Global7 the new Millennial Renaissance Vision for the Globe
Obama highlights science education
E-mail|Link|Comments (1)Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor November 23, 2009 11:44 AM
In his latest bid to spotlight science education, President Obama today kicked off an “Educate to Innovate” campaign to help boost US students from middle-of-the- pack mediocrity internationally in science and math achievement to the head of the class over the next decade.
Obama announced $260 million in partnerships involving the federal government, companies, foundations, nonprofits, and science and engineering societies.
“Reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century,” the president said in a statement.
In his remarks, Obama also announced he will host a White House science fair starting next year.
The White House background paper is below:
WHITE HOUSE RELEASE
Today at the White House, President Obama launched the “Educate to Innovate” campaign, a nationwide effort to help reach the administration’s goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.
President Obama announced a series of partnerships involving leading companies, universities, foundations, non-profits, and organizations representing millions of scientists, engineers and teachers that will motivate and inspire young people across the country to excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
President Obama believes that reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century.
A growing number of jobs require STEM skills, and America needs a world-class STEM workforce to address the “grand challenges” of the 21st century, such as developing clean sources of energy that reduce our dependence on foreign oil and discovering cures for diseases.
Success on these fronts will require improving STEM literacy for all students; expanding the pipeline for a strong and innovative STEM workforce; and greater focus on opportunities and access for groups such as women and underrepresented minorities.
In a speech to the National Academies of Sciences this spring, President Obama announced a commitment to raise America from the middle to the top of the pack internationally in STEM education over the next decade.
At that time President Obama also challenged governors, philanthropists, scientists, engineers, educators, and the private sector to join with him in a national campaign to engage young people in these fields. The partnerships announced today are the initial response to this “call to action.”
Additionally, to help meet this goal, the President’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top fund provides a competitive advantage to states that commit to a comprehensive strategy to improve STEM education.
Race to the Top will challenge states to dramatically improve their schools and student achievement by raising standards, using data to improve decisions and inform instruction, improving teacher effectiveness, using innovative and effective approaches to turn around struggling schools and making it possible for STEM professionals to bring their experience and enthusiasm into the classroom.
These reforms will help prepare America’s students to graduate ready for college and career, and enable them to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world.
Public Private Partnerships
Time Warner Cable’s “Connect a Million Minds” Campaign: Time Warner Cable, in partnership with FIRST Robotics and the Coalition for Science After School, is launching a campaign to connect over one million students to highly-engaging after-school STEM activities that already exist in their area.
Time Warner Cable will use its media platform, Public Service Announcements, 47,000 employees, and a “connectamillionminds.com” website where over 70,000 parents and community members have already pledged to connect a child to STEM.
Time Warner Cable has made a commitment of $100 million over the next five years to support this campaign, and will target 80 percent of its corporate philanthropy to STEM.
Discovery Communications’ “Be the Future” Campaign: Discovery Communications, in partnership with leading research universities and federal agencies, is launching a five-year, $150 million cash and in-kind “Be the Future” campaign. This will create content that reaches more than 99 million homes, including a PSA campaign across Discovery's 13 U.S. networks, a dedicated commercial-free educational kids block on the Science Channel, and programming on the “grand challenges” of the 21st century such as their landmark Curiosity series.
Discovery Education will also create rich, interactive education content that it will deliver at no cost to approximately 60,000 schools, 35 million students, and 1 million educators, and through a partnership with the Siemens Foundation, will create STEM Connect, a national education resource for teachers.
Sesame Street’s Early STEM Literacy Initiative: Celebrating its 40th Anniversary, and with First Lady Michelle Obama appearing on the first episode, Sesame Street, in partnership with PNC Bank, is announcing a major focus on science and math for young children and a $7.5 million investment in the effort.
Sesame Street’s new season kicked-off with “My World is Green & Growing,” which will be part of a two-year science initiative designed to increase positive attitudes towards nature, deepen children’s knowledge about the natural world and encourage behavior that shows respect and care for the environment.
Twenty of the 26 new episodes will have a focus on STEM; 13 focus on science and seven focus on math. In addition, Sesame Workshop, in partnership with PNC Bank’s Grow Up Great Program, is announcing a new math initiative for preschool children entitled Math is Everywhere.
“National Lab Day,” Bringing Hands-on Learning to Every Student: National Lab Day is a historic grassroots effort, online at nationallabday.org, to bring hands-on learning to 10 million students by upgrading science labs, supporting project-based learning, and building communities of support for STEM teachers.
The effort is a partnership between science and engineering societies representing more than 2.5 million STEM professionals and almost 4 million educators, with strong financial support from the Hidary Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and industry partners.
Collectively, this partnership is committed to working with more than 10,000 teachers and 1 million students within a year, and 100,000 teachers and 10 million students over the next four years.
National STEM Game Design Competitions: The MacArthur Foundation, Sony Computer Entertainment America, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and its partners (the Information Technology Industry Council, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, and Microsoft) are launching a nationwide set of competitions that include the design of the most compelling, freely-available STEM-related videogames for children and youth.
The competitions will include the 2010 Digital Media and Learning Competition, a $2 million yearly effort supported by the MacArthur Foundation that advances the most innovative approaches to learning through games, social networks and mobile devices.
One of the competitions will be open only to children, to help them develop 21st century knowledge and skills through the challenge of game design. This year Sony will participate in one segment of the competition and encourage the development of new games that build on the existing popular video game Little Big Planet.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines!
Global7 the new Millennial Renaissance Vision for the Globe
New Cervival Cancer Screening Guidelines: No More 'Annual' Pap Smears
Doctors Say Young Women Can Wait for First Pap, and Get Them Less Often
By LAUREN COX and Dr. JOSHUA HUNDERT
ABC News Medical Unit
Nov. 20, 2009—
Pap smears may no longer be called "annuals" if doctors follow new cervical cancer screening recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The group announced today that women should start getting cervical cancer screenings at age 21 instead of 18, and that women could wait longer between the screenings -- regardless of when a woman starts having sex.
Women in their 20s with normal Pap smear results now should get screenings every two years instead of every year, and women in their 30s can wait three years between screenings, according to the new ACOG guidelines.
After a week of uproar over the controversial recommendations for less mammogram screenings for women, doctors say they will have to wait and see how the public reacts to the new pap smear guidelines.
"This is not a radical change in screening practices. This is something that's been coming gradually since the 1980s," said Dr. Alan G. Waxman, who helped write the new guidelines.
Some doctors hailed the decision as a way to reduce a host of problems caused by excessive screening; yet, a few others worried it might trigger more women to neglect annual checkups with gynecologists.
Waxman said the move toward fewer screenings will reduce unnecessary treatment in young women and protect them from future pregnancy complications.
