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Get Out and Play: Sports and Child Development

Playing is fun! The importance of play goes beyond simply passing time or seeking health benefits. A study completed by scientist Jaak Panksepp supports the pre-existing hypothesis that play is critical to child development.

Panksepp, along with others in the scientific community, theorizes that humans, as social animals, need play to learn social rules and cues. Through sports, people form communication skills, learn cooperation and leadership and come to better understand others.

To test this idea, Panksepp experimented with rats. He isolated one group so they could not play, while allowing another group to play. When both groups were placed in the same cage, the rats that received more stimulation were better able to interact and mate than the rats that were not allowed to play.

A comparable study done on kittens by a different group of scientists observed similar results. The young cats that were unable to play failed to acquire certain social skills. And although the kittens that were deprived of play could still hunt well, they were more aggressive and had trouble fitting in socially with other cats.

Lack of play, especially at a young age, proves to be a serious problem. Panksepp concluded that, with play, both humans and animals learn to live in social groups, build relationships, express emotions and master skills that do not come instinctively.

The importance of play for child development cannot be understated, according to Panksepp and many others concerned with the health and well being of young people.

The U.N. and UNICEF hold play as a fundamental right for every child, and protect that right under Article 31 of the Convention of Right of the Child. Sport and recreation are essential components of a child’s education, allowing children to gain confidence and lead healthier, more balanced lives.

Unfortunately, children living in poverty and areas of conflict are the most deprived of play.

Children are denied their rights when they are forced to work at a young age. In an effort to support their families, poor children drop out of school and work long and hard jobs. Across the world, there are over 168 million child laborers. Laboring like adults prevents them from playing and gaining the important life skills that come with play.

War and violence also keep children from play. Those in conflict zones live in constant fear and cannot run and have fun outside. With current conflicts raging in Gaza, Iraq and Syria, to name a few, the impact of war on children’s lives today is extensive and pervasive.

Without play, children living in poverty and conflict are denied essential interactions. Childhood is a critical period to set the foundations for healthy development, and play acts as an important component to this growth. The study completed by Panksepp suggests that the conditions experienced by children in poverty and conflict can have long-term negative consequences on their development.

– Kathleen Egan

Sources: NPR, UNICEF, International Labor Organization
Photo: UNICEF

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Hospital and Rehabilitation for Disabled Children

The Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children, the only children’s orthopedic hospital in Nepal, is working toward treating Nepalese children and performing affordable surgeries that would otherwise go undone.

In Nepal, about 83 percent of the population lives below the $2 a day poverty line. Once a child gets sick, it is unlikely that its family can make it to a treatment center or hospital, and less likely that the family could pay for for the treatment without crippling its savings. The HCDR was created to change that.

The HCDR was erected in 1997, but the team has been working with children’s surgeries since 1985 in remote villages and smaller buildings. The organization’s founder and current leader is Dr. Ashok Kumar Banskota, a Nepalese doctor who was educated in India and the United States.

Once he returned to Nepal after his studies, Dr. Banskota wanted to make healthcare accessible to all who need it in his home country rather than to just the rich or those in the most accessible regions.

The HCDR is a tertiary level pediatric hospital that performs about 1,500 surgeries each year, and provides physical therapy and prosthetics when needed. In order to reach as many patients as possible for aftercare, HCDR has community-based rehabilitation services that follow up with patients in their villages and show families how to properly care for their children after surgery.

The team has worked hard to make its care accessible to all, with the average cost of surgery at only $151. It has also incorporated home visits to make post-surgery adjustments easier on the patients as well.

HRDC works on continually training new doctors to keep its hospital well staffed. They get trained in Primary Rehabilitation Therapy in order to continue recovery for patients. There are also periodic courses offered to keep everyone up to date.

A study done to test the impact of HRDC on the patients it has treated previously showed positive results. The study showed over 90 percent of the children reported positive impact from HRDC treatment on further growth and development, both physically and socially.

