All Articles About Health Care

BSR Insight Article: The Case for the Responsible Use of Antibiotics in Food-Producing Animals

Roger McElrath, Manager, Advisory Services

For years, antibiotics have been administered on meat-producing farms to treat sick animals or prevent infections when there is a known disease risk. The meat industry also uses antibiotics for non-therapeutic purposes to grow animals faster or to compensate for the effects of overcrowding or unsanitary conditions. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the use of antibiotics in food-animal production accounts for approximately 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States. Recently, experts have concluded that there is a direct link between the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals and the growth of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. At the same time, a growing number of consumers are making buying decisions based on the health, environmental, and social attributes of food—including whether the animals that were used for their meat were administered antibiotics. In many respects, the U.S. meat industry has provided a safe and economical supply of meat protein to satisfy the increasing demand of consumers. But underlying that success has been an industrial-scale approach to raising food-producing animals that has created social and environmental challenges, including the need for and/or generation of large amounts of water, waste, and greenhouse gases. While these issues are well-known, less understood are the impacts of the industry's antibiotic usage. Read more →

Posted: August 14, 2012 | Topics: Food, Beverage & Agriculture, Health Care, Sustainable Consumption

BSR Insight Article: BSR’s HERproject Launches Open-Source Curriculum for Workplace Health Trainings

Elissa Goldenberg, Associate, Advisory Services

BSR's HERproject--a factory-based women's health education program--has launched a new curriculum for women's health trainings in the workplace. Developed with funding from the Levi Strauss Foundation, the HERproject curriculum covers topics ranging from nutrition and waterborne diseases to HIV/AIDS and family planning. For each topic, the curriculum provides unique resources for interactive, one-hour training sessions to address sensitive and critical issues in the work environment. Additionally, each health topic includes a health manual, additional training materials, and a post-training quiz. Based on HERproject best practices and in partnership with leading public health and development organizations, BSR developed the open-source curriculum for a wide group of users, including nonprofit organizations working on community-based health education, factory or farm human resources staff, and health clinic professionals. The language is clear and simple, and the directions for how to implement the training programs are thorough enough for less-experienced trainers to understand and implement. All materials are available for download on the HERproject website. For more information, contact Jennifer Schappert. Read more →

Posted: June 26, 2012 | Topics: Health Care, Women & Sustainability

BSR Insight Article: Simple Changes for Health and Wellness

Mark Little, Director, Healthcare, Advisory Services

"We can all live longer lives by focusing on what we eat, and how we manage stress, and by engaging in moderate physical exercise and connecting with the people around us. It's simple, it doesn't cost very much, and the only side effects are good ones." --Dean Ornish, founder and president, Preventative Medicine Research Institute, in his keynote speech at the GBCHealth Conference. Behavior change has been shown to play a critical role in preventing and mitigating the health impacts of non-communicable diseases (e.g., cancer and cardiovascular disease). Companies also have a role to play in supporting health and wellness in society and among their employees. Since Dean Ornish's plenary at the BSR Conference 2011, BSR has seem more companies become interested in how they can promote health and wellness through their sustainability programs. For more information, contact Mark Little. Read more →

Posted: May 29, 2012 | Topics: Health Care

BSR Insight Article: How Wireless Technology Can Support Social Impact

Marshall Chase, Associate Director, Advisory Services

A new report by BSR and CTIA--the Wireless Association explores opportunities to use wireless services to support health care, financial inclusion, education, and community empowerment. Some of these opportunities include: * Mobile health: Health care workers can reach underserved areas by coordinating medical services, predicting disease outbreaks, and connecting patients to doctors. * Mobile finance: Mobile applications improve access to financial services for many of the 60 million unbanked and under-banked people in the United States and to billions more who live around the world. * Mobile education: Wireless applications encourage "anytime, anywhere" interactive learning. * Community empowerment: Wireless services can increase people's ability to connect with each other, their governments, and other institutions in effective ways. The report also explores the industry's challenges, including ensuring ethical supply chain labor, addressing concerns about privacy and freedom of expression, and providing consumer education about the opportunities and risks of using wireless services. Read more →

Posted: May 15, 2012 | Topics: Community Engagement & Development, Financial Services, Health Care, Information & Communications Technology

Report: Socioeconomic Impacts of Wireless Technology

The rapid adoption of smart phones, machine-to-machine communications, and other wireless technologies are creating exciting opportunities to improve our lives. Read more →

Posted: May 10, 2012 | Topics: Community Engagement & Development, Financial Services, Health Care, Information & Communications Technology | Download (PDF)