Public Health: Is Gun Violence a Public Health Issue?

How is public health defined, who decides what that definition is and on what information are they basing their decision? Who has a seat at the table while these topics are being discussed?

Recently, I found myself thinking; " How many people have to die before action is taken to decrease gun violence?" I suppose there is an argument for the fact that all societies are desensitized to their own failings.

Where then, must we go to gather together those that have the right thinking on the issues that hold us back from living up to the ideals of our society?

Although I don't recall the first time I thought about the idea of fostering discussion around gun violence as a public health issue, even a brief google search shows that this topic is already out there.

There's a lot to delve into here...

I do think that a civil society has an obligation to provide certain services to its citizens. Health care, being one of them. In order to move from talking about heady ideas and lofty goals to actually identifying what specific steps to take to create a better quality of life when it comes to access to health care, you have to get into economics.

An idea by itself is stagnant without the necessary resources and oversight to actually take action.

Rather than write this entire post from an editorial perspective, I think it will be more useful for me to give an overview of some of the voices that have chimed in to the discussion about whether or not gun violence is a public health issue.

No matter how you define it, public health only moves forward when facts are given pride of place over everything else.

If you google Public Health, the first entry that comes up is the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Other sources of information are the WHO (World Health Organization) and the APHA (American Public Health Association).

If you want to see a fact sheet on gun violence, the APHA has a resource titled, "Gun Violence Prevention." Forbes.com has an article that reviews several different perspectives on the topic of whether or not gun violence is a public health issue.

Diversity of thought  is necessary to yield any kind of forward thinking approach to improving our society; thus community activists, students, think tanks and colleges and universities should all have a role in shaping the discourse around gun violence and how best we can understand it and prevent it.

I spoke with Professor Jon Vernick, Co-Director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research  at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health about the idea of framing gun violence as a public health issue.

"Guns claim more than 30,000 lives in the United States alone every year and another additional 70,000 or so non-fatal violent injuries are associated with guns. By thinking of it as a public health problem we can consider all aspects of the problem, not just gun deaths by homicide which are of interest to the criminal justice world, (but) we can also think about suicide and accidental gun deaths. We can consider upstream solutions. Whereas the criminal justice system thinks primarily, though not exclusively about punishment, public health thinks primarily about trying to keep people from getting hurt in the first place.

Public health also has a tradition of focusing on the vector of a particular cause. In this topic, the vector is the firearm. There is a history in public health about 'how we can modify the vector'; how to keep guns out of the hands of a violent person in the first place.

There is a history of success that public health has had in other areas such as motor vehicles.By thinking of guns as a public health problem maybe there is inspiration that can be drawn from other successes."

This quote brings to the surface the idea that there are multiple aspects to gun violence which, in my opinion, is an important point. In order to make progress it is necessary for the major media outlets to inform the public of the kinds of things that are taking away from our ideas and ideals as a nation. Moving forward, it is absolutely critical to have more in-depth conversations about preventative measures. These conversations, guided by a nuanced perspective of the topic(s), inform the voting public and the wheels of progress turn...or at least that's the idea.

Takk You Very Much

Today I will be covering Satshow 2015 in Washington, DC.

http://www.satshow.com/conferenceprogram/

Here is an overview of some of the companies that will be represented today:

Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Virgin Galactic
Arianespace
SpaceX

This event runs through Thursday March, 19th.

I was invited to attend a press conference this afternoon so I will be including that in my coverage!

My invitation came from a company, or at least a staffer in Norway so Takk you very much and I'm happy to join the rest of the conference attendees and press in learning about all that these companies and this industry has to offer.

The conference program shows an awards ceremony tonight so I'll be looking forward to that as well.

My Twitter handle is @fiftycoop.


The 50 Co-Op

Thefiftycoop.blogspot.com
@fiftycoop

National Freedom Day

Freedom:

Without any form of exploitation;promoting a standard of humanity and dignity,valuing and promoting independent self actualization

This is the first year that I have been aware of National Freedom Day. I'm always interested in the relationship between commerce and social responsibility so I thought to put together a round up of information related to entrepreneurship and social justice.