– Courtney Prentice

Sources: Global Giving, Himalayan Foundation, Google, HRDC Nepal
Photo: Talk Vietnam

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Malnutrition Plagues Children of Rural China

China became an economic superpower in only a matter of decades. Forbes Magazine’s annual rich list reported that China has had 152 billionaires this past year. The once struggling nation has shown promising improvement. According to the World Bank, the number of impoverished people living in China dropped from 683 million in 1990 to 157 million in 2009. This improvement is a result of the rapid urbanization in China in recent years. Greater economic opportunity and government assistance is now available in cities. However, children in rural villages are stuck in a seemingly unbreakable cycle of poverty.

The children of rural China face a variety of challenges that are virtually nonexistent in the cities. Among one of the most glaring is the struggle against malnutrition. UNICEF estimates that there are 12.7 million stunted children in China; this life-long condition that results from severe malnutrition plagues children most during early childhood.

In addition to malnutrition, anemia takes a tremendous toll on rural Chinese children. Stanford University conducted a test on 1824 babies in China’s Shaanxi Province. Forty nine percent of the babies tested were anemic and 28 percent were near anemic. Furthermore, of all the babies tested, 40 percent displayed cognitive or motor problems.

Why are rates of anemia so high? Stanford reports that while the parents were generally willing to spend additional money on food for their children, they were uninformed on what type of nutritional value the food should have. Many micronutrients, such as iron, were missing, indicating that fresh fruits and vegetables were consumed infrequently. Additionally, further investigation revealed that mothers stopped breastfeeding after six months. From that point on, the child would typically eat rice porridge or soups.

Misinformed parents are often responsible for their children’s poor health. Parents often do not introduce solid food into children’s diets until they are 12 to 18 months old, though it is recommended that solid food make up half of a one-year-old’s diet. Many parents believe myths that babies cannot digest hard foods or that particular foods, like rice, are better for cognitive development.

Treating anemia and replenishing nutrients is actually quite easy. Stanford researchers state that simply taking iron supplements can counter anemia. To address the rampant malnutrition in China’s poor, rural provinces, UNICEF has begun to distribute a nutrition supplement called Ying Yang Bao. Ying Yang Bao is a small packet of powdered vitamins, minerals and proteins that can be mixed into solid foods like porridge.

Many rural Chinese families cannot afford to buy fresh fruits, vegetables and proteins like beef. Dairy products are also expensive and difficult to access. Often, noodles, porridge, rice and starches like potatoes constitute meals. Fortunately, the micronutrients in Ying Yang Bao are easily dissolved in porridges and soups.

UNICEF reports that, between 2008 and 2011, more than 30,000 rural children received Ying Yang Bao. After consumption, anemia levels were cut in half. A long-term solution to malnutrition is still in the works. While aid from UNICEF and other organizations is improving the health of rural children, education is a key issue to be addressed. Parents are misguided by myths and superstitions, which has led to the silent suffering on many children. A public education program has not been officially instituted, but would be another component of China’s long-term solution for malnutrition.

– Bridget Tobin

Sources: UNICEF, Stanford, World Bank, CNBC, The Guardian
Photo: China.org

Chlorine Dispensers to Cut Cost of Water

Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, recently finished her week-long visit to Kenya, where she observed the status of the population’s water.

Although access to water is a constitutionally protected right in Kenya, Albuquerque commented that the conditions in the nation are “not only an absolute denial of the right to sanitation, but also a serious threat to public health and the security of women and girls who have to walk into the bush at night. These women and girls are exposed to daily risks due to the lack of proper sanitation.”

She expressed her concern that 30 percent of all Kenyans are still in need of improved sanitation, with 13 percent still defecating in public. Kenya loses the equivalent of $330 million every year “due to premature death, health care costs and productivity losses resulting from the lack of access to adequate sanitation,” she continued.

One solution that has been in the works for years is the use of chlorine dispensers, which disinfect water without posing additional health risks.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) has granted the project $4 million in the hope of aiding four million people by the end of 2014. The DIV could potentially fund the project further as it progresses. The newest design for a public dispenser, created by U.S. based researchers and the Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), will help five times as many people—many of whom could not afford the individual chlorine bottles previously used. The communal dispensers reduce the cost of chlorine per bottle, and increase public awareness on the issue. Per household usage has jumped anywhere from 36 to 55 percent.

The Kenyan government, along with international donors, has typically focused on practical methods of providing access to water in arid regions, but have lacked the resources to ensure the quality of this water. Many women and children allocate a third of their day to retrieving water from sources several miles away, often with polluted containers.

