Author: Paula Acevedo

Paula Acevedo is a MPA Candidate at Florida International University. Paula graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in Business Administration. Paula was born in New York to parents of Dominican descent. She has also lived in Montreal and currently resides in Miami. In the fall, Paula will be continuing her MPA at American University in Washington, D.C. Paula ran her first marathon earlier this year.

SEATTLE — Rapid urbanization in developing countries throughout the world has led to an increasing shortage in housing. In 2013, over 860 million people were living in slums, up from 725 million in 2000. The UN – Habitat for a Better Urban Future estimates by 2030, about 3 billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population, will be in need of housing, water and sanitation services. The developing world has had trouble meeting the demands of its increasing urban population, and now some cities have as many as 80 percent of their population living in slums. Slums are defined as…

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SEATTLE — The U.N. calls food waste one of the greatest challenges to achieving food security. Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food goes to waste, while 795 million people are severely hungry and malnourished. Food is wasted more by the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. If we break it down, food waste boils down to 45 percent of fruits and vegetables, 35 percent fish and seafood, 30 percent cereals, 20 percent dairy and 20 percent meat. All we have to do to be able to have enough food for everyone is reduce our waste by 25 percent. Not…

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ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania  — The International AIDS Society Conference was held July 19-22 where the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it will be launching new guidelines for HIV treatment in December 2015. The new guidelines will advocate for the immediate treatment of anyone confirmed HIV positive. The new guidelines will also strongly recommend antiretroviral treatment for those who have a high-risk of being infected, such as sex workers, a first, according to WHO’s HIV Director Gottfried Hirnschall. These new guidelines will aid in achieving one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be launched in September 2015, to eliminate the…

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SEOUL, South Korea — On Tuesday, July 28, South Korea’s Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn declared the country is MERS-free and citizens should return to their daily activities. This announcement comes as a result of no new MERS case in 3 weeks. The World Health Organization (WHO) said not so fast, as its standards recommend a 4-week waiting period after the last MERS patient completely recovers, before officially declaring the outbreak over. WHO did confirm the outbreak is under control and it gave credit to the country’s health measures of isolating all infected and those who had made contact with them.…

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