Category: Health

{{Aid agencies and international groups are using this year’s World Toilet Day to highlight the risks to women and children from poor sanitation.}}

Since 2001, November 19 has marked World Toilet Day, drawing attention to issues of toileting and sanitation worldwide.

The United Nations says more than 2.7 million people die each year due to lack of sanitation, with almost 2,000 children dying each day from unsanitary conditions.

In her latest report to the UN General Assembly, Catarina de Albuquerque, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, has called for the elimination of inequalities in access to water and sanitation.

She’s told Radio Australia’s program the problem extends beyond the the right to sanitation, to other rights including health, education, work and the right to lead a life in dignity.

“It is a crisis that we are facing, and since sanitation is a taboo issue, it’s something dirty that we want to hide, we don’t want to talk about it, we don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“So if we don’t talk about and if we make a taboo around it, obviously it’s very difficult for governments to prioritise it in their policy and address this problem.”

The United Nations says a lack of access to toilets remains an important source of global inequality, with poor sanitation almost exclusively a burden of the poor.

It says lacking sanitation not only made poor people sick; it also shrank their already limited possibilities by forcing them to stay away from school and work

Each year, children miss a total of 272 million school days due to water-borne or sanitation-related diseases.

“Each time I go on a mission for the UN, I always visit a school, and I always talk with the girls, and not having sanitation – not having girls’ only toilets – means after they reach puberty, they don’t go to school – especially if they have their period” she said.

“And I met some girls who tell me they miss school for one week a month…so you see the dimensions of the tragedy.”

Jane Caro from international NGO WaterAid has told Radio Australia’s program the aim of World Toilet Day is to bring the issue of sanitation out into the open.

“As long as we keep it hidden – partly because it’s such a taboo, shameful kind of subject still, shamefully – there isn’t the same kind of pressure to provide this kind of infrastructure as there is perhaps for other things,” she said.

“I think it is that silence that has allowed this to go on, and avoid thinking about it, and avoid, therefore, actually raising awareness, increasing pressure…and generally just being more open about the issue, which is I think the first step towards doing something about it.”

WaterAid says 1 in 3 women and girls do not have access to toilets, and unsafe or open toilets increase the risks of physical and sexual violence.

Ms Caro says they’ve found World Toilet Day events such as ‘Big Squat’ flash mobs help to raise awareness of the dangers through humour.

“There’s an obvious way to get people to talk about it, and that is our tendency to have ‘toilet humour’ as part of the way we joke with one another,” she said.

“I actually think using some humour…[makes] people think, because that’s what it did for me when I started to know about this, was actually to think about what it would be like to be a woman in a village where there was no toilet – or only one – and where it was not only embarrassing to reveal my needs, but possibly dangerous.

“It made me think.”

One organisation working on the ground in Papua New Guinea is A-T Projects, which uses local materials to develop toilets for schools and communities in in Goroka Province.

Director Miriam Layton says while some foreign aid helps in setting up proper sanitation, more needs to be done by the local and PNG governments to improve facilities.

She says she hopes the new female governor of Eastern Highlands province will help drive the push to improve sanitation needs for women.

“In our urban centres, as well as rural centres, there is no proper facilities to cater for women’s needs as well,” she said.

“So when women come for business in town, or for markets as well, they face problems when looking for toilets, and that is when they are arrested and there’s violence.

“At the moment we are still getting support from outside, not our own government – so we need to do a lot more work to convince the Papua New Guinea government, as well as the donors, to do more in this area.”

{{Seventeen students from the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) have graduated after 3 years of intensive training program for hands-on medical equipment repair and maintenance.}}

Graduates received certificates from IPRC Kigali as Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BMETs); however this number is seen as low compared to over 47 hospitals in need of such technicians across the country.

The Acting Head of Medical Maintenance Centre (MMC) in Rwanda Bio-Medical Centre, Theogene Namahungu revealed that graduates will have a measured positive impact on the ability of Rwandan hospital BMETs to service and repair critical medical equipment.

Namahungu during a Health Technology Management workshop last month in the Eastern province, noted that insufficiency of Bio-Medical Engineers hinders progress in health sector.

“Many hospitals have medical equipments that are not in good condition and there is no closer collaboration between hospital technicians and the heads of hospitals in ensuring proper functionality of medical equipments”, notes Namahungu.

However, partners in the sector have pledged support to train more technicians in ensuring well trained Biomedical Equipment Technicians to support the public health system in.

The concluded training at IPRC in Kigali was done in collaboration with GE Foundation, Duke University, and Engineering World Health (EWH).

{{A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state (coma) for 12 years, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any pain.}}

It’s the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-injured patient has been able to give answers clinically relevant to their care.

Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in an fMRI machine.

His doctor says the discovery means medical textbooks will need rewriting.

Vegetative patients emerge from a coma into a condition where they have periods awake, with their eyes open, but have no perception of themselves or the outside world.

Mr Routley suffered a severe brain injury in a car accident 12 years ago.

None of his physical assessments since then have shown any sign of awareness, or ability to communicate.

But the British neuroscientist Prof Adrian Owen – who led the team at the Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario – said Mr Routley was clearly not vegetative.

“Scott has been able to show he has a conscious, thinking mind. We have scanned him several times and his pattern of brain activity shows he is clearly choosing to answer our questions. We believe he knows who and where he is.”

Prof Owen said it was a groundbreaking moment.

“Asking a patient something important to them has been our aim for many years. In future we could ask what we could do to improve their quality of life. It could be simple things like the entertainment we provide or the times of day they are washed and fed.”

Scott Routley’s parents say they always thought he was conscious and could communicate by lifting a thumb or moving his eyes. But this has never been accepted by medical staff.

Prof Bryan Young at University Hospital, London – Mr Routley’s neurologist for a decade – said the scan results overturned all the behavioural assessments that had been made over the years.

“I was impressed and amazed that he was able to show these cognitive responses. He had the clinical picture of a typical vegetative patient and showed no spontaneous movements that looked meaningful.”

Observational assessments of Mr Routley since he responded in the scanner have continued to suggest he is vegetative. Prof Young said medical textbooks would need to be updated to include Prof Owen’s techniques.

{BBC report}

{{The government has urged local leaders to embark on a rigorous campaign to sensitise residents on the need to pay their health insurance cover.}}

According to recent survey, about 35% of the population paid this year’s community medical insurance commonly known as Mutuelle de Santé.

Depending on the economic status of each family, residents pay between frw3000Frw and frw 7000 per for each member in the family.

Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi has urged local leaders to put more efforts in sensitizing citizens to pay the needed money for Health coverage.

The Premier added among the remaining number 35% of them are able to pay but until now they didn’t.

Other 35% need help to secure that amount of money.

Local government Minister James Musoni has noted that residents must ensure the payment of their Health insurance coverage by 30th November, 2012.

The Ministry of Health will have paid for those in category I and II and by Novemebr 30.

Those who are able should have paid by November 30th.

{{A woman’s menstrual cycle affects the severity of respiratory symptoms, potentially worsening conditions such as asthma, a study suggests.}}

Norwegian researchers studied almost 4,000 women, and found worse symptoms around ovulation.

Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, they said it may be possible to adapt women’s medication.

Asthma UK said it could help women with asthma manage their condition better.

All the women studied had regular menstrual cycles lasting 28 days or less, and none were taking hormonal contraceptives.

Of those studied, 28.5% were smokers and 8% had been diagnosed with asthma.

Wheezing symptoms were worse between days 10 to 22 of cycles, with a slight dip near the point of ovulation for most.

Shortness of breath was worse on days seven to 21, again with a slight fall around ovulation.

The study found it was not just women diagnosed with asthma who experienced these symptoms and variations.

Coughing was worse following ovulation for those with asthma, those who were overweight and smokers.

‘Pronounced’ variations
When an individual woman has her period is determined by complex hormonal processes over the course of her cycle.

Continue reading the main story
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Start Quote

This research is really interesting, and could help women with asthma to manage their condition better ”

Dr Samantha Walker,
Asthma UK
Throughout, levels of different hormones rise and fall – and body temperature rises around ovulation.

The researchers suggest that these fluctuations may have direct effects on airways. and indirect effects on inflammatory responses to infection.

