Society

Eurofragance is a Catalan company that belongs to a very specific economic sector: the fragrance market. Specialising in producing scents for food and bathroom products, this company with its headquarters in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area exports 90% of its products. Its creations can be found around the world but especially in the Middle East and emerging markets

The last ‘SCImago Institutions Ranking’ classified the 3,000 best research institutions in the world. Harvard University tops the ranking, but the Catalan institute, is ranked second in Spain and among the best European research centres. Catalonia, and in particular Barcelona is consolidating its position as a biomedical science centre at international level.

For the first time in the world, a foetus having the spina bifida congenital disorder went through a new intra-uterus surgery technique. A medical team from Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron Hospital operated on the foetus in its 24th week by placing a biological fabric on the spinal cord, in order to protect it from amniotic liquid and to ease the gap’s closing. The baby is now five months old and doctors are confident she may walk without any problems.

Trains will reach a maximum speed of 310 km/h along some points of the trip. The improvement is due to the implementation of a new navigation system that has reduced the journey time for direct trains by eight minutes. The Spanish train operator, RENFE, hopes to overtake air travel as the preferred way to go from one city to the other. The air route between Barcelona and Madrid is the busiest in Europe and it used to be the busiest in the world.

The Fundació FC Barcelona and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have released a video to increase awareness of the disease to coincide with World Polio Day. In the video, Bill Gates, who can be seen wearing a Barça shirt, states: “no other sporting institution in the world [than FC Barcelona] shows the same passion for resolving social problems”. As part of that commitment, Barça first football team players all wore shirts bearing the words “End Polio” before last Saturday’s game at the Camp Nou.

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) has stated it does not have “any truthful information” about the two Spanish aid workers kidnappers and their objectives. Therefore, MSF has dissociated itself from any “statement or presumption of responsibility related with this case”. After the latest armed actions in Southern Somalia, MSF wanted to clarify that they are not at all involved and that they fear these attacks may put the life of the two MSF workers kidnapped in Dadaab (Kenya) in danger. One of the two women kidnapped is Catalan and the other is from Madrid.

One of the two workers is Catalan. The two women were working as logistics officers for Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Dadaab, in the Ifo refugee camp, near the Somali border. Armed men took the two women away around 1pm (CEST). Kenyan police think they might belong to the Shabaab group, linked to Al-Qaeda. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the kidnapping.

Despite exceptional increases for concrete development projects, external relations and international cooperation services and funds were reduced by almost 50% within the plan to reduce public spending in 2011. The Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation decided to increase financial aid to the Horn of Africa to help with the humanitarian crisis that is affecting 13.5 million people.

Catalonia would have lost 60,000 residents by the end of 2011, according to the INE. For the first time in decades, Catalonia's population will fall this year. In the next ten years, Spain’s population would decrease by 1.2% if current demographic trends are maintained. At the end of 2010, Catalonia had 7,512,000 residents and Spain 47,021,000.

The Catalan Government is obliged to reduce the public deficit and the public healthcare system is also subsequently affected by the budget cuts. Doctor and nursing unions are mobilised, while salary reduction and temporary lay offs are being discussed. Waiting lists have increased due to some hospital services being partially and temporarily closed, especially during the summer months. Many citizens have been protesting, in different demonstrations. The Catalan Health Ministry announced new maximum waiting times for severe interventions. In addition, some hospitals are reopening some operating rooms.

The vaccine MVA-B against HIV gets a 90% immune response in its first test with humans. In addition, after a year, the vaccine proves to still be effective in 85% of the individuals. The vaccine is still a prototype but it shows a promising perspective. Soon it will be tested as well as a therapeutic vaccine, for people already infected with HIV-AIDS. The vaccine has been developed by the Spanish High Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), in collaboration with Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic and by Madrid’s Hospital Gregorio Marañón.

Barcelona hosted its last bullfight on Sunday. As of January 1st 2012, bullfighting will be banned in Catalonia. The Catalan Parliament decided to forbid this activity in July 2010, with a law that generated a substantial amount of controversy. Bullfighting is associated with Spanish nationalism, and the ban has been interpreted by many as a political stance, in addition to defending animal rights. In Catalonia, over the last decades, bullfighting has lost most of its popular support and only one arena has remained open.

Between 2007 and 2010, Catalan research centres and private companies participated in a total of 1,047 projects funded by the Seventh Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development of the European Union. In total, Catalan researchers have received 384 million euros from the EU in the last four years, which represents a 73% increase in relation to the previous programme, which ran from mid 2002 to 2006.

The study by the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute has managed to demonstrate that a molecule similar to glucose can cause the death of cancerous cells. The research would enable to shortly develop treatments for the alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.

The use of the Catalan language is growing but it is clearly used less than Spanish in Catalonia. Some sectors are especially behind, such as judicial system, where only 14.5% of judicial sentences were written in Catalan.