Tag: health

Rural India Has a Diabetes Problem

South India has a higher rate of diabetes compared to North India, possibly due to its partiality towards white rice, which has a high glycaemic index. | Picture courtesy: Total Health
  • Opinion by Sweta Akundi
  • Inter Press Service

May 10 (IPS) – At a healthcare clinic in Thodathara, a village in the Thavanampalle mandal near Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, Dr Vijay Kumar calls in his next patient. “He is the most disciplined man I know,” Dr Kumar says with a hint of pride.

Reddyappa Reddy walks in and takes the seat opposite Dr Kumar. “Ten years ago I found out I have diabetes. I took Dr Kumar’s advice. Today, I walk up and down the lengths of a mango farm every day after dinner,” says Reddyappa, who is in his sixties. Dr Kumar adds that Reddy is an inspiration to the other patients at the clinic.

The numbers game

In 2013, Apollo Foundation’s Total Health initiative conducted a household survey of 195 villages and 32 gram panchayats in the Thavanampalle mandal. We screened 31,453 people for health data and found that 6.2 percent had diabetes. In addition, 16.7 percent of men and 12.2 percent of women were obese, a risk factor for diabetes.

Today, the numbers in the mandal have shot up, with 10.1 percent of the people suffering from diabetes. This is still less than the national average; diabetes in rural and urban India grew from 2.4 percent and 3.3 percent respectively in 1972 to 15 percent and 19 percent in 2015, according to a 2021 meta-analysis published in Annals of Epidemiology.

At 74.7 million people living with the disease, India is home to the second largest population of people with diabetes (after China). While the prevalence of diabetes is twice as high in urban India as compared to rural areas, Total Health has chalked it out to be one of the biggest causes of concern in Thavanampalle mandal, where its work primarily lies.

“I saw 600 people last month, of whom 200 had diabetes,” says Dr V Bhargav, who heads a mobile clinic unit. Most people who get diabetes are above the age of 50. Compare this to the national numbers:

A 2009 study found that of the people living with diabetes, 54 percent develop it before reaching 50 years of age. The same study says that the onset of diabetes among Indians is about a decade earlier than their Western counterparts.

Change in rural diet

“The environment in rural India is changing, starting from what we eat,” says Dr T Swarna, who heads a satellite clinic in Thavanampalle.

In 2016, the authors of a study conducted in Krishnagiri in Northwest Tamil Nadu identified the primary factors that “have catalysed dietary changes leading to rising prevalence of diabetes”. Of course, there is the increased availability of ‘city foods’ such as sugar-laden sodas and sweets, as well as trans-fat-laced chips and bakery goods.

But, more significantly, the availability of free polished rice at ration shops through the public distribution system (PDS) makes it the staple food of the region.

Less than 150 km from Krishnagiri, in Thavanampalle, doctors have observed a similar shift to rice as the staple. South India has a higher rate of diabetes compared to North India, possibly due to its partiality towards white rice, which has a high glycaemic index. When eaten as kanji (rice porridge) with the water it is cooked in, the starchy rice meal spikes blood sugar levels.

“The local feeling is that you are not full until you have had a rice meal,” says Dr M Gayathri, who heads our AYUSH clinic in Aragonda. The main aim is to keep hunger at bay, because not many people have the luxury of eating meat and fruit. Seasonal vegetables are affordable, but most plates are filled with rice and just a small portion of vegetables.

A rice meal is filling and cheap. “Farm labourers who leave for work at eight in the morning want a heavy meal that lasts through the day,” says Dr Bhargav. Wheat is not locally grown, so rotis are not commonly eaten. Dr Swarna adds, “People believe chapatis cause heat in the body when had in the morning.”

Rice is replacing millets such as ragi, which used to be popular in Thavanampalle. “We still make ragi balls, but the ratio of ragi to rice flour (2:1) has reversed because of changing tastes,” says Dr Bhargav.

Reddy is conscious of this. He says, “I include as many green, leafy vegetables in my meals as possible and have completely cut down on tea (most villages sweeten tea heavily).” However, he still depends on the PDS and can’t afford brown rice or red rice that were once regular traditional foods but have now become trendy ‘urban foods’, which has pushed up their prices.

“Before the Green Revolution in India, there were a hundred different varieties of rice in our diet,” says Jayanthi Somasundaram, head of Spirit of the Earth in Chennai (which promotes heritage rice), pointing to varieties such as thooyamalli, kaatuyanam, and mapillai champa.

“Until the 1950s to ‘60s, there was a conception that white rice, consumed by the elite, was superior. For the middle class, who would have millets, white rice became aspirational,” she says. Krishna Prasad, founder of the Karnataka-based Sahaja Samrudha, adds that as milling technology improved, the more polished rice became, and the more aromatic and of higher quality it seemed to people.

He recalls the Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh in the 1960s: “Before it became popular for cash crops such as cotton and groundnut, the area, with its saline soil, used to grow many varieties of red rice.”

Over the years, diet isn’t the only thing that has changed, says R Indrani, another Thodathara resident living with diabetes. “I think the change in the crops we grow has also affected our lifestyle,” she says. Thavanampalle has traditionally been famous for its sugarcane fields and the jaggery it produced. She adds, “We used to have a sugarcane field as well. But now there are very few of them left. Like most farmers here, we shifted to cultivating 10 acres of mango.

