Question

8. List three (3) international agencies and organizations influencing Canadian health care. For each agency identified, explain what their influence is in relation to Canadian healthcare [B7].

Answer 1

Below are the three international agencies and organizations influencing Canadian health care:-

1. WHO – WORLD HELATH ORGANIZATION

2. UNESCO – UNITED NATIONAS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

3. FAO – FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

Their influence is in relation to Canadian healthcare :

This article presents a review of the literature as it relates to the influence of the word power in the context of the Canadian healthcare system. The concept of power is used to explore issues of gender and the evolution of advanced nurse practice in the development of the Canadian healthcare system. Furthermore, issues related to the call for interprofessional collaboration are addressed. Healthcare workers, in particular nurses, are trusted in a society that seeks, promotes, and aspires for power and control. In addition, societal norms continue to shape our healthcare reform. As a consequence, the discussion centers on a call for true collaboration among our healthcare providers and concludes with implications for nursing.

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984 and is universal. Universal access to publicly funded health services is often considered by Canadians as a "fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country. Canadian Medicare provides coverage for approximately 70 percent of Canadians' healthcare needs, and the remaining 30 percent is paid for through the private sector. The 30 percent typically relates to services not covered or only partially covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs, dentistry and optometry. Approximately 65 to 75 percent of Canadians have some form of supplementary health insurance related to the aforementioned reasons; many receive it through their employers or use secondary social service programs related to extended coverage for families receiving social assistance or vulnerable demographics, such as seniors, minors, and those with disabilities.

1. WHO – WORLD HELATH ORGANIZATION :-

WHO, as the directing and coordinating authority on international health within the United Nations system, adheres to the UN values of integrity, professionalism and respect for diversity.

The values of the WHO workforce furthermore reflect the principles of human rights, universality and equity established in WHO’s Constitution as well as the ethical standards of the Organization.

These values are inspired by the WHO vision of a world in which all peoples attain the highest possible level of health, and our mission to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable, with measurable impact for people at country level. We are individually and collectively committed to put these values into practice.

WHO began when our Constitution came into force on 7 April 1948 – a date we now celebrate every year as World Health Day. We are now more than 7000 people from more than 150 countries working in 150 country offices, in 6 regional offices and at our headquarters in Geneva.

WHO works worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.

Our goal is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and well-being.

For universal health coverage, we:

• focus on primary health care to improve access to quality essential services
• work towards sustainable financing and financial protection
• improve access to essential medicines and health products
• train the health workforce and advise on labour policies
• support people's participation in national health policies
• improve monitoring, data and information.

For health emergencies, we:

• prepare for emergencies by identifying, mitigating and managing risks
• prevent emergencies and support development of tools necessary during outbreaks
• detect and respond to acute health emergencies
• support delivery of essential health services in fragile settings.

For health and well-being we:

• address social determinants
• promote intersectoral approaches for health
• prioritize health in all policies and healthy settings.

Through our work, we address:

• human capital across the life-course
• noncommunicable diseases prevention
• mental health promotion
• climate change in small island developing states
• antimicrobial resistance
• elimination and eradication of high-impact communicable diseases.

2. UNESCO – UNITED NATIONAS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNESCO has 193 member states and 11 associate members.[5] Based in Paris, France, most of its field offices are "cluster" offices that cover three or more countries; national and regional offices also exist.

UNESCO seeks to build a culture of peace and inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication.[6] To that end, it pursues its objectives through five major program areas: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and communication/information. It sponsors projects related to literacy, technical training, education, the advancement of science, promoting independent media and freedom of the press, preserving regional and cultural history, and promoting cultural diversity. UNESCO assists in translating and disseminating world literature, establishing international cooperation agreements to secure "World Heritage Sites" of cultural and natural importance, preserving human rights, and bridging the worldwide digital divide. It also launched and leads the Education For All movement and lifelong learning.

