Archive for category: Disease

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Rosenkranz Prize Winners Dedicated to Improving Healthcare in Developing Countries

Rosenkranz Prize
The Rosenkranz Prize aims to fund the work of Stanford University’s rising research stars who have the desire to improve healthcare in developing countries but who lack the necessary resources.

Most grants in the scientific field are awarded to established researchers. But because the Rosenkranz Prize is awarded to rising researchers, it is able to split funds between two young researchers.

Marcella Alsan, MD, PhD, is investigating how the division of labor among men and women begins at a young age in the developing world. Alsan theorizes that this is because young girls are responsible for taking care of younger siblings, missing endless days of school.

Alsan states, “Anecdotally, girls must sacrifice their education to help out with domestic tasks, including taking care of children, a job that becomes more onerous if their youngest siblings are ill.”

More than 100 million girls worldwide do not complete secondary school. Alsan will be analyzing whether medical interventions in children under the age of 5 show an increasing trend in schooling for their older sisters.

By analyzing this data, Alsan will be able to prove or disprove if sick siblings affect their older sister’s school participation. If this thesis proves true, implementing medical interventions in younger children will increase the number of girls in school. By completing school, girls will be able to not only take care of family and their own children but also have a strong background in education.

The second Rosenkranz Prize winner, Jason Andrews, an infectious disease specialist, is focusing his funds on the development of cheap, effective diagnostic tools for infectious diseases.

Andrews recalls working in rural Nepal as an undergraduate student and “founded a nonprofit organization that provides free medical services in one of the most remote and impoverished parts of the country . . . one of the consistent and critical challenges I encountered in this setting was routine diagnosis of infectious disease.”

Andrews realizes that the diagnoses are hindered by lack of electricity, limited laboratory resources and lack of trained personnel. To eliminate these obstacles, Andrews is developing “an electricity-free, culture-based incubation and identification for typhoid; low-cost portable microscopes to detect parasitic worm infections; and most recently an easy-to-use molecular diagnostic tool that does not require electricity.”

Andrews does not want to develop new diagnostic approaches. Rather, Andrews believes he can develop the diagnostic approaches already in place to function in an affordable and accessible manner.

With the Rosenkranz Prize, Andrews is also able to develop a simple, rapid, molecular diagnostic or cholera that is 10 times more sensitive than the tests currently available. Andrews plans to test this new technology in Nepal.

The Rosenkranz Prize has allowed two individuals dedicated to helping healthcare in developing countries by providing the necessary funding. With the help of Alsan, girls may be able to attend school without worrying about ill siblings, and Andrews has shed light on the problems facing many developing countries when providing medical help. But by further developing the diagnostic approaches available, healthcare will change for the better.

– Kerri Szulak

Sources: Scope, Stanford
Photo: PickPik

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5 Things You Didn’t Know About Malaria

Five-Things-You-Didn't-Know-About-Malaria
Malaria is a disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are carried by Anopheles mosquitos. The mosquitos thrive in high temperatures, making malaria more common in tropical and subtropical regions. According to the Center for Disease Control, common symptoms include fever and flu-like illness, along with other issues, depending on the strain. The disease can also cause anemia and jaundice. Without treatment, malaria can lead to more severe issues and can be fatal. The following are some lesser known facts about the disease.

1. The United States was not considered free of malaria until 1951.

While many picture malaria being concentrated in more tropical areas, malaria was once prevalent across the globe. Malaria has been eliminated from several mild-weathered developed countries. In order to be considered officially free of a disease, a country needs to have no new cases of the disease for three years. The United States did not completely eliminate malaria until 1951, according to the Gates Foundation.

2. There are five species of Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria in humans.

P. falciparum, the deadliest of the species, can be found in tropical and subtropical areas around the world and is especially predominant in sub-Saharan Africa.

Another species, P. vivax, is the most prevalent of the five species and is found mostly throughout Asia, Latin America and some parts of Africa. Meanwhile, P. ovale is found predominantly in West Africa. P. vivax and P. ovale are both dormant for several months or years before they activate within an infected human being.

While these three species have a two-day replication cycle, P. malariae has a three-day cycle. Without treatment, this species can create a chronic infection that can last throughout one’s lifetime.

Finally, P. knowlesi is a species found in Southeast Asia that was recently shown to be a cause of zoonotic malaria. This species has a one-day replication cycle.

3. Malaria can either be categorized as uncomplicated or severe.

Uncomplicated malaria attacks tend to last between 6-10 hours and generally involve a cold stage, a hot stage and a sweating stage. Meanwhile, severe malaria is much more likely to be fatal. It involves infections of organs or the blood and can lead to abnormal neurological behavior, kidney failure, severe anemia, seizures or other effects.

