Information and stories on health topics.

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World Bank Funding Lao PDR to Improve Women’s Health and Nutrition

World Bank Funding
In an effort to improve conditions for the Lao governments’ maternal and health services, The World Bank Funding has gone to Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s (PDR) Health Governance and Nutrition Development Project on June 23. The International Development Association gave $26.4 million to Lao PDR with the approval of the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. The World Bank expects the fund to affect 1 million women and children in the next 5 years.

Free maternal health was initiated in Lao PDR to open financial gateways. Around 60% of women are not inclined to have more children. Now, with the project’s increase in funding, the number of women receiving family planning, care visits, and birth attendants is likely to increase.

Women need to be educated and consult healthcare workers in order to protect their bodies from disease and diminish the probability of birth mortality or miscarriages. With Lao PDR’s Health Governance and Nutrition Development Project funded by World Bank, health care services will be made more available and survival rates are expected to excel.

A report by Lancet Commission on Women and Health has tracked the consequences of women’s low socioeconomic status. With the input of social science professionals, program managers, policy innovators and advocates, connections between the role of women in systems, homes and communities have been founded to be most beneficial when they are given value and proper compensation. Women create sustainable nations when they are inclined to contribute to the well-being of all.

Additionally, the development of nutritional strategies is underway. Almost half of the children in the country, under the age of 5, are underweight. The Health Governance and Nutrition Development Project is determined to utilize its funding in services to children under the age of 14 by providing adequate nutrition and target infant feeding practices to improve behaviors in regards to nutritional intake.

The country’s economy has experienced vast progress thanks to foreign aid. In addition to $26.4 million, $11.6 million was also implemented into Lao PDR’s Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) on June 23.

In financing PRF, a program started by Lao PDR in 2002, about 200 particular plans are in place to enhance education and health. The additional funding approved by The Word Bank helps prolong nutritional pilot projects and governmental sanitation programs.

PRF’s overall goal is to improve mobility and the use of public services among poverty-stricken populations in Lao PDR. The further development of roads and water resources is also a focus.

The poverty rates for Lao PDR fell from 46% in 1992 to 27.6% in 2008. This is a drastic feat towards satisfying the millennium goal of halving poverty by 2015. Life expectancy has also increased by 19 years. Since October 2011, PRF has improved conditions for 450 thousand Lao PDR residents. PRF has also improved the use of healthcare and safe water systems.

Following the millennium goals according to the 8th draft of the National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) will hopefully result in the improvement of the country’s status by 2020.

– Katie Groe

Sources: World Bank 1, World Bank 2 WHO, UNDP Impatient Optimist
Photo: Swiss Cooperation

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Community Health Workers Bring Aid to Nigeria

Community-Health-Workers-Bring-Aid-to-Nigeria
Rural Nigeria is home to the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world; for every 100,000 babies born in 2013, 576 died.  Nigeria, the nation with more people than any other country in Africa, is now a location for community health workers (CHW).

The CHW program provides communities with public health workers that live in the neighborhoods they serve. Workers bring aid to Nigeria to provide residents with access to the care that they need. Although they are not medical professionals, the World Health Organization explains that they are given “training that is recognized by the health services and national certification authority.”

CHWs serve as a link between health care professionals and people of the community. They increase communication and familiarity for patients and health administrators. Moreover, professionals learn how to better serve their community, and residents better understand their healthcare options.

For mothers in rural Nigeria, CHWs are specially trained in maternal and baby health. They inform women how to have safe pregnancies and give birth to healthy babies. Before the program came to the area in 2011, women did not know the importance of having prenatal and postnatal care, nor did they know how to access healthcare resources. After the presence of CHWs, the percentage of women receiving prenatal care more than doubled.

Women once had to give birth either at home or in inadequate community clinics. Homes are spaced so far apart that it takes about an hour and a half to reach the nearest hospital by automobile—which almost nobody owns, although some have motorbikes. Now, they have improved access to medical centers with equipment and trained staff. A newly organized network of taxi drivers was set up to solve the transportation problem.

A report in the scientific journal Global Health: Science and Practice found that the number of visits to local clinics increased by a dramatic 500 percent. Visits went from 1.5 each month per 100 people to 8.  Furthermore, the number of women giving birth in places with medical assistance doubled in just one year. Women receiving prenatal care jumped from 6 percent to 21 percent, but progress did not stop there. In the following years, these statistics continued to improve.

