CNS: obesity

Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts

[video] Seychelles secret to keep TB under bay: screen everyone, detect early, link to treatment and care

[podcast] Would Seychelles be the first African country to end TB?

This podcast features Dr Louine Morel, Medical Registrar, Communicable Disease Control unit, Ministry of Health of Seychelles, who was on the panel for #EndTB Dialogues (season-2), #90for90 #GlobalVoices Series. Seychelles 100% funds its fight against tuberculosis and has managed to keep TB under bay. Although there has a rise in notified cases in the recent years. Listen to more insights from Dr Morel. Seychelles is likely to be the first country in Africa to end TB, hopes Dr Louine Morel.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, and other podcast streaming platforms.

Substantial weight gain as dolutegravir is rolled out in Africa

Study finds women gain more weight; underlines need to watch out for weight-related diseases

Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant

(published in NAM aidsmap on 21 June 2022)

A study analysing data from four African countries found that people living with HIV who switched to a dolutegravir-based antiretroviral regimen had a four-fold increase in average weight gain, compared to the year before the switch.

How we can stop more deaths from breast cancer by 2030

Francis Okoye, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria
(First published in Nigeria Politics Magazine)

In a webinar organised for the media by Citizen News Service, titled ‘Are we on track to reduce breast cancer deaths by 1/3 by 2030?’ medical experts and breast cancer survivors shared their views on how to reduce deaths from this dreaded cancer.
The panel of experts and cancer survivors included Priya Kanayson, Advocacy Officer, NCD Alliance; Dr Pooja Ramakant, Associate Professor, Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, King George Medical University; Prof Anand Mishra, Head of Department of Endocrine and Breast surgery, KGMU; and Bret Miller, Founder, Male Breast Cancer Coalition and a breast cancer survivor himself.

NCDs: A major public health challenge in India

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have emerged as a major public health threat worldwide. They accounted for 38 million deaths in 2012, and this number is expected to rise to 52 million by 2030. NCDs are a major threat to economic growth too. NCDs and mental health conditions could cost the world $47 trillion in lost economic output from 2010 to 2030 if urgent action is not taken to prevent and treat them.

Akanksha Sethi
[World Asthma Day is Tuesday, 3rd May 2016]
Not all ailments are of the type that can be cured completely over time, even though they are not life threatening. Asthma, which afflicts an estimated 300 million people worldwide, is one such disease that cannot be cured though it can consciously be controlled. Those who keep it under check, through a proper lifestyle, diet and regular medication, are able to lead a normal life, said Professor (Dr) Surya Kant, Head of the Respiratory Medicine Department at King George's Medical University, in an interview given to CNS (Citizen News Service).

We must focus on maternal health to achieve global goals

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

The XXI World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics, recently held in Vancouver, Canada, saw the release of two sets of important guidelines aimed at improving maternal health, decreasing the incidence of maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidity and reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. These comprehensive guidelines, created collaboratively with international experts in GDM and maternal nutrition, and launched by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), provide recommendations to improve the diagnosis and care of women with GDM and to improve adolescent, preconception and maternal nutrition.

Evidence shows we can prevent obesity in children: E Waters, Anne Anderson Awardee 2014

Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant, CNS

Prof Elizabeth Waters
Anne Anderson Awardee 2014

Researchers have demonstrated that childhood obesity prevention programmes have a positive health impact on body mass index (BMI - a measure of body fat based upon height and weight). So policies and practices should take this evidence into consideration to nip alarming rates of childhood obesity. Professor Elizabeth Waters, Jack Brockhoff Chair of Public Health in University of Melbourne, did this game-changing systematic review on childhood obesity prevention with her colleagues, which is the most downloaded review in The Cochrane Library. Prof Waters was also awarded the prestigious Anne Anderson Award for 2014 at 22nd Cochrane Colloquium in Hyderabad, India.

Unhealthy diets are threatening global health

Shobha Shukla, CNS Columnist

An estimated 65% of the world’s population lives in countries where obesity leads to more deaths than underweight. In 2012, over 40 million children under the age of five were considered overweight or obese, 30 million of who were living in developing countries. Around 3.4 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. In addition, 44% of the diabetes burden, 23% of the ischaemic heart disease burden and between 7% and 41% of certain cancer burdens are attributable to overweight and obesity.

