Archive for category: Disease

Information and news about disease category

, , , ,

Curbing the Spread of Vector-Borne Disease

The theme of this year’s World Health Day, held annually on April 7th, was to promote the awareness of vector-borne diseases. Vector-borne diseases are transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes, flies, ticks and water snails, among other disease-carrying pests.

This year the World Health Organization (WHO) promoted the slogan “small bite, big threat,” in the hopes that they would be able to increase awareness on how people across the globe can protect themselves and their families from these pests and the viruses that they may transmit.

Vector-borne diseases have radically increased in the past few decades, aided by an increase in urbanization, international travel and environmental changes.

More than one billion people each year are affected by these diseases, which include malaria, dengue fever, Lyme disease, schistosomiasis and yellow fever.

Efforts to control the spread of these diseases have included the distribution of bed nets and insecticides, the use of body repellents and protective clothing, and the push for clean water and adequate sanitation.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, noted, “A global health agenda that gives higher priority to vector control could save many lives and avert much suffering. No one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sand fly, a blackfly or a tick.”

The focus this year is on dengue fever, which is currently the most rapidly spreading vector-borne disease in the world.

Dengue fever, also known as “breakbone fever” due to its symptoms, is a severe flu-like disease marked by vomiting, bleeding, body aches and difficult breathing. There is no known vaccine or cure available.

During the past 50 years, dengue fever has spread rapidly to more than 100 countries. Prior to 1960, dengue had seen some 15,000 cases, whereas now over 380 million cases of dengue fever persist.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently working on a vaccine for dengue fever in partnership with a company specializing in vaccine development, Inviragen. They have gone through clinical trials in a number of countries including Singapore, Colombia, Thailand and Puerto Rico, and analysis of those findings is still underway.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is campaigning alongside the WHO to address this growing concern.

Previous programs to curb the spread of vector-borne diseases have proven successful, for example, the United States’ effort to combat malaria.

Malaria is the most deadly of vector-borne diseases, killing 1.2 million people every year. Multiple campaigns have been launched to prevent the spread of this disease, including the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. PMI has distributed more than 120 million bed nets since 2006, as well as delivered more than 135 million doses of combination drug therapy.

These success stories provide hope for current efforts to control other vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever and schistosomiasis.

– Mollie O’Brien

Sources: Mission of the United States, Voice of America

,

Polio: A Conspiracy Theory that Kills

Diplomacy saves lives. Not only can good foreign relations prevent the outbreak of war and violence between and within countries, but it also allows for the trust and respect necessary for global development initiatives to work.

In 1988 UNICEF and the Rotary Club International joined forces to eradicate polio across the globe. The project was shockingly successful and, as a result, the number of estimated polio cases decreased from 400,000 to 7,000 between 1980 and 1999. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed to the cause and helped immunize 2.5 billion young people in 200 countries with the help of almost 200 million volunteers. By 2003 only 784 cases of polio remained on the planet.

Yet as promising as these numbers appear, the goal stated in 1988 was to eliminate polio by the year 2000. This did not happen. In 2003, the number of polio cases dwindling, a conspiracy theory transpired. In a primarily Muslim region of Nigeria, a few imams surmised that the polio vaccine contained sterilizing agents that would make their daughters infertile. The life-saving vaccination was conclusively dubbed to be a CIA plot. As this rumor spread to Afghanistan and Pakistan, groups such as the Taliban spoke out against the previously well-received shot. The number of polio cases in children grew to 2,020 by 2006. In 2008 only Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan still had polio circulating through water supplies and infected children.

In 2013 polio cases of the same strain found in Pakistan were discovered in Somalia and Syria. Both countries trained their military’s in Pakistan. Iraq reported its first polio case in 14 years this March 2014, and the United Nations has branded Syria’s climb to 38 reported cases of polio “the most challenging outbreak in the history of polio eradication.” Fears are skyrocketing that the dreadful disease is spreading throughout the Middle East.