CHWs educate people about good healthcare practices and as serve as guides. Even if healthcare is free, it is not always accessible to everyone, especially those that need it the most. The program also decreases costs for the overall community. Patients learn how to manage their own health and evade illnesses that require hospitalization or other costly treatments. In the United States, CHWs help people dealing with chronic diseases like diabetes and asthma.

Sally Findley, who works for the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York, praises that  “I don’t think there’s a country that can’t benefit from community health workers. In the long run, they’re part of the solution.”

– Lillian Sickler

Sources: NPR, US National Library of Medicine, CDC, Bing, Mass.gov, Partners in Health
Photo: Health Communication

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Maternal Mortality in Nigeria

maternal_mortality_nigeria
Nigeria is second only to India in terms of the number of maternal deaths it experiences, and along with five other countries—India, Pakistan, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, China and Ethiopia—Nigeria is part of a group which makes up more than 50 percent of the maternal mortalities that occur in the world.

The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Nigeria was 560 per 100,000 live births in 2013. As UNICEF states, Nigeria loses 145 women to maternal mortality each day. This high level of maternal mortality is also linked to Nigeria’s high rate of deaths for children under 5—newborns account for a quarter of the under-five deaths which occur in the country.

There are many reasons why maternal mortality in Nigeria is so high, including a lack of access to healthcare, rampant poverty, substandard health care and the prevalence of child marriage.

Urban women have more of an opportunity to receive healthcare than rural women do. As stated in a Global One report about Nigeria, women in urban areas have over twice as many deliveries taking place in public and private health facilitates than women in rural areas. This is because women in rural areas are normally not able to afford the transport to the hospitals in urban areas, and have to settle for midwives or traditional birth attendants—or no help at all—when giving birth. Many of these traditional birth attendants do not have the skills and training necessary for delivering a baby—for example, many are not able to perform C-sections—and for treating complications that can occur during birth.

Rural women do not have the money to travel to hospitals to receive better care. Nigeria has a high poverty rate, with a 2010 report stating that 64.4 percent of the population lived in extreme poverty and 83.9 percent of the population lived in moderate to extreme poverty. The fact that many people cannot afford the healthcare that they need contributes to Nigeria’s high MMR.

Even if women in Nigeria are able to have access to a hospital, they sometimes still end up suffering. This is because some hospitals in Nigeria have substandard care. For example, Global One’s report states that substandard birth techniques in government hospitals in North-Central Nigeria, including poor C-section procedures, accounted for 40 percent of all fistula injuries suffered by women in Nigeria.

A fistula, according to the World Health Organization, is a hole in the birth canal. Fistulas are directly connected to obstructed labor, a problem that contributes to high levels of maternal mortality. Even if women survive labor, many of them still have to live with the fistula. Approximately two million women live with an untreated obstetric fistula in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia, and women with fistulas suffer incontinence, social segregation and health issues.

Fistulas are more common in women who give birth at a young age. These women’s bodies are not ready for childbirth, leading to many health problems, including obstetric fistulas. Nigeria has an extremely high rate of child marriage—43 percent of girls get married before the age of eighteen—and many of those girls are not given the option of whether or not they want to get pregnant. Contraceptive use is slowly becoming more widespread and acceptable, but in 2008, only 10 percent of women used contraceptives.

Since contraceptive use is still stigmatized, many brides under the age of 18 are forced to give birth, and their bodies are very vulnerable to complications, therefore contributing to a high maternal mortality rate. Nigeria also has a high fertility rate—five children per woman in 2014—which also impacts the MMR.

If Nigeria wants to reduce its high levels of maternal mortality, it has to make sure that access to healthcare is more widespread. It also needs to improve the quality of healthcare available, reduce the number of child marriages and de-stigmatize contraceptive use.

