter program, developed to better meet their needs. In this article, the authors examine responses from 28 qualitative interviews conducted with 16 residents of a Safe Haven shelter serving chronically homeless people, at 3 and 9 months after entry. All had a severe mental illness and were actively substance abusing. The importance of a model that respects personhood, a place that feels like home, and challenges faced by residents as they "come in" are emphasized. [source] Declining Antibiotic Prescriptions for Upper Respiratory Infections, 1993,2004ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 4 2007Stefan G. Vanderweil BA Abstract Objectives: To examine antibiotic prescribing trends for U.S. emergency department (ED) visits with upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) between 1993 and 2004. Methods: Data were compiled from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). URI visits were identified by using ICD-9-CM code 465.9, whereas antibiotics were identified using the National Drug Code Directory class Antimicrobials. A multivariate logistic regression model revealed sociodemographic and geographic factors that were independently associated with receipt of an antibiotic prescription for URIs. Results: There were approximately 23.4 million ED visits diagnosed as URIs between 1993 and 2004. Although the proportion of URI diagnoses remained relatively stable (p trend = 0.26), a significant decrease in provision of antibiotic prescriptions for URIs occurred during this 12-year period, from a maximum of 55% in 1993, to a minimum of 35% in 2004. Patients who were prescribed antibiotics were more likely to be white than African American and to have been treated in EDs located in the southern United States. Conclusions: Antibiotic prescribing for URIs continues to decrease, a favorable trend that suggests that national efforts to reduce inappropriate antibiotic usage are having some success. Nevertheless, the frequency of antibiotic treatment for URI in the ED remains high (35%). Future efforts to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing may focus on patients and physicians in southern U.S. EDs. Additional work is needed to address continued evidence of race-related disparities in care. [source] | ||||||||||