World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis. The theme this year is "Hepatitis can't wait," highlighting the urgent need to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. Check out virt's curated list of events organized around the awareness day and other hepatitis-related events. 

World Hepatitis Day

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The World Health Assembly (WHA) is an annual gathering of Ministers of Health, health leaders and delegations from all 194 United Nations Member States. In addition to official WHA plenary and committee meetings, there are also many events held on the sidelines of WHA.

World Health Assembly

LUNG FORCE is a national movement to defeat lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths among women and men. In recognition of World Lung Cancer Day, the American Lung Association's LUNG FORCE initiative is urging everyone to learn about risk factors for the disease and highlighting the importance of early detection through lung cancer screening.

In support of LUNG FORCE's efforts to defeat lung cancer, you can take the following important actions:
<ol>
 	<li>Review the risk factors for lung cancer: It's important to remember that anyone can get lung cancer. The best way to reduce your risk for the disease is to take steps to avoid exposure to the dangerous substances most likely to cause it. <a href="https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/learn-about-lung-cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Risk factors</a> for lung cancer include smoking, exposure to radon gas, air pollution and secondhand smoke.</li>
 	<li>Learn about lung cancer screening: A new screening, a low-dose CT scan, is now recommended for individuals at high risk for lung cancer and has the potential to dramatically improve lung cancer survival rates. A person is considered high risk if they are between 55–80 years old, have a 30 pack-year history of smoking (this means 1 pack a day for 30 years, 2 packs a day for 15 years, etc.), and are a current smoker or have quit within the last 15 years. If the estimated 8 million Americans at high risk for lung cancer were to be screened, about 25,000 lives could be saved.
To learn more, the American Lung Association offers a <a href="https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/saved-by-the-scan/quiz/sbts-quiz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lung cancer screening eligibility quiz</a> and encourages those concerned about their risk to speak with their doctor.</li>
 	<li>Join the fight against lung cancer
Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the U.S. It is time to change this statistic by taking action. You can make a difference by contacting your elected officials in Congress and urging them to support more research for and efforts to protect people from lung cancer. Join <a href="https://www.lung.org/lung-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LUNG FORCE</a> today!</li>
</ol>

American Lung Association

World Lung Cancer Day 2021

How are adolescents and young people living with HIV surviving the impact of COVID19?

Alive Medical Services (AMS)

Breaking the cycle: integrating mental health, GBV, HIV and SRHR services for adolescents and young people living with HIV in Uganda

On August 4th, during World Breastfeeding Week, the Care of the Small and Sick Newborn CoP will host a webinar exploring the significance of the role midwives, nurses and physicians play in protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities, with examples from practitioners in Nepal and Rwanda. This webinar is part of a series of webinars coordinated with the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and NEST360. Time for questions and answers will follow the discussion.
This webinar is a follow up to the June 30th discussion, “<a class="JsGRdQ" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSVb0L3lCIM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Expanding human resources for the care of small and sick newborns</a>” hosted by the <a class="JsGRdQ" href="https://qualityofcarenetwork.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health</a>.
Speakers:

<ul>
 	<li class="_04xlpA direction-ltr align-start para-style-body">Dr. Srijana Basnet, Associate Professor, Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu Nepal and General Secretary of the Nepal Breastfeeding Promotion Forum</li>
 	<li>Umubyeyi Pacifique, RN, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Manager, Rwanda Military Hospital</li>
</ul>
Moderator:

<ul>
 	<li>Dr. Carole Kenner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, ANEF CEO, Council of International Neonatal Nurses, Inc. (COINN)</li>
</ul>

Healthy Newborn Network (HNN)

Human Resources for Care of Small and Sick Newborns: The Role of Midwives and Nurses in Protecting, Promoting, and Supporting Breastfeeding

Unsustainable hunting and consumption of wild meat is a known driver of biodiversity loss and can also have implications for public health. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a call for a total ban on wild meat trade and consumption.

Yet millions of people across the globe depend on wild meat as an important contribution to food security.

In many rural areas, wild meat is the key source of protein in peoples’ diet and so preventing its consumption would pose a major threat to their livelihoods and wellbeing. It is therefore critical to improve understanding of why people eat wild meat, in order to design interventions that can help improve sustainability and safety.

At this online IIED Debates event, co-hosted by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science at Oxford University, The Conservation Foundation and Fondation Camerounaise Terra Vivante, we will hear findings from research in Cameroon that sought to understand the key drivers – cultural, economic, nutritional – of wild meat as a food choice and the impacts of COVID-19 on that choice.

Our speakers will discuss what kind of 'wild meat alternative' interventions local people do and do not find acceptable. How can decision-support tools help intervention designers think through critical issues?

