Social and structural factors – such as poverty, marginalisation and stigma – and not just individual behaviours are shaping the HIV epidemic in Europe and central Asia.

This is the main conclusion of a new report released by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the World Bank Group and WHO/Europe. The study systematically reviews evidence on HIV vulnerability and response in all countries of the WHO European Region.

The report, HIV in the European Region: vulnerability and response, focuses on key populations most at risk of HIV infection: people who inject drugs, sex workers and men who have sex with men. It confirms that they are disproportionately affected by the growing HIV epidemic in Europe, where the number of reported HIV cases reached over 1.5 million in 2011.

HIV cases in these three groups account for about 50% of total diagnoses. Economic volatility and recession risks are increasing vulnerability to HIV and infections.

Key findings in the report include the following.

• 25% of HIV diagnoses in Europe were associated with injecting drug use, with much higher proportions in eastern Europe (33%) than in western Europe (5%) and central Europe (7%).
• HIV remains relatively low among female sex workers in Europe who do not inject drugs (less than 1%), but higher among those who inject drugs (over 10%) as well as among male and transgender sex workers.
• Sex between men accounted for 10% of all HIV diagnoses in Europe, with higher rates reported in western Europe (36%), followed by central Europe (22%) and eastern Europe (0.5%). The increase was higher, however, in central and eastern Europe.

The analysis highlights the pivotal role of environmental factors in shaping HIV epidemics and HIV prevention responses. Barriers to successful HIV responses include the criminalisation of sex work, of sex between men, and of drug use, combined with social stigmatisation, violence and rights violations.

Co-author of the report, Professor Tim Rhodes from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "We need to maintain the momentum of HIV prevention for vulnerable populations in Europe. The need for scaling-up HIV prevention for people who inject drugs remains most urgent in the east of Europe. Not only do we need to promote treatment interventions tailored to individuals, we need to strengthen efforts to bring about social, structural and political changes".

The report calls for policy-makers and HIV programme implementers to target the right policies and programmes to maximise the health and social impacts of Europe's HIV responses and get higher returns on HIV-related investments

Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, added: "Now is an important time for Europe. The momentum of HIV prevention must be maintained in a climate of economic and funding uncertainty. The evidence gathered through our collaborations with the World Bank Group and the World Health Organization show how institutions can work together to generate the evidence and the policy to do this."

(source: www.healthcanal.com)

The Ministry of Health partnered with 10 telecommunication service providers to launch a national health emergency hotline similar to the United States government's 911 emergency hotline number.

According to Akmal Taher, the Health Ministry's director general for health development, the hotline number, 119, would allow the public to obtain information regarding the availability of hospital rooms as well as make emergency requests for an ambulance.

"In the future, we will no longer see patients being rejected by hospitals when they are in dire need of health assistance. They can simply dial the number to get information about the nearest available hospitals," Akmal told reporters on Monday. The 119 emergency hotline was first launched in Jakarta early this year, in cooperation with PT Telkom Indonesia. The service is now being expanded nationwide as part of the Ministry's Memorandum of Understanding with the following key stakeholders: PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia; PT Telekomunikasi Selular; PT Indosat; PT XL Axiata; PT Smartfren Telecom; PT Bakrie Telecom; PT Axis Telekom Indonesia; PT Sampoerna Telekomunikasi Indonesia; PT Smart Telecom and PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Chairul Rajab Nasution, the ministry's health referral system director, estimated the service to be ready for full implementation across all provinces by 2014.

Nasution added that they hope address certain drawbacks such as the need to key in the area code when dialling the 119 hotline number.

(source: www.futuregov.asia)

The World Bank (WB) on Monday approved an assistance package of US $ 100 million for the Punjab Health Sector Reform Project's implementation. It would focus on enhancing the number of people with access to basic health services, particularly in the low performing districts of Punjab.

"Punjab holds the key to Pakistan's progress towards attaining the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) as it constitutes 60 percent of Pakistan's population", said Pakistan World Bank Country Director Rachid Benmessaoud.

"This programme would help the Punjab government implement its Health Sector Strategy by building the capacity and systems to strengthen accountability and stewardship in the Health Department," Rachid added.

Punjab's overall health outcomes are comparable to the national average, and slightly better than other provinces, but the pace of change remains slow and uneven with significant disparities among regions, rural and urban areas, and by economic status.

For example, the average exclusive breast-feeding duration is only 0.9 months in Punjab, compared to the national average of 3.2 months. Immunization coverage also remains low; only one in three children aged 12-23 months are fully immunized (34.6%).

The Punjab government is keen towards human development for a productive workforce due to its increasing youth population. It said it had included health in a holistic Punjab Health Sector Strategy 2012-2020, which involves governance, accountability reforms and strengthening health systems.

"Punjab has gradually improved maternal and child-outcomes and for further improvement, addressing the huge burden of malnutrition among women and children is crucial. Stunting occurs among 39 percent children under five", said Dr. Inaam-Ul-Haq, the project's task team leader, adding that the project would aim "to improve the health service providers' capacity to deliver nutrition interventions at the facility and community level."

