Posts Tagged ‘WHO’
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2010 – 2011 season was barely underway when its new music director, Maestro Riccardo Muti, headed back to Italy to see his physicians in Milan because of what was described as gastric distress. Muti’s ultimate diagnosis? Exhaustion and doctor’s orders to spend a month relaxing along Italy’s Adriatic Sea.
Non-celebrities frequently suffer from exhaustion due to lengthy periods of physical stress and a lack of sleep – symptoms that should not be ignored although the condition may not be compatible with the American work ethic. “Exhaustion is real on many levels, but it’s not part of our medical lexicon,” said Dr. John Stracks, a mind-body specialist who treats chronic pain at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Center for Integrative Medicine. “So when you hear about Muti (being prescribed rest), it seems like a spoof, which speaks to how jaded and hard-driving we are these days.” Dr. Eve Van Cauter, a sleep researcher and professor at the University of Chicago Medical School, agrees, noting that Americans sleep less and work longer hours than people in other industrialized nations.
“Your mood and your gut function are intimately tied together,” said Dr. Gerard Mullin, a gastroenterologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. People under stress can have their “flight or fight” response cause an adrenaline surge that can impact food and digestive enzymes, resulting in reflux, heartburn or other abdominal problems. Exhaustion also can be caused by an undiagnosed illness, such as cancer, low thyroid, anemia or other metabolic abnormalities. Prescription drugs also can factor in, particularly beta blockers, muscle relaxants and mood stabilizers.
Although the World Health Organization recognizes medical exhaustion resulting from heat, pregnancy, too much exertion, combat, malaise and other conditions, the United States government has not assigned it a diagnostic code.
Tags: anemia, cancer, exhaustion, John Hopkins School of Medicine, prescription drugs, Riccardo Muti, WHO, World Health Organization
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Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
The H1N1 flu pandemic is officially at an end, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The announcement came months after many nations canceled vaccine orders and shut down telephone hotlines as the illness disappeared from the headlines. Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director, said that the pandemic had “largely run its course” and that the phase six alert – the highest influenza level – is officially at an end. “I fully agree with the committee’s advice,” Chan said. At present, the virus is in the “post-pandemic” phase, meaning disease activity has returned to levels normally seen for seasonal flu bugs.
Chan cautioned against complacency, noting that “It is likely that the virus will continue to cause serious disease in younger age groups”, she said and urged high-risk individuals such as pregnant women to be vaccinated against the disease. A total of 18,449 people have died across the globe since the H1N1 flu first appeared in April of 2009. Chan defended her decision to declare swine flu a pandemic, saying it was based on the globally agreed rules that were in place at the time. “We have been aided by pure good luck,” she said, noting that if the virus had mutated, the death rate would have soared. Angus Nicoll, flu program coordinator with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said the declaration that the pandemic had ended was consistent with the Stockholm-based organization’s views.
An interesting point is that while reports of flu in the northern hemisphere are at seasonal lows, nations in the southern hemisphere (where it is currently winter) show few people are seriously ill with swine flu, Nicoll said. Still, healthcare workers should get ready for a new seasonal flu that will combine elements of the pandemic H1N1 strain, the older H3N2 strain and additional lesser strains, according to Nicoll, who said “It looks sort of middle of the road at the moment.”
“Lurking in the background we still have H5N1,” Chan said in a reference to the bird flu that has sickened 503 people over seven years and killed 299 of them. Chan’s advice for the future is for people to get their usual seasonal flu shot this fall to protect against the disease.
Tags: Angus Nicoll, Flu shots, H1N1, H1N1 flu, H5N1, Margaret Chan, pandemic, swine flu, WHO, World Health Organization
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Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
The richest two billion people in the world undergo 75 percent of all surgeries performed every year; by contrast, the poorest two billion have only four percent. This is one finding of a study published recently in the medical journal Lancet. The study, performed by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, New Zealand, Canada and the World Health Organization, points out a need for additional ambulatory surgery facilities in the United States and across the globe.
The study found that many countries do not have enough surgeons to handle the simplest surgical procedures that improve lives – cataracts, tumors, auto accidents and the like. Additionally, the researchers found instances of surgeons who lack access to usable operating rooms. Throughout Africa, the study found that there was just a single operating room for every 100,000 people. In the poorer Latin American nations, there were four to 10 operating rooms per 100,000. That number rose to 15 in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Eastern Europe and the wealthier Asian nations reported approximately 25 ORs for every 100,000 people.
“Conservative estimates suggest that 11 percent of the world’s disability-adjusted life years are attributable to diseases that are often treated with surgery,” such as heart and cerebrovascular disease, cancer, and injuries resulting from traffic accidents, according to the authors, who were led by Luke M. Funk, MD, of the Harvard School of Public Health.
At the same time, “the findings are consistent with other studies, and, for those familiar with overseas health work, believable,” Paul S. Myles, from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, and Guy Haller, from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study. “The extent of the problem is now clearer: the solution is what needs much more work.”
Tags: ambulatory surgery facilities, Harvard School of Public Health, operating rooms, surgery, WHO
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Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Although the African nation of Rwanda ranks as one of the world’s poorest, it does have something that the United States lacks – a national health insurance program. Started in 1999, the program covers 92 percent of Rwandans and carries a premium of just $2 per year. Even though Rwanda’s healthcare facilities may be primitive by American standards, the fact remains that more of its citizens are insured than in the United States.
While the most common causes of death in Rwanda remain diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, malnutrition and infected cuts, community health centers typically stock all the drugs that the World Health Organization recommends as essential. They tend to be generic copies of name-brand medicines. These centers usually have laboratories where patients can have routine blood and urine tests, as well as tuberculosis and malaria screenings.
Since the national health plan – called health mutuals – was introduced, the average life expectancy has climbed from 48 to 52, despite Rwanda’s ongoing AIDS epidemic. Deaths from malaria and childbirth have fallen significantly, according to Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, permanent secretary of Rwanda’s Ministry of Health. Tests and treatments routinely performed in American hospitals such as MRIs and dialysis are not available, and patients may have to wait weeks for general surgery. Fortunate patients who require advanced surgery can get free treatment from physicians visiting from the United States, Cuba, Australia and elsewhere. On rare occasions, the Health Ministry will pay for a patient to be treated in Kenya, South Africa or India.
A recent study published in Tropical Medicine & International Health found that total healthcare spending in Rwanda totals approximately $307 million annually. Given that Rwanda’s population is just over 10.7 million, total healthcare spending averages $28.60 per person a year. Co-pays, even though low by American standards, can be unaffordable for a national populated largely by subsistence farmers whose primary currency is barter.
Tags: AIDS epidemic, cardiologist, copays, dialysis, health mutuals, Kigali, Malaria, MRIs, National health insurance, neurosurgeon, Paul Kagame, Rwanda, tuberculosis, WHO
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Thursday, June 17th, 2010
A rite of spring when anticipating an upcoming prom finds many young women heading to the tanning parlor to get that certain glow to complement their special dress. Little do they know that too much tanning can turn into an addiction and make them more prone to skin cancer.
Brittany Cicala of Chesapeake Beach, MD, learned about the dangers of tanning the hard way. At age 17, she headed to the tanning salon so she would look “tan and healthy” in the white lace dress she had chosen to wear to her prom. Even after the event, Cicala – a blue-eyed blonde with fair skin – kept on tanning, often spending 20 to 25 minutes in the bed seven days a week. In the summer of 2004, Cicala found a mole about the size of a nickel on her back. When the mole started to bleed, she went to the doctor, was diagnosed with melanoma, and in the six years since has undergone 34 surgeries. Cicala today describes herself as “tanorexic”.
According to Dr. Robin Hornung, a pediatric dermatologist in Washington state, melanoma rates are growing fastest among young women, and notes that many experts are suspicious of tanning beds. A study by the University of Minnesota determined that melanoma risk increased as much as three times among people who tanned more than 50 hours, or had spent more than 100 sessions in a tanning bed. The World Health Organization has classified tanning beds as carcinogenic and recommends banning young people under 18 from using them.
Tanorexia points out the importance of getting outpatient screenings in community-based settings to preemptively prevent melanomas and other cancers.
Tags: carinogenic, DNA mutations, Dr Robin Hornung, FDA, melanoma, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, moles, skin cancer, tanning beds, tanorexia, ultraviolet rays, WHO
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Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Now that Congress has passed healthcare reform legislation, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh might start heading to Costa Rica for medical treatment. The irony is that the Central American nation for years has had a socialized healthcare system. All citizens of Costa Rica – even foreign residents – must pay into the government-run healthcare system, whether or not they use it.
Limbaugh’s choice reflects the fact that Costa Rica is an excellent destination for medical tourism, with a life expectancy that exceeds that of the United States. The World Health Organization ranks Costa Rica at # 36 in terms of the quality of healthcare provided, while the United States ranks # 37 – despite the fact that Costa Ricans spend 87 percent less per capita on healthcare. The free coverage applies to 86.8 percent of the population. Cheaper labor costs and fewer lawsuits for malpractice help to control prices.
“People travel to Costa Rica (and) receive the same quality of medical services for a fraction of the cost,” said Jorge Cortes, president of the Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine and medical director of Hospital Biblica, a private and internationally accredited hospital. “When people see they can get the same surgery for three or four times less, they decide to get medical care abroad.” The price differences are stunning. A knee replacement that might cost $45,000 in the United States would cost $11,000 in Costa Rica.
Tags: Central America, Congress, Costa Rica, healthcare reform, Hospital Biblica, Rush Limbaugh, United States, WHO
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Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Atul Gawande, general and endocrine surgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and columnist for The New Yorker, has written “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right”, a book that describes how miscommunication in the operating room can lead to tragic results. Currently, Gawande’s book ranks # 10 on the New York Times’ list of best-selling non-fiction books.
The book grew out of work Gawande did for the World Health Organization, which asked him to help them find a way to reduce surgical deaths. According to Gawande, “We knew we had technology and incredible levels of training, people working unbelievably hard. But we have more than 100,000 deaths just in the United States following surgery. Half are avoidable, from our studies. What could we do? We have found this idea, this extra tool that others were using in aviation, in skyscraper construction, and thought, well, let’s give it a try.”