Many claim that violence and displacement are primary causes of the setback in Iraq. Polio, an incurable disease, spreads quickly in overcrowded regions prone to poverty and malnourishment. It is preventable, though, and it’s a shame that less than favorable political and ideological relations contributed to its present resurgence.

– Jaclyn Stutz

Sources: Foreign Policy, The Guardian, IRIN
Photo: CNN

Anthropologists Aid in the Ebola Epidemic

ebola_outbreak_virus_opt
The current Ebola epidemic in Guinea has drawn doctors, nurses, and epidemiologists from across the globe to help prevent the further transmission of the virus. Not surprisingly, it has also drawn anthropologists.

Many international healthcare workers don’t understand the importance of anthropologists in a disease-outbreak setting, but they are critical in communicating with locals about the body and disease.

An anthropologist’s job is to understand local customs and fears, in this case regarding disease. They work to get communities to cooperate with healthcare workers, which is often very difficult in a foreign setting where the local people have a different understanding of health and disease.

Barry Hewlett, a medical anthropologist at Washington State University, states that today efforts to contain outbreaks such as Ebola must be “culturally sensitive and appropriate…otherwise people are running away from actual care that is intended to help them.”

Hewlett was invited to join a World Health Organization Ebola team during the 2000 outbreak in Uganda. His experiences there prove the vital role that anthropologists play in disease outbreak efforts.

In a report on his experiences in Uganda, Hewlett noted that healthcare workers in the field were having a difficult time convincing the local people to bring their sick family members to clinics and isolation wards. They feared the healthcare workers and thought that once their family member went into the isolation ward they would never come out. Not only that, but the deceased were often disposed of quickly to prevent transmission and relatives were often uninformed about the death of their family member.

“The anger and bad feelings about not being informed were directed toward health care workers in the isolation unit. This fear could have been averted by allowing family members to see the body in the bag and allowing family members to escort the body to the burial ground,” says Hewlett.

The other job of anthropologists is to help doctors understand how the local people perceive the disease.

For example, in the case of Uganda, the locals saw Ebola as a “gemo”, or a bad spirit, which killed people who didn’t honor the gods. Doctors used this traditional belief to show that the gemo could catch you if you stood too close to a sick person.

The current outbreak in Guinea has attracted hundreds of field workers, including anthropologists, to curb the spread of the disease. It is the Zaire strain of Ebola, which is the most dangerous, killing 9 out of 10 of its victims.

Healthcare workers in Guinea have their work cut out for them and anthropologists will be key in communicating with the local people.

– Mollie O’Brien

Sources: MSF, NPR
Photo: RT

Ebola Resurfaces in Africa

Ebola_resurfaces_in_Africa
As one of the most fatal, incurable diseases in human history, Ebola functions as a deadly virus that induces the severe hemorrhaging of internal organs, causing death in an estimated 90 percent of cases. A popular theory concerning the origins of the virus is that Ebola was first introduced to humans through contact that an individual may have had with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected animal. The individual subsequently succumbed to the deadly virus, not before spreading the disease to other people, creating an epidemic. Early signs of infection are a sore throat, red eyes, rash, fever, muscle aches, headaches, and bleeding from bodily orifices, such as the eyes or nose.

An estimated duration of survival after initial infection and after the incubation period ranges, on average, from 2-21 days. Initially identified in 1976 after surfacing in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, the Ebola virus has made a reappearance in the West African country of Guinea. The virus spreads through the direct transmission infected blood, mucus, and other bodily fluids. Burial ceremonies in which individuals are exposed to direct contact with the infected body also contribute to the transmission of the virus, and as such it has infiltrated the neighboring country of Liberia.

