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Showing posts with label health and wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health and wealth. Show all posts

Saturday, May 8, 2021

WHO approval of Chinese vaccine will largely accelerate COVAX supply; Chinese vaccines top safety ranking

 

China's Sinopharm vaccine approved by WHO for global use https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2021-05-07/Sinopharm-vaccine-approved-by-WHO-for-global-use-104LK27VVcc/index.html via @cgtnofficial 
 
 

The WHO's emergency approval of China's COVID-19 vaccine will boost global vaccine supply amid shortfall as China's overall yearly production capacity is approaching five billion doses, observers said.

The WHO gave Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday afternoon, making it the sixth vaccine and the first made by a non-Western country to receive WHO validation for its safety, efficacy and quality. This will send a statement to Western media's doubts and questions over the vaccine's authenticity, observers noted.

The other five COVID-19 vaccines previously approved by the WHO were made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

The approval allows Sinopharm to become a qualified supplier to the COVAX platform that aims to provide two billion doses to developing countries and regions by the end of 2021. As of Friday, 54 million doses had been delivered to 121 participants of the program.

India was supposed to deliver one billion shots through COVAX, but the plan has been halted due to the ongoing severe outbreak in the country.

With a huge supply-demand gap, the world is in urgent need for Chinese vaccines. In most low-income regions, Chinese vaccines are the only choice they have. This comes as the US and Europe are busy grabbing and overbuying shots for themselves, experts said.

The emergency approval for Chinese vaccines will largely expand COVAX supply as China's production is likely to reach five billion doses by the end of this year, Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Chinese manufacturers are already providing vaccines to about 80 countries. The Global Times learned from Sinovac, another Chinese manufacturer whose COVID-19 vaccine is undergoing WHO review for EUL and the result is scheduled to come out next week, that they had produced 300 million doses as of April 28 with about 60 percent being delivered overseas.

On Thursday, Sinopharm announced the completion of phase-three construction of its production factory for the Beijing institute vaccine. It is the world's largest COVID-19 vaccine production factory and will ramp up the group's production capacity to three billion per year.

Sinovac has said that their production capacity will reach two billion doses per year after their production factory is completed in June.

Some experts have expressed concerns over challenges in delivery and application. Especially due to the underdeveloped infrastructure in most developing regions, but Chinese manufacturers are making efforts to tackle these challenges.

The Sinopharm product is an inactivated vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell) that can be delivered through common cold chain with temperatures between 2 C and 8 C. While Moderna vaccine has to be stored in a temperature of at least -20 C, while the Pfizer vaccine at -70 C.

Sinopharm vaccine's easy storage requirements make it highly suitable for low-resource settings, WHO said in a statement on Friday.

It is also the first vaccine that will carry a vaccine vial monitor. The vial monitor is a small sticker on the vaccine vial that change color when the vaccine is exposed to heat, letting health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used, according to the statement.

The sticker clearly shows the degree of over exposure to high temperatures and ensure the safety of the vaccine's application in different environments, Tao said.

China can assist regions with unsatisfactory infrastructure conditions with cold-chain vehicles as well as training for health workers on vaccination, experts noted.

Some foreign news medias had long been questioning the efficacy and safety of the Sinopharm vaccine due to fewer data on its clinical trials. The data had not been released until the latest document uploaded by the WHO on the assessment of Sinopharm's vaccine.

The WHO document confirms experts have an "overall confidence" in its ability to prevent COVID-19, while having "low confidence" on the risk of side effects for older patients.

WHO said in the Friday statement that they are not recommending an upper age limit for the vaccine because preliminary data and supportive immunogenicity data suggest the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in older people. "There is no theoretical reason to believe that the vaccine has a different safety profile in older and younger populations."

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In the safety ranking, the top four are all Chinese vaccines

 -  reported by The New York Times on Feb 5, 2021.

 
 1. Sinopharm (China)
 2. Sinovac (China)
 3. Kexing (China)
 4. Can Sino (China)
 5. AstraZeneca (UK)
 6. Pfizer (United States and Germany)
 7. Modena (United States)
 8. Johnson & Johnson (United States)
 9. Novavax (United States)
 10. Satellite 5 (Russia)
 Sinopharm has two vaccines, ranking first and second respectively.
 
China has exported more than 500 million doses of vaccines to more than 50 countries around the world, and it is estimated that hundreds of millions of people have been vaccinated. And China's vaccine accident rate is lower and safer.
 
 As reported by Western media, many wealthy people in Britain fly to the UAE to vaccinate Chinese national medicine.

