iZiviso.com Int’l Online Magazine
Bringing You Knowledge & MoreIs Internet An Unassailable Right?
RECENT developments in Europe on Internat access legislation are indeed welcome, and point to a freer and less fettered access to this important human resource. If anything, governments around the world must follow suit and ensure that their citizens benefit from this essential resource.
Like may people around the world, I use the Internet on a daily basis, and when I can not get online access I feel sick. I am not exaggerating. For me, the internet has become as important as breathing. I have to have it or at least I have to know that I can have it.
That’s why I was so intrigued to read a recent New York Times report that European lawmakers agreed on new protections for Internet users.
Part of the report stated that consumer organizations that wanted to enshrine Internet access as an unassailable right. Governments in Europe have in past few months mooted ways to limit internet access to those deemed to be engaging in illegal downloads.
“Under the compromise, any decision to sever Internet access, an approach championed by several E.U. countries seeking to clamp down on digital copying of music and movies, must be subject to a legal review,” reported the New York Times. Read the rest of this entry »
Quote of the Day
“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Writer
The IPS Method
MY inner search for a job that is in tune with my style has been sending me on voyages of all kinds online. In fact, just writing that, I feel I have hit somewhere: being online for me is a trip. I get transported into so many worlds. And its always an intelectual feast to find something compelling, well written and presented.
While there is no doubt that the internet is the greatest available real estate for all human beings, the only way to make your real estate count is to make it beautiful. It boils down to format, tone, language, design, reliability, presentation, consistency. The old qualities, the traditional stuff that made print media what it became in our daily lives are still very important to the new age type of communication.
Anyway, the purpose of this blog today is to share with you a site that I bumped into during my visits online. First, a disclaimer. After years of wanting to get into publishing school and not getting there, and feeling so torn inside about it I feel that there is a seismic shift happening inside me.
An unearthing of some sort. Maybe its because I havent been writing that much. Bu whatever it is, I am beginning to get drwan towards corporate communications. I have been in the non-profit sector ever since I entered the work world, and to be frank, its all been hogwash. Read the rest of this entry »
Quote of the Day
“Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.” – Charles de Gaulle, statesman
The Morality of Water
Poverty, inequality and unequal power relationships are the main cause of the current global water and sanitation crisis, according to a paper titled “The human right to water and sanitation: benefits and limitations” which is contained in a UN report: The Right to Water – Current Situation and Future Challenges.
Despite the gravity of the situation, water and sanitation rarely make the headlines in the news media. The financial and human cost of the crisis is humongous.
“The global damage caused by diseases and productivity losses related to unclean water and poor sanitation is estimated at a staggering US 170 billion dollars per year with developing countries’ economies bearing the brunt of this burden. Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 5 % of GDP or US 28,4 billion per year, a figure that exceeded total aid flow and debt relief into the region in 2003,” states the report.
Such a hemorrhage is clearly unacceptable, and for Sub-Saharan Africa it is clear that lack of access to water and sanitation is not only about health and development; it is an economic imperative. Read the rest of this entry »
Qoute of the Day
Sometimes it seems I’ve spent my life trying to live up to others’ expectations of me, and failing. I never thought much about pleasing myself. That would have been “selfish.”
- JoAnn Reed
Why Communications Matter
An effective communication strategy must be inextricably linked to an organization’s stated mission, objectives and goals. The strategy needs to be supported by SMART objectives
In today’s information cluttered environment, its important to figure out how to make your organization’s communications stand above the crowd. Telling a story has never been as hard as it is today but utilizing the right approaches and planning ahead will ensure that your voice is heard above the pack.
So, to reiterate, a comprehensive communications plan must be rooted solidly within the vision, mission, goals and values of the institution. In other words, communication should be regarded as an extension of programmatic objectives. It must not exist as a separate entity.
The vision, mission, goals and values provide the framework within which the communications plan will be built. They define that which the communications must ultimately aspire towards.
Having said that, communication can make or break an organization. At the outset, its important to know where you want to go in order to determine the appropriate communication tactics and methodologies. Read the rest of this entry »
Diabetes in Zimbabwe: It’s Not All About Sugar
GROWING up in Zimbabwe, diabetes (a polygenic disease characterized by abnormally high glucose levels in the blood) was something that the old people always talked about, and the fear of the disease grew over me like a giant baobab.
To describe a person with diabetes, the old people would say in local parlance “Ane shuga”, which literally means: “He/she has sugar”. Essentially, it meant that the affected person has a disease associated with sugar.
To my childhood fancy, I thought that the people who were affected with the diabetes ate a lot of sugar only to discover later it was the common understanding.
Most people in Zimbabwe associate diabetes with a high intake of sugar, particularly in tea.
Little to no other foods are associated with the onset of this condition. Put simply, very few people know that eating too much of carbohydrates, fats, proteins can increase the incidence of diabetes.
I discovered later that diabetes mellitus occurs when the pancreas does not make enough or any of the hormone insulin, or when the insulin produced doesn’t work effectively. In diabetes, this causes the level of glucose in the blood to be too high.
According to experts, the number of people with diabetes in Zimbabwe is growing. In 2003, Zimbabwe recorded more than 90 000 cases of diabetes, an increased of 3 000 from the 1997 figure.
The Diabetic Association of Zimbabwe estimates that around 400 000 people in the country have the disease but many are unaware on their condition.
“About 50 percent of Zimbabweans are diabetic but are not aware of the condition, so many people are suffering from diabetes but do not have any knowledge about it,” a Zimbabwe Diabetes Association official was quoted in The Herald newspaper.
“It is sad that a lot of people have died because of this disease without knowing it, and only relatives will know about it after a post-mortem has been conducted,” added the official. Read the rest of this entry »
Quote of the Day
“We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” – Marie Curie, physicist
Uganda Steps Backward with Anti-Gay Legislation
News from Uganda that the government is seeking to reaffirm penalties for homosexuality and criminalize the “promotion of homosexuality” will only serve to drive people of same-sex orientation underground. The implications for public health efforts are dire, and there is no doubt that if the bill is passed into law, it will deal a body blow to HIV prevention efforts.
In Uganda, as in many parts of Africa, the health of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans and Intersexual Peoples is marginalized. This sub-group is already faced many challenges including HIV, STDs and STIs, and mental health problems due to lack of access to services.
“This bill is a blow to the progress of democracy in Uganda,” said David Kato of Sexual Minorities Uganda. “Its spirit is profoundly undemocratic and un-African.”
According to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission the Ugandan Parliament is now considering a homophobic law that would reaffirm penalties for homosexuality and criminalize the “promotion of homosexuality.”
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Ugandans, their defenders and anyone else who fails to report them to the authorities whether they are inside or outside of Uganda.
The proposed law will effectively criminalize homosexuality, and consequently bar any person of same-sex orientation from seeking public health services. Read the rest of this entry »
Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha
