Archive for category: Disease

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Top Diseases in Kazakhstan

Top Diseases in Kazakhstan
Nestled between Russia, China and other regions of the former Soviet Union, lies the nation of Kazakhstan. As is the case in many other middle-income countries, ischemic heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death. However, cirrhosis of the liver has overtaken chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as one of the top diseases in Kazakhstan. Together, the top diseases in Kazakhstan claim the lives of approximately 85,000 individuals annually.

Ischemic Heart Disease

Often referred to as Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Ischemic Heart Disease is a condition characterized by insufficient blood flow to the heart. CAD develops when plaque composed of cholesterol and other substances accumulates in blood vessels. As in much of the developed world, the increasing incidence of heart disease in Kazakhstan is correlated with increased body mass index (BMI). More than half the population is overweight. The most common symptom associated with ischemic heart disease is angina or chest pain. Eventually, CAD can lead to heart attacks, heart failure, or arrhythmia.

Cardiovascular Disease is associated with significant direct (e.g. medical) and indirect (e.g. lost productivity) costs. The good news is, there are simple but effective interventions that can reduce the burden of this disease. One study demonstrated a 460% return on investment for community-based initiatives that promoted better lifestyle choices, such as increased physical activity, smoking cessation and healthy eating.

Stroke

Like ischemic heart disease, stroke is a condition with numerous modifiable risk factors. Most strokes occur when there is insufficient blood flow to the brain. About 20% of strokes are hemorrhagic (due to bleeding). Strokes can result in serious neurological damage and is a leading cause of long-term disability. Community empowerment and education initiatives can help the incidences and severity of strokes. The lifestyle modifications that mitigate the effects of coronary artery disease are also effective in reducing the risk of stroke. In Kazakhstan, sodium intake is one of the most obvious targets for intervention. The average Kazakh consumes over 6,000 mg of sodium daily or three times the maximum recommended by WHO. In addition, limiting alcohol consumption to one drink for women and two for men per day can help lower stroke risk.

Cirrhosis

Reducing alcoholism in Kazakhstan has proven difficult as evidenced by the increasing prevalence of Cirrhosis. Cirrhosis, or end-stage liver disease, is most commonly caused by hepatitis B or C and alcoholism. According to WHO, the average Kazakh over 15 years of age consumes 10.3 liters of pure alcohol, more than in any other Central Asian country. Since the harmful use of alcohol is also tied to socioeconomic development, organized efforts should be targeted toward this problem. Over time, the incidence of liver Cirrhosis would decrease. There would also be the immediate benefit of reduced motor vehicle accidents, due to intoxication.

In many parts of the world, the leading causes of death have shifted from being acute and communicable to being chronic and noncommunicable. Through medical innovations and effective public policy, those former causes of morbidity and mortality have been dramatically reduced. Sustained passion for social change could also help overcome health problems that now plague the modern world.

– Rebecca Yu

Photo: Flickr

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Five of the Top Diseases in Greece

Five of the Top Diseases in Greece
Though often envisioned as an ideal vacation spot, home to thousands of sites, islands and beaches, Greece is not exempt from the list of countries affected by diseases, and it is necessary that travelers be aware of this.

  1. Coronary Heart Disease
    According to WHO, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is one of the top diseases in Greece, responsible for 26.17% of the country’s total deaths. Statistically, CHD occurs in men between the ages of 50 to 79, and in women ages 70-79. Controllable factors include arterial hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, smoking and lack of physical activity. Non-modifiable factors include gender, age and family history of premature CHD.
  2. Stroke
    Falling second in the list of top diseases in Greece, mortality from heart disease and strokes has reached 35,000 deaths per year, which is high compared to other regions like Portugal or Spain. As a result, life expectancy for Greeks has fallen. Statistics showing 33% of adults smoking daily and 19.6% of the population being overweight or obese contribute to the issue.
  3. Malaria
    In 2011, a total of 20 cases of malaria occurred among Greek residents in the Evrotas, Laconia district, caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax. The following year, 17 additional locally acquired cases were reported. According to the Centers for Disease Control, it is recommended that travelers take an anti-malarial medication and follow insect protection measures to reduce the risk of mosquito bites.
  4. Legionnaires’ disease
    A total of 14 cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported on the island of Corfu in 2011. Legionnaires’ disease is a bacterial infection that typically causes pneumonia but can also involve other organ systems. The disease is usually transmitted through contaminated water sources, such as air conditioners and showers. Common symptoms include fever, cough, chest pain, difficulty breathing, headache, muscle pains and diarrhea.
  5. West Nile virus
    An outbreak of West Nile virus infections surfaced in 2010, causing 262 confirmed cases and 35 deaths. West Nile virus is carried by Culex mosquitoes. Most infections are mild but can affect the central nervous system, leading to fever, headache, confusion, lethargy, coma and in most serious cases, death. Because there is no treatment for West Nile virus, prevention methods should be taken by keeping cover and applying insect repellents.

