Improving Environments for Children with Asthma

Reviews the environmental triggers of asthma and disparities in the incidence of the disease. Looks at the advocacy work of local coalitions of the Community Action to Fight Asthma initiative and policy outcomes of their efforts

Profile: The Canadian Landmine Foundation

Through projects ranging from advocacy to fundraising to clearance, the Canadian Landmine Foundation (CLF) has made many significant contributions to worldwide mine action efforts. This article highlights some of their recent work, focusing on their achievements in the Balkans

An Underpinning of School Inequities: Asthma Absences and Lost Revenue in California Schools.

BACKGROUND:Asthma is epidemic in many locations in the United States. Asthma exacerbations pose serious health and education risks for students through school absences, school dropout, and introduction to the juvenile justice system. Accurate school district-level asthma data, currently in short supply, would enable early interventions that focus on specific geographic areas and racial and ethnic subgroups that have higher asthma prevalence. METHODS:To support the development of better local level data systems, we used two California student databases, as well as state education and financial databases, to develop two models to estimate school absences and to extrapolate their economic impact in lost school revenue. RESULTS:Analysis demonstrated subpopulations that are appropriate for early intervention: African American elementary school boys have 9.4 average absences per year, higher than other primary racial and ethnic groups. Students who miss ≥3 school days due to asthma account for $26 million of lost revenue. CONCLUSIONS:Accurate local level asthma data can identify subpopulations of students for whom environmental and treatment programs can be employed to reduce asthma absences and other related outcomes, and to reduce currently lost school revenues. Such programs also may diminish other asthma-related school inequities

The U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program

The U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research and Development (R&D) Program rapidly develops, evaluates and demonstrates equipment for humanitarian demining, hoping to improve the overall safety of the individual deminer and the efficiency of humanitarian demining operations worldwide. By collaborating with a number of different members of the humanitarian demining community, the R&D Program strives to cater to the needs of those in the field and effectively fill any technology gaps as quickly as possible

The Military in Mine Action: An Interview With LTC Bob Crowley, U.S. SOUTHCOM

The Military in Mine Action: An Interview With LTC Bob Crowley, U.S. SOUTHCO

TMAC: Conquering Thailand’s Unique Mine Problem

The Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) faces a number of challenges in coping with the country’s landmine situation, but the organization is making progress, one step at a time. For more insight into TMAC’s operations, Mr. Dave McCracken, Chief Technical Adviser of TMAC, recently shared some of his views on demining, including the successes and challenges, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and what lies ahead

Humanitarian vs. Military Mine Action

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and commercial companies are well-known in the mine action community for conducting demining operations all over the world. But there is another breed of deminer that is becoming more and more common—the military. Militaries often have different objectives, tactics, opinions and experiences from professional mine action practitioners, which is frequently reflected in the way they conduct clearance operations. Can two groups so different find some common ground and work towards a world in which they not only coexist, but actually work in tandem to assist one another in carrying out demining