Current Affairs 28th April 2019

Current Affairs 28th April 2019 - Important Points

• World Day for Safety and Health at Work celebrated on - 28th April 2019
• India launches MERA India to eradicate malaria by 2030 on - 25th April 2019
• China’s foreign plastic restriction throws recycling sector into  - chaos
• US lists giraffes as threatened species on - April 25th, 2019
  Current Affairs 28th April 2019 - Details

World Day for Safety and Health at Work celebrated on - 28th April 2019

The World Day for Safety and Health at Work was celebrated internationally on April 28th, 2019. The day is celebrated yearly to promote safe, healthy and decent work. This year, the world day attempts to take account of a 100 years of work in refining occupational safety and  health and looks to the future for ongoing these efforts through major changes including technology, demographics, sustainable development including climate change and changes in work groups.
Objective
The yearly day promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases internationally.
The day is an awareness-raising campaign, which goals to emphasis global attention on the magnitude of
the problem and on how promoting and forming a safety and health culture can assist reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.
New technologies and production developments including nanotechnology, biotechnology.
New working conditions for instance, higher workloads, work intensification from downsizing, poor
conditions related with migration for work and jobs in the casual economy.
Emerging forms of employment for example, self-employment, outsourcing, temporary contracts.

India launches MERA India to eradicate malaria by 2030 on - 25th April 2019

The Indian Council of Medical Research- ICMR, on April 25th, 2019 launched the Malaria Elimination  Research Alliance- MERA, India an assembly of partners working collected to plan and scale-up research to eradicate Malaria from India by 2030. 
Malaria Elimination Research Alliance India grasps utmost reputation to the Union Ministry of Health and  Family Welfare for the operational research. The WHO had previously esteemed India’s research in malaria and hence, the nation now intends to make sure its eradication by 2030.
Objective
The principal objective of the ‘Malaria Elimination Research Alliance India’ is to prioritise, plan,
conduct, and scale-up study in a harmonized way to have a solid influence on the population who
are at risk of malaria.
India has done impressive development in malaria control in the past years. The malaria burden in
India dropped by more than 80% from 2.03 million in 2000 to 0.39 million cases in 2018. Deaths
by malaria also dropped by more than 90% from 932 deaths in 2000 to 85 in 2018.
Highlights of MERA India alliance

• The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program progressed a comprehensive framework to attain ‘Malaria free India by 2030’.
• The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme's National Strategic Plan understands the critical role of study to support and direct malaria elimination efforts.
• The Malaria Elimination Research Alliance India does not replicate the international efforts to eradicate Malaria rather complement the efforts on a national scale.
• The alliance will enable trans-institutional direction and association around a collaborative research agenda.

China’s foreign plastic restriction throws recycling sector into  - chaos

As per to a fresh report, the Chinese Government’s restriction on the import of foreign plastic trash has
forced the worldwide recycling sector into confusion. The restriction forced nations including the United States and United Kingdom to discover new ways to deal with their own trash, which has resulted in huge pile-ups of plastic trash in Southeast Asian nations.
The report titled ‘Discarded: Communities on the frontlines of the global plastic crisis’, by the Global
Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Greenpeace, lime-lights the impression of China’s trash restriction on communities in Southeast Asia.
Impression
As an impression of the initiative, plastic trash was re-directed in enormous quantities to Southeast
Asia, where Chinese recyclers shifted base altogether.
With a large Chinese-speaking minority, Malaysia was a leading choice for Chinese recyclers seeking
to relocate. As per to official information, plastic imports in the nation triplicated from 2016 levels to
870000 tonnes in 2018.
With the large invasion of packaging from everyday goods, including foods and laundry shampoos, from
nations for example, Germany, Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the USA, huge knolls of plastic
trash, dumped in the open, piled up.
Malaysia is not the only nation that has been affected by plastic trash hoard, Thailand and Vietnam were
also hit hard.
While these nations begun steps to restrict plastic imports, the trash was simply redirected to other
nations without any restrictions, such as to Indonesia and Turkey, according to the Greenpeace report.
Not only is the trash piled up an environmental hazard, resulting in adulteration of water supplies, crop
death, but it is also dangerous to the air quality due to rising toxic fumes from the burning of low-quality
plastic trash.

US lists giraffes as threatened species on - April 25th, 2019

The US administration on April 25th, 2019 started its 1st initiative towards extending protection for giraffes under the Endangered Species Act. The decision comes after legal pressure from environmental groups. 
As per to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, its initial review has resolute that there is substantial data that the listing may be warranted for giraffes.
Important Highlights

• The group, which labels endangered species, added giraffes to its ‘Red List’ in 2016. It resolute that the species as a whole is ‘vulnerable’ to ‘extinction’ and classified 2 subspecies as ‘critically endangered.’ 
• There are now only around 68000 mature giraffes remaining in the wild, with their number falling every year.
• A coalition of environmental and conservation groups appealed the Fish and Wildlife Service in early 2017 to guard giraffes under the Endangered Species Act.
• Subsequently, the administration took no action for nearly 2 years, the groups sued in December.