More than two million Guatemalans live in extreme poverty, and nearly half of the children in Guatemala are malnourished. In some areas, nearly every child is affected. Most suffer from chronic malnutrition, which means that while they are getting enough calories, the food they eat is severely lacking in vitamins and protein.

Meet the students who have helped make UC Berkeleys "Global Poverty & Practice" program the fastest-growing minor on campus. Chosen by about 300 students from a wide range of disciplines, the program teaches students about the problem of poverty and sends them out into the field to carry out their own projects to alleviate poverty somewhere in the world.

Diarrhoea is the second leading killer of children. Nearly one in five children under the age of five dies as a result of dehydration, weakened immunity or malnutrition associated with diarrhoea. But it is a preventable and easily treatable disease. It is a tragedy that diarrhoea, which is little more than an inconvenience in the developed world, kills an estimated 1.5 million children each year, said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.

Women and children in north-western Pakistan are once again on the move because of conflict in the region. "Overall, the situation is quite precarious," said UNICEF Senior Emergency Specialist Marc Salvail. "Luckily, the UN had established bases so that we could act swiftly. The latest influx of internally displaced people comes not as a surprise, but we had not expected that such a large number would move in so few days."

"In the 40 years since Stonewall, the Congress of the United States has done almost nothing to further equality for LGBT Americans," says Democratic political strategist Steve Hildebrand. Referencing "don't ask, don't tell" and gay marriage, Hildebrand says Congress has actually reversed progress for the gay community.

The failure of many banks, runs on banks, and a general climate of financial panic played an important role in the Great Depression. After taking office in early March 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a radio address (a "Fireside Chat") outlining federal strategy to reopen the banking system. The system had been closed as part of a "bank holiday" declared by president to halt panics and runs. Although many other aspects of New Deal policy often receive more attention, backing up the banking system at least prevented the Depression from worsening. Prevention of financial panics remains an important economic policy in the contemporary world.

Ruth, 22, was born in a male body but knew from the age of 16 that she wanted to be a woman. She describes her hormone treatment and surgery, and how she feels now

Photographer Dorothea Lang took a picture of a California Okie migrant mother during the Great Depression.

Lynn, 53, had hepatitis C for 25 years. She describes how she got it, how it affected her body and mind, and the treatment.

Every nine-and-a-half minutes, someone in the US is infected with HIV. Despite advances
in testing and treatment, HIV and AIDS still pose a major threat to Americans who engage in unsafe sex or drug use, or neglect to undergo testing.

Winter weather can affect older people's health and wellbeing. See how to keep fit and healthy during the coldest months of the year.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, most elderly people had little means of support. Job-based pensions were rare. The Townsend movement - a proposal to pay everyone over age 60 $200/month (a vast sum at the time) - began in California and spread across the country. It became the radical alternative to the Social Security proposal in Congress and indirectly helped enact Social Security as the more moderate plan.

Dr. Michael F. Hogan presents on Transforming Mental Health in New York State. This is an excerpt from the Buffalo Center for Social Research's Distinguished Scholar Series. You can view the entire presentation on the Center's website

Experts and a new mum talk about the importance of bonding between mother and baby immediately after the birth

New York police arrested several people during an insurance protest at the headquarters of UnitedHealth Group Thursday. Protestors carried signs and chanted 'patients, not profits, medicare for all.'

Adopted in February 2007, the Paris Commitments are an expression of strengthened international resolve to prevent the recruitment of children and highlight the actions governments can take to protect children affected by conflict. A related document, the Paris Principles, sets out operational guidelines for the sustainable reintegration of former child soldiers.

Ms. Gene Northover, a volunteer community leader, is battling stigma and discrimination in one of Jamaica's poorest communities. Her leadership offers a rare model of encouraging tolerance and support for people living with HIV. This video is part of a global conversation about HIV/AIDS, stigma, secrecy and homophobia.

Test for yourself. Know your HIV status so you can protect yourself and others. Today, with early treatment and care, you can live a longer and healthier life.

