Why recreational soccer is good for you – whatever your age
The FIFA World Cup starts in Brazil this week, and for the next month the elite of the world's soccer players will be on display. For most of us watching, any dream of playing on the big stage will have long since vanished (if indeed it ever existed). But a series of papers from the…
The ethics of tobacco packaging
In the week of World NO Tobacco Day (31st May 2014) this blog addresses tobacco packaging: the use of standardized packaging & pictorial health warnings for cigarettes to further reduce consumption and address the world's leading agent of death...tobacco.
E-cigarettes – not healthy
I was horrified to see e-cigarettes associated with the word ‘healthy’ in a store near me recently. They are not. It is undisputable that nicotine is highly addictive and that there is a risk of poisoning with its use. The question is does this harm outweigh the benefits if e-cigarettes reduce smoking? The evidence that…
Dengue situation in a Southern Indian state (Andhra Pradesh) – Gaps and opportunities in Community Awareness
Dengue is the fastest growing vector-borne disease worldwide, and reported cases in the Southern Indian state Andra Pradesh have steadily risen from 313 in 2008 to 2299 in 2012. The many missed cases due to partial reporting by private hospitals and clinics in this state, increased urbanisation and lack of people participation in health issues, makes one sceptical of the true burden of this potentially deadly disease. A community physician in Hyderabad summarises knowledge and practice on community awareness of dengue in Andra Pradesh, and looks at strategies to make information & communication a priority for addressing know-do gaps.
The 2014 World Health Day focuses on Vector-Borne diseases
For World Health Day April 7th 2014, CABI's "Handpicked" features blogs from regions where vector-borne diseases daily kill or debilitate. In “The 2014 World Health Day focuses on Vector-Borne diseases”, Joseph Ana, editor of BMJ West Africa and former Commissioner for Health, Cross River State, Nigeria, makes the case for information dissemination & regional cooperation on vector-borne diseases. Drawing on personal experience, he highlights the need to support low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) where good public health practice has significantly reduced vector borne diseases, & to actively extend their best practice to other regions lagging behind.
Malaria can climb mountains when temperatures rise
A study in Science by Siraj and colleagues this week showed malaria occurs at higher altitudes in warmer years. Their modelling predicts that a one degree Celsius temperature rise in the Ethiopian highlands could lead to 2.8 million more cases in children each year in current malaria areas and over 400,000 cases in new areas.…
BBC launches Woman’s Hour Power List 2014: highlights FGM in time for International Woman’s Day
BBC Radio 4 launched the Woman’s Hour Power List 2014 to identify the top 10 female ‘game changers’; changing the rules in culture, society and business in the United Kingdom today. Woman’s Hour Power List 2013 had 100 names, average age over 50, and many well-known. This year’s judges want the 2014 list to be younger and have unexpected names! Fahma Mohamed, the teenage female genital mutilation (FGM) campaigner was suggested as an ideal candidate: supported by the Guardian newspaper, she recently ran a petition to lobby the government to address FGM in the UK.
How mobile phones could make a difference to maternal health
Mobile technology is revolutionising health and health care in developing countries enabling health promotion campaigns, reminders about therapy and data collecting. To women it could provide a lifeline for them during pregnancy and birth. But what evidence is there that mobile messages are accessible to women in these situations and that they could change women’s…
Outbreak of peace in the sweetener world
You might expect that producers of sugar and producers of other sweeteners would see each other as rivals, and there is indeed evidence of this. For example the ‘Truth About Splenda’ website, provided by the Sugar Association which represents sugar beet and cane farmers in the USA, emphasises the presence of chlorine atoms in the…
Limitations of Voluntary Plan for Phasing Out Non-Medical Antibiotic Use in Farm Animals in USA
By M Djuric, DVM The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently issued a guidance document on the use of antibiotics in farm animals. The document notes that excessive use leads to the spread of antibiotic-resistant diseases in both animals and humans. In the document, the FDA proposes that pharmaceutical companies voluntarily change some…