Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

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SDG Post 2015

As the finish line for the Millennium Development Goals quickly approaches, talks are already under way to establish the goals for the next 15 years. The new plan, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), is all about renewing the world’s commitment to helping the world’s poor.

As world leaders begin to establish these new goals, food security and nutrition remain crucial elements. David Taylor, Economic Justice Policy Advisor for Oxfam, tells the Inter Press News Agency, “In a world that produces enough food to feed everyone, there is no excuse for anyone to go hungry.”

Yet, as of today, one in eight people still go hungry or is ailed by some type of malnutrition. This is approximately 842 million people who are under-nourished. Poor nutrition causes 45 percent of deaths in children under five—this is 3.1 million children every year.

While, according to Taylor, ending world hunger is not an unrealistic endeavor, we still face enormous challenges in food security and agriculture. It is imperative to formulate new pathways to overcome inefficiency, corruption and wastefulness.

On June 2, the Open Working Group (OWG) in collaboration with the UN, released Draft Zero on SDG with 17 goals to be accomplished in the next 15 years. In terms of food, one of the main emphases of the program is to boost production by locals, women and marginal groups.

Despite the optimism of those proposing SDG, it is not without critics. In recent months, SDG and its proponents are being accused of bypassing water supply and sanitation as basic human rights. According to a letter of protest signed by 77 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Biofuel Watch, Blue Planet Project, Corporate Accountability International and End Water Poverty Coalition, their protest arises from the fact that references to water and sanitation as human rights has been removed from SDG.

While the road ahead of a final SDG is still long and complex, the UN Secratary General is expected to provide an update on the final version of SDG by the end of this year. Proponents and critics are expected to work together, and the UN would be taking into account various contributions in order to achieve a plan that best suits the needs of the most disadvantaged sectors of the global population. The final disclosure of the post-2015 development agenda is expected to coincide with a high-level Summit in September of 2015.

– Sahar Abi Hassan

Sources: Inter Press Service 1, Inter Press Service 2, World Food Programme
Photo: Kean University

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Nasal Spray May Save Snakebite Victims

Researchers are working on a new nasal spray that could save thousands of people from severe snakebites in India. The nasal spray is the first attempt of its kind to save victims from one of the most unrecognized killers in the world.

Snakebites kill up to 84,000 people worldwide every year. They are most prevalent in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, India has the highest number of venomous bites and deaths, with more than 75 percent of snakebite victims dying before they can reach a hospital.

Currently, the most popular treatment for snakebites is an injection of antivenom, but this method has proved to be unreliable. Antivenom can vary in effectiveness depending on the snake species, the snake’s diet, geographical location and the time of year.

The nasal spray is an attempt to standardize treatment for snakebites. If administered soon after the attack, the spray — which is extremely cheap compared to antivenom — could prevent paralysis that is caused by the bite. It is easy to use and can be self-administered, unlike the injection of antivenom.

The two researchers leading the development have high hopes for the nasal spray. Matthew Lewin from the California Academy of Sciences and Stephen Samuel from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland have worked tirelessly to test the spray on mice. The mice were injected with fatal doses of Indian cobra venom, and then some were treated with the spray while others were not. The study proved that mice given the spray outlived the control group. In many cases, they survived.

“It would be one ingredient primarily directed against rapid onset paralysis — one of the causes of fast death following snakebite,” Lewin explained. “It is inexpensive and available everywhere in the world.”

In general, snakebites are often an ignored health problem around the world. The numbers, however, indicate that some research should be going toward developing a treatment. If the nasal spray proves to be an effective treatment, then people around the world will have a much higher chance of surviving these attacks.

– Hannah Cleveland

Sources: The Guardian, Science Development
Photo: The Guardian

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India’s Universal Immunization Program

The Universal Immunization Program incorporated four new vaccines against polio, rubella, rotavirus and Japanese encephalitis into their program on July 3. By including vaccines against these four widespread diseases, the UIP hopes to reduce the high child mortality rate found in India.

With the addition of these four vaccines, a total of 13 vaccines will now be available in India for approximately 2.7 million children every year free of charge. According to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, “The government will now ensure the benefits of vaccination reach all sections of society, regardless of social and economic status.”

Not only do these four vaccines made available through the UIP represent a noteworthy achievement in public health, but it also shows the important role programs like this play in developing countries. According to a World Bank report on poverty, approximately one-third of the world’s poor currently lives in India, and the lack of proper medications contributes to this extreme poverty rate.