– Ashrita Rau

Sources: UNICEF, WHO 1 WHO 2, WHO 3, WHO 3, Global One Girls not Brides, IRIN News CIA World Factbook
Photo: Healthy Newborn Network

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Leprosy Is Almost Eliminated

leprosy
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) reports, Leprosy still infects almost 200,000 people globally. The disease not only infects a person but also creates an environment where a person is shunned and forced to live away from his or her family. Even though the disease is highly treatable and not very common, it still creates an immediate social stigma whenever it is mentioned. Thankfully, the disease is on its way to being eliminated completely around the globe.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s Disease, affects a person’s nerves, skin and mucous membranes (CDC). Lesions appear on a person’s skin and loss of feeling can occur since the nerves are damaged. Because a person loses sensation in the affected areas, burns or other injuries can go unnoticed and lead to further health issues.

The disease spreads through human contact. It is not highly contagious but can be spread through coming into contact with fluid droplets from an infected person.

The United States and other developed countries rarely ever see cases of leprosy, but several developing countries still experience the disease. According to WHO, “the leprosy burden is now concentrated in the five most endemic countries (Brazil, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nepal), which account for 83% of prevalence and 88% of detection worldwide.” Usually, it is the poorest of the poor who contract the disease because they are the farthest from medical care.

WHO supplies a multi-drug therapy (MDT) free of charge to those with the disease. If the patient takes the prescribed medicine as directed, the disease is curable in as quickly as six months, but it could take up to two years.

Eliminating the disease is of huge importance to global health, but it is also vital to a family unit that has a member suffering. People with the disease are often shunned and pushed out of their social circle. An infected person is made to live with other people who have leprosy regardless of whether the person is a child or an adult. This can cause further strain on a family’s psyche, financial situation and emotional well-being.

Leprosy is well on its way to being eliminated completely from the globe. In 2000, leprosy was considered eliminated because there was less than 1 case per 10,000 people globally. But that number has the potential to be reduced even further. WHO states the following to describe the effectiveness and potential of leprosy elimination:

– There is only one source of infection: untreated, infected human beings.

– Practical and simple diagnostic tools are available: leprosy can be diagnosed on
clinical signs alone.

– Under natural conditions, “incident’ cases” (new cases in which the disease has
recently developed) make up only a small fraction of the prevalence pool. Below a
certain level of prevalence, any resurgence of the disease is very unlikely.

WHO is calling for a “Final Push” to remove leprosy as a health issue around the globe. The biggest factor is the ability to bring the MDTs to every person who has leprosy. This requires the patient’s help in seeking out medical care, despite the stigma that is associated with the disease, as well as integrating leprosy detection into routine medical care in countries where cases are still seen. While this may be easily achievable in more urban areas, the rural areas still need to see higher availability of medical care.

Seeing the end of leprosy for good is an achievable goal. Already the case numbers are dwindling as people are being treated and healed until they are no longer able to pass the disease along. As the “Final Push” is implemented more often, the good news about eliminating leprosy should be heard.

– Megan Ivy

Sources: CDC, NLT, WHO 1, WHO 2, WHO 3
Photo: Asian Correspondent

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Improving Women’s Health Leads to Sustainable Development

Improving Women's Health Leads to Sustainable DevelopmentThe Lancet Commission on Women and Health, a report discussing ways of improving women’s health. The report on women’s vital contributions to healthcare, economic welfare, environmental protection and societal stability, was recently published after three years of research. The Commission, headed by Dr. Ana T. Langer from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Afaf Meleis from the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and composed of public health experts, social scientists, policymakers and advocates, not only highlights the importance of women’s work in the success of nations, but also promotes recognizing and protecting these roles to increase sustainable development in nations around the world.

The Commission aimed to make policy recommendations in terms of economic, social and cultural factors that would make governments accountable for recognizing the need for improving women’s health and the welfare of them and their communities. Published at a critical point in which Millennium Development Goals are ending and the world is beginning to adopt new Sustainable Development Goals, the Commission aims to heighten women’s roles in national and international leadership and set developments in their health and social status as a measured requisite for completing each Development Goal.

The Commission’s work was primarily concerned with developing ideas about women’s health from a productive standpoint – how they contribute to societies economically, culturally and environmentally – rather than reproductive standpoint. Viewing women’s health solely in terms of reproduction allows gender inequity to prosper because it defines women solely based on their ability to have children. The report demonstrates that improvements in women’s healthcare from a comprehensive standpoint will expand their contributions in education, the economy and the environment.