Although outbreaks of Ebola have surfaced in the past, following the initial identification of the virus in 1976, Doctors Without Borders alleges that this particular outbreak may be the most severe yet. A salient factor unique to this outbreak is its geography – this is the first time that Ebola has surfaced in Guinea. Although the virus typically appears in rural areas especially near rainforests, the virus has not been localized in specific areas of the country. For instance, cases miles apart have surfaced throughout Guinea. Therefore, this instance of the outbreak is much harder to contain than previous incidences.

Furthermore, according to health experts, although the disease is most often fatal, infection requires extremely close contact with the infected individual or engagement in avoidable activities such drugs. Additionally, during the incubation period, which can last up to 21 days, the individual is unable to transfer the disease to others. Once symptoms arise and transmission is viable, surrounding individuals are likely to stay away from the victim since their symptoms are generally severe and obvious. Therefore, it is unlikely that a widespread, global epidemic will occur. As is the case with most disease outbreaks, individuals in affected regions are strongly urged to take proper precautions while individuals residing in unaffected areas are advised on to not create undue panic.

However, other nations are already taking precautions of their own. For instance, Morocco has increased its border control,  Senegal has shut down its borders with Guinea and France has instructed its medical workers to watch out for signs of the virus in the local population. Despite fears that the virus may spread through airplane flights, the World Health Organization has not issued any restrictions on flights, since individuals who show signs of the virus are typically too ill to travel, and therefore risks of airplanes transmitting the virus are not a significant cause of concern. Although no viable treatments against Ebola currently exist, experimental drug treatments are undergoing examination and testing.

– Phoebe Pradhan

Sources: USA Today, Time, WHO
Photo: New Vision 

,

Dust and Meningitis in the Sahel


Recent research carried out in Niger by Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) will hopefully allow scientists to be able to forecast meningitis outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa, and thus prevent potential casualties of the disease.

The research was done by IRI in partnership with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. They found that environmental and climatic factors such as wind and dust conditions have an incredibly strong correlation with meningitis outbreaks in what is called the “meningitis belt,” stretching across the Sahel from Senegal to Ethiopia.

Bacterial meningitis occurs throughout the world but rates of meningitis in the Sahel and the rest of the belt are much higher. The African Meningococcal Carriage Consortium (MenAfriCar) reports that death rates of the disease are between five and 10 percent. However, long-term effects often ensue, including blindness, hearing loss and brain damage.

The outbreaks occur in the dry season and taper off with the first rains, and researchers have often believed that the mineral dust irritates the epithelial cells lining the nose and throat, allowing for easy passage of the bacteria into the bloodstream.

In the initial phases of the study, researchers collected a number of dust samples from Ghana, Niger and Senegal, examining the dust’s characteristics in order to see which properties might be influencing the spread of the disease.

Along with this information, the researchers also looked into environmental factors such as temperature and humidity and social factors such as reduced ventilation. A number of variables are being taken into account to understand how dust is affecting people’s vulnerability to meningitis.

The hopes of the study are that these climatic factors will help public health researchers to forecast meningitis outbreaks and develop vaccination strategies earlier in advance.

One of the lead researchers in the study, Carlos Perez Garcia-Pando, stated, “We’ve known that the disease is associated to climate and environmental issues for a long time, because it’s very seasonal. The idea was to try to use models and observations from satellites and all kinds of data on potential (climate-related) parameters that might be affecting the disease, and try to use that information to provide advance warning.”

Currently in the Sahel, a new vaccine has been distributed which has decreased the outbreak of meningitis. However, vaccination drives are still delivered in districts that are already suffering outbreaks, and they often come too late.

This study has shown that environmental factors can greatly impact the effectiveness of vaccination programs, and this has great implications for the future of meningitis control strategies across the globe.

– Mollie O’Brien

Sources: Irin News, The Guardian
Photo: National Geographic

, ,

HIV-Hunger Trap

Referred to as the “wasting disease,” HIV demands a far greater energy and nutrient intake to fight infection. The virus threatens the immune system, leaving its host emaciated.