On one hand, college-aged women have very high HPV infection rates. Dr. John Curtin, of The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City said 70 percent of all college-aged sexually active people have contracted HPV. These high infection rates translate into a high number of abnormal pap smears.
However, the ACOG guidelines point out that only 0.1 percent of cervical cancer occurs in women under 21 years of age in part, doctors believe, because young women's immune systems are strong enough to fight off HPV before it causes cancer. When dysplasias progress to cancers it's usually a result of older women missing screenings for years at a time; 50 percent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer each year never had a pap smear before, according to the ACOG statement.
And some research has suggested the diagnostic surgery that often follow an abnormal result can pose problems for future pregnancies in some women.
"The driving force behind the change was the numerous studies that show women who are treated for cervical dysplasias are more likely to have a preterm birth," said Waxman, who is a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Unnecessary HPV Treatment Can Lead to Pregnancy Problems
Waxman explained that the LEEP procedure to remove precancerous tissue often caused by an infection with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, also weakens the cervix. In fact, it's estimated, one in 18 women who've had a LEEP procedure will go on to give birth prematurely.
But, he added, new studies have shown "with most of the cervical abnormalities in adolescents, most of them get better by themselves. ... The thought is that these are the people who have most of their child-bearing years in front of them."
The ACOG recommendations cite studies showing that up to 90 percent of these infections are cleared on their own in adolescents within a few years.
The measure also was intended to reduce anxiety in young women who may struggle with the news that they are infected with a sexually transmitted virus known to cause cancer.
"I was convinced I was dying, that I had cancer. There was not enough education back then," said Nicole C., a resident of La Porte, Texas, who was diagnosed at age 22 with cervical dysplasia -- an abnormal Pap smear -- caused by HPV. "My doctor at the time made me feel horrible about myself, accusing me of not being truthful about how many partners I'd had."
Reducing Anxiety Now and Later On
Nicole, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons, had her first abnormal Pap smear in 1998. As the years passed, more of her friends were diagnosed with cervical dysplasia in their 20s.
As Nicole started serving as an impromptu counselor to explain how HPV is spread, she aimed to soothe fears and reduce the stigma.
"If I had known more back then, I would not have freaked out about it," she said. "I wished they had done that [changed the guidelines] years ago."
Many doctors say they recognize the same anxiety on their young patients' faces.
"Yes, the diagnosis of an abnormal Pap can cause emotional distress to an adolescent girl, and I have certainly seen that," said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. "[Cervical biopsies] and repeat Pap smears with visits cost a lot of money."
In fact, some doctors felt the new recommendations did not go far enough.
Dr. Diane Harper of the University of Missouri-Kansas, who specializes in HPV infections, felt that ACOG is behind the other recommending bodies in the United States that argue screening should start at age 25, not age 21.
"There is ample evidence that screening earlier than 25 years is only costly with many false positives," said Harper. "The rest of the world is going to an every-five-or-six-year screening interval ... and ACOG is now just endorsing the three-year interval for HPV negative and Pap negative [women]."
Doctors speaking to ABCNews.com also said they felt the best way to prevent more cancer deaths wasn't to re-screen women who are already seeing doctors regularly, but to try to get women who aren't getting screenings at all into the doctors.
"Whether we screen everybody every two or three years isn't probably not going to make a big difference I don't think, just as long as they are getting screened," said Curtin. "The fact remains there are unscreened patients and they are at risk for cancer."
Doctors speaking to ABCNews.com also said they felt the best way to prevent more cancer deaths wasn't to re-screen women who are already seeing doctors regularly, but to try to get women who aren't getting screenings at all into the doctors.
"Whether we screen everybody every two or three years is probably not going to make a big difference, just as long as they are getting screened," said Curtin. "The fact remains there are unscreened patients and they are at risk for cancer."
Negative Effects of Fewer Pap Smears Unknown
On the other hand, many women admit that the only reason they go to a doctor is for an annual Pap smear and contraception. For those reasons, some doctors worry such women won't receive any medical checkups at all.
"Honestly, the first time it was discovered, I was going to Planned Parenthood for contraception because I had just become sexually active. It was only my second partner," said Alicia, a 32-year-old woman from New Orleans who also did not want her last name used.
Alicia had her first abnormal Pap smear when she was 18.
"I cried, and I really, really freaked out," she said.
But the task of treating her abnormal Pap smears made her aware of her health.
"That was a pivotal moment in my life," she said. "I started doing things better. I started getting into gardening and doing things to calm down."
Dr. Donnica Moore, president of Sapphire Women's Health Group and an obstetrician-gynecologist by training, worried that the new guidelines might keep women who've had a normal Pap smear, or no symptoms, away from the doctor.
"Women may now assume -- incorrectly -- that if they only need a Pap smear every two or three years, then they only need to see their gynecologist every two to three years, and for many of these women, their gynecologist is their primary care physician," said Moore. "Thus, they will not be getting a routine physical, breast exam, blood pressure measurement, and sexually-transmitted infection testing."
Changing Recommendations on Pap Smears
However, Friday's changes aren't the first to affect cervical cancer screenings. Over the years, doctors have scaled back on cervical cancer screening schedules after more research proved less frequent screenings were effective.
"It is about time this occurred," said Dr. Mark Einstein of the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. "Oftentimes, young women are put into a 'high-risk' category, clinically, because they have a [positive] Pap test that is essentially just a sign of an HPV infection -- but it is not clinically relevant. This leads to anxiety and over-testing."
Dr. Joanna Cain of Brown University agreed, and argued that the HPV vaccine will further decrease the transmission of the virus that is responsible for up to 70 percent of cancers in the coming years.
Below is a timeline of changes to cervical cancer screenings over the years, according to Waxman:
1957 -- The American Cancer Society runs a nationwide campaign for women to get a Pap test every year.
1976 -- Canadian health leaders examine data and recommend a woman get a Pap smear every two years, after a woman has three consecutive normal Pap smears.
1980 -- The American Cancer Society follows Canadian guidelines recommending a woman get a Pap smear every two years after three consecutive normal Pap smears.
1988 -- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends starting screening at 18, or with the onset of sexual activity and getting a Pap test every year. But after three negative Pap tests, women should be screened less often.
2003 -- ACOG guidelines shift from recommending the first Pap smear at age 18 or the onset of intercourse to age 21 or three years after the onset of intercourse.
2008 -- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines shift to recommend adolescents who have a minor abnormality on a Pap test wait to get biopsies and a diagnostic test called a colposcopy.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
New Cervival Cancer Screening Guidelines: No More 'Annual' Pap Smears
Doctors Say Young Women Can Wait for First Pap, and Get Them Less Often
By LAUREN COX and Dr. JOSHUA HUNDERT
ABC News Medical Unit
Nov. 20, 2009—
Pap smears may no longer be called "annuals" if doctors follow new cervical cancer screening recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The group announced today that women should start getting cervical cancer screenings at age 21 instead of 18, and that women could wait longer between the screenings -- regardless of when a woman starts having sex.