* All names, content etc... below are credited to the organization or company respectively


American Sustainable Business Council
http://asbcouncil.org/

End It Movement
http://enditmovement.com/

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/#!

Impact Hub Salt Lake City
http://saltlake.impacthub.net/

Love 146
http://love146.org/

Made In A Free World 
http://madeinafreeworld.com/

Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts
http://sbnmass.org/ 

Tcho New American Chocolate
http://www.tcho.com/

3rd Twitterversary

In light of today being the 3rd Twitterversary of The Fifty Co-Op,  I decided to take a look back at what I was doing around this time last year. 

I went back to the post I did about California based MWBE Whole Vine and will share parts of that review below.

I celebrate having joined The SITS Girls blogging community and I have much appreciation for the viewers that have stopped by The Fifty Co-Op from all over the world. To be able to use the phrase, " from all over the world, " literally, is pretty cool in my book.

This past year saw an addition to the blog of more multimedia features as well as the first photo exhibit. I am glad that my interest in art has now become a part of The Fifty Co-Op and, even better, it connected me with the great Blogger ofeverymoment.com.

After that first exhibit, I did another exhibit of photography from Love146.org with the goal of inspiring action on the issue of human trafficking.

I don't really think in terms of disappointments, I just think in terms of each event or interaction and what I took from it.

I look forward to finishing off my to do list of finished reviews to post here and I also look forward to completing the features I have in progress.

I have to thank some people from the Blogging community who have inspired me and/or encouraged me in some way or have been a part of the growth of the blog.


Field Negro
33@33
Oneikathetraveller
Mr. and Mrs. Globe Trot
ofeverymoment.com
Mothering from scratch
Tara Dara Made It


Highlights from the Whole Vine post are below.




Whole Vine products are created by California based SonomaCeuticals. Cheers to the founders for maintaining 100% ownership of their company. This company is profitable with a purpose as it was founded,  "to become a sustainable wellspring of funding," for philanthropic organizations.


* Grape skin flour helps to stabilize egg whites

* Make flavored salts and rubs

* Use to emulsify salad dressings

* Make juicier, more flavorful burgers and meatloaves

* Grape seed flour keeps baked goods fresher longer

* Use grape seed and grape skin flour 


"Notably, the raw materials we harvest were the ones typically cast aside until now. We conceive of a time when everything in the vineyard is harvested for its highest best use, something we call Optimum Harvesting."


Whole Vine Theatre offers several videos:
http://www.wholevine.com

Thank You

A few days ago, it hit me that although, I log in and see the statistics on my audience, I haven't really been fully taking in what it means to have readership from various different places.

So, thinking more about that, when I first started this I wanted to write about community based resources and it grew from there.

From The Fifty Co-Op straight to you I offer a huge Thank You to you all.


Cambodia                    United States          Germany          Canada        Australia
                The Ukraine                     France              Poland            Italy

Love 146

                                                 

                                                                              Love 146

                                      http://love146.org/

   * All photography,video content and verbiage is credited to Love 146.

 

   

"link 

between

substance

abuse 

and 

  exploitation"

                                                   recognizing
                                                   substance 
                                                     abuse
                                                        as
                                                         a
                                                   healthcare
                                                      topic (t5c)

                                                          http://love146.org/


                           “Because we want you to know 
                                                 that you’re never alone, and that 
         someone is always awake and there 
                                                 for you, even if you don’t need them.”

                                                     

                                                   
                                               

                                                      

LGBTQ                            Interfamilial                            100,000                          CSEC

                                               
"...“trauma bonding” 
an abuser forms or fosters an emotional attachment (“friendship,” “love,” etc…) in the life of a victim."

"...a classic tactic abusers use to maintain their position of exploitation."

"We’ve encountered children who are not happy to leave their abuser because they’ve grown attached to them. Be aware of this potential complexity as you approach a piece."

