Bangladesh is bracing itself for potentially devastating new flooding after major rivers swelled ‘alarmingly’ and exceeded or neared danger levels, according to the governments Flood Forecasting Centre. More than one million people have been evacuated or stranded as rivers in northeastern India and Bangladesh rose to alarming levels and submerged vast swathes of countryside. [click link for full article]

A national survey of small businesses conducted by the American Red Cross and FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) found that while 94 percent of small business owners believe there is a potential for a disaster to seriously disrupt their business within the next two years, only 43 percent feel prepared for a one week disruption of their business, and 22 percent feel prepared for a one month disruption. [click link for full article]

UNICEF calls on the donor community to provide US$2.085 million to cover basic emergency needs for children and women affected by Hurricane Felix, a category five storm that hit Nicaragua’s North Atlantic Autonomous Region on 4 September. With an initial investment of US$500,000, UNICEF plans to support the local government provide basic needs such as water, health, nutrition as well as children’s re-entry into schools. [click link for full article]

Sickle Cell Anemia affects more than 70,000 people in the United States, and most of them are African-American. September is Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness Month, a perfect time to make an appointment to give blood in support of the thousands of people across the country suffering from this disease. One in every 12 African Americans carries the trait for sickle cell disease. [click link for full article]

A three-year plan to promote girls’ education was developed in Kabul this week during a workshop organized by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, in collaboration with Afghanistan’s Girls’ Education Initiative working group. Over 50 representatives from ministries, United Nations agencies and non-governmental and research organizations working in the area of girls’ education participated in the workshop. [click link for full article]

Children with asthma who improve their physical fitness are likely to experience beneficial effects on disease control and quality of life, according to a study published recently in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise , the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). [click link for full article]

Following a recent nutrition survey, UNICEF and its partners estimate that 83,000 children in central and southern Somalia suffer from malnutrition - 13,500 of whom are severely malnourished and at risk of dying. “These children urgently require attention to ensure that they survive,” said UNICEF Representative to Somalia Christian Balslev-Olesen. [click link for full article]

Parents fighting childhood obesity must compete with clever and pervasive junk food marketing pitched directly at young children, according to an independent study conducted for The Cancer Council Australia. [click link for full article]

Two million babies in England will have had their hearing screened thanks to the NHS Newborn Hearing Screening Programme. The programme , which has been rolling out across England since 2001, screens 1700 babies each day, and marks one of the biggest achievements in children’s audiology and services for deaf children and their families, in the last forty years. [click link for full article]

Windhover Information has announced the Top 10 Licensable Projects for its upcoming Therapeutic Area Partnerships event. This year’s list offers a Top 10 in each of four therapeutic areas: cardiology, oncology, neurology and metabolic.The complete list of all 40 projects is available at http://www.windhover.com/taprojects. [click link for full article]