Unlike sugarcane, which requires constant water and labour, the work in mango fields is seasonal and less intensive.” The doctors at Total Health suspect that this reduction in physical activity combined with changing diets could be one of the contributing factors to diabetes. “I can’t eat the mangoes I grow,” Indrani says with an ironic laugh.

Screening for diabetes

Indrani found out she has diabetes only a year ago when she attended an eye screening camp. “People here are not that keen on regular testing. Unless they can physically see that there is a problem, such as frequent urination, they won’t come. Their attitude is not preventative,” says Dr Gayathri.

“Often, when they first come to us, their blood glucose level is already at 11 percent (the normal level is 6.5 percent). They could have had diabetes for many years but they may have just not known it,” says Dr Swarna.

In fact, about one in every two Indians in the 15–49 age group living with diabetes is unaware of their condition, according to a study conducted by the Public Health Foundation of India in 2019. Of those aware, only a quarter have it under control. The study also found that rural men are more susceptible to diabetes.

“One fear we see among people is the idea that once they start medication, they will have to continue taking it for a lifetime. People here don’t like becoming dependent on medicines,” says Dr Gayathri.

Doctors are unanimous in their view that the focus must be on pre-diabetes—its prevention and control. On the preventive health front, a traditional kitchen revival, where a more diverse diet is practised, and rice does not form the centrepiece, may help.

The more difficult challenge is the attitudinal shift towards movement. In Thavanampalle, as in many rural and urban areas in India, physical work is linked with class hierarchy. The more prosperous a family gets, the more help they can afford and the less functional their movements become.

Additionally, it is important to manage low- to moderate-risk diabetes in people to prevent it from turning into something more serious. As seen in the results of the national NCD survey conducted this year, adequate screening, conducting regular health camps, and increasing awareness about diabetes as a lifestyle disease is how people who have not yet got the disease can prevent it.

Sweta Akundi is a content writer for Apollo Foundation, where she brings out stories from the villages of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

New international partnerships needed to boost healthcare in Syria — Global Issues

The online meeting was held ahead of a European Union conference next week to ensure ongoing international support for Syria and neighbouring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees. 

The needs inside Syria are staggering. This year, 12.2 million people will require health services, including some 4.4 million who are internally displaced, according to an emergency appeal launched by the World Health Organization (WHO).   

Challenges to health delivery 

“The delivery of health services to those most in need remains extremely challenging; not only due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also because more than half the healthcare facilities have closed or function partially,” said Dr. Akjamal Makhtumova, the agency’s Representative to Syria.  

WHO hosted the virtual meeting, together with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). 

Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Director of WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, said keeping global attention on Syria can be a challenge, given that the war has raged for more than a decade and other crises continue to emerge, including the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict. 

“While it’s true – television crews that once documented children pulled from rubble and hospitals bombed into ruins aren’t documenting Syria’s plight as they once were – the suffering of the Syrian people still exists,” he said. 

Dr. Al-Mandhari recently concluded a mission to Syria.  He shared heartbreaking examples of suffering, including the story of a single mother of two blind boys who waited two years for heart surgery. 

Syria has lost over half of its medical professionals since the war started, and hospital equipment is stretched. 

Healing and empowering 

Dr. Al-Mandhari said WHO is collaborating with partners “to heal Syria and empower it to become a country of peace and prosperity – to build resilient communities, protect health rights and reduce social inequities”. 

He underscored how improving health in Syria aligns with global efforts to achieve sustainable development that benefits all people and the planet. 

This requires new international cooperation that would sustain both the resilience and health of the Syrian people, with focus placed on areas such as investment, knowledge sharing, policy and legislation. 

“Equitable and peaceful future of Syria depends on the renewed commitment of the international community, member states and partners,” he said.  “We need new multilateralism towards attaining health for the people of Syria and ensuring social and economic stability, and shared prosperity.”  

End the suffering 

While acknowledging the enormous needs and suffering, Dr. Al-Mandhari said he returned from Syria with optimism, pointing to signs of resilience and hope. 

“Despite scarce financial and human resources, I also saw medical professionals moving mountains to serve their people. Despite the pain I felt, I met the wonderful people behind these devastating numbers,” he said. 

“Let us not forget the Syrian people. Let us end their suffering. Let us give them our attention, especially now when the declining socio-economic situation has left millions in need for help.”



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

COVID has ‘pushed back’ democracy, Ukraine war further raises risks — Global Issues

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will effect food security on the continent, both through availability and pricing of imported food, along with rising uncertainties in global financial markets and supply chains.

Russia and Ukraine, both often referred to as the world’s breadbasket, are major players in the export of wheat and sunflower to Africa.

Between them, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa, account for 80 per cent of all wheat imports, which are projected to reach 76.5 million tonnes by 2025.

‘Immense discontent’

At a media briefing in Geneva on the impacts on Africa of the war in Ukraine, Ahunna Eziakonwa, Director of the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Africa bureau, said that the COVID-19 pandemic had already created “immense discontent” across the continent.

COVID has pushed tens of millions of people into poverty and “pushed back” democracy in parts of Africa, she added.

