Hard-Hitting Road Safety Campaigns Help Save Lives
November 14, 2013
By Elena Altieri, Communications Officer, World Health Organization Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability
In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, motorists cited protection from rain, dust, and even being seen transporting a woman other than one’s wife as benefits of wearing a helmet when driving their motorcycle. A few mentioned escaping fines. Sadly, no one mentioned safety. The fact is: wearing a helmet can decrease the risk of injury by 70% and death by 40%.
One pillar of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Program is the development of evidence-based mass media campaigns designed to change attitudes and behavior towards road safety. Developed after extensive research and testing with target audiences, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Program has produced and implemented 19 campaigns, totaling 33 television commercials and 17 radio spots, across 10 countries. In Brazil, Cambodia and Mexico, these hard-hitting campaigns were the first ever public campaigns to show realistic and graphic consequences, including injury and death.
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World Polio Day
October 24, 2013
By Tenley E. Albright, MD, Director of MIT Collaborative Initiatives
There is much to celebrate today in the global fight against polio. But our job is not yet complete.
In the 1950s, 33,000 or more Americans were crippled or killed by polio every year. The last known case in the U.S. was in 1979. When I had polio as a child, there was no cure, no treatment – no one even knew what caused it or how it spread – and certainly there were no vaccines.
Read moreCoal on the Decline: 150 Plant Closures and Counting
October 9, 2013
By Michael R. Bloomberg
The Sierra Club, Bloomberg Philanthropies and its partners have reached a big milestone in our campaign to move the United States beyond coal. With the announced retirement of the Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Massachusetts, 150 coal plants, or more than 60,000 megawatts, have either already closed or are on schedule to close. During the last two years, action by hundreds of individual communities, in partnership with the Sierra Club and Bloomberg Philanthropies, has led us to this key marker—one plant at a time. Coal is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 40 percent of total U.S. emissions. Retiring much of our existing coal fleet is our best opportunity to lower carbon pollution in the United States. Already, this shift away from coal has helped drive 2012 carbon dioxide emissions in the United States to their lowest level in two decades.
Read moreMike Bloomberg Urges Obama Administration to Avoid a "Colossal Public Health Mistake"
August 23, 2013
In today’s New York Times, Mayor Bloomberg wrote about his disappointment in the Obama Administration’s decision to weaken tobacco control protections in the latest draft of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement currently being negotiated by the President’s team and 11 other Pacific nations. He wrote, in part:
“[T]the Obama administration appears to be on the verge of bowing to pressure from a powerful special-interest group, the tobacco industry, in a move that would be a colossal public health mistake and potentially contribute to the deaths of tens of millions of people around the world.”
Read the entire piece on The New York Times website.
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Would You Smoke These?
August 22, 2013
By Sarah England, Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health Team
If your answer is “no,” you’re not alone. Research shows shocking images that provoke an emotional response are the most effective at motivating smokers to quit. That’s why Bloomberg Philanthropies and our partners work so hard to push governments to make them mandatory on every tobacco product—especially in countries where smoking rates are highest.
As a result of our efforts and those of countless health advocates, Vietnam and Russia (home to 15 and 60 million adult smokers) recently began enforcing regulations that mandate vivid depictions of the negative effects of tobacco on cigarette packs sold throughout those countries.
Read moreSupporting Uruguay in their Fight Against Big Tobacco
July 18, 2013
By Kelly Henning, Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health Team
This week, Mike Bloomberg met with Uruguayan Deputy Secretary Canepa, who along with President Mujica and his government are fighting a meritless lawsuit from tobacco giant Philip Morris as a result of the country’s strong anti-tobacco laws. Mike Bloomberg, Bloomberg Philanthropies and our partners stand strongly with the Uruguayan government, and are aiding their legal efforts.
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By the Numbers: New Study Shows Success of Anti-Tobacco Policies
July 1, 2013
By Jennifer Ellis, Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Health Team
As Mike Bloomberg often says, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” That’s why I am excited to make public the results of a new study that shows more than 7 million lives have been saved around the world as a result of tobacco control policy progress—and many more lives stand to be saved if we continue to pursue proven tobacco control policies.
The study was conducted by experts at Georgetown University, along with Bloomberg Philanthropies, and is the first to estimate the lives saved as a result of tobacco control policy progress.
The adoption and implementation of evidence-based policies to reduce tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries is the primary goal of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. With this study, we now have concrete evidence of the success of the MPOWER tobacco control measures as well as the headway the global tobacco control movement made in just three years (2007-2010).
Read moreTransforming the Museum Experience through Mobile Technology
June 20, 2013
By Anita Contini, Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts Team
Visiting a museum and seeing incredible art in person can be a transformative experience. But museum-goers have traditionally faced two barriers to making the most of their museum visits: the challenges of navigating collections and accessing information about its works. Many museums have made significant efforts to address these challenges, including offering curator-led tours and traditional audio guides along with interactive kiosks that facilitate self-guided walkthroughs.
Read moreBangladesh Enacts New Anti-Tobacco Rules
June 14, 2013
By Ishrat Chowdhury, Technical Advisor, The Union South-East Asia Office, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
After years of effort on the part of NGOs and Bangladesh’s anti-tobacco community, the country’s national parliament recently passed new tobacco control legislation that will help curb tobacco use by addressing several loopholes contained in previous regulations that did not go far enough to protect citizens from the harms of tobacco.
Read moreVolunteering to Tackle Nashville’s Needs
June 11, 2013
By Mayor Karl Dean, Nashville
Tennessee has long been known as the “volunteer state,” a moniker that Nashville residents are proud of.
The city of Nashville experienced a historic flood in 2010 – the fourth-largest non-hurricane disaster in U.S. history. More than 10,000 private properties were affected, and the city suffered over $2.1 billion in damages. To meet this unprecedented challenge, we leveraged all resources available to us – including the willingness of our fellow citizens to lend their time and talents to rebuild and revitalize our community. The flood may have brought challenges, but it also brought opportunities. It brought our city together.
Nashville’s ability to respond and recover was aided, in large part, by a culture of service that we had adopted through our involvement in Cities of Service and our city’s own Impact Nashville.
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