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End single-use to turn the tide on plastic
Get PDFPlastic pollution is an increasing global crisis despite large-scale awareness and extensive mitigation efforts. Existing waste management systems and recycling technologies have failed to control the plastic menace. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, about 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic materials were produced between 1950 and 2017, with 7 billion tonnes ending up in landfills or the environment. The Global Plastic Outlook 2022 report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) confirms that less than 10 per cent of plastic waste is recycled. It has now become clear that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis
Pro-Social Risk-Taking as a Pathway to Social-Emotional Learning in Schools: Theory, Strategies, and Implications
No full textWhile traditional prosocial behaviors such as helping and sharing have long been associated with positive outcomes, this chapter uniquely positions pro-social risk-taking (PSRT)—a distinct, courageous form of moral action that combines altruistic intent with personal risk. It explores PSRT as a promising pathway for enhancing adolescents' social-emotional learning (SEL) within school settings. Drawing on developmental and moral psychology, PSRT is framed as moral courage and a potential antidote to bystanders' passivity in bullying and social exclusion. The chapter integrates PSRT into the SEL framework, emphasizing its connection to empathy, social cognition, and perspective-taking. It emphasizes that PSRT not only protects peers but also strengthens the well-being and moral identity of the risk-taker. The chapter also outlines evidence-based strategies—curricular integration, school climate transformation, student empowerment, and role modeling—highlighting a paradigm shift toward valuing socially courageous behavior as a core educational outcome
Burden of 375 diseases and injuries, risk-attributable burden of 88 risk factors, and healthy life expectancy in 204 countries and territories, including 660 subnational locations, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
Get PDFBackground: For more than three decades, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) has provided a framework to quantify health loss due to diseases, injuries, and associated risk factors. This paper presents GBD 2023 findings on disease and injury burden and risk-attributable health loss, offering a global audit of the state of world health to inform public health priorities. This work captures the evolving landscape of health metrics across age groups, sexes, and locations, while reflecting on the remaining post-COVID-19 challenges to achieving our collective global health ambitions.
Methods: The GBD 2023 combined analysis estimated years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 375 diseases and injuries, and risk-attributable burden associated with 88 modifiable risk factors. Of the more than 310000 total data sources used for all GBD 2023 (about 30% of which were new to this estimation round), more than 120 000 sources were used for estimation of disease and injury burden and 59 000 for risk factor estimation, and included vital registration systems, surveys, disease registries, and published scientific literature. Data were analysed using previously established modelling approaches, such as disease modelling meta-regression version 2.1 (DisMod-MR 2.1) and comparative risk assessment methods. Diseases and injuries were categorised into four levels on the basis of the established GBD cause hierarchy, as were risk factors using the GBD risk hierarchy. Estimates stratified by age, sex, location, and year from 1990 to 2023 were focused on disease-specific time trends over the 2010–23 period and presented as counts (to three significant figures) and age-standardised rates per 100 000 person-years (to one decimal place). For each measure, 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs] were calculated with the 2∙5th and 97∙5th percentile ordered values from a 250-draw distribution.
Findings: Total numbers of global DALYs grew 6·1% (95% UI 4·0–8·1), from 2·64 billion (2·46–2·86) in 2010 to 2·80 billion (2·57–3·08) in 2023, but age-standardised DALY rates, which account for population growth and ageing, decreased by 12·6% (11·0–14·1), revealing large long-term health improvements. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) contributed 1·45 billion (1·31–1·61) global DALYs in 2010, increasing to 1·80 billion (1·63–2·03) in 2023, alongside a concurrent 4·1% (1·9–6·3) reduction in age-standardised rates. Based on DALY counts, the leading level 3 NCDs in 2023 were ischaemic heart disease (193 million [176–209] DALYs), stroke (157 million [141–172]), and diabetes (90·2 million [75·2–107]), with the largest increases in age-standardised rates since 2010 occurring for anxiety disorders (62·8% [34·0–107·5]), depressive disorders (26·3% [11·6–42·9]), and diabetes (14·9% [7·5–25·6]). Remarkable health gains were made for communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) diseases, with DALYs falling from 874 million (837–917) in 2010 to 681 million (642–736) in 2023, and a 25·8% (22·6–28·7) reduction in age-standardised DALY rates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, DALYs due to CMNN diseases rose but returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023. From 2010 to 2023, decreases in age-standardised rates for CMNN diseases were led by rate decreases of 49·1% (32·7–61·0) for diarrhoeal diseases, 42·9% (38·0–48·0) for HIV/ AIDS, and 42·2% (23·6–56·6) for tuberculosis. Neonatal disorders and lower respiratory infections remained the leading level 3 CMNN causes globally in 2023, although both showed notable rate decreases from 2010, declining by 16·5% (10·6–22·0) and 24·8% (7·4–36·7), respectively. Injury-related age-standardised DALY rates decreased by 15·6% (10·7–19·8) over the same period. Differences in burden due to NCDs, CMNN diseases, and injuries persisted across age, sex, time, and location. Based on our risk analysis, nearly 50% (1·27 billion [1·18–1·38]) of the roughly 2·80 billion total global DALYs in 2023 were attributable to the 88 risk factors analysed in GBD. Globally, the five level 3 risk factors contributing the highest proportion of risk-attributable DALYs were high systolic blood pressure (SBP), particulate matter pollution, high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), smoking, and low birthweight and short gestation—with high SBP accounting for 8·4% (6·9–10·0) of total DALYs. Of the three overarching level 1 GBD risk factor categories—behavioural, metabolic, and environmental and occupational—risk-attributable DALYs rose between 2010 and 2023 only for metabolic risks, increasing by 30·7% (24·8–37·3); however, age-standardised DALY rates attributable to metabolic risks decreased by 6·7% (2·0–11·0) over the same period. For all but three of the 25 leading level 3 risk factors, age-standardised rates dropped between 2010 and 2023—eg, declining by 54·4% (38·7–65·3) for unsafe sanitation, 50·5% (33·3–63·1) for unsafe water source, and 45·2% (25·6–72·0) for no access to handwashing facility, and by 44·9% (37·3–53·5) for child growth failure. The three leading level 3 risk factors for which age-standardised attributable DALY rates rose were high BMI (10·5% [0·1 to 20·9]), drug use (8·4% [2·6 to 15·3]), and high FPG (6·2% [–2·7 to 15·6]; non-significant).
Interpretation: Our findings underscore the complex and dynamic nature of global health challenges. Since 2010, there have been large decreases in burden due to CMNN diseases and many environmental and behavioural risk factors, juxtaposed with sizeable increases in DALYs attributable to metabolic risk factors and NCDs in growing and ageing populations. This long-observed consequence of the global epidemiological transition was only temporarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The substantially decreasing CMNN disease burden, despite the 2008 global financial crisis and pandemic-related disruptions, is one of the greatest collective public health successes known. However, these achievements are at risk of being reversed due to major cuts to development assistance for health globally, the effects of which will hit low-income countries with high burden the hardest. Without sustained investment in evidence-based interventions and policies, progress could stall or reverse, leading to widespread human costs and geopolitical instability. Moreover, the rising NCD burden necessitates intensified efforts to mitigate exposure to leading risk factors—eg, air pollution, smoking, and metabolic risks, such as high SBP, BMI, and FPG—including policies that promote food security, healthier diets, physical activity, and equitable and expanded access to potential treatments, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists. Decisive, coordinated action is needed to address long-standing yet growing health challenges, including depressive and anxiety disorders. Yet this can be only part of the solution. Our response to the NCD syndemic—the complex interaction of multiple health risks, social determinants, and systemic challenges—will define the future landscape of global health. To ensure human wellbeing, economic stability, and social equity, global action to sustain and advance health gains must prioritise reducing disparities by addressing socioeconomic and demographic determinants, ensuring equitable health-care access, tackling malnutrition, strengthening health systems, and improving vaccination coverage. We live in times of great opportunity
Towards a Legal Reconceptualization of Algorithmi‘Inferences’ as ‘Collection’ of Personal Data under the GDPR
