US$140 billion needed to tackle lifestyle diseases – report

Speed read Progress lacking on UN goals for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others Annual investment of US$18 million needed to promote healthy habits ‘Catalytic’ international aid needed to help poorer countries meet targets Reaching UN goals on diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes by 2030 will need an average investment of US$18 million a year, targeting policies to cut smoking, alcohol abuse, and unhealthy diets, according to global analysis. Suvadip Chakrabarti, surgical oncologist, Apollo Cancer Centre in Kolkata, India The health policy paper sets out 21 recommended interventions to help 123 low- and middle-income countries achieve the SDG target, but warns that substantial technical and financial assistance may be needed from the global community. See PDF] Cherian Varghese, an author of the paper from the WHO’s department of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Geneva, Switzerland, told SciDev.Net: “Countries with policy, legislative and regulatory measures, including fiscal measures, for the prevention and control of NCDs, as well as strong and inclusive health systems have had the best outcomes against [them].

Teenage girls among most at risk from partner violence

“The prevalence of violence against women by an intimate partner is substantially higher in low- and lower-income countries where this violence is often normalised within traditional patriarchal societies, and where women may have limited access to education and economic resources, and to support services,” said the study’s lead author, Lynnmarie Sardinha, of the WHO’s department of sexual and reproductive health and research in Geneva. “In some communities in developing countries, challenges to tackling intimate partner violence include how some cultures view it as normal, weak law enforcement and lack of mental health support,” he said. Peter Memiah, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, US, said: “We should use existing technology to tackle intimate partner violence, for example, leveraging on the rapid diffusion of phones in low- and middle-income countries.

Q&A: India’s sex workers battle stigma

Speed read Sex workers in Kolkata lacking health services amid social stigma Indian doctor uses popular TV show to combat prejudices Virtual platforms helped her connect with sex workers during COVID-19 [NEW DELHI] When Indian doctor Agnimita Giri Sarkar started raising awareness of cancer and HIV among sex workers on the streets of Kolkata, she quickly became aware of the social stigma they face. [...]stigma surrounding the disease, coupled with the stigma associated with sex work itself, means that many fail to receive the health advice and care they need, says Sarkar, a paediatrician at the Institute of Child Health in Kolkata. [...]to mitigate social ostracism, I try to invite sex workers to perform dance [and] drama in medical programmes, for instance, at a breast cancer survivors’ conference.

Eradication push urged as Guinea worm cases fall

Speed read Guinea worm cases fell in 2021 by 48 per cent from 27 to 14 Community-based interventions proved effective, despite COVID-19 Final push needed to achieve full eradication – Carter Center The number of human cases of Guinea worm disease halved in 2021 to a record low of 14, putting the goal of global eradication in sight, the US-based Carter Center has announced. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Guinea worm disease is not usually fatal, but people suffering from it become “non-functional” for weeks and months. Adam Weiss, director of the Carter Center’s Guinea worm eradication programme, told SciDev.Net: “In the face of a global pandemic, volunteers and local staff carried out household visits to provide health education, distribute filters, and protect water sources from being contaminated.

Can mRNA vaccine tech take on tuberculosis?

Speed read Clinical trials of an mRNA vaccine for TB are set to begin this year TB kills around 1.5 million people a year, mostly in developing countries Research funding remains a major obstacle to progress A successful mRNA vaccine for tuberculosis could be rapidly developed and save more than 1 million lives every year, say hopeful global health advocates. Suvanand Sahu, deputy executive director, Stop TB Partnership The disease primarily affects people in developing countries, and there were an estimated 10 million new TB cases and 1.5 million deaths in 2020, according to the World Health Organization. Mel Spigelman, president and chief executive officer of the US and South Africa-based Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, says: “Tremendous scientific advances in TB testing, treatment, and prevention are possible.

Antimicrobial resistance killing more than HIV and malaria

Speed read Antibiotic-resistant infections led to more than 1.2 million deaths in 2019 – Lancet study True picture could be much worse, with added impact of COVID-19, experts warn Urgent policy measures needed in developing countries, say researchers [NEW DELHI] Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections resulted in more than 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2019, exceeding the number caused by HIV/AIDS and malaria, says a study spanning 204 countries and territories. In Sub-Saharan Africa, deaths attributable to AMR mainly resulted from Streptococcus pneumoniae (16 per cent) or Klebsiella pneumoniae (20 per cent), while in high-income countries nearly 50 per cent of the deaths attributable to AMR were due to Escherichia coli (23 per cent) or Staphylococcus aureus (26 per cent). According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “improving antibiotic prescribing and use is critical to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harms caused by unnecessary antibiotic use, and combat antibiotic resistance.”

Does biobanking hold the key to achieving universal health?

Zisis Kozlakidis, International Agency for Research on Cancer “Biobanking is central in supporting SDG3 — good health and well-being — by supporting the discovery of new treatments for the great healthcare challenges,” said virologist Zisis Kozlakidis, one of the speakers at the online Science Summit, held during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. See PDF] Kozlakidis, who is head of the laboratory services and biobank group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in Lyon, France, explained that research in medicine is based on the analysis of samples and — because associations in many diseases are often weak — these samples are needed in large quantities. Kurt Zatloukal, a professor of pathology at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, told the meeting: “Biobanks host human samples like tumors that are removed by surgery, [and] blood that is taken during diagnostics, and these biological materials contain very detailed information on human diseases.

Diagnostic tech ‘out of reach’ as rich few dominate market

Speed read Less than 20 per cent of people in developing countries have access to basic diagnostics for common diseases Diagnostic technologies unaffordable for many as rich nations dominate market Investment, training, research and development needed in lower-income countries [NEW DELHI] Less than a fifth of the population of developing countries have access to basic diagnostic tests for some of the most common diseases, amid a lack of trained staff and inequitable access to equipment, a report published in The Lancet shows. According to Horton, people worldwide are now more aware of the importance of testing, as a result of the pandemic. Fleming added: “We recommend that countries develop specific strategies for better provision of diagnostics particularly in primary care, based on drawing up a list of essential diagnostics that would ensure that every level in the health care system has the diagnostics appropriate for the disease burden in that country.

COVID-19 vaccine acceptance higher ‘in poor countries’

Speed read People in low- and middle-income countries ‘more willing to take COVID-19 jab’ - study Researchers say findings support prioritisation of vaccines in poorer countries Data points to huge economic toll of slow vaccine rates in developing countries [NEW DELHI] People in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) appear more willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine than those living in richer countries such as Russia and the US, according to a study published in Nature Medicine. See PDF] Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University in the US and director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, believes high-income countries should immediately donate large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines — not just excess vaccines — and pledge vaccines for the future. A “Global Dashboard” on COVID-19 vaccine equity, developed jointly by the WHO, the United Nations Development Program and the University of Oxford, estimates that if low-income countries could keep up the same COVID-19 vaccination rate as high-income countries, they could add $38 billion to their GDP forecast for 2021.

COVID-19 spike in Indonesia begs faster vaccinations

Speed read Indonesia averages 30,000 new COVID-19 cases daily over past week Barely 48 million vaccine doses administered for population of 276 million Severe shortages of oxygen, equipment and health care workers reported [NEW DELHI] Emergency oxygen supplies and a faster vaccination rollout are desperately needed in Indonesia, health experts say, amid a spike in cases and the emergence of the highly infectious Kappa variant. Edhie Rahmat, executive director of Project Hope – Indonesia, a nonprofit health organisation, says the COVID-19 crisis is worsening in several cities and districts on the island of Java, Indonesia’s most populous island, because of a shortage of resources like hospital beds and oxygen as well as health care workers, many of them having fallen ill themselves. According to Rahmat, patients in hospitals and in the community, including those self-isolating, are facing oxygen shortages.

COVID-19 boosted excess sale of antibiotics in India

COVID-19 likely contributed to about 216 million excess doses of non-paediatric formulations of antibiotics in total and 38 million excess doses of azithromycin between June and September 2020, says the study published this month in PLOS Medicine, which looked at the private health care sector in India. Sumanth Gandra, study author and associate professor of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, US, tells SciDev.Net that the results suggest that nearly every person diagnosed with COVID-19 received an antibiotic – most especially azithromycin – during the first wave in India. According to Sarkar, there will likely be increased community resistance to common antibiotics in India as a result of the pandemic.

Climate action needed to avert ‘health catastrophe’

The WHO’s COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health, The Health Argument for Climate Action, launched at the same time as the letter, outlined 10 recommendations for governments to “maximise the health benefits of tackling climate change”, and “avoid the worst health impacts of the climate crisis”. According to Miller, no country is immune from climate change, but developing countries are feeling the greater impacts and have the fewest resources to respond. Agnimita Giri Sarkar, a paediatrician at the Institute of Child Health, in Kolkata, India, and a member of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, another signatory of the letter, told SciDev.Net that, in India and other developing countries, “heatwaves and air pollution coupled with increased urbanisation are directly affecting the health of children and adults”.

Black fungus stalks COVID-19 patients in India

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, is a “serious but rare” infection caused by a group of moulds called mucormycetes. According to Raghuraj Hegde, consultant eye surgeon at Manipal Hospital, in Bengaluru, India, the virulence of the new strain of COVID-19 virus causes patients’ blood sugars to shoot up, which in turn provides a suitable environment for mucormycosis. According to Nair, mucormycosis was an extremely rare condition and the availability of amphotericin B was adequate.

‘At least three million died from COVID-19 in 2020’

According to the report, “[High-quality] disaggregated data for monitoring health inequalities and for ensuring equitable health service access and uptake are lacking worldwide…[only] 51 per cent of 133 studied countries include data disaggregation in published national health statistical reports, ranging from 63 per cent in [high-income countries] to only 46–50 per cent for other income groups.” Brian Wahl, an epidemiologist at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, US, tells SciDev.Net: “In the last year, we have seen [multiple] ways in which COVID-19 has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations, including essential workers and those with limited access to medical services. “The estimates released by WHO of excess deaths for 2020 are helpful for beginning to wrap our heads around this difficult issue” Brian Wahl, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Thekkekara Jacob John, a top virologist and former professor of clinical virology at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, says the report contains two clear messages.