 
 
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Saturday, October 31, 2020

US passes nine million coronavirus cases as infections spike and presidential election on the way

 2020-coronavirus-cases-world-map-inline

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-coronavirus-cases-world-map/


 

WASHINGTON: The United States passed nine million reported coronavirus cases on Friday and broke its own record for daily new infections for the second day in a row, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, as Covid-19 surges days before the country chooses its next president.

The U.S, which has seen a resurgence of its outbreak since mid-October, has now notched up 9,034,295 cases, according to a real-time count by the Baltimore-based school.

On Friday the country set a record for new daily infections of more than 94,000 in 24 hours, breaking the record of 91,000 it had set just one day earlier.

With the virus spreading most rampantly in the Midwest and the South, hospitals are also filling up again, stretching the health care system just as the nation heads in to flu season.

“We are not ready for this wave,“ Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University school of public health, warned on ABC’s Good Morning America on Thursday.

Authorities in El Paso, Texas, imposed a curfew this week to protect “overwhelmed” health care workers and began setting up field hospitals.

But a judge’s attempt to shut down non-essential businesses in the city has been challenged by the mayor and the state’s attorney general, the Washington Post reported.

Midwestern state Wisconsin has also set up a field hospital in recent weeks, and hospital workers in Missouri were sounding warning bells as cases there rise.

Hospitals in the western state of Utah were preparing to ration care by as early as next week as patients flood their ICUs, according to local media.

‘Utterly disqualifying’

The pattern of the pandemic so far shows that hospitalizations usually begin to rise several weeks after infections, and deaths a few weeks after that.

More than 229,000 people have died of the virus in the US since the pandemic began, the Hopkins tally showed as of Friday, with the daily number of deaths creeping steadily upwards in recent weeks also — though at present it remains below peak levels.

For months public health officials have been warning of a surge in cases as cooler fall weather settles over the U.S, driving more people indoors.

As the weather changes, New York and other parts of the northeast, which were the epicenter of the U.S outbreak in the spring but largely controlled the virus over the summer, were reporting a worrying rise.

Some epidemiologists believe that Covid-19 spreads more easily in drier, cool air.

Rural areas, which in the spring appeared to be getting off lightly compared to crowded cities, were also facing spikes with states like North Dakota charting one of the steepest rises in recent weeks.

The state is so overwhelmed that earlier this month it told residents they have to do their own contact tracing, local media reported.

With four days to go until the election, Donald Trump was battling to hold on to the White House against challenger Joe Biden, who has slammed the president’s virus response.

“It is as severe an indictment of a president’s record as one can possibly imagine, and it is utterly disqualifying,“ Biden said Friday as the toll passed nine million.

Trump downplays the virus even as the toll has been accelerating once more, holding a slew of rallies with little social distancing or mask use.

He has repeatedly told supporters that the country is “rounding the curve” on Covid infections.

But Americans, wary of crowded polling booths on Election Day as the virus spreads, are voting early in record numbers. — AFP

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Trump Is Encouraging a Lawless Election

The president wants every ballot counted on Election Day, regardless of the law or decades of precedent. It’s part of a pattern.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-30/how-safe-is-flying-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-quicktake

  

Mapping the Coronavirus
Outbreak Across the World

The world is bracing for a new wave of Covid-19 infections, as the coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 45.5 million people and killed more than 1,180,000 globally since late January. Efforts many countries took to stamp out the pneumonia-like illness led to entire nations enforcing lockdowns, widespread halts of international travel, mass layoffs and battered financial markets. Recent attempts to revive social life and financial activities have resulted in another surge in cases and hospitalizations, though new drugs and improved care may help more people who get seriously ill survive.

 

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Trump Blames ‘Fauci And These Idiots’ For His Own Coronavirus Ineptitude

 

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Everybody wins when the world invests in girls and women!

 






A good economy starts with healthy girls


Among the many provocative ideas that emerged from last week’s “Women Deliver” conference in Copenhagen, perhaps the most memorable was the concept that today’s most significant development is not taking the form of superhighways, skyscrapers and other massive structures, but rather the health and well-being of girls and women. And yet, it was stressed, much more development is needed in this regard.

The slogan for the gathering in Denmark – the biggest global conference on women’s health and rights in a decade – was “When the world invests in girls and women, everybody wins!”

In a video address opening the meeting, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared, “It is time to put women and girls at the heart of development.”

That’s part and parcel of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals approved by world leaders last year, aimed at ending extreme poverty and shrinking inequality.

In the modern age, women’s rights have been mooted, debated and battled over for more than a century and shared centre stage during the democratic revolution of the 1960s and early ’70s, but only now is the movement’s rhetoric – so often unintentionally exclusive to women – being replaced with a message that embraces all of society.

As Princess Mary of Denmark pointed out at the conference, the “women’s agenda” is in fact a united and unifying agenda of benefit to humanity as a whole.

And this, added World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim, is why governments should not balk at investing money in the wellbeing of girls and women.

They are forever seeking World Bank loans to build infrastructure, he noted, and yet women “are their most precious infrastructure”.

There are good arguments backing up this claim. As an example, it is frequently overlooked that countries with more women in the workforce enjoy or are closer to achieving sustainable development. A study by McKinsey Global concluded that having as many women as men in the workforce would |add US$28 trillion to the world’s |gross domestic product every year.

Men nevertheless remain dominant in the workforce, the result of patriarchal tradition that erects barriers to full economic participation for millions of women around the planet. In underdeveloped regions the disparity routinely leads to tragic consequences, such as preventable deaths.

The mortality rate among women giving birth in Africa is one in six, compared to one in 9,000 in Europe. One African woman dies every two minutes due to preventable complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

Every year around the world 15 millions girls become child brides and as such are denied education and job opportunities. Thus they too cannot contribute to the economy.

The solution, said Jim and other global leaders speaking in Copenhagen, lies in investing in women and girls, a strategy that is crucial to meeting those Sustainable Development Goals that will benefit the entire human race. “It starts with a healthy girl,” he said, making the message as plain as could be.

Healthy girls are better equipped for education and work. Healthy young women have healthy pregnancies and are better able to be good mothers.

The simplicity of the notion doesn’t disguise the scale of the challenge beyond birth. Access to healthcare, including the full range of sexual- and reproductive-health services, must be financed and delivered. In 2014 around the world 22,000 women died while having unsafe abortions, and 80 per cent of those pregnancies resulted from lack of contraception. This too was preventable.

If women, and particularly teenage girls, can avoid unwanted pregnancy, the positive impact on their lives and thus on society is profound. Gone is a major obstacle to proper education, better economic opportunities and healthier lives. The same applies to child marriage.

Policymakers have to stop overlooking such proven arguments. Investment in the welfare of girls and women must continue to grow, especially in the areas of education and adolescent health. The return on the investment will extend beyond economic prosperity, to the happiness of society in general.


Source: The Nation/Asia News Network

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Clean hands save lives, wash your hands to combat germs!

PETALING JAYA: The role of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of drug-resistant germs is the focus of the World Health Organisation’s annual “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign this year.

Launched yesterday, the campaign is in line with WHO’s recently-released report on Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance.

How bacteria become resistant
Bacteria grow resistant to antibiotics through natural selection. When drugs are used, some organisms may have ways of surviving. As they reproduce or pass DNA to other bacteria, those traits become more common, weakening antibiotics’ power.

The report states that there are increasingly more types of bacteria which cannot be killed by antibiotics. The report also stated that no one in the world is safe from this menace.

However, WHO also reported that should compliance with hand hygiene in health facilities increase from under 60% to 90%, there could be up to a 24% reduction in the infection of methicillin-resistant Stap­hylococcus aureus (MRSA).

MRSA, most commonly contracted in hospitals, is rapidly becoming more difficult to treat with current drugs.

“Whether it is the hands of the patient, their visitors or the healthcare team, people must remember to practise good hand hygiene in a healthcare setting, especially in hospitals,” said Patient Safety Council of Malaysia member Dr Milton Lum.

Good hand hygiene means washing the hands thoroughly with soap and water before and after touching a patient.

“Everyone has germs on his or her body so despite our good intentions in visiting our sick relatives or friends, we may actually pass on a bug unintentionally,” said Dr Lum.

Patients for Patients Safety Malaysia chairman J. Manvir said he believed that patients should also wear masks to protect themselves from airborne infections.

“Children under 12 should not be visiting patients, especially in hospitals.

“You may not be able to teach them to practise good hand hygiene but you can keep them at home to prevent them from passing on an infection to the patient as well as preventing them from getting ill,” said Manvir.

Antibiotic resistance has been around since the 1940s when the first antibiotic, penicillin, allowed doctors to kill off the many bacteria that were the source of different infections.

However, subsequent misuse of penicillin accelerated the natural evolution of the bacteria, resulting in the microbes becoming resistant.

Contributed by Tan Shiow Chin The Star/Asia News Network

Related post:

The world's leading health organization is sounding serious alarm bells about the problem of antibiotic resistance.

Monday, May 5, 2014

WHO's Alarm Bells: Antibiotic Resistance Now a 'Major Threat to Public Health'

The world's leading health organization is sounding serious alarm bells about the problem of antibiotic resistance.


In its first report on the issue ever, the World Health Organization (WHO) is sounding alarms about the issue of antibiotic resistance and the global public health threats it poses to our increasingly interconnected world.

"The problem is so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine. A post-antibiotic era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—is a very real possibility for the 21st century," the report states.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria no longer die when treated with antibiotics. As a result, doctors have to use stronger, more potent antibiotics, and the more those are used, the more resistance bacteria develop to those as well. The WHO is warning that we're reaching a point in which the strongest antibiotics doctors have in their arsenal, the "treatment of last resort" drugs as they're called, no longer work.

And in fact, it's no longer just bacteria that are becoming resistant. The WHO has stopped referring to the problem as "antibiotic resistance" and now calls it "antimicrobial resistance," to encompass other organisms, such as viruses and parasites, that no longer respond to the drugs of choice. Namely, treating the viruses tuberculosis and HIV, and malaria (a parasite), has become harder as these diseases become resistant to medications. Even H1N1, the so-called "swine flu" that reached pandemic levels in 2009, has begun developing resistance to potent antiviral drugs.

Resistance Is a Worldwide Problem

One of the major points of the report is that diseases that used to be restricted to certain locales are now spreading internationally:

Among their key findings:
• Resistance to the treatment of last resort for life-threatening infections caused by a common intestinal bacteria, Klebsiella pneumonia—carbapenem antibiotics—has spread to all regions of the world. K. pneumoniae is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, infections in newborns and intensive-care unit patients. In some countries, because of resistance, carbapenem antibiotics would not work in more than half of people treated for K. pneumoniae infections.

• Treatment failure to the last resort of treatment for gonorrhea—third generation cephalosporins—has been confirmed in Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. More than 1 million people are infected with gonorrhoea around the world every day.

• People with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are estimated to be 64 percent more likely to die than people with a non-resistant form of the infection. MRSA, which can cause septic bloodstream infections when exposed to broken skin, is one of the most common "community-acquired" resistant infections, meaning you're likely to pick it up anywhere other people are—your gym, place of worship, a nearby park or even at schools. In the Americas, as many as 90 percent of staph infections are reported to be MRSA.

• There hasn't been a new class of antibiotics developed since the late 1980s.

We Can't Track What We Don't Know

The WHO is calling on countries all over the world to step up their surveillance of these deadly infections, something that happens rarely, if at all. An investigative report, "Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria," that ran on the PBS program Frontline in October 2013 revealed that public health officials in the U.S. have little to no data on the extent of antimicrobial resistance in this country. Healthcare facilities aren't required to report outbreaks, the report found, and many don't because they don't want to scare people or have to deal with bad PR.

“It is frankly embarrassing that we as a country do not know where resistance is occurring, how bad the problem is for various organisms or who’s using what antibiotics when,” Brad Spellberg, MD, an infectious disease doctor at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said in the documentary.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that antimicrobial resistant infections hit two million people a year and kill at least 23,000. But the WHO notes that in most countries around the world, including the U.S., often only the most severe infections are documented and minor community-acquired infections (which can get passed along repeatedly and wind up as a severe infection) go unreported.

Clean Up the Food Supply!

For quite possibly the first time, the WHO also called out the food industry for its contribution to antimicrobial resistance. " The use of antibiotics in animal husbandry—including in livestock, poultry and fish farming—are leading to increasing recognition that urgent action is needed to avoid inappropriate use, and to reduce antibiotic usage in animal husbandry and aquaculture, as well as in humans," the report states. In the U.S., 80 percent of antibiotics sold go into animal feed to prevent infections in healthy animals or to speed growth. And we're not alone. "In many countries, the total amount of antibiotics used in animals (both food-producing and companion animals), measured as gross weight, exceeds the quantity used in the treatment of disease in humans," the authors found.

The same classes of antibiotics used on these animals are the same as those given to humans. In particular, fluoroquinolones, antibiotics used widely in the poultry industry, are increasingly ineffective against urinary tract infections caused by drug-resistant E. coli bacteria, which have been detected on all forms of supermarket meat, and against MRSA soft-tissue and skin infections.