With the double burden of malnutrition and HIV/AIDS, those in developing countries must decide between food or antiretroviral medications. According to the nutritionists at the World Food Programme (WFP,) many live in this “HIV-Hunger Trap.”

The WFP reports a prioritization of food over treatment.

Yet, those living with HIV/AIDS continue eat less than their healthy counterparts. Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and sore mouth may affect appetite. The illness–as well as the medication for it–may “modify the taste of food and prevent the body from absorbing it.” The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations also cites exhaustion, depression and isolation symptoms.

These may limit energy to prepare and eat regular meals. And, in general, populations with high rates of HIV/AIDS lack sufficient access to food.

African nations affected the most depend on “labor-intensive farming systems.” Agriculture accounts for more than a third of these countries’ gross national product, reports the U.N. Yet from 1985 to 2011, AIDS led to death of seven million agricultural workers in 25 African countries. By 2020, the U.N. predicts HIV/AIDS could reduce the agricultural workforce by 25%.

This loss of the most productive age group (15 years old to 49 years old) results in greater food insecurity. Many households offer food and shelter to sick relatives or orphans, further limiting nutrient intake for each member.

HIV/AIDS also inhibits the ability to absorb food. Digestion breaks food into nutrients, and these nutrients subsequently provide energy and defense against infection. HIV and other infections, though, damage the gut wall. Consequently, food cannot pass through and be absorbed. Coupled with reduced food intake, this damage leads to severe weight loss and malnutrition.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) engineered a solution to the “HIV-Hunger Trap” in Lesotho. The country faces one of the highest prevalence rates, with 23.6% living with the virus. An estimated 28,000 children live with the dual threat of a weakened immune system and food insecurity.

The EGPAF aims to integrate nutrition education and support at local hospitals and health centers. At its “Nutrition Corners,” mothers and caregivers observe cooking demonstrations “using locally available fare such as sorghum porridge, beans, peas, vegetables and fruits.” This program also helps provide early treatment to HIV-positive children below the age of 2 years old.

Malnutrition serves as a gateway to infection for HIV-positive children.

At these hospitals and clinics, EGPAF monitors children to ensure proper weight for age and weight for height. If children fail to improve nutritionally for three visits, the foundation provides one-on-one counseling. Families who did improve participate in a group discussion. EGPAF also acts preemptively, providing caregivers and children of unknown status counseling. Testing services also offer an early diagnosis and access to treatment.

The HIV virus demands both medication and sufficient food intake. The World Health Organization recommends increasing energy intake by 50% to 100% for HIV-positive children experiencing weight loss. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation understands how impoverished regions fall into the “HIV-Hunger Trap.”

AIDS claims the lives of agricultural workers and those living with the virus subsequently face growing food insecurity. To meet the demands of this virus, the public health and agricultural fields can converge to protect vulnerable populations.

– Ellery Spahr

Sources: Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, United Nations
Photo: Joe McKay

, ,

Exclusive Breastfeeding Promotes Infant Health

breast_feeding
Children ages 12 to 23 months receive an estimated 30-40% of total energy from breast milk. This milk serves as a source of energy and essential fatty acids for them and the fat content appears critical for utilizing pro-vitamin A carotenoids, which exist predominantly in plant-based diets. Moreover, these nutrients offer necessary protection against diseases and help children recovery from infections.

Breastfed children face a significantly reduced risk of chronic illness. The contribution of breast milk to overall nutritional status protects children from developing noncommunicable diseases as adults. Breast milk also improves cognitive development. This benefit could serve to assist with the second Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education. Education coupled with decline of disease increases productivity in developing countries subsequently offering greater food security and the reduction in poverty.

For young girls, greater learning potential offers financial independence. Mothers, in addition to their daughters, benefit from exclusive breastfeeding as well. Breastfeeding naturally delays fertility and as a result, this increases the period between births in populations without contraception. At this time, developing nations account for 99% of global maternal deaths.