Greatest challenges

The pandemic has also complicated efforts to overcome insecurity and violence, the UNDP regional director continued, referring to the violent extremism and climate shocks that have destabilized vast areas of the Sahel region in recent years.

Drawing attention to the “global pandemic that upended the world and changed it forever, the bureau chief said, “we have never experienced greater pressure and challenge in our ability to sustain peace and development and a healthy planet, as we experience today.”

“We saw how COVID-19 complicated the effort to maintain or to overcome the insecurity that’s created by many forces including violent extremism and the impact of this, the consequence, affected live and livelihoods but also creating an immense discontent about the population which is led to a regression in democracy”.

It has also resulted in a surge of “pre-existing conditions, rising poverty and inequality,” she added.

‘Unprecedented crisis’

UNDP’s senior Africa economist Raymond Gilpin, noted that the continent’s dependence on imports of food, fuel, medicines and consumer goods made it particularly vulnerable to rising global inflation.

Describing the situation as an “an unprecedented crisis for the continent, he explained that Africa is facing a trifecta of “ongoing effects of COVID…newly felt effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and…climate related challenges and pressures”.

“As the cost of fuel becomes more expensive, energy sources, energy prices, don’t fall in African countries, we are going to see millions of households going back to unsustainable energy sources, and this in many fragile environments, in particular looking at places like the Sahel,” Mr. Gilpin said.

“We are going to see a lot more deforestation and a roll back of a significant progress that had been made in the greening of the Sahel.”

Moreover, tensions would likely rise, with a “distinct possibility” of spilling over into violent protests, he added.

UN chief’s visit

Meanwhile, during a visit to Senegal last Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “when discussing the socio-economic situation, it is impossible not to mention the war in Ukraine and its impact on Africa,” which was aggravating a “triple food, energy and financial crisis” across the African continent.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Give Edible Insects a Chance as an Alternative High-Quality Protein Source, say Scientists — Global Issues

A variety of insect-based delicacies. It is estimated that 2.5 billion people around the world eat insects as part of their regular diet. Encouraging the eating of insects could have health and climate change benefits. Credit: icipe
  • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
  • Inter Press Service

Nairobi, May 06 (IPS) – Growing up in Samoya Village of Bungoma County in the Western part of Kenya, Elvis Wanjala has fond childhood memories of the rainy season, chasing and catching black-bellied winged termites in the rain.

“The termites would also come inside the house, attracted by the light late in the evening. My mother would sun-dry the termites and pan-fry them. We would then eat the crunchy termites with ugali (posho) and a serving of traditional vegetables,” he recounts.

“I grew up believing that everybody ate termites. At 11 years, I visited my uncle in Nairobi and was shocked to find that termites were more of a nuisance than food. One morning after a heavy downpour, I watched in awe as women and girls swept termites from their doorsteps and threw them in the bin.”

Beatrice Karare from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries tells IPS termites, and other insects such as grasshoppers, locusts, black and white ants, and crickets are part of traditional diets in Western Kenya, but not so in other parts of the country.

But with rising inflation, scientists at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) say edible insects are a low-cost alternative to more expensive foods. The Kenyan ‘food basket’ indicates that food inflation rose by 20 percent in January 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Pan-dried desert grasshoppers. Credit: icipe

Dr Saliou Niassy, a scientist from icipe, tells IPS edible insects contain high-quality protein, vitamins, fibre, calcium, iron, B vitamins, selenium, zinc, and amino acids and are also an excellent source of healthy fats.

Insect oil produced through an icipe research project from two edible insects – the desert locust and the African bush-cricket – was richer in omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, and Vitamin E than the plant oil.

Niassy says as this East African nation grapples with increasing threats to food security such as “climate change, landscape degradation and pest invasion, edible insects are a viable and affordable alternative.” It is projected that Africa’s annual food import bill of  $35 billion could rise to $110 billion by 2025.

A survey conducted by icipe shows there are an estimated 500 species of edible insects in African communities. The Central African region is home to approximately 256 edible insect species. East Africa hosts about 100 species, and about eight species are available in North Africa. An estimated 17 primary species are used for feed and food in Kenya.

“We have had two main challenges as far as increasing consumption of insects is concerned, a lack of legislation around the production, packaging, and marketing of insects for food and strong perceptions that dictate what is culturally acceptable as food. There are also strong beliefs that you must be very poor to eat insects,” Karare explains.

Karare says some of these issues were resolved in December 2020 when Kenya became the first African country to develop national standards regulating the production, handling, and processing of insects for food and feed.

Included in the regulation are stipulations of the necessary minimum infrastructural and environmental requirements necessary for the ideal production of edible insects, including how they are packaged and presented.

Wanjala, now a teacher based in Nairobi, says communities that do not eat insects and children could be slowly introduced to insect products such as biscuits “so that the idea of eating insects can slowly sink in. When it comes to eating whole insects, I find that people are also more likely to try dry-fried, crunchy insects.”

Despite the challenges of creating a viable and attractive market for insects, Karare is convinced that insects can be part of the diet in many homes, drawing parallels with the journey of Kenyans embracing traditional vegetables.

“A few years ago, highly nutritious traditional vegetables were eaten by a few communities. In Central Kenya, for instance, Amaranthus was considered to be food for poor people. Today, Amaranthus is a popular delicacy and part of the menu in five-star hotels. The same with pumpkin leaves,” Karare observes.

“We need to educate the people that edible insects can add nutrients to a plant-based meal. More importantly, insects can even nutritionally replace meat.”

These are pan-dried nsenene. Researchers say edible insects provide low-cost alternative protein. Credit: icipe

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated 2.5 billion people eat insects as part of their regular meals, whole or in processed food products such as snacks and pasta. Karare says the global edible insect market estimated at $112 million in 2019, could reach $1.5 billion by 2026.

There are approximately 1,900 edible species globally, including butterflies, cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, ants, bees, dragonflies, beetles, domestic silk moths, centipedes and locusts.

According to FAO, turning to insects is not only good for the body but highly environment friendly and could contribute to reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases. The livestock sector contributes significantly to climate change as total emissions from global livestock represent 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Cattle reared for beef and milk and inedible outputs such as manure and draft power account for 65 percent of the livestock sector’s emissions. Producing insects for food is yet another alternative to reducing the emission of harmful greenhouse gases, the FAO says.

Crickets need six times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and half as much as pigs and broiler chickens to produce the same amount of protein. Additionally, insect-based products are found to have a much smaller carbon footprint in comparison to conventional livestock.

With these revelations, Niassy says there is a lot more to learn and benefit from, “we have just scratched the surface in terms of sustainable access to biodiversity for resilience, livelihood, food and nutritional security in Africa.”

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

The Shocking Extent of Exploitative Baby Formula Milk Marketing — Global Issues

The global formula milk industry, valued at some 55 billion US dollars, is targeting new mothers with personalised social media content that is often not recognisable as advertising. Photo by Lucy Wolski on Unsplash
  • by Baher Kamal (madrid)
  • Inter Press Service

MADRID, May 06 (IPS) – The world’s leading health and children specialised organisations have once again sounded the alarm bell about what they classify as “shocking, insidious, exploitative, aggressive, misleading and pervasive” marketing tricks used by the baby formula milk business with the sole aim of increasing, even more, their already high profits.

On this, the World Health Organization (WHO) at the end of April this year explained that formula milk companies are paying social media platforms and influencers to gain direct access to pregnant women and mothers at some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives.

The global formula milk industry, valued at some 55 billion US dollars, is targeting new mothers with personalised social media content that is often not recognisable as advertising.

The new WHO report titled Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breast-milk substitutes has outlined the digital marketing techniques designed to influence the decisions new families make on how to feed their babies.

Business buys, collects personal information

“Through tools like apps, virtual support groups or ‘baby-clubs’, paid social media influencers, promotions and competitions and advice forums or services, formula milk companies can buy or collect personal information and send personalised promotions to new pregnant women and mothers.”

The report summarises findings of new research that sampled and analysed 4 million social media posts about infant feeding published between January and June 2021 using a commercial social listening platform.

These posts reached 2.47 billion people and generated more than 12 million likes, shares or comments.

Three times as much

Formula milk companies post content on their social media accounts around 90 times per day, reaching 229 million users; representing three times as many people as are reached by informational posts about breastfeeding from non-commercial accounts.

This pervasive marketing is increasing purchases of breast-milk substitutes and therefore dissuading mothers from breastfeeding exclusively as recommended by WHO.

“The promotion of commercial milk formulas should have been terminated decades ago,” said Dr Francesco Branca, Director of the WHO Nutrition and Food Safety department.

More and more powerful marketing techniques

“The fact that formula milk companies are now employing even more powerful and insidious marketing techniques to drive up their sales is inexcusable and must be stopped.”

The report compiled evidence from social listening research on public online communications and individual country reports of research that monitors breast-milk substitute promotions, as well as drawing on a recent multi-country study of mothers’ and health professionals’ experiences of formula milk marketing.

The studies show how misleading marketing reinforces myths about breastfeeding and breast milk and undermines women’s confidence in their ability to breastfeed successfully.

Blatant breaches of law

The proliferation of global digital marketing of formula milk blatantly breaches the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (the Code), which was adopted by the 1981 World Health Assembly.

The Code is a landmark public health agreement designed to protect the general public and mothers from aggressive marketing practices by the baby food industry that negatively impact breastfeeding practices.

“Despite clear evidence that exclusive and continued breastfeeding are key determinants of improved lifelong health for children, women and communities, far too few children are breastfed as recommended. If current formula milk marketing strategies continue, that proportion could fall still further, boosting companies’ profits.”

Industry to stop, governments to act

WHO has called on the baby food industry to end exploitative formula milk marketing, and on governments to protect new children and families by enacting, monitoring and enforcing laws to end all advertising or other promotion of formula milk products.

This is the first time WHO has used a social media intelligence platform to generate insight into the marketing practices of multi-national formula milk manufacturers and distributors.

Social media intelligence platforms monitor social media for mentions of defined key words or phrases, which they gather, organise and analyse.

This industry standard approach “listens” to the billions of daily exchanges and conversations that take place amongst social media users around the world and on other digital platforms, such as websites and forums.

This investigation captured digital interactions that occurred between 1 January and 30 June 2021, referenced infant feeding across 11 languages and 17 countries, which together account for 61% of the global population and span all six WHO regions.