Women in their 20s with normal Pap smear results now should get screenings every two years instead of every year, and women in their 30s can wait three years between screenings, according to the new ACOG guidelines.
After a week of uproar over the controversial recommendations for less mammogram screenings for women, doctors say they will have to wait and see how the public reacts to the new pap smear guidelines.
"This is not a radical change in screening practices. This is something that's been coming gradually since the 1980s," said Dr. Alan G. Waxman, who helped write the new guidelines.
Some doctors hailed the decision as a way to reduce a host of problems caused by excessive screening; yet, a few others worried it might trigger more women to neglect annual checkups with gynecologists.
Waxman said the move toward fewer screenings will reduce unnecessary treatment in young women and protect them from future pregnancy complications.
On one hand, college-aged women have very high HPV infection rates. Dr. John Curtin, of The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City said 70 percent of all college-aged sexually active people have contracted HPV. These high infection rates translate into a high number of abnormal pap smears.
However, the ACOG guidelines point out that only 0.1 percent of cervical cancer occurs in women under 21 years of age in part, doctors believe, because young women's immune systems are strong enough to fight off HPV before it causes cancer. When dysplasias progress to cancers it's usually a result of older women missing screenings for years at a time; 50 percent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer each year never had a pap smear before, according to the ACOG statement.
And some research has suggested the diagnostic surgery that often follow an abnormal result can pose problems for future pregnancies in some women.
"The driving force behind the change was the numerous studies that show women who are treated for cervical dysplasias are more likely to have a preterm birth," said Waxman, who is a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Unnecessary HPV Treatment Can Lead to Pregnancy Problems
Waxman explained that the LEEP procedure to remove precancerous tissue often caused by an infection with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, also weakens the cervix. In fact, it's estimated, one in 18 women who've had a LEEP procedure will go on to give birth prematurely.
But, he added, new studies have shown "with most of the cervical abnormalities in adolescents, most of them get better by themselves. ... The thought is that these are the people who have most of their child-bearing years in front of them."
The ACOG recommendations cite studies showing that up to 90 percent of these infections are cleared on their own in adolescents within a few years.
The measure also was intended to reduce anxiety in young women who may struggle with the news that they are infected with a sexually transmitted virus known to cause cancer.
"I was convinced I was dying, that I had cancer. There was not enough education back then," said Nicole C., a resident of La Porte, Texas, who was diagnosed at age 22 with cervical dysplasia -- an abnormal Pap smear -- caused by HPV. "My doctor at the time made me feel horrible about myself, accusing me of not being truthful about how many partners I'd had."
Reducing Anxiety Now and Later On
Nicole, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons, had her first abnormal Pap smear in 1998. As the years passed, more of her friends were diagnosed with cervical dysplasia in their 20s.
As Nicole started serving as an impromptu counselor to explain how HPV is spread, she aimed to soothe fears and reduce the stigma.
"If I had known more back then, I would not have freaked out about it," she said. "I wished they had done that [changed the guidelines] years ago."
Many doctors say they recognize the same anxiety on their young patients' faces.
"Yes, the diagnosis of an abnormal Pap can cause emotional distress to an adolescent girl, and I have certainly seen that," said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. "[Cervical biopsies] and repeat Pap smears with visits cost a lot of money."
In fact, some doctors felt the new recommendations did not go far enough.
Dr. Diane Harper of the University of Missouri-Kansas, who specializes in HPV infections, felt that ACOG is behind the other recommending bodies in the United States that argue screening should start at age 25, not age 21.
"There is ample evidence that screening earlier than 25 years is only costly with many false positives," said Harper. "The rest of the world is going to an every-five-or-six-year screening interval ... and ACOG is now just endorsing the three-year interval for HPV negative and Pap negative [women]."
Doctors speaking to ABCNews.com also said they felt the best way to prevent more cancer deaths wasn't to re-screen women who are already seeing doctors regularly, but to try to get women who aren't getting screenings at all into the doctors.
"Whether we screen everybody every two or three years isn't probably not going to make a big difference I don't think, just as long as they are getting screened," said Curtin. "The fact remains there are unscreened patients and they are at risk for cancer."
Doctors speaking to ABCNews.com also said they felt the best way to prevent more cancer deaths wasn't to re-screen women who are already seeing doctors regularly, but to try to get women who aren't getting screenings at all into the doctors.
"Whether we screen everybody every two or three years is probably not going to make a big difference, just as long as they are getting screened," said Curtin. "The fact remains there are unscreened patients and they are at risk for cancer."
Negative Effects of Fewer Pap Smears Unknown
On the other hand, many women admit that the only reason they go to a doctor is for an annual Pap smear and contraception. For those reasons, some doctors worry such women won't receive any medical checkups at all.
"Honestly, the first time it was discovered, I was going to Planned Parenthood for contraception because I had just become sexually active. It was only my second partner," said Alicia, a 32-year-old woman from New Orleans who also did not want her last name used.
Alicia had her first abnormal Pap smear when she was 18.
"I cried, and I really, really freaked out," she said.
But the task of treating her abnormal Pap smears made her aware of her health.
"That was a pivotal moment in my life," she said. "I started doing things better. I started getting into gardening and doing things to calm down."
Dr. Donnica Moore, president of Sapphire Women's Health Group and an obstetrician-gynecologist by training, worried that the new guidelines might keep women who've had a normal Pap smear, or no symptoms, away from the doctor.
"Women may now assume -- incorrectly -- that if they only need a Pap smear every two or three years, then they only need to see their gynecologist every two to three years, and for many of these women, their gynecologist is their primary care physician," said Moore. "Thus, they will not be getting a routine physical, breast exam, blood pressure measurement, and sexually-transmitted infection testing."
Changing Recommendations on Pap Smears
However, Friday's changes aren't the first to affect cervical cancer screenings. Over the years, doctors have scaled back on cervical cancer screening schedules after more research proved less frequent screenings were effective.
"It is about time this occurred," said Dr. Mark Einstein of the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. "Oftentimes, young women are put into a 'high-risk' category, clinically, because they have a [positive] Pap test that is essentially just a sign of an HPV infection -- but it is not clinically relevant. This leads to anxiety and over-testing."
Dr. Joanna Cain of Brown University agreed, and argued that the HPV vaccine will further decrease the transmission of the virus that is responsible for up to 70 percent of cancers in the coming years.
Below is a timeline of changes to cervical cancer screenings over the years, according to Waxman:
1957 -- The American Cancer Society runs a nationwide campaign for women to get a Pap test every year.
