Tag: sex-selective abortions

Global Health Weekly News Round-Up

by Vaani, posted in News

Politics and Policies:

  • House rejects bill to ban sex-selective abortions. It was a measure that sought to impose fines and prison terms on doctors who perform abortions on women who are trying to select the gender of their offspring.
  • The Agriculture department (US) has announced that it would expand testing for E.coli in raw beef trimmings.
  • California announces intent to award four medi-cal contracts to health net of California subsidiary.
  • Wolk’s flu bill passes Senate moves to assembly. This bill would require hospitals and clinics to reach a 90% vaccination rate among their health-care workers by 2015 or adopt masking requirement for those who decline flu shots.
  • Federal disability law does not cover medical marijuana patients. A panel of the appeals court threw out the patient’s lawsuit, which had charged that some California cities were violating the ADA by shuttering medical marijuana dispensaries.
  • Medical marijuana is legal in Connecticut. A law has been signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy approving its use, a measure that includes strict regulations in an attempt to any avoid problems. Qualifying patients and their primary caregivers would be able to possess a combined one-month supply of marijuana.
  • A ban that would impose a 16 ounce limit on any sugary bottled or fountain drinks that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces in New city restaurants, delis and movie theaters was proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Programs:

  • World Health Organization (WHO) award for reproductive health was given out at the 65th World Health Assembly in Geneva.  It was awarded to four countries- Rwanda, Nepal, Malawi, Ethiopia and Yemen.
  • Norway will provide up to NOK 500 million over a five year period for health in developing countries, which will be used to help women and babies through childbirth and the critical first 24 hours after delivery.
  • The first pilot waste water treatment plant with integrated wood production opened in Mongolia. It is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Model region Mongolia (MoMo) project.

 Research

  • According to a recent study, people suffering from pneumonia with high blood sugar level are at a greater risk of death. The team found that those with diabetes had highest risk (14%) followed by those with hyperglycemia not diabetes (10%) and those without diabetes and normal glucose levels had lowest rates (3%).
  • In a recent study, researchers found that taking common painkillers might reduce chances of getting skin cancer.
  • Consumption of oil rich Mediterranean foods such as fish and sea food helps to improve physical and mental well-being.
  • Global research team yields new health insights into different types of trans fats. The findings strengthen the evidence that unlike industrial Trans fats, natural trans fats produced by ruminant animals are not harmful and have an health enhancing potential.
  • Soon a breath test will help to detect deadly tuberculosis bacteria in 6 minutes. However the doctors say that it cannot replace the sputum test which will remain the gold standard.
  • Researchers from Melbourne’s Burnet Institute said that reducing the prevalence of the disease among the drug users could also lead to a drop in infections across the wider populations.
  • Breakthrough drug may extend life of women suffering from deadly breast cancer. According to the daily mail newspaper it could be available in Britain within a year if it passes regulatory checks.
  • According to a research released last week, a drug already approved for prostate cancer has been shown to slow the spread of advance forms of this disease. In the patients treated with drug, the cancer did not worsen for 16 months as compared to 8.3 months in the group that did not receive this drug.
  • Premature babies are 4.5 times more likely to suffer from severe mental health problems. The study reveals that those born after just seven months in the womb or earlier are at highest risk compared with full-term babies.
  • According to a recent study a link between poor asthma control and eczema was seen among Brazilian urban children.
  • A study indicates that allergies (specifically allergies to plants, grass and trees) are linked to higher cancer risk. The researchers say that these allergies cause inflammation which may lead to an overactive immune system- and that over activity can in turn lead to blood cancer.

Diseases & Disasters

  • 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Panama’s pacific coast. There are no reports of injuries or deaths and no tsunami is expected.
  • A strong earth tremor of 5.1 magnitude hit northern Italy on Sunday. This area was struck by the deadly quakes in the last two weeks.
  • Measles outbreak in west Cork concerns Irish health officials. The Health Service Executive (HSE) is advising patients to vaccinate their children against viral disease.
  • Tuberculosis infected beef sold in Edo (Benin). On inspection it was seen that it has nodular lesions which enveloped on the surface of the various organs of the slaughtered cow.
  • A new strain of flu is likely to spread through Australia. It is likely to replace swine flu that emerged in 2009. Flu shots are available for people aged 65 and older, pregnant women, people with chronic disease as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
  • Bird flu found in 21 poultry farms out of 85 in Bangladesh this year.
  • Hong Kong officials have confirmed H5N1 strain of avian influenza. They have confirmed it being the first human case of bird flu since November 2010 in Hong Kong.
  • Greek crisis spurs epidemic of suicides and mental illness.
  • New Mexico man is the first human plague case in the U.S. this year. The department of health press release has confirmed that the man is infected with Yersinia pestis.