UNESCO implements its activities through the five program areas: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

· Education: UNESCO supports research in comparative education; and provide expertise and fosters partnerships to strengthen national educational leadership and the capacity of countries to offer quality education for all. This includes the

o UNESCO Chairs, an international network of 644 UNESCO Chairs, involving over 770 institutions in 126 countries

o Environmental Conservation Organisation

o Convention against Discrimination in Education adopted in 1960

o Organization of the International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) in an interval of 12 years

o Publication of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report

o Publication of the Four Pillars of Learning seminal document

o UNESCO ASPNet, an international network of 8,000 schools in 170 countries

UNESCO does not accredit institutions of higher learning.[50]

· UNESCO also issues public statements to educate the public:

o Seville Statement on Violence: A statement adopted by UNESCO in 1989 to refute the notion that humans are biologically predisposed to organised violence.

· Designating projects and places of cultural and scientific significance, such as:

o Global Geoparks Network

o Biosphere reserves, through the Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB), since 1971

o City of Literature; in 2007, the first city to be given this title was Edinburgh, the site of Scotland's first circulating library.[51] In 2008, Iowa City, Iowa became the City of Literature.

o Endangered languages and linguistic diversity projects

o Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

o Memory of the World International Register, since 1997

o Water resources management, through the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), since 1965

o World Heritage Sites

o World Digital Library

· Encouraging the "free flow of ideas by images and words" by:

o Promoting freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and freedom of information legislation, through the Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development,[52] including the International Programme for the Development of Communication[53]

o Promoting the safety of journalists and combatting impunity for those who attack them,[54] through coordination of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity[55]

o Promoting universal access to and preservation of information and open solutions for sustainable development through the Knowledge Societies Division,[56] including the Memory of the World Programme[57] and Information for All Programme[58]

o Promoting pluralism, gender equality and cultural diversity in the media

o Promoting Internet Universality and its principles, that the Internet should be (I) human Rights-based, (ii) Open, (iii) Accessible to all, and (iv) nurtured by Multi-stakeholder participation (summarized as the acronym R.O.A.M.)[59]

o Generating knowledge through publications such as World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development,[60] the UNESCO Series on Internet Freedom,[61] and the Media Development Indicators,[62] as well as other indicator-based studies.

· Promoting events, such as:

o International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World: 2001–2010, proclaimed by the UN in 1998

o World Press Freedom Day, 3 May each year, to promote freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right and as crucial components of any healthy, democratic and free society.

o Criança Esperança in Brazil, in partnership with Rede Globo, to raise funds for community-based projects that foster social integration and violence prevention.

o International Literacy Day

o International Year for the Culture of Peace

o Health Education for Behavior Change program in partnership with the Ministry of Education of Kenya which was financially supported by the Government of Azerbaijan to promote health education among 10-19-year-old young people who live in informal camp in Kibera, Nairobi. The project was carried out between September 2014 - December 2016.[63]

· Founding and funding projects, such as:

o Migration Museums Initiative: Promoting the establishment of museums for cultural dialogue with migrant populations.[64]

o UNESCO-CEPES, the European Centre for Higher Education: established in 1972 in Bucharest, Romania, as a de-centralized office to promote international co-operation in higher education in Europe as well as Canada, USA and Israel. Higher Education in Europe is its official journal.

o Free Software Directory: since 1998 UNESCO and the Free Software Foundation have jointly funded this project cataloguing free software.

o FRESH Focussing Resources on Effective School Health.[65]

o OANA, Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies

o International Council of Science

o UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors

o ASOMPS, Asian Symposium on Medicinal Plants and Spices, a series of scientific conferences held in Asia

o Botany 2000, a programme supporting taxonomy, and biological and cultural diversity of medicinal and ornamental plants, and their protection against environmental pollution

o The UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, translating works of world literature both to and from multiple languages, from 1948 to 2005

o GoUNESCO, an umbrella of initiatives to make heritage fun supported by UNESCO, New Delhi Office[66]

The UNESCO transparency portal has been designed to enable public access to information regarding Organization's activities, such as its aggregate budget for a biennium, as well as links to relevant programmatic and financial documents. These two distinct sets of information are published on the IATI registry, respectively based on the IATI Activity Standard and the IATI Organization Standard.