The project comprises four components and its results would specifically measure improvements in three health service indicators: fully immunized children 12-23 months of age; use of skilled birth attendants and use of modern birth-spacing methods. 

(source: www.pakistantoday.com.pk)

There needs to be international agreement on when and how death is diagnosed, two leading doctors suggest.

At a European meeting of anaesthetists they said improvements in technology mean the line between life and death is less clear.

They called for precise guidelines and more research to prevent the rare occasions when people are pronounced dead but are later found to be alive.

The World Health Organisation has begun work to develop a global consensus.

In the majority of cases in hospitals, people are pronounced dead only after doctors have examined their heart, lungs and responsiveness, determining there are no longer any heart and breath sounds and no obvious reaction to the outside world.

'Permanent damage to brain'

But Dr Alex Manara, a consultant anaesthetist at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, said more than 30 reports in medical literature, describing people who had been determined dead but later found to be alive, had driven scientists to question whether the diagnosis of death can be improved.

At a meeting of the European Society for Anaesthesiology he said that on some occasions doctors do not observe the body for long enough before someone is declared dead.

Dr Manara called for internationally agreed guidelines to ensure doctors observe the body for five minutes, in order not to miss anyone whose heart and lungs spontaneously recover.

Many institutions in the US and Australia have adopted two minutes as the minimum observation period, while the UK and Canada recommend five minutes. Germany currently has no guidelines and Italy proposes that physicians wait 20 minutes before declaring death, particularly when organ donation is being considered.

Dr Jerry Nolan, consultant in intensive care at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, who is not involved in the conference, said: "In hospitals, where patients are monitored closely, and after the appropriate resuscitation has taken place, waiting five minutes to observe the body is a good idea.

"There is evidence to show that once you start going beyond five minutes without a circulation or oxygen to the brain you start seeing permanent damage to brain cells."

At the conference, Ricard Valero, professor of anaesthesia at the University of Barcelona, considered the rarer scenario of patients in intensive care units whose hearts and lungs are kept functioning by machines.

In such scenarios, doctors use the concept of brain death - often conducting neurological tests to monitor any brain activity in the patient.

'Variations don't seem logical'

But the criteria used to establish brain death have slight variations across the globe.

In Canada, for example, one doctor is needed to diagnose brain death; in the UK, two doctors are recommended; and in Spain three doctors are required. The number of neurological tests that have to be performed vary too, as does the time the body is observed before death is declared.

"These variations in practice just do not seem logical," Prof Valero said.

He proposed further research to support a global consensus on the most appropriate criteria to diagnose brain death.

Dr Nolan said: "In principle an international guideline on death is a very good idea. It is likely to help in terms of the movement of doctors between countries and, importantly, with public confidence.

"Italians and Brits are probably built in the same way. It makes sense to have the same criteria for death for both."

(source: www.bbc.co.uk)

MERRICK, N.Y. — Deirdre Yapalater's recent colonoscopy at a surgical center near her home on Long Island went smoothly: She was whisked from pre-op to an operating room where a gastroenterologist, assisted by an anesthesiologist and a nurse, performed the cancer screening procedure in less than an hour.

The test, which found nothing worrisome, racked up what is likely her most expensive medical bill of the year: $6,385.

That is fairly typical: In Keene, N.H., Matt Meyer's colonoscopy was billed at $7,563.56.Maggie Christ of Chappaqua, N.Y., received $9,142.84 in bills for the procedure.In Durham, N.C., the charges for Curtiss Devereux came to $19,438, which included a polyp removal.

While their insurers negotiated down the price, the final tab for each test was more than $3,500.

"Could that be right?" said Yapalater, stunned by charges. "You keep thinking it's free. We call it free, but of course it's not."

In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending, even though numerous studies have concluded that Americans do not get better care.

Whether directly from their wallets or through insurance policies, Americans pay more for almost every interaction with the medical system.

They are typically prescribed more expensive procedures and tests than people in other countries, no matter if those nations operate a private or national health system. A list of drug, scan and procedure prices compiled by the International Federation of Health Plans, a global network of health insurers, found that the United States came out the most costly in all 21 categories — and often by a huge margin.

Americans pay, on average, about four times as much for a hip replacement as patients in Switzerland or France and more than three times as much for a Caesarean section as those in New Zealand or Britain.

The average price for Nasonex, a common nasal spray for allergies, is $108 in the United States compared with $21 in Spain. The costs of hospital stays here are about triple those in other developed countries, even though they last no longer, according to a recent report by the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that studies health policy.

Routine services

While the United States medical system is famous for drugs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and heroic care at the end of life, it turns out that a more significant factor in the nation's $2.7 trillion annual health care bill might not be the use of extraordinary services, but the high price tag of ordinary ones.