Numerous groups in the U.S. have sued the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approvals in animals for antibiotics that are valuable for humans. The agency's only response has been to set voluntary guidelines for the industry.

What You Can Do

Despite the damage factory farming has done to antibiotic effectiveness, the WHO and other public health officials insist that the first line of defense in controlling the problem of antimicrobial resistance is the healthcare setting: Stopping doctors from giving patients antibiotics for conditions they aren't designed to treat, for instance, when you're given antibiotics for a cold that's caused by a virus, not bacteria.

• Don't automatically ask for antibiotics when you feel sick and visit a doctor.

• If your doctor prescribes an antibiotic, ask if there's an alternative before just accepting the advice. Some doctors feel compelled to offer the drugs to make people feel better, but asking for an alternative can open up a dialogue about other options.

• When you do need an antibiotic, take the full course, even if you're feeling better.

• Wash your hands frequently to protect yourself from community-acquired infections, and keep your hands away from your nose, eyes and mouth, where infections can enter.

Contributed by  By EMILY MAIN

 Where Health Meets Life


Alarm bells over antibiotic resistance 

The World Health Organisation’s most comprehensive report to date sounds a warning that we are entering a world where antibiotics have little effect.

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has sounded a warning that many types of disease-causing bacteria can no longer be treated with the usual antibiotics and the benefits of modern medicine are increasingly being eroded.

The comprehensive 232-page report on anti-microbial resistance with data from 114 countries shows how this threat is happening now in every region of the world and can affect anyone in any country.

Antibiotic resistance – when bacteria evolve so that antibiotics no longer work to treat infections – is described by the report as “a problem so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine”.

“A post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can kill, far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century,” said Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general who coordinates its work on anti-microbial resistance.

“Without urgent, coordinated action, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill.

“Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars allowing us to live longer, live healthier, and benefit from modern medicine.

“Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating.”

The report, “Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance”, shows that resistance is occurring in many bacteria causing different infections.

It focuses on antibiotic resistance in seven bacteria responsible for common, serious diseases, such as bloodstream infections (sepsis), diarrhoea, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and gonorrhoea.

What is especially alarming is that the bacteria’s resistance has also breached “last resort” antibiotics, which are the most powerful medicines that doctors resort to when the usual ones do not work.

When patients do not respond to the usual medicines (known as first-line or first-generation medicines), doctors prescribe newer (second line medicines) which also usually also cost more.

When these also don’t work, newer and often more powerful (but sometimes with also more side effects) antibiotics are used, and they are even more expensive.

If these third-line or “last resort” medicines are not available or too costly for the patient, or if they don’t work on a patient because of antibiotic resistance, the patient remains ill or dies if the infection is a serious one.

New antibiotics have been discovered in the past to treat infections when the old ones became useless due to resistance.

But these discoveries dried up in the past 25 years.

The last completely new classes of anti-bacterial drugs were discovered in the 1980s.

Pathogens that are becoming increasingly resistant including to the more powerful antibiotics include E. coli, K. pneumonia, S. aureus, S. pneumonia, salmonelia, shigella and n. gonorrhoeae.

Key findings from the report include:

> Resistance to the treatment of last resort for life-threatening infections caused by a common intestinal bacteria, K. pneumonia — carbapenem antibiotics — has spread worldwide.

K. pneumoniae is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, infections in newborns and intensive-care unit patients.

In some countries, because of resistance, carbapenem antibiotics would not work in more than half of people treated for K. pneumoniae infections;

> Resistance to one of the most widely used antibacterial medicines for the treatment of urinary tract infections caused by E. coli – fluoroquinolones – is very widespread.

In the 1980s, when these drugs were first introduced, resistance was virtually zero.

In many countries today, this treatment is ineffective in more than half of patients;

> The sexually transmitted disease, gonorrhoea may soon be untreatable unless there are new drugs. Treatment failure to the last resort of treatment for gonorrhoea – third generation cephalosporins – has been confirmed in several countries; and

> Antibiotic resistance causes people to be sick for longer and increases the risk of death.

For example, people with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are estimated to be 64% more likely to die than people with a non-resistant form of the infection.

There are many cases of patients being infected by MRSA in hospitals.

The report also gives useful information on the worrisome building up of resistance in four serious diseases — tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and influenza.

A major factor accelerating resistance is in the animal husbandry sector, where there is a liberal use of antibiotics mainly to promote the growth of the animals used for food, for commercial purposes.

This builds up resistance in the bacteria present in the animals.