Overpopulation has further strained the water system, as the annual population growth in Kenya has risen to 2.6 percent. In urban areas, the poor are forced to crowd in slums without clean water or sanitation. Living in such close contact facilitates water-borne diseases among the population.

The chlorine dispenser project comes in the midst of 26 months of drought in Northern Kenya, which has threatened food security. In the majority of the country, 25 percent of children are acutely malnourished, while certain areas have overall malnutrition rates of approximately 20 percent. The World Food Programme designates 15 percent overall malnutrition rates as a critical emergency.

Chlorine dispensers for the safe water project have already received 100 grants, and reached 18 million people as of April. The head of the DIV, Jill Boezwinkle, hopes the program will eventually sustain itself with funds from other sources, but believes in the project, saying, “it’s really, really important to make sure that we are using dollars very responsibly.”

– Erica Lignell

Sources: UN, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Poverty-Action, The Water Project
Photo: Wash Funders

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Muslims in Myanmar Face Health Crisis

In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma, displaced Rohingya Muslims face a severe health crisis as malnutrition spreads, and treatable illnesses and injuries go unattended.

The country’s recent history of ethnic tension has disfavored the minority Muslims, pushing them to regions along coastal Myanmar where many of the displaced are settled in refugee camps. The plight of the Rohingya has caught the attention of international aid organizations that set up medical centers and ration distribution facilities.

However, medical aid to the ostracized group was all but completely cut off by government officials who accused Medicins Sans Frontieres-Holland (Doctors Without Borders-Holland) of favoritism to Muslims in Myanmar, promoting anti-government sentiment, and ordered them to leave in February of 2014.

As a result of the expulsion, the 700,000 people that depended on MSF’s service were left without proper medical care. By late July, when the government declared that MSF could return, the Rohingya had already endured months of a bleak health crisis with no help to turn to.

In a Reuters report from one of the camps, Aisyah Begum told the story of her husband who was injured while working in the forest. The man would have been taken to the nearby MSF clinic had it been open. The couple was left with no other option but to drive two hours to the nearest private doctor in Maungdaw who then refused to help. The man eventually passed away from what was most likely a treatable infection.

Around the time MSF was granted permission to return, the United Nations publicly commented on the refugee camps’ inhumane conditions. Yanghee Lee of the UN human rights envoy for Myanmar released a 10 page report, calling the living situation of the camps’ inhabitants “deplorable,” noting concern that “the government’s plan for peaceful co-existence may likely result in a permanent segregation” of the two groups.

Ethnic tensions between the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the dominant Rakhine Buddhists spans back a few years. It erupted in 2012, leaving 200 dead and an estimated 140,000 internally displaced – 135,000 of which were Rohingya. The clash between the ethnic groups left the bitter taste of mistrust in the mouths of both sides, with one side much more disadvantaged than the other.

The Rohingya suffer from continued apathy and exclusion on part of the Rakhine, and face the threat of violent attacks if they cross the wrong person, keeping them isolated in their lacking communities. They essentially live as prisoners, eating only donated rice and chickpeas, fishing their protein from the nearby ocean.

Ethnic persecution is systemic in Myanmar, to the point where those in the minority group are not even recognized as citizens by the government. They are classified as illegal Bengali immigrants and therefore have no legal rights or representation. They severely lack the means to sustain themselves.

Conditions have reached such a critical point in recent years that tens of thousands have tried fleeing by boat. Human Rights Watch has accused the government of leading an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Muslims in Myanmar.

“By virtue of their legal status (or lack of), the Muslim community has faced and continues to face systematic discrimination, which includes restrictions in the freedom of movement, restrictions in access to land, food, water, education and health care, and restrictions on marriages and birth registrations,” said Lee in her report.

Myanmar is a country of 55 million people. In sheer numbers alone, it is clear what the Rohingya are up against as the nation’s abhorred minority. Years of military rule subjected them to hard labor, rape, torture and relocation, extending from a 1982 citizenship law that declared them stateless. However, the increasingly democratic reform of its government brings some hope.

Many Rohingya retain complete skepticism of the future and MSF is “cautiously optimistic” about their invitation to return. However, it appears that the bind of Myanmar’s displaced Muslims may quickly improve with increased international attention and the possibility of greater involvement by the United States.