1976 -- Canadian health leaders examine data and recommend a woman get a Pap smear every two years, after a woman has three consecutive normal Pap smears.
1980 -- The American Cancer Society follows Canadian guidelines recommending a woman get a Pap smear every two years after three consecutive normal Pap smears.
1988 -- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends starting screening at 18, or with the onset of sexual activity and getting a Pap test every year. But after three negative Pap tests, women should be screened less often.
2003 -- ACOG guidelines shift from recommending the first Pap smear at age 18 or the onset of intercourse to age 21 or three years after the onset of intercourse.
2008 -- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines shift to recommend adolescents who have a minor abnormality on a Pap test wait to get biopsies and a diagnostic test called a colposcopy.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Health Information Technology Act to ensure information follows the patient in a secure and private manner
Global7 the new Millennial Renaissance Vision for the Globe
Dear Colleagues
This attachment is very important. It addresses key critical health information and technology issues.
1. Health Information should follow the patient
2. A key premise: information should follow the patient, and artificial obstacles – technical, business related, bureaucratic – should not get in the way.
2009/11/16 CMS CMSProviderResource
The HITECH Foundation for Information Exchange
November 12, 2009
A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
As the many activities mandated by the HITECH Act move forward, I want to take a moment to share my vision of the overarching goal and some of its implications. Our goal, above all else, is to make care better for patients, and to make it patient-centered. Information policy and health IT policy should serve that goal.
A key premise: information should follow the patient, and artificial obstacles – technical, business related, bureaucratic – should not get in the way. As a doctor, I have many times wanted access to data that I knew were buried in the computers or paper records of another health system across town. Neither my care nor my patients were well served in those instances.
That is what we must get beyond. That is the goal we will pursue, and it will inform all our policy choices now and going forward.
This means that information exchange must cross institutional and business boundaries. Because that is what patients need. Exchange within business groups will not be sufficient – the goal is to have information flow seamlessly and effortlessly to every nook and cranny of our health system, when and where it is needed, just like the blood within our arteries and veins meets our bodies’ vital needs.
If we are to reap the benefit of information exchange, Americans must also be assured that the most advanced technology and proven business practices will be employed to secure the privacy and security of their personal health information, both within and across electronic systems, and that persons and organizations who hold personal health data are trustworthy custodians of the information.
We must have comprehensive, clear, and sustainable policies that strengthen existing protections, fill gaps as they emerge, fortify new opportunities for patients’ access to and control of their information, and align with evolving technologies. I will devote a separate letter to this critical issue and the many activities mandated by the HITECH Act that we are developing.
On the question of exchange, however, the HITECH Act is pretty specific about eliminating inappropriate barriers.
It squarely tackles the commercial barriers. The HITECH Act calls for the “development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that…promotes a more effective marketplace, greater competition...[and] increased consumer choice” among other goals. (Section 3001(b)) This means we cannot support arrangements that restrict the secure, private exchange of information required for patient care across provider or network boundaries. Some of these arrangements may improve care for those inside their walls.
But ultimately, they have the potential to carve the nation up into disconnected silos of information, and thus, to undermine the vision of a secure, interoperable, nationwide health information infrastructure, which the law requires us to establish. Consumers, patients and their caretakers should never feel locked into a single health system or exchange arrangement because it does not permit or encourage the sharing of information.
It tackles the economic barriers. The HITECH Act incentives for providers and hospitals are powerful tools. While the official definition of “Meaningful Use” won’t be finalized until next year, the HITECH Act specifically highlights “information exchange” as one requirement for the incentives.
It tackles the technical barriers. The HITECH Act focuses on “interoperability” or “interoperable products.” In plain English, this means that our policies, programs, and incentives must aim for electronic health record (EHR) software and systems that can share information with different EHRs and networks so that information can follow patients wherever they go.
And to build the pipelines to carry this information, HHS is directed to invest in the infrastructure to “support the nationwide electronic exchange and use of health information …including connecting health information exchanges…” (Section 3011) This means we will work with all our partners in the health and IT industries and with organizations that are committed to information sharing to develop the technologies and policies that can help us deliver information securely, privately, and accurately to whomever needs to see it on behalf of the patient’s health. We must ensure interoperability for the future.
It provides building blocks for information exchange across jurisdictions. The grants for states and state-designated entities in Section 3013 – which will total $564 million – target information exchange across boundaries, not only within each state but explicitly as part of a nationwide framework. We will start announcing the awards this winter. These grantees’ activities must support interoperability that lets patient data follow the patient across political and geographic boundaries. The grantees will be our partners in building the nationwide infrastructure mentioned previously.
In short, the HITECH Act not only authorizes but requires us to mobilize all our policies, programs, and incentives to give the American people the patient-centric care they deserve and expect.
I look forward to engaging all our partners in this unique opportunity.
Regards,
David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
This letter is part of a series of ongoing updates from the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) encourages you to share this information as we work together to enhance the quality, safety and value of care and the health of all Americans through the use of electronic health records and health information technology.
For more information and to receive regular updates from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, please subscribe to the Health IT News list.
If you have difficulty viewing this message, please view it online.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Flu Season is upon us! CMS encourages providers to begin taking advantage of each office visit to encourage your patients with Medicare to get seasonal flu shots. Flu shots are their best defense against combating flu this season. And don’t forget—health care workers also need to protect themselves.
Medicare provides coverage of the flu vaccine without any out-of-pocket costs to the Medicare patient as a part B benefit. No deductible or copayment/coinsurance applies. Note that influenza vaccine is NOT a Part D covered Drug.
For more information about Medicare’s coverage of the seasonal influenza vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational resources for health care professionals, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp on the CMS website.
For information on Medicare policies related to H1N1 influenza, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/H1N1 on the CMS website.
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Corporate Director & Chair of Professional Advisory Bodies
Professional Competency & Quality Audit
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Our Passion is to reach our individual and collective potential-Always!
Dear Colleagues
This attachment is very important. It addresses key critical health information and technology issues.
1. Health Information should follow the patient
2. A key premise: information should follow the patient, and artificial obstacles – technical, business related, bureaucratic – should not get in the way.
2009/11/16 CMS CMSProviderResource
The HITECH Foundation for Information Exchange
November 12, 2009
A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
As the many activities mandated by the HITECH Act move forward, I want to take a moment to share my vision of the overarching goal and some of its implications. Our goal, above all else, is to make care better for patients, and to make it patient-centered. Information policy and health IT policy should serve that goal.
A key premise: information should follow the patient, and artificial obstacles – technical, business related, bureaucratic – should not get in the way. As a doctor, I have many times wanted access to data that I knew were buried in the computers or paper records of another health system across town. Neither my care nor my patients were well served in those instances.
That is what we must get beyond. That is the goal we will pursue, and it will inform all our policy choices now and going forward.