A delay in childbirth protects the lives of many women who marry young and give birth frequently. Those who give birth before the age of fifteen risk dying during childbirth at five times the rate of those in their twenties. The World Health Organization offers a number of guidelines to improve breastfeeding and complimentary feeding practices. The annual loss in GDP to vitamin and mineral deficiencies far exceeds the cost of these interventions. For instance, Peru loses $637 million a year to malnutrition. Yet increasing its micronutrient interventions costs less than $16 million annually. To promote the timeline of exclusive breastfeeding, the organization could implement these low-cost interventions:

  • Advocate for natural breastfeeding, as opposed to the use of water-based substitutes
  • Adopt and enforce maternity leave policies
  • Provide training on infant and young child feeding to health care professionals
  • Implement a cash-conditional program for mothers to breastfeed and regularly visit clinics
  • Develop and support work sit lactation programs

Exclusive breastfeeding within the first six months nourishes infants and acts as a safeguard against the spread of diseases. However, globally, less than 40% of infants benefit from exclusive breastfeeding. Affordable and direct solutions to this issue exist, holding the potential to drive this rate to 100%worldwide.

– Ellery Spahr

 

Photo: She Rights Sources: WHO, World Bank

 

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 Facts About Hunger in Rwanda

hunger_rwanda
The Republic of Rwanda is a small sovereign state in the Eastern part of Central Africa. Rwanda ranked at 166 of 187 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index in 2011. Rwanda also has the highest population density in the region with 416 people per square kilometer.

Low income, limited natural resources, and food and water insecurity pose a problem for citizens in Rwanda every day. In the years following the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, international rebuilding efforts have been on the ground trying to make sustainable changes to alleviate some of the hunger and water issues.

Here are five facts that explain the state of hunger in Rwanda and how it may change in the coming years:

  1. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide marked the end of the ceasefire signed the year before that stopped the fighting of the Rwandan Civil War. The war began between two ethnic groups the Hutu and Tutsi. The Genocide began when the plane carrying the Hutu supported president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down and he, along with several other members of the government, were killed. The genocide lasted 100 days and an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed. The fallout from the Rwandan Genocide is the cause for much of the instability in the region that lasts today.
  2. Secondary school attendance in Rwanda is one of the lowest in the world and the literacy rate is 55%.
  3. Approximately 65% of the population has access to safe, clean drinking water
  4. 45% of children under 5 years of age are malnourished.
  5. Over 67,000 refugees from neighboring countries currently reside in Rwanda.

Even though there is a lot of strain on the country today, organizations have been working with the government to address one of Rwanda’s major problems: food insecurity. Agriculture was the country’s main sector before the genocide, and since then, major efforts have been made to make it profitable one more.

Updating the agricultural practices is what the World Food Programme credits with directly reducing the number of food insecure people.

The country hopes that with the reliance on agricultural programs it will improve its GDP to US$900 by the year 2020, up US$380 from its current GDP. Rwanda was also the first country to sign the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), meaning that addressing malnutrition and food insecurity is one of the government’s main priorities.

Even though Rwanda still has a long way to go, the government has been taking steps in the right direction that could provide a template for other countries in the region to follow.

– Colleen Eckvahl

Sources: World Food Programme, World Vision
Photo: Rising Continent

, , , , , , , , , , ,

4 Issues Contributing to Malnutrition in the DRC

malnutrition

Kinshasa, DR Congo

The second largest country in Africa and is located in the middle of the continent. Since the 1990’s the country has been in a state of political unrest and civil war which is the cause of many of the other problems in the region, such as disease, food insecurity, human rights violations, and violence against women.

