CSIS Video: The Future of U.S. Navy Humanitarian Assistance


As we enter a period of budgetary contraction and debate over military spending, and consider the remarkable humanitarian contributions of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere, the time is ripe for a thoughtful, analytic, and nonpartisan study of American naval medical diplomacy, with strategic and realistic recommendations for its future.

On June 4, CSIS launched an independent task force of experts, chaired by former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, to study the value of the U.S. Navy’s proactive humanitarian assistance; to examine the Navy’s capacity for such missions in the future; to review the history and evolution of policy and programs in this area; to forecast the demands on military medicine and humanitarian missions in an age of new technologies and evolving threats to global health; and to inform a sensible, long-term strategy for naval medical diplomacy going forward.

The June 4 event provided a brief explanation of the genesis, purpose, work plan, and expected products of this CSIS task force. We then turned to a lively roundtable discussion, led by Dr. John Hamre, that will put a spotlight on the U.S. Navy’s soft power tools and the evolving importance of its humanitarian missions as U.S. foreign policy pivots toward Asia and the Pacific.

WHO Video: Countries stand shoulder to shoulder fighting “Big Tobacco”


Four national health leaders describe how their countries are fighting tobacco industry interference that has moved out of the shadows and into courts of law. Professor Jane Halton, Secretary of the Department of Health of Australia, Doctor Richard Nchabi Kamwi, Minister of Health and Social Services of Namibia, Mrs Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, Minister of Health and Care Services of Norway and Dr Jorge Venegas, Minister of Public Health of Uraguay describe the situation in their countries.

Stop Tobacco Industry Interference (WHO Video)

So I understand what they’re getting at here (deaths due to tobacco, marketing tobacco to minors, etc.), but personally I find this video to be somewhat scattered and not very focused. Normally I really like the WHO videos, but I find this one less than impressive.


Tobacco is public health enemy number one. It kills six million people every year. The tobacco industry does everything it can to undermine anti-tobacco work. WHO has chosen “Stop tobacco industry interference” as the theme for the 2012 World No Tobacco Day – on 31 May. Discover the subversive methods of the tobacco industry by watching the campaign video. Find out what WHO, governments and civil society are doing, and how you can help stop the tobacco industry in its tracks, by joining the conversation on Twitter @WHO – #NoTobacco. (http://twitter.com/#!/who)

WHO: Dr Marie-Paule Kieny on the 11th International Classification of Diseases (video)

For the first time, experts in the public health community who work with patient diagnosis and treatment have an opportunity to contribute to the development of the next version of the ICD. This is WHO’s publication that ensures all aspects of the health community refer to diseases and health conditions in a consistent way.

WHO is calling on experts, health providers and stakeholders from around the world to participate in the 11th revision process. The final ICD-11 will be released in 2015.

With your help, this classification will be more comprehensive than ever before.

To participate: http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/revision/en/index.html