For both locals and visitors, such recent outbreaks emphasize the importance of taking safety precautions and preventing further transmission of top diseases in Greece. Since most of these illnesses cannot be cured, undergoing certain treatment methods or making lifestyle changes help with recovery.

– Mikaela Frigillana

Photo: Flickr

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Water Quality in Vietnam

Water Quality in Vietnam
Vietnam’s 3,260 km coastline and extensive river networks have given the country an economic and industrial advantage. However, the exploitation and resulting pollution of the rivers has severely limited people’s access to clean drinking water. Despite efforts taken to improve water quality in Vietnam and limit the unmindful disposal of factory waste, polluted water still causes up to 80 percent of illnesses nationwide.

Vietnam has one of the highest child malnutrition rates in Southeast Asia, and as many as 44 percent of Vietnamese children fall ill with whipworms, hookworms or roundworms. Other common water-borne illnesses in Vietnam include Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E and Typhoid Fever, all of which are most commonly spread by fecal contamination of drinking water.

The pollution most profoundly impacts those living in central and southern Vietnam, where the majority of waterways are used for farming and power. Although water quality in Vietnam‘s upstream rivers such as the Red River remains acceptable, those living downstream or in urban areas are at greater risk of contracting water-borne illnesses.

According to the National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation, water samples from Binh Chanh, Cu Chi and District 12 contain unsafe levels of ammonia and manganese. Arsenic contamination in water has also been a threat to the entire nation.

Untreated industrial waste is the primary cause of poor water quality in Vietnam, as fifty industrial zones discharge 105 million liters of largely untreated wastewater into the Saigon every day. International water resource organizations recommend limiting river flow exploitation to 30 percent, but, according to a report in the Voice of Vietnam online journal, the Ninh Thuan province exploits as much as 80 percent. This has degraded the basins in the Red River, the Thai Binh River and the Dong Nai River.

Hydropower plants have been built on all 13 big river networks, as well as on small rivers. The power plants have cut the river networks into artificial water reservoirs and have upset the river’s water storage. This not only devastates the forests and water life, but it makes people living downstream from these areas particularly vulnerable to pollution from farming pesticides, fertilizer, factory runoff, fish farms and wastewater.

Vietnam is developing its hydropower infrastructure to keep up with its increasing demand for energy. While the existing administrative and legal framework for pollution control is substantial, the problem, according to Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, a professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, is law enforcement. “We need to have strong punishments,” Oanh says, especially with larger power plants. He also says that people need to be aware of the issue so that they do not contribute to the pollution themselves.

Some of the greatest problems regarding pollution control are low fines, vague criteria for identifying polluters, low monitoring capacity, little willingness to enforce regulations and inadequate funding. Legislation passed in the last decade, however, has made provisions for harsher sanctions against polluters, such as the 2005 revised Law on Environmental Protection.

Funding for pollution control has also increased over the last ten years on both the national and provincial levels. For example, the HCMC Waste Recycling Fund targets waste management firms, while the Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund targets pollution control in urban areas, craft villages and hospitals.

Flexible funding, effective audits and knowledge as to who polluters are should reduce the waste going into Vietnamese rivers. The benefits of these changes will protect future generations from serious illnesses, and ultimately prepare the country for more sustainable economic development.

– Liliana Rehorn

Photo: Flickr

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Poverty and Sickness in Nigeria’s Borno State

Poverty and Sickness in Nigeria's Borno State
A whole generation is missing in Nigeria‘s Borno State. There are no toddlers clinging to their siblings’ hips or babies wailing for their mothers. This is because, in Borno State, there are hardly any children under 5 years of age. This is largely due to displacement compounded with a severe lack of nutrition.

In 2013 and 2014, those from northeast Nigeria fled their homes and livelihoods to escape attacks by the Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group. By the thousands, they escaped to Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s Borno State. As the fighting continued and spread, farmers were barred from working their land and trade routes were sealed off. Markets emptied. Imports into areas held by the Boko Haram were entirely cut off, leading to widespread starvation. Nearly 500,000 people are living in unacceptable conditions.