Polio, rubella and rotavirus are all three well-known diseases that greatly contribute to the high child mortality rate across the world, especially in countries like India where vaccines are extremely difficult to access. According to UNICEF, India is celebrating a three-year victory over polio since no cases of polio have been reported since Jan. 13, 2011. This achievement is particularly remarkable because until 2009, India was reporting more than half of the world’s polio cases. Although India has been able to achieve this landmark success, this injectable polio vaccine provided by the UIP will continuously provide protection against this virus.

Even though rubella, which is also called German measles or 3-day measles, is generally a mild viral infection, it can have serious health consequences when a pregnant woman is infected with the virus. Congenital rubella syndrome, or CRS, can cause congenital defects, such as deafness or blindness, and even fetal death, which is why the UIP focuses on delivering those vaccines to those in need to prevent further infections.

One of the most common effects of rotavirus is diarrhea, which causes approximately 334,000 out of the 2.3 million child deaths in India every year according to the World Health Organization. Especially when compared to other diseases, rotavirus typically affects more children than adults because water makes up a greater proportion of a child’s body weight.

The UIP’s fourth new vaccine against Japanese encephalitis will be introduced to adults in a total of 179 districts in nine states where this disease has been prevalent in India. Even though the severity of symptoms widely varies and there is no specific treatment for Japanese encephalitis, vaccinations are key in preventing the spread of this infection.

The U.N.’s fourth Millennium Development Goal is to reduce the under-5 child mortality rate by two-thirds. As the deadline for this and the other seven goals quickly approaches,  programs like UIP show the amazing progress that is possible among developing countries through widespread access to vaccinations.

– Meghan Orner

Sources: The New Indian Express, WHO 1, WHO 2, CDC, Silicon India News, UNICEF
Photo: The Hindu

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Nyaope in South Africa

nyaope
In 2010 the drug nyaope, also known as whoonga, first became widely popular and available across impoverished areas of South Africa. Ever since, these communities have seen dramatic increases in drug abuse and crime rates. Nyaope’s highly addictive nature has devastated these communities and has effectively prolonged their escapes from poverty.

The drug is cheap — it costs only 30 rand, or about $3, for a hit. The drug contains a dangerous cocktail of chemicals, purportedly including marijuana, heroin, rat poison and antiretrovirals, drugs used to treat HIV.

Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, ominously calls users of the drug “slaves,” and blames the drug for increased crime and domestic violence in the area. Of the numerous case studies illustrating the pernicious effects of nyaope, one poignant study tracks a 17-year old South African named Sipho.

One year after beginning to smoke nyaope, a habit influenced by his friends, Sipho had dropped out of school and begun to act violently in hopes of perpetuating his access to the drug. To finance the addiction he would steal from his already poor neighbors. Sipho is now being treated at Horizon Clinic, one of the many rehabilitation centers working to stifle drug abuse and its effects.

Instead of stealing the funds to finance their drug use, many addicts cut out the middlemen and steal the ingredients. But because nyaope is an assortment of ingredients, many of which are controversial, the actual contents are often disputed. For example, many believe that antiretrovirals are not used at all, or if they are, they have no more than a placebo effect.

According to HarmonyGroup, an online addictions clinic, “Smoking or injecting crushed antiretrovirals won’t make you high. The reputation of the drug could therefore be nothing more than a myth based on distortion by the media and the incorrect data supplied by users who don’t know any better.”

Thus, the risks these addicts are taking to find these supposed ingredients, may in fact be complete wastes of time with potentially colossal consequences.

The crime caused by this drug is prolonging and deepening poverty in South Africa — it raises generations of thieves and addicts while leaving reconstruction to others, often outsiders. If the grasp of poverty is to be weakened, South Africans must first divert their own attention to the widespread, recreational and pernicious drug abuse.

– Adam Kaminski 

Sources: Global Post, Harmony Group
Photo: The Public News Hub

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Causes of Malaria

Malaria, a disease largely eliminated in the developed world, remains a health issue for developing nations. According to World Health Organization estimates, 207 million cases of the deadly disease emerged in 2012 alone, with about 80 percent coming from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

To help communities in these nations fight malaria, NGOs and foreign aid providers must not only provide malaria treatment methods but also find ways to address and protect people from its causes.

So, what are the causes of malaria?

The Mayo Clinic identifies the main path to infection as the transmission of parasites through mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can carry small parasites that cause malaria, and when they bite humans the parasites can enter the bloodstream. Once in the body, the malarial parasites travel to the liver, where they grow and develop. The maturation process lasts from a week to nearly a year, but once the parasites reach adulthood, they enter the bloodstream and infect red blood cells.

