World Health Organization Says Research Articles

Costs of Fallacy Mind to the Global Economics

Costs of Fallacy Mind to the Global Economics

Analysis of Impact of Use of Incident Thickness in Pregnant Woman in Area of Malaria (Gunung Raja Mentawe Village Districts of Tanah Bumbu South Borneo)

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by parasites. Plasmodium that lives and breeds in human red blood cells. The disease is naturally transmitted through the female Anopheles mosquito bites. Transmission of malaria is similar to infectious disease transmission in general that is determined by factors called host (human and Anopheles mosquitoes), agent (parasite plasmodium) and environment (physical, chemical, biological and social). Malaria is a world health problem, especially for tropical countries and subtropics, the World Health Organization (WHO) says 40% or more than 2, 400 million people live in malaria endemic areas and estimates of prevalence between 300–500 million clinical cases each year, reported deaths of 1–1.5 million people per year. Malaria infection especially in pregnancy is very detrimental to the mother and fetus it contains, because this infection can increase the incidence of morbidity and mortality of mother and fetus. Complications of malaria in pregnant women such as anemia, hypoglycemia, cerebral malaria, pulmonary edema, placental infection, acute renal failure, puerperal sepsis and post partum bleeding, can even lead to death. The mortality rate of malaria in pregnant women with complication of hypogklikemia is 45–75%, whereas malaria of celebral have mortality 20–50%. South Kalimantan is among the top 10 provinces with the highest API. One of the districts in South Kalimantan that includes malaria endemic area is Tanah Bumbu Regency with an API of 7.4%. In Kabupaten Tanah Bumbu there are 2 sub-districts that are still malaria endemic namely Mentewe sub-district (API 12, 2%). Respondents from this study were pregnant women who used insecticide-treated bed nets. The results showed that the use of insecticide treated bed nets in pregnant women was influenced by the attitude of pregnant mother (sig.0, 033), while knowledge (sig 0, 614), body weight (sig.0, 163) and maternal anemia status (Sig 0, 362) against the use of mosquito nets

WHO shuns use of antibiotics in healthy animals

Farmers and the food industry should stop using antibiotics for growth promotion and disease prevention in food-producing animals, the World Health Organization says in new recommendations. The guidelines, released Nov. 7, call for slashing the use of all classes of medically important antibiotics in animals that have not been diagnosed with a disease. The recommendations aim to combat antibiotic resistance and “preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics that are important for human medicine.” Antibiotics should be given to healthy animals to prevent disease only when other animals on the same farm have been diagnosed with a disease, WHO says. The U.S. Department of Agriculture disagrees with the WHO recommendations, claiming they are “not supported by sound science.” The U.S. Food & Drug Administration allows the use of antibiotics for “treating, controlling, and preventing disease in food-producing animals under the professional oversight of licensed veterinarians,” says USDA’s acting chief scientist, Ch...

Head of World Health Organization says nurses are key to universal healthcare.

The new director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has affirmed his support for nursing, promising to have a regular dialogue with nurse leaders.

Should experimental drugs be used in the Ebola outbreak?

Nature examines the risks and benefits of unproven Ebola treatments, as World Health Organization says it is ethical to use them in West African crisis.

Quality of Antenatal care services in eastern Uganda: implications for interventions

INTRODUCTION: More efforts need to be directed to improving the quality of maternal health in developing countries if we are to keep on track with meeting the fifth millennium development goal. The World Health Organization says developing countries account for over 90% of maternal deaths of which three fifths occur in Sub-Saharan African countries like Uganda. Abortion, obstetric complications such as hemorrhage, dystocia, eclampsia, and sepsis are major causes of maternal deaths here. Good quality Antenatal Care (ANC) provides opportunity to detect and respond to risky maternal conditions. This study assessed quality of ANC services in eastern Uganda with a goal of benchmarking implications for interventions. METHODS: Data was collected from 15 health facilities in Eastern Uganda to establish capacity of delivering ANC services. Observation checklists were used to assess structural components and completeness of the ANC consultation process among 291 women attending it. Lastly, structured exit-interviews were conducted to assess satisfaction of patients. Data analysis was done in STATA Version 10. RESULTS: There was an overall staffing gap of over 40%, while infection control facilities, drugs and supplies were inadequate. However, there was good existence of physical infrastructure and diagnostic equipment for ANC services. It was observed that counseling for risk factors and birth preparedness was poorly done; in addition essential tests were not done for the majority of clients. CONCLUSIONS: To improve the quality of ANC, interventions need to improve staffing, infection control facilities and drug-supplies. In addition to better counseling for risk factor-recognition and birth preparedness.

Antitobacco programs underfunded, WHO says

Tobacco control programs remain “seriously underfunded” worldwide, despite increases in revenue-generating tobacco taxes, the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals in its third report on the global tobacco epidemic. The big picture of the epidemic remains largely “unchanged,” the WHO says

