Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

Indonesia: Trade Trash for Healthcare

Indonesia Slum Trash Trade Healthcare
Gamal Albinsaid, an Indonesian doctor, is thinking outside the box with his new method for bringing healthcare to impoverished people. His new idea: trade trash for health services. While this concept may seem strange to many people, the strategy will essentially be resolving two of Indonesia’s major concerns: making healthcare available to people who cannot afford it and disposing of the huge amount of trash that accumulates in the cities and slums.

Through the Garbage Premium Insurance Clinic Program, Indonesians are able to pay for health insurance by  bringing the equivalent of $0.85 in garbage to a healthcare facility every month, instead of paying with cash. These health clinics then give the trash to a “garbage bank” and receive the cash amount. Dr. Albinsaid is proud to have developed a solution for both the healthcare and the garbage problems.

Dr. Albinsaid, who is only 23 years old, was moved by the fact that only 33 percent of Indonesians have health insurance. He is eager to commence the Garbage Premium Insurance Clinic Program to increase this number. The self sustainability of this program will ensure its longevity as a staple in Indonesian healthcare. Although the initial clinics required investor donations, the clinics were self sufficient after six months and able to generate enough profits to open new facilities.

The new system will be implemented in different areas all over the country, mostly in poverty ridden regions, but Indonesia is also improving healthcare in other ways. An improved universal healthcare initiative will potentially cover all its citizens by 2019. Questions over the realistic expectations of the universal healthcare system are being raised by economists as well as by ordinary citizens. Universal healthcare is set to be introduced January 2014, but if for some reason some Indonesians are not included, they have the option to trade garbage for health insurance.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Devex, Market Place
Photo: Flickr

Worst Western Hemisphere Country to Grow Old in

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According to the Global Age Watch Index, Honduras is the worst Western hemisphere country to live in as an elderly person. The survey measured income security, health status, employment and education, and enabling the environment. It is important to understand and consider the well-being of the elderly in different countries, because their mortality is a good indicator of a country’s total development.

Over half of the participants reported not feeling safe using public transportation or walking alone at night. According to the World Bank, “Between 2005 and 2011, the homicide rate in Honduras more than doubled from 37 to 91.6 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.”  The lack of a pension system leaves 70 percent of Hondurans above the age of 60 in poverty.

Less than seven percent of Honduras’s population is 60 years old or over, which correlates with the poor living conditions of the elderly. Moreover, it is harder to advocate for better condition for the elderly when they are a minority. Inversely, developed Western countries have high aging populations and living standards for the elderly. Larger aging populations have more representation, especially in democratic countries. Therefore, governmental policies are more favorable to the elderly.

Population make-up significantly impacts the future of a country. Countries with large youth populations are more inclined to political instability. The Arab Spring, for example, was started in countries with large populations of youth. The Survey was created by the United Nations Population Fund and covered 98 percent of the world’s elderly.  It was motivated by the growing aging demographic in the world’s population.

As expected, traditionally developed countries fared better in the survey – Sweden, Norway and Canada top the list of best countries to grow old in.

– Nicole Yancy

Sources: Foreign Policy: Think Again Global Aging, Foreign Policy: The Arab World’s Youth Army, The Guardian, World Bank, IB Times
Photo: Billweeks

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10 New Health Innovations for Developing Countries

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The need for new, inexpensive medical innovations in the third world is staggering. These devices must be easy to transport, operate, and most importantly, be affordable, or else they will remain available only to the wealthy. These ten new health care innovations for developing countries will be ready to distribute by 2015 and have the potential to save 1.2 million people.

1. Kit Yamoyo: This medical kit contains anti-diarrheal medicine that is packaged to fit over Coca-Cola bottles.

2. Anti-Shock Garment: The cloth is wrapped around the lower body to alleviate excessive bleeding after childbirth. The garment also prevents blood from leaving the vital organs until the mother can be transported to a healthcare facility.

3. Chlorhexidine: An antiseptic that averts dangerous infections that result from cutting the umbilical cord on a newborn baby.

4. Rotovac: The vaccine prevents rotavirus related diarrhea.

5. The Backpack-PLUS: It provides health workers with the tools to deliver a baby properly.

6. Helping Babies Breathe: Although not technically an invention, the program trains one million “birth attendants” to keep babies breathing after they are born, despite the birthing conditions.

7. Bubble CPAP: This airway device forces oxygen down babies’ lungs to save them from severe respiratory diseases.

8. Phone Oximeter: The mobile phone-based monitoring system is able to report blood oxygen levels for healthcare workers in areas without proper health facilities. The device assists in the diagnosis and treatment of pre-eclampsia and pneumonia.

9. Sayana Press: A contraceptive that comes packaged and pre-filled with a one dose injection system called Uniject.

10. Magnesium sulfate: Reportedly a highly effective treatment for severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia as well as pregnancy-related conditions.

Another innovation that deserves honorable mention is the winner of a competition funded by Boehringer Ingelheim and organized by HITLAB. The winning device is a wireless pill bottle that benefits people living with diabetes. The pill bottle, in addition to storing medicine, provides data transmission, measuring medicine and sending patient reminders.

These innovations will be vital in the fight against poverty and disease in developing countries.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Business Standard, Boehringer Ingelheim
Photo: Flickr

Nigeria’s Richest Man to Builds Hospital

Aliko Dangote Africa's Richest Man Builds 1000 Bed Hospital
While laying the foundation for the Mariya Sansuni Dantata Ulra-Modern Theatre and Diagnostic Complex at Murtala Muhammed Hospital in Kano on October 3, Aliko Dangote announced another construction project for the northern state of Nigeria. Dangote, a cement industrialist, humanitarian, and leader of the Dangote Foundation, also happens to be Nigeria’s richest man.

As reported by Nigeria’s Channels Television, Dangote plans to build a 1000-bed hospital in Kano—projected by officials to be one of the largest and most ambitious healthcare centers in the Kano state.

At the foundation ceremony, Dangote discussed his motivation behind building the medical facility in Kano, his home state. Dangote wants to end the demanding costs of medical tourism — the process in which people travel to another country to receive greater care than they would in their own country for improved affordability, better access to care, and higher quality of care. According to Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi, medical tourism in Nigeria costs N80 billion per year.

Dangote further emphasized his dedication to achieve steady health programs for Nigerians. “It is not about creating a modern medical facility in this great city of ours. It is about our commitment to systematically improving health and well being…” He emphasized every Nigerian’s right to high quality health services.

With Dangote Foundation’s support, improved infrastructure, preventive healthcare, and training for skilled health workers can be realized.

Many African officials commended Dangote on his efforts and enthusiasm in helping the Nigerian people and economy. Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso commended Dangote, noting that the hospital will support surgical operations.  Kwankwaso also encouraged other wealthy Africans or philanthropists to follow in Aliko Dangote’s footsteps. The State Commissioner for Health, Labaran Yusuf, praised Dangote for revolutionizing quality of healthcare in the state.

Aliko Dangote has considerably increased his philanthropic efforts over the past twelve months. In addition to infrastructure projects, Aliko Dangote has been influential in funding several operations to empower Nigerian women, as well as starting a program providing grants to poor women and children, to be used as income to meet their family and human needs. Dangote also provided significant monetary donations toward flood relief in Nigeria last November, as well as donating to a number of Nigerian universities.

– Laura Reinacher

Sources: Forbes, Channels, The Guardian
Photo: Forbes

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Chaga Mushroom Might Be The Cure for HIV

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Could there be a cure for HIV? According to Russian researchers, the Chaga mushroom can “cure the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV.” The Chaga mushroom is a small mushroom usually found in birch and other hardwood trees. It contains betulinic acid, which is considered a toxic substance to cancerous cells. It also has antiviral properties that are essential in the search for an HIV/AIDS cure.

The Chaga mushroom (or Inonutus obliquis) can be found in several regions around the world, most commonly Siberia and other regions in Eurasia. The Chaga mushroom is often characterized by its porous, dark appearance: often black-blue or purple. According to researchers, “strains of these mushrooms demonstrated low toxicity and strong antiviral effects against influenza, smallpox and HIV.” In addition, Siberian researchers at the Vector Institute have compared the Chaga mushroom to a variety of fungi growing in Siberia: 82 strains of 33 fungi and have determined that the Chaga mushroom has the strongest antiviral capacity.

Moreover, the Chaga mushroom usually grows in cool regions such as Russia, Korea, as well as other Eastern and Western European states. Scientists have found that the Chaga mushroom also grows in select parts of the United States and Canada.

The antiviral mushroom has been a constant subject in Russian folk medicine. The folk remedies use the mushroom to cure diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes.

Despite its positive appeal as a potential cure for cancer and HIV/AIDS, the mushroom has not undergone official testing. However, it presents newfound hope for researchers and people diagnosed with these diseases. Research plans to investigate the mushroom’s potential benefits will be held sometime in 2015.

– Stephanie Olaya

Sources: Medical Daily, International Business Times
Photo: Wikipedia

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Significant HIV/AIDS Funding in Myanmar by Global Fund

Myanmar HIV AIDS prevention Global Fund
Along both the rural countryside and urban zones of Myanmar, HIV/AIDS ravages many people who are unable to access proper treatment. Fortunately, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will disburse a US$160 million funding package to Myanmar to specifically combat HIV/AIDS. The Global Fund, an organization working towards the eradication of the three major pandemics of our generation-AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria-will be distributing US$160 million over the course of 2013-2016, according to the Myanmar’s Ministry of Health.

Previously one of the most isolated and oppressive states in the world, Myanmar now has begun reform efforts and started to open up to Western influences. When it was uncooperative with the international community, it received limited funds and relied heavily on organizations like Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to carry out health care treatment and other assumed government functions.

Despite continuing to rely on MSF, Myanmar has been receiving incremental increases in funds, most notably from 2009 onward. A correlation between recent reform efforts and funding as total disbursements can be seen in the jump from over US$10 million in 2009 to more than $47 million in 2010. This increase has risen steadily up to nearly $161 million in the following three years, growing over 16 times its budget from just four years prior. The sudden jump in funding for Myanmar’s HIV victims comes from the Global Fund’s pull-out in 2005 after government restrictions and its resumption in 2010 following an easement on restrictions.

This influx of HIV/AIDS funding in Myanmar is more than welcome as only 43 percent of the population that needs treatment received it in 2012. To truly understand how low this is, Myanmar’s regional neighbor, Cambodia, has properly provided antiretroviral therapy (ART) for over 94 percent of its citizens eligible for the treatment. The most effective response, ART, is provided by MSF and other healthcare organizations and consists of a minimum of three antiretroviral medications that will suppress and stop the spread and progression of the HIV virus.

While some claim this funding will help Myanmar treat all of its citizens affected by the virus, the head of MSF’s mission in Myanmar, Peter Paul de Groote views it through a more realistic lens. According to de Groote, despite Global Fund’s money improving financial capabilities, “the overall availability and capacity for enrollment needs to improve – by looking into better treatment models and implementing increased, decentralized care and treatment.”

– Michael Carney

Sources: Al Jazeera, The Global Fund, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Photo: Cody Romano

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Health Leads & Clinton Global Initiative

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Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, spoke about Health Leads during a panel discussion on non-communicable diseases (NCD) at the Clinton Global Initiative on 24 September. Ms. Lavizzo-Mourey noted that important preventative measures for NCDs should include analyzing the living environments outside hospital walls in order to improve the quality of overall care people receive, which is what Health Leads specifically advocates and executes.

Health Leads’s mission statement reads, “to catalyze this health care system by connecting patients with the basic resources they need to be healthy…to champion quality care for all patients.” An example of this model is enabling doctors to prescribe basic resources like food and heat to their patients the same way the doctors would prescribe medicine or provide referrals. This whole-patient approach requires healthcare professionals to learn about the community environment and the living conditions of their patients when they leave their doctors’ offices.

The results of these inquiries enter the patient’s electronic record, which partner-hospitals can use to refer patients who lack basic resources to Health Leads. Through a systematic set of steps, the patient can carry the prescription to a Health Leads desk at the partner-hospital.

A Health Leads Advocate then works with the patient to connect her to the necessary community services that will help provide the basic resources the patient requires. Aid programs for basic resources may include additional health insurance coverage, access to food pantries and food assistance programs, discounts on gas and electric costs, job training, and childcare subsidies.

The last two steps require a follow-up from the Health Leads Advocate and updates to the clinic team from the patient. This symbiotic relationship is necessary to navigate any further challenges that may arise as a result of the previous steps. These challenges may include tracking down phone numbers, creating maps, finding transportation, and completing applications. Health Leads launched in 2010 and has since served over 23,000 patients.

In 2012, the program identified the top seven patient needs: education, utilities, housing, food, employment, income and benefits, and legal. To address these needs Health Leads trains a dedicated staff of program managers and Advocates whose sole design is to connect patients with the basic resources they require to get healthy.

– Yuliya Shokh

Sources: Health Leads, CGI 2013 Annual Meeting
Photo: Bloomberg

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New Study Links Hygiene and Height

Hygiene_Height_Correlation_Hand_Washing
According to a new study linking hygiene and height, soap and clean water for hand washing can help increase growth in young children. Previous medical studies have proven that better hygiene can reduce outbreaks of diarrhea among children less than five years, but the studies failed to measure its impact on a child’s height.

The most recent study showed a slight improvement in average growth by half a centimeter among children who used proper hand-washing techniques as opposed to those who did not. Researchers concluded that clean water and soap decreased stunting—when a child is too short for his/her age— by as much as 15 percent.

Further scientific evidence is also showing a connection between instances of diarrhea and a child’s development. The evidence shows that repeated bouts of diarrhea can reduce the gut’s ability to absorb nutrients that allow children to develop a healthy mind and body.