                                       

 

                                          

     Frame Experiences As Events, Not Identities

"It’s more accurate and dignifying to victims to simply say what happened in the past instead of  framing your language in a way that carries that event into a stationary identity for the person. Instead of “Trafficking  survivor, Jessica, ….” say “Jessica, who escaped trafficking in 2010…”

                                                          







                                               

 

  
                                                                 

Agape                       AgApE                      aGaPe                   agapE                  

                     

 

 http://love146.org/

                                                                                               

Public Health: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

 

It has been a while since I did a post related to food assistance. The North American branch of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is participating in a really interesting event coming up that I myself would like to live stream. 

Based in Washington, DC FAO North America is participating in the upcoming 1st Annual Food Tank Summit which will be held at the George Washington University on January 21st. You can sign up to watch the live stream and check out the participants such as the National Young Farmers Coalition,Harvard Law School and the GWU Institute for Sustainability on the Food Tank website.

I spoke with Nicholas Nelson, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in North America on a variety of topics.

Q How did you come to develop an interest in agriculture and social justice?

The organization I work for, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is a specialized agency of the United Nations with headquarters in Rome, Italy, and 5 Regional Offices which are in Africa, the Near East, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. FAO also has more than 80 country offices in those regions, where we advise governments directly and conduct project operations. The FAO is a key player in the global community’s fight to end hunger and poverty and I’ve been privileged to work for FAO for over 25 years in several roles, the latest as director of the FAO’s North America office in Washington, DC.

Q What was the impetus for the creation of FAO and specifically, the priority of Investment in Agriculture?

The founders of FAO over 60 years ago had the foresight to understand the central role of agriculture for human development and the duty of the international community to tackle the problem of hunger and malnutrition. They realized the need for an international organization with equal representation by all nations in the world which could coordinate agricultural policies and global interventions and give a voice to millions of people living in poor countries and who are unheard. FAO has been able to adapt to the demands of a constantly changing world and help countries respond to new challenges that have emerged: climate change, degraded land and water resources, wide-scale animal epidemics, food crises and natural disasters, and in recent years soaring food prices and market instability.

As to the priority of investment in agriculture, it’s been demonstrated over the last two decades that investment in agriculture is one of the most effective ways to reduce hunger and poverty, especially in rural areas.

Many countries that have consistently invested in agriculture are on track to achieve the UN’s first Millennium Development Goal which is to reduce by half the proportion of hungry people in the world. FAO’s recently published State of Food and Agriculture (2012)* (2014 publication is at the link below) provided comprehensive data on the relative sizes of investment and expenditure flows by farmers, governments, donors and private foreign investors in low- and middle-income countries. 

                              State of Food and Agriculture 2014 

 

 

What emerged is that in these 76 low- and middle-income countries, farmers themselves are by far the largest investors in agriculture, but face all kinds of risks because of poor access to resources, lack of infrastructure, political instability and lots of other challenges. 



Recognizing that investing in agriculture raises productivity and incomes and reduces hunger, FAO has drawn up guidelines for countries to improve their governance of land and resource rights, and principles for responsible investment as a basis for determining long-term benefits and choosing the best investment options.

Q Is it possible to end hunger and/or poverty?  

Measuring the different dimensions of food security is very complex; one standalone indicator that most people are familiar with is the number of people in the world suffering from chronic hunger, which is defined as suffering for at least one year without enough food for an active and healthy life. While this number has dropped from 1 billion people in 1990 to 842 million as most recently reported in 2012, the rate of progress is too slow to reach the international goals for hunger reduction set by the United Nations (part of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals), often because of high rates of population growth in many hunger-affected countries. Still, it shows that real progress can be achieved when countries and communities take action to address the various dimensions of food security which are: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilization and stability (vulnerability and shocks) over time.

