Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
When will we start caring for our caregivers?
People with HIV in urban Zimbabwe prefer individual care at a health facility
Personal preferences should drive the scale up of differentiated antiretroviral therapy models
The crown that won the HIV battle
Swapna Majumdar, CNS Special Correspondent, India
She is not traumatised by it, nor does she want to hide it. On the contrary, Barbara Kemigisa wants the whole world to know that she has the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. In fact, the 33-year-old flaunts it by wearing a victory crown made with empty bottles of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs used to treat the infection and leftover pills. “I’m not afraid of the stigma of living with HIV. I want people to know
my status so that they can see that people living with HIV don’t need to
wither away and die. By wearing this crown, I can attract attention
without saying a word,” says Kemigisa.
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| Barbara Kemigisa Photo credit: Swapna Majumdar |
Family Planning: Why should women pay the costs of inaction?
Ending tuberculosis now is timelier than ever
Ekwi Ajide, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria
Nearly 4500 people die daily from tuberculosis (TB), the world’s deadliest infectious killer, and about 10 million people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease every year, which can infect any part of the body, but, more often than not, attacks the lungs. The symptoms of pulmonary TB include a cough that lasts for more than 2
to 3 weeks, weight loss, fever, night sweats, loss of appetite and
coughing up blood, among others.
Unfortunately, UN agencies have never put TB as their top priority, said Dr. Mario Raviglione
Manjari Peiris, Sri Lanka
[First published in Asian Tribune, Sri Lanka/Thailand on March 30, 2019]
“There is no single country in the world which has ever eliminated tuberculosis (TB)- the number one infectious disease killer in the world. Asia and Africa respectively account for 60% and 25% of the global TB cases. Every year 10 million patients with TB are reported in the world and 1.6 million die of it, which amounts to nearly 4000 deaths per day. So we need to move fast to achieve elimination targets set by the World Health Assembly as part of the End TB Strategy”, stated Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director, Global Health Centre, University of Milan, and former Director, Global TB Program of the WHO, while speaking at a webinar organized by Citizen News Service (CNS) in the lead up to World TB Day 2019.
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| Dr Mario Raviglione |
“There is no single country in the world which has ever eliminated tuberculosis (TB)- the number one infectious disease killer in the world. Asia and Africa respectively account for 60% and 25% of the global TB cases. Every year 10 million patients with TB are reported in the world and 1.6 million die of it, which amounts to nearly 4000 deaths per day. So we need to move fast to achieve elimination targets set by the World Health Assembly as part of the End TB Strategy”, stated Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director, Global Health Centre, University of Milan, and former Director, Global TB Program of the WHO, while speaking at a webinar organized by Citizen News Service (CNS) in the lead up to World TB Day 2019.
Poverty is a big damper for timely treatment of cancer
Catherine Mwauyakufa, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe
Cancer treatment and care remains a challenge in Zimbabwe with most cases getting diagnosed in the late stages. Currently, over 5000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in the country annually. This is just the tip of the iceberg as many cases are not captured and registered. The majority seek medical help when in an advanced stage of the disease. The large number of people living with HIV (1.3 million) results in an even higher number of people who develop cancer.
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| Wadzanayi Michele Mayiseni - A cancer survivor |
Antimicrobial resistance: An understated threat
Avantika Chaturvedi, CNS Correspondent, India
Antimicrobial resistance is a condition when a microbe starts resisting the effects of medication that once could successfully treat diseases caused by the microbe. Resistant microbes are more difficult to treat, requiring alternative medications or higher doses of antimicrobials, making treatment more expensive and/or more toxic. Microbes resistant to multiple antimicrobials are called multi-drug resistant.
Overcoming antibiotic resistance is a collective responsibility
Ekwi Ajide, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria
Antibiotic resistance according to the World Health Organisation is one of the world's most serious health threats. This assertion may not be unconnected with the fact that antibiotic resistant bacterial infections are much harder to treat, just as they leave the sufferer sicker and infectious for longer periods, thereby giving the ‘superbugs’ more opportunity to spread.
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| Photo credit: WHO |
South Africa’s war against superbugs
Ronel Sewpaul, CNS Correspondent, South Africa
What if the medicines that are used to treat our illnesses became ineffective over time? What if the hitherto curable diseases become untreatable? The peril of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that is looming large, has already started taking its toll and is likely to escalate if not addressed urgently.
WHO prioritizes AMR: A key issue tackled through multi-sectoral partnership
Manjari Peiris, Sri Lanka
[First published in Asian Tribune]
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a multi-sectoral problem affecting human and animal health, agriculture, as well as the global environment and trade. Clean water, sustainable food production and poverty alleviation are but a few of the challenges it poses. It is learnt that AMR threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi.
[First published in Asian Tribune]
Antimicrobial resistance and human health
Beryl Osindo, CNS Correspondent, Kenya
The emergence of drug resistant bacteria, viruses, and parasites, is challenging modern medicine to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at an entirely new level. The administering of antimicrobial drugs to treat infections is a common practice that has been used over the years.
Is Zimbabwe on track to combat malaria?
Locadia Mavhudzi, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe
At the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe recorded an estimated 2 million cases of malaria per year, ranking as one of the countries with the highest incidence rate of the disease. The country has since stepped up efforts to eradicate the disease, with over three million insecticide treated mosquito nets having been distributed to households in all of the country’s 47 malaria prone districts.
Yoga can help control asthma symptoms
A research study done under the guidance of Professor (Dr) Surya Kant, Head, Department of Respiratory Medicine, King George’s Medical University (KGMU), in collaboration with Lucknow University, found that 30 minutes of daily practice of yoga, along with standard medical treatment, improves the quality of life of asthma patients, by increasing their antioxidants’ levels, improving their lung functions, symptom scores and reducing the dose of inhaled medications.
Zimbabwe scales up fight against TB
Locadia Mavhudzi, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe remains a country with a high burden of TB. It ranks amongst the world’s top 30 high TB burden countries, with the mining communities and prisons registering a high prevalence rate for this infectious disease. As the country joined the rest of the world to commemorate World TB Day
2018, the government showcased its significant strides towards reducing
new TB cases and deaths.
Addressing gender inequity to eradicate TB in India
Pritha Roy Choudhury, CNS Correspondent, India
Rajni, the 19 year old girl who helps us with the domestic chores, suffers from some physical disability. She cannot walk properly. Hailing from a financially challenged family, her father drives a rickshaw while her mother contributes to the household income by ironing clothes. She and her two sisters work as domestic helps.
Rajni, the 19 year old girl who helps us with the domestic chores, suffers from some physical disability. She cannot walk properly. Hailing from a financially challenged family, her father drives a rickshaw while her mother contributes to the household income by ironing clothes. She and her two sisters work as domestic helps.
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