Guardian and Observer charity appeal donations pass £1m
Generous readers have donated more than £1m in under three weeks to the Guardian and Observer’s 2024 appeal in support of victims of global conflict and war,This year’s appeal is raising money for three charities: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and War Child, which carry out frontline medical work in war zones across the world, and Parallel Histories, which helps schools teach sensitive and controversial histories such as those of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine,The overall total had reached £1,015,000 by mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, the 10th year in a row the Guardian and Observer appeal has raised more than £1m,More than 8,800 readers have donated so far to the appeal, which continues into the new year,Readers who donate online to the appeal are able to leave an email message saying why they gave.
Many said the appeal gave them the opportunity to register a small gesture of hope and solidarity at a time of overwhelming violence and sadness,One reader wrote: “It is extremely distressing and frustrating to witness the needless brutality and suffering in so many areas of the world, so I am grateful to the Guardian for this opportunity to do this small thing to help,”The inspiring work of our three partner charities has been highlighted in recent weeks in a series of features, in a short Guardian video, and in a Today in Focus podcast,Bill Rammell, the chief executive of Parallel Histories, paid tribute to readers’ generosity: “Parallel Histories’ work in schools is vital in breaking through the rising tide of populism, helping young people to participate in healthy, civic and democratic society,To everyone who has donated, your generosity is helping to make our world a better place.
”Marie Soudnie Rivette, the country director at War Child said: “We’re immensely grateful for all the donations received so far, allowing us to contribute to the protection of children and support them in providing a brighter future and ongoing, specialist support to help them rebuild their lives long term.”Dr Natalie Roberts, the executive director of MSF UK, said: “Thank you to the Guardian and Observer readers who have donated to this appeal.Your support helps us respond to urgent medical needs in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous situations and continue our work providing care to people impacted by conflict, disease and disaster.”Introducing the appeal earlier this month, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, wrote: “We ask you to support the Guardian and Observer appeal in a spirit of optimism and defiance, as a signal of commitment to peace, human rights and social justice, and as a gesture of solidarity with the millions of people whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed through war and violence.”
‘Wild west’: experts concerned by illegal promotion of weight-loss jabs in UK
Weight-loss injections are being aggressively marketed to British consumers through often illegal promotions, in a practice experts have described as a “wild west” industry of drug selling.The booming market for jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro has triggered a price battle among online pharmacies, with even high-street chains cashing in on the soaring demand.Last month, the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk revealed global sales of Wegovy hit £1.94bn in the third quarter of the year, up 48% from the previous quarter and outstripping expectations.However, a Guardian review of reports by the watchdog that regulates medical advertising in the UK shows that many online pharmacies are flouting strict rules that govern how prescription-only drugs can be marketed in Britain
Shrinking waistlines and growing profits: the weight-loss drug boom
It is a trend rooted in profit-making. Adverts featuring prescription-only weight-loss medications are splashed across the internet – and it is causing concern among experts.But the question remains: who is driving the boom?Consider drugs for other conditions, be it asthma or high blood pressure: a quick internet search might throw up a couple of online pharmacies, but not page after page of results offering discount codes for consultations, special offers for returning customers or money-off emails.Yet when it comes to weight-loss jabs, it is a different story.Boots offers returning customers 10% off each time they reorder a weight-loss treatment – a promotion that appears at the bottom of a page featuring Wegovy, Mounjaro and other prescription-only medications
Blind people excluded from benefits of AI, says charity
Blind and partially sighted people are being excluded from the benefits of artificial intelligence tools and facing “a new level of discrimination”, the new president of the Royal Society for Blind Children has claimed as he called for better design of everything from video games to AI agents.Tom Pey said existing difficulties for blind children were “now compounded because they’re excluded [and] distanced from their non-disabled peers, because those people can experience games, alternative realities and the AI-driven visual types of technology”.Pey lost his sight as a child and created the Waymap app which offers step-by-step audio navigation instructions. His comments come as tech firms launch more visually based AI-powered systems such as Meta’s range of spectacles and the Google Lens function, which relies on users pointing their phone camera at objects or places.Pey called on the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to “formulate laws that will support the needs of disabled people, but also help direct the big companies and startups, so they include disabled people”
Latin America’s rise in tuberculosis linked to imprisonment rates
High incarceration rates in Latin America – the region with the world’s fastest-growing prison population – are exacerbating tuberculosis in a region that is bucking the global trend for falling incidents of the disease, experts have warned.A study published in The Lancet Public Health journal has estimated that, contrary to previous assumptions, HIV/Aids is not the primary risk factor for tuberculosis in the region – as it remains in Africa, for example – but rather imprisonments.While the global incidence of tuberculosis decreased by 8.7% between 2015 and 2022, it rose by 19% in Latin America. Using mathematical modelling, researchers concluded that this increase was linked to the exponential rise in imprisonment in the region, surpassing other traditional risk factors such as HIV/Aids, smoking, drug use and malnutrition
Labour will tackle ‘scourge of femicide’ to hit manifesto target, says minister
Tackling the “scourge of femicide” in the UK will be a central part of the government’s promise to drastically reduce violence against women and girls, the minister leading the policy has said.Revealing details of one of Labour’s central missions in office for the first time, Jess Phillips said the success of the government’s target to halve violence against women and girls had to include reducing the rate at which women are killed by men.“A woman is killed by a man every three days. This is not just a statistic, these are real lives that have been taken. These are women with names, families, jobs and people who love them,” she said
Guardian and Observer charity appeal donations pass £1m
Generous readers have donated more than £1m in under three weeks to the Guardian and Observer’s 2024 appeal in support of victims of global conflict and war.This year’s appeal is raising money for three charities: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and War Child, which carry out frontline medical work in war zones across the world, and Parallel Histories, which helps schools teach sensitive and controversial histories such as those of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine.The overall total had reached £1,015,000 by mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, the 10th year in a row the Guardian and Observer appeal has raised more than £1m. More than 8,800 readers have donated so far to the appeal, which continues into the new year.Readers who donate online to the appeal are able to leave an email message saying why they gave
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