“We’re working to continually help address problems on the ground,” said Derek Mitchell, the US ambassador to Myanmar. “What we are doing out here is in anticipation of continued reform, although we need to remain patient as the country deals with increasingly difficult issues going forward.”

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Reuters, Helsinki Times, Al Jazeera
Photo: Reuters

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India in Extreme Poverty

India is home to the world’s largest population of people living in extreme poverty, totaling one-third of all extremely impoverished people globally according to the UN’s 2014 Millennium Development Goals report.

China trails right behind India in ranking but is praised in the report for their speedy progress to eliminate greater widespread poverty over the last two decades. Meanwhile, India’s improvements have lagged. China has reduced poverty in its population down from 60 percent to 16 percent between 1990 and 2010. India has only moved down from 49.4 percent to 32.7 percent between 1994 and 2010.

Najma Heptulla, the Minority Affairs Minister under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spoke frankly about the UN’s report but remained optimistic about the outlook for India’s poor, insisting poverty continues to be one of the government’s main priorities.

“Good days will come… We don’t have to be proud of what we have done. Povery is the biggest challenge… I am sure when the next report comes, we will have done much better,” she said.

Heptulla has worked with the UN program to alleviate extreme poverty in India under multiple prime ministers and is a key player in current and future developments. Her honest recognition of India’s sluggish progress is a positive sign that more fruitful efforts can be expected from the country’s government.

Overall, the Southern Asian population living in extreme poverty has dropped steadily to 30 percent in the same time frame, but the region still houses two-thirds of the world’s poorest overall.

The health crises currently faced by India’s poor population are the result of multiple factors relating to poverty, culture and the unequal distribution of developmental improvements. Those residing in the poorest neighborhoods are disconnected from modern healthy lifestyle practices such as using a toilet, which is still culturally unacceptable in slums across the nation, that then pose serious health threats to communities without proper medical attention or council.

Human waste deposits in local water sources are linked to higher rates of water-borne diseases and disproportionately affect mothers and children. Almost 60 percent of the world’s open air defecators live in India according to the report, which connected the practice to 17 percent of global maternal deaths.

These statistics are just a few among various unflattering rates detailed in the 2014 Millennium Development Goals report for India, including the country’s number one rank among deaths of children under five, a total of 1.4 million in 2012. According to the World Health Organization, most child deaths in India are the result of pneumonia, diarrhea and prematurity, all of which stem from unsanitary living conditions and malnourishment of women and children living in slums.

One positive highlight for India and all of Southern Asia outlined in the report notes the increase in literacy rates for the region, upped from 60 to 80 percent between 1990 and 2011.

There is a long way to go for those living in extreme poverty in India, and it is up to the government to issue the necessary policies and resource allocation for its citizens in its self-proclaimed philosophy of “sabka saath sabka vikas”–“With all, development for all.”

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Daily Mail, Financial Express, Times of India
Photo: UN.org

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Inadequate Aid for South Sudan

South Sudanese children are suffering the effects of mass malnutrition, and foreign aid agencies are struggling to keep up. On July 14, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) announced “shocking” levels of child starvation in South Sudan, reporting that at least 13,500 children have been admitted to the organization’s feeding programs.

South Sudan’s mounting civil crises have erupted into violence in recent months, which interferes with farmers’ ability to grow crops and provide food for communities. Agricultural infrastructure has been destroyed and crop planting has been widely disrupted or halted. These factors exacerbate the already-present food shortages and force displaced residents to share scarce resources.

Yet even in this time of dire need, seven major international food aid organizations–all of which focus primarily on South Sudan–are at risk of shutting down due to lack of funding. And the UN’s most recent request for food aid in South Sudan is less than half-funded. The UN requires at least $1.8 billion to make an impact on the malnutrition epidemic, but the seven agencies are short in funds by $89 million. If funding and food aid for South Sudan doesn’t increase soon, the UN warns that as many as 50,000 children could die by the year’s end.

“We will be staring into the abyss and failing to avert famine if funds do not start arriving soon,” said Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam, in a report conducted by CARE International. “This is not a crisis caused by drought or flood. It is a political crisis turned violent… Mainly we are calling on governments to fund the aid effort before it is too late.”

