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By Category: International

New psychological first aid guide to strengthen humanitarian relief

16 August 2011 — Humanitarian emergencies – like earthquakes, extreme drought, or war – not only affect people’s physical health but also their psychological and social health and well-being. A new guide makes sure that best practices are consistently applied in humanitarian settings to improve the mental health of disaster affected populations.

August 17, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Atlanta centre to train India’s top scientists to contain public health threats

(The Times of India) NEW DELHI: India’s top scientists are going back to school to become “disease detectives”. Beginning 2012, around 10 Indian scientists will be trained at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta’s special “Epidemic Intelligence Service Programme” (EIS), which was started in 1951 following biological warfare concerns triggered by the Read More »

August 12, 2011
| Filed under South Asia, International, Public Health, and Research
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Biosecurity 2.0: Enduring threats in the former Soviet Union

(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) — For the past 20 years the international community concentrated its biological nonproliferation programs in the former Soviet Union. As a result, most of the Soviet bio-warfare infrastructure has dissolved; pathogen collections are in secure storage; scientists have engaged in peaceful cooperative research; and local disease surveillance capabilities have improved. Read More »

August 5, 2011
| Filed under Europe, International, and Public Health
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BWC Review Conference Should Not Address Verification, Diplomat Says

GSN Daily News — WASHINGTON — The Biological Weapons Convention review conference this December is not likely to revive talks on the divisive topic of standing up an international verification regime for the accord, according to a senior U.S. diplomat (see GSN, July 8). (Aug. 2) – U.S. Special Representative Laura Kennedy last week expressed Read More »

August 3, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Qaeda WMD Threat Remains After Bin Laden’s Death, Ex-Official Says

The most likely … are simple forms of chemical or biological weapons" instead of a nuclear strike, Leiter said. He cited the lethal toxin ricin, which is fairly easy to produce, as one bioweapon that might be used. Ricin is derived from commercially …