At this stage, the common symptoms of malaria, including fever, chills and sweating, develop. At the same time, mosquitoes that suck infected blood will get the malarial parasites, allowing them to spread through bites to other people.

Though malaria primarily spreads through mosquito bites, people can contract it from other sources. Malaria is a blood-borne disease, and receiving blood transfusions from infected individuals can lead to transmission. Sharing dirty hypodermic needles will also cause malaria to spread, and mothers can pass the disease on to their unborn children.

If left untreated within 24 hours of the first symptoms, malaria can cause brain damage, fluid buildup in the lungs and liver failure, all of which can be fatal. The World Health Organization believes that in 2012 malaria killed 627,000 people, the majority of whom were African children under five.

Fortunately, the mortality rates of malaria have fallen 42 percent globally since 2000. Still, the disease is lethal enough that a child in Africa dies every minute from malaria-related symptoms.

With no existing vaccine for the disease, programs to reduce deaths must focus on preventing malaria and safely treating existing cases.

Knowing that mosquitoes are the primary transmitters of malarial parasites, what do governments and other organizations do to prevent bites?

According to the World Health Organization, the two primary methods to keep mosquitoes away from people and their homes are to use insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying of insecticides.

Projects from NGOs and foreign aid agencies to provide these services to communities free of charge will help prevent mosquitoes from spreading malaria.

While using either insecticide-treated nets or indoor residual spraying to stop mosquito bites is effective, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that, in areas of medium transmission, using both methods reduced the risk of infection an extra 36 percent compared to one method alone.

Public education programs to teach people and doctors not to reuse medical equipment, not to give transfusions of infected blood and how to recognize symptoms quickly can also supplement insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying to stop malaria at its source.

Malaria is a dangerous disease that takes the lives of many young children daily, but since people know what causes malaria, it can be prevented. Thanks to technology to kill parasite-carrying mosquitoes, deaths from malaria are dropping and the world is becoming a safer place to live.

– Ted Rappleye

Sources: The Mayo Clinic, World Health Organization, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Photo: TreeHugger

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Chemical Toilet Troubles in Cape Town

Because of the wealth that circulates throughout Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria, South Africa is technically classified as an upper-middle income nation. However, the very cities that contain much of the country’s money are also surrounded by its most extreme examples of poverty.

The townships scattered around the edges of these cities are home to millions of people (the overwhelming majority of whom are “black Africans”) living in overcrowded shelters with little to no sanitation. It’s a recipe for disease, but some are saying that hasty solutions to the problem are not helping – in fact, the chemical toilets installed in townships outside of Cape Town have been explicitly described as human rights violations.

The city of Cape Town has provided chemical toilets – the type of toilet found inside Porta-Potties – to its townships for over a year. An investigation conducted by the Human Rights Commission has found that not only does the city fail to communicate with each township individually to cater to its specific sanitation needs, but it also equips its townships with the bare minimum sanitation services according to a set of “emergency housing guidelines.” The problem? For the people who live in townships, improper sanitation is no one-time emergency. It is their everyday reality.

Accordingly, the Human Rights Commission recommends that the city of Cape Town implement a new approach to sanitation in informal settlements, one that better serves the “rights to equality, dignity, privacy, basic sanitation, and a healthy environment.” To fulfill these expectations, Cape Town must provide its townships with chemical toilets that can service the needs of their entire populations, undergo periodic maintenance, are sufficiently cleaned on a regular basis – measures that are currently not being taken.

If Cape Town follows through with these recommendations and commits to providing proper sanitation, the residents of its townships will experience reduced risk of contracting the diseases and conditions associated with open sewage systems, including diarrhea, parasites and bacterial infection. In a country of nearly 60 million people, successful public health interventions can be difficult. However, Cape Town has its work laid out for it as far as sanitation goes.

Perhaps future sanitation successes in Cape Town’s townships will inspire further steps to improve the quality of life for South Africa’s poor. Townships, which are largely the result of the forced relocation of millions of black and “coloured” people during South Africa’s infamous period of apartheid, typically lack not just sanitation but also food security, safety and educational outlets. Giving people in informal settlements the sanitation measures necessary to prevent disease and protect human dignity is the first step to giving them a hand up and out of poverty.

– Elise L. Riley

Sources: All Africa, UNICEF, World Bank, Telegraph
Photo: International Budget

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Urban Farming Spreads in Latin America

urban agriculture
Latin America is the most urban region in the world. But from Cuba to Mexico to Argentina, issues of food insecurity and urban poverty persist. Several factors contribute to agricultural instability in Latin America. Climate change is affecting crop yields, and urban sprawl has pushed farmland further from cities, into areas with low soil fertility. Additionally, many Latin American countries are shifting their production energy from agriculture to tourism ventures, which means that food imports are now exceeding exports.

A recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations examines the progress made in cities pursuing urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) policies. The study surveys 23 countries and 110 cities throughout Latin America, revealing the enormous benefits that urban farming has for city-dwelling populations.

UPA gives poor households access to nutritious foods, generates jobs and extra income, provides fresh local food to city populations, creates more green space within urban landscapes and stimulates local economic production.

Poverty in modern-day Latin America has as much to do with hunger as with obesity. Non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and some forms of cancer, have become enormous health threats and financial burdens for Latin America. In fact, these “lifestyle” diseases kill more people than infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis in every region except sub-Saharan Africa.

The root of this troubling phenomenon lies in the scarcity and high cost of nutritious food options, which denies the poorest segments of society access to a healthy lifestyle. In Latin America, urban farming is breaking down these barriers and bringing fresh, local foods into impoverished homes.

UPA’s potential can be seen in Havana’s 97 organoponic gardens, which use new agricultural technologies involving organic substrates in the face of seed, pesticide and fertilizer shortages. Today, 90,000 residents of Havana practice UPA, bringing sustenance to a population long harassed by food crises and rationing.

Cubans began planting food wherever they could find space after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Economic mayhem ensued, and fertilizer and pesticides were nowhere to be found on the island. Out of necessity, Cubans built small urban gardens and, with strong government support, the practice was transformed from a grassroots response to food insecurity into a concrete national priority.

Although many Latin American countries practice urban agriculture, only half of the 23 countries surveyed in the FAO report have national policies explicitly promoting UPA. Graeme Thomas, author of the report, states, “Where the sector has strong governmental support from national to local level… it has a far greater impact in terms of improving urban food security and contributing to people’s livelihoods and local economic development.”

Leaders in Latin America would do well to invest in the development of UPA initiatives. Urban agriculture has notable health, economic and social benefits as it grants impoverished households access to nutritious, local fruits and vegetables, encourages local economic development and places food sovereignty into the hands of the people who most desperately need nourishment.

– Kayla Strickland

Sources: FAO, Christian Science Monitor
Photo: City Farmer News

Medical Crisis in Gaza By Hamas

crisis in gaza
Since the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers last month by the terrorist organization Hamas, tensions between Israel and Gaza have skyrocketed. Israel retaliated this week by launching missiles into Palestinian territory, killing over 120 Palestinians, including many women and children, and injuring over 800.

Residents are warned before the bombings, but local hospitals in Gaza are still overwhelmed and unable to effectively treat the inundation of patients.

Emergency rooms across the territory are crowded and patients have resorted to sleeping on hospital floors. In Al-Shifa hospital, the central medical center in Gaza, all 12 beds in the intensive care unit are in use.

Gaza launched numerous missiles into Israel this week as well.

“Gaza is completely missing about 30 percent of essential drugs,” said Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman.

The numbers of medicines, gloves, urine catheters and other medical supplies are dwindling.

Fuel shortages have further limited what medical treatment Palestinians have access to. Only half of the ambulances have enough fuel to run, and hospital lights may fail within the next few days as generators give out. This puts patients who rely on incubators, dialysis machines and other lifesaving equipment at especial risk.

As violence continues to devastate the Israel and Palestine region, there is a beacon of hope, a potential for peace; many injured Palestinians have been treated in Israeli hospitals, despite the airstrikes on both sides. If other Palestinians and Israelis overcome the differences of nationality and religion, the death toll may finally slow.

– Adam Kaminski

Sources: Al Jazeera America, CNN, New York Times
Photo: JFJFP

Neeti Kailas: Preventing Newborn Hearing Loss

Indian entrepreneur Neeti Kailas has developed a new device for detecting hearing loss in early stages of a baby’s life. Kailas states that her ultimate goal with the new technology is to “prevent late detection of hearing loss” that has already resulted in speech problems for countless Indian youth.

Hearing is crucial to the cognitive, language and speech development of a child, and early detection is the key to preventing speech loss in adolescents. There is currently no standard screening system in the Indian healthcare system that exists, and hearing impairment goes undetected for anywhere between 100,000 to 150,000 Indian babies each year.

“At age 3, people realize ‘Oh my god, she’s not saying anything. By the time the parents go to the pediatrician and get sent to someone else and then finally she gets a hearing screening, she’s already lost speech,” Kailas said. “Speech loss is preventable if a baby is diagnosed early enough and given the right rehabilitation.”