The malnutrition crisis in South Sudan is a product of civil strife and contentious domestic politics. Since fighting began, 1.5 million South Sudanese have been displaced from their homes, thereby interfering with dependable access to food and water. Both of the parties fighting have also refused to respect a ceasefire agreement signed in January, leading authorities to report that nearly four million South Sudanese remain at risk of famine this year.

But while solving South Sudan’s political problems will help avert further violence, the most pressing priority for aid workers is now the nutritional needs of South Sudanese children. Many of these children are starving, and travel for days to reach MSF facilities. Others remain hiding in the bush, surviving off swamp water and roots.

Malnutrition is of course a threat in itself. But the three leading causes of death in South Sudan–malaria, diarrhea and respiratory infections–are also much more easily contracted by malnourished people. This compounds the dangers of the massive shortage of aid in the region.

“The United States’ monetary aid to the region is complicated because they don’t trust the South Sudanese government,” said Dr. Jenny Bell, a medical worker with a focus on South Sudan. “Because of this, they’ve shifted everything to humanitarian aid, and all the development efforts have been wiped out.”

Although humanitarian aid is always welcome, monetary aid is crucial to obtaining necessary medicines and nutritional requirements for malnourished children. Hopefully the global community will be able to meet the UN’s funding appeals before the situation in South Sudan plummets any further.

– Mari LeGagnoux

Sources: IPS News, All Africa
Photo: Unocha

How Art Education Can Help Africa

The value of art education is constantly under debate, with classes in the arts often pulled first from underfunded curricula. Research, however, has shown the value of educating people in these subjects. The arts provide physiological and economic benefits, and some African countries are working to encourage creative pursuits in their populations.

The World Health Organization’s definition of health includes more than just a lack of disease. Creative endeavors can improve a person’s mood and emotions. Simply watching the activity can provide benefits, too.

A more tangible benefit includes a higher participation in school. This ranges from increased attendance and participation, to increased teamwork skills among peers. People also use the arts to provide students with an alternative to drugs.

This value in education spills over into the workforce. People who engage in the arts are better at creative thinking and have a greater ability to adapt to new situations and visualize alternatives.

The arts are also helpful in fighting health problems. Many cultures have traditions of using pictures, stories, dances or chants to fight disease. Creative activities reduce chronic stress and lessen depression, both of which can become contributing factors to heart disease and diabetes. These issues are already prevalent in the U.S. and are increasingly becoming an issue in the developing world.

The arts, as they are commonly grouped together, include music, creative movement, writing and visual arts.

Studies have shown that music decreases anxiety and helps restore emotional balance, as well as control pain. Learning the notation involved in reading music has also been shown to increase students’ math skills.

Visual arts have been shown to help people deal with difficult realities, such as a cancer diagnosis. They help with emotional expression and improve reading skills.

Other studies have shown that creative movement, such as dance, improves mobility and decreases stress. Some participants show improved cognition.

Writing has been shown to help people control their emotions, as well as to control pain levels temporarily. One study showed that writing decreased the CD4+ lymphocyte, which is associated with HIV.

Many places are picking up on the value of art. In September, the Africa Utopia art festival will take place in Somaliland, giving African performers a venue to express their art. The African Metropolis film festival was held recently, and it included six urban films from directors of different cities. The cities represented were Abidjan, Cairo, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi.

Other groups are allowing youth to get their first taste of creative expression. In Belltown, Kenya, there is a gallery of photographs by Meg Stacker. While she took the pictures herself, many of the pieces are overlaid with six word memoirs by the subjects, giving them an opportunity to express themselves as well.

Other students in Gambia had the opportunity to photograph their homes. A UK photography student held a workshop for students, most of whom had never operated a camera before. In this way, students were able to express their views of their homeland.

On top of the mental and physiological benefits, many students in the U.S. want to see more art education. Art education would provide the same benefits and appeal to African students, as well.

– Monica Roth

Sources: US National Library of Medicine, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Atlantic, GHAFLA, Goethe, Fast Company, Seattle Globalist, The Artery
Photo: Kickstarter

Isolated Amazon Tribe Contracts Flu

Last month, a previously uncontacted Amazon tribe approached scientists from the Brazilian government. Their largest concern was the potential for disease transmission.

