News

The Standing Committee on International Trade is hosting public meetings on the TPP….if you live in Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, or Winnipeg,  you have an opportunity to attend!  Check out GRAN’s TPP resources outlining our concerns. (Jenny Neal will be presenting for GRAN in Saskatoon!)

Vancouver: Monday  Apr 18,  9:00 - 1:45  (it looks like the Council of Canadians  may even place a jumbotron across from the hearings!)

Ball Room, Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport, 8181 Cambie Road

Calgary: Tuesday Apr 19 9:00 - 1:45

Kensington Room, Marriott Downtown Hotel, 110 9th Ave SE

Saskatoon: Wednesday Apr 20 8:00-11:45

Michelangelo Room, Radisson Hotel, 405 20^th Street East

Winnipeg: Thursday Apr 21 9:00-1:45

Grand Ballroom, Delta Hotel, 350 St. Mary Avenue

The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit will be held on May 23-24 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The world is witnessing the highest level of human suffering since World War II.  The aim of the summit is to build a more inclusive and diverse humanitarian system committed to humanitarian principles.

In 2015 alone, more than 80 million children and young people, over half of them girls, had their education disrupted or destroyed by emergencies and prolonged crisis.  Despite this, less than 2 percent of all humanitarian aid has gone to education since 2010.

Global education leaders are calling on world leaders to commit the urgent resources needed to provide education and other essential services to children caught up in conflict and natural disasters.  GRAN has joined more than 50 world organizations sending out a call to world leaders urging them to make multi-year pledges aimed at supporting children living without education in the most dangerous or unstable contexts at the summit.

To find out more about the ambitious new education crisis platform and the call to action, click here

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has filed a ‘patent opposition’ in India to block US pharmaceutical company Pfizer from patenting its pneumonia vaccine, PCV13.

MSF believes the company’s priority focuses on trying to guarantee market monopoly rather than providing life-saving vaccine to the most vulnerable.

This is the first time granting a patent in India has been challenged by a medical organisation. If MSF wins, it opens the way for affordable versions of the vaccine to be made available to developing countries and humanitarian organisations.

For the full article from MSF, CLICK HERE for the following link.

World TB Day is observed each year to raise awareness about Tuberculosis.  TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV.  The disease is preventable and although some progress has been made, TB remains a destructive epidemic in much of the world. This is the case even though it can be treated for as little as $20 per person.  World TB Day is an opportunity to educate ourselves and others about the disease and to work together to end TB.

Results Canada (a GRAN ally) works to increase Canadian funding and support for TB eradication.   To recognize World TB Day, go to the RESULTS website and learn a little more about this disease that too often goes hand in hand with HIV/AIDS.  Visit them at http://www.results-resultats.ca/en/campaign/tuberculosis/

World TB Day is observed each year to raise awareness about Tuberculosis.  TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV.  The disease is preventable and although some progress has been made, TB remains a destructive epidemic in much of the world. This is the case even though it can be treated for as little as $20 a day.  World TB Day is an opportunity to educate ourselves and others about the disease and to work together to end TB.

Results Canada (a GRAN ally) works to increase Canadian funding and support for TB eradication.   To recognize World TB Day, go to the RESULTS website and learn a little more about this disease that too often goes hand in hand with HIV/AIDS.  Visit them at http://www.results-resultats.ca/en/campaign/tuberculosis/

Investing in education for all is critical to ending chronic poverty.  Education has a profound effect on development goals such as improved health, stronger economies, peace and social cohesion.  But investing in education with a focus on girls has especially significant results:

• Investing in girls’ education could boost subSaharan Africa’s agricultural output by as much as 25%
• In subSaharan Africa, there would be 14% fewer child marriages with primary education and 64% fewer child marriages with a secondary education.
• If all girls completed primary education, there would be 66% fewer maternal deaths saving more than 189,000 lives each year
• A child whose mother completes secondary education is 50% more likely to live past the age of five
• Educated mothers are more likely to ensure that their children are vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, pneumonia, malaria and other diseases

But why is it so difficult for girls to keep up in school, to stay in school or to attend school at all? There are so many barriers girls need to overcome to access quality education.  Click on the link below to find out more….http://www.one.org/international/blog/10-legitimate-reasons-for-girls-not-to-do-their-school-work/

Canada has joined in a new UNICEF and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) initiative to end child marriage, one of the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals.  Read about this initiative.... 

International Women’s Day is an ideal day for GRANs to renew our commitment to the older women of Sub-Saharan Africa.  On Tuesday, March 8, people around the globe will celebrate women’s achievements as well as highlight ongoing struggles and challenges in achieving gender equality.  Last year, Help Age International called upon members of the United Nations to ensure that actions on women’s empowerment in areas such as poverty, health, education, and violence also address the specific needs of older women. Read the full article here

The TPP agreement has been signed. What happens next?  Should we shrug our shoulders and give up? Absolutely not.    Ratification is down the road – possibly 2 years away.  

There continues to be loud opposition.  Business leaders including Jim Balsillie, co-founder of Blackberry, have been highly critical of the Intellectual Property Provisions while many organizations warn of the serious impacts on access to affordable life-saving medicines.  

http://canadians.org/blog/trudeau-disagrees-canadians-expressing-concern...

Preliminary findings from analyses of existing data:

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank are researching the economic consequences of child marriage, with a view to using the resulting evidence to strengthen the case for ending this harmful practice.

The joint ICRW-World Bank study of the economic impacts of child marriage is still underway, but preliminary analyses suggest quite strongly that, in addition to harmful effects on girls’ health, education, rights and wellbeing, the economic impacts of child marriage, from the individual to the national levels, are very large.  In addition, most of the benefits from ending child marriage would accrue to the poor, who are almost always the most likely to have higher rates of child marriage.  Ending child marriage would help greatly to eradicate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.

Much more research will be undertaken in the coming months, but given what we already know, global leaders —particularly finance ministries and donors— should invest in ending child marriage as not only the right thing to do, but also a strategic investment in current and future economic and human development.

- See more at:  www.CostsofChildMarriage.org