4. The treatment used in the 17th Century is still used widely today.

In the early 17th century, indigenous tribes in Peru taught Jesuit missionaries about the cinchona tree’s medicinal bark and its effectiveness in treating fevers. The medicine from the bark is known as quinine, which has been seen as one of the most effective drugs in treating malaria. It is still one of the major antimalarial drugs used to treat the disease today.

5. There is a positive correlation between malaria and poverty.

While it is argued that both conditions feed into one another, it is clear that poor countries, who are most severely affected, have the least access to effective treatment and services for malaria. Malaria does not only affect both the physical and economic health of individuals, but it also affects the health of nations who need to deal with malaria systematically. According to the World Health Organization, Africa spends roughly $12 million annually addressing problems related to malaria, and economic growth in malarious African nations is therefore slowed by up to 1.3 percent annually.

– Arin Kerstein

Sources: CDC, Earth Institute, Gates Foundation, World Health Organization 1, World Health Organization 2
Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Global Hunger: Five Things to Know

global_hunger
While hunger has always been a ubiquitous concern among humanitarian and developmental organizations, it is often misunderstood. Here are five things to keep in mind when considering a problem affecting millions around the world:

1. Hunger is widespread.
The United Nations estimates there are 795 million hungry people today, mainly rural people in developing nations. Although hunger is a global problem, it is concentrated primarily in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. India has the most hungry people: 194.6 million, which is roughly 24 times the population of New York City.

2. It affects children the most.
Hunger is the leading cause of death for children under five. That is about 3.1 million deaths per year, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Hunger also causes physical and cognitive stunting; a fourth of children worldwide suffer from this condition. Without proper nutrition, children cannot develop strong bodies and minds. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are especially important.

3. It’s caused by poverty and waste.
A common misconception is that hunger is caused by global food scarcity or overpopulation. In fact, a third of the food the world produces goes to waste every year. Poverty and the unequal distribution of resources are actually the leading causes of hunger. It is often made worse by disasters, both natural and man-made.

4. It weakens the immune system and helps disease spread.
A proper diet is essential to a functioning immune system. Nutritionally deficient people are more likely to become infected with disease, more likely to suffer worse symptoms and less likely to recover. The World Health Programme estimates that iron deficiency is the most widespread nutritional concern, affecting almost two billion people. Vitamin A deficiency is also a cause for concern, especially among children and pregnant women.

5. It can be solved during our lifetime.
José Graziano da Silva, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, recently called on the world to become the “Zero Hunger generation.” Hunger is a problem that can be solved and organizations around the world have made great progress to date. The WFP calls this effort a “best buy” because it can be very cost-efficient. For example, a child only needs 25 cents per day to receive the essential nutrients and vitamins, according to the WFP. That’s why the United Nations made global hunger a top priority in its Millennium Development Goals. That effort was a success; according to a recent report, 72 of 129 nations monitored by the United Nations met their goal by 2015. But the work continues.

– Kevin McLaughlin

Sources: U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, UNICEF, World Food Programme, World Health Organization
Photo: Humanosphere

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Ten Poverty Statistics You Should Know

Ten Poverty Statistics You Should KnowThe following are ten poverty statistics that any advocate should know and be able to share with others. They describe the global poverty situation:

1. Globally, there are over 1 billion children living in poverty.

2. 1/4 of all humans live without electricity — approximately 1.6 billion people.

3. The World Food Programme says, “The poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.” Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

4. Gender discrimination is widely recognized as a major contributor to children living in poverty and creating disparities in how resources are earned, valued and distributed based on power relationships between men and women. These poverty-induced relationships lead to tens of millions of children becoming victims of exploitation, violence and abuse.

5. Global poverty leads to global hunger, as people living in poverty cannot afford nutritious food for themselves and their families. This creates a vicious cycle where a lack of food makes people weaker and less able to earn money, preventing them from escaping poverty and hunger.

6. Poverty is closely linked to the inability to access clean water and proper sanitation. More than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean drinking water.

7. The disadvantages of poverty are closely linked to an increased risk of disease. For example, diarrhea, which is caused by inadequate drinking water, sanitation and hand hygiene, kills an estimated 842,000 people every year globally, or approximately 2,300 people per day. With the increased risk of disease, those under the poverty line have little access to basic medical attention, causing preventable diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia to take the lives of 2-3 million people a year.