Deaths from fires and burns are one of the most common causes of unintentional injury deaths in the United States. There are several steps you can take to reduce the risk of fire-related injury and death in the home. These include installing and regularly testing smoke alarms and practicing a fire escape plan at least twice a year.

A society cannot thrive if its youngest members are forced into early marriage, abused as sex workers or denied their basic rights, said Veneman. Understanding the extent of abuses of childrens rights is a first step to building an environment where children are protected and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Why do some people collapse under relatively minor life strains while others bounce back from traumatic life circumstances and experiences such as poverty and racism, community and family violence, sexual and other forms of abuse, and loss of loved ones? The presentation will examine what accounts for the marked individual variations in people's responses to stress and adversity. Implications for social work practice will be explored and illustrated. This is an excerpt from the University at Buffalo School of Social Work Alumni Day Presentation, view the full video

This training video shows you how to find peer-reviewed items in PsycINFO on the CSA Illumina platform.

"These children are seeking reassurances, looking for comfort in the normal daily activities that they enjoyed before last week's quake," he said. "Bringing in school tents, and school equipment, is not just about re-starting education. It's about providing a new focus for these children, one which is not only on the destruction and loss that surrounds them."

Former street child Summon portrays the life of a young paper seller on the street.

Labour LGBT launch their pro-Lisbon campaign with Joe Costello TD at the Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square

Kevin Bales, author of The Slave Next Door, discusses how the Cocoa Protocol is helping to eradicate child labor in West Africa's cocoa industry. "It's the first time in history that an entire industry has decided to take complete moral responsibility, and financial, for their product chain," says Bales.

Lawrence Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute predicts that, because of the recession, "over a third of the people are going to be unemployed or underemployed at some point in 2010." He argues that, as a result, poverty rates will spike, with over half of African American children living in poverty. Complete video

Ethan Nadelmann delves into the history of drug prohibition and its relation to racism and class segregation. "The distinction between which drugs should be legal and which drugs should be illegal had essentially nothing to do with the relative dangers of these drugs."
Complete video

On Oct. 2, 2009 at the University of Maryland Southern Management Corporation Campus Center, the University of Maryland School of Social Work announced its first of a kind partnership with Public Allies. This video includes short quotes from the dean of the school, the Public Allies vice president, and the administrator of the Baltimore program.

A nurse describes how acne develops, who is most affected by it and how it's treated.

What is creativity? Certainly, a painter is creative in how she perceives a scene or emotion and puts it on canvas. But just because you can't paint like Van Gogh, play the cello like Yo Yo Ma, or write a story like Hemmingway doesn't mean you're not creative. A doctor at Mayo Clinic is looking into creativity and what he found may surprise you.

For over twenty years, Olga Murray of Sausalito, Calif., has dedicated her life to helping the children of Nepal, providing them with educations, meals, and health care they would otherwise never be able to get. She formed her nonprofit, the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation, to do just that with the help of caring donors. Her love for these children has made this 83-year-old grandmother fight one of the saddest measures of poverty in western Nepal, the selling of young girls to be domestic slaves, or Kamlaris, by parents too poor to feed their children.

In a room filled with visiting dignitaries and members of the Ethiopian National Assembly, Tadeletch Shankos voice was whisper-quiet as she talked about the difficult subject of female genital mutilation/cutting, or FGM/C. Ms. Shanko had performed FGM/C on girls for the last 15 years and underwent the procedure herself as a girl, with devastating consequences. Ms. Shanko is no longer a supporter of FGM/C, as a result of a series of community dialogues on the physical and psychological harm caused by the practice.

Scotland's First Minister has ordered an inquiry into the deaths of two teenage girls who jumped from a bridge near Glasgow.

This is a virtual-reality simulation hoped to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Virtual Iraq is adapted from the video game Full Spectrum Warrior.

Memory loss, personality changes, a shrinking ability to do daily tasks. It's not easy to watch a loved one suffer from dementia. It's also not easy at times for doctors to know exactly what kind of dementia a person may have. That's because there's not been a test that can differentiate between, say, Alzheimer's disease and Lewy Body Dementia. Now, researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed a way to look at the living brain and more accurately tell what type of dementia a person has. And this may help get patients on the right treatment.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul