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HIV Infection Rises in China’s Youth Population

China HIV AIDS
The HIV rate appears to be rising among Chinese people aged 15-24, according to HIV/AIDS specialists at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 2011 and 2012 the rate of new infection in youths increased 29% from 1,074 to 1,387. The overall new infection rate has quadrupled since 2007.

Another change in the demographics of China’s HIV infections is that transmission through sex, as opposed to intravenous drugs or infections in medical settings, accounts for 87.1% of new cases.

Between 2008 and 2012, the proportion of youth infected with HIV/AIDS almost doubled, and inconsistent use of condoms among men who have sex with men (MSM) in urban areas is considered to be a major factor, according to UNAIDS.

Of newly infected youth, 95% are men.

“The kinds of people suffering from AIDS have grown more varied and complex,” states Dr. Wang Ning, AIDS specialist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “The direction of the development of the disease is from high-risk groups to groups that have traditionally been understood as low-risk groups,” including university students.

Homosexuality remains taboo in China, as well as frank conversations concerning sex, especially in rural areas.

China Radio International reports that there is a lack of sex education in Chinese schools and where sex education is taught, it is generally sex-segregated, with boys and girls only learning about their own gender.

During the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of people reportedly were infected with HIV from receiving contaminated blood and plasma. In what is widely considered a cover-up by officials in the Henan province, “blood-dealers” purchased poor farmers’ untested blood, pooled it, and returned the plasma to the farmers, causing a quick spread of HIV. The blood then entered hospitals and continued to infect people.

The black market economy was reportedly encouraged by local officials, including current Chinese Premier Li Keqiang who was a senior Communist Party official in the province at the time.

Li forbid NGOs and medical professionals from reaching those infected with HIV in Henan.

“It was because of Li’s cover-up of the AIDS epidemic that a large number of patients did not receive attention and died,” states HIV/AIDS advocate Hu Jia.

Contrary to China’s recent trends, HIV infections in the developing world have decreased over 50% since 2001, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.

The majority of this improvement has occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Malawi, Namibia and Botswana seeing a roughly 70% decrease in new infections in the last 10 years.

However, infections in the Middle East and North Africa have increased 35% in the same timeframe, and rates in Eastern Europe and Central Asia appear to be rising as well.

Though there are serious concerns about rising rates among young people in China, rates of HIV remain relatively low. As a point of comparison, in 2010 there were 12,200 new cases of HIV for youths age 13-24 in the United States, a rate 12 times higher than that of China in a country with a quarter of China’s population.

Dr. Bernard Schwartlander, director at UNAIDS, reports that China is focused on getting HIV-positive people on antiretroviral drugs, which treat those infected as well as reduce the risks of infecting others. He also says that China’s HIV response has improved dramatically, with the country having one of the biggest harm-reduction initiatives, including needle exchanges and methadone clinics.

Such programs do not, however, directly address the spread of the infection through sex, and many in the country still believe that the government does not care about people with HIV/AIDS.

Hu Jia claims that the government merely pays lip-service to HIV/AIDS issues. She asserts, “Every year around December 1, the Communist Party[-led] administration appears very concerned [with HIV/AIDS issues]. But the media has never reported all the demonstrations and petitions or the suffering of the people with AIDS.”

– Kaylie Cordingley

Sources: New York Times, Al Jazeera, NPR, China Daily, CDC

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Bubonic Plague Hits Madagascar

It is amazing that in the year 2013, the Bubonic Plague still exists on this planet. The disease that is known as the Black Death that caused at least 25 million deaths in the 14th century has this week been linked the death of at least 20 people in Madagascar, and may still infect more in the weeks to come.

This announcement is one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in years, and there is concern that it could spread to more towns and cities in the region. The Bubonic Plague is a disease that is transmitted through animals, usually through rats that hold infected flees which then infect humans, which has a high mortality rate if not immediately treated. This disease has mainly been eradicated from most areas of the world, but has been known to appear in developing nations such as Madagascar, where there are low hygiene levels, high levels of population and low resources to prevent the disease.

There was warning from the International Committee of the Red Cross in October that the nation of the East Coast of Mainland Africa was at high risk of an epidemic, but the warnings went mostly unheeded by the locals in the region. It is not that the locals were negligent in preventing the spread of this disease, but there are higher systemic problems that are harder to overcome for the locals.

Madagascar harbored this plague for many reasons. Locals in the region have low literacy rates, which makes it hard to share live saving information that prevents exposure to diseases. The country of Madagascar does not support a strong democratic government with a low corruption rate. When corruption is prevalent through all levels of government, funds that can be applied towards improving the nation often end up in the pockets of the few that are in power, adding to the national poverty.

The nation is one that is often prone to civil unrest, which many violent outbreaks has increase the use of military force on the people. The frequency of civil unrest has suppressed desire for foreign tourism which has decreased revenue for the national economy.

Madagascar is just an example of how poverty in a region can encourage the spread of life threatening diseases. Nations that have low standards of living, high levels of populations, weak central governments and low levels of hygiene are danger zones for disease. It is discouraging for a disease that has largely been eradicated from the face of the world to still exist in this poor region of the world.

– Travis Whinery

Sources: Time, Daily Mail, BBC, Reuters UK
Photo: Wikimedia

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The Hookworm Vaccine

hookworm
A new hookworm vaccine is the hope of millions of infected people in Africa. Although it is experimental and will be the first African clinical trial for this parasite, it is already scheduled for 2014 because hookworm infestations are rampant among the African poor. Over 102 trial participants, ages 18 to 45 will be given the vaccine over a four month period and be rechecked after a year. Once the adult participants remain safe and have positive immune responses, children will be given the vaccines. These trials will begin in Gabon, Africa.

Hookworms are easily transmitted to children who walk around barefoot. Most children who also suffer from malnutrition are attacked by the parasite and become extremely weak, which leads to learning problems and stunted growth. These parasites drain the blood of any individual and eventually cause anemia. Hookworms also infest adults and cause financial strains on the family as men and women gradually weaken from loss of blood. Even pregnant women are not free from danger since their fetus is also affected from the blood loss. These worms enter the body through the feet. Once they are inside the bloodstream they travel towards the lungs. From the lungs they reach the intestines where they grip the interior walls with their two sets of teeth. Here they are able to remain attached, suck any quantity of blood and grow to half an inch long.The aim of the hookworm vaccine is to create antibodies which will slowly kill the worms. As the antibodies are formed, it will work against two enzymes present in the hookworm’s gut. One enzyme processes iron in its blood diet and the other enzyme allows for digestion of blood proteins. As the antibodies fight against these enzymes, the hookworm’s energy source weakens and will eventually die.

Clinical trials are set for a minimum of five years regardless of whether there is   success with treatments. This vaccine could potentially be the answer to hookworm elimination which is the leading cause of iron deficient anemia among millions of the world’s poor.  Dr. Hotez, the director of the Sabin Vaccine Institute has been working on this vaccine for over 30 years. His effort and commitment over this lapse of time will surely be a victory to be seen.

–  Maybelline Martez

Sources: NIH, Medical News Today, New York Times

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Syrian Refugee Camps in Demand

Overfull and varying widely in accommodation, Syrian refugee camps have become an international crisis. The United Nations has made the largest humanitarian appeal for aid ever at $5 billion to relieve the situation but has received less than $2 billion to date. Some 2.2 million refugees are currently scattered across Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt while more Syrians are fleeing war at an alarming pace. Estimates say more than 3 million refugees will be in those areas by January.

Such numbers are startling given the Syrian population before the onset of war was only  22.5 million. Lebanon, for example, has no official camps despite having more than a million refugees in its borders and does not allow the building of permanent refugee structures. Those who can afford it rent apartments or rooms in the cities at an exorbitant rate while others share the homes of sympathetic civilians or even inhabit abandoned buildings in depressed areas. In the northeast region, an average of 17 people per household are packed together according to a study conducted by Doctors Without Borders last year.

Water, food and healthcare are rationed out slowly and insufficiently, with less to go around as numbers rise. Employment for refugees was around 20% last year in Lebanon, and the economies of Iraq, Turkey and Jordan are in little better position to provide opportunities for such a rapid influx of labor.

Dependency on humanitarian aid is heightened and the desperation of the situation has many refugees working for extremely low wages in poor conditions and engaging in child labor. Economic and physical insecurity in Jordan’s Zataari camp has led parents to arrange hurried marriages for their teenage daughters as young as 14. Matchmakers recruit young girls for Saudi husbands but often end up as prostitutes or victims of “pleasure marriages” where the suitor divorces them after consummation.

Though some of Syria’s displaced persons find bourgeois  housing in Cairo or end up in one of Turkey’s refugee camps that consist of metal trailers with access to satellite T.V. and air conditioning, most see basic necessities and sanitation as luxuries. The Domiz camp in Iraq is made up primarily of tents and has 45,000 residents despite being designed for just 30,000. In just two weeks between August and September, more than 1,500 people were treated for upper respiratory infections there by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Security is also an issue in these camps with reports of rape, theft, kidnapping and murder being common. In the Zataari camp, Jordan security forces restrict entry but lack the manpower to adequately police the camp’s 120,000 residents. Other camps in Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey reportedly funnel arms and recruits back into Syria. In Lebanon, crime has increased by 30% and increased tensions between Hezbollah and Sunni refugees may be behind the recent bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

Syria’s bordering nations are gradually increasing restrictions for entering refugees. Lebanon and Turkey are both planning to relocate some people to camps they wish to build within Syria’s insecure borders. Only about 25% of Syria’s refugees are actually in camps now, the rest are trying to survive by their own means. There are also an additional 3.8 million who are internally displaced.