8. 80 percent of the world’s population lives on less than $10 a day, well below the standard of the Quality of Life Index.

9. A quarter of all people live without electricity — approximately 1.6 billion people.

10. The cost of eradicating world poverty is estimated at 1 percent of global income, whereas other financial endeavors such as military spending in the U.S. alone can reach over $691.22 billion.

– Alysha Biemolt

Sources: 11 Facts About Global Poverty, Global Issues, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme
Photo: Flickr

Mine Sniffing Rats, the Future of Detection?

Mine-Sniffing-Rats
An unlikely candidate to saving lives comes to mind when looking at the Gambian pouched rat. Almost blind, but with an extraordinarily strong sense of smell, these rats can detect the most minute odors that can lead to saving human lives.

With this unique sense of smell, these rats in rural Africa are being trained to detect land mines in Africa that are remnants of civil war. Being light enough to not trigger the mines, these rats can sweep over a minefield quicker and more effectively in two hours than the traditional 2-3 days through the human method of metal detectors.

Mine-laying became a common military practice in the late 1970s, and while thousands of mines may have been laid, very few were actually detonated during wars. In countries like Cambodia, mines that have been unaccounted for have have lead to 64,00 casualties since 1979, as well as 25,000 people living with amputations.

As land mines are a hidden threat, they pose a danger to unsuspecting passersby; children on their way to school, and men and women just doing their daily tasks, can all be susceptible to this realistic terror. This is why training the Gambian rats is so useful and important to these rural areas.

With this keen sense of smell, researchers have found that they can not only detect the minute smells of land mines, but can also detect diseases like tuberculosis faster and cheaper than with a laboratory microscope. The rats are able to do this by smelling the bacteria that lives within an infected person.

This amazing realization has saved thousands of dollars for developing countries as the World Health Organization’s current endorsed detection machinery, which costs $17,000 with each individual test requiring $17 for equipment.

Studies have recently suggested that the Gambian pouched rat can do even better. With its keen, sensitive sense of smell and ability to be trained, the future possibilities for the functionality of this amazing animal are astounding.

– Alysha Biemolt

Sources: NYTimes, NYTimes, Child Fund
Photo: Mirror

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Can the Measles Vaccine Ward Off ‘Immune Amnesia’?

measles_vaccine
Scientists are speculating that the measles vaccine does more than prevent measles. A new study published in the journal “Science” found that children that were vaccinated did not just avoid the measles, they also eluded infectious illnesses such as pneumonia, influenza and tuberculosis.

Historically, each time the measles vaccine was introduced, childhood mortality dramatically went down by 30 to 50 percent in some countries and by 90 percent in severely destitute nations.

Today the vaccine is hailed as one of the most effective operations in public health in recent history.

The World Health Organization has asserted that the vaccine is linked to a hefty decrease in child mortality no matter what the infectious illness is. Following widespread vaccination, childhood deaths due to infectious disease fall by 50 percent.

Michael Mina is a post-doctorate at Princeton University and a medical student at Emory University. He and his team performed a recent study using computer models to predict the mortality rate for infectious diseases in the next few years.

The team looked at figures collected from the U.S, Denmark, England and Wales. Numbers dated back to the 1940s.

In every location, the presence of measles was linked by some degree to the rate of mortality. The magnitude of the affect was different for each country because, most likely, health care underwent changes during the 70-year stretch.

From the evidence, Mina and his colleagues concluded that being infected with measles leaves children susceptible to other infectious diseases for an average time span of 28.3 months, or about two or three years.

Measles is a severe immunosuppressor, increases a host’s likelihood of contracting other diseases. Most viruses have this effect, but measles takes it even further. It actually obliterates any immunity the host once had.

After going through a measles infection, “the immune system kind of comes back. The only problem is that it has forgotten what it once knew,” Mina explains.

For example, if a child gets sick with pneumonia, they build up antibodies which prevent the child from contracting the disease again. But if that child then catches the measles, their immune system loses that protection and they could contract pneumonia once more.

Persuasive evidence from the new study contributes to the belief that measles affects a person’s immunity and, therefore, their overall mortality. Thus, the measles vaccine could decrease mortality to a much larger degree than originally thought.

Still, scientists still have not been able to supply enough evidence as to why this phenomenon happens. They have only come up with “immune amnesia” as a theory. There is still more testing to be done.

Even so, no one can ignore the overwhelming evidence that eliminating measles lessens the risk of contracting other infectious diseases. It is just another incentive for people, especially children, to be vaccinated.

Reductions in mortality have been observed in the U.S., England and other parts of Europe and are still seen in developing countries each time the vaccine is instituted.