Surgeons, according to Gawande, are human. “We miss stuff. We are inconsistent and unreliable because of the complexity of care.” To achieve better results, Gawande brings a simple checklist into the operating room to make certain that everything is in place to assure a successful procedure. For example, when the operating team is introduced to each other by name, the average number of complications and deaths fell by 35 percent.
Commenting on the success of checklist use in the operating room, Gawande says “I have not gotten through a week of surgery where the checklist has not caught a problem.”
Tags: Atul Gawande, best-selling books, emergency room, Harvard Medical School, operating room, surgery, The New Yorker, WHO
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Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) response to the Obama Administration’s and Congressional Democrats’ efforts to pass healthcare reform legislation was to sponsor a “Hillarycare revisited” fund raising effort.
The RNC warned against “Obamacare” and pointed out that the government “already run
s car companies, banks and mortgage companies. Republicans believe that the last thing the American people want is government telling them when and where – or even whether – they can get medical treatment for their families.” “Hillarycare” refers to former President Bill Clinton’s failed attempt at reforming healthcare during the 1990s, an effort led by his wife, Hillary Clinton.
Republicans like John Boehner (R-OH) have raised the specter of a “bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor.” Perhaps it’s worth considering that we currently have an insurance company bureaucrat performing the same role. Also, government administered health options are almost uniformly popular. The World Health Organization ranks France’s healthcare system as the world’s finest, contrasted to the United States, which scored 37th. The United Kingdom’s combination of publicly and privately funded healthcare ranked 18th in the World Health Organization’s survey.
Tags: American, banks, bureaucrat, car companies, Congressional Democrats, doctor, France, government, government administered health, Healthcare, healthcare reform, healthcare system, Hillary Clinton, Hillarycare, insurance company bureaucrat, John Boehner, legislation, mortgage companies, Obama administration, Obamacare, President Bill Clinton, R-OH, Republican National Committee, Republicans, RNC, United Kingdom, United States, WHO, World Health Organization
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Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) is on the verge of declaring swine flu a global pandemic. That’s Level 6, the highest possible.
With the disease now in 64 nations worldwide, dozens and even hundreds of cases have occurred in countries such as Great Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia. Right now, Southern Hemisphere countries are under the W.H.O.’s microscope because it’s the start of their winter and another strain of the H1N1 virus was widespread there last year and is resistant to Tamiflu, Roche AG’s flu pill, as are most common strains of flu.
Before raising the alert to Level 6, the W.H.O. will have to present evidence of extensive “community transmission”. This means that the flu is being diagnosed on two continents and in cases other than travelers, schools and immediate contacts. If swine flu is eventually declared a Level 6 pandemic, the W.H.O. may add a qualification that the disease is not especially deadly. Only 117 swine flu deaths have been reported worldwide. The flu has been diagnosed in all 50 of the United States.
Tags: alert, Australia, Chile, community transmission, disease, global pandemic, Great Britain, H1N1, Japan, Level 6, Roche AG flu pill, Southern Hemisphere, Spain, swine flu, Tamiflu, United States, virus, WHO, World Health Organiz, worldwide
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Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
In a 24/7 media world, virtually everyone has now heard of the H1N1 – or swine – flu that is popping up in countries as distant as Peru and Switzerland. If they haven’t, they now surely will. World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan has declared a phase 5 alert – which raises the warning to the level of advising nations to prepare for a pandemic — after consulting with international flu experts.
This alert might strike some people as alarmist, given that “regular” flu kills 36,000 Americans every year – compared with the single death so far we’ve seen in the United States and the 13 confirmed deaths worldwide so far in the current outbreak. But looking at it more closely, the WHO’s preemptive strike may be motivated more by historical fact than today’s news. The Spanish Influenza of 1918 – 1920, which arrived in a similar time frame, infected 28 percent of all Americans; an estimated 675,000 Americans died of the disease and about 50 million across the globe. Clearly, this was a different order of pandemic at a time when the global health system was recovering from WWI and ill-equipped to deal with the emergency. But where it bears some resemblance to swine flu is that the first wave of flu appeared early in the spring of 1918. It disappeared over the summer, with the second wave arriving in Boston in September of 1918. With the number of cases expected to grow into the thousands, according to the chief at Mexico City’s National Institute of Respiratory Diseases’ Center for the Investigation of Infectious Diseases in Mexico City, the WHO’s response is understandable and responsible.
The one concern is on behalf of our already burdened health system. Raising the alert level puts pressure on our emergency rooms especially as people are likely to interpret any flu-like symptoms as signs of H1N1 flu. This is when communication with the public is critical. Representatives of the CDC should be using the copious air time they’re being given not only to report on the level of the contagion but to educate the public about its symptoms and to calm fears.
Tags: Americans, Boston, CDC, disease, global health system, H1N1, H1N1 flu, international flu experts, Investigation of Infectious Diseases, Margaret Chan, Mexico City, National Institute of Respiratory Dieseases, pandemic, Peru, phase 5 alert, Spanish Influenza, swine flu, Switzerland, WHO, World Health Organization, WWI
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