EMF - The Social Justice Foundation

EMF would welcome consultation on how the big society can play an enhanced role in society.  However we remain concerned that the savage cuts imposed on voluntary sector organisations may seriously damage any possibility of such plans being turned into reality.  The result will be individuals who are already marginalised by poverty and powerlessness being left behind by a “Big Society”, where everything hangs on how much power is assumed by which groups and businesses, to do what, for whom and how.  We already know that individuals who are at the margins of society tend to be cash poor, and time poor.  The Big Society appears to place heavy demands on the time of individuals, thus the worst off may be even more marginalised under the Big Society.

One in five scientific papers is now available freely on the internet, the first global study of research papers across all disciplines has found.

Researchers looked at global data for research papers published in 2008: almost nine per cent were freely available on publishers' sites ('gold' access) and another 12 per cent on authors' or departmental websites ('green' access).

Ten years after the first draft of the human genome was completed Africa hopes to jump on board the genomics revolution with a partnership announced last week, a development that EMF very much welcomes.  Speaking about the development EMF CEO Krishna Sarda commented “It is vital that we persuade public funders that their investment into neglected diseases should not lead to a hoarding of knowledge, but rather it should be placed into the public domain. EMF strongly believes that the scientific community should be working as one to make an impact on neglected diseases”

Further information read : http://www.scidev.net/en/news/african-genomics-project-launched.html

EMF believes lack of appropriate tests delays treatment, causes multiple clinic visits and misdiagnosis which in turn brings about health and financial damage along with waste of scarce resources.  If this test is approved, it will allow to confirm presence of TB in 45 minutes, down from 6 weeks, which will lead to earlier treatment and earlier diagnosis.