The paper highlights the milestones in the development of the UN idea of the Society for All Ages, originally announced as a motto of the International Year of Old Persons and later accepted as a central concept of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging (MIPA). In accord with MIPA building of the Society for All Ages will be a major issue in policies and programmes on aging in the XXI century. According to the UN experts opinion demographic tendencies may produce considerable impact on economy, social sphere and safety of Russia. The issues of aging are far from being completely and rapidly included into national development strategies on priority basis.
In the mid-1950s, concern was increasing about the possible effects from the radioactive fallout resulting from nuclear weapon testing. Various scientists from non-nuclear countries such as Sweden and Canada made their politicians aware of the potential hazards of fallout. This concern went up to the General Assembly of the United Nations, which took the unique step of appointing a scientific committee to advise it about the levels and effects of radiation, especially from nuclear bomb testing. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation was established in 1955 and held its first working meeting in September 1956. In less than two years it produced its first, pioneering report, which produced previously secret information about fallout exposure, and hitherto unknown information about natural background and medical exposure.
Peacekeepers are frequently exposed to dangerous, provoking, or humiliating situations and have limited possibilities to express the resulting anger and frustrations. Self-medication with alcohol and drugs to calm down may result. A representative sample (N = 888) of Norwegian United Nations veterans who served in South Lebanon completed a questionnaire regarding service-related stress and the role of alcohol in stress management. A total of 43.5% of the respondents reported that they had increased their consumption of alcohol during the mission. Overall, only a minority gave reasons such as tension, restlessness, anxiety, and stress to explain the increase. Respondents who had been exposed to the highest levels of stress, however, reported significantly more frequently these potentially pathological reasons for increased drinking. To prevent such outcomes, personnel need to be screened for risk reactions and to be educated in alternative stress management measures. Furthermore, management of both stress and the destructive use of alcohol is clearly a leadership issue.
Lars O. Kallings retired Summer, 1993, as the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Program on AIDS' (GPA) Senior Advisor on scientific an policy affairs after joining GPA in 1990 while on leave of absence as Scientific Advisor to the Swedish government. Becoming involved with AIDS in 1982, he had no idea that the pandemic would grow to the level attained by 1993. WHO held its first meeting on AIDS near the end of 1983 and Professor Kallings was called upon to advise the Division of Communicable Diseases from 1984. He discusses the retroviral nature of HIV as the main scientific problem associated with AIDS. Kallings then responds to questions on policy problems, components of a successful AIDS program, whether the world has responded appropriately to AIDS over the past 12 years, whether he sees a light at the end of the tunnel, vaccine development, his views on GPA successes, and observations on the program. The interview ends with Kallings declaring his intention to remain involved with AIDS once returning to Sweden.
An observer representing Canadian non-governmental organizations on Canada's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.
Swedish United Nations Emergency Forces soldiers serving in Egypt and the Sinai peninsula were serologically tested for hemagglutination-inhibiting antibodies to Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus. Eight of 170 were positive. RVF has not been reported outside Africa, and a survey of 500 Swedish soldiers who had not served in the Middle East or Africa revealed no RVF virus antibodies. There were extensive RVF epidemics in Egypt in 1977 and 1978, and it is considered that these serologically positive soldiers contracted RVF disease while on duty in the Middle East.