This means that information exchange must cross institutional and business boundaries. Because that is what patients need. Exchange within business groups will not be sufficient – the goal is to have information flow seamlessly and effortlessly to every nook and cranny of our health system, when and where it is needed, just like the blood within our arteries and veins meets our bodies’ vital needs.
If we are to reap the benefit of information exchange, Americans must also be assured that the most advanced technology and proven business practices will be employed to secure the privacy and security of their personal health information, both within and across electronic systems, and that persons and organizations who hold personal health data are trustworthy custodians of the information.
We must have comprehensive, clear, and sustainable policies that strengthen existing protections, fill gaps as they emerge, fortify new opportunities for patients’ access to and control of their information, and align with evolving technologies. I will devote a separate letter to this critical issue and the many activities mandated by the HITECH Act that we are developing.
On the question of exchange, however, the HITECH Act is pretty specific about eliminating inappropriate barriers.
It squarely tackles the commercial barriers. The HITECH Act calls for the “development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that…promotes a more effective marketplace, greater competition...[and] increased consumer choice” among other goals. (Section 3001(b)) This means we cannot support arrangements that restrict the secure, private exchange of information required for patient care across provider or network boundaries. Some of these arrangements may improve care for those inside their walls.
But ultimately, they have the potential to carve the nation up into disconnected silos of information, and thus, to undermine the vision of a secure, interoperable, nationwide health information infrastructure, which the law requires us to establish. Consumers, patients and their caretakers should never feel locked into a single health system or exchange arrangement because it does not permit or encourage the sharing of information.
It tackles the economic barriers. The HITECH Act incentives for providers and hospitals are powerful tools. While the official definition of “Meaningful Use” won’t be finalized until next year, the HITECH Act specifically highlights “information exchange” as one requirement for the incentives.
It tackles the technical barriers. The HITECH Act focuses on “interoperability” or “interoperable products.” In plain English, this means that our policies, programs, and incentives must aim for electronic health record (EHR) software and systems that can share information with different EHRs and networks so that information can follow patients wherever they go.
And to build the pipelines to carry this information, HHS is directed to invest in the infrastructure to “support the nationwide electronic exchange and use of health information …including connecting health information exchanges…” (Section 3011) This means we will work with all our partners in the health and IT industries and with organizations that are committed to information sharing to develop the technologies and policies that can help us deliver information securely, privately, and accurately to whomever needs to see it on behalf of the patient’s health. We must ensure interoperability for the future.
It provides building blocks for information exchange across jurisdictions. The grants for states and state-designated entities in Section 3013 – which will total $564 million – target information exchange across boundaries, not only within each state but explicitly as part of a nationwide framework. We will start announcing the awards this winter. These grantees’ activities must support interoperability that lets patient data follow the patient across political and geographic boundaries. The grantees will be our partners in building the nationwide infrastructure mentioned previously.
In short, the HITECH Act not only authorizes but requires us to mobilize all our policies, programs, and incentives to give the American people the patient-centric care they deserve and expect.
I look forward to engaging all our partners in this unique opportunity.
Regards,
David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
This letter is part of a series of ongoing updates from the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) encourages you to share this information as we work together to enhance the quality, safety and value of care and the health of all Americans through the use of electronic health records and health information technology.
For more information and to receive regular updates from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, please subscribe to the Health IT News list.
If you have difficulty viewing this message, please view it online.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Flu Season is upon us! CMS encourages providers to begin taking advantage of each office visit to encourage your patients with Medicare to get seasonal flu shots. Flu shots are their best defense against combating flu this season. And don’t forget—health care workers also need to protect themselves.
Medicare provides coverage of the flu vaccine without any out-of-pocket costs to the Medicare patient as a part B benefit. No deductible or copayment/coinsurance applies. Note that influenza vaccine is NOT a Part D covered Drug.
For more information about Medicare’s coverage of the seasonal influenza vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational resources for health care professionals, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/35_PreventiveServices.asp on the CMS website.
For information on Medicare policies related to H1N1 influenza, please go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/H1N1 on the CMS website.
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Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH.
Corporate Director & Chair of Professional Advisory Bodies
Professional Competency & Quality Audit
V: 571.225.5736; V:703.933.8737; V: 202.299.1109/202.265.1766
F: 703.531.0545/202.2991108
Globalbelai7@gmail.com
Our Passion is to reach our individual and collective potential-Always!
Friday, November 06, 2009
Divine Feminine taking its rightful place in the universe
Global7 the new Millennial Renaissance Vision for the Globe
Dear Global Patriotic Citizens and Friends of African Union and Ethiopia inlcuding Bibal Academy Alumni Colleagues:
Greetings in the name of the father, mother, son and daughter, the ideal family on earth:
It is interesting to note, that in all our life preparation, and experiences, there is no real training, and readiness, for sharing life' s main challenges, and opportunities in the setting of the family, the corner stone of our social and spiritual life.
I am surprised to discover, that in all my travels, and work across the world, and to-date, I have not seen any reliable training and preparation in managing the family in its total networks in any one of the cultures in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Training on how to date, court, engage, marry, choose family time, reproduction, conception, pregnancy, delivery, raising the family from new born to early childhood, later childhood, preschool, school, college and graduate studies.
It is amazing, that we just take chances in the most important part of our lives and yet spend hours navigating the linguistic, mathematical, science, geography, ecology, economy, social studies and all aspects of academic and cultural life, but not the building blocks of family.
Of course the center of the family life, sex and its blessings and repercussions are never dealt with enough detail , and focus and we take it as it comes with no preparation at all.
Unfortunately, the role of the family is defined, and managed by institutions, who have no track record in the business of the family. Like the men dominated faith institutions, and educational centers, that intentionally exclude women who are at the heart of the family life. They control the whole dialogue and formality of family life without any contextual or temporal or practical experience of what makes the family work or not work.
All these religious goons, through out history, and even now in modern times, have been promoting un- natural life patterns of monks and nuns as a natural life style, and, have skewed our schools, work place, and worship environment, by designing them such that there is no real preparation for family life. Imagine allowing a monk who has never had any experience of a family life presiding over social and family affairs. If at all he is an expert is in a life of disengagement and the family which is the center of engagement is allowed to be managed by inexperienced and disinterested parties like churches, mosques and temples, etc.
What an irony of life sor] far? Leaving the affairs of the center of our human existence into the hands of the most incompetent and disinterested parties in our common shared societies be it in the east, west, south or north. It is just unacceptable. Yet, it happens every day. To see and witness, a mother being forced to hand over her child as a suicide bombers by these same goons is such a tragic reality of our day.