The weight of affluence

A multicultural field gathered at 07:00 for the start of the recent Abu Dhabi half marathon. Runners from Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom, to name but a few of the countries represented, took their marks. Yet of the 306 runners who made it back to the Golf and Equestrian Club, not one was from the United Arab Emirates. Chris Collier, from the Abu Dhabi Striders Club, which organizes the annual event, puts the absence of local entrants down to the lack of an exercise culture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We're definitely not just a club for expats, Collier, an Englishman, explained. We welcome all nationalities and in the past have given young Emiratis the chance to join us on our weekly runs, but we have had little response. He adds: is no culture of running here in the UAE. Why would you get willingly hot and bothered in this sort of heat? The low levels of exercise, along with a taste for fast foods laden with carbohydrates, salt, fat and processed sugar is cause for increasing concern about the nation's health. In 2000 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that over 50% of men and women in the UAE were overweight or obese. These rates are also increasing in other countries in the region. [WHO defines overweight as a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 25 kg/[m.sup.2] and obesity as a BMI equal to or greater than 30 kg/[m.sup.2].] In 2008, the Department of Nutrition and Health at UAE University reported that about a quarter of children aged between eight and 12 were overweight. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Where there is obesity, diabetes follows. In 2000 WHO reported that 13.5% of the UAE population was diabetic, the second-highest prevalence of the disease in the world; this figure is expected to rise to 19.3% by 2030. Of course, the UAE is not alone in facing these problems. WHO says obesity has reached alarming numbers globally. In 2005 it estimated that 1.6 billion adults were overweight, of whom at least 400 million were obese. But it is the rapidity with which these problems have taken hold in the UAE where less than half a century ago the people--nomadic Bedouin desert farmers and coastal dwellers involved in pearling and sea trade--still subsisted on a diet of fish, rice, bread, dates, yogurt, homegrown vegetables and meat from sheep, goats and camels. Oil production, which started in the 1960s, has triggered massive population growth and urbanization and an attendant change in lifestyle. However, obesity and related illness in the UAE are not exclusive to the country's nationals, who account for less than 20% of the population. The country's development relies heavily on expatriate labour, mainly from Bangladesh, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Dr Ayoub Al Jawaldeh, regional adviser on nutrition at WHO's Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO), says people have become victims of their affluence. are spoiled by their high incomes, he says. have a driver, a maid to do their housework and they enjoy eating at They also watch at least three hours of TV a day, more in summer. People used to cook at home. Now we have delivery services from any number of restaurants. Al Jawaldeh says food portions have become too big. Low levels of exercise and overeating the wrong foods--all this has led to increasing obesity. It starts early in childhood. There is no control of the food in the school canteens where they sell fast food and soft drinks. Of course, this is not something linked to the UAE alone, but in Europe and the United States of America, people realize they need to change their diet and lifestyle. There isn't that same awareness in this part of the world. While he cites a lack of health awareness among the public, there are signs of urgency among government officials in tackling the problem. …

Briefly

Electronic cigarettes: The World Health Organization says there is no evidentiary basis for concluding that so-called electronic cigarettes — stainless steel devices that dispense a heated liquid nicotine mist which is absorbed by the lungs — are a “safe and effective” smoking cessation aid

Big pharma and good corporate citizenship

The World Health Organization says that improving access to important and lifesaving medicines could save as many as 10 million lives a year. Yet in a world where a billion people live on less than $1 a day, and important medicines consume a growing portion of the incomes of the planet's most

THE OTHER DRUG FOR AVIAN FLU

AS THINGS STAND, IF AN AVIAN FLU pandemic breaks out before a vaccine has been developed, the first line of defense is Roche's much-ballyhooed antiviral drug, Tamiflu. As a second choice, doctors will turn to GlaxoSrnidiKline's Relenza, a drug that is more expensive and harder to obtain. In the freewheeling drugstores of Hong Kong, pharmacists have seen neither Tamiflu nor Relenza for several months. The local agents for GSK and Roche no longer deliver the drugs to private drugstores, pharmacists say. But whereas drugstore managers expect Tamiflu to soon become available again in local shops, they aren't holding their breath for Relenza. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that oseltamivir and zanamivir—Tamiflu and Relenza, respectively, by their generic names—have proven effective in reducing the severity and duration of the seasonal flu. Therefore, the drugs may improve the prospects of survival [from avian flu}, if administered early, the agency says. Peter Cordingley, a Manila-based ...

Pig Flu Scare-Case Closed?

The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes that the results of a new study will put to rest suspicions that pigs in South Korea have become infected with a potentially dangerous flu strain. Last fall, Sang Heui Seo of Chungnam National University in Daejeon, Korea, deposited flu sequences in GenBank that suggested that Korean pigs carried WSN/33, a flu strain widely used in labs but not known to occur in nature. Several experts and WHO dismissed the findings as the result of lab contamination ( Science , 4 March, p. [1392][1]); now, Yoshi Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his colleagues have tested 400 samples from two Korean pig farms, WHO says, and found no trace of WSN/33. Seo declined to comment. Henry Niman, a business owner in Philadelphia who backs Seo's claim, says Kawaoka's study wasn't broad enough to refute the theory. But, says WHO flu expert Klaus Stohr, “we've spent too much time on these speculations already.” [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.307.5714.1392

WHO says health and environment go together

The health sector should take its rightful place at the core of the sustainable development agenda, Gro Harlem Brundtland, director‐general of the World Health Organization (WHO), told attendees at the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London, England, on June 16.Brundtland listed a series of major challenges to health and the environment on a global and regional basis. These challenges include the lack of adequate water supplies for one billion people worldwide and lack of proper sanitation facilities for three billion people, and at least one‐half million deaths worldwide each year due to outdoor air pollution.

Allopurinol treatment for protozoan infections?

The newest antiprotozoan agent on the horizon may be allopurinol, an oral xanthine oxidase inhibitor already widely used clinically for treating hyperuricemia. So far, it has been shown to be effective in culture against species of Leishmania and against Trypanosoma cruzi . Investigators say the drug works because these protozoa have a fatal flaw—unique enzyme systems that transform allopurinol into a toxic adenine analogue. J. Joseph Marr, MD, of St Louis concedes that leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis are likely to be diagnosed only in newcomers to the United States. But he points out that they affect several hundred million people around the world and are two of the five diseases that the World Health Organization says are in most urgent need of attention. Marr is director, Section of Infectious Diseases, in the Department of Medicine at St Louis University School of Medicine. His interest in exploring the antiprotozoan effects of allopurinol began