World Health Gap Narrowing But Challenges Remain, WHO Data

The World Health Organization’s annual statistics show progress is being made around the world in cutting child mortality – but it will miss its target of a two-thirds reduction by 2015.

The number of under-fives dying fell from 12 million in 1990 to less than seven million in 2011, the data shows.

But that will not be enough to reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goal.

The WHO says the health gap between countries is narrowing, but there are continuing inequalities in health care.

Many people in low- and middle-income countries have insufficient access to medicines in the public sector, meaning they rely on the private sector, where prices can be up to 16 times higher, says the WHO.

In these countries, an average of only 57% – and in some cases as little as 3% – of selected generic non-branded medicines are available in the public sector, according to data compiled by the global health body.

The World Health Statistics 2013 report compares progress made by countries with the best health status and the worst status over two decades, from 1990.

The statistics are compiled from many sources, including government birth and death registrations, hospital records, household surveys and research projects.

“Our statistics show that overall the gaps are closing between the most-advantaged and least-advantaged countries of the world,” said Dr Ties Boerma, director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at the WHO.

“However, the situation is far from satisfactory as progress is uneven and large gaps persist between and within countries.”

The gap in child mortality fell, from 171 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 107 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011, according to the latest statistics.

Global statistics on the number of women dying in childbirth have also improved, but the WHO says the global decline in maternal deaths (3%) will have to double to meet the goal of reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters.

Commenting on the report, the charity Save the Children said that as well as improving access to healthcare for the poorest families, the world must redouble efforts to tackle hunger, which contributes to a third of child deaths.

“We have made incredible progress in cutting the numbers of children who die every year by improving treatment of preventable diseases and making vaccines available to the poorest children,” said Brendan Cox, Save the Children’s director of policy.

“But unless we tackle hunger, we risk losing this momentum, and children will continue to die needlessly.”

Key trends in the report

Preterm birth is the leading global killer of newborn babies and the second most important cause of death (after pneumonia) in all children aged under five years
Every year about 15 million babies are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy – one million die
Almost 10% of the world’s adult population has diabetes

Credit: The BBC News

December 23, 2012January 6, 2013

WHO Says Progress in Malaria Threatened by Funding

Insecticide-treated mosquito net for preventing malaria

Recent gains in the fight against malaria could be reversed because funding has stalled, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Its latest World Malaria Report says 1.1 million lives were saved in the past decade but that the expansion in funding from 2004-09 halted in 2010-12.

Less than half of the $5.1bn (£3.1bn) needed was spent last year.

The WHO’s latest figures – for 2010 – show some 219 million people were infected, with 660,000 people dying. Continue reading “WHO Says Progress in Malaria Threatened by Funding”

June 13, 2012

WHO Says Diesel Exhaust Fumes Cause Cancer

By James Gallagher, Health and science reporter, BBC News

Exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer, a panel of experts working for the World Health Organization says.

It concluded that the exhausts were definitely a cause of lung cancer and may also cause tumours in the bladder.

It based the findings on research in high-risk workers such as miners, railway workers and truck drivers.

However, the panel said everyone should try to reduce their exposure to diesel exhaust fumes.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization, had previously labelled diesel exhausts as probably carcinogenic to humans. Continue reading “WHO Says Diesel Exhaust Fumes Cause Cancer”

October 11, 2011

Vitamins Linked With Higher Death Risk

….in older women

By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News

When it comes to vitamins, it appears you could have too much of a good thing, say researchers who report a link between their use and higher death rates among older women.

Experts have suspected for some time that supplements may only be beneficial if a person is deficient in a nutrient.

And excess may even harm, as the study in Archives of Internal Medicine finds.

All of the women, in their 50s and 60s, were generally well nourished yet many had decided to take supplements.

Multivitamins, folic acid, vitamin B6, magnesium, zinc, copper and iron in particular appeared to increase mortality risk.

The researchers believe consumers are buying supplements with no evidence that they will provide any benefit.

Harms v gains

They are quick to stress that their study relied on the 38,000 US women who took part in it recalling what vitamins and minerals they had taken over the previous two decades.

And it is difficult to control for all other factors, like general physical health, that might have influenced the findings.

But they say their findings suggest that supplements should only be used if there is a strong medically-based cause for doing so because of the potential to cause harm.

“Based on existing evidence, we see little justification for the general and widespread use of dietary supplements,” Dr Jaakko Mursu of the University of Eastern Finland and his research colleagues said.

Less is more

In the study, iron tablets were strongly linked with a small (2.4%) increased death risk, as were many other supplements. The link with iron was dose-dependent, meaning the more of it the individual took, the higher their risk was.

Conversely, calcium supplements appeared to reduce death risk. However, the researchers say this finding needs more investigation and they do not recommend that people take calcium unless advised to by a doctor in order to treat a deficiency.

Drs Christian Gluud and Goran Bjelakovic, who review research for the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to evaluate best evidence, said: “We think the paradigm ‘The more the better’ is wrong.”

They say dietary supplementation has shifted from preventing deficiency to trying to promote wellness and prevent diseases, and caution: “We believe that for all micronutrients, risks are associated with insufficient and too-large intake.”