Despite their faults, the refugee camps provide essential support and the need for more camps is evident, but where they can be built and how they will be funded is not so clear.

– Tyson Watkins

Sources: Medecins Sans Frontieres, World Health Organization, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Syrian Arab Republic,
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Moving Refugees, The Guardian, Integrated Regional Information Networks, BBC, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Syrian Regional Response Plan, Aljazeera, The Daily Star United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Stories from Syrian Refugees, The New York Review of Books
Photo: NPR

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Communities That Have Overcome Poverty

Aid coming in from governments, national charities, and private fundraisers have made stories of success possible. Even though the majority still continue to struggle and suffer from extreme poverty, there are occasional glimmers of light that shine through.

Ethiopia has made strides when it comes to learning how to purify water. Learning this essential task has strengthened the community of Germaam and improved health.

A family living in Cambodia was saved from the unsafe task of scavenging through piles of garbage in order to make money for food and shelter. A World Vision worker directed the family to aid that eventually helped the young family out of poverty. Now with education and training, the family is able to provide the essentials for themselves, which includes food, water, and shelter.

Remote villages in Uganda receive much needed aid for basic health care, as well as high risk procedures, such as pregnancies and child birth. Since aid has arrived to these communities, infant and maternal deaths have decreased, along with the decrease of illness due to cholera and hepatitis exposure.

In Ethiopia and Angola, the amount of girls receiving an education has risen dramatically. In fact, both countries have seen over a 40 percent increase in enrollment between 2000 and 2011.

Rwanda and Liberia have each seen a 40 percent to 50 percent reduction in child mortality rates these past few years.

There continues to be great strides in the fight to eradicate global poverty. Every day, poverty-stricken people and their communities benefit from the aid sent to them, though unfortunately, more foreign aid is needed in order to eradicate poverty.  Still, millions of adults and children suffer from preventable diseases, lack of clean water, and lack of food every day. Every second, a child dies from poverty.

Every day, 22,000 children die from poverty, 1.8 million die from diarrhea, and 2.2 million die from not having access to vaccines.  Global poverty continues to and will forever be a growing problem unless committed foreign aid is put in place.

– Amy Robinson

Sources: Global Issues, World Vision, Global Hope Network, World Vision – Campaign
Photo: Michael McCasky

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OECD’s Health at a Glance Reports

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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has reported slow health-spending as economies continue to struggle. Further, Reuters reported that total health spending fell in one in three OECD countries between 2009 and 2011 with the poor from these countries being the ones hardest hit.

Those living in poverty within those hard-hit countries are at a larger risk of longer-term problems and have lessened access to regular medicines and checkups, the OECD explained on Nov. 14.

This drop in health spending is a “sharp reversal” compared to the years prior to the financial crisis. The OECD said this makes it “all the more important that governments work to make healthcare systems more productive, efficient and affordable.”

The OECD further stated that longer-term impacts on health and health spending are important to focus on in contrast to short-term benefits to budgets.

Reuters then explained that personal spending per capita “fell in 11 of the 33 OECD countries between 2009 and 2011, according to the 2013 Health at a Glance report.”

As it stands, Japan and Israel are the only countries that saw their health spending rise since 2009, when compared to the previous decade.  On the other hand, growth in the U.S. fell 1.3% and 0.8% in Canada.

In fact, a third of what the OECD claims to be “rich countries” cut their health spending between 2009 and 2011. The report states that budget cuts in “austerity hit countries for the drop in healthcare spending.”

The OECD said that “Governments have worked to lower spending through cutting prices of medical goods, especially pharmaceuticals, and by budget restrictions and wage cuts in hospitals.”

Some of the other findings in the Health at a Glance 2013 report are:

1. “Chronic diseases such as diabetes and dementia are increasingly prevalent. In 2011, close to 7% of 20-79 year-olds in OECD countries, or over 85 million people, had diabetes. This number is likely to increase in the years ahead, given the high and often growing rates of obesity across the developed world.”

2. “The market share of generic drugs has increased significantly over the past decade in many countries. However, generics still represent less than 25% of the market in Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Japan and France, compared with about 75% in Germany and the United Kingdom.”

