LATEST
NEWS
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November 2, 2016
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A cholera
infected child resting on the floor of the Doin medical center near Saint
Marc, Haiti.
UN Photo/UNICEF/Marco
Dormino
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Shrinking
the Cholera Map
We’re
making much-needed progress in the global fight against cholera, which
kills 95,000 people each year, writes Dr. David A. Sack of the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health. Supplies of the cholera vaccine will soon
triple—thanks to a new, WHO-sanctioned manufacturer—allowing health
workers to deploy it preventively in high-risk hotspots, rather than
solely in response to outbreaks. Sack also says health workers are
refining best practices for administering the vaccine, which should
increase efficacy.
These advancements, Sack warns, do not nullify the need for further
vaccine innovation, nor for improved water and sanitation
infrastructure.
David A.
Sack, Global Health NOW
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CANCER
It Wouldn’t
Cost a Lot
Basic cancer-fighting measures—for as little as $1.72 per person—could
save hundreds of thousands of lives in poor countries, according to research
published yesterday in The Lancet.
The Numbers:
- Nearly 800,000 women
die of cervical and breast cancer every year.
- 2/3 of breast cancer
deaths, and 9 out of 10 cervical cancer deaths occur in developing
countries.
- Vaccinating girls in
poor countries against human papilloma virus (HPV) over 4 years
could prevent 600,000 cervical cancer deaths.
The Quote: "There is
a widespread misconception that breast and cervical cancers are too
difficult and expensive to prevent and treat, particularly in
resource-poor countries where the burden of these diseases is highest,"
said the University of Toronto’s Ophira Ginsburg … "But nothing
could be further from the truth.”
Thomson
Reuters Foundation
Related: Institutes
in the Lead: Identifying Environmental Factors in Breast Cancer – Environmental
Health Perspectives
Related: Global
health leaders call for a World Health Assembly cancer resolution in
2017 – UICC
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SURGERY
Help Wanted in
the OR
In a public hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, physician Anna Budde
witnessed an appendicitis patient writhing in pain for 6 days until the
city’s lone anesthesiologist was available for surgery. Budde
underscores an astonishing statistic: 5 billion people lack access to
safe and affordable surgery and anesthesia, according to an April 2015
Lancet Commission on Global Surgery report.
Budde says operating space and equipment are all well and good, but
they aren’t worth much without skilled professionals to use them.
Global efforts, she believes, should focus on training more surgeons
and anesthesiologists.
Global
Health Hub
Related: Don't
miss today's symposium, Operation
Health: Surgery’s Emerging Role in Global Health,
co-hosted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and
the Pulitzer
Center on Crisis Reporting, set to explore surgery’s place
in global health.
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FAMILY
PLANNING
Different
Stakes, Different Standards
A recent clinical
trial of a male contraceptive—an injectable hormone—looked
promising, but an independent committee halted the trial because of
side effects including “mood changes, depression, pain at the injection
site, and increased libido.”
The kicker? Women have dealt with the same side effects, and worse, for
decades with female contraceptives. In a detailed comparison, Julie
Beck concludes that women have been willing to weather the side effects
because the stakes are much higher with unwanted pregnancies. But she
adds that even with the side effects, most of the men in the study
(more than 80%) wanted to continue using the injectable birth
control—indicating a willingness to share more of the responsibility
for birth control.
The
Atlantic
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SMOKING
Safe Enough?
In the US, the dominant health message on e-cigs is that vaping is
dangerous and could be the first step to developing an addiction to
smoking, especially for young people.
Amid slumpling sales of e-cigs, however, some public health officials
are expressing concerns that the consistent warnings about e-cig
dangers is a disservice to smokers who might benefit from the devices
to help them quit smoking.
“We may well have missed, or are missing, the greatest opportunity in a
century,” says David B. Abrams, senior scientist at the Truth
Initiative, an antismoking group. “The unintended consequence is more
lives are going to be lost.”
The New
York Times
Related: WHO:
New Smoking Products, Internet Pose Dangers for Tobacco Control – VOA
Related: India
says it is committed to global tobacco-control treaty – Reuters
Related: Why
Tobacco Companies Are Spending Millions To Boost A Cigarette Tax – NPR
Shots
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH
Cleaner
Cooking
Cleaner, more efficient and affordable indoor cookstoves may help
safeguard the health of 3 billion of the world’s poorest people. If
adopted, these improved cookstoves could replace open-fire cooking,
which is often fueled by wood, dung, charcoal or crop waste, and
contributes to air pollution and climate change.
Recently, US companies BURN, Envirofit and Biolite have garnered
massive funding from global investors to design high-quality stoves at
low prices. Still, the new cookstoves might remain out of reach for
some of the world’s most impoverished. The best solution continues to
be providing access to electricity and natural gas.
Ensia
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EVENTS
Celebrating
the Life and Contributions of D.A. Henderson
Please join us for a celebration of D.A. Henderson’s life. Speakers
will remember D.A.’s extraordinary leadership of the global smallpox
eradication effort and his many other contributions to public health
that will benefit us for generations to come.
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ONE-LINERS
A new study
finds that K. pneumoniae exposed to chlorhexidine, a common
ingredient in several disinfectants, could become resistant to
colistin, a last-resort antibiotic against multidrug-resistant
pathogens. Managed
Care
Poor womb growth
is the number one risk factor for stunting in children,
a new study in PLoS
Medicine finds, indicating that more emphasis should be
placed on the health of pregnant women. VOA
In Puerto Rico,
more access to contraception for women during the Zika
outbreak could potentially help avoid $62.3 million in costs associated
with Zika-linked birth defects. CIDRAP
A study led by a
team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
found that an experimental DNA vaccine protected 17 of 18 rhesus
macaques from infection with the Zika virus. The JAMA
Network
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QUICK HITS
Let’s Make TB History – Gates
Notes
In Iraq, the environment itself has become a weapon of war — again – Vox
For Helping Immigrants, Chobani’s Founder Draws Threats – The New
York Times
More Children Are Being Poisoned By Prescription Opioids – NPR
Shots
Thanks for the tip, Tarun Bhatnagar!
Why treating diabetes keeps getting more expensive – The
Washington Post
‘Messy math’ from sardine studies could help fight flu outbreaks – Science
The venom of one of world's deadliest snakes could relieve pain, say
scientists – BBC
Burning 'Inferno' Question: How Fast Can A Deadly Virus Spread? – NPR
Goats & Soda Blog
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