These resistant germs are passed on to humans who consume the meat.

The report has a small section on the animal-food chain, which has been identified as a major problem.

The European Union has banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animals, but it is still allowed in other countries.

A WHO press release on the report calls for some actions. These include:

> Setting up basic systems in countries to track and monitor the problem;

> Preventing infections from happening in the first place to reduce the need for antibiotics;

> Only prescribing and dispensing antibiotics when they are truly needed, and prescribing and dispensing the right antibiotic(s) to treat the illness;

> Patients using antibiotics only when prescribed by a doctor and completing the full prescription; and

> Developing new diagnostics, antibiotics and other tools to stay ahead of emerging resistance.

Contributed by Global Trends by Martin Khor

Martin Khor is executive director of the South Centre, a research centre of 51 developing countries, based in Geneva. You can e-mail him at director@southcentre.org. The views expressed are entirely his own.

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Do You need jabs, antibiotics?


OUR population is getting more and more educated and knowledgeable. With the convenience of internet and smart phone, information can be assessed anytime and anywhere.

Facebook and Google have become the source of reference for most people. Many can now be “experts” in many specialised fields, including engineering, law and even medicine.

Nowadays, the medical practitioners enounter some patients who are so-called internet savvy, and refuse antibiotics and vaccines.

This issue arose due to the spread of such information in the internet, claiming antibiotics could lead to “superbug” and are associated with many adverse effects, while vaccines could cause autism or death.
Well, the risks of administration of both drugs are certainly debatable.

What we know for a fact is that since Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin and the pox vaccine, many lives were saved.

Nevertheless, I am not in the position to comment on the good and bad of both antibiotics and vaccines. But, it is more important for the general public to understand more about the need for antibiotics and vaccines.

Antibiotics or more specifically antibacterial, is a medicine indicated to kill (bactericidal) or inhibit the growth (bacteriostatic) of the bacteria.

There are various types of antibiotics with different mode of actions and indications. Strictly speaking, the mechanism of action for antibiotics is rather complicated.

However, it works mainly to counter attack the rapid reproduction of bacterial colonies, so that our immune system has enough time to defeat the illness.

Thus, the usage of antibiotics is strictly limited to the bacterial infection. In common clinical conditions, like acute exudative tonsillitis, abscess formation and urinary tract infection, antibiotics are strongly prescribed.

It must be understood that antibiotics have no role in curing diseases caused by fungus, virus or other parasites.

Therefore, it should not be overprescribed in cases like common cough and cold, flu and fungal infection of skin.

As for vaccines, they are biological preparations that help to boost immunity. Its primary focus is on disease prevention. It is always better to prevent a disease than to treat it.

Vaccines work by introducing the weakened form of “disease germ” into the body. The body will respond by producing antibodies to fight these invaders. At this stage, technically, the immune system is being sensitised. If the actual disease germ attacks the body, more antibodies will be produced to destroy the real enemy.

Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common in this country and around the world, including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, Hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

Many patients question the need for further vaccination as diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis are very rare these days.

Furthermore, there are people that do not get vaccination, yet able to live healthily until old age. This is the myth behind “herd immunity”.

Herd immunity serves as a preventive barrier as most of the population had been vaccinated, thus, the disease is contained from spreading. If herd immunity is compromised, the widespread of the disease may occur.

A piece of advice to all, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Before you start to tell doctors about the negative effects of antibiotics and vaccines, why not, give them a chance to explain to you before you make a decision.

Contributed by DR H.B. CHEE, Muar, Johor The Star/Asia News Network

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Sunday, December 29, 2013

Keeping a pledge to fitness resolutions for a new year new beginning 2014

Two heads are always better than one, so grab a friend to exercise with. The support and motivation will go a long way towards achieving results. – AFP

A new year signals a new beginning, but are fitness resolutions necessary when most people can’t sustain them?

RESOLUTIONS are never easy to keep, especially fitness ones.

Every year-end, I hear these mantras from at least a dozen people: lose weight, get toned, enrol in yoga, run faster, muscle up, eat less...

It’s like a pledging ritual, but without proper planning and implementation. Only one, at most two, will doggedly stick to the resolve. Hats off to them.

Most people gear up to hit the gym come Jan 1, follow through for the first couple of months, hit a roadblock (most likely from laziness, muscle soreness or injuries), and eventually, slide off the commitment ladder. This is also the period when gyms, as well as wellness and slimming centres, offer huge promotions to entice new clients.

Don’t be fooled or gullible enough to fall into this trap unless you know you have the perseverance to succeed.

Resolutions seem possible at the start of the year, but become impossible as the days and months whiz past. Or, you’ve set unrealistic expectations. Habits and behaviours require time to change, so don’t be too tough on yourself.

One of my Pilates students has told me countless times that his intention is to lose his belly fat. He’ll point to a macho guy at the gym and say, “I want to look like that.”

Not wanting to engage in a lengthy discussion about body types, every year, I’ll advise him on a workout regime he can adhere to. He’ll pump iron, run on the treadmill, and attend classes diligently the first few weeks.

Then poof!, he disappears, citing work, travel, weather and family issues. By year-end, he’ll reappear, pinch his spare tyre and exclaim, “Look at this!”

I’ll look and smile knowingly. This scenario has continued for the past five years. Buddy, I can’t help you if you don’t help yourself.

So this year, why not do something different before embarking on your fitness goals?

First, sit on the couch and get your cravings out of the way. Yeah, that’s right. Allow yourself to binge to your heart’s desire to usher in the New Year. Put your feet up, snack on your favourite food – junk included, and sip your preferred drink, while watching the telly.

It’ll feel good for a while, but pretty soon, you’ll be sick of the over-indulgence and yearn for a more meaningful activity.

When you have mental clarity, focus on a fitness programme that is attainable. Ditch the impossible resolutions (e.g. losing 20 kilos in six months), but take your health and self-improvement goals one baby step at a time.

Unlike food, the endorphins released during exercise leave you feeling high for a longer time. Not only does it boost your mood, it also helps you get in shape.

Have you heard of anyone feeling depressed after a round of exercise? Fatigued, yes, but they’re rarely down in the dumps.

Physical activity doesn’t have to be complicated, so here are some tips for a healthy start:

Always warm up before starting a physical activity

Warming up is essential to prepare the body for energetic activity and reduce the risk of injury. The purpose is to ease both the mind and body from a state of rest into a state of strenuous activity.

A warm-up routine should consist of a 10-minute cardio workout, such as skipping or brisk walking, and five to 10 minutes of gentle loosening exercises, which produces a light sweat (for example, rotation of the ankle, wrists, shoulders and hips).

Increasing the core and muscle temperatures helps to make muscles loose and supple. Besides increasing the heart rate and boosting blood flow, warm-ups supply oxygen to the muscles and prepare the body for action.

Walk, walk and walk

If you have limited finances or lack time to join the gym, go brisk walking, weather permitting. Avoid taking lifts, but walk up the stairs, walk to the shops, walk around the park or walk to your colleague’s cubicle instead of phoning or sending her/him an Intranet message.

Walking has multiple benefits, including helping against heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

Work out with a friend

Two heads are always better than one, so grab a friend to exercise with. The support and motivation will go a long way towards achieving results. And with the crime rate these days, it’s better to have a companion, especially if you’re doing an outdoor workout.

Commit to early morning exercise

Everyone needs an extra minute of sleep, but if you can rise early and squeeze in at least 30 minutes for exercise, you’ll be more likely to keep to your regime.

Plus, once you get the exercise bit out of the way, you’ll also have plenty of energy left for the rest of the day.

Combine cardio and strength training

Instead of allocating separate days for cardio and strength training, combine both. Do a two-minute cardio routine and add two strength moves (e.g. crunches and push-ups). Repeat the cardio and add two more strength moves (e.g. squats and tricep dips).

Not only does it help with muscle retention, but it also promotes a faster metabolic rate and enhances lipolysis, speeding up the rate of fat loss.

Cool down and stretch

Cooling down is equally as important as warming up, though many people fail to realise this and jump into the next activity immediately.

Cooling down restores the body to a pre-exercise state in a controlled manner, helps the body repair itself, and can lessen muscle soreness the following day. Gentle walking for five to 10 minutes is good to recover the heart’s resting rate. After that, perform some static stretches by holding the stretch for at least 20 seconds.

Eat healthy

Try to eat healthy (cut out the fried stuff) and load up on fruits and veggies, but don’t skip your favourite desserts, no matter how sinful they are. Instead, have a mini serving to satiate your taste buds.

Research reveals that skipping dessert can backfire and leave you wanting more. In a 2010 study published in the journal Obesity, dieters who were restricted from eating a small dessert were more likely to be left “wanting” than those who had a bite of sweets. Eliminating your favourite foods can be a recipe for disaster and may create an obsession.