In a recent announcement, FUNAI, Brazil‘s Indian protection agency, revealed that several members of the tribe had contracted the flu.

Five men and two women between the ages of 13 and 21 had caught the flu. Carlos Travassos, FUNAI’s general coordinator for the operation, worked with a team including doctors and two translators to ensure the tribal members received medical care.

Once contact was made, the Indians were wary of the team’s intentions, but after long deliberation, the Indians opted for treatment.

The seven members of the tribe were taken to a FUNAI base for treatment. They remained there for five days for treatment and observation.

FUNAI researchers worry that the treated Indians may bring the flu to the other members of the tribe. Tribes that have no previous encounters with the rest of world are at a much greater risk of fatal consequences from common illnesses.

An overwhelming number of Indians in the Americas died from a series of plagues after the Europeans–bringing unfamiliar pathogens with them–arrived from the Old World. Thousands of Amazonian Indians faced death during the 19th and 20th century as a result of the rubber trade, which produced violence, enslavement and disease.

This specific tribe reached out due to increasing violence and conflict in the Amazon. Their region, near the Peruvian border, has had an increased activity of drug trafficking and illegal logging.

The Indians told FUNAI that white men have shot at the tribe.

The violence that coerced the tribe to seek contact is demonstrative of the larger critical situation. The threats that isolated tribes face are becoming more urgent and prevalent.

According to Survival International, despite reassurances from both Peru and Brazil to prevent illegal logging and drug trafficking that have displaced Indians, threats continue. Worse, the traffickers have taken over the government installation intended to monitor their behavior.

In addition to this tribe, there are at least four uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian state of Acre and two across the border in Peru. The Amazon is estimated to contain the world’s largest concentration of uncontacted tribes, with approximately 70 in the Brazilian Amazon alone.

Although this immediate problem for the tribe has been handled, long-term issues remain. The fate of the tribe largely depends upon FUNAI’s efforts to ensure long-term assistance and exclusive land for the tribe.

– William Ying 

Sources: Forbes, Business Insider, Science Magazine, FUNAI, The Washington Post, USA Today
Photo: Business Insider

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Plague Forces Chinese City into Quarantine

plague
In the 14th century, the bubonic plague that had quietly lived in China’s Gobi Desert lifted from the ground and attacked Europe. Carried by fleas who found refuge on rat fur, the bacteria wreaked havoc on the filthy cities of the Middle Ages. By the end of the 16th century, more than a third of Europe was claimed by the plague now known as the Black Death.

In the centuries that followed, hygiene and sanitation improved, and the plague has mostly become a disease of history. But it has yet to be fully eradicated.

On July 16, a 38-year-old Chinese herdsman died from the bubonic plague. He had been exposed to a dead marmot, a rodent-like creature related to the squirrel, that was carrying the dangerous bacteria. The man was admitted to the hospital with a high fever and was coughing blood. Immediately, the hospital quarantined him and Chinese health officials flooded into the city of Yumen.

Of the city’s approximate 100,000 residents, 151 have been placed into quarantine, as they were believed to have been near the infected man after his exposure to bacteria. Furthermore, parts of the city — which allocated 1 million yuan in the way of emergency vaccinations — have been sealed off.

Chinese Central Television (CCTV) reports that Yumen has enough food supplies to last them a month if need be. The same report also indicates that all residents in quarantine look to be uninfected.

The plague, when it infects a person’s lungs, can be fatal if left untreated for even 24 hours, a misfortune that struck the Yumen community with the herdsman’s death.

According to the World Health Organization, between 1,000 and 3,000 people die from the bubonic plague every year. But most victims of this ruthless disease hail from developing countries that still struggle with sanitation.

Between 2000 and 2009, close to 20,000 people were infected by the plague. Of these cases, 10,581 cases were reported in Congo, 7,182 in Madagascar and 1,309 in Zambia.

Meanwhile, only 56 people from the U.S. have been affected by the disease, of whom seven died.

But plague cases remain especially rare in China. There was only a single diagnosed case in the province of Sichuan in 2012 and 12 cases — including three deaths — in 2009 in the remote and rural areas of China’s western provinces.

– Shehrose Mian

Sources: LiveScience 1, LiveScience 2, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Enca, Austrian Times, Washington Post
Photo: Flickr