Place, Not Race, May Be a Larger Determinant of Health Disparities
“When whites are exposed to the health risks of an urban environment their health status is compromised similarly to that of blacks, who more commonly live in such communities,” said Darrell Gaskin, PhD, co-author of the study, deputy director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health Policy and Management. “Policies aimed solely at health behavior change, biological differences among racial groups, or increased access to health care are limited in their ability to close racial disparities in health. A more effective policy approach would be to address the differing resources of neighborhoods and improve the underlying conditions of health for all.”
Why Being Thin Doesn't Always Mean Being Healthy
If there’s a universal truth in health news lately, it’s that being overweight isn’t good for your health. Extra weight, especially in the form of fat, can lead to heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, among other problems.
But a new study hints that being lean doesn’t get you entirely off the health hook either. In a genetic analysis involving more than 75,000 people, an international group of scientists led by Ruth Loos at the Medical Research Council in the U.K. found that lean people with a specific genetic variant were at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease despite their lower body fat.
What makes the disorders so hard to treat is their way of turning the body’s normal regulatory mechanisms against themselves. Malnutrition slows the brain’s hormone production, “numbing” intense emotions. So as anorexic patients starve, they feel calmer. Hunger pangs are now a reassurance they won’t get fat. In another twist, the more weight they lose, the fatter they see themselves. It’s not a problem with their vision. The more they starve, the harder it is to keep going — the body wants to eat. So the mind produces motivation in the form of an obese reflection rippling with rolls of fat. The delusion is a rationale for continuing to starve, created by brain chemistry doctors don’t understand.” Starvation Nation: Inside a Groundbreaking Eating Disorder Facility
Good news! Zambia-- Judge dismisses obscenity charges against newspaper editor
I posted about this case back in August. The jist:
The editor of Zambia’s largest independent newspaper, The Post, is currently on trial for distributing pornography. Chansa Kabwela was charged in July for ”circulating obscene matters with the intention to corrupt the morals of society,” punishable by a five year prison sentence. What exactly did Kabwela circulate that was so dangerous to the moral character of Zambians? Pictures of a woman giving birth on the ground outside a hospital.
A recent nurses’ strike led to dangerous medical conditions in the country, a fact Kabwela wanted to highlight. When she received pictures of the incident, she decided not to publish them in the paper, but instead sent copies to the vice president, the health minister and several organizations. The pictures were taken by a relative of the woman, who visited clinics and the hospital in search of medical assistance due to the breach birth position of the baby. Eventually she laid down on the ground near the hospital before doctors from the hospital finally assisted her. The baby did not survive.
Thankfully, the charges against Chansa Kabwela have been dropped! From Reporters Without Borders, excerpt:
A Lusaka court yesterday acquitted The Post editor Chansa Kabwela of a charge of “distributing obscene material” for sending the vice-president photos of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park during a strike by hospital staff. Judge Charles Kafunda dismissed the case on the grounds that there was no evidence that the photos would corrupt public morals.
“The judge took the right decision as the charges against Kabwela were ridiculous and baseless,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We nonetheless regret that the authorities subjected her to this ordeal for many months for no reason.”
As she emerged from the courtroom, Kabwela told Reporters Without Borders she was happy and relieved. “My victory is also a victory for all those who suffered during the health sector strikes,” she said. “I am happy that the court acquitted me. I had no intention of causing anyone any harm. The letter I wrote to the vice-president was very clear. I just wanted to draw his attention to the situation in the hospitals.”
Right now, almost a billion people on earth don’t have clean water to drink.
10,000 Fewer Children Dying Every Day
From OneWorld, excerpt:
About 24,000 children under the age of five died every single day last year, but that’s a big improvement.
The number of children who die before their fifth birthday is now nearly 30 percent lower than it was in 1990, meaning that 10,000 fewer children are dying around the world every day. And the efforts to keep children healthy are becoming more effective as time goes by, says the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which released the latest numbers last week.
Experts say the decrease in deaths can be traced in large part to the increase in immunizations against measles and other diseases, the growing use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria, and Vitamin A supplements, which help boost compromised immune systems.
World leaders pledged in 2000 — as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — to commit the funding and take the actions necessary to reduce under-five deaths by two-thirds (from 1990 levels) by 2015. While child advocates are pleased with the current trend, they are quick to note that tens of thousands of children are still dying every day from preventable causes, and the world is not on track to meet its goal.
Pneumonia, diarrhea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV, and under-nutrition are the primary causes of death among young children worldwide. According to UNICEF, new vaccines against certain types of pneumonia and diarrhea may provide additional momentum to further reduce illness and death among young children, but more money and political commitments will be needed to support those efforts.
New Antibodies to HIV Found
From the Wall Street Journal, excerpt:
An international team of researchers has discovered a pair of powerful new antibodies to HIV, providing fresh leads in the quest for a vaccine against AIDS.
The two HIV antibodies, reported in a study to appear in the journal Science on Friday, are the first of their kind to have been identified in more than a decade. They are “broadly neutralizing,” which means they can target most of the many thousands of HIV strains.
Any potential vaccine is still a long way off, however. Researchers now have to work out how these antibodies bind to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and use that property as the basis for a vaccine. As a result, animal or human trials are likely to be years away.
Nonetheless, the new antibodies are deemed to be much more powerful than the handful of similar ones found before. They attach to a potentially more accessible part of the HIV virus, which could make vaccine design easier.
“We hope that we have a bit of a breakthrough and that the drought is over,” said Dennis Burton of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., the senior author of the study.
The search for an HIV vaccine has been one of modern medicine’s biggest challenges — and disappointments. There have been about 100 vaccine trials since 1987, but not a single notable success.
About 33 million people were living with HIV world-wide in 2007, the most recent year for which global statistics were available, according to the United Nations. That same year, about two million people died of AIDS and there were 2.7 million new infections.
Children played soccer next to the American-owned smelter Doe Run Peru in La Oroya. It has been called one of the world’s 10 most polluted places.
From the NY Times, check out the entire photo slideshow about La Oroya, Peru, where citizens face countless health issues because of this copper smelter.