Alan Dangour, a public health nutritionist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and one of the study’s lead authors, said that “WASH”—water, sanitation, and hygiene—fits all the characteristics of a underlying cause of malnutrition.

Dangour and his colleagues found 14 studies conducted in low- to middle income countries that provided data on the effects of the WASH program on the growth of nearly 9,500 children. Five of the studies included control groups of children who did not receive soap and clean water, but who were similar in most other ways to the children who did.

Chronic malnutrition, which causes stunting, is a foremost cause of preventable mental disabilities in children under five-years old. It claims the lives of nearly three million young children per year.

Until now there has been no research conducted on the direct impact of WASH interventions on nutrition. Researchers believe that further, more “robust” evidence is needed. Nevertheless, these findings are significant, and they remain hopeful that WASH could be the simple ‘cure for stunting.’

– Scarlet Shelton

Sources: IRIN, The Lancet, Wiley Online Library
Photo: Examiner

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How Diseases Lead to Poverty

How Diseases Lead to Poverty

What causes poverty? When looking at the factors that can lead to poverty in a region, there are many things that could be highlighted. One can look at the government, at conflict, at the lack of natural resources, or at the shortage of quality education in a region. However, poverty in a region is not only caused by conflict or inadequate education, but also by diseases. Increasing health in a region can significantly reduce global poverty, in effective and unexpected ways.

People in developing countries face challenges due to diseases that those in developed nations do not. For instance, in a developing country, someone who gets sick may have to sell their possessions to pay for medicine. Parents, not expecting their children to survive, have more children and spend less on education. Tropical diseases, and other health risks specific to a region limit tourism and foreign direct investment, affecting the potential prosperity of a nation.

According to research done in 2011 by The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), more than two-thirds of all people living with AIDS (23 million) lived in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 1.2 million people died from the disease, accounting for 71 percent of all the AIDS related deaths in the world. Not surprisingly, sub-Saharan Africa is also one of the poorest regions in the world.

But while the problem of AIDS – and the poverty it causes – might seem insurmountable, it only takes around $100 a year to save one AIDS victim.  To put this amount in perspective: the United States spends roughly $600 billion annually on its military, nearly twice as much as the second highest spender, China.  How different would the world be if the United States decided to trim the amount it spends on its military, and use that to help other countries eradicate diseases?

People from poor countries need help to get healthier. Unfortunately, most developing countries simply do not have the resources to provide healthcare for their people. The richer nations need to make an involved effort in helping these countries eradicate diseases such as AIDS and malaria. By increasing the amount of aid that the United States and other developed nations give to combat diseases, the world will see a decrease in death from preventable diseases, and, as a result, a decrease in global poverty.

– Travis Whinery

Sources: WHO, UN AIDS, Economist
Photo: China Daily

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Preventing Cancer in the Developing World

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Many people in developing countries are lucky to have dinner tonight. While alleviating hunger is a main goal for many humanitarian organizations, the types of food that impoverished people have access to is becoming a concern for health experts. Cancer is an illness affecting people all over the world and developing countries are no exception. However, those living in the third world are especially at risk due to malnutrition, food insecurity, and lack of education.

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in developing countries and affects more people than in the developed world. One of the main reasons for this is diet. Fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fish are all part of a healthy diet that helps to prevent cancer. On the other hand, fats and oils can increase a person’s chance of developing cancer. This becomes a complicated issue when there are no fresh foods in a community due to conflict or natural disaster, but a humanitarian organization sends processed foods. Rather than starve, the population will eat the unhealthy food.

Several other ways that people living in the third world are more at risk for cancer include exercise habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, sex at an early age and sex with multiple partners. Tobacco can lead to lung, mouth and neck cancer, and early and multiple partner sex is linked to cervix cancer as well as sexually transmitted diseases.

Another main contributor to high cancer rates in the developing world is the healthcare system. Cancer screening services and prevention treatments are out of reach for many impoverished people due to cost, location of healthcare facilities, and limited availability. A lack of vaccines is also a huge concern in the developing world. Vaccines like HPV and HBV are simply not available to a large portion of the population.

There are simple ways to decrease the rates of cancer in the developing world. These include improved food and agriculture aid, increased funding for healthcare, and more vaccines available at a low cost. While these solutions are simple, the implementation of these methods can often be complicated. It can be difficult to reach those living in rural communities and healthy food is difficult to transport long distances. However, increased foreign aid funding, agriculture program aid, and cancer education would be solid first steps towards cancer prevention.

– Mary Penn

Sources: All Africa, Med Scape
Photo: The Times