 

 

 

Global Health News Last Week

by ihsection, posted in News

POLITICS AND POLICY

  • South Africa’s government has set out its plans to introduce a universal health care scheme with a pilot program in 10 areas by 2012 and nationally over the next 14 years.
  • The U.N. must make reducing salt intake a global health priority, sayUK scientists. Writing in the British Medical Journal they say a 15% cut in consumption could save 8.5 million lives around the world over the next decade.
  • IRIN reports on the story of Daniel Ng’etich, a Kenyan man who was arrested and jailed for not continuing his TB treatment.
  • Dr. Jill Biden is leading a high level American delegation toKenya, which includes Raj Shah, to look into the American response to the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa.
  • A report on the state of maternal health in South Africa by Human Rights Watch has uncovered some alarming trends.

PROGRAMS

  • WHO has launched a new website to help those combating malnutrition. eLENA, a new e-library, gathers together evidence-informed guidelines for an expanding list of nutrition interventions. It is a single point of reference for the latest nutrition guidelines, recommendations and related information.

RESEARCH

  • A TB vaccine designed for those with HIV enters phase IIb trials this week in Senegal. The vaccine works by boosting response of T cells already stimulated by the traditional BCG vaccine.
  • Female smokers are more at risk for heart disease than male smokers, finds a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Lancet.  This is a concern, as smoking rates are increasing in young women worldwide.
  • Scientists are in the second phase of research into using microwaves to kill malaria parasites in mice.
  • A USC researcher has developed a lentiviral vector that can track down HIV infected cells which can potentially act as a marker for targeted elimination of infected cells.
  • People living with HIV who receive the proper ARV treatment have no greater risk of death compared to people without HIV, finds Danish researchers.
  • Around 30 genetic risk factors for developing multiple sclerosis have been discovered by a UK-led team.
  • A new study, showing that a simple blood test can accurately determine the sex of a fetus 95 percent of the time, is great news for parents at high risk of having a baby with rare genetic diseases. But it is bad news to those concerned that the tests could be used to abort a fetus based on gender.
  • British researchers have discovered that the introduction of spermless male mosquitoes can lead to fewer malaria carrying females.
  • A device which can test blood for HIV/AIDS in a matter of minutes has been developed by University of Columbia scientists.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

  • As if it did not have enough problems already, Somalia is now facing cholera epidemic, World Health Organization officials said.
  • In an August 4 article, Trustlaw’s Lisa Anderson exposes the “silent health emergency” faced by child brides around the globe.  Not yet physically mature, they face grave danger in childbirth, due to narrow pelvises. Girls younger than 15 years of age have a five times greater risk of dying during delivery than women over 20; most of these deaths occur in developing countries that lack adequate and accessible pre- and postnatal care.
  • Amid contradictory government statistics, a volunteer group in Japan has recorded 500,000 radiation points across the country.
  • A Mexican teenager is the first officially known person to die from vampire bat induced human rabies infection. The 19-year-old victim was a migrant farm worker in theUnited States.
  • An estimated 500,000 people in West Africaare infected with lassa fever every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, amid calls for more money to be spent on preventing its spread.
  • Over at Global Pulse, Human Rights Watch researcher Katherine Todrys guest blogs on the HIV epidemic in Uganda’s penitentiaries.Uganda, she explains, has often been presented as a success story in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, and has received over $1 billion from the US for AIDS programs. Many HIV-positive Ugandans have been excluded from these efforts, though, including gay men, drug users, sex workers, and prisoners.
  • Sleep apnea, a fairly common and treatable disorder that causes people to stop breathing momentarily while they sleep, may lead to cognitive impairment and even dementia.
  • Although cases of sexual violence have been under-counted during some wars, during others, such as the ongoing unrest in Libya, they have been vastly over-counted.
  • All patients getting cancer treatment should be told to do two and a half hours of physical exercise every week, says a report by Macmillan Cancer Support.