cesarean section – IH CONNECT

January is cervical health awareness month in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) joins the National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC) in recognizing January as Cervical Health Awareness Month (Source: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/IdphNews/Reader.aspx?id=56BC8126-F0B0-4A97-9096-D34F6CFF85B9 ).

Politics and Policies:

Florida and 25 other states have officially requested the Supreme Court of United States to stop Medicaid expansion (Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/gvsb0130.htm ).
National Alzheimer’s proposal outlines strategy to improve diagnosis and treatment of this disease. The Health and Human Services released a proposal on January 9^th which had set a goal of 2025 for developing effective means of preventing and treating this disease (Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/hlsa0130.htm ).
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a new drug application for standard review for patients with previously treated Philadelphia chromosome for positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) (Source: http://regulatoryaffairs.pharmaceutical-business-review.com/news/fda-accepts-nda-for-pfizer-cml-drug-300112 )
Pakistan has asked the World Health Organization (The WHO) to help it to find the epidemic dengue in the country (Source: http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5792252 ).

Programs

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for $1.28 billion from the governments to provide humanitarian assistance to children around the world in 2012 (Source: http://channel6newsonline.com/2012/01/unicef-appeals-for-1-28-billion-for-2012-humanitarian-aid/ ).
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $750 million to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/health/gates-donates-750-million-to-global-fund.html ).
Japan is lending $63mn to Bangladesh for a maternal and child health project (Source: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=483291&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24 ).

Research

The scientists in China said that they have identified ten susceptibility genes for leprosy. Tis will help to identify high-risk individuals and help in preventing this infectious disease. This discovery is based on a long-term study of more than 20,000 cases at the Shandong Provincial Institute of Dermatology and Venereology in east China (Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-01/29/c_131381550.htm ).
The scientists at Edinburgh’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, who created Dolly, the sheep via cloning have made brain cells from a scrap of skin. They have created brain tissue from patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar depression and other mental illness (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/29/brain-cloning-breakthrough-mental-illness ).
Researchers in Western Australia say drinking at least eight cups of black leaf tea significantly cuts blood pressure (Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9046030/Drinking-eight-teas-a-day-cuts-blood-pressure-and-heart-disease.html ).
In a systematic review of forty nine studies covering sixteen medicines it was said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) frequently failed to make an impact on prescribing and clinical monitoring (Source: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/prsb0130.htm ).
In a recent research study, it was seen that more than fifty percent of the devotees coming to a temple in Sri Lanka were having infections with cutaneous larva migrans. The scientists claim that this increased prevalence may be due to the result of flooding subsequent to high rainfalls which brought with it dog feces infected with hook worms. During the temple rituals the devotees go barefoot to the temple and perform side roll, which increase their chances of getting this infection (Source: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030516 ).
Using the data on three groups of several thousand people born in Southern Brazil in 1982, 1993 or 2004, the scientists in their study found that there is no link between the children born by Cesarean section and their chances of becoming obese (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/29/us-c-section-idUSTRE80S0PC20120129 ).
One of the two trial for a drug, Varisolve, for the treatment of Varicose veins have been completed by the British pharmaceutical firm (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/btg-idUSL5E8CU0LT20120130 )
Researchers have identified thirty one regions of the human genome which are associated with the circulating metabolites. Many of them are the biomarkers for the cardiovascular disease or related disorders. This discovery might help the scientists to uncover or give valuable insight into the biological processes leading to these diseases (Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-genetic-metabolomic-biomarkers-paths.html ).
In a study, the researchers found how bacteria are successful in deceiving the effects of vaccine. They swap the region of their genome responsible for making the polysaccharide coating with the same region from a different serotype, which is not a target for vaccine. Thus the bacteria gets effectively disguised. This process is known as recombination (Source: http://truthdive.com/2012/01/30/How-bacteria-behind-serious-childhood-disease-evolve-to-evade-vaccines.html ).