– Lillian Sickler

Sources: NPR, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Research Gate, Online Post, ARS Technical
Photo: Flickr

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How Cellphones are Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa

cellphones
For the 23.8 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, there are two realities. The first is the reality of the disease, which kills over one million people in Africa per year and requires treatment. The second is the stigma surrounding the disease, which itself creates a major social barrier to treatment. This stigma creates the need for patients to be able to seek treatment while protecting their privacy.

Cellphones provide a great opportunity to fill this need.

Mobile health, or mHealth, is the term used to describe the growing number of health services offered on cell phones. mHealth platforms have been particularly common in Africa due to a demand for services and Africa’s status as the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world.

mHealth has been shown to be effective in a variety of contexts. For HIV/AIDS patients, it can be greatly effective due to the variety of services offered to both patients and health care providers.

South Africa’s HIV Confidant, developed by Dimagi, is one such service. According to Dimagi’s website, the service seeks to provide “confidential distribution of the results of HIV testing” in South Africa. This a particularly difficult to accomplish in rural regions.

Along with securely distributing results of testing, HIV Confidant also allows patients to receive counseling on their infection status without sending in a second sample.

With studies finding that over 80 percent of patients are comfortable using mobile devices to manage their HIV treatment, services such as HIV Confidant provide a valuable service to patients concerned with anonymity and the stigma surrounding infection.

Programs focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention education are valuable in engaging communities. In addition to focusing on data collection and treatment adherence, Uganda’s eMOCHA program focuses intently on education, allowing it to address contributing trends to HIV/AIDS such as IV drug use.

Though mHealth symptoms are valuable tools in managing HIV/AIDS in Africa, they are not without their faults. The programs have been criticized by some as unlikely to reach certain at-risk groups, such as drug users, who are significantly less likely to own a cell phone. In addition, the cost of airtime currently makes the engagement of these programs difficult for patients living in poverty.

Despite these limiting factors, the growth of mobile phones in Africa creates hope that mHealth could become an important tool in the battle against AIDS. Perhaps the greatest challenge for mHealth platforms going forward then is ensuring that these valuable tools of defense against HIV/AIDS are available for those most at risk.

– Andrew Michaels

Sources: UNAIDS, DoSomething.org, IRIN, oAfrica, Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education, Dimagi
Photo: mHealth Blog

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Children in Yemen at Risk for Epidemic

Children-in-Yemen-at-risk-for-Epidemic
With the outbreak of conflict in Yemen, health centers have to shut down. Forces continue to attack hospitals and health care centers. There are medical shortages as the conflict hinders the delivery of medical supplies. As a result, children cannot receive the crucial vaccines and treatments they need to fight communicable diseases.

Vaccines save 2.5 million children worldwide from preventable diseases. Without basic vaccines, about 1.5 million children die. There are already cases of Measles reported in Yemen. Doctors are worried about reports of other diseases like Polio. If children in Yemen continue to not receive the vaccines, then these two diseases could continue to spread.

Parents are hesitant to take their children to health care centers to get the vaccines because the centers continue to be targets for attack, and because just getting there is dangerous. That leaves the health workers going into the field to vaccinate children. This can make it difficult to properly track how much of the child population has been vaccinated.

Another often overlooked aspect of vaccinating children is the protection of the vaccines themselves. Doctors have to make sure that vaccine centers maintain a supply of the vaccines needed. However, the conflict can make it difficult for WHO officials to deliver the medical supplies to the vaccine centers. Fuel shortages also cause problems, as there needs to be enough to ensure that the vaccines have the proper cold chain needed.

Issues like this can limit the number of children that can be reached and vaccinated. If supplies cannot be replenished or maintained, then it becomes difficult to keep children safe from diseases.

Contributing to the issue is food insecurity. Before the civil war, Yemen was already importing most of its food. Now, with conflict preventing food from being delivered, Yemen is struggling to feed its people. Without the nutrients to stay healthy and prevent malnutrition, the children’s immune systems are at a higher risk for contracting diseases.

Diseases could spread rapidly, as children in Yemen do not have access to enough food and clean water, people live in close proximity in refuge areas, and there is limited health access. The WHO workers try to combat the spread with consistent monitoring of medical supplies and going out and finding those who need the vaccines.

– Katherine Hewitt

Sources: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UN News Centre, World Health Organization,
Photo: Twitter

Remember Ebola?