This severe deficit of food and essential nutrients has led to unprecedented rates of malnutrition among the population, which in turn, led to high rates of disease in the very young and very old. Measles, malaria and diarrheal diseases run rampant through the population. Acute respiratory infection claims young lives by the dozens.

Those most affected are those under 5 years of age, who die at intolerable rates from malnutrition, infection and typically preventable diseases. They are the victims of acute political unrest and, more immediately, they are the victims of hunger. Nutritional screenings taken throughout the state show that 50 percent of children in the Borno State are severely malnourished. Even in areas where food is available, prices have increased tremendously in just a matter of months. With each spike in the price of food, more households find themselves unable to eat.

These circumstances led the Nigerian government to announce a nutritional emergency in Nigeria’s Borno State in June of 2016. The people in Borno State are in dire need of help and, while Nigeria’s government has recognized the magnitude of this epidemic, the crisis must be acknowledged worldwide for maximum impact. There must be measures implemented to make sure that people can reach food and humanitarian aid in protected locations. Massive global aid is crucial to the survival of these people.

Doctors Without Borders is calling for a major humanitarian response to the crisis, even as teams are reaching affected areas. It is not enough. U.N. agencies, particularly the World Food Programme, should scale up interventions. In America, the Food for Peace Reform Act, which proposes to help end global hunger using the most efficient and cost effective means possible, must be supported and passed in congress.

Aid needs to be scaled up now, today and every day following until the needs of the Nigerian people are met— until we are able to replenish an entire lost generation.

– Kayla Provencher

Photo: Flickr

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Dengue Track: Mapping the Spread of Disease

Dengue Track: How Mapping the Spread of Disease May Help to Stop It
Dengue is a notoriously malicious mosquito-borne virus that has seen an uptick in recent decades with the expansion of urban environments. But a new tool called Dengue Track is trying to change that.

Dengue fever causes flu-like symptoms, minor bleeding and a characteristic full-body rash. The disease used to be confined primarily to tropical regions, but the World Health Organization estimates that about half the global population is now at risk. It is rarely fatal but nonetheless constitutes a leading cause of illness and death among children in some developing countries. Though a vaccine has been developed, its use has only been approved in three countries so far, and it is not yet widely available anywhere.

Dengue is a disease that is uncommonly hard to fight. Because it has an incubation period of four to 10 days, mosquitos can be spreading it in an area for weeks before officials start to realize that they have an epidemic on their hands. What’s more, as globalization intensifies and people and goods travel more broadly than ever, it’s nearly impossible to keep infections localized or to judge where they might develop next.

Illnesses that, like dengue, are transmitted by blood-sucking insects are called “vector-borne” diseases, and when vaccines are not available, the only way to protect human populations is through methods known collectively as “vector control.” These include strategies for reducing the insects’ breeding areas, creating tools like nets to keep them away from vulnerable people or killing them with pesticides.

Vector control, however, is most effective when the movement of the disease can be plotted on a map. The trouble is that dengue, which is most prevalent in developing countries around the equator, is dramatically underdiagnosed and underreported, and systems to share what little information there is are inefficient, unstandardized, or nonexistent.

Dengue Track, a crowdsourced tool that tries to map the epidemiology of the disease, is an initiative from an organization called Break Dengue. Drawing information from cell phone conversations, social media, and an online chat system, it plots cases of the illness across the globe to try to predict where it may surface next.

It is a low-cost method that relies on tools common in developing countries, where only one-third have access to the internet but over 95 percent own mobile phones. This means that it is particularly well-suited to places where the national health system does not have the ability to track outbreaks itself.

“Thousands of lives are lost every year in developing countries for failing to detect epidemics early because of the lack of real-time data on reported cases,” said Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, a professor at New York University who helped to develop Dengue Track. This app might prove a useful model for identifying such epidemics early in the game and taking the appropriate steps to head them off.

– Madeleine Read

Photo: Flickr

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Global Development: It’s Better Than You Think

Global Development: It’s Better Than You Think
Despite global victories in disease eradication, hunger and poverty reduction, the majority of Americans perceive the rest of the world to be in terrible shape. According to a recent study by the Barna group, 84 percent of Americans are unaware of the rising global development. In fact, 67 percent believe that global poverty has been rising since the 80’s. With regard to global health, 50 percent of Americans think child mortality is on the rise, and 35 percent believe that HIV/AIDS-related death has increased in the last five years.