There have been proposals to establish two new UNESCO lists. The first proposed list will focus on movable cultural heritage such as artifacts, paintings, and biofacts. The list may include cultural objects, such as the Jōmon Venus of Japan, the Mona Lisa of France, the Gebel el-Arak Knife of Egypt, The Ninth Wave of Russia, the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük of Turkey, the David (Michelangelo) of Italy, the Mathura Herakles of India, the Manunggul Jar of the Philippines, the Crown of Baekje of South Korea, The Hay Wain of the United Kingdom and the Benin Bronzes of Nigeria. The second proposed list will focus on the world's living species, such as the Komodo Dragon of Indonesia, the Panda of China, the Bald eagle of North American countries, the Aye-aye of Madagascar, the Asiatic Lion of India, the Kakapo of New Zealand, and the Mountain tapir of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.[67][68]

3. FAO – FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

FAO is helping countries develop and implement evidence-based pro-poor policies, strategies and programmes that promote inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods, income diversification, decent employment, access to social protection and empowerment of women and men in agriculture and in rural areas.

Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition

In spite of progress made over the last two decades, more than 820 million people still suffer from chronic hunger. Meanwhile other forms of malnutrition are also on the rise: overweight and obesity, associated with the development of a significant surge in diet-related non-communicable diseases, affect almost four in ten adults worldwide. At the same time, more than two billion people suffer from various micronutrient deficiencies. This shows that, despite a stronger political commitment, investments and policies are not being fully effective in fighting hunger and malnutrition and are not reaching some population groups.

FAO works in partnership with governments and other development actors at global, regional and national levels to develop supportive policy and institutional environments. We help strengthen countries’ capacities to translate their political commitment into concrete action to eradicate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition worldwide.

Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable

Satisfying the food and nutrition needs of an increasingly global population – projected to reach over 9 billion by 2050 –will put significant pressure on the different agricultural sectors, including crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries. Producing more with less to save natural resources, improve resilience and increase net incomes means that we need to make a clear shift away from current policies and practices towards more sustainable approaches. This transition is being mainstreamed through supporting countries to adopt a common vision for sustainable food and agriculture in support of the SDGs.

Reduce rural poverty

Hunger and food insecurity above all are expressions of poverty and most of the world’s poor live in rural areas. That’s why ending rural poverty is at the heart of FAO's work. Although progress has been made in reducing poverty globally, about 736 million people continue to live in extreme poverty and inequalities are still pervasive. By 2030, UN member countries have committed to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger for people everywhere. FAO is helping countries develop and implement evidence-based pro-poor policies, strategies and programmes that promote inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods, income diversification, decent employment, access to social protection and empowerment of women and men in agriculture and in rural areas.

Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems

With increasing globalization, agriculture as an independent sector will cease to exist, becoming instead, just one part of an integrated value chain. The value chain exits both upstream and downstream, or from production through to processing and sales, in which the whole is now highly concentrated, integrated and globalized. This poses a huge challenge for smallholder farmers and agricultural producers in many developing countries where even the most economically valid smallholders can easily be excluded from important parts of the value chain.

Increasing their participation in food and agricultural systems is critical to achieving FAO’s goal of a world without hunger.

Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises

Conflict, natural hazards and economic crises are driving up global hunger, causing extensive human suffering and threatening years of progress in fighting poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition. Up to 80 percent of those hit by crises are rural families who rely on agriculture for their survival. As such, FAO seeks to strengthen the resilience of agriculture-based livelihoods against multiple hazards. By bringing together humanitarian and development actions, with a deliberate focus on contributing to sustaining peace, FAO addresses the root causes of hunger while meeting the immediate needs of those affected by crisis. This involves: supporting governments and communities to prepare for, mitigate and address threats; monitoring risks and strengthening early warning systems at global, national and local levels, linking these to preventative action; actively working with communities to reduce risks and vulnerability; and providing immediate support to crisis-hit families to save lives, safeguard livelihoods and lay the foundations for more resilient futures.