IGIHE

Category: Health

  • Litmus test for Ebola to be Developed

    A project in Uganda that aims to develop a paper-strip test for the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses is among 102 initiatives across the world to be funded by the government of Canada through its Grand Challenges Canada project.

    The paper strip test would, if developed, help test for the virus in a cheap and quick manner within the community just like it is done for malaria. The project has been boosted with $100,000.

    The Uganda project leader, Dr Misaki Wayengera of Makerere University College of Health Sciences said that the highly infectious nature of both Ebola and Marburg, coupled with poor epidemiological data on their origins make it hard for them to be easily detected in the early days of an outbreak.

    “Amidst the inappropriateness of existing diagnostic technologies towards usability in bio-terror and point-of-care settings, development of rapid, easy to use, cheap, and reliable biomarkers for either filo viruses is a global health priority,” Dr Misaki explained.

    “Ebola and Marburg outbreaks are often initially silent, much as the clinical picture should raise suspicion. As a result, health workers are exposed and die of viral haemorrhagic fever.”

    NMG

  • US Warns one brand of Vitamin B Supplement Contains Dangerous Steroids

    {{Federal regulators warned consumers to avoid one brand of vitamin B dietary supplement because it contains potentially harmful anabolic steroids.}}

    Preliminary lab tests showed the product, Healthy Life Chemistry By Purity First B-50, contains methasterone, a controlled substance, and dimethazine, the Food and Drug Administration said.

    “Products marketed as a vitamin but which contain undisclosed steroids pose a real danger to consumers and are illegal,” said Howard Sklamberg, director of the FDA’s compliance office.

    Regulators received 29 complaints associated with the product, including fatigue, muscle pain and cramps, and liver and thyroid problems, the FDA said.

    Women also reported unusual hair growth and missed menstruation, and men reported impotence and low testosterone.

    Some patients were hospitalized, the FDA said in a statement, but no deaths were reported.

    Anyone who used the product and has symptoms should seek medical care and report the case to the FDA, regulators said.

    The product manufactured by New-York based Mira Health Products Ltd is sold online and in stores. The company has not issued a response to the warning.

    {agencies}

  • Many Pregnant Women not Seeking Antenatal Services

    {{The State Minister in-charge of Public Health and Primary Healthcare has said a few expectant mothers seek antenatal services from health care facilities.}}

    Dr Anita Asiimwe made the observation Thursday during a scientific conference organised by the Rwanda Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists.

    She said, “Although a lot has been achieved in Rwanda with regard to maternal health, we are still not content with the current maternal mortality rate; it remains very high.”

    Dr. Asiimwe noted that about 67% of child mortality happen during the neonatal period, according to the minister.

    The minister said that although traditional medicine had done a great job, there was still need to educate women and have them receive better services from proper health facilities.

    She urged obstetrics and gynaecologists in the country to carry out outreaches in areas without health providers.

    Dr Eugene Ngoga, the president of the Rwanda Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists, said that there are only 30 specialists in Rwanda which constitutes a huge challenge.

    Dr. Anita Asiimwe/Newtimes Photo

  • Kenya Denies Plans to Criminalise Jigger Infestation

    {{Sources from Kenya claim the government intends to criminalise Jigger Infestation , however, the countrys Ministry of Health has condemned such plans by any county government.}}

    Chief Public Health Officer, Dr Kepha Ombacho also said the ministry would carry out a base line survey in the country to determine the cause of jiggers in areas previously not affected.

    He said poverty was the major cause of jigger infestation, but added personal hygiene was a sure way of fighting the vermin.

    Murang’a County Deputy Governor Gakure Monyo came under attack after he said dire actions would be taken against those found with jiggers once a law is in place.

    While disputing that jiggers were as a result of a curse or poverty in the county, Mr Monyo said the major cause of the vermin was lack of sanitation.

    “We will ensure that laws against jiggers are put in place and passed in the County Assembly soon and anybody found with jiggers will be forced to remove them,” he said.
    Dr Ombacho said currently, about 12,000 people had been ravaged by the vermin in the country.

    Over 200 school children were given shoes during an anti-jigger campaign .

    “We are in the process of conducting the second scientific household survey to document the new and alarming transmission to areas not previously considered jigger endemic areas like Busia and Nyanza counties,” said Dr Ombacho.

  • Mandela is Getting Stronger–Grandson

    {{Former president Nelson Mandela is getting stronger, his grandson Mandla Mandela said on Monday after a weekend visit.}}

    “The visit left me with a warm feeling, because my grandfather is getting stronger and stronger every day,” he said.

    The improvement “is particularly heartening, because it flies in the face of those who have been busy spreading lies that Madiba is in a ‘vegetative state’ and just waiting for his [life] support machines to be switched off.

    “Madiba has defied these hurtful statements and continues to prove his fighting spirit that has defined him over the many years of his life,” Mandela said in a statement released on his grandfather’s 44th day in hospital.

    Mandela was admitted to the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital, in Pretoria, on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.

    Security at the hospital remained tight on Monday, with police stationed at both of its entrances. All cars entering the hospital were being searched.

    {agencies}

  • Britain: Pregnant Duchess taken to Hospital

    {{The Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted to hospital and is in the early stages of labour, Kensington Palace has said.}}

    She travelled by car from the palace to St Mary’s in Paddington, west London, with her husband the Duke of Cambridge.

    The couple do not know the gender of their first child, who will be third in line to the throne.

    The world’s press have been camped outside St Mary’s for days in anticipation of the birth. The due date had never been officially announced but had widely been expected to be mid-July.

    The Duke of Cambridge has been with his wife on annual leave and will have two weeks’ paternity leave.

    Catherine’s final public appearance before the birth was at the Trooping the Colour ceremony in June.

    Under new laws to succession the baby will remain third in line to the throne regardless of gender.

    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married at Westminster Abbey in April 2011, watched on television by millions of people around the world.

    -BBC

  • Beef sold in Zambia Contained Harmful Chemical

    {{Beef products imported from Europe and distributed in Zambia by leading meat company Zambeef have tested positive for aromatic aldehyde, a chemical which can cause cancer, the health minister said Friday.}}

    Zambeef last month recalled from its retail outlets all imported products after concerns that they contained the chemical, which is also used to embalm dead bodies, prompting laboratory tests.

    “I can confirm that the presence of formaldehydes has been confirmed in the samples that were taken to South Africa for further investigations,” Health Minister Joseph Kasonde told media.

    He said the chemical was found in offals and hooves which Zambeef imports from Europe.

    It is prohibited for use as a food preservative in Zambia.

    “Formaldehyde is in a group of aldehydes and is a compound mainly used in embalming corpses for preservation,” he said.

    A medical doctor, Robert Mtonga, said prolonged exposure to the chemical could cause organ cancers.

    “Among the acute effects of formaldehyde exposure are irritations of the eyes, the nose, and the throat,” he told media.

    But “there is also some evidence that constant formaldehyde exposure increases the chances of developing certain forms of cancer,” he said.

    Incidences of lung and nose cancer appear to be “significantly” higher among people who are regularly exposed to the chemical, said the doctor.

    The health minister said cabinet will meet to decide on sanctions to be imposed on Zambeef, one of the country’s largest employers.

    Phone calls to Zambeef’s officials went unanswered on Friday.

    {AFP}

  • Palliative care Education Program at Kibagabaga Hospital for Medical Students

    {{Kibagabaga Hospital has launched an integrated education program for medical students during their Internship period focused on assessing and managing of pain and symptoms control.}}

    Over the last decade, Rwanda has made significant strides towards improving public health and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

    Rwanda has seen significant improvement in maternal and child health and in combating infectious diseases. Integrating palliative care into medical education can expand the scope of health delivery for Rwandans.

    In its Vision 2020, Rwanda aims to achieve its Objectives through seven strategies and/or pillars, which include reducing birth rate, increasing access to education and enhancing healthcare to general population.

    The government of Rwanda recognizes that achieving the Millennium development goals cannot be based only on emphasizing infectious diseases; they must also address treatment of non-communicable chronic diseases.

    Thus the government advocates that palliative care should be adequate, that equity be ensured in all aspects of healthcare service delivery including dispensation of palliative care in cases of incurable diseases.

    Kibagabaga Hospital is a public hospital located in Gasabo district, Kigali city. Sixty percent of the total population of Kigali resides in Gasabo district.

    Kibagabaga Hospital has two hundred and thirty beds and four main departments: Pediatric, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Internal Medicine and Surgery. The Hospital also supervises sixteen health centers and one prison.

    Kibagabaga serves fifty-five thousand in-patients & outpatients, annually. The goal is to provide the highest quality of care, which will lead to improve the quality of life for Rwandans.

    Kibagabaga Hospital hosts a team of qualified physicians composed of five specialists: Internal Medicine, Ear/Nose/Throat, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics and fiften General Physicians.

    Ten medical students are assigned for their internship training at Kibagabaga. The hospital works closely with the community based health insurance program, which supports 90% of patient costs.

    Palliative care has been integrated into care at Kibagabaga since 2010.

    Guiding principles of the program are:
    Improving quality of life of patients by relieving pain and controlling symptoms by integrating a holistic approach at all level and departments.

    Reducing costs by giving supplies and medications to the patients and their families; advice families to avoid unnecessary travel which is not beneficial to the patient, and focus on care, rather than cure.

    Recognising that freedom from pain is a human right and incorporate that value and the respect for individual dignity into teaching of health professionals.

    Kibagabaga Hospital launched a new education program led by Dr. Christian NTIZIMIRA & Dr. Olive Mukeshimana for medical students from July 5th, 2013 till the end of their internships.

    According to the curriculum from the Faculty of Medicine of Rwanda, every medical student must spend one year at the district level and work in at least 2 main departments. Kibagabaga is among the medical student sites. Palliative care is one of the focus areas integrated into medical student education at Kibagabaga.