It’s easy to make these assumptions when news headlines tend to focus on negative statistics. While it’s true the global community has a lot of work left to do, it’s also necessary to recognize the very tangible victories in humanitarian efforts over the last 50 years.

For instance, by 2010, the global community successfully lifted one billion people out of extreme poverty, reducing the world’s poorest population by half and achieving the U.N.’s first millennium development goal five years ahead of schedule. In developing regions, the population of undernourished people has decreased by nearly 50 percent since 1990.

Many economic and health-related improvements are directly tied to successful USAID programs. Every year, USAID saves more than 3 million lives through global vaccination efforts. More than 50 million couples worldwide use USAID sponsored family planning services. USAID has also played a major role in the global reduction of infant mortality by 10 percent through various child survival programs, as well as the U.N.’s Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, which gave 1.3 billion safe drinking water and 750 million people sanitation for the first time.

Still, there are widespread misconceptions about foreign aid and its effects on global development. The majority of Americans believe that 25 percent of the federal budget goes toward foreign aid and want that number reduced to ten percent. In reality, less than one percent of the federal budget is allocated for foreign aid. The gap between perception and reality isn’t just an American problem. A recent study by Dutch research firm Motivaction found that out of 26,000 people in 24 different countries, 87 percent of respondents said that extreme poverty had not improved over the last two decades. Just 1 percent were aware that extreme poverty has actually been cut in half.

But if global efforts are as successful as the data shows, does public perception even matter? Martijn Lampert, research director at Motivaction, explains: “If you don’t see it happen, you don’t believe it.” Motivaction’s research certainly supports the notion that seeing is believing, after the most optimistic survey responses, came out of emerging economies in India, China and Indonesia, where people witnessed tangible improvements. Even more telling, 50 percent of people in those regions correctly said that global poverty had been reduced by half, compared to 8 percent of Americans and Germans.

Perhaps if more Americans were aware of the real-life impact that foreign aid has made, there would be greater support for USAID programs. With that support, lawmakers and advocacy groups could face fewer challenges in passing legislation to immediately improve the living conditions of the world’s poor. Better understanding begins with the facts. Thanks to work done by the U.N., USAID, Motivaction and countless other groups, new data shows that global development is on the rise.

– Jessica Levitan

Photo: Flickr

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Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS: The Top Diseases in Namibia

Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS: The Top Diseases in Namibia
Life expectancy in Namibia has risen over the past 10 years. However, the country still struggles with communicable diseases, which are the largest leading factors of deaths in Namibia. The top diseases in Namibia are tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Namibia ranks fourth as one of the countries most afflicted by tuberculosis (TB). The burden of TB has significantly dropped since 2004, when it peaked at 350,000 incidents. Although the number has been steadily dropping — declining 9,950 last year — the number of incidents is up from the previous year.

Yet, this increase is not altogether a negative indication of the preventative methods being deployed to fight diseases in Namibia. In fact, the higher number is due to the new testing measures, which have been able to reach more Namibians and give them a more accurate screening for TB.

The majority of TB care and prevention is funded by the Namibian government (domestic). However, the strength of this epidemic is not one they can fully contain on their own. The Namibian government is in need of more resources than they currently have. The nature of TB, such as long-lasting dormancy and ease of contraction, makes the elimination of this disease difficult.

Unfortunately, the prevalence of HIV also fuels the high contraction rate of tuberculosis. About 41 percent of those with TB also have HIV. Due to a severely compromised immune system, HIV/AIDS and TB often mix for a lethal combination.

HIV/AIDS are currently the diseases in Namibia associated with the highest death rates, claiming over 3,500 lives each year. There are 214,956 diagnosed cases of HIV in Namibia and only 68 percent of them are receiving antiretroviral treatment (ARV). Unavailability of treatment is the leading contributor to the death rate among those with HIV. There are at least 42,500 people that are suffering from HIV in immediate need of antiretroviral medication.

The deputy health minister also pinpoints a weaken health care system as a factor in Namibia’s inability to treat a majority of HIV-positive patients. There are less than two health care workers for every 1000 citizens, fewer in remote areas. Retaining health care workers is a crisis in Namibia. Without the proper amount of healthcare providers to cater to the needs of the people, especially those with HIV, patients cannot receive care in a timely manner.

The U.S. is currently invested in aiding Namibia’s struggle with TB and HIV. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) acts with the Namibian government in a multitude of ways to help stop the epidemics of both HIV and TB.

