app opinion
I will never forget the sight of a middle-aged paramedic in charge of “patient monitoring and data management” sitting in a room surrounded by stacks of paper records with a hand-drawn keyboard on his desk. Tun Aung (not his real name) explained that he is practising for when a computer arrives, which he had been hoping for years was imminent. This would allow him to computerise patient data and track whether patients in Yangon, Myanmar, are completing their drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) medication over the lengthy two-year course of treatment.
When it comes to stigma, mental health is the biggest elephant in the room. I am no stranger to the phenomenon, having dedicated many years to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The rejection, blame, stereotyping and discrimination of individuals affected by a stigmatised health condition is often likened by those who suffer as being worse than the disease itself, but is a major hindrance to public health efforts to address the condition.
As the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. However, sometimes it’s not about how many cooks are involved in the process, but about how effective they are at working together to reach a common goal.
This is true in the context of how countries approach nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – having too many stakeholder groups involved isn’t always the issue. Rather, to achieve nutrition goals countries must ensure they’ve got the right sectors and ministries involved, and that they’re collaborating in the most effective ways.
Romina Kalachi, a 32-year-old woman, was in her own home on May 29, 2017. She was killed in her flat in Kilburn, London and is the latest known sex worker to be murdered in the UK.
It’s early in the morning but already it feels humid in the small living room where I am sitting. Ibu Hasna is a first-time mum and her son aged just two months is being given formula. Hasna explains that she knows breastfeeding is best, but she lacks confidence in the quality of her own breastmilk. Naturally she wants the best for her child so she decided to give formula milk in addition. In urban Indonesia being able to afford milk is often understood as a sign of wealth and status.
The number of children admitted to hospital as an emergency in England has .
Culicoides impunctatus is a persistent biter of outdoor types, occurring in vast numbers in some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside.
But if midges make it harder to enjoy the Scottish outdoors, there may soon be an important consolation. Work began by researchers several decades ago to help understand why they prefer certain types of people is informing new research into another bloodsucker whose feeding habits can be deadly: the mosquito. If it succeeds, the results could make a big difference in the battle against malaria.
The expansion in the provision of life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa over the past fifteen years has been an unprecedented achievement for public health, resulting in dramatic declines in HIV-related deaths and disease.
Climate has an important effect on mosquito-transmitted viral diseases, such as Zika, dengue, and chikungunya. In epidemic-prone areas such as Ecuador, temperature and rainfall drive both mosquito and virus transmission dynamics.
In a recent study, we used climate forecasts to predict the risk of a dengue epidemic in the coastal city of Machala in 2016, following one of the strongest El Niño events on record.
2017 has brought unprecedented political attention to the issue of migration, including its impact and links to health and health systems. In February, a Global Consultation on Migrant Health took place in Sri Lanka. Member States at the recent World Health Assembly in Geneva also debated the issue, and requested the World Health Organization’s support in responding to the increased movement of people and resulting impact.
Increased focus and asking questions are a start – finding answers is the next step.