And what are the implications of these findings for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) guidance on wild meat and for the design of future projects?
<h3>About the speakers</h3>
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://www.iied.org/users/dilys-roe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dilys Roe</a> (moderator) is a principal researcher and biodiversity team leader in IIED's Natural Resources research group</li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.iccs.org.uk/person/stephanie-brittain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephanie Brittain</a> is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford focusing on local knowledge and drivers of wild meat consumption in Cameroon</li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.iied.org/users/cedric-thibaut-kamogne-tagne" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cedric Thibaut Kamogne Tagne</a> is a researcher at the Fondation Camerounaise de la Terre Vivante (FCTV) in Cameroon</li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.iccs.org.uk/index.php/person/jasmin-willis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jasmin Willis</a> is a research consultant at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and a visiting research fellow of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science at University of Oxford</li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/find-an-expert/professor-ej-milner-gulland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EJ Milner-Gulland</a> is director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science at University of Oxford</li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.mmu.ac.uk/natural-sciences/staff/profile/index.php?id=2232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Julia Fa</a> is a professor of natural sciences at the Manchester Metropolitan University</li>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/afowlerlimbe?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Fowler</a> is regional lead for West and Central Africa with the Zoological Society of London</li>
</ul>
<h3>About IIED Debates</h3>
This event is part of the IIED Debates series. Through the convening of expert speakers and external stakeholders, IIED brings together an international community to discuss critical issues.

IIED Debates encompass both physical and digital events, including critical themes, breakfast debriefs and webinars. These events are public and are hosted regularly throughout the year online and when possible in our London and Edinburgh offices.
<h3>About attending</h3>
Webinars are online workshops that people can attend via the internet from their desk or portable internet device.

This webinar will use the Zoom video conferencing platform. For those who have not attended a Zoom webinar before, please read this guide to participation as an attendee.

The event will be recorded to be distributed publicly afterwards. By registering for this event, you agree to give your consent for this.

The information you provide will be held on our database to process your booking. We do not share data with any third parties. We may contact you in the future about other IIED events. Please let us know if you do not want to receive any further information from us.

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Why eat wild meat? Insights from Africa and lessons for COVID-19 responses

The webinar session: “Beyond the pandemic”: is the second of LumiraDx Africa’s engagement series convened by AHB. It will be an open and freely accessible webinar and will incorporate discussions on matters related to diagnostics and testing. Speakers will discuss the status and prospects for Covid-19 testing on the continent, amongst others. Sharing their experiences and lessons learnt, speakers will demonstrate to participants how these can be leveraged to build and strengthen current as well as future testing capacities and platforms that can be deployed to address other communicable and non-communicable diseases beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Africa Health Business

Beyond the Pandemic

The key questions we were asking during much of 2020 and indeed the first half of 2021 about the impact of covid-19 and the associated restrictions have now been largely answered. The conversation has now shifted to the much debated “shape of the recovery”, will it be more V than W (or U or L-shaped, or indeed any other shape). While some business environments have been successfully supported by stimulus measures, and multiple effective vaccines have been created, tested and rolled out in some developed countries – roll-out of vaccines in Africa and in particular East Africa has been sluggish at best.

Of course, there is still a long way to go before we get back to something resembling ‘normal’, not least achieving a significant level of vaccination amongst the broader population. The economic and social impacts are still playing out and hold some uncertainties and potential concerns. With this in mind, how does the macro view look like for the East African economy in H2 of 2021 – growth, inflation, rates, FX, etc.

Please join our Africa Macro Research team and our Heads of Markets in this region as we unpack some of these questions in a discussion on East Africa’s Market outlook and Macroeconomic prospects for H2 2021.

Invest Africa

Absa East Africa Markets Update & H2 Macro Outlook and Forecasts

The beginning of March 2020 saw the dawn of the COVID19 pandemic which hit the shores of most countries worldwide bringing with it unprecedented changes to life as we know it.

Philanthropy, in all of its various forms, engaged stakeholders from the private, public, non-profit, and religious sectors. It nimbly cut across geographies, social classes, and demographic groups in a way that governments and businesses often could not to help manage the impact of the pandemic. Traditionally, the impetus for giving is clear: donors identify rampant need in their communities and, for various religious, social, moral, and cultural reasons, choose to give freely of their resources. But what was the impact of their giving? What was the role of African philanthropy in responding to the pandemic? What are the positive lessons from philanthropy in the post recovery period? What are some notable achievements from philanthropy’s contribution to responding to COVID19? What is philanthropy’s role in supporting research and development in Africa? Finally, what are the strategies that need to be crafted to realise the One Africa vision through philanthropy?

