(CNN) -- Rivers are the arteries of our infrastructure. Flowing from highlands to the sea, they breathe life into ecosystems and communities.

A levee breach in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River System could have dire effects, a new report says.

But many rivers in the United States are in trouble.

Rivers in Alaska, California and the South are among the 10 most endangered, according to a report released Tuesday by American Rivers, a leading river conservation group.

By Saeed Ahmed
CNN

(CNN) -- When Jon Bohmer sat down with his two little girls for a simple project they could work on together, he didn't realize they'd hit upon a solution to one of the world's biggest problems for just $5: A solar-powered oven.

Inventor Jon Bohmer with the oven he has made out of a cardboard box.

The ingeniously simple design uses two cardboard boxes, one inside the other, and an acrylic cover that lets in the sun's rays and traps them.

Oslo, Norway, 1-2 April 2009

The global economic downturn occurs as the world is also confronted with the consequences of major demographic changes and global environmental and energy problems. The crisis therefore represents a major threat for both health and health and social protection systems.

Link to recordings: http://www.smartcom.no/who/who_eng_001.html

Links to materials, conference programme and the webcast can be found at
url: http://www.euro.who.int/healthsystems/econcrisis/20090316_1

Objectives:

Website: http://www.nature.com/nature/supplements/collections/npgpublications/twas/index.html

“….The public and policy-makers are increasingly looking to the scientific community to address critical global problems.

Finding solutions will require the collective insights and experience of scientists, policy-makers, industry and non-governmental groups. A World of Science in the Developing World reflects the expertise of members and associates of TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, and coincides with its twenty-fifth anniversary…”

PHREE-Way is a global action-learning consortium of organizations working together to expand education and strengthen capacity for disaster risk reduction and humanitarian action towards sustainable development and human security. The founding and initial members include international non-governmental organizations, research and training support organizations, and universities. All members adhere to human security, sustainable development, and humanitarian imperatives, as well as globally-recognized ethics and standards.

Location: University of Geneva – Switzerland
Dates: June 8 to 12, 2009

Lecturers:
Prof. Eddy van Doorslaer (Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands)
Dr Owen O’Donnell (University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece)

Website: http://www.hec.unil.ch/iems/Enseignement/contact/ssph_brochure_web.pdf [page 8.]

WHO and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) wish to seek your input on how Intersectoral Action (ISA) has been implemented to improve health equity in your country and on how the WHO-PHAC ISA collaboration might support increased knowledge and action on ISA in the future. We have included a few open-ended questions for your review and response.

Please send any responses to the questions (below) to ISA@who.int by 1 May 2009

The Department for International Development (DFID), 2009

Available online as PDF file [32p.] at: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/securingourcommonfuture/conference-paper-eliminating-poverty.pdf

This background paper for the DFID annual conference "Securing our Common Future: A Conference on the Future of International Development" (9-10 March 2009, London)

Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School
Juha Teperi, Medical doctor and health services researcher at the University of Helsinki
Lauri Vuorenkoski, senior researcher at Finland National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
Jennifer F. Baron, Senior Researcher, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School
The Sitra Reports - Helsinki 2009

Available online as PDF file [117p.] at:
http://www.isc.hbs.edu/pdf/Finnish_Health_Care_System_SITRA2009.pdf

World Health Organization - Health & Human Rights team
Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights - 2009

Available online at: http://www.who.int/hhr/activities/factsheets/en/index.html

Kannika Damrongplasit,postdoctoral research fellow in health services at the School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, and the RAND Corp.
Glenn Melnick, professor and Blue Cross of California Chair of Health Care Finance at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and a senior economist with RAND in Santa Monica.
HEALTH AFFAIRS - Web Exclusive – March 31, 2009
Project HOPE–The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc

Available online at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.3.w457/DC1

Experience In Thailand After Universal Coverage

Exploring the reasons why some households still incur high levels of spending--even under universal coverage--
can help policymakers devise solutions.

Tewarit Somkotra, a lecturer on the faculty of dentistry at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.
Leizel Lagrada is in the Department of Health Policy Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Tokyo, Japan.
HEALTH AFFAIRS - Web Exclusive – March 31, 2009
Project HOPE–The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc