Speaking at the United Nations High Level meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Motsoaledi said South Africa recognizes the need for NCDs to be regarded as a development priority rather than only a health concern.

“It is the view of the South African government that a ‘health only’ approach will not reverse the global mortality and burden from NCDs, but that a ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach is needed,” Motsoaledi said.

He also shared few examples of risk reduction and control of NCDs in South Africa, which include the implementation of the Framework Convention and Guidelines on Tobacco Control reiterating that government will continue to strengthen legislation to further reduce the impact of tobacco use.

“On improving surveillance, South Africa has recently passed regulations making the reporting of cancers compulsory. This makes South Africa one of the few countries to do this… South Africa has also just passed regulations to reduce the use of trans fats and are currently drawing up regulations to reduce salt content in processed food.

“Towards the whole of government and development approach to the prevention and control of NCDs, an inter-ministerial committee made up of nine ministers has been established to come up with legislative and other solutions to combat harm from alcohol and other drugs,” Motsoaledi told delegates.

The two-day meeting was attended by world leaders including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Director-General of the World Health Organisation Dr Margaret Chan, heads of state and health ministers.

The meeting aimed to address the prevention and control of NCDs worldwide, with a particular focus on developmental challenges, and the social and economic impacts, particularly for developing countries.

Globally, deaths due to NCDs are projected to increase by 17% over the next 10 years, but the greatest increase (24%) is expected in the African region.

Currently, NCDs cause 60% of all deaths; 80% of them occur in developing countries. Around a quarter of them occur in people under the age of 60 and it is estimated that by 2030, NCDs will contribute 75% of global deaths.

Source: BUA News

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

Speaking at the National Health Research Summit held in Boksburg, Ramokgopa stressed the need for research to move from health knowledge, to research based on achieving great health outcomes.

“We invite researchers to work with us to identify the knowledge gaps, areas [in which we need] to do better and see how research can contribute to the achievement of quality health… We would also like to work with you to ensure that the type of research will assist us in the four health priority areas.

“Our efforts should help us ensure that the knowledge that is there decreases the burden of diseases,” Ramokgopa told researchers.

The two-day summit, which commenced on Tuesday, aims to identify problems within the health care system and how to address them in terms of research.

Ramokgopa also called on researchers and research institutions to engage in collaborative networking and dialogue on how best they can build on their resources.

“The private sector accounts for 44 percent of research in health, and universities account for 36 percent. This is a good basis for us to build on… Let’s use this framework to look at how best we can work on health research.

“Over a five year period [up until 2009], 2 200 applications were processed for clinical trials but the country has a shortage of human capacity and skills in these areas… However, we have enough to optimize the outputs. Let’s begin turn a new leaf in South Africa and let’s move to research where society and economy needs are answered,” Ramokgopa said.

She further noted that while the country has a number of publications reviewed internationally, it has not been able to solve the TB problem. She said the success of the National Health Insurance, to be piloted in 2012, would be the reduction of the disease burden through strengthening the primary health system.

While most critics feel that the country will not be able to achieve the MDGs in 2015, Ramokgopa reiterated that it is possible to achieve them, provided the country does things differently.

“It’s possible to achieve them. We need to look at what can we do… to achieve better [results].”
Commenting on what the country should do between now and 2015, the Health Department’s Director-General, Precious Matsoso, highlighted the importance of global partnerships for development to reach the MDGs target.

“We need to reach 2015 quicker. We have interventions and need even better ones or we can adapt those we have to respond better. We also need to continue to invest in infectious diseases, which are the second leading cause of death in the world.”

World Health Organisation (WHO) representative, Dr Stella Anyangwe, said the current WHO strategy on health research is to needs that are specific to its member states.

“The WHO regional office for Africa is poised to provide the regional assistance required for the strategy to be implemented by member states. The implementation will have to be done at all levels of WHO with full participation of all stakeholders,” Anyangwe said.

By Gabi Khumalo

Source: BUA News

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

This is according to Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, who was speaking at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Diseases in Moscow, Russia on Friday.

The conference is attended by health ministers from across the world, as well as United Nations (UN) Chief Ban Ki-Moon and World Health Organisation (WHO) Head Margaret Chan.

Since his appointment as Health Minister, Motsoaledi has always expressed concerns around the hospi-centric model of health delivery in South Africa, describing it as too expensive and not sustainable.

“Waiting for people to first get ill and then receive them in hospitals for treatment is not a correct model of health delivery,” he said on Friday.

Motsoaledi further told the delegates that South Africa was now shifting focus to primary healthcare (PHC) and the country has embarked on an extensive program to re-engineer PHC services. “Our PHC model places focus on prevention of diseases and health promotion”, he said.

South Africa is one of the countries in the world with a high burden of non-communicable diseases such as cardio-vascular diseases, hypertension, cancers and diabetes, with Type 2 diabetes becoming more prominent among teenagers.

“A lot of these diseases are caused by poor diet, tobacco, alcohol abuse and lack of exercise,” he said

Source: BUA News

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How People Arrived Here:

preventive health in south africa

“Securing this humanitarian corridor is a first vital step in reaching thousands of hungry people affected by the conflict – in particular women, children and elderly people – whose food supplies are running alarmingly short,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

A first convoy of 8 trucks loaded with 240 metric tons of wheat flour and 9.1 metric tons of high energy biscuits – enough to feed nearly 50,000 people for 30 days – crossed on Monday to western Libya from Ras Jedir on the Libyan Tunisian border.

The food supplies will be delivered through WFP’s partner the Libyan Red Crescent to the crisis-affected population, particularly women and children in Tripoli, Zintan, Yefrin, Nalut, Mezda, Al Reiba and Al Zawia.

On Saturday, WFP signed an operational agreement with the Libyan Red Crescent to coordinate the delivery and distribution of food assistance to the areas facing food shortages.

“In line with the humanitarian principles, WFP is coordinating with all parties to ensure that affected needy civilian population do not go hungry,  irrespective of their area’s adherence to any of the warring factions,” said Daly Belgasmi, WFP’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

The corridor is initially being used for WFP’s own food supplies. WFP is the lead agency for logistics and ICT clusters, so the corridor may also be used to transport goods for other humanitarian partners. The corridor will soon be employed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to transport urgently needed medical supplies.

The UN food agency reached the port city of Misrata for the first time on April 7 with 600 metric tons of food assistance, enough to feed 40,000 people for one month, on a WFP chartered humanitarian vessel carrying also medical supplies, doctors and other relief items on behalf of the humanitarian community.

WFP continues to move food assistance and other relief supplies through different humanitarian corridors by road from Egypt and Tunisia and by sea into the main ports along Libya’s Mediterranean coastline.

WFP has now reached more than 187,000 people in eastern Libya with food assistance and pre-positioned more than 17,500 metric tons of food stocks inside the country and across the region, as part of a $42 million emergency operation that will provide food assistance to more than 1 million people in Libya and neighboring countries.

Source: World Food Programme

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“The above average rainfall seen in this past week spells an inevitable consequence of yet another Rift Valley Fever outbreak,” said the department on Tuesday.

The heavy showers cause shallow water surfaces and water pans to become flooded. Combined with warm weather conditions, this promotes the breeding of mosquitoes, which transmit the disease.

According to the World Health Organisation, a specific species of mosquito, the Aedes, transmits this viral disease while feeding on farm animals like sheep, goats and cattle.

The disease leads to the death of newborn lambs and calves and abortions in ewes and cows.

Humans become infected by handling tissues or organs of diseased animals.

The department has emphasized the seriousness of infection in people, saying that at times, it can be life threatening. Symptoms include severe muscle and joint pains, high fever, severe headaches and blurred vision.

The outbreak of Rift Valley fever during 2010 resulted in 232 human cases, 26 of which died from the disease.

Vaccination is the only effective method to protect livestock, and farmers are advised to vaccinate their animals once a year. They should also dip them weekly to control mosquitoes and to use insect repellent sprays or pour-ons.

The public is urged not to handle any sick animals or cut up any dead animals or aborted fetuses. Protective clothing and goggles should be used when touching sick or dead animals.

The local State Veterinarian can be contacted on the following numbers:

Motheo District
Bloemfontein: 051-4363677
Thaba’Nchu: 051-8751160

Xhariep District
Fauresmith: 051-7230032
Smithfield: 051-6830083
Lejweleputswa District
Welkom: 057-9166724
Hoopstad: 053-4441910

Thabo Mofutsanyana District
Bethlehem: 058-3035579
QwaQwa: 058-7141430

Fezile Dabi District
Sasolburg: 016-9762006
Kroonstad: 056-2123126

Source: BUA News

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

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THDC Managing Director Yemi Esho,told journalists on Saturday in Abuja that the Science and Technical Education in Post Basic (STEP’B) would be joining the other organizations in providing funds to empower local institutions which lacked the knowledge of presenting proposals that would enable them to access funds from international funding institutions.

According to Esho, these institutions cut across universities, polytechnics, colleges of educations and other allied institutions.

“Most universities and other institutions have units responsible for international funds access, though they do not understand the guidelines on how to make good proposals as poor proposals were not given considerations,’’ Esho said.

“Nigerian banks should network with those funding institutions so as to facilitate fund access,’’ she added.

Chinyere Njoku, the Project Coordinator, said the training will begin with the education sector due to its crucial value to the society.

“We will start with education and then move to agriculture and health, though they are important too,’’ she said.

Njoku added that government alone could not fund education to global standards, and stressed the need to diversify sources of funding through Public Private Partnership initiative.

Source African Press Agency

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Researchers looked at data taken over a decade among more than 9,200 Australian men and women aged between 70 and 75 at the beginning of the study, who were assessed for their health and lifestyle as part of a study into healthy aging. The paper sheds light on the situation in Australia, which is ranked the third most obese country, behind the United States and the United Kingdom.

Obesity and overweight are most commonly defined according to body mass index (BMI), which is calculated by dividing bodyweight (in kg) by the square of height (in metres). The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines four principal categories: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. The thresholds for these categories were primarily based on evidence from studies of morbidity and mortality risk in younger and middle-aged adults, but it remains unclear whether the overweight and obese cut-points are overly restrictive measures for predicting mortality in older people.

The study began in 1996 and recruited 4,677 men and 4,563 women. The participants were followed for ten years or until their death, whichever was sooner, and factors such as lifestyle, demographics, and health were measured. The research uncovered that mortality risk was lowest for participants with a BMI classified as overweight, with the risk of death reduced by 13% compared with normal weight participants. The benefits were only seen in the overweight category not in those people who are obese.

“Concerns have been raised about encouraging apparently overweight older people to lose weight and as such the objective of our study was to examine the major unresolved question of, ‘what level of BMI is associated with the lowest mortality risk in older people?’” said lead researcher Prof. Leon Flicker, of the University of Western Australia. “These results add evidence to the claims that the WHO BMI thresholds for overweight and obese are overly restrictive for older people. It may be timely to review the BMI classification for older adults.”

In those participants who died before the conclusion of the study, the researchers concluded that the type of disease which caused their death, for example heart disease or cancer, did not affect the level of protection being overweight had. To remove any risk of bias in participants with illnesses which caused them to lose weight, and also increased their risk of dying, the researchers contrasted subjects who were relatively healthy compared with those who had major chronic diseases or smoked and found no apparent differences in the BMI: mortality relationship.

While the same benefit in being overweight was true for men and women, being sedentary doubled the risk of death for women, whereas it only increased the risk by a quarter in men.

“Our study suggests that those people who survive to age 70 in reasonable health have a different set of risks and benefits associated with the amount of body fat to younger people, and these should be reflected in BMI guidelines,” concluded Flicker.

Source: Wiley-Blackwell

Net News Publisher for World News

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The new ‘Bivalent’ OPV vaccine (bOPV) has been developed over the last twelve months by the World Health Organisation, with the support of funding from the UK’s Department for International Development.

A clinical trial that compared bOPV with the traditional oral poliovirus vaccine found that for both types 1 and 3 polio, bOPV was at least 30% more effective.  The new bOPV vaccine delivers the benefits of both in one package.

This will vastly simplify and potentially accelerate vaccination and eradication efforts in war-ravaged countries like Afghanistan as well as in countries with weak health systems, such as in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, experts recently concluded that bOPV provides the most effective protection possible for young children against the two surviving strains (types 1 and 3) of the poliovirus.

The roll-out of the bOPV is part of DFID’s new £100 million drive to tackle polio over the next five years. Today, DFID released £23 million as part of that funding package to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to deliver:

* National immunization days to reach every child under the age of five years, in countries with ongoing polio or at high risk of spread from polio infected countries;

* Supplemental ‘mop-up’ vaccination campaigns focused on children in high risk areas with persistent poliovirus;

* Research into new vaccines and ways to ensure they are available to vulnerable children; and

* Monitoring activities to detect cases of polio so that progress can be measured and outbreaks contained.

Since DFID began its new funding to the eradication initiative in January 2009, UKaid has helped to vaccinate 350 million children, some of them more than once, improved the training of staff to carry out the vaccinations, and helped develop approaches to overcome the challenges faced in reaching children in the last polio-infected areas of the world.

It has also led to a fall in the number of new polio cases in India, which have dropped by a staggering 75 per cent and a 90% reduction of the most dangerous type of polio in northern Nigeria.

Today’s installment of funding will help to train more staff and vaccinate a further 120 million children under the age of five years.

International Development Minister, Mike Foster, said:

“Polio has been one of the most devastating and deadliest of childhood diseases, but our efforts to eradicate it have yielded success. New infections have been reduced by over 99 per cent and 350 million children have been vaccinated against the disease in this year alone.

“UKaid is now supporting the delivery of this new vaccine which could finally end polio once and for all.”

The UK is the second largest government donor to The Global Polio Eradication Initiative which has reduced cases of polio by over 99% in the last two decades.

Only four countries remain endemic – Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India – compared to 125 in 1988. The number of new cases of polio has been reduced from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,600 in 2008.

In the first quarter of next year, bOPV will be rolled out in Nigeria, India and much of west Africa.

Source: Department For International Development

Net News Publisher for World News

WHO head in Zimbabwe, Custodia Mandlhate said most of the cases were among members of religious groups that refuse to vaccinate their children against the disease.

She said the WHO country team had embarked on a program to vaccinate all children under five years in the affected areas to slow down the spread of the disease.

Members of an apostolic sect refuse to participate in the regular vaccination programs undertaken by the Zimbabwe government and WHO, often preferring to use “anointed water” prescribed by their church leaders or prophets.

The measles outbreak comes on the heels of a resurgent cholera epidemic that has claimed at least five lives since October and infected more than 200 people.

This year’s cholera outbreak is however less potent that the one that struck the southern African country in 2008 which infected nearly 100,000 people and killed more than 4,200 others.

Source African Press Agency

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Speaking during a courtesy call on the governor of Niger State in northern Nigeria Babangida Aliyu on Wednesday in Minna, Gowon said Nigeria had been rid of the disease through the combined efforts of the Federal, State and Local Governments, as well as those of Global 2000.

“The number of people afflicted by the disease stood at 650,000 for a long time which did not go up or down, showing its seriousness on the health of our people in 21 states,’’ he said.

Gowon said the situation was very pathetic, as the disease afflicted the old, the productive group and the children, reducing their capacities to engage in productive ventures.

’’The World Health Organisation (WHO) will now begin the three years of certification process before the country is officially declared free of the disease,’’ he said.

Gowon said Global 2000 would be offering N10, 000 (about US$70) reward to anybody who identified a sufferer of the disease during the certification period in order to ensure that nobody was still infected.

He, however, urged the state and local governments not to relent in sustaining the provision of clean and potable water to the endemic areas to avoid a relapse of the disease.

Responding, Aliyu said a surveillance committee to be presided over by the state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, was to monitor the endemic areas during the certification period of three years.

Source African Press Agency

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The three-day operation targets children aged 0 to 5 years and pregnant women. It aims to achieve over 80% immunization coverage in order to secure and reduce maternal and infant mortality.

The vaccination campaign is funded by the government but with the assistance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF).

The vaccinating agents of this door-to-door operation are also distributing vitamin A and cleaning water wells to prevent waterborne diseases.

Some people already have symptoms of these diseases which had claimed many lives in Malabo, the capital in 2005.

Source African Press Agency

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During a meeting on the 2009 Hajj, the country’s Supreme Council of Imams (COSIM) said the age criteria imposed by the Ivorian authorities to all applicants to the trip to the Holy Land of Mecca was specific to Cote d’Ivoire.