Kailas is the director and co-founder of Sohum Innovation Lab with Nitin Sisodia, her husband, an engineer. Sisodia won the Stanford-India Biodesign fellowship in 2010, funded by the Union government’s department of biotechnology, in partnership with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and American University.

Four years ago, Sisodia’s fellowship fueled this power couple’s journey to health centers in Delhi and surrounding areas to study needs. Kailas and Sisodia recognized infant hearing loss as a relevant problem with a feasible solution, so they made it their organization’s focus. The new auditory screening device is the Sohum Innovation Lab’s first product, currently in its prototype stage, but developing quickly.

Sohum Innovation Lab is exactly what it purports itself to be: innovative. Their new technology addresses cost, usability and environmental factors that currently limit reliable testing in India and other developing nations. Domestic manufacturing and the lack of disposable parts will severely reduce production costs and drive the price down. The instrument will cost as little as one fifth the price of instruments in use now, which range between $12,000 and $29,000. It is also battery powered, portable and designed to be intuitively operated by untrained users.

The instrument is impressively non-invasive and fits easily over the patient’s cranium, like a headband. Non-stick electrodes on the scalp measure the auditory brain-stem response (ABR) to auditory stimuli. If the patient’s brain shows no response, there is indication that the child suffers from a hearing disorder.

One of the most innovative additions to Kailas’ device addresses the typically noisy setting of an Indian hospital. Sohum’s new testing system incorporates noise-cancelling technology that foreign-designed systems, which often result in false positives, lack.

Kailas was one of the five winners globally of the 2014 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, prized 50,000 Swiss Francs ($56,000). The prize money will propel the device into clinical trials for sensitive fine-tuning before it hits the market. The Sohum Innovation Lab hopes to have its product on the market by 2016, giving thousands of Indian children a chance at a brighter (and louder) future.

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Washington Post, Live Mint, Daiji World
Photo: Rolex

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UN Votes to Send Aid to Syrian Rebels

On July 14, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to send cross-border humanitarian aid to areas of Syria controlled by Syrian rebels in desperate need of food and medicine. This decision was made despite strong objections from the Syrian government.

The vote came out 15 to 0, meaning that all members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on this decision. The unanimity is notably rare in U.N. council meetings.

Approximately 10.8 million Syrians—nearly half of the country’s population—are in need of food, medicine and other supplies due to Syria’s on-going war. This is a huge increase from about one million citizens in 2011. And nearly half of these people live in rebel-held areas.

The conflict in Syria has thus far left 150,000 people dead, and created widespread instability in the country. U.N. officials refer to this situation as one of the world’s biggest humanitarian disasters.

Until now, nearly 90 percent of aid from the U.N. Security Council was appropriated for those in government-controlled regions. The new initiative will bring aid to an additional 1.3 million people in need.

Russia and China threatened to veto the resolution, resulting in a weaker compromise than many Western nations had hoped for, according to the BBC’s Nick Bryant. The Syrian government also warned the U.N. that it would consider such resolutions a violation of national sovereignty.

Prior to this vote, aid going to Syria first went through the nation’s capital of Damascus, on President Bashar al-Assad’s orders. This meant that Assad gained control of all aid coming in. Many believed this aid was used as leverage against the rebel efforts, since very little of it ever made it to their held regions.

U.N. ambassador from Luxembourg, Sylvie Lucas, said that Assad’s denial of supplies to rebel-controlled regions was the main reason the resolution came about.

She said that under the new resolution, “the consent of the Syrian government will no longer be necessary.”

The new resolution authorizes U.N. agencies and other aid organizations to send humanitarian assistance using routes across four conflict border lines in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. These routes will allow the U.N. to monitor aid shipments in these three countries before they are sent across the Syrian border. These routes will come in addition to those previously used for aid.

Nongovernmental organizations such as Save the Children and Oxfam welcomed the resolution, and will likely assist the U.N. in carrying it out.

Bashar al Jaafari, Syria’s U.N. ambassador, was strongly opposed to the measure. He was invited to attend the vote, and was sharply critical of the resolution, citing Syria’s efforts to accommodate international relief. He also stated that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—countries advocating humanitarian access—were in large part responsible for empowering Islamic extremists destabilizing Syria and Iraq.

“First and foremost, terrorism must stop for the humanitarian situation in Syria to improve,” he said.

Despite opposition and warning from Syrian government officials, humanitarian assistance in rebel-held areas will be implemented in the near future.

– Paige Frazier

Sources: BBC, The New York Times, CBC News
Photo: NPR