Center for African Studies, Harvard University

2nd African Philanthropy Conference 2021: Surviving COVID19 – the Role of African Philanthropy

Ending the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigating its impact can be a reality where there is a collective effort to use evidence-informed and effective interventions.
The scale and magnitude of human, financial and technological investment in the management of the pandemic creates successes but also highlights weaknesses in our systems to address the needs of the marginalised and vulnerable persons. The pandemic highlights the scales of inequalities and the challenges that continue to persist and undermine momentum, putting at risk the progress made with health and economic development during the past decade, with tragic implications for people’s lives, economies, health security, and sustainable development.

African Union

Africa CDC

Public Health Grand Rounds: A New Public Health Order in the 21st Century

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding.

Evolution of the Campaign

WBW is celebrated every 1-7 August in commemoration of the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/programme/breastfeeding/innocenti.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1990 Innocenti Declaration</a>. WBW started in 1992, with annual themes including healthcare systems, women and work, the <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes</a>, community support, ecology, economy, science, education and human rights. Since 2016, WBW is aligned with the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs). In 2018, a <a href="https://www.who.int/world-health-assembly/seventy-first" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Assembly</a> resolution endorsed WBW as an important breastfeeding promotion strategy.

Objectives
<ul>
 	<li>Inform celebrants about the selected theme of the year</li>
 	<li>Anchor the theme within the global breastfeeding agenda</li>
 	<li>Engage with individuals and organisations for greater impact</li>
 	<li>Galvanize action on the selected theme and related issues</li>
</ul>

World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) 2021

Understanding the individual cat

When it comes to cats, there is no ‘one size fits all’. All cats are individuals, with individual needs and circumstances.

Can we tell when a cat is happy?

Is it in a twitch of the tail? A miaow? Maybe a purr?

Cats are mysterious creatures and we can’t always tell what they are thinking, but what we do know is that not all happy cats are alike.

Some cats are uncomfortable with close human contact, and even if they were given all the love and attention in the world this wouldn’t change. Other cats are dependent on people and couldn’t adjust to foraging for food or living in a colony of street cats.

This International Cat Day we want to make every cat a happy cat and we can do this by sharing information and helping people understand that what makes one cat happy may not work for another. Every cat should have the best life possible, no matter its situation, and in bringing together cat owners with experts, professionals and volunteers who strive to make a difference for cats everywhere, International Cat Day provides a host of fun and informative activities to deepen our understanding of these amazing animals.

Join us on Sunday, 8 August to share the love, learn more and laugh together in celebration of International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay.

International Cat Care

International Cat Day 2021

COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience

While the exact origins of COVID-19 have not yet been confirmed, the link between environmental damage and pandemics is well known to leading research organizations. But there is yet another group of experts, who have been worrying about the threat of a pandemic even before COVID-19: indigenous peoples. Thanks to their traditional knowledge and their relationship with the natural world, they have long known that the degradation of the environment has the potential to unleash disease.

As we fight against the spread of the pandemic, it is more important than ever to safeguard indigenous peoples and their knowledge. Their territories are home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity and they can teach us much about how to rebalance our relationship with nature and reduce the risk of future pandemics.

Indigenous peoples are seeking their own solutions to this pandemic. They are taking action and using traditional knowledge and practices such as voluntary isolation, and sealing off their territories, as well as preventive measures.

Once again they have shown their capability to adapt.

Their challenges are our challenges

Indigenous communities already face a host of challenges, and the unfortunate present reality is that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are worsening these challenges further still.

Indigenous communities already experience poor access to healthcare, significantly higher rates of diseases, lack of access to essential services, sanitation, and other key preventive measures, such as clean water, soap, disinfectant, etc. Likewise, most nearby local medical facilities are often under-equipped and under-staffed. Even when indigenous peoples can access healthcare services, they can face stigma and discrimination. A key factor is to ensure services and facilities are provided in indigenous languages, as appropriate to the specific situation of Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous peoples’ traditional lifestyles are a source of their resiliency and can also pose a threat at this time in preventing the spread of the virus.  For example, most indigenous communities regularly organize large traditional gatherings to mark special events e.g. harvests, coming of age ceremonies, etc. Some indigenous communities also live in multi-generational housing, which puts Indigenous peoples and their families, especially the Elders, at risk.

Furthermore, indigenous peoples already face food insecurity as a result of the loss of their traditional lands and territories or even climate change effects. They also confront even graver challenges accessing food. With the loss of their traditional livelihoods, which are often land-based, many indigenous peoples, who work in traditional occupations and subsistence economies or in the informal sector, will be adversely affected by the pandemic. The situation of indigenous women, who are often the main providers of food and nutrition to their families, is even graver.