Pregnant women, exposed to aggressive marketing

Parents and pregnant women globally are exposed to aggressive marketing for baby formula milk, according to a report launched jointly by two UN agencies last February.

How marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding, the first report in a series by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), draws on interviews with parents, pregnant women, and health workers in eight countries.

More than half of those surveyed acknowledged that they had been targeted by formula milk companies.

Unethical

UNICEF and WHO maintain that the formula milk industry uses systematic and unethical marketing strategies to influence parents’ infant feeding decisions and exploitative practices that compromise child nutrition and violate international commitments.

“This report shows very clearly that formula milk marketing remains unacceptably pervasive, misleading and aggressive,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, calling for regulations on exploitative marketing to be “urgently adopted and enforced to protect children’s health.”

The report found not only that industry marketing techniques include unregulated and invasive online targeting, but also sponsored advice networks and helplines; offered promotions and free gifts; and influenced health workers’ training and recommendations.

Surprised? Well, nobody should really be, now that the voracious push for making more profits and accumulating more money has already supplanted Nature and whatever is natural.

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Clean hands may make the difference between life and death – WHO report — Global Issues

The coronavirus pandemic and other disease outbreaks have highlighted the extent to which healthcare settings can contribute to the spread of infections.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many challenges and gaps in IPC in all regions and countries, including those which had the most advanced IPC programmes,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General.

‘An unprecedented opportunity’

Today, out of every 100 patients in acute care hospitals, seven in high-income countries and 15 in low and middle-income nations will acquire at least one healthcare associated infection (HAI) during their hospital stay – one in 10 of whom will die.

Newborns and patients in intensive care are particularly at risk, the report reveals, and almost half of all sepsis cases with organ dysfunction in adult intensive-care units are linked to healthcare.

WHO’s first-ever Global Report on Infection Prevention and Control brings together evidence from scientific reports, and new data from WHO studies.

“It has also provided an unprecedented opportunity to take stock of the situation and rapidly scale up outbreak readiness and response through IPC practices, as well as strengthening IPC programmes across the health system,” said the WHO chief.

Making a case

The impact of healthcare linked infections and antimicrobial resistance on people’s lives is incalculable, says WHO.

Over 24 per cent of patients affected by health care-associated sepsis and 52.3 per cent of those treated in an intensive care unit die each year.

Moreover, deaths are increased two to threefold when infections are resistant to antimicrobials.

With regional and country focuses, the new WHO report provides a situation analysis of how IPC programmes are being implemented globally.

While addressing the harm that HAIs and antimicrobial resistance pose to patients and healthcare workers, it also highlights the impact and cost-effectiveness of infection prevention and control programmes as well as the strategies and resources available for States to improve them.

Data analysis

In the last five years, WHO conducted global surveys and country joint evaluations to assess the implementation status of national IPC programmes.

Comparing data from the 2017-18 to 2021-22 surveys, the percentage of countries with a national IPC programme did not improve; and in 2021-22, only 3.8 per cent of countries had all IPC minimum requirements in place at the national level.

In healthcare facilities, only 15.2 per cent met all the IPC minimum requirements, according to a 2019 WHO survey.

Heartening developments

However, some encouraging progress has been made, with significantly more countries appointing IPC focal points; dedicated budgets for IPC and curriculum for front line healthcare workers’ training; national IPC guidelines and programmes for HAI surveillance; and hand hygiene compliance established as key national indicators.

Strongly supported by WHO and others, many countries are scaling-up actions to put in place minimum requirements and core components of IPC programmes.

Sustaining and further expanding this progress in the long-term is a critical need that requires urgent attention and investments.

Investments needed

“Our challenge now is to ensure that all countries are able to allocate the human resources, supplies and infrastructures this requires,” said Tedros.

WHO is calling on every nation to boost investments in IPC programmes – not only to protect patients and health workers, but also to improve health outcomes and reduce health-care costs and out-of-pocket expenses.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Record profits, while COVID treatment often ‘out of reach’ for the poor — Global Issues

Despite weekly fatalities being at their lowest since March 2020, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists at the weekly briefing in Geneva that “these trends, while welcome, don’t tell the full story.”

More sub-variants

The South African scientists who identified Omicron late last year have now reported two more Omicron sub-variants, BA.4 and BA.5, as the reason for a spike in cases there.

While it is too soon to know whether the sub-variants can cause more severe disease than others linked to Omicron, early data suggest that the best way to protect people remains vaccination, alongside tried and tested public health and social measures.

“This is another sign that the pandemic is not done with us,” warned Tedros.

Address ‘bottlenecks’

He reiterated that the best way to save lives, protect health systems and minimize cases of “long COVID” is by vaccinating at least 70 per cent of every country’s population – and 100 per cent of most at-risk groups.

Although more jabs have become available, a lack of political commitment, operational capacity problems, financial constraints, misinformation and disinformation, are limiting vaccine demand.

“We urge all countries to address these bottlenecks to provide protection to their populations,” the top WHO official said.  

Crucial testing

“Testing and sequencing remain absolutely critical,” he continued, noting that both sub-variants were identified because “South Africa is still doing the vital genetic sequencing that many other countries have stopped”.

Tedros cautioned that many countries are blind to how the virus is mutating – not knowing what lies ahead.

And the scant availability and high prices of effective antivirals continue to render them inaccessible to low and middle-income countries.