Therefore, the social and civic laws, and practice have discriminated against women, especially mothers who are the real divine part of humanity both at home, work, worship place masculinizibg every part of our existence and depriving us the virtues and blessings if the divine feminine part if our lives
The recent massacre at the Army base in the US by an alleged psychiatrist who is meant to comfort and protect the troops is such a sad story and the fact that he was brought down or stopped his massacre by the Divine Feminine police officer us even mire telling!
It is our time, we give the divine space for our feminine self and respect mothers, the real Divine partners and co- creators with Universak Divine that is in all if us
I like the story and we need to have schools that honor and value our feminine self and our mothers , sisters and daughters!
It is our time to change this hopeless state of affairs and make the family the most noble, sacred and scientific of all our common shared existence by spending time, effort and resources to build, protect and preserve and promote it at all level of our modern existence.
The famlly is an idea whose time has come and we should make it a priority and women are at the center of this new paradigm and this story is so critical for us to take it seriously.
Thank you
Dr B
Www.globalbelai7.blogspit.com
Globalbelai7@gmail.con
Sent from my phone
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD; MPh
Washington, DC, USA
On 6 Nov 2009, at 04:53, D wrote:
The thing is probably 90% of voters who said this was their favorite E-mail never do anywhere near half of the chores listed in here specially having sex without complaining. Or maybe this whole thing is supposed to be funny because no woman ever does all that even in her dreams. Hey thanks for the joke!
Danny
On Nov 5, 2009, at 8:05 PM, Terri wrote:
A man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home.
He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed:
'Dear Lord:
I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home.
I want her to know what I go through.
So, please allow her body to switch with mine for a day.
Amen!'
God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish.
The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman.
He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate,
Awakened the kids,
Set out their school clothes,
Fed them breakfast,
Packed their lunches,
Drove them to school,
Came home and picked up the dry cleaning,
Took it to the cleaners
Went grocery shopping,
Then drove home to put away the groceries,
He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog..
Then, it was already 01P.M.
And he hurried to make the beds,
Do the laundry, vacuum,
Dust,
And sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home.
Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework.
Then, set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.
At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the pork chops and snapped fresh beans for supper.
After supper,
He cleaned the kitchen,
Ran the dishwasher,
Folded laundry,
Bathed the kids,
And put them to bed.
At 09 P.M .
He was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.
The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said: -
'Lord, I don't know what I was thinking.
I was so wrong to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day.
Please, oh! Oh! Please, let us trade back.
Amen!'
The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied:
'My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were.
You'll just have to wait nine months, though.
You got pregnant last night.'
This has been voted Women's Favorite E-mail of the Year!
If you agree, send it to all your friends who would enjoy this!!!!!
Regards
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.421 / Virus Database: 270.14.12/2431 - Release Date: 10/12/09 13:01:00
Dear Global Patriotic Citizens and Friends of African Union and Ethiopia inlcuding Bibal Academy Alumni Colleagues:
Greetings in the name of the father, mother, son and daughter, the ideal family on earth:
It is interesting to note, that in all our life preparation, and experiences, there is no real training, and readiness, for sharing life' s main challenges, and opportunities in the setting of the family, the corner stone of our social and spiritual life.
I am surprised to discover, that in all my travels, and work across the world, and to-date, I have not seen any reliable training and preparation in managing the family in its total networks in any one of the cultures in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Training on how to date, court, engage, marry, choose family time, reproduction, conception, pregnancy, delivery, raising the family from new born to early childhood, later childhood, preschool, school, college and graduate studies.
It is amazing, that we just take chances in the most important part of our lives and yet spend hours navigating the linguistic, mathematical, science, geography, ecology, economy, social studies and all aspects of academic and cultural life, but not the building blocks of family.
Of course the center of the family life, sex and its blessings and repercussions are never dealt with enough detail , and focus and we take it as it comes with no preparation at all.
Unfortunately, the role of the family is defined, and managed by institutions, who have no track record in the business of the family. Like the men dominated faith institutions, and educational centers, that intentionally exclude women who are at the heart of the family life. They control the whole dialogue and formality of family life without any contextual or temporal or practical experience of what makes the family work or not work.
All these religious goons, through out history, and even now in modern times, have been promoting un- natural life patterns of monks and nuns as a natural life style, and, have skewed our schools, work place, and worship environment, by designing them such that there is no real preparation for family life. Imagine allowing a monk who has never had any experience of a family life presiding over social and family affairs. If at all he is an expert is in a life of disengagement and the family which is the center of engagement is allowed to be managed by inexperienced and disinterested parties like churches, mosques and temples, etc.
What an irony of life sor] far? Leaving the affairs of the center of our human existence into the hands of the most incompetent and disinterested parties in our common shared societies be it in the east, west, south or north. It is just unacceptable. Yet, it happens every day. To see and witness, a mother being forced to hand over her child as a suicide bombers by these same goons is such a tragic reality of our day.
Therefore, the social and civic laws, and practice have discriminated against women, especially mothers who are the real divine part of humanity both at home, work, worship place masculinizibg every part of our existence and depriving us the virtues and blessings if the divine feminine part if our lives
The recent massacre at the Army base in the US by an alleged psychiatrist who is meant to comfort and protect the troops is such a sad story and the fact that he was brought down or stopped his massacre by the Divine Feminine police officer us even mire telling!
It is our time, we give the divine space for our feminine self and respect mothers, the real Divine partners and co- creators with Universak Divine that is in all if us
I like the story and we need to have schools that honor and value our feminine self and our mothers , sisters and daughters!
It is our time to change this hopeless state of affairs and make the family the most noble, sacred and scientific of all our common shared existence by spending time, effort and resources to build, protect and preserve and promote it at all level of our modern existence.
The famlly is an idea whose time has come and we should make it a priority and women are at the center of this new paradigm and this story is so critical for us to take it seriously.
Thank you
Dr B
Www.globalbelai7.blogspit.com
Globalbelai7@gmail.con
Sent from my phone
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD; MPh
Washington, DC, USA
On 6 Nov 2009, at 04:53, D
The thing is probably 90% of voters who said this was their favorite E-mail never do anywhere near half of the chores listed in here specially having sex without complaining. Or maybe this whole thing is supposed to be funny because no woman ever does all that even in her dreams. Hey thanks for the joke!
Danny
On Nov 5, 2009, at 8:05 PM, Terri
A man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home.
He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed:
'Dear Lord:
I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home.
I want her to know what I go through.
So, please allow her body to switch with mine for a day.
Amen!'
God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish.
The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman.
He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate,
Awakened the kids,
Set out their school clothes,
Fed them breakfast,
Packed their lunches,
Drove them to school,
Came home and picked up the dry cleaning,
Took it to the cleaners
Went grocery shopping,
Then drove home to put away the groceries,
He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog..
Then, it was already 01P.M.