Together they have increased care for orphans and vulnerable children, expanded testing and awareness. PEPFAR is also working to re-manage the congested healthcare centers to allow for better treatment. PEPFAR’s current aim is to help the Namibian government reach their goal to have 80 percent of those with HIV on ARVs by 2017.

The Namibian government feels that the prevention of HIV for the future begins with the youth of today. If they can explain the risks and the best ways to prevent HIV, before children or young adults get infected, the chance for new incidents will decrease.

As the past decade has shown, with the efforts of the Namibian government and foreign relief, the burden of diseases in Namibia can only continue to decline.

– Amy Whitman

Photo: Flickr

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The Top Diseases in Germany and Poverty’s Effects on Health

he Top Diseases in Germany and Poverty's Effects on Health

Even the most prosperous countries struggle to combat epidemics, which often disproportionately affect the poor. The top diseases in Germany, where poverty is on the rise despite a growing economy, are heart and lung diseases.

Top Diseases in Germany: Facts and Figures

Although the prevalence of ischemic heart disease dropped by 8.2% from 2005-2015, it remains the leading cause of premature death in Germany, closely followed by lung cancer, which has risen by 3.6% in as many years.

Studies by the German Health Update (GEDA) support a correlation between poverty and disease, and more specifically, heart and lung disease. Women at risk of poverty statistically experience more bronchial asthma and higher blood lipid levels, which can lead to cardiac disease, than their high-income counterparts. Likewise, low-income men proved more susceptible to heart problems, among other ailments, than high-income men of the same age group.

The obvious question is why? Low-income Germans engage in more health-risk behavior than the upper-class. GEDA finds that men and women who are at-risk-of-poverty are 1.3 times more likely to smoke than those with high-incomes, and due to a lack of exercise and a higher consumption of budget foods like potatoes, white bread and sausages, the ratio of obesity for low-income to high-income women is 3.3 to 1, and for men 1.6 to 1.

But can this health disparity really be reduced to the habitual differences between Germany’s rich and the poor? The GEDA study also attributes increased disease incidence among the poor to psychosocial stress. Experiences of exclusion, social comparison and anxieties about the future, all of which are more common to the impoverished, cause health-impairing stress, which insufficient social support exacerbates.

In an interview with the Foreign Policy Group in February 2016, a low-income woman named Heike Wagner explains, “If you don’t have any money [in Berlin], it’s really hard to be part of the group. Going to a bar, to the movies, you can’t do it…If you have friends with a good job, it’s tough to keep up those friendships.” In addition to the inaccessibility of healthy foods, the absence of physical recreation, the prominence of dangerous habits and the general stress of financial insecurity, social isolation deteriorates the health of Germany’s poor.

Because of the tight entanglement of income and health, combatting poverty ought to further the cause of disease prevention. With poverty “at its highest level in Germany since reunification 25 years ago,” political efforts to protect citizens’ health are crucial.

Programs Designed to Reduce Disease and Poverty

Among several efforts to reduce the top diseases in Germany across all economic backgrounds, the Federal Center for Health Education coordinates the Health Promotion for the Socially Disadvantaged network. Meanwhile, Federal Health Reporting continuously monitors and publishes data on the link between poverty and health to educate the public and inspire political change.

The German Heart Foundation (GHF) sponsors school programs which aim to impart preventative habits early in life. Skipping Hearts teaches children rope skipping and educates them about their hearts’ reactions to exercise and diet. GHF also brings the European Non-Smoking Project’s “Be Smart — Do Not Start” program into German schools.

Every November, GHF hosts a national campaign called Heart Weeks to inform the public about heart health. Cardiologists and heart health professionals give more than 1,200 seminars in hospitals and clinics across Germany.

Additionally, the National Action Plan, IN FORM, spreads awareness about nutrition, physical activity and well-being to encourage citizens to adopt healthy lifestyles. The program began in 2008 and is set to conclude in 2020.

– Robin Lee

Photo: Flickr

Diagnostic Methods Build the Foundation of Outbreak Control

Diagnostic Methods Build the Foundation of Outbreak ControlDisease outbreaks are frequently portrayed by the news and other media as two-step occurrences: disease strikes, then people die. What’s left untold are the in-between moments that are crucial to outbreak investigation and disease outbreak control. Disease testing, the essential step of the diagnostic process, is one of the most useful tools in stabilizing disease outbreaks and preventing them from worsening.

