Latest news with #BloombergPhilanthropies
The Star
20-07-2025
- Health
- The Star
Young and powerful
Tedros: Youth are capable of driving impactful change. – Photo by Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth are not just leaders of tomorrow – they are changemakers, capable of inspiring one another and driving impactful change, says World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'By empowering young people, we can create a sense of ownership in the fight against tobacco,' he said. Agreeing, STOP – a network of academic and public health organisations operating globally as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use – stressed the importance of schools sending the right message to kids. 'Around the world, tobacco products are being promoted to young people, so we have to make sure that we are empowering them to make the right choices for their health and future,' said STOP director Jorge Alday. 'As we educate kids about the dangers of cigarettes, we should also be educating them about all these other harmful tobacco products that are out there like Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs), e-cigarettes or vapes, and nicotine pouches. 'None of these are safe and all of them contain significant amounts of nicotine that children, especially, should not be ingesting,' he added. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president and chief executive officer Yolanda Richardson said it's important to remember that young people will always be the target market for these harmful products. This, she stressed, is because people start to smoke and use nicotine products when they are young. 'If these products can be glamorised with flavours, colours and parties – it makes it that much more interesting for your people,' she said, calling on all stakeholders to work together in ensuring that the world's youth lead positive, healthy and useful lives. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, she said, was founded more than 25 years ago to reduce tobacco consumption in the United States, particularly among young people. Two years later, the organisation expanded its efforts globally and is now engaging with more than 60 countries to put in place policies that reduce the consumption of tobacco. 'At the centre of our work is always a belief in the power of young voices to keep the movement strong, honest and energised.'
Bloomberg
15-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Entertainment Leaders on Media's Climate Perception
Anna Jane Joyner, Founder & CEO, Good Energy and Stephen Markley, Author & Television Writer discuss how climate change in the media can shape public opinion and influence action with Bloomberg Philanthropies' Lindsay Firestone at Bloomberg Green Seattle 2025. (Source: Bloomberg)
Indian Express
28-06-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
International meet urge govts to take bold steps to end tobacco use
The World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025, hosted by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the World Health Organization, concluded with the global tobacco control community calling for the accelerated implementation of all measures in the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) to end the tobacco epidemic. Tobacco use continues to kill over seven million people each year and costs the world's economies over $2 trillion annually in healthcare expenditure and lost productivity, undermines sustainable development, and exacerbates poverty, food insecurity and labour exploitation. To this end, the delegates of the World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025, have urged governments of the world to accelerate the implementation of all measures in the WHO FCTC in order to end this epidemic by prioritising the increase of excise taxes to decrease the affordability of all tobacco and non-medicinal nicotine products, establishing sustainable financing for tobacco control and other health promotion initiatives from revenue generated. Recognising the tobacco industry as the biggest barrier to global progress in tobacco control, rejecting engagements with organisations working with or funded by the tobacco industry and holding the tobacco industry liable for the harms it causes, including seeking compensation through legal actions are among the other demands. Dr Mary-Ann Etiebet, president and CEO of Vital Strategies, told reporters that health taxes remain one of the most effective, yet underutilised strategies to save lives, strengthen economies and generate new government revenue. 'For much of the last 20 years, smoking worldwide has been in decline, but we are at a turning point. The most recent trendlines point to a flattening in the decline in cigarette sales, mainly because sales among youth and especially young women are increasing in a substantial number of countries. The next generation deserves the same protections millions have been afforded due to tobacco control—smoke-free spaces; plain, standardised packs with graphic warning labels; substantial taxes on cigarettes in some countries; removal of tobacco marketing near schools; and removal of flavours,' she said. Professor Guy Marks, president of The Union, told The Indian Express: 'When we leave this room, it's crucial that we all take with us the knowledge, skills and connections we've made if we are to shift the dial on tobacco control. We must hold world leaders and ourselves to account to truly achieve a healthier world for all, by implementing the most effective evidence-based approaches to eradicate the harms of tobacco which we've all heard about this week. That means successfully implementing all seven WHO MPOWER measures. Anything less is unlikely to be effective and risks being branded as tokenism. There are no more excuses. There is no such thing as a healthy tobacco product. The time for action is now: Let's join forces and with one united voice reclaim the narrative from the industry and save lives.' Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More
Winnipeg Free Press
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Massive murals won't just brighten Winnipeg's Graham Avenue, they will make it safer