Diseases & Disasters

A study conducted by Columbia and Yale universities to rank 132 countries on an Environmental Performance Index, India was ranked in having most toxic air in the world (Source: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/global-observer/indias-air-is-the-most-toxic-finds-yale-columbia-study/3470 ).
Peru drug rehabilitation center caught fire ion Saturday. At least 26 people are said to be killed (Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/01/29/12/least-26-killed-peru-drug-rehab-center-fire-officials ).
Bird Flu discovered in duck farm in Australia (Source: http://www.news.com.au/national/bird-flu-discovered-at-victorian-duck-farm/story-e6frfkvr-1226255590059 ).
In a study reported in the Journal of Urology, Arsenic concentrations are quite high in Antofagasta, Chile (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-chile-cancer-idUSTRE80N1YJ20120124 ).
Bird flu detected in some regions of Tripura, India (Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/others/bird-flu-tripura-culling-begins-583 ).
The United States have detained three shipments of Brazilian orange juice and six from Canada. They were tested positive for the fungicide carbendazim. This chemical is illegal in the US (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/us-fda-juice-idUSTRE80Q1MJ20120127 ).

May 12 was International Nurses Day.
USAID’s Frontlines magazine is running an exclusive interview with Dr.

Margaret Chan, the WHO Director-General, in which she discusses current global health priorities and systems strengthening.

Peoples-uni, an open-access education initiative, offers open-access resource and online learning materials for capacity-building in low- and middle-income countries.

POLICY

Excessive bleeding following childbirth is the leading cause of maternal deaths in the developing world, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has now approved the use of misoprostol, a drug that considerably reduces this risk.
Shanghai’s health authority and local hospitals are seeking to reduce the rate of births by cesarean section this year after a recent report showed that far more Shanghai women are undergoing the procedure than is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
For the fifth time, at next week’s WHO General Assembly, countries will debate whether or not to destroy the last two known stockpiles of smallpox.
The Director General of Nigeria’s drug and food regulator, Dr. Paul Orhii, was in London last week where he lodged a strong case before members states of the World Health Assembly to institute a legal platform to combat the spread of counterfeit drugs.

PROGRAMS

Humanosphere’s Tom Paulson writes that funding for childhood vaccinations is not keeping up with the need and is struggling to compete with more high-profile priorities.
The phenomenon of “poverty tourism” – in which charities and aid organizations take donors on trips to “experience poverty” and meet their beneficiary – is coming under increased scrutiny and generating controversy.
John Donnelly, writing in GlobalPost, characterizes the Obama Administration’s Global Health Initiative as off to “a slow, stumbling start” in a short series called “Healing the World.”
Last Wednesday, the WHO launched a campaign to reduce the huge but largely unrecognized burden of traffic deaths and injuries over the next decade.

RESEARCH

An HIV-positive person who takes anti-retroviral drugs after diagnosis, rather than when their health declines, can cut the risk of spreading the virus to uninfected partners by 96%, according to a study.
New research has revealed that a bacteria present in the gut of mosquitos may be another tool to fight the spread of malaria.
An experimental drug helped monkeys with a form of the Aids virus control the infection for more than a year, suggesting it may lead to a vaccine for people, or even a cure.
A study by US scientists, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that 400,000 females aged 15-49 were raped over a 12-month period in the DRC 2006 and 2007. That comes out to an average of 48 women and girls being raped every hour.
A new report by MSF argues that switching from using quinine to artesunate to treat malaria could save up to 200,000 lives a year.
A US study has suggested that homosexual men are more likely to have had cancer than heterosexual men.
According to the findings of the last Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, getting pregnant soon after childbearing, miscarriage or abortion places mothers and newborns at a higher risk of health complications or even death.
Results announced today by the United States National Institutes of Health show that if an HIV-positive person adheres to an effective antiretroviral therapy regimen, the risk of transmitting the virus to their uninfected sexual partner can be reduced by 96%.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

According to statistics released by the National Coordinator of the Nigeria’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), Dr. Babajide Coker, Nigeria contributes a quarter of the malaria burden in Africa, and a staggering 90 per cent of its citizens are at risk for contracting the disease.
Johnson & Johnson’s recalled at least 11,700 bottles of HIV/AIDS drug Prezista in several countries, after discovering trace amounts of a chemical emitting offensive odors in five batches of products sold in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and Canada.
In China, around 1.5 million people require organ transplants, but just 10,000 receive them each year, as few Chinese agree to donate their organs upon death. Illegal organ traffickers have stepped in to fill that gap.

TOTALLY UNRELATED TO ANYTHING ELSE: Princess Beatrice’s atrocious weird attention-grabbing hat, worn to the royal wedding, is now being auctioned on eBay for UNICEF and Children in Crisis. Um, yay?

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