Globalization, the Commission reports, has contributed to the improvement of women’s status globally but has worsened it in individual countries, threatening social stability. Thus, though globalization has led to more widespread recognition of gender inequality, it has not done anything to change it. The increasingly rapid transmission of communicable diseases, another outcome of globalization, has increased the importance of women in caring for family members and preserving the welfare of their communities.

As humanitarian crises and ecological degradation continue to grow and conditions for populations around the world worsen, the protection of women’s health and social status are increasingly vital to the well-being of societies. Thus, it is essential that nations adopt plans to improve women’s healthcare and equality.

According to the Commission, financing healthcare should take into account persistent health challenges that affect women, such as communicable diseases and violence against women and girls. They should also take on measures to promote women’s rights and recognize their invaluable roles in society. Doing so will improve not only gender equality and societal harmony but also economic stability, healthcare, education and environmental quality. Thus, in investing in the needs and welfare of women, policymakers will help achieve sustainable growth and development for their nations.

– Jenna Wheeler

Sources: The Lancet, Impatient Optimists, The Lancet
Sources: Flickr

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Photonic Fence Zapping Malaria, One Mosquito at a Time

Photonic_fence
A laser defense system from the scientists at Intellectual Ventures may prove to be an effective weapon against malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

The device is known as a “photonic fence” and works by monitoring a virtual field for disturbances caused by insects. Once an intruder is properly identified as a mosquito, it is targeted with a deadly laser. Within a fraction of a second, the device shears off the bug’s wing, leaving it dead or incapacitated.

Bees, butterflies and humans need not worry, however; the software powering the photonic fence is precise. It can determine not only the type of insect but also its gender and species. This accuracy is needed because only mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles carry malaria and only females bite people. The software analyzes insect size, wing movement pattern, airspeed and other characteristics to discern friend from foe.

Naturally, the idea is not without its skeptics. One concern is that rural areas often have unreliable power grids. The scientists at Intellectual Ventures hope to solve this problem with the use of solar cells. The laser itself doesn’t require much energy, as it targets the wings of a mosquito rather than its tough exoskeleton.

Intellectual Ventures sees the device as supplementing, rather than replacing current measures of control. These include habitat destruction, nets for homes and beds, as well as pesticides. Nonlethal uses of the photonic fence are also possible, such as monitoring mosquitoes or agricultural pests so that they can be treated with more traditional methods.

The company is currently field testing the device in a partnership with Lighting Science Group. Models are not yet for sale and the so-called mosquito laser will need to be produced cheaply in order to be effective.

The device couldn’t come at a better time. Over three billion people—more than half the world’s population—are at risk of malaria worldwide. An estimated 584,000 people died of malaria in 2013, out of 198 million cases. Although the disease is present in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, most deaths due to malaria occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the disease; it is estimated a child dies of malaria every minute.

Its widespread economic effects worsen malaria’s human devastation. Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between malaria and poverty, and many of the world’s poorest countries have high rates of the disease. Refugees and transient people are at heightened risk of malarial infection, as they may not have developed any immunity.

– Kevin Mclaughlin

Sources: Intellectual Ventures, NCBI, WHO
Photo: Intellectual Ventures Lab

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Malnutrition in Burundi

Malnutrition in BurundiPopulated with over 10 million people, Burundi is a densely packed, landlocked East African country with the worst rates of malnutrition in the world.

Burundi was rated the world’s leading nation affected by hunger, according to the 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a score calculated annually by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Plagued with political turmoil and prone to natural disasters, Burundi has seen rates of malnutrition increase in recent years. Despite global strides in combating malnutrition in recent history, Burundi is one of only four nations that has seen an increase in GHI from 1990 to 2014, indicating a worsening situation in the country. With 67.3 percent of the overall population undernourished, it is one of two countries with a hunger situation labeled “extremely alarming” in the study.

As the vast majority of Burundi’s population relies on agriculture, many of the country’s inhabitants combat food insecurity and malnutrition due to climate hazards, limited land access and limited crop diversity. Despite a constantly growing population, food production has stagnated at pre-1993 levels, according to the World Food Programme. Additionally, due to the rising costs of food — the price of beans increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years — the average household now spends over 70 percent of its income on food. While the nation’s government has programs in place to assist in the fight against malnutrition, it is growing increasingly costly for the country to deal with the worsening problem.

