World Digital Library launched at UNESCO

The World Digital Library, a website offering free access to rare books, maps, manuscripts, films and photographs from across the globe was launched on April 21 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Bringing together priceless material, from ancient Chinese or Persian calligraphy to early Latin American photography, it is the world's third major digital library, after Google Book Search and the EU's new project, Europeana.

Drawing on content from libraries and archives worldwide, it aims to reduce the rich-poor digital divide, expand "non-Western" content on the web, promote better understanding between cultures and provide a global teaching resource. Launched by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and 32 partner institutions, it was the brainchild of James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, the world's biggest library. The world library will be available in seven core languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish with additional material in other languages. Libraries and cultural institutions from Brazil to Britain, China, Egypt, France, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States contributed content on a non-exclusive basis as well as expertise. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.Librarian of Congress James H. Billington proposed the establishment of a World Digital Library (WDL) in a speech to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO in June 2005. The Library of Congress is currently engaged in a planning process to determine how this vision can be realised. Participants in the planning process include national libraries and other libraries and cultural institutions from around the world that have expressed interest in joining the project, as well as UNESCO and IFLA. The planning process is being underwritten by a gift from Google, Inc.They hope to build partnerships with 60 countries by year end, with Morocco, Uganda, Mexico and Slovakia already igned up to work with the project.

AFP

Growing concern over IDPs

You too can help:

As the battle against terrorism in the North of Sri Lanka is reaching its climax, these days we see and hear a lot of ‘humanitarian concerns’ from foreign countries.

As the Sri Lankan army encircles the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), aid groups are raising concern about the estimated number of civilians still trapped in the war zone.Concern is rising over the civilians being held at gunpoint by the LTTE with many young boys being forcibly taken away to fight.The government said close to two hundred thousand were now in camps it had set up outside the no-fire zone and more were emerging from the combat area.

Many have expressed concern that there is still a meaningful number of people trapped in the battle area.

Stocks of food and water are known to have run out and the people are facing starvation in the area still under its control, claims the LTTE.

In the meantime UNICEF has airlifted 50 metric tons of emergency relief supplies urgently needed for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North. The consignment containing nutritional supplies, water treatment units for safe water, oral rehydration salts, and medical supplies landed in Colombo and was immediately sent to the north.You may have seen on television and read in newspapers the severe hardships the IDPs are facing today. People from all parts of the country are stepping in to provide food, clothing and other basic needs for the thousands of people, including little children like you who are in the camps.

You too can help, even in a small way, to ease their suffering without basic needs.

Global alert over swine flu

An outbreak of swine flu that is suspected to be the cause of more than 150 deaths in Mexico and has also made dozens of people in the United States and elsewhere ill, has grabbed the attention of a nervous public. Medical officials have expressed concern that the new strain of virus will continue to mutate and spread throughout the world.

Experts are nervous that, as a new strain, the swine flu will be harder to stop because there aren’t any vaccines to fight it.But even if there are swine-flu deaths outside Mexico — and medical experts say there very well may be — the virus would have a long way to go to match the roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.The report looks at deaths in the 122 largest cities in the United States.Worldwide, the annual death toll from the flu is estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000.

One of the reasons medical experts are nervous about the swine flu outbreak is that many of the people who have died in Mexico have been young and otherwise healthy. Swine influenza (also swine flu) refers to influenza caused by any strain of the influenza virus endemic in pigs (swine). Strains endemic in swine are called swine influenza virus (SIV).

Swine flu is common in swine and rare in humans. People who work with swine, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine influenza if the swine carry a strain able to infect humans. However, these strains rarely are able to pass from human to human. Rarely, SIV mutates into a form able to pass easily from human to human. The strain responsible for the 2009 swine flu outbreak is believed to have undergone such a mutation.In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort are the symptoms.

Meals increase school attendance

The education Ministry programme of providing mid-day meals to school children has encouraged them to attend school regularly, said the Divisional Director of Education at the Al Hilal Vidyalaya, Sainthamaruthu in Kalmunain Zonal education area. According to him children from low income families have benefited from this programme.He requested those who are interested in improving conditions related to the country’s formal education to streamline the programme activities with genuine involvement.Sri Lanka unfortunately records a pathetic nutritional status of hundreds of thousands of children. Almost one in three Sri Lankan children is undernourished. Regional disparities exist, most notably in the ‘Estate sector’, or old tea-growing regions of the country. The Estate sector, in the highlands, has traditionally been home to the most remote and underdeveloped areas in the country.The immediate and underlying causes of childhood malnutrition in Sri Lanka range from disease factors and inadequate dietary intake, to lack of knowledge and cultural factors that influence the utilisation of health services and available food.

Poverty in its many manifestations which includes low household income, inadequate basic infrastructure and limited access to media, affects nearly 23 per cent of households in our country and is closely intertwined with household food security. However, while poverty is an important basic determinant of child under nutrition, it does not solely explain the high rates of child malnutrition prevailing in Sri Lanka. Other major determinants of malnutrition in the country include inappropriate feeding practices, micronutrient deficiencies and disease.