3. “The burden of out-of-pocket spending creates barriers to health care access in some countries. On average in the OECD, 20% of health spending is paid directly by patients; this ranges from less than 10% in the Netherlands and France to over 35% in Chile, Korea and Mexico.”

3. “Across OECD countries, more than 15% of people aged 50 and older provide care for a dependent relative or friend, and most informal carers are women.”

– Alycia Rock

Sources: OECD, Huffington Post, Reuters

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UNAIDS Reports Progress

The AIDS and HIV epidemics remain rampant around the world. The rates of infection are shown to have unprecedented growth in countries and regions that do not have the resources and education to provide to key AIDS populations. Overall, AIDS-related infections and deaths have dropped around the world. But the anxiety remains that such numbers are not sustainable.

In anticipation of World AIDS Day on December 1, USAIDS released a new report compiling Global AIDS data. In 2012, an estimated 35.3 million people around the world lived with HIV. Of those, 2.3 million people were newly infected with the disease while 1.6 million people died from AIDS.

There is overall progress from the earlier years. New HIV infections among adults and children have dropped 33% since 2001 while AIDS-related deaths have dropped by 30% since antiretroviral vaccines debuted in 2005.

The age gap of the afflicted has increased, extending to children and adults aged 50 years and older. The report also mentions that in “priority countries” 3 in 10 children receive HIV treatment according to treatment guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Under these new guidelines, an estimated 10 million total people around the world will be in need of treatment.

The numbers have significant room for improvement. Investments for HIV prevention services have plateaued since 2008, and by 2015 an estimated $24 billion will be needed annually for HIV resources.

As the world’s deadliest and unrelenting infectious killer, real solutions are being sought by organizations like USAIDS and the WHO. Attention to child patients, preventative education, the offering of preventative supplies, and the fostering of stable health care systems are the priorities in the mission of containing the disease in the most plagued of regions.

– Malika Gumpangkum

Sources: UNAIDS, WHO
Photo: IB Times

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World Toilet Day, Nov. 19

World_toilet_day
The first official UN World Toilet Day was on November 19. This day is meant to raise awareness of the billions of people who lack access to sanitation and toilets.

Why so much importance on sanitation?

Currently, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to toilets. This breaks down to one in every three people in the world. Additionally, one billion people practice open defecation- going outside without using a toilet. This lack of resources and education results in harm to infants and stunts the growth of young bodies and minds.

In India for instance, where open defecation is widely practiced, children are significantly shorter than children in Africa, who are much poorer.

According to the World Bank, open defecation practices threaten the human capital of developing countries. Poor sanitation and water supply result in economic losses estimated at $260 billion annually in developing countries.

Therefore, a sanitation program in India was introduced. The results of the program demonstrate sanitation services support cognitive functioning in children. Specifically, six-year-olds who had been exposed to the program during their first year of life were more likely to recognize letters and simple numbers on learning tests than those who were not.

Lack to access of sanitation and toilets also results in diarrheal diseases, which are currently the second most common cause of death in young children in developing countries.

Preventable diarrheal diseases kill more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

Furthermore, lack of sanitation and toilets also threatens the welfare of women and girls. Without access to private and safe toilets, girls stay home during menstruation, causing them to fall behind in school and at times drop out altogether.  Additionally, women are most vulnerable to being sexually assaulted when they go to the restroom. Without access to a nearby private toilet, women’s vulnerability is only increased when they go outdoors or in a public space, often late at night and away from people.

Due to the unglamorous nature of the subject matter, toilets tend to take the back seat when it comes to awareness and fundraising. “We must break the taboos and make sanitation for all a global development priority,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said.

World Toilet Day aims to change both behavior and policy on issues ranging from enhancing water management to ending open-air defecation.

– Caressa Kruth
Sources: Trust, CNN, UN
Photo English Forum

Bangladesh Makes “Exceptional” Health Progress

Bangladesh_Makes_Exceptional_Health_Progress
Despite being one of the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh has kept infant mortality down, life expectancy up, and good disease control over the past 40 years.

In the country, life expectancy has increased to 68.3 years, surpassing India and Pakistan at 67 and 66 years, respectively. Since 1980, the rate of women dying in childbirth has dropped by 75%, while infant mortality has dropped by more than 50% in the past 20 years. The country has been described as one of the “great mysteries of global health.”

“Over the past 40 years, Bangladesh has outperformed its Asian neighbors, convincingly defying the expert view that reducing poverty and increasing health resources are the key drivers of better population health,” said Professor Mushtaque Chowdhury from Dhaka’s BRAC University. Chowdhury’s team says that although Bangladesh has low health spending, its health system, which allows private and public sectors and non-governmental organization to work together, is what has led to the success.

