Global Health News - January 2007

Here are some global health stories that have hit the newspapers in the last month. We have certainly missed some. Please email us and let us know.

Top 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2006

This report by Medecins Sans Frontieres finds that the growing number of deaths worldwide from TB was one of the top 10 most underreported news stories of 2006.

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2007/top10_2006.htm

Flu 'Could Wipe Out 62 Million'

A global flu pandemic could kill 62 million people, experts have warned. The 1918 pandemic claimed 50 million lives, and experts in The Lancet predict the toll today would be higher than this, despite medical advances. The world's poorest nations would be hardest hit, fuelled by factors such as HIV and malaria infections, the Harvard University researchers believe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6199717.stm

Nepal Doctors Strike in Hospitals

Nepalese doctors have begun a three-day strike in hospitals across the country in protest against recent attacks on them by the public. The strike has brought many medical services to a halt, although emergency treatment is still being provided. Angry protestors on Monday manhandled doctors and vandalised a hospital in the capital, Kathmandu.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6211449.stm

Doctors claim study on patient choice suppressed

The Department of Health appears to have removed a research report from its website because the findings would have discredited the government's programme aimed at giving NHS patients more choice, doctors' leaders have claimed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1980816,00.html

Too Much Fish Risky for Fetuses: Taiwan Study

Pregnant women who eat fish more than three times a week could be putting their baby at risk because of higher mercury levels in their blood, according to a study by Taiwanese researchers. Mercury exposure is especially risky for fetuses when their internal organs are developing, and can result in neuronal, kidney and brain damage, and stunt growth. Expectant Chinese mothers tend to eat more fish as they believe it is healthier than red or white meat.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061228/hlnm/pregnancyfish_dc

Scientists find way to slash cost of drugs

Two UK-based academics have devised a way to invent new medicines and get them to market at a fraction of the cost charged by big drug companies, enabling millions in poor countries to be cured of infectious diseases and potentially slashing the NHS drugs bill. Sunil Shaunak, professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College, based at Hammersmith hospital, calls their revolutionary new model "ethical pharmaceuticals".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1981200,00.html

WHO Vows Focus on Flu and Africa

Margaret Chan, a bird flu expert from Hong Kong, is the first Chinese citizen to become the head of a UN agency. She said reports of bird flu had started to surface in recent weeks after a lull and that the danger was particularly severe in poor countries. Dr Chan also identified health care in Africa, particularly women's health, as a priority for her organisation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6232849.stm

New WHO Director-General Takes Office

Dr. Margaret Chan of China took office Jan. 4 as Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) following her election in November. She pledged that her term of office and the effectiveness of the Organization would be judged by the impact they have on two specific populations. Dr. Chan has set six priority areas on which she intends to focus the work of WHO: development for health, health security, building the capacity of health systems, developing better information and knowledge, enhancing partnerships, and improving the performance of the organization.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr01/en/index.html

Somalia: Fighting Halts Effort to Verify Deadly Fever

Fighting in southern Somalia has hampered efforts to confirm a possible spread of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) from neighbouring Kenya to the Lower Juba Region where seven people have died after showing symptoms of the rare, contagious haemorrhagic disease, Somali health officials said. The deaths were reported in Dobley, 18 km north of the Kenyan border, in the last five days. "The dead are mainly nomadic herders," said Hassan Mursal, a clinical officer in nearby Afmadow hospital. "The number could be higher but because of the current insecurity in the area there is no way of getting the full picture."

http://allafrica.com/stories/200701090378.html

S. Korea Confirms Human Bird Flu Infection

South Korea's disease control agency said Thursday it has confirmed a human infection of the avian influenza virus. The state-run Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), which conducted tests among 26 residents near four farms in the southwestern region hit by bird flu in November and December last year, said it has discovered a person whom tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. The person was reportedly working at one of the farms then.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20070111/660000000020070111155845E4.html

Japan Confirms Bird Flu Outbreak

Officials in Japan have confirmed that a recent outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm was the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus. Almost 4,000 chickens died at a farm in Miyazaki on the southern island of Kyushu last week, and the remaining 8,000 birds were culled on Sunday. Tests confirmed the presence of H5N1, an Agriculture Ministry statement said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6265827.stm

New U.S. institute aims to bolster world health

Atlanta's Emory University launched a new global health institute on Wednesday in recognition that diseases from AIDS to bird flu cross all political and philosophical barriers. The plan is to train workers at Emory and abroad, develop drugs and build facilities to fight diseases that now cripple economies and that threaten to destabilize entire regions. "Health issues have become remarkably similar around the world," said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for academic health affairs at Emory University's Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2007/01/10/eline/links/20070110elin016.html

Doctors rue career choice as jobs are cut

Medical reforms trigger 'massive crisis' while morale plummets and staff consider quitting UK. Morale amoung Britain's junior doctors has plunged to a new low. Almost half of them think they chose the wrong career, a survey has found. The findings are alarming because they indicate that the National Health Service crisis is now demoralising its most important professionals: the men and women who will diagnose and treat the nation's illnesses in the near future.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1984497,00.html

Health Experts Call on EU to Impose Total Ban on Use of Mercury

Health and environmental experts called on the European Union on Wednesday to push for a global ban on the use of mercury, warning that the highly toxic chemical continues to pose severe health risks.

In a report, a pan-European group of health care experts, professionals and activists called on the 27-nation EU to step up efforts to rid the continent of mercury, which it said continues to be used in everything from dental fillings to medical devices such as thermometers.

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12006

Last updated on Sunday 06 April 2008 at 22:23.