In order to raise awareness of the needs of indigenous peoples, every 9 August commemorates the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Especially now, they need us. Especially now, we need the tradicional knowledge, voices and wisdom of indigenous peoples.

United Nations

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2021

The talk will discuss the public health importance of seasonal respiratory viral illness and approaches to disease control. The emergence and epidemiology of pandemic viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 will be discussed.

University of Witwatersrand

From epidemics to pandemics - viral respiratory illness in South Africa

How were adolescent girls around the world supported throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? What interventions were missing? How can civil society organizations and governments better support vulnerable girls moving forward? On International Youth Day, girls from across East Africa will take the lead and answer these and other important questions as we look toward shaping a post-COVID world in this exciting virtual event, hosted by the Coalition for Adolescent Girls and Kakenya's Dream and moderated by internationally acclaimed advocate for girls' empowerment and founder of Kakenya's Dream, Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya.

Featuring remarks and discussion with youth advocates:
Deborah from Malawi - Women Deliver
Mary from Zambia - Freely in Hope
Ann-Claire from Kenya - Kakenya's Dream
Barlin from Kenya - Girl Rising and Big Picture Learning Kenya
Catherine from Uganda - Just Like My Child Foundation

Coalition for Adolescent Girls

Kakenya's Dream

Girls Take the Mic: Setting the Agenda for a Post-COVID World

African music has never more been more popular around the world. Over the past few years, global music services, such as Spotify and Apple Music, have expanded into the region, while music streaming revenues continue to grow. At the same time, African artists are lauded by critics and fans alike. Nigerian sensations such as Burna Boy and Wizkid have won Grammys, while the South African hit song Jerusalema soared up the Global Charts in 2020.

This progress has helped further establish the presence of African entertainment organisations. Entertainment start-ups had their best funding year on record, raising a total of $13.9 million – that is, 116 times their raised earnings in 2018. This growth has catapulted the development of new technologies, including mobile streaming and the dissemination of digital content. Moreover, the entertainment economy has proved resilient and has sustained the shocks of Covid-pandemic and other disruptions.

In this webinar, our experts will discuss the recent performance of the African entertainment economy, how the sector has harnessed the power of new technologies and the future directors and potential challenges including prohibitive mobile data costs.

Discussion points:
<ul>
 	<li>What efforts can be made to close the digital divide and overcome technological challenges therein such as the high data costs?</li>
 	<li>What are the growth prospects of local disruptive streaming services and how will these compete with global firms recently entering the region?</li>
 	<li>What role can Governments play in fostering local talent and providing an enabling environment for growth to encourage indigenous partnerships rather than talent going abroad?</li>
 	<li>What role does the diaspora play in the growth of the music industry on the Continent?</li>
</ul>

Twice as Tall? The Growth of Africa’s Music and Entertainment Industry

What are the challenges faced by Humanitarian Agencies in the application of data protection principles?

What is the context of data protection in Kenya?

In partnership with the Kenya Red Cross Society &amp; the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, we are inviting you for a Data Protection Symposium to raise awareness among humanitarian organizations and other actors on personal data protection principles as applied in humanitarian activities. The symposium will also explore the intersection of humanitarian activities and other sectors, as often humanitarian organizations have to rely on third parties to achieve humanitarian objectives. For instance, humanitarian agencies have to rely on financial sector players such as banks and telecommunication companies to offer cash transfer assistance. This inevitably involves the exchange of data with such service providers and humanitarian organizations. The seminar, therefore, aims at bringing together diverse actors as well as regulatory authorities to promote mutual understanding of the data protection standards as applied in the context of humanitarian emergencies.

The two-day seminar will cover topics such as:
<ul>
 	<li>Challenges faced by Humanitarian Agencies in the application of data protection principles.</li>
 	<li>The context of data protection in Kenya</li>
 	<li>Working with government to enhance data responsibility within the humanitarian sector</li>
 	<li>Working with communities to enhance data protection for beneficiaries</li>
 	<li>Data Protection in Kenya: Risks, Challenges, Opportunities, and Best Practices</li>
 	<li>Digital Identity and Data Protection</li>
 	<li>Ensuring Data Protection in Cash Transfer Programmes</li>
 	<li>International Data Sharing; Best Practices</li>
 	<li>Key Obligations for Data Controllers and Processors under Kenya law</li>
 	<li>Mobile Apps and Data Protection</li>
 	<li>The Process of Data Impact Assessment</li>
 	<li>Data Protection by Design and Default</li>
 	<li>Cloud Services and Data Protection</li>
 	<li>International Organizations and Data Protection; the intersection between international law, privileges, and immunities, and domestic law.</li>
</ul>

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