And he hurried to make the beds,
Do the laundry, vacuum,
Dust,
And sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home.
Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework.
Then, set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.
At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the pork chops and snapped fresh beans for supper.
After supper,
He cleaned the kitchen,
Ran the dishwasher,
Folded laundry,
Bathed the kids,
And put them to bed.
At 09 P.M .
He was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.
The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said: -
'Lord, I don't know what I was thinking.
I was so wrong to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day.
Please, oh! Oh! Please, let us trade back.
Amen!'
The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied:
'My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were.
You'll just have to wait nine months, though.
You got pregnant last night.'
This has been voted Women's Favorite E-mail of the Year!
If you agree, send it to all your friends who would enjoy this!!!!!
Regards
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.421 / Virus Database: 270.14.12/2431 - Release Date: 10/12/09 13:01:00
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Ending Poverity by Advancing Prosperity- an Idea whose time has come at last!
Global7 the new Millennial Renaissance Vision for the Globe
Re: Ending Poverty by Advancing Prosperity- An Idea whose time has come at last!
Commercial Farming the pathway for Eliminating poverty with pros
Submitted by Globalbelai7 on Thu, 2009-10-22 17:21.
Dear Shanta:
I am amazed by your daring admission that Ending Poverty or creating wealth is the only solution to African's problem with poverty.
Poverty Reduction is a voodu science designed to starve Africans for a long time to come. Did you see European Union Agricultural Policy being developed on reducing poverty? For that matter is the Green Revolution in India based on increasing productivity or ending poverty?
It is interesting at last you seem to have got the idea, that wealth creation and building prosperity is the only solution to impending abject poverty. How can you reduce poverty? Can you really quantify poverty at the level where you can show you can reduce it.
Why not eliminate it with creating wealth and prosperity?
The old and outdated approach by the World Bank and IMF to postpone prosperity by reducing poverty is a bankrupt ideology that has no evidence based science but a rather cruel way of keeping Africans starving.
The latest work by Dr Gebissa Ejeta of Purdue University and the World Food Prize for 2009 indicate that if African Farmers are enabled with technology and are allowed to begin farming in a commercial way with increased cooperatives and the like, they will improve their productivity and eventual wealth creation.
The current system of micro-farming based subsistance farming is a recipe for disaster.
So, more than the farming technology, it is the Macro-Economics and lack of investment in Commercial Farming that is making poverty a substance of interest and perpetual failure by the Bank and IMF and similar bodies who do not seem to approach the problem with evidence based science.
All their structural adjustment and and conditionality is nothing but voodu science being played out by disconnected and callous economists and their supportive World Bank Governors and Donors.
it is time to look at the research carefully, and most importantly listen to the local governments and farmers on what works for them.
For once let Washington and the Economist listen to the farmers and science.
Please read the attahed interesting story about the work of Dr Gebissa Ejea for your additional information.
Belai H Jesus, MD, MPH
www.globalbelai7.blogspot.com
Globalbelai7@gmail.com
Ethiopian Sorghum Breeder Wins 2009 World Food Prize
By Steve Baragona
Washington
15 October 2009
Baragona Report - Download (MP3)
Baragona Report - Listen (MP3)
The World Food Prize is the top international award for individuals who have increased the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world
The 2009 World Food Prize has been awarded to Gebisa Ejeta, an Ethiopian-born plant scientist at Purdue University. The private, $250,000 award -- presented at ceremonies in Des Moines, Iowa, October 15th -- is given annually to people who have helped address the world's food needs. This year's prize honors Ejeta's life-long work to improve the production of sorghum, one of the world's most important grain crops. It also honors his efforts to take his discoveries beyond the lab -- to the farmers who need them the most.
Desire to help others rooted in his own childhood poverty
Ejeta is one of those success stories that show the difference an education -- and a motivated mother -- can make. Ejeta grew up in a one-room thatched hut in rural Ethiopia. But he says his mother had other plans for him.
"She didn't care much for the lifestyle in the community that we lived in," Ejita recalls. "And for some strange reason, this woman was able to see that through education one can get out of this drudgery and get to a better life."
So she found opportunities for Ejeta to study, and a place to stay, in a neighboring town, a 20-kilometer walk away. Ejeta studied. He excelled. And now he is being honored for his life's work helping others rise out of poverty.
Lowell Hardin is an emeritus professor at Purdue University who has known Ejeta for 25 years. "Because he grew up in very, very modest circumstances -- a single mother in a remote village in Ethiopia -- he knew poverty," Hardin says. "He knew hunger. And when he was fortunate enough to get an education thanks to his mother's pushing, he decided he was going to apply his talents in this direction."
Research efforts focused on threats to African food crops
Gebisa Ejeta received World Food Prize for his efforts to improve sorghum production
Ejeta applied his talents to fighting a weed called Striga, or witchweed, which threatens crops that feed more than 100 million people across sub-Saharan Africa. Ejeta says the parasitic weed can ruin fields of sorghum, a major staple in hot, dry regions of Africa.
"If you grow a crop that is susceptible to infection by the parasite," he says, "you just basically don't have any chance for growing a crop if your soil is contaminated. And most of these soils are getting contaminated."
Before Ejeta took up the challenge, researchers hadn't had much success controlling the weed. Its seeds can lie dormant in the soil for decades. But Ejeta and his team at Purdue University discovered the chemical signals produced by the sorghum plant that tell the Striga seeds to wake up -- that a victim is available. They then found sorghum varieties that didn't produce the signals, and bred a line of Striga-resistant plants that thrived in a broad range of African growing conditions. These new varieties produced up to four times more grain than local types, even in drought-plagued areas.
Making sure African farmers benefit directly from his research
But Ejeta knew the research breakthrough was just the beginning. Once the new variety was developed in 1994, he worked with non-profit groups to distribute eight tons of seed to farmers in twelve African nations.
That's typical of Gebisa Ejeta, according to his colleague at Purdue, Mitch Tuinstra.
"One of the most important things about Gebisa's work is that he always carries it to the next level," Tuinstra says. "Which is, 'How do I translate the products of this research into technologies that empower and strengthen farmers in Africa?'"
Ejeta's new varieties of sorghum resist drought and the weed Striga
Ejeta has always understood the importance of getting technology into the hands of African farmers. Just out of graduate school, Ejeta bred a high-yielding, drought-tolerant variety of sorghum. When the new hybrid variety was introduced in 1983, Ejeta says farmers were thrilled to find it yielded more than double what traditional varieties produced.
"They thought it was fantastic that they were getting this kind of performance with this hybrid," he says. "And so, the initial response was, 'How can we get seed?'"
That is a critical question: Who will produce and deliver high-yielding seeds to farmers who need them, when there is no viable seed industry?
Ejeta was able to work with Sudanese farmers' cooperatives to scale up production of his drought-resistant sorghum.