Here are four issues that contribute to nearly 6.3 million people remaining food insecure and over half of the children under the age of 5 classified as malnourished in the DR Congo:

  1. Political instability between the government and several militia and rebel groups. Peace talks have been ongoing since 2009 with little progress. Since 1998, 5.4 million people have been killed. Less than 10% were killed during the fighting, instead the majority have died from diseases and malnutrition.
  2. 2.7 million people are internally displaced within the DRC as a result of the civil war. 1.6 million are in the North and South Kivu region, where much of the heavy militia activity takes place. There are an additional 116,000 refugees from neighboring countries currently living in the DRC. The large number of displaced people and perpetual fighting in the country has led to a high rate of abuse and sexual assault of women and children. It is estimated that 400,000 women between 15 and 49 were raped between 2006 and 2007. This is the equivalent of 48 women being assaulted every hour.
  3. 3.71% of the population lives below the poverty line, meaning they live on less than two dollars per day.
  4. Rampant infectious diseases are common across the country such as Malaria, Dengue Fever, Typhoid Fever, and HIV/AIDS. The ministry of health said that Malaria was their number one disease concern and in 2011 alone there were 4,561,981 reported cases.

– Colleen Eckvahl 

Sources: The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict , WFP, WHO
Photo: This is Africa

, , , , , , , , ,

Female Genital Mutilation and Poverty

Female Genital Mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) ruins countless lives every day. FGM is a humiliating torturous cutting of the female genitalia carried out by various groups of the community, including health practitioners, elderly people and female relatives. According to the World Health Organization (WHO,) four types of FGM procedures exist:

Clitoridectomy

The partial or complete removal of the clitoris.

Excision

Involves removal or partial removal of clitoris, as well as labia.

Infibulation

Narrowing of the vaginal opening.

Other

This includes other forms of FGM not classified above, such as, burning, piercing or scraping. Any one of these types of FGMs is carried out on a female at any time in her life.

Millions of cases of FGM are reported each year. According to the WHO, over 100 million women and girls have had their human rights violated.

FGM is considered a human rights violation because it inflicts unnecessary pain and harm to unwilling women and girls. Laws against FGM practices have been created in 18 African countries. If caught sentences from three months up to life in prison are given.

There are also 12 industrialized nations that have passed laws criminalizing FGM.

An 8-year-old girl from Djibouti died from the effects of FGM. She was held down by friends and neighbors while a “practitioner” subjected her to FGM. Her clitoris, labia minora and labia majora, all external genitalia, was cut away causing uncontrollable bleeding.

After the procedure was done the girl’s legs were tied shut to promote “healing” and she was refused water because the need to pass urine was thought to introduce bacteria to the wounds. The young helpless girl continued to bleed throughout the evening and sob uncontrollably due to pain.

Eventually the girl was taken to the hospital and given a blood transfusion. Sadly, it was too late to save her life.

FGM has been reported in 28 African countries and various Asian countries.

According to data from the WHO, seven countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Somalia and Sudan have a FGM prevalence rate affecting 85 percent or more women. Other African countries have only slightly lower prevalence rates; a large portion of the African continent has not received FGM rates.

FGM is most likely performed in lower class poverty-stricken communities. This is due in part to the fact women and girls do not know FGM is against the law. Most believe that it is there duty as a woman to have FGM performed and if they refuse, they will be harshly criticized and shamed. These are the ones who are not held down and forced against their will.

Several campaigns to eradicate FGM from the world are underway. One government organization, the United Nations, has been tackling it as one of the world’s Millennium Development Goals. Also, Women against Female Genital Mutilation leads campaigns to increase awareness of FGM laws and harmful health and psychological effects of FGM on females.

The continuation of advocacy for women and girls suffering from Female Genital Mutilation needs to last until FGM prevalence is zero. People should continue to call their congressmen, write their legislature, and advocate for worlds helpless.

Hopefully, through the increased awareness, global campaigns, and laws FGM will become a thing of the past and no female will have to endure torturous inhumane pain ever again.

– Amy Robinson

Sources: World Health Organization, All Africa, WHO, UNICEF, Center for Reproductive Rights
Photo: International Business Times