Common causes of malnutrition in the country include kwashiorkor and marasmus, both of which can stunt development and can be life-threatening if not treated. Although women and young children are most at risk for diseases caused by malnutrition, many men are also affected.

Additionally, many children and women suffer from a lack of micronutrients in their diets. In the first two years of life, it is especially crucial for children to get sufficient amounts of micronutrients such as iron, Vitamin A, iodine and zinc. Such nutrients are critical for physical growth and intellectual development.

Anemia is one of the biggest deficiency problems currently faced in Burundi, with 56 percent of children under the age of 5, and 47 percent of pregnant women anemic, according to the World Bank. Additionally, nearly half of the population as a whole is at risk for insufficient zinc intake, and a quarter of the country’s children under 5 and 12 percent of women are Vitamin A deficient. Although the effects of these deficiencies are less dire in the short term, they contribute to life-threatening illnesses and issues.

In order to address the problems of malnutrition in Burundi, the World Bank recommends extensive vitamin A supplementation and deworming in children under 5-years-old and increased iron supplementation for pregnant women. While about 96 percent of households are already consuming iodized salt, the World Bank recommends “universal salt iodization” in order to control iodine deficiency and avoid IQ loss in young children. Working to increase market and infrastructure development to promote dietary diversity can also combat issues with malnourishment.

Education and counseling services can also serve to improve feeding habits for children under five years old. While Burundi sees a lack of gender equality in most sects of life, women are still seen to have a strong maternal role in the family. UNICEF found that children of mothers with at least a primary level of education have 94 percent of fewer risks of growth stunting from malnutrition than children of mothers with no education. The study showed that mothers with some level of education had been proactive in managing malnutrition than other mothers, recognizing the importance of good breastfeeding habits, clean living and staggering pregnancies.

Since 2005, the Ministry of Health has emphasized building community-based infrastructure to screen for and treat acute malnutrition. Many organizations are also working with the Burundi government to increase education programs for mothers in order to deal with the country’s chronic malnutrition. In 2012, Burundi signed on to the Scaling up Nutrition initiative, which works with the United Nations, civil society, donors, businesses and researchers to work with communities on this issue. The initiative involves an interdisciplinary approach to combating malnutrition. Burundi’s approach, as established through the initiative, involves working to protect maternity leave, create legislation on the marketing of breast milk substitute, establish national directives on food, diversify and increase its food production, and increase nutrition education. The established goal in 2012 was to reduce malnutrition rates by 10 percent by 2016. No information has been released by Scaling up Nutrition or by the Burundian government on the progress of this goal.

– Arin Kerstein

Sources: International Food Policy Research Institute, International Food Policy Research Institute, Iwacu-Burundi, Scaling Up Nutrition, World Bank, Wolrd Food Programme, UNICEF
Photo: The Guardian

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The Impact of Malnutrition in Guinea-Bissau

Impact-of-Malnutrition-in-Guinea-Bissau
According to the World Food Programme, almost 15,000 children living in Guinea-Bissau are plagued by acute malnutrition. As of 2013, a mere seven percent of the country’s population is food-secure. Rural communities suffer especially—as many as 93 percent of Guinea-Bissau’s rural population is living with food insecurity and the consequential threat of malnutrition.

So, what is malnutrition, and what impact does it actually have? According to the World Health Organization, malnutrition is “a deficiency of nutrition” caused by factors related to poor diet and disease. Malnutrition hinders physical development, leading to stunted growth and underweight children.

Malnutrition also negatively impacts brain anatomy, physiology and biochemistry, potentially leading to irreversible brain damage. Additionally, an analysis of child mortality data from 10 countries, including Guinea-Bissau, found that due to “the vicious cycle between malnutrition and infection,” children who suffer growth restriction due to malnutrition are more likely to become ill and have a higher rate of severe illness, leading in turn, to further developmental stunting.

The World Factbook, a publication by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, identifies Guinea-Bissau as having the fifth greatest death rate out of 225 countries. Life expectancy at birth, a mere 49.87 years, is also the third shortest, ranking above only South Africa and Chad.

With 18 percent of children less than five years of age underweight and the high risk of disease, Guinea-Bissau is certainly impacted by that “vicious cycle” of malnutrition and illness.