A huge example of health success in the country is the battle that it has won against tuberculosis. As one of the developing world’s most common diseases, India still continues to struggle with this hard to cure disease.

However, researchers say that poverty and other problems that come with rapid urbanization, such an increasing vulnerability to climate change and an upsurge in chronic, non-communicable diseases, may lead to a darker future for the “remarkable success story” that is now Bangladesh.

“The stark reality is that the prevalence of malnutrition in Bangladesh is among the highest in the world. Nearly half of children have chronic malnutrition. Moreover, over a third of the population (more than 47 million) live below the poverty line, and income inequality is widening,” said Abbas Bhuiya, a professor at Dhaka’s International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research.

Despite the success that Bangladesh has already accomplished, especially within the health sector, there is still a long road ahead in the fight against poverty that the country faces.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: Swiss info, Reuters, Oman Tribune
Photo:Asian Scientist

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10 Global Health Accomplishments From the Past Decade

Global Health Accomplishments WHO
Global health has a huge impact with poverty. In many poverty-stricken areas, a lack of proper health equipment and the spread of diseases is a major function in the poverty trap. These countries rarely have the bare minimum to handle widespread disease and other health complications, making it hard truly to combat a global health issue. Despite these bleak conditions, there have been impressive global health accomplishments. The work and time put in by programs such as United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have made these ten necessary improvements for impoverished areas.

Global health has improved by leaps and bounds over the past decade. Many different factors have caused this great revolution of health, but ten specific reasons can be credited with carrying the weight. Without improvement in these specific areas by programs like USAID and the CDC, many of the great advancements seen today in global health would have never had the funds to be reached.

 

Factors Contributing to Global Health Accomplishments

 

In many areas with great health risks; immunizations and vaccines are not made readily available. Without these treatments, many people are often infected by disease that could otherwise be avoided or contained with the assistance of vaccination and immunization. First, USAID immunization programs have provided the funds to treat up to three million impoverished people per year.

Many nations struggle with health issues because of water deprivation. Second, USAID introduced oral hydration therapy to these areas, in hopes it would counteract dehydration problems. As of today, the oral hydration therapy has been successful in areas all around the globe, with tens of millions of people being properly nourished through the low-cost program yearly.

Thirdly,  not only is the oral hydration therapy combatting worldwide dehydration, USAID has partnered with The United Nations Drinking Water Supply to help some 1.3 billion people receive proper water nourishment sources.

Sanitary water is a vital piece to figuring out the poverty puzzle, but the eradication of poverty begins with the young people. Fourth, the average number of children per family in impoverished nations has dropped from 6.1 in the mid-1960s to 4.2 today. In addition, infant and child deaths have decreased by 50 percent in these impoverished areas.

Fifth, USAID child survival programs have made a 10 percent child mortality rate reduction in just the past eight years. Not only has the number of children’s lives saved risen, but life expectancy has improved by 33 percent in these nations.

The decrease of major diseases worldwide is a major improvement made possible by USAID, CDC, and similar programs worldwide. Sixth, Smallpox has been eradicated, and now only exists in laboratories. Seventh, USAID has accounted for thirty-two HIV/AIDS prevention programs throughout the world.

Eighth, over 850,000 people have been reached by the HIV program, and (ninth) another 40,000 people have been trained to treat the virus. Lastly, programs like the CDC have been responsible for the diminishing malaria cases, from 2004 (2.1 million cases) to 2009 (1.8 million cases).

By combatting major poverty causing issues such as disease epidemics, unsanitary water, and child mortality rates, programs such as USAID and the CDC have been instrumental in causing the turnaround of world poverty. With the continued support from these programs, the world’s impoverished people can be assured of better conditions outside of these ten beneficial starts.

 

10 Key Global Health Accomplishments

 

1. USAID immunizations and vaccines have provided funds to treat up to three million impoverished people per year.

2. Introduction of oral hydration therapy in impoverished areas.

3. Supplied roughly 1.3 billion people proper nourishment sources.

4. Average number of children per impoverished family has dropped from 6.1 to 4.2.

5. 10 percent child mortality rate reduction.

6. Smallpox only exists in laboratories.

7. USAID has 32 HIV/AIDS programs throughout the world.

8. 850,000+ people have been reached by the HIV program.

9. 40,000 have been trained to treat HIV.

10. Diminishing malaria cases, from 2.1 million to 1.8 million over a five year period.

– Zachary Wright

Sources:  USAID, CDC

Photo: USAID