“Coupled with low investment in early diagnosis, it is simply not acceptable that in the worst pandemic in a century, innovative treatments that can save lives are not reaching those that need them,” underscored the WHO chief.

Playing with fire

While “we’re playing with a fire that continues to burn us”, he said that “manufacturers are posting record profits”.

WHO supports fair reward for innovation and while ACT Accelerator partners are negotiating lower costs and increased availability, he stressed that “we cannot accept prices that make life-saving treatments available to the rich and out of reach for the poor”.

“This is a moral failing”.

Ukraine

Tedros informed the journalists he would be traveling to Poland on Thursday, for the International Donors’ Conference for Ukraine.

“The health challenges in Ukraine are worsening by the day, especially in the country’s east,” said, noting that WHO had now verified 186 attacks on healthcare in the country.

He highlighted the importance of humanitarian corridors by pointing out that WHO and its partners were able to receive and provide healthcare to scores of civilians fleeing Mariupol.

He urged Russia to allow all remaining civilians to leave the shattered port city, and all other areas where they are “at great risk”.

WHO is responding to a huge range of challenges around the world – WHO chief

Africa

Turning to the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, Tedros spelled out that the climate crisis, spiking food prices and food shortages are threatening to cause famine and further insecurity.

With the vast region experiencing its worst drought in 40 years, 15 million people are estimated to be severely food insecure in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and repeated attacks on scarce water resources in Burkina Faso are depriving citizens of access to the minimum amount of water they need just to survive.

Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO is supporting vaccinations for an Ebola outbreak. 

“WHO is responding to a huge range of challenges around the world – to say nothing of our work outside of emergencies to strengthen health systems and promote the conditions in which people can live healthy lives,” said Tedros, reminding that “all of this work costs money”.

Hand washing, not hand wringing

One the eve of World Hand Hygiene Day, and the International Day of the Midwife, Tedros told reporters that WHO was launching its first Global Report on Infection Prevention and Control.

“The simple act of cleaning hands can save lives, especially in healthcare facilities, where vulnerable patients can be exposed to infection.”

He said an astonishing 70 per cent of infections can be prevented where good hand hygiene and other “cost-effective practices are followed”.

He said simply cleaning your hands regularly, “can be the difference between life and death, for you and for others.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Better prevention and targeting of root causes needed to combat food crises — Global Issues

“Acute hunger is soaring to unprecedented levels and the global situation just keeps on getting worse,” said David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP). 

The annual report from the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – an international alliance of the UN, European Union (EU), governmental and non-governmental agencies – shines a light on the urgency of tackling root causes rather than just responding to emergencies after the fact.

Acute hunger is soaring to unprecedented levels – WFP chief

Most in need

The report focuses on countries and territories where the severity of the food crisis is outstripping local resources and capacities. 

It reveals that some 193 million people in 53 countries or territories experienced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3-5) in 2021, representing an increase of nearly 40 million people compared with 2020’s already record numbers.

Of those, 570,000 people in Ethiopia, southern Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen, were classified in the most severe phase of acute food insecurity, “catastrophe” phase 5, and required urgent action to avert widespread collapse of livelihoods, starvation and death. 

When looking at the same 39 countries or territories featured in all editions of the report, the number of people facing Phase 3 levels or above, nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021, rising unabatedly each year since 2018.

“The results of this year’s Global Report further demonstrate the need to collectively address acute food insecurity at the global level across humanitarian, development and peace context,” said QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

© FAO/Sonia Nguyen.

Conflict remains the main driver of acute food insecurity.

Root causes

From conflict to environmental and climate crises, and economic to health crises with poverty and inequality as undelaying causes, these worrying trends are the result of multiple drivers feeding into one another.

Weather extremes have crippled over 23 million people in eight countries/territories, an increase from 15.7 million in 15 countries/territories.

And economic shocks have affected over 30 million people in 21 countries/territories, down from over 40 million people in 17 countries/territories in 2020 – mainly due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Conflict main driver

However, conflict remains the main driver of food insecurity, having pushed 139 million in 24 countries/territories into acute food insecurity – up from around 99 million in 23 countries/territories in in 2020.

“Conflict, the climate crisis, COVID-19 and surging food and fuel costs have created a perfect storm,” said Mr. Beasley.

“Millions of people in dozens of countries are being driven to the edge of starvation,” he added appealing for “urgently need emergency funding to pull them back from the brink and turn this global crisis around before it’s too late”. 

Ukraine repercussions

While the analysis predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the report finds that the war has already exposed the interconnected nature and fragility of global food systems, with serious consequences for global food and nutrition security.

Countries already coping with high levels of acute hunger are particularly vulnerable to the risks created by the war in Eastern Europe, notably due to their high dependency on imports of food and agricultural inputs and vulnerability to global food price shocks, notes the report. 

“The tragic link between conflict and food insecurity is once again evident and alarming,” said Mr. QU.

“While the international community has courageously stepped up to the calls for urgent famine prevention and mitigation action, resource mobilization to efficiently tackle the root causes of food crises due to, among others, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, global hotspots and the war in Ukraine, still struggles to match the growing needs”.

A paradigm shift 

The report’s findings demonstrate the need for a greater prioritization of smallholder agriculture as a frontline humanitarian response.

