News in Brief
Iranian delegation visits Baghdad to discuss dust storms
ISNA – In order to follow up on the bilateral and multilateral agreements from last year, a delegation led by the adviser to the head of Iran’s Department of the Environment (DoE) and the secretary of the National Headquarters for Policy and Coordination of Dust Strom Phenomenon Management departed for Baghdad yesterday.
Ali-Mohammad Tahmasebi Birgani made the announcement, stating that numerous agreements regarding dust management have been exchanged with Iraq.
“However, they have not yet been implemented,” he said.
Tahmasebi Birgani emphasized that the main objective of the trip is to carry out joint executive measures with Iraq in order to share knowledge, technology, and experiences related to dust storm control. The aim is to establish a regional technical-executive working group and secure approval for implementing the draft of a sub-regional action plan initiated by Iran. Additionally, efforts will be made towards establishing a regional dust storm fund as approved during last year’s regional meeting in July.
Based on information from the DoE shared by Tahmasebi Birgani, it was mentioned that Iraq’s Minister of Environment will also be invited to participate in an international conference addressing sand and dust storms scheduled for later this year. This conference aims at gathering ministers from countries significantly impacted by such phenomena along with relevant international organizations.
843m people may live with lower back pain by 2050
SCIENCE ALERT – Low back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, with over 600 million people living with the condition. This is one of the key takeaways of a June 2023 study published in the journal The Lancet Rheumatology.
The study’s systematic analysis synthesizes data from approximately 500 studies throughout the world over 30 years to estimate the global burden of low back pain, broken down by country, year, age, sex, and severity.
The study found that if society could directly address three major risk factors – obesity, smoking, and workplace ergonomic factors – it could cut the burden of low back pain by 39 percent.