Writing in the journal, the researchers led by Dr Ferenc Macsali, of the Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, said: “We found that respiratory symptoms varied significantly during the menstrual cycle.

“There were large changes in symptom incidence through the cycle for all symptoms.”

They also found “pronounced” symptom variations during the menstrual cycle in women with asthma, and say the findings suggest women might need tailored medication regimes.

“Adjustment of asthma medication to the menstrual cycle may potentially improve the efficacy of asthma treatment and reduce disability and health costs related to asthma in women.”

BBC

{{Although Rwanda’s medical care system is globally respected, mothers at Muhima Hospital that fail to clear their bills after giving birth are held at the hospital.}}

Its not known for how long they are held but there are cases where some of their children are already walking and talking.

However, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho the Health Minister has embarked on a mission to rescue these mothers held at the hospital for defaulting payment.

Earlier IGIHE had contacted the Minister about this situation and she had said there is no mother held at the hospital for failing to pay their bills.

Dr. Binagwaho this time told IGIHE she is personally following up the case after Muhima Hospital management confirmed to her that indeed there are many of such cases at the hospital.

The Minister said these Mothers held at Muhima Hospital must be released immediately if they are indeed held there.

IGIHE again visited the hospital and spoke to Dr. Patrick Mulindwa who said that the Minister had advised that the defaulters be handed to police.

However, Dr. Mulindwa expalined that most of such mothers and other patients being held at the hospital are brought in by police.

“The Police in most cases brings to the hospital such people in need of medical care. They recieve necessary treatment but cant pay. Some dont even have identification papers. Some dont have relatives.”

Dr. Mulindwa said such people cannot be released.

By Press time, officials from the office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Local Government and Ministry of Health are said to be visiting Muhima hospital to investigate the matter.

{{A permanent solution to the spread of AIDS could be round the bend as Canadian researchers say they may have found a solution to the humble condom’s fatal flaw – nanoparticles.}}

Researchers say Photodisc Nanoparticles may be the solution to condoms’ 15% failure rate.

Condoms have a 15% failure rate, so a University of Manitoba team tried soaking condoms in a solution packed with “remarkable” microscopic silver nanoparticles, and the treated condoms appeared to kill all HIV and herpes in lab experiments, the scientists reported.

This could be a major breakthrough in the fight against HIV/AIDS worldwide. The AIDS scourge is responsible for the deaths of more than half the world’s population and continues to spread at an alarming rate.

Yet how, exactly, the silver nanoparticles neutralize HIV and other viruses is still a bit of mystery. It could be the particles or the silver ions they release attach to the virus and prevent it from binding to cell “receptors” in the host’s body, said Dr. Yao, a medical microbiologist.

Or they could actually change a key protein on the virus’s surface, and in that way stop it from sticking to host cells. Some condoms are now treated with an anti-microbial substance, called Nonoxynol-9.

Recent studies, though, have shown that N-9 can trigger inflammation and ulceration in the genitals, actually making infection more likely.

The silver nanoparticles do not cause inflammation, said Dr. Yao. The nano-treated condoms have the added advantage of being quickly discarded, meaning the potentially toxic metal does not linger in users’ bodies, the study notes.

The research is still in its early stages, however, with animal studies on the nanoparticle contraceptives the next step, and possible entry on the market relatively far off.

Dr. Julio Montaner, one of Canada’s leading HIV scientists, said the idea is “intriguing” and welcome in the field.

Meanwhile, though, the most significant problem with condoms is not the 15% that fail to prevent STIs, but the fact many people simply neglect to use them.

“Unfortunately, at the most critical moment when these decisions are so important, people’s judgment may be impaired,” said Dr. Montaner. “At the end of the day, if they stay in the pocket, it’s not going to do the job.”

As well as providing extra protection to sexual partners when a condom fails, nanotechnology could have other benefits, too, said Dr. Yao.

There are reports from developing countries such as India of children and others finding and touching used condoms, then contracting STIs, he said.

Treated with nanosilver, the chances of discarded condoms infecting anyone might be greatly reduced.

{{Adopted from Nationalpost.com}}