Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

, , , ,

Asthma in Developing Countries

Asthma in Developing Countries
Asthma is often considered a burden of wealthy countries.

However, asthma is a public health problem that is increasing with globalization and modernization. Although diagnoses may differ, symptoms are present across all regions of the world. Sociological, economic and educational differences play a large part in the lack of diagnoses in developing nations.

Despite being a burden to high-income countries, most asthma-related deaths occur in low to middle-income countries.

According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, an estimated 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, with 250,000 annual deaths attributed to the disease.

However, there have not been reliable epidemiological studies to determine the magnitude of the disease in many developing countries.

Asthma is a difficult disease to tackle in developing countries. The limited data and the expense of the problem makes it difficult to diagnose. It typically takes two different asthma exacerbations less than six months apart for an individual to be officially diagnosed by a physician.

This can be troublesome for developing countries who may have as little as one physician for every 10,000 people. Rural locations can also have compliance and testing issues.

However, because the effects of asthma go hand-in-hand with the social determinants of health, impoverished countries are at a high risk for this “wealthy-nation-disease.” Increasing air pollution and rapid industrialization create ideal environments for asthma to thrive. Asthma is further complicated by poor access to medical services and high drug prices.

Chelsea Stone, a student at Drexel University’s School of Public Health, studies epidemiology and focuses on asthma in developing countries.

While Stone was conducting research in Haiti, she found that education was the biggest hurdle to treatment. Only half of the families surveyed in the Croix des Bouquets community knew or had heard of asthma, revealing a large gap in health education. Asthma surveys have to be worded in concise, culturally appropriate ways.

In other asthma studies, rates have varied from 3% to 30% depending on location and survey methods. Solomon, an older man, willingly discussed his asthma with Stone.

Asthma typically beings in early childhood, as it had with Solomon.

He explained that his symptoms are better than they were while living in New York City because of the climate. Solomon was educated on the disease, a significant factor in controlling asthma attacks. Since there wasn’t always medications available or access to the emergency department, Solomon used natural remedies, such as coconut oil, to help with asthma flare-ups.

Asthma education is a substantial part of controlling the disease and preventing asthma-related deaths. Since there is limited data on asthma in developing countries, there is little education as a result.

This lack of research generates an under-diagnosed and under-treated disease.

The burden imposed on individuals and families is restricting and socioeconomically hindering. The availability of modern medications can complicate treatment and management. Even if there is access to an emergency department, they may not be equipped with proper medication to control asthma.

Avoiding asthma triggers all together can also reduce the severity of asthma. Some argue that there is not enough education centered on asthma awareness and signs of these triggers. Asthma education and management should be taught not just at the community level, but also integrated into nation-wide health staff education.

– Maris Brummel

Sources: Elsvier, World Health Organization, NCBI

, ,

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

 

Unauthorized Clinics in Cameroon Shut Down

unauthorized clinics
In the midst of a looming health crisis, a troublesome ethical dilemma is presented: small and privately run centers are appealing to people that need certain types of emergency care in Cameroon, where public health care tends to be expensive and not widely available. The country faces numerous public health threats, with a population of 22 million and high HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and infant mortality rates. Because of these ubiquitous health issues, easily accessible clinics may be the difference between life and death for many rural populations.

Cameroon’s government has already identified 600 illegal hospitals and health centers since beginning a campaign to shut down unauthorized clinics.

Family Health Medical Center, in Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, is run by Sylvestre Mebam, who treats about 10 to 15 patients per day. Clinics like Mebam’s exist all around the country, with hundreds of similar family-run medical facilities throughout. Mebam’s clinic often receives patients from nearby government hospitals when people run out of money for treatment there.

The busiest public health facility in Douala, Laquintinie Hospital, is known for slow service and lack of medical staff. When the country already has one of the world’s highest infant mortality rates, the clinics are sometimes the only options when women go into premature labor. When interviewed by NPR, Mebam said he always sends patients to a public facility when the situation is beyond his ability. This unauthorized clinic may be the closest stop for many pregnant women seeking emergency care, but is it slowing down their access to proper treatment?

Although the government is seeking to shutdown some clinics, those that meet staffing, equipment and hygiene standards will be asked to register with the Ministry of Public Health. Dr. Henry Luma, the medical director of the General Hospital in Douala, says, “most of these clinics do not have qualified personnel … There is no way that they have a system to control the quality of care [that] they are providing.” Luma believes the ill-equipped, unregulated clinics should, in every right, be closed.

According to the health ministry, thousands of hospitals that operate without proper authorization are responsible for numerous untold deaths. Although the clinics may offer services and treatments for people with limited access or inadequate funding for public hospitals, they often have infrastructure problems and are not equipped to properly handle emergencies.

Many of these problems stem from counterfeit drugs in unregulated settings. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 200,000 people worldwide die from preventable deaths related directly to counterfeit drugs provided in illegally-run hospitals. Many of these drugs are malaria and tuberculosis treatments, which are two widespread pandemics in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cameroon’s National Medical Council will continue to pursue order by declaring doctors that are not members of the National Medical Council illegal. The WHO continues to “promote evidence-based health policymaking through comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the dynamics of health situations and health systems in the country.” Without government-regulated clinics, the WHO data collected is inefficient and inaccurate.

With approximately two physicians for every 10,000 people, can care in these regulated, government facilities adequately meet the needs of patients?  Does investment in such regulated healthcare trump the fact that 32.8% of Cameroon’s population is living in absolute poverty? Can medical costs actually be feasible for those living on less than a dollar per day?

– Maris Brummel

Sources: NPR, Voice of America
Photo: Jezebel

, , ,

Poverty and Underage Marriage in Iraq

underage marriage
A pressing issue in Iraq without much resistance or counteraction is underage marriage. Out of the total number of marriages in 2013, 11% involved an underage girl, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Planning. Additionally, 25% of girls are married before the age of 18 and 6% are married before the age of 15. Also known as uneven marriages in Iraq, they are controversial because there are multiple motives behind them. While some girls are forced completely against their will, others enter an uneven marriage to lift themselves or their family out of poverty. For instance, there was a recent story of a 16-year-old girl married off to a man over the age of 60 at the request of her father, Abu Ali. His reasoning for this was to benefit his family, which lives in poverty. He had been supporting his five daughters on an income amounting to only $300 per month. Since the family had been suffering and struggling to make ends meet, Ali married off his daughter to help the situation. Ali said of the matter, “Poverty was an important reason that led me to agree to this marriage.” Besides the breach this has on women’s rights, it also contributes to negative health effects for young girls. Often these girls are expected to carry and raise children, but most are simply too young; pregnancy also poses high health threats. There is an increased possibility of miscarriage, internal bleeding and even maternal mortality. These adverse health risks are either ignored or unknown due to disregard for reproductive health for women. Damaging health effects are not the only consequence of underage marriage. Girls who have been married underage often drop out of school early. Girls lacking education have few options and opportunities and are forced to depend on marriage to sustain them. Since girls would be entering the workforce drastically less and would be unable to contribute to the economy, this also stifles human development. This epidemic exist in Iraq and many parts of the Arab region as well as sub-Saharan Africa. A study in June 2013 found that one in seven girls is married in the Arab region before she turns 18. Besides Iraq, underage marriage is most prevalent in Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, calculatedly the poorest countries in the area. In these countries, more than one third of girls are married before they turn 18, which is more than in Iraq. Not only is underage marriage detrimental to the lives involved, it also has consequences for societies on a larger scale. Even though some girls enter these marriages to alleviate poverty, in the long term it does more harm than good as underage marriage promulgates and reinforces a cycle of poverty. This is especially true since it causes girls to stop their schooling, leaving them unable to earn money of their own. Since this problem hinders society and human progress, it is a concern that should be reprioritized. – Danielle Warren Sources: Al-Monitor, Population Reference Bureau

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

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

, ,

Clean Cookstoves in Kenya Save Millions of Lives

Clean_Cookstoves
More than seven billion people live in this world. Yet, according to the World Health Organization, more than 3 billion risk experiencing serious respiratory infections and early death simply by cooking food and heating their homes using traditional wood stoves and solid fuels instead of clean biogas cookstoves.

The National Clean Cookstoves and Fuels Conference at Nairobi, Kenya in February was sponsored by the Global Alliance For Clean Cookstoves (GACC). The conference drew attention to a simple fact: “Cooking is essential and should not kill,” noted Radha Muthiah, the executive director of GACC.

In Kenya alone, illnesses linked to cookstove smoke claim 15, 700 lives a year.  Yet 84 percent of the country continues to uses solid fuels for cooking.

Naturally, the most affected group are mothers – responsible for the bulk of the cooking – and children. Muthiah shared this tragic figure: 8,300 Kenyan children die annually due to respiratory infections attributed to this indoor air pollution.

The solution, though clear, poses a high cost.

Isaac Kalua, chairperson of the Kenya-based Green Africa Foundation, asserted, “We are losing people because of indoor [air] pollution and we therefore need urgent transition from traditional methods of cooking to modern technologies.” He continued by observing that the “affordability of the new technologies is a main challenge to providing clean fuels for all.” Such technologies include reliable, safe biogas cooking stoves, used in conjunction with biogas digesters.

Despite the cost, a number of donors in place who recognize the needless loss of life and are committed to helping Sub-Saharan Africa address this issue. During the February GACC conference, several organizations pledged their continuing financial support.  Benefactors include the UN Foundation, which has invested $3 million this year. GACC aims to provide reliable cookstoves and clean fuels globally.

The U.S. government awarded $1 million to three Kenyan organizations. This recent donation continues a lengthy history of support: since 2010, the US has contributed $125 million to GACC.

Though financial support is critical, outreach to those at risk equally addresses the harms of indoor pollution. These education efforts extend to women, as well as farmers. As the popularity of diary farmer grows in Sub-Saharan Africa, sources for biogas are expanding, According to SciDiv.Net, biogas “is a system that converts organic waste from livestock manure into energy for cooking” and heating. This system burns cleanly, because the biogas fuel does not release toxic emissions.

Consequently, biogas offers the opportunity to circumvent the health risks associated with traditional wood burning stoves.

Tradition, however, is formidable opponent. Mary Njoki, a rural Kenyan mother of five, shared this observation: “Biogas is good because it cooks fast but I still use wood fuel when it is the cold season to warm the house and cook food, since during this period, the heat produced by biogas is not sufficient.” Organizations world wide are committed to changing not only Mary Njoki’s mind – but the habits of millions of families heating their homes and cooking food for their children.

As Radha Muthiah observes, “using clean, efficient, and safe cookstoves” reduces fuel consumption, exposure to toxins and deforestation. And, most importantly, save millions of lives.

– Ellery Spahr 

Sources: SciDevNet, Sci Dev Net, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
Photo: Burn Design Lab

, , , , , , , , ,

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

,

The High Cost of Treating Hepatitis C

High_Cost_of_Hepatitis_C
The Hepatitis C virus affects an estimated 180 million men, women and children worldwide. Patients in low to moderate income nations benefit from treatment at the same rate as those in developed regions. Yet, the high cost of this treatment prevents many from recovering.

One of the largest biopharmaceutical companies, Gilead Sciences, developed an $84,000 cure in 2013 with one pill priced at a thousand dollars. The total cost for a three-month regimen far exceeds most patients’ price range.

Solvadi, the pill, offers a solution to the pressing danger of this disease in developing countries. Egypt (22%), Pakistan (4.2%) and China (3.2%) rank the highest in disease prevalence, bearing most of the burden today.

How, though, can patients in these nations afford an $84,000 bill?

Gilead answered this question with a promising discount in sixty developing countries. Negotiating with generic drugmakers in India, the company plans to offer the treatment at 2 percent of the cost in the United States.

Rohit Malpani, a policy director at Doctors Without Borders, hopes for a more reasonable price. The company could produce Solvadi at a far lower cost, he contends. Malpani and other advocates estimate Gilead could cut the cost to $68 to $136 for a twelve-week treatment regime.

The company must revaluate how much the drug costs compared to patients’ ability to pay, Malpani asserts.

“If we want to see Hepatitis C treatment scaled up globally, we are going to need much lower prices in all countries with a high burden of the disease,” he remarks in a recent Doctors Without Borders statement.

Gregg Alton of Gilead reports future partnerships with three to five different companies. Gilead, he notes, plans to allow flexibility of price from the Indian companies. Alton also contends the starting point of $2,000 is “substantially less” that current costs in India – for inferior drugs. He promoted Solvadi in The Hindu Business Line, highlighting the drug as “more effective, less toxic…and without side-effects.”

Ideally, Alton remarks, the company signs voluntary licensing deals “in the next couple months” and market availability in two years. Last November, the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge(I-MAK) filed a legal challenge against its patent application.

I-MAK claims Solvadi relies on “on science” with a “known compound.” Voluntary licensure protects Gilead from patent problems, adds Malpani. These licensing agreements prevent generic companies from overturning patents. Without these agreements, the Indian manufacturers could sell Solvadi at any cost and without paying royalties to the company.

The company also plans to limit the scale of these licensing agreements, allowing generic drugmakers to sell in 60 countries. In contrast, Gilead sells HIV drugs in more than 100.

The pricing and limited access to this drug threatens the health of more than 180 million patients. Brook Baker, an advisor to the Health Global Access Project, sees delinkage as the solution. With this system, governments fund pharmaceutical research and development as a public service.

Today, pharmaceutical companies absorb about 60 percent of the total cost. Treating these drugs as a public good offers the most in need. And though these companies need to profit, Hepatitis C patients around the world also need treatment.

– Ellery Spahr 

Sources: NPR, WHO
Photo: Don’t Trade Our Lives Away

, , ,

Common Cold Remedies from Across the Globe

tamagozake_Japanese_Cold_Remedy
In most parts of the rural world, obtaining over-the-counter medication for a cold isn’t an option. Despite Tylenol’s world-wide market and the growing popularity of Vicks and Sudafed, sometimes the availability or the price of these products, or the unmistakably Western feel of them, makes them unappealing to parts of the globe.

There are stubborn old grandmothers in every country who insist they know best while passing on their home-style remedies for curing the common cold. Here’s a sampling of common cold remedies from across the globe:

Iran

A plate of cooked, mashed turnips to ease a cold. The vegetable is full of vitamin C and can ease a cough or ticklish throat.

Europe

Cow or sheep fat is wrapped in cloth, warmed, and placed on the chest to help with congestion. This is still sometimes used in rural areas to keep a deep cough from turning into pneumonia.

Russia and the Ukraine

Similar to eggnog, this hot drink is whisked egg yolk with a teaspoon of honey or sugar. Pour into a half-cup of warm milk prepared with a tablespoon of unsalted butter. Adding rum or cognac turns this into eggnog and promotes a good night’s sleep.

China

Rice porridge, or jook, is thought to be the easiest food to digest and cleanses a sick body of toxins. To prevent a cold some turn to mustard green soup: a pound of broad leaf mustard greens, cooked with a large sweet potato and simmered in water for a few hours. The resulting soup is hydrating and easy to stomach. Some people also burn Ai Ye, or wormwood to fend off a cold or to prevent further infection.

Hong Kong

A soup made up of dried lizards, yam and Chinese dates simmered in water

Italy

Tea with sage, bay leaf, lemon juice and honey. Another is horseradish tea: grate horseradish into boiling water before adding lemon juice and honey. This isn’t always the most enjoyable to drink, but the aroma is known for clearing out the sinuses.

India

Just a spoonful of ginger juice and honey. For sick kids parents will roast ajwaim, or carom seeds. Similar to thyme, this acts as a decongestant.

Turkey

Tea made with eight or more whole cloves, two or three cinnamon sticks, one full-circle star anise, a peeled whole ginger root that has been cracked in a few places. All of this is left to soak for about 45 minutes before being strained and served with honey.

Cuba

Oregano tea.

Vietnam

Broth-based Pho soup: includes chili to clear the sinuses and vitamin-packed veggies.

Japan

Tamagozake; a drink made with sake, one egg and honey. It strengthens the immune system and promotes a good night’s sleep. Another favorite is umeboshi or “pickled plum” which is eaten or steeped in tea with ginger and lemon.

South America and Spain

Lemon, honey and garlic in any combination. Garlic works as a decongestant, lemon thins mucus and honey boosts the immune system.

Morocco

An omelet made with garlic, oil and pepper.

Chad

Tea made by simmering hibiscus flower, fresh ginger, cinnamon, cloves and honey.

Netherlands

Black licorice-root candies and tea. Black licorice root contains glycyrrhizin, which has antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects and works to stop the growth of viruses.

Thailand

Tom Yum soup; traditionally made with shrimp and sometimes called hot-and-sour, this soup is made with coriander, lemongrass and lime leaves.

Korea

a combination of fermented cabbage or radish seasoned with garlic, salt, vinegar, chili peppers and other spices. This particular collection of spices and vitamins is thought to fight off disease.

Try a few and build them into your winter diet!

– Lydia Caswell

Sources: Health & Wellbeing, Health Line, Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative, Fresh Juice
Photo: Method Magazine