Some countries, notably Brazil and others just a few years ago, set much more demanding targets of eradicating hunger, and in 2012 the UN took up that theme with its own “Zero Hunger Challenge” with the goal of eliminating hunger in our lifetimes. The global community is putting much more effort into addressing the burdens of malnutrition: hunger, under-nutrition, micro nutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity.                                                       

                                            

Q Are these conditions reflections of the worst parts of human nature?   

Most people are unaware that the quantity of food produced on a global basis  is more than enough for everyone, and yet chronic hunger persists on such a scale whereby one person in eight around the world cannot get enough food to live an active and healthy life. 

There are severe and lasting consequences to this problem because hunger is accompanied by under-nutrition: one in four children in the world under five years of age is stunted; this means 165 million children are so malnourished they will never reach their full physical and cognitive potential; about two billion people lack the nutrition they need to grow and develop into healthy human beings. 

Q Is the role of government to (1) recognize the value in preventing poverty and hunger, (2) recognize that this requires constant effort and (3) be responsible for creating and enforcing legislation that establishes a standard quality of life for all?

Well, returning to the theme of investment in agriculture, and that farmers must be central to any investment strategy, a good investment climate depends on markets and governments. Markets generate price incentives that signal to farmers and other private businesses when and where opportunities exist for making profitable investments. 

Governments are responsible for creating the legal, policy and institutional environment that enables private investors, both smallholder farmers and larger enterprises, to respond to market opportunities in socially responsible ways. Without this enabling environment and market incentives, farmers will not invest enough in agriculture or achieve socially optimal results.  

Q In a world where all governments were responsible (according to the standards set by international social justice organizations), would non profit organizations and non governmental organizations solely exist to conduct scholarly research and advise political representatives during the process of creating legislation?

A world facing a major challenge such as eradicating hunger needs all possible resources and entities involved in food security to be committed to action: no single entity or sector can achieve such a goal alone. Over the last several years the UN system, built on a traditional constituency of member nations, has become much more inclusive in its formulation of policy and thematic challenges to be addressed by the world community. 

The FAO, among others, has greatly expanded its dialogue beyond governments in order to get full involvement of civil society organizations and NGOs in the analysis of issues, exchange of concrete on-the-ground experience in all areas affecting food security. The challenges of hunger are vast and multi-dimensional; no government can confront these issues alone. Partnerships with CSO, NGO, academia and the private sector is the only way to achieve progress and lasting results.  

Q From the perspective of the young person living in poverty in a rural area what kinds of current programs, initiatives and opportunities exist to improve their life in the immediate future as well as over the long term? 

On a global scale, many factors justify a strong focus on better enabling smallholder farmers to invest in agriculture, starting with their sheer numbers and economic importance and relative productivity. About 85 percent of 525 million farms worldwide are operated by smallholders on plots measuring less than 2 hectares. Sampling in developing countries showed that smallholder farms generate 60 to 70 percent of total rural income through farm and non-farm activity; they have high potential to be engines of growth and poverty reduction. 

Compared to large-scale farmers, smallholders can have significant advantages in terms of land productivity. At the same time smallholders face disadvantages such as access to land, markets, inputs, credit insurance and technology and sometimes government polices work against them. Many smallholders are women, for whom these constraints are, almost everywhere, even more severe. Closing the gender gap and ensuring equal access by women to resources and assets is needed to accelerate agricultural and rural development and reduce poverty.

Q Are under served communities, both rural and urban, in the United States and other developed counties, included in the conversations and investment priorities of FAO and other partner organizations? If not, what steps are necessary to move this outcome?

While developed nations are the main financial sources for the FAO and other humanitarian and development organizations, the governance, the definition of objectives and priority setting is decided and agreed together as a community of member nations, with most of the work directed to support developing countries in the challenges of food security. 

The developed nations also provide vast technical expertise, goods and services which are deployed in developing countries under FAO programs and projects. The experience of developed nations in addressing their own challenges of poverty, hunger and rural development, or confronting animal, crop and plant diseases, is also a factor in determining priorities and action plans.