The case of Ebola in Liberia provides an example of how breakthrough disease-testing methods can save thousands of lives. Jude Senguku, one of the leading physicians who treated Ebola patients in Liberia, told BBC that misinformation, panic and misdiagnosis kept people from seeking help at the onset of symptoms.

People knew very little about the deadly disease and feared being sent to Ebola isolation units. Public health workers needed better diagnostic methods to screen people for Ebola in order to obtain medical evidence that would support or invalidate a diagnosis.

For Monrovia’s Redemption Hospital, the solution came in the form of GeneXpert, a machine that rapidly tests for Ebola and provides results within 90 minutes.

At the beginning of the Ebola outbreak in 2014, there were 50 licensed doctors for a population of 4.3 million. To provide each symptomatic person a one-on-one doctor visit was both unfeasible and impractical. During and after the outbreak, GeneXpert allowed health care workers, including volunteers with limited medical training, to accurately test patients for the presence of the Ebola virus and direct them to care in time to receive life-saving treatment.

Senguku says that since 2014, GeneXpert was “very critical” in reducing Ebola scares and restoring Monrovia’s confidence in their doctors.

The technology uses a process called DNA amplification, which tests a human specimen — cheek cells, saliva, etc. — for the disease’s specific DNA sequence. In contrast to other diagnostic methods, the technology can identify extremely low amounts of viral DNA as well as drug-resistant strains, which makes it incredibly sensitive and accurate. The machine, which is used for multiple tests, costs about $17,000. The test cartridge, which is used in every test per person, costs a mere $10.

One of the technology’s most valuable features is its usability. The health care worker administering the test does not need to be trained to identify a specific disease. Rather, they simply need to know how to operate the machine. Moreover, because of its low dependence on electricity, GeneXpert is an ideal diagnostic tool for regions with limited access to power.

The diagnostic process plays a critical role in outbreak control, stabilizing population health and providing a sense of security to an affected community. Events like the Ebola outbreak of 2014 serve as examples of how improved diagnostic methods are helping health care workers deliver faster and more efficient care under strenuous circumstances.

– Jessica Levitan

Photo: Flickr

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Major Diseases in Malta: A Continuing Struggle

Major Diseases in Malta: A Continuing Struggle
Known for being a premier island for holiday travel, Malta is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Europe. Since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1964, the island of Malta has made substantial improvements to all sectors of government, including their health care system.

Diseases in Malta are generally under control in part due to the fact that the country has made extensive progress in improving its health care system. According to the WHO, “The health care system is relatively equitable and comprehensive. The health care reforms are well focused on sustainability and quality based on an integrated and holistic approach.”

However, even with these advances to their health care system, many diseases in Malta are still present and increasing within the nation. Major diseases in Malta fall under the category of non-communicable diseases. These diseases range from bronchial asthma to obesity, to heart disease and cancer.

In 2003, ischaemic heart disease was the most deadly disease in Malta, killing almost 22 percent of the population that year. Studies have shown that both Maltese women and men over the age of 30 have a higher percentage of dying from ischaemic heart disease than the average European individual.

Uterine as well as breast cancer is also a major concern in Malta. Research indicates that death rates for these particular types of cancer, in Malta, are above average than other European nations. Additionally, death rates for cervical, ovarian and pancreatic cancer have decreased within Malta, but the percentages are still above European averages.

Despite the majority of diseases in Malta being non-communicable, the CDC also recommends that for those traveling into the country to have their routine vaccines as well as vaccines for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, yellow fever and rabies current and up to date.

In 2013, both an improved Mental Health Act and a general Health Act were approved by the government of Malta. These improvements have helped to steadily decrease rates of cancer and obesity while also helping those with mental diseases. The new Mental Health Act has seen tremendous success by promoting community treatment and securing the rights of mental health patients.

The government of Malta has sequentially promoted a plethora of health strategies such as the Non-Communicable Disease strategy in 2010, the National Cancer Plan in 2011, the Sexual Health strategy in 2011, the Tuberculosis Prevention strategy in 2012 and the Healthy Weight for Life strategy in 2012. These strategies were designed in order to promote health and prevention methods on a national scale.

Moreover, efforts to reduce diseases in Malta are both ever-constant and ever-changing thanks to the participation of the Maltese people and their government. These positive changes will ensure that rates of non-communicable diseases will continue to decrease while promoting a happy, healthy and well-engaged society.

– Shannon Warren

Photo: Flickr