Murals, not buses, will soon running be up and down Graham Avenue. Winnipeg is one of only 10 cities in North America — and just two in Canada, the other being Ottawa — selected for the US$100,000 Asphalt Art Initiative launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The project turns the formerly transit-heavy corridor into a whimsical urban canvas. Beginning Monday, local artists will cover the asphalt with large-scale, street-level murals. Asphalt Art Initiative projects include Billings, Mont. The public art initiative is part of the broader Reimagining Graham Avenue, which is seeing the four-block zone from Carlton to Garry Street transformed into a pedestrian-first corridor. 'It's not often where that scale of a (mural) project can happen this fast,' says project lead Stéphane Dorge, an organizer with CoolStreetsWPG, which specializes in transforming community spaces through art. 'This is kind of like an arts festival, where we're going to be up to 10 artists on site, plus helpers and volunteers bringing to life about 18,000 square feet of murals to animate the Graham Avenue space, so it's a bit overwhelming.' Muralists include Marc Kuegle, Alex Plante, Kal Barteski, Kale Sheppard, Laura Lee Harasym, Mike Zastre, James Culleton, Architects at Play and lead artist Takashi Iwasaki. Like a cinematically colour-graded street scene, the project will have a rich, overarching palette, but each of the artists was given near carte blanche to create, with an emphasis on play and interactivity. Dorge describes Architects at Play's 13,000-square-foot piece as a 'playable mural where you can bring your own pocket dice or use a dice app on your phone to play.' Varna, Bulgaria, was one of the cities that completed an Asphalt Art initiative in 2023 'I can't wait to unveil it.' Reimagining Graham Avenue dovetails with the city's new spine-and-feeder transit model launching Sunday. Known as Primary Transit Network (PTN), the new system is a historic transformation that will shift transit's focal points away from the downtown core towards other major corridors in the city, prioritizing bus frequency and greater neighbourhood-to-neighbourhood access across Winnipeg. But rather than diminish downtown's place in the city's civic culture, projects such as the PTN and Reimagining Graham Avenue — which coincide with the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street opening to pedestrian traffic — aim to transform the heart of the city into a more walkable social hub. Look up from the asphalt tableaus, and rather than buses you'll soon see a public plaza, including street plants, picnic tables, furniture, benches, ping-pong tables and access ramps. Car traffic will be allowed along other stretches of Graham, where protected bike lanes are also being added. 'When these changes are in place, Graham will be more colourful, more dynamic, more pedestrian-friendly. One more reason for people to visit, explore and enjoy our downtown,' said Mayor Scott Gillingham. The application to Bloomberg Philanthropies, a charitable organization in New York, for the Asphalt Art Initiative was submitted by Public Works and the Planning, Property and Development departments at the City of Winnipeg. 'It was just a really well-thought-out, really inspired application,' says Nicholas Mosquera, one of the program leads at Bloomberg Philanthropies for the Asphalt Art Initiative. 'It reminded us a lot of work that we'd been doing (in New York City's Times Square). We saw a lot of similarities in the Winnipeg project, and we're happy to be a part of that effort.' Studies consistently show that pedestrian-friendly design makes neighbourhoods feel more connected. For example, research from a University of British Columbia review found walkable neighbourhoods build civic trust and spark friendlier interactions, while a U.K. study showed that quieter, low-traffic streets made people more neighbourly and less lonely. That same study also found that low-traffic, pedestrian-centric neighbourhoods can create public health gains up to 100 times greater than the costs of those plans. SUPPLIED East Providence, Rhode Island Asphalt Art Initiative drone image. And while public arts and beautification projects are sometimes criticized as a superficial fix to the social problems undergirding urban distress, a growing body of literature shows the social benefits run deeper than fleeting eye candy. The Asphalt Art Safety Study, conducted by Sam Schwartz Consulting in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, analyzed 17 asphalt art sites across the United States. Among the outcomes reassuring them of their good work, they found that crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists were halved, while crashes resulting in injuries decreased by 37 per cent, along with a 27 per cent increase in drivers yielding to pedestrians with the right-of-way. 'They're really striking results. We're really proud of that — (it's) some of the first research, certainly to our knowledge, to look at multiple arts-driven street-design projects,' says Mosquera. A number of independent studies, mostly focusing on green projects, illuminate the effects of community beautification on improving mental health and community connectivity. 'It's incredible when we can see that the street is actually going to turn into a large piece of art,' said Kate Fenske, Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's chief executive officer, of Reimagining Graham Avenue. Birmingham, Alabama Asphalt Art Initiative 'I hope this isn't the full catalyst, though,' says Dorge. 'We still need development of the surface lots and Graham. We need more housing downtown. But I hope this draws attention to that need and, hopefully, spurs prioritization from developers to focus on rebuilding that area and making it more vibrant.' From July 5 to Sept. 28, Graham Avenue will host four art installations by designers from New York, Halifax and Winnipeg — including a bike-powered giant fan and a coastal-themed landscape — along with projects by Art City (opens July 11) and the Manitoba Métis Federation. This other wave of installations is part of Storefront Manitoba's Cool Gardens, a landscape art and design festival, now in its 10th edition, similar to the Warming Huts competition. (The event is not to be confused with CoolStreetsWpg, which leads the mural initiative on Graham; cool people abound in Winnipeg's public art field.) This year, Cool Gardens also plans vibrant installations at Assiniboine Park, Osborne Village, St. Boniface and The Forks. Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
The Hindu
27-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Vizag named finalist in ‘Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge 2025
Mayor Peela Srinivasa Rao announced that Visakhapatnam has been selected as one of the 50 global finalists in the 'Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge 2025, a global innovation competition designed to support transformative ideas from cities around the world. In a release on Friday, the Mayor said that this sixth edition of the Mayors Challenge attracted over 630 applications from cities across 99 countries. Visakhapatnam is one of 50 cities selected from 33 countries, representing more than 80 million residents worldwide. The city will receive $50,000 in seed funding and expert support to prototype its innovative idea aimed at strengthening community-based climate resilience and emergency response. GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg said that the civic body will develop its Prajamukhi- Urban Living Lab, focusing on co-creation and citizen engagement to tackle climate - induced risks such as floods, cyclones, and extreme heat. The proposal emphasises local innovation, encouraging community-led risk mapping, real-time data collection, and the deployment of early alert systems. GVMC's ideation team will join Bloomberg Philanthropies' Ideas Camp in July 2025 to refine the concept before competing for one of 25 final awards of $1 million each, to be announced in January 2026. Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organisation focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas: arts, education, environment, government innovation and public health.