Personally, I can’t keep to resolutions. As I get older (translation: injuries that take longer to heal), I occasionally cut myself some slack and allow my body a break to recharge for a week. But, that doesn’t mean I do nothing. I still stretch in bed, do breathing exercises, or take long strolls and get to know the neighbourhood dogs.

After all, you’re not participating in a sprint to get fit. Rather, we’re all runners in this slow, steady marathon for better health. There are no winners or losers, just healthier, trimmer individuals and less medical expenses.

On that note, here’s wishing readers a happy new and fit year ahead!

Contributed yy Revathi Murugappan

The writer is a certified fitness trainer who tries to battle gravity and continues to dance, but longs for some bulk and flesh in the right places. She hopes to do one final dance in 2014 before gracefully bowing out from stage to make way for the next generation.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Crime is very real in everyday situations - cop robbed of his mobile phone!

TODAY, crime is happening not only in back alleys or in the dark but under broad daylight and even at one’s doorstep.

Concerns that the crime rate is on the rise are not unfounded. It is certainly no longer a perception. Now, it doesn’t pay to be an early bird. The early bird may not get the worm, but trouble.

The same goes for the night owls as trouble may await them. It is not advisable to go out after 9pm unless it is an emergency.

Gone are the days where teenagers could run errands safely for their parents.

A report about a policeman being robbed of his mobile phone “Robber hits cop on the head and makes off with smartphone” (The Star, July 27) is also disturbing.- see below

I feel our police force should be given refresher training to beef up their defence skills.

In case of being attacked, they should be able to fight off their attackers even if they are armed.

If the cops are not able to ward off the attackers, what about us, the ordinary laymen on the street, who depend on them to protect and safeguard us.

Cops who are obese, for example, should be given top priority to attend such courses. They should undergo a diet and exercise regimen to trim down their waistline.

In the end, they should be able to chase after the criminals without running out of breath.

Being fit is not only good for them but also for those who care for them. Remember, health is wealth.

Malaysia is truly a land of opportunity for those who work hard to earn their living the legal way and also for those with evil intentions.

Much needs to be done to tackle crime. In the meantime, always be alert and take the necessary precautions to avoid any untoward incident.

TAKE CARE Putrajaya

Robber hits cop on the head and makes off with smartphone

KUALA LUMPUR: A policeman suffered a huge gash on his head after an armed robber hit him with a metal rod and stole his smartphone.

The incident occurred when the policeman, who is in his 20s, was having supper at a restaurant at Setapak yesterday.

Sentul OCPD Asst Comm Zakaria Pagam said the suspect, armed with the metal rod, had attacked the off-duty policeman at around 2am.

“The constable is attached to the Sentul Motorcycle Patrol Unit. He was not in uniform during the incident,” he told reporters at the City police buka puasa function in Putrajaya yesterday.

He said the suspect had hit the policeman with the rod before demanding that he hand over his smartphone.
“When the policeman refused, the suspect hit him on the head again. The policeman then got into a scuffle with the suspect before being overpowered,” he said.

ACP Zakaria said the suspect ran off with the smartphone towards an accomplice waiting nearby on a motorcycle.

“The policeman was rushed to Hospital Kuala Lumpur where he received more than 20 stitches for the gash on his head,” he said, adding that the case was being investigated as causing hurt in an armed robbery.

He urged anyone with information on the case to contact the police hotline at 03-2115 9999 or visit the nearest police station.

 By AUSTIN CAMOENS - The Star/Asia News Network

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Friday, June 14, 2013

Success is a state of being

VERY often the benchmark of ­success is wealth. Everyone is judged by the external signs of wealth.

People pass ­disparaging remarks about those who are doing service or providing for others but are not wealthy and do not display the signs of wealth.

If people identify more with their external conditions or roles, they will inevitably feel inferior or superior to others and so lack self respect.

The ways in which society works often blinds an ­individual from realising his/her own ­self-worth. For example, society sometimes gives ­acknowledge-ment only to those who are wealthy or occupy a position of authority. In reality, every individual has the right to know that worth is inherent in every human ­being.

Self worth can help ­individuals avoid feelings of inferiority or superiority. The middle path is a dignified way of life.

Success is not a material thing. It is a state of being. We might call it contentment, ­happiness or even peace.

How do you define success? It is the completion of a task, another job well done, an exam passed, a promise kept, or a mountain climbed.

Whatever we believe success to be will have a profound ­influence on our lives.


Bridget Menezes is the author of Self-Empowerment and Spiritual Counsellor. Readers can email her at lifestyle.bridget@thesundaily.com.