Furthermore, it advocates for promoting structural changes to current external financing, to reduce humanitarian assistance over time through longer-term development investments, which can help tackle the root causes of hunger.

In parallel, humanitarian assistance must be provided more efficiently and sustainably. 

“The situation calls out for at-scale action to move towards integrated approaches to prevention, anticipation, and better targeting to sustainably address the root causes of food crises, including structural rural poverty, marginalization, population growth and fragile food systems,” said the Global Network founding members, in a joint statement with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

WHO warns of worsening obesity ‘epidemic’ in Europe — Global Issues

 Nearly two thirds of adults, 59 per cent, and almost one in three children – 29 per cent of boys and 27 per cent of girls – is either overweight or obese, the study has revealed. 

Being chronically overweight and obesity are among the leading causes of death and disability in Europe.  Estimates suggest they cause more than 1.2 million deaths annually, which corresponds to more than 13 per cent of total mortality in the region. 

Increased cancer risk 

Obesity also increases the risk for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including 13 different types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes. It is likely to be directly responsible for at least 200,000 new cancer cases annually across the region, and this figure is set to rise further in the coming years. 

WHOsaidnone of the 53 countries that comprise its European region is on track to meet the agency’s NCD target of halting the rise of obesity by 2025. 

Furthermore, theCOVID-19 pandemic has also disproportionately affected overweight people and those living with obesity.   

WHO said patients with obesity are more likely to experience complications and death from the virus. Many have also experienced disruptions in accessing obesity management services due to the crisis. 

Meanwhile, “unfavourable shifts” in food consumption and physical activity patterns during the pandemic will have effects on health in the years ahead and will require significant effort to reverse. 

Changing the trajectory 

Obesity knows no borders, said Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO Regional Director, adding that although European countries are diverse, each is challenged to some degree. 

“By creating environments that are more enabling, promoting investment and innovation in health, and developing strong and resilient health systems, we can change the trajectory of obesity in the Region,” he said. 

The report lays out a series of interventions and policy options for Governments to tackle obesity, emphasizing the need to build back better after the pandemic. 

WHO explained that the causes of obesity “are much more complex than the mere combination of unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.” 

Latest evidence presented in the report highlights how vulnerability to unhealthy body weight in early life can affect a person’s tendency to develop obesity. 

Environmental factors are also driving the rise in obesity in Europe, including digital marketing of unhealthy food to children, and the proliferation of sedentary online gaming, according to the report, which also examines how digital platforms might be used to promote health and well-being. 

“Obesity is influenced by the environment, so it is important to look at this problem from the perspective of every stage of life. For example, the life of children and adolescents is impacted by digital environments, including marketing of unhealthy food and drinks,” said Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, which produced the report. 

Address ‘structural drivers’ 

The policy recommendations in the report include implementing fiscal interventions such as greater taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages or subsidies for healthier foods, restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, and improving access to obesity and overweight management services in primary healthcare. 

Efforts to improve diet and physical activity “across the life course” are also suggested, including preconception and pregnancy care, promotion of breastfeeding and school-based interventions, as well as creating environments that improve access to healthy food and physical activity. 

WHO said because obesity is complex, no single intervention can halt the rise of the growing epidemic, and any national policies must have high-level political commitment.  They should also be comprehensive and target inequalities.  

“Efforts to prevent obesity need to consider the wider determinants of the disease, and policy options should move away from approaches that focus on individuals and address the structural drivers of obesity,” the agency said. 

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Pacific Community-Led Health Missions Arrive with Critical Support to Tonga and Kiribati Grappling with COVID-19 Surges — Global Issues

Pacific Community health experts conduct laboratory training for COVID-19 testing with their healthcare colleagues in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. Credit: Pacific Community (SPC)
  • by Catherine Wilson (canberra, australia)
  • Inter Press Service

CANBERRA, Australia, May 03 (IPS) – Before the pandemic emerged in 2020, health services in many Pacific Island countries were under-resourced, under-funded and under-staffed. Now following recent outbreaks of COVID-19, advancing the capacity and development of health and medical services in vulnerable nations, such as Tonga and Kiribati, is increasingly urgent.

In the central Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati, virus cases have skyrocketed from zero to more than 3,000 since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga was hit early this year by a devastating submarine volcanic eruption and then a spike in COVID-19 cases.

“Ashfall and a tsunami from the volcanic eruption affected an estimated 84 percent of the population covering the whole of Tonga,” Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni’s office announced in late January.

In Kiribati, Margaret Leong, SPC’s Infection Prevention and Control Adviser, conducted training in the use of PPE with local healthcare staff. Credit: Pacific Community (SPC)

The deployment of health and medical experts to Tonga and Kiribati in February by the regional development organization, Pacific Community, have proven to be crucial support missions.

“Tonga is in a unique and unprecedented scenario. It is contending with a triple event: the volcanic eruption, the tsunami and COVID-19 outbreak. They are all related to one another. We are in Tonga in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, helping to ensure the quality of COVID-19 testing is maintained, aspiring to zero contamination, to support infection prevention and control,” Dr Sunia Soakai, Deputy Director of the Pacific Community’s Public Health Division told IPS from Tonga.