The Executive Secretary of COSIM, Imam Ousmane Diakite, echoed those words, quoting a diplomatic note from the Saudi Foreign ministry, copied to APA.

According to the cleric who read the document, the different countries are advised “to fully raise their pilgrims’ awareness of the risks of contracting the infection and the impacts of the swine flu”.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government at the end of an international consultation workshop attended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged all pilgrims to have “a valid certificate of vaccination against the seasonal flu, two weeks before any visa can be issued”.

Pregnant women and the elderly with chronic diseases are also advised to postpone their trip.

As a result, the Imams have said they do not understand those measures “systematically barring people of over 70 years of age” from going to Mecca, as well as those under the age of 13.

For the Ivorian authorities those people are the most venerable to seasonal diseases, such as the AH1N1 flu.

For the COSIM, any applicant to the pilgrimage should be given a clean bill of health by a doctor.

According to the executive secretary of the council, a series of meetings is underway to try to reverse this decision, which excludes many applicants.

In many Ivorian families, the tradition is to put money aside to pay for the parents’ trip to Mecca.

These restrictions, which had been attributed to Saudi authorities, have caused much gnashing of teeth within the country’s Muslim community.

The first batch of Ivorian pilgrims to Mecca will leave on 03 November.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

“Schools should also promote hygiene and respiratory etiquette and be stocked with appropriate supplies. Proper cleaning and ventilation and measures to reduce crowding are also advised”, the United Nations health agency stated, underscoring that “no single measure can stop or limit transmission in schools, which provide multiple opportunities for spread of the virus.”

Considering the heavy toll attributed to the pandemic worldwide as of last week (2,840 deaths out of 254,000 H1N1 laboratory cases), WHO said “experience to date has demonstrated the role of schools in amplifying transmission of the pandemic virus, both within schools and into the wider community.”

In this ambit, outbreaks in schools are clearly an important dimension of the current swine flu pandemic, the agency stressed, affirming that school closure can operate as a proactive measure, aimed at reducing transmission in schools and spread into the wider community.

It therefore recommends decision-makers, notably health officials and school authorities to consider the economic and social costs that can be disproportionately high when viewed against potential benefits.

“The main economic cost arises from absenteeism of working parents or guardians who have to stay home to take care of their children”, WHO said.

However, while school closure can reduce the peak demand on health care systems, it can also disrupt the provision of essential health care, as many doctors and nurses are parents of school-age children, the health agency warned.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

The report which was released to the press on Monday deals with the health of school goers in Mauritius and Rodrigues and with violence. It indicates that 43% of students last year took part in physical fights and that 27% of students had been attacked by their classmates.

The report also indicates that 40.9% of students in Mauritius and 45.5% in Rodrigues were subject of ragging in school premises.

Also the report asks the Ministry of Education together with the Ministry of Health to set up an action plan to reduce the violence on children and adolescents. It adds that adolescents are “particularly vulnerable to the consequences of violence which may lead to psychological problems, aggressive sexual behavior, and with the risk that the young persons may get addicted to drugs”.

And the report also decries the violence of teachers on pupils.

The report declares that WHO is shocked by the high number of accidents that take place in school premises.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

How People Arrived Here:

violence in mauritius

Sources at the Ministry of Health here indicate that the decision has been taken following recommendations from medical specialists that two doses per person are needed in order to have immunity against the virus.

Dr Romesh Munbodh, WHO representative in Mauritius declared that a selection will have to be made to determine who will benefit from the first doses of the vaccine.

He added that according to WHO, the vaccination strategy should favour those persons who are particularly exposed to risks, including pregnant women, babies, children and medical staff.

He said that Mauritius has made a request to WHO to obtain a discount on the price, but exactly how much the vaccine will cost is up to now unknown.

He said that France has already paid € 900 million for 90 million doses, the equivalent of one dose at € 10.

Munbodh said that there are 4 international laboratories which are capable of supplying the vaccine by next month, namely the American Baxter, the British GlaxoSmithKilne, the French Sonafi Pasteur and the Swiss Novartis.

He said it is impossible to know if the vaccine will be really effective here and with summer fast approaching, there are great risks that a mutation of the virus may take place.

Source African Press Agency

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