The same analysis that notes this cycle also observes the importance of the “context of poverty” that malnutrition and its ill effects occur within. This poverty, the authors assert, “leads to diminished access to health care, exposure to contaminated environments, poor child care practices, and food insecurity that ultimately affects patterns of intake and illness.”

Poverty rates in Guinea-Bissau have increased notably over the past few years. Now, 75 percent of the country’s population experiences poverty.

Several contributing factors, including socio-political fluctuations and the declining market value of cashews, the country’s primary cash crop, have caused the increased poverty and subsequent malnutrition in Guinea-Bissau. The country’s economy is predominately supported by agriculture with more than 80 percent of the labor force employed in farming. This portion of the population is also the most vulnerable when it comes to food-insecurity.

Experts estimate that in order to end world hunger, alleviating food-insecurity in places like Guinea-Bissau, $30 billion per year is needed over the course of a decade. While it seems like a staggering sum, when compared to U.S. military spending, $30 billion is a drop in the foreign policy bucket.

The U.S. Department of Defense base budget for 2015 is $495.6 billion, nearly 17 times the $30 billion needed to alleviate world hunger. However, the U.S. spends less than one percent of its foreign policy budget on international aid.

An increased contribution to the fight against global poverty and hunger need not be drastic. In fact, by fulfilling their 1970 promise to give 0.7 percent of gross national income as official international development aid, the U.S. and other wealthy member countries of The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development could end global poverty.

This foreign aid investment would help people struggling with food insecurity in places like Guinea-Bissau, preventing malnutrition and all its ill effects.

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: World Food Programme, MDGIF, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, CIA, Nutrition Reviews, WHO, Los Angeles Times, U.S. Department of Defense, OECD
Photo: World Food Progamme

 

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Bangladesh Launches Immunization Campaign

Bangladesh_ immunization_campaign
The introduction of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) and pneumococcal vaccine (PCV) has benefited over three million children in Bangladesh. These additional immunizations in Bangladesh are now given regularly to children in accordance with the country’s national immunization program.

In 1979, Bangladesh started the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) to reduce child deaths from vaccine preventable deaths. The first six vaccines administered against infectious diseases included tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and measles.

Currently, Bangladesh is administering vaccines against nine diseases to children under the age of 1. More than 85 percent of children are vaccinated, an achievement that helped Bangladesh to become one of the six countries in the world that achieved Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on child mortality before the 2015 deadline.

WHO, UNICEF, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners support the addition of these novel vaccines to the country’s national immunization program. In 2013, the government of Bangladesh doubled its vaccine storage capacity to allow the storage of the PCV.

Seth Berkley, the CEO of Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, says “Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of child mortality in Bangladesh, accounting for 22 percent of deaths of children under the age of 5, so the introduction of pneumococcal vaccine will have a major positive impact on child survival”.

By adding the IPV into Bangladesh’s national immunization campaign, it is fulfilling the Polio Eradication & Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018.

To ensure that the IPV and the PCV are added to every child’s immunization card, over 45,000 community health workers play the key role to ensure that parents bring their children in for their immunization sessions.

In order for these new immunizations to become a success, the community health workers had to complete extensive training in order to administer the vaccines, and to also be knowledgeable to answer any of the parents’ questions.

Aside from the necessary training, health workers in Bangladesh faced other challenges in the course of administering the new vaccines. The equipment that keeps the vaccines cold and vital, the national cold chain, had to be modified in order to adjust to the varying temperatures during the monsoon season. In addition to the varying temperatures, rickshaws had to be used for transportation through the crowded cities in order to deliver the vaccines in time for immunization sessions.

There have been many obstacles for the vaccines to be administered to the three million children in Bangladesh. From extreme temperatures, extensive training and implementation, the PCV and IPV have had a difficult undertaking to make it to the immunization sessions.

However, these vaccines will lower the mortality rate for children under five dying from pneumonia. Pneumonia, a bacterial or viral infection, has been an illness prevented in many countries. With the immunization in Bangladesh, more children will build immunity against the illness and survive the infection if contracted.

– Kerri Szulak

Sources: Bdnews24, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, Vaccine News Daily
Photo: UNICEF New Zealand

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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