Helen Bond of the British Dietetic Association said some people, like the elderly, might need to take certain supplements. For example, vitamin D is recommended for people over the age of 65.

But she said that generally, people should be able to get all the vitamins and minerals they needed from a healthy, balanced diet.

She said some took supplements as an insurance policy, wrongly assuming that they could do no harm. “But too much can be toxic and it is easy to inadvertently take more than the recommended daily amount.”

August 29, 2011

Vitamin A Could Save Children in Developing Countries

A new research shows that giving Vitamin A supplements to children under the age of five in developing countries could save 600,000 lives a year.

The work published in the British Medical Journal was conducted by a team of UK and Pakistani researchers. The group evaluated up to 200,000 children in 43 studies and found that if children were given vitamin A, deaths were reduced by a monstrous 24%

And not only that, they also established that taking Vitamin A could cut the rates of measles and diarrhea.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, around the world, 190 million children under the age of five may have a vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin A is vital for the visual and immune systems to work properly.

August 10, 2011August 10, 2011

Rapist Women Gang Terrorizing Men in Zimbabwe

Kitsepile Nyathi, allafrica

Cases of men who have been sexually abused by women are common in the country and hardly a week passes without such a report being made in the media.

The motives of these women are not known, but there is speculation that they may be doing this for ritual purposes.

Indecently assaulting

“We appeal to members of the public to pass any information to the police regarding three women who have gone on a spree of kidnapping and indecently assaulting young men around town,” Harare police boss Angeline Guvamombe said in a statement.

“The women drive in posh cars and offer their unsuspecting victims lifts before spraying some liquid substance on their faces.

“Once the victim is drowsy, he is taken to a secluded place or house where he is forced to have sex,” said Ms Guvamombe. “I want to warn these criminals that their days are numbered,” she added.

On Monday, the Herald reported that two men were kidnapped last week and forced to have sex with women at gunpoint.

In one of the incidents, a 30-year-old man was kidnapped by three women and forced to have sex with them for five days.

In some cases, the women use protection and collect the men’s sperm, leading to speculation that they were in the activity for ritual purposes.

At times, the women are helped by armed men.

Since the strange rape cases began sometime last year, no one has been arrested.

Police have said the women cannot be charged with rape because Zimbabwean law does not recognise that women can rape men.

But they will be charged with indecent assault, which carries a lesser sentenc

August 1, 2011

Hepatitis Taking a Toll in Millions, WHO

Medical experts are calling for global action to tackle the viruses that cause the liver disease hepatitis.

The first worldwide estimates in drug users show 10 million have hepatitis C while 1.3 million have hepatitis B.

Writing in the Lancet, experts say only a fraction of those who could benefit are receiving antiviral drugs.

Only one in five infants around the world are vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth, they say.

The figures, published in the Lancet, show about 67% of injecting drug users in the world have been exposed to hepatitis C, while around 10% have come into contact with hepatitis B.

In the UK, around half of injecting drug users have been infected with the hepatitis C virus, while the rate for exposure to hepatitis B is 9% – the highest in western Europe.

The research was led by Prof Louisa Degenhardt of the Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia, and Paul Nelson from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

They say: “The public-health response to blood-borne virus transmission in injecting drug users has mainly centred on HIV.

“Maintenance and strengthening of the response to HIV in injecting drug users remains crucial, but the significance of viral hepatitis needs to receive greater attention than it does at present.”

Commenting on the study in the Lancet, Dr Joseph Amon, of Human Rights Watch, New York City, US, said: “This study provides us with a first step and powerful data to draw attention to the problem of viral hepatitis in people who use drugs.

“The next step is to challenge governments to act, and hold them accountable for implementation of rights-respecting and evidence-based programmes.”

Health risks

Hepatitis is caused by five main viruses – A, B and C, and, more rarely D and E.

Hepatitis B is the most common, and can be passed from mother to baby at birth or in early childhood as well as through contaminated injections or injected drug use.

Hepatitis C is also spread through using unsterile needles and less commonly through unsafe sex or sharing razors or toothbrushes.

June 2, 2011

Newly Identified Chemicals Fool Mosquitoes

Researchers have identified a low-cost chemical that interferes with a mosquito’s ability to detect humans, a study which offers a striking breakthrough in the battle against malaria.

Mosquitoes have carbon dioxide sensors with which they are able to smell the presence of humans in their neighborhood. The newly identified chemicals consist of odor molecules that disrupt these carbon-dioxide sensors located in small, antennae-like appendages close to the mosquito’s mouth, thereby disrupting the mechanism that alert mosquitoes to exhaled human breath. The study is presented in the journal Nature.

It is hoped that the findings could help develop the next generation of mosquito repellents, which could work by confusing the insects.

DEET are the gold standard insect repellants but they are costly and requires repeat applications and therefore beyond the means of many in the developing countries. This discovery could prove invaluable to poor tropical countries by providing an alternative to DEET.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria kills between 800,000 to 1 million people each year, most of who are in Sub-Saharan African. Children and pregnant mothers are the most vulnerable.