But much of Africa still lacks a seed industry to get improved varieties to farmers. And farmers often don't have access to markets to sell the products of their improved harvests. So today, Ejeta is working to develop the market from the ground up. For example, along with local partners he connects brewers, bakers, and flour millers with farmers growing the improved sorghum. By working along the entire chain, from farmers' seeds to consumers' plates, his work is helping to lift people out of poverty - and providing a powerful weapon in the war on hunger.
Re: Ending Poverty by Advancing Prosperity- An Idea whose time has come at last!
Commercial Farming the pathway for Eliminating poverty with pros
Submitted by Globalbelai7 on Thu, 2009-10-22 17:21.
Dear Shanta:
I am amazed by your daring admission that Ending Poverty or creating wealth is the only solution to African's problem with poverty.
Poverty Reduction is a voodu science designed to starve Africans for a long time to come. Did you see European Union Agricultural Policy being developed on reducing poverty? For that matter is the Green Revolution in India based on increasing productivity or ending poverty?
It is interesting at last you seem to have got the idea, that wealth creation and building prosperity is the only solution to impending abject poverty. How can you reduce poverty? Can you really quantify poverty at the level where you can show you can reduce it.
Why not eliminate it with creating wealth and prosperity?
The old and outdated approach by the World Bank and IMF to postpone prosperity by reducing poverty is a bankrupt ideology that has no evidence based science but a rather cruel way of keeping Africans starving.
The latest work by Dr Gebissa Ejeta of Purdue University and the World Food Prize for 2009 indicate that if African Farmers are enabled with technology and are allowed to begin farming in a commercial way with increased cooperatives and the like, they will improve their productivity and eventual wealth creation.
The current system of micro-farming based subsistance farming is a recipe for disaster.
So, more than the farming technology, it is the Macro-Economics and lack of investment in Commercial Farming that is making poverty a substance of interest and perpetual failure by the Bank and IMF and similar bodies who do not seem to approach the problem with evidence based science.
All their structural adjustment and and conditionality is nothing but voodu science being played out by disconnected and callous economists and their supportive World Bank Governors and Donors.
it is time to look at the research carefully, and most importantly listen to the local governments and farmers on what works for them.
For once let Washington and the Economist listen to the farmers and science.
Please read the attahed interesting story about the work of Dr Gebissa Ejea for your additional information.
Belai H Jesus, MD, MPH
www.globalbelai7.blogspot.com
Globalbelai7@gmail.com
Ethiopian Sorghum Breeder Wins 2009 World Food Prize
By Steve Baragona
Washington
15 October 2009
Baragona Report - Download (MP3)
Baragona Report - Listen (MP3)
The World Food Prize is the top international award for individuals who have increased the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world
The 2009 World Food Prize has been awarded to Gebisa Ejeta, an Ethiopian-born plant scientist at Purdue University. The private, $250,000 award -- presented at ceremonies in Des Moines, Iowa, October 15th -- is given annually to people who have helped address the world's food needs. This year's prize honors Ejeta's life-long work to improve the production of sorghum, one of the world's most important grain crops. It also honors his efforts to take his discoveries beyond the lab -- to the farmers who need them the most.
Desire to help others rooted in his own childhood poverty
Ejeta is one of those success stories that show the difference an education -- and a motivated mother -- can make. Ejeta grew up in a one-room thatched hut in rural Ethiopia. But he says his mother had other plans for him.
"She didn't care much for the lifestyle in the community that we lived in," Ejita recalls. "And for some strange reason, this woman was able to see that through education one can get out of this drudgery and get to a better life."
So she found opportunities for Ejeta to study, and a place to stay, in a neighboring town, a 20-kilometer walk away. Ejeta studied. He excelled. And now he is being honored for his life's work helping others rise out of poverty.
Lowell Hardin is an emeritus professor at Purdue University who has known Ejeta for 25 years. "Because he grew up in very, very modest circumstances -- a single mother in a remote village in Ethiopia -- he knew poverty," Hardin says. "He knew hunger. And when he was fortunate enough to get an education thanks to his mother's pushing, he decided he was going to apply his talents in this direction."
Research efforts focused on threats to African food crops
Gebisa Ejeta received World Food Prize for his efforts to improve sorghum production
Ejeta applied his talents to fighting a weed called Striga, or witchweed, which threatens crops that feed more than 100 million people across sub-Saharan Africa. Ejeta says the parasitic weed can ruin fields of sorghum, a major staple in hot, dry regions of Africa.
"If you grow a crop that is susceptible to infection by the parasite," he says, "you just basically don't have any chance for growing a crop if your soil is contaminated. And most of these soils are getting contaminated."
Before Ejeta took up the challenge, researchers hadn't had much success controlling the weed. Its seeds can lie dormant in the soil for decades. But Ejeta and his team at Purdue University discovered the chemical signals produced by the sorghum plant that tell the Striga seeds to wake up -- that a victim is available. They then found sorghum varieties that didn't produce the signals, and bred a line of Striga-resistant plants that thrived in a broad range of African growing conditions. These new varieties produced up to four times more grain than local types, even in drought-plagued areas.
Making sure African farmers benefit directly from his research
But Ejeta knew the research breakthrough was just the beginning. Once the new variety was developed in 1994, he worked with non-profit groups to distribute eight tons of seed to farmers in twelve African nations.
That's typical of Gebisa Ejeta, according to his colleague at Purdue, Mitch Tuinstra.
"One of the most important things about Gebisa's work is that he always carries it to the next level," Tuinstra says. "Which is, 'How do I translate the products of this research into technologies that empower and strengthen farmers in Africa?'"
Ejeta's new varieties of sorghum resist drought and the weed Striga
Ejeta has always understood the importance of getting technology into the hands of African farmers. Just out of graduate school, Ejeta bred a high-yielding, drought-tolerant variety of sorghum. When the new hybrid variety was introduced in 1983, Ejeta says farmers were thrilled to find it yielded more than double what traditional varieties produced.
"They thought it was fantastic that they were getting this kind of performance with this hybrid," he says. "And so, the initial response was, 'How can we get seed?'"
That is a critical question: Who will produce and deliver high-yielding seeds to farmers who need them, when there is no viable seed industry?
Ejeta was able to work with Sudanese farmers' cooperatives to scale up production of his drought-resistant sorghum.
But much of Africa still lacks a seed industry to get improved varieties to farmers. And farmers often don't have access to markets to sell the products of their improved harvests. So today, Ejeta is working to develop the market from the ground up. For example, along with local partners he connects brewers, bakers, and flour millers with farmers growing the improved sorghum. By working along the entire chain, from farmers' seeds to consumers' plates, his work is helping to lift people out of poverty - and providing a powerful weapon in the war on hunger.
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