Remember-Ebola
The buzz surrounding Ebola started to die down after an update declaring a ten-month low of a reported nine cases, and as transcontinental infection was scarce. Although newer and flashier news stories have taken over, and Ebola started to disappear from the public eye, Ebola may be making a harsh comeback in coming months. With the onset of the rainy season in West Africa, new challenges arise in controlling the Ebola outbreak.

Since the ten-month low, transmission intensity and geographical span have increased despite rigorous efforts to control the disease. The main challenges have been identifying sources and community engagement, where there is still widespread resistance to the efforts. Officials are not largely concerned with the rainy season bringing increased transmission rates and more reported cases, but are concerned with the complications in their efforts at combating the disease.

The rainy season in West Africa brings with it higher prevalence of diseases, such as Malaria, that induce similar symptoms to Ebola. As more people exhibit these symptoms, more people need to be treated as though they may have the Ebola virus, meaning that more people will need to be tested for it. The rain also creates concern over infrastructure and travel, which could hinder efforts in the fight against Ebola.

Many experts in the field had hoped for and urged efforts to get the Ebola outbreaks under control before the rainy season began, and it seemed feasible to do so. The recent increases in transmission come as a disappointment and as a source of well-founded worry. While the public may have shifted gears and moved on from Ebola, health-care workers are shifting gears to be even more vigilant and intense to find those last strains of transmission. The World Health Organization has faced new challenges in the fight against Ebola, and will prevail through the challenges that the rainy season brings.

Even more fear arises from the fact that after reports of low transmission, and as the countries largely affected by the outbreak started to regain normalcy, many international actors backed out of the area. With new causes for concern and a need for increased testing coming with the rainy season, the foreign aid and international health workers are needed again, and soon.

Ebola infections are still more concentrated and more under control than at the start of the outbreak in December 2013, and with the new rainy season perhaps the increased testing will finally bring the last of the transmission chains to light.

– Emma Dowd

Sources: Sierra Leone Times, CIDRAP, UN
Photo: Mirror

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Cholera Outbreak in Burundi Refugee Camp

cholera outbreakThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that over 105,000 Burundian people have crossed the border to find sanctuary from politically-driven violence in Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura.

The Burundian political sphere was rattled in late April when President Pierre Nkurunziza was nominated by the CNDD-FDD party to serve a third term, which his political opponents believe to be unconstitutional. As a result of the debate, Bujumbura was flooded with protests in the following weeks, culminating in a short-lived coup d’état on May 13.

Despite the coup d’état ceasing within 24 hours, violence continued into the rural regions, threatening a large majority of rural Burundian people. The Imbonerakure tribe ravaged towns by marking red paint on the houses of those who they intended to kill, causing thousands of families to flee the country.

UNHCR correspondent Adrian Edwards reported, “Many of these [people] have crossed into Rwanda (25,004), but over the last week we have also seen a sharp increase in people seeking asylum in Tanzania (17,696) after entry restrictions there were lifted. In addition, almost 8,000 people have crossed into South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In all these cases, women and children, including a large number of unaccompanied children, are in the majority.”

The reported number of 17,000 seeking refuge in Tanzania has since increased to over 70,000. A large majority of those traveling to Tanzania have landed in Kagunga, a border village on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. This small village can only be reached by boat, due to a treacherous mountain range surrounding the village on the Tanzanian side.

This small village quickly reached its maximum capacity, and the Burundian people have been crammed into short-stocked refugee camps, without adequate sleeping space, food or sanitation. These refugee camps are overwhelmed by the rapid out-pour of people. As a result, a recent cholera outbreak has infiltrated the water supply, killing as many as 31 refugees in the past few weeks and causing acute diarrhea in 3,000 more.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is working to open re-hydration checkpoints and cholera treatment centers in both Kagunga and Kigoma. Refugees are currently being fast-tracked to Kigoma, where there have been no reported cases of cholera. The transfer of pregnant women, children, the elderly and the sick is a top priority.

In Kigoma, local aid has assembled a sort of “pit stop” location where refugees can stay a few days while being registered and receiving medical care before being transferred to another refugee camp called Nyarugusu. With the help of UNHCR and other contributors, more than 18,000 refugees have been safely moved to Nyarugusu so far.

Regarding the Cholera outbreak, MSF stated, “Epidemics tend to occur where living conditions are poor: where there is overcrowding, inadequate access to safe drinking water or proper latrines and insufficient rubbish collection. Improved hygiene practices and treatment are important components of the cholera response. The provision of safe water and effective sanitation remain essential during all outbreaks.”

– Hanna Darroll

Sources: MSF, UNHCRInternational Business Times
Sources: BBC, MSF
Photo: The Guardian