Tonga, an archipelago nation of 104,494 people in the southern Pacific Ocean, managed, for a long time, to stave off the pandemic, recording its first COVID-19 case only in October last year. Then on the 15 January, the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano, located 65 kilometres northeast of the country’s main island of Tongatapu, erupted violently, propelling massive amounts of volcanic ash into the atmosphere and triggering far-reaching tsunami waves. Many islanders were affected, either by health problems, such as breathing and cardiovascular difficulties, the loss of food sources or forced displacement.

But, as the world reached out to help, disaster recovery efforts were complicated by a spike in the pandemic. As of 20 April, Tonga recorded 9,220 cases of COVID-19 and 11 related deaths.

While Tongans receive free public healthcare, the island nation has limited health infrastructure and human resources. “We are providing support to three hospitals located on Tonga’s outer islands to boost their capacities for COVID-19 testing. That involves assisting them to collect samples and, if needed, transporting them to locations where equipment for testing is available…We’ve also been asked to conduct a thorough review of the country’s health protocols and procedures, such as handling of the deceased, quarantine requirements and procedures related to health care workers returning to work after positive diagnosis of COVID-19,” Dr Soakai described. “And we are working to ensure that other health services continue to be available to non-COVID patients.”

Local nurses dedicated to working in COVID-19 patient hospital wards in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati. Credit: Pacific Community (SPC)

SPC is a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO)-led multi-agency Joint Incident Management Team and provides a wide spectrum of support services, including building the capacities of health systems, improving training and qualifications of healthcare workers across the region and commissioning new medical research.

“The team that was recently deployed to Tonga was very timely. They came when there was a lot of demand in our laboratory to do tests. This was before Rapid Antigen Tests were widely used for testing. We were sending up to 500 swabs per day and this was a challenge to our laboratory,” Dr Ana Akau’ola, Medical Superintendent of the main Vaiola Hospital in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, told IPS.

Earlier in the year, Elisiva Na’ati, a dietitian from the Pacific Community arrived in the country to aid recovery efforts following the volcanic disaster. “She came when there was a need to develop nutritional proposals for the islanders who had been displaced after the tsunami,” Dr Akau’ola added.

Across the vast Pacific Ocean, containing 22 island nations and territories with a total population of about 11.9 million, the role of the Pacific Community during the pandemic is, for many islanders, the difference between life and death. Many national governments work with constrained budgets and, therefore, funding and resources for health, with specialist and full hospital services often only available in main urban centres.

Only 12 of 21 Pacific Island countries have met the global goal of 4.5 healthcare workers per 1,000 people and national health expenditure per capita in 10 Pacific nations is US$500 or less, compared to the world average of US$1,000, WHO reports. It is not just islanders suffering from the virus, but also those afflicted with other serious illnesses, such as Tuberculosis, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, who are experiencing over-burdened health clinics and hospitals.

Since the pandemic emerged, the Pacific Community has provided countries with laboratories, medical technology and skills for the testing of COVID-19, assisted vaccination initiatives, upskilled the capabilities of nurses for greater responsibility and strengthened national capabilities to monitor emerging public health threats.

In the atolls of Kiribati, home to about 119,940 people, SPC’s medical and health professionals worked alongside local health staff, patients and international partners, such as UNICEF, WHO and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which provided funding.

The country managed to keep COVID-19 from crossing its borders until January when its first case was identified in an incoming traveller. By April 20, 2022, Kiribati had diagnosed 3,076 virus cases in the country with 13 fatalities.

“We went into the country at the peak. We came to assist with preparing the wards, to support the training of PPE use. We set up isolation centres for patients in the community because the hospital beds were all full. We also worked with airport and border control staff, helping them to use practical and effective PPE, such as disposable gowns,” Margaret Leong, the Pacific Community’s Infection Prevention and Control Adviser, who was deployed to Kiribati in February, told IPS.

“Some of the issues and challenges they had were healthcare worker fatigue and psychological stress. Staff were getting sick, so there were insufficient numbers of healthcare workers at the peak. This put stress on the remaining healthcare workers,” Leong continued.

Laboratory training conducted by the Pacific Community-led health and medical mission in February and March boosted the capacity of Kiribati health services to cope with the pressures of a surge in COVID-19 cases. Credit: Pacific Community (SPC)

At the same time, Dr Lamour Hansell led the SPC’s Clinical Care Services part of the mission, helping to manage COVID patients in intensive care. “We started up a new hospital for COVID patients, supplying new infrastructure. An old hotel was found and turned into a critical care facility. The Intensive Care Unit was located in the main hotel lobby and it was one of the best I have worked in,” Dr Hansell told IPS.

The work was relentless, round the clock and demanding, but Dr Hansell had only praise for his local colleagues, who, he said, were flexible and adaptable in the face of enormous professional and personal pressures. He witnessed many moments of courage and strength in his co-workers, remembering “one of the clinicians who had to treat and manage her own grandmother who had COVID-19. It was a very humbling thing to see, very humbling and inspiring,” he emphasised.

The number of new virus cases has slowed in both countries since the beginning of April, but internal lockdown restrictions remain in place. While the Pacific Community’s in-country missions responded to the peak of the crisis, the organization is accessible throughout the year to provide virtual, logistical support and mentoring to Pacific Island nations whenever it’s needed.

IPS UN Bureau Report


Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version