Citizen News Service - CNS
Recent guidelines by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) state that metabolic surgery is a treatment option for any overweight person with a Body Mass Index (BMI = weight in kilograms/ height in metre square) of more than 30 and with co- morbidities like cardiovascular disease risk factors, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and obstructive sleep apnoea.

India is home to the second highest number of people living with diabetes in the world, after China. Today there are over 45 million people grappling with the disease, and the numbers show no signs of reducing. Amongst other health hazards, diabetes often leads to peripheral vascular disease, involving both the macro and micro circulation. Statistics reveal that 15% of all those living with the disease will develop foot problems related to diabetes, and may suffer from various deformities of the toes and feet, commonly called ‘diabetic foot conditions’. These can develop from a combination of causes including neuropathy (nerve damage) and/or poor blood supply to the foot, which creates areas of raised pressures in the soles of the feet, where ulcers develop. These ulcers act as portals for the entry for bacteria leading to serious infections, which in the already immune compromised patients can result in amputations or even death.

[Photo] [Audio podcasts] A collaborative approach between different specialities in a hospital can save the limb in people with diabetic foot who are slipping towards amputation. "There is always room for change and betterment" said Dr Sarnarendra S Miranpuri, Section of Podiatric Surgery, Detroit Medical Centre, USA, who was delivering the keynote address at the Amrita Diabetic Foot Conference (ADFC 2011). The ADFC 2011 is being organized by Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre (AIMS) in Kochi, India (6-7 May 2011).

Diabetes in women, especially pregnant women, is having far reaching health ramifications in India. According to Dr Anoop Misra, "Women should be more addressed not only for diabetes but also for heart disease and should be targeted in a special way for prevention programmes. They gain weight in each pregnancy. As their age increases, weight also increases and so do chances of high blood sugar. Events preceding blood sugar elevation are more prevalent in women than in men. So we foresee that in future diabetes will be more prevalent in women."

According to The Lancet, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mainly heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory disease, are responsible for two out of every three deaths worldwide and the toll is rising. A landmark global alliance between leading scientists and four of the world's largest NGOs brings together evidence from a 5-year collaboration with almost 100 of the world's best NCD experts and proposes a short-list of five priority interventions to tackle the increasing global crisis. Reducing tobacco and salt use, improving diets and physical activity, reducing hazardous alcohol intake, and achieving universal access to essential drugs and technologies have been chosen for their health effects, cost-effectiveness, low costs of implementation, and political and financial feasibility.

Close on the heels of International Women's Day 2011, comes the news of a path breaking research which puts the onus of a healthy generation on women. The research, by scientists from the University of Cambridge, provides important insight into why children born to mothers who consumed an unhealthy diet during pregnancy have an increased risk of health problems later in life. According to this research, poor diet can lead to abnormal development of the pancreatic beta cells which make insulin, the hormone vital for regulating blood sugar levels. This can trigger diabetes in adulthood as the cells "wear out" sooner than usual, said Susan Ozanne of the University of Cambridge, co-leader of the team.

Diabetes control in Thailand is improving, but better awareness and patients’ treatment compliance is needed to fully tackle the health issues. So says Professor Wannee Nitiyanant, vice president of the Diabetes Association of Thailand under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sinrindhorn in reaction to a recently published international study. The study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington showed that millions of people worldwide may be at risk of early death from diabetes and related cardiovascular illnesses because of poor diagnosis and ineffective treatment.

We all are aware that Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prevalence is rapidly increasing in India. Urban Asian Indian children are also increasingly afflicted with the problem of obesity, majorly due to nutritional westernization and sedentary lifestyle. Research studies show increasing trends of obesity, insulin resistance, and thus increased risk for development of early onset T2DM and coronary heart disease. Interestingly, both children and adults are largely unaware of correct nutrition and lifestyle behaviours. So it becomes imperative to focus on the primary prevention of obesity and inculcation of healthy diet and lifestyle practices, with a view to prevent diabetes and other related diseases.

Ann Keeling, Chair, NCD Alliance

A civil society movement is growing in lead up to the United Nations (UN) Summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), said the Chairperson of NCD Alliance Ann Keeling, who was speaking at the WHO-wide Planning Meeting for the UN High level Meeting on NCDs in Washington DC, USA (source: youtube video). She is also the CEO of International Diabetes Federation (IDF). The UN Summit on NCDs she referred to, is scheduled to be held in September 2011.