No full textThe consensus from the techno-legal literature is that the standing provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) do not offer meaningful protections against legal harms arising from the process of algorithmic inferences of psychological traits. However, this literature presupposes that the computational processes of inference and collection of personal data deserve separate legal treatments. This opinion makes the provocative argument that despite being computationally distinct, these two processes must be treated as legally equivalent and accordingly, inter alia, algorithmic inferences must be subjected to the rigours of data minimization in the same way as collection of personal data within the GDPR. In this process, this opinion takes a first principles approach to furnish the necessary taxonomy and conceptual underpinnings to ground the legal logic behind recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Maximilian Schrems v. Meta Platforms
Exploring the Role of Generative AI for Immersive Experiences
No full textGenerative AI is perhaps the most important technological revolution that we are witnessing today. Some of us believe it is going to supplement and revolutionize human creativity and digital experiences. At the same time, there are speculations around the threat of misrepresentation, misinformation, and evolution of a digital world that is far away from reality and creates delusion for the end-user. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the immersive experiences in the space of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality and their meaning for end users. We explore various fundamental techniques such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), variational autoencoders (VAEs), and reinforcement learning (RL). The most important advancement over the earlier generation of digital technologies, that is, adaptability of content as per the demand, also called dynamic personalization in the adaptive immersive environments, has been discussed. Lastly, we cover the challenges and ethical considerations, for example, the threat to data privacy, algorithmic bias, and content moderation, as well as new responsibilities of the players in the field and collaborative opportunities in different fields, for example, collaboration between content creators, researchers, and immersive AI environment developers that may transform digital human experiences to new heights
Not just insurance, Indians need universal healthcare
Get PDFDecember 12 was Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day. This year’s theme was “Unaffordable health costs? We’re sick of it!’’ This draws attention to a growing frustration with the rising financial burden of healthcare. In observing UHC Day, it is important to distinguish between universal health coverage and universal healthcare. The latter goes beyond coverage for illness alone and encompasses equitable access to comprehensive primary healthcare — preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative. UHC is grounded in the universal human right to health, articulated in several international covenants and reinforced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Alma-Ata Declaration, 1978. However, the WHO’s 2010 World Health Report emphasised financial reform and risk protection as a pathway to UH
IMP #3. What Are We Defending When We Defend Public Education?
Get PDFIf elite universities have perfected the aesthetic of critique, public universities still embody its mess. But that mess matters. Public universities were once imagined as engines of national integration, mobility, and reasoned dissent. Today, they have become battlegrounds. In many cases, they are starved of funds, over-policed, and vilified in public discourse. Yet, despite their crisis, and sometimes because of it, they remain among the last spaces where political struggle is not just theorised, but lived
IMP #7. Why is Everything an Emergency?
Get PDFThis week, a draft “Research Code of Conduct” appeared in our inboxes with only a couple of hours to respond. I flagged it in a university WhatsApp group because the timeline felt suspicious. Within a few minutes of my post, the deadline was extended by 48 hours. The timing itself tells a story. Policies are pushed through so fast that no one can really absorb them, let alone debate them. By the time you look up, silence has already been counted as agreement
Why Economists Don't Like Avial
Get PDFPolitical economy of development has always felt to me like avial. As I understand its origin, avial was an afterthought. The dish came together from leftover vegetables that did not fit into the week’s menu. No single ingredient warranted a preparation of its own. Each, taken individually, was ordinary. But when combined—and held together by coconut, yoghurt, curry leaves, and seasoning—the result could be unexpectedly coherent. The ingredients could change depending on what one preferred or what happened to be left in the kitchen. The logic of the dish stayed the same
Democratic Deficit in South Asia: Study of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan During the Pandemic
No full textAs per a recent study, the COVID-19 outbreak accelerated illiberal trends in many Indo-Pacific countries. The pandemic ushered in restrictions on freedom of speech and movement, and the situation also warranted greater policing roles by the government/authorities. Nicole Curato has coined the term “securitisation of social issues” to describe this trend. This chapter will attempt to examine if South Asia has adapted those trends to limit space for democracy or if the trend has been reversed. The past year has seen several elections in South Asia, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka. While free and fair elections are one of the pillars of democracy, this has become a subject of controversy within the region. Whereas in the past South Asia has witnessed various forms of democratic governance, the pandemic saw a backsliding of democratic norms, although some states experienced that trend even earlier. South Asia has witnessed an erosion of liberties. This chapter focuses on Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are examined through the lens of electoral democracy, Pakistan through institutional overreach, and the level of freedom enjoyed by the Indian media has been discussed, too. The pandemic did not initiate these trends but exacerbated pre-existing issues. Governments struggled to address crises, but some governments used the opportunity to tighten controls and suppress civic engagement during precarious times