10 December 2008 | Geneva/Hanoi/New York --

Hello All,
This is to draw your attention on the launch yesterday [Dec 10, 2008] by
the World Health Organization of the World Report on Child Injury
Prevention:

More than 2000 children die every day as a result of unintentional or accidental injuries. Every year tens of millions more worldwide are taken to hospitals with injuries that often leave them with lifelong disabilities, according to
a new report by WHO and UNICEF.

The World report on child injury prevention provides the first
comprehensive global assessment of unintentional childhood injuries and
prescribes measures to prevent them. It concludes that if proven
prevention measures were adopted everywhere at least 1000 children's
lives could be saved every day.

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References:
1) Delbaere et al. 'Should we adjust for gestational age when analysing birth weights? The use of z-scores revisited. Human Reproduction 22:8 2080-83
2) Wilcox. The Perils of Birth Weight—A Lesson from Directed Acyclic Graphs, Am J Epidemiol;164:1121–112
3) Hernandez-Dıaz S, Schisterman EF, Hernan MA. The birth weight ‘‘paradox’’ uncovered? Am J Epidemiol;164: 1115–20.
4) Tu et al. Growth, current size and the role of the 'reversal paradox' in the foetal origins of adult disease: an illustration using vector geometry. Epidemiol Perspect Innov.3: 9.

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I completed my pediatric training in 1989, the same year that the Canadian parliament voted unanimously to eradicate child poverty in this country by the year 2000. At that time, the LICO poverty rate was 15.1% (LICO = low-income cut-off, or the proportion of the population who spend more than 2/3 of their pre-tax income on basic food, shelter and clothing). As of 2006, the rate was still 15.8%, suggesting that we’ve failed to honor our legislative commitment, with 700,000 Canadian children still below the LICO threshold. Lest I be accused of exaggerating, we do even worse by other metrics, such as the low-income measure (LIM, or the proportion living on less than half the median income), which saw 1.6 million (23.1%) of Canadian children living below the poverty line.

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From the BBC: Article about a possible gene which may be linked with pre-eclampsia women - bringing with it the possibility of better diagnostics and treatment:

Pre-eclampsia accounts for 15% of all premature deliveries in the UK.

This is because the only way to completely cure pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby. Left untreated, the condition can lead to convulsions, kidney failure and serious liver problems.

The researchers from Harvard Medical School looked at proteins which may be involved in pre-eclampsia by affecting the level of oxygen delivered to the placenta.

They settled on COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase), an enzyme involved in the development of new blood vessels and a protein it produces called 2-methoxyoestradiol (2-ME).

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Location(s)

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Paediatric and child health nurses face multiple challenges and barriers in everyday practice. Through the implementation of the theme "Crossing barriers", this conference aims to illustrate that barriers can and must be crossed to improve health outcomes for children and young people. The conference aims are:

* to advance paediatric and child health nursing's contribution to health care and facilitate the dissemination of evidence highlighting effective nursing interventions
* to arise the profile of the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration
* to identify future directions for paediatric and child health nursing
* to provide a forum that stimulates debate and collegiality

Conference sub-themes are:

* Clinical practice
* Child safety

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The Countdown Conference 2008 will open a window of opportunities for the global community to put the issues of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) on the agenda of the highest-level of decision- and policy-makers by releasing a groundbreaking announcement on the latest state of the global progress towards MDGs 4 and 5. A special focus will be on reducing maternal mortality. This event is envisaged to become an important milestone following a wave of international advocacy efforts to mobilize global commitment and actions in MNCH.

http://www.who.int/pmnch/activities/countdown_to_2015/en/index1.html

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The conference will include plenary presentations by Topic Chairs and a Keynote Speaker, oral presentations, student-oriented programming, and several poster sessions. Specific conference themes include: Community and School-based Interventions in Child Health Psychology; Evidence-Based Approaches to Assessment in Pediatric Psychology; Evaluating and Treating Trauma; and Motivational Interviewing.

http://www.childhealthpsych2008.com/

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This much anticipated conference is for:
Multidisciplinary practitioners concerned with the care of infants and young children and their families, including supervisors, educators, researchers, administrators and policymakers

* To learn about new approaches to assessment and intervention for infants and young children for application in practice
* To expand knowledge about the influences of family, community and culture on the social and emotional well-being and development of infants and young children
* To become informed about emerging research findings and consider implications for practice
* To create opportunities for networking among colleagues from diverse areas of interest and practice with infants, young children and their families

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Location(s)

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Welcome to the conference website of SPOC - the 3rd Scandinavian Pediatric Obesity Conference!
We would like to invite you to an open, dynamic conference in Malmö, Sweden. The conference will focus on practical measures in the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity. Leading international experts will provide new insights into the management of this challenging problem.

http://www.childhoodobesity.info/