    The aim of this program is to introduce medical students to the concepts and principals of palliative care; to enable them to integrate these principles into care that improves services to patients with terminal and chronic diseases.

    Students will participate in the program one day a week for six months under the guidance of two supervising physicians.

    Teaching sessions will include relevant topics and case studies based on four areas of focus:
    o Application of the concept and principals of palliative care;
    o Assessing and managing pain and other physical symptoms appropriately;
    o Communication with patients and their families with sensitivity and respect;
    o Appreciating and working within a multidisciplinary, interprofessional team.

    The program’s goal is that at the end of the internship, the medical students, upon graduation, will be deployed by the Ministry of Health to different health facilities throughout the country, will be competent in management of terminal and chronic diseases, including safe administration of analgesics such as morphine.

    Every group of medical students who will participate in the internship program at Kibagabaga Hospital will benefit by working with the palliative care team that focuses on assessing and managing pain and controlling symptoms.

    At the end of their internship, a certificate of completion for Palliative care will be awarded to each student.

    Kibagabaga Hospital is also a site for student nurses, midwives and anesthetist training. The majority of these students spend more than 3 months at Kibagabaga.

    In the future, we hope to extend the program to create a curriculum of palliative care for all health care student disciplines, so that every person studying to be a doctor, nurse, mid-wife, and anesthetist will be trained in palliative care during their education.

    Let’s me wind up by quoting what Ghandhi inspired: “We have to be the change we would like to see in the world”.

  • Ghana Imposes Tax on Condoms

    {{While many people in Ghana are worried over the imposition of tax on condoms, Dr. Edward Larbi-Siaw, a tax policy consultant at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has assured Ghanaians that the 1% levy placed on condoms will not affect the prices of condemns in the country.}}

    The issue about condom tax in Ghana sparked controversies among the public with some saying “the move could undermine the fight against HIV/AIDS and other STDs”

    Meanwhile he clarified that “condoms that come through the Ministry of Health and donors like the Bill Gates Foundation, USAID and other official channels, although included in the schedule imports will be exempted.”

    Dr. Larbi-Siaw explained that the tax is a 1% percent levy placed on all imports including condoms.

    He added that the taxation in general is to stabilize the economy, however if this is not done the country’s currency will depreciate and will affect all commodities including condoms.

    The Consultant stated that Laws are made in general so that there are not too many loopholes however with socially defendable projects including condoms, mechanism are employed to reduce effects on them.

    {Myjoyonline}

  • Hungry Africa Should Eat Insects

    {{Studies have shown that in every 100 grammes of dried caterpillars, there are about 53 grammes of protein, 15% of fat and about 17 % of carbohydrates–which is a higher content of fat and protein than would be found in a similar amount of beef.}}

    The Mopane worm common in Zimbabwe is huge export business. It is dried and exported to Botswana, South Africa and sometimes onwards to African hotels in Europe.

    In May, when the FAO released a report advocating for more consumption of insects, it attracted support and opprobrium in equal measure.

    The report, Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security,promotes them as low-fat high-protein diets for people, pets and livestock.

    The most commonly consumed insect in Africa, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is the cricket whose consumption preference of either being fried, smoked or dried in the sun is dependent on local communities.

    In Algeria, the desert locust, which is a good protein source is ‘harvested’, soaked in salt water and dried in the sun though eating it is mainly associated with people from the country’s poorer areas.

    Caterpillar eating is more common in central African countries and in Botswana, where either the legs of the caterpillars are plucked off and the insect deep-fried, or the gut removed before what is left is cooked.

    {{FAO campaign}}

    Though currently two billion people eat insects globally, FAO has launched a campaign for their increased uptake as an alternative source of food for the continent’s growing population which is expected to double in 2050.

    According to Dr Suresh Raina, a principal research scientist with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), the uptake of insects though significant in Africa is greatly hindered by perceptions.

    “So many people think about what the insects do when they are alive and where they have been and this negative picture actually creates the unpalatability perception in their minds,” he said.

    Dr Raina noted that urbanisation also plays a role especially in cases where people who used to eat insects in their rural areas do not now want to be associated with what is seen as poverty.

    “The general public needs to be educated on the benefits of eating insects because they are more nutritious than red meat.

    Most of the people are just put off because of the presentation of the cooked insects but if people came up with protein bars and shakes made from insects people would be more receptive,” he said.

    The scientist admits that it will however take time before “high class” people in African cities walk into a restaurant and order a plate of worms or other edible insects, however exquisitely they may have been cooked.

    In line with the FAO’s campaign, icipe has already dedicated a department for the mass production of caterpillars and grasshoppers in order to repopulate the areas where they are highly consumed.

    The scientist, who is currently involved in a project promoting beekeeping for pollination purposes in Kenya, says that he wants to promote the consumption of drones locally and export it to a ready market in Japan.

    “Male drones in the hives have now other work in the hives apart from populating with the queen bee and studies have shown that they are quite a high source of protein.

    “So apart from farmers having a bumper harvest from the cross pollination and honey which they can sell, they will in time be able to harvest the drones to supplement their food stores,” he said.