"The U.S. just pays providers of health care much more for everything," said Tom Sackville, chief executive of the health plans federation and a former British health minister.

Colonoscopies offer a compelling case study. They are the most expensive screening test that healthy Americans routinely undergo — and often cost more than childbirth or an appendectomy in most other developed countries.

Their numbers have increased manyfold over the past 15 years, with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting that more than 10 million people get them each year, adding up to more than $10 billion in annual costs.

Largely an office procedure when widespread screening was first recommended, colonoscopies have moved into surgery centers where they are billed like a quasi operation. They are often prescribed and performed more frequently than medical guidelines recommend.

The high price paid for colonoscopies mostly results not from top-notch patient care, according to interviews with health care experts and economists, but from business plans seeking to maximize revenue; haggling between hospitals and insurers that have no relation to the actual costs of performing the procedure; and lobbying, marketing and turf battles among specialists that increase patient fees.

While several cheaper and less invasive tests to screen for colon cancer are recommended equally by the federal government's expert panel on preventive care — and are commonly used in other countries — colonoscopy has become the go-to procedure in the U.S.

"We've defaulted to by far the most expensive option, without much if any data to support it," said Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

Hospitals, drug companies, device makers, physicians and other providers can benefit by charging inflated prices, favoring the most costly treatment options and curbing competition that could give patients more, and cheaper, choices.

Almost every interaction can be an opportunity to send multiple, often opaque bills with long lists of charges: $100 for the ice pack applied for 10 minutes after a physical therapy session, or $30,000 for the artificial joint implanted in surgery.

Runaway costs

The United States spends about 18 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, nearly twice as much as most other developed countries.

The Congressional Budget Office has said that if medical costs continue to grow unabated, "total spending on health care would eventually account for all of the country's economic output." It identified federal spending on government health programs as a primary cause of long-term budget deficits.

While the rise in health care spending in the United States has slowed in the past four years — to about 4 percent annually from about 8 percent — it is still expected to rise faster than the gross domestic product. Aging baby boomers and tens of millions of patients newly insured under the Affordable Care Act are likely to add to the burden.

A major factor behind the high costs is that the United States, unique among industrialized nations, does not generally regulate or intervene in medical pricing, aside from setting payment rates for Medicare and Medicaid, the government programs for older people and the poor.

Many other countries deliver health care on a private fee-for-service basis, as does much of the American health care system, but they set rates as if health care were a public utility or negotiate fees with providers and insurers nationwide.

"In the U.S., we like to consider health care a free market," said Dr. David Blumenthal, the president of the Commonwealth Fund and a former adviser to President Barack Obama. "But it is a very weird market, riddled with market failures."

(source: www.denverpost.com)

AFTER seven days of intense discussions, the 66th World Health Assembly (WHA) concluded with agreement on a range of new public health measures and recommendations aimed at securing greater health benefits for all people, everywhere.

In all, 24 resolutions and five decisions were adopted by the nearly 2000 delegates representing the World Health Organisation's (WHO) member states.

Addressing participants at the closing ceremony, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan thanked delegates for their efficiency and productivity during the debates. At the same time, she sounded an alarm on a new threat that she warned requires urgent international attention.

"Looking at the overall global situation, my greatest concern right now is the novel coronavirus. We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat. Any new disease that is emerging faster than our understanding is never under control," Dr. Chan said. "These are alarm bells and we must respond. The novel coronavirus is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself. The novel coronavirus is a threat to the entire world."

The President of the 66th World Health Assembly, Dr. Shigeru Omi, spoke after Dr. Chan. "Together we achieved a lot," said Dr. Omi. "One of the key outcomes of this Assembly is the universal health coverage that is now recognised as the key concept to underpin the work of global health in many years to come."

Key outputs of this year's Assembly include:

Budget 2014–2015

The World Health Assembly approved the proposed programme budget in totality for the first time in WHO's history. The budget for WHO for the next biennium (2014–2015) is $3977 million. It responds to member states' request for a realistic budget based on income and expenditure patterns.

Disability

A resolution on disability urges member states to implement as States Parties the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; develop national action plans and improve data collection. Member states are encouraged to ensure that all mainstream health services are inclusive of persons with disabilities; provide more support to informal caregivers, and ensure that people with disabilities have access to services that help them acquire or restore skills and functional abilities as early as possible.

The resolution also requests the director-general to provide support to member states in implementing the recommendations of the World Report on Disability; to mainstream the health needs of children and adults with disabilities in WHO's technical work; to ensure that WHO itself is inclusive of people with disabilities; to support the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly in September 2013.

e-Health

A resolution on e-Health standardization and interoperability notes the importance of standardized, accurate, timely data and health information to the functioning of health systems and services, while also highlighting that the security of this information, and privacy of personal clinical data, must be protected. Also noted was evaluation of information and communications technologies in health interventions.

The resolution further emphasizes that health-related, global, top-level domain names, (including ".health") should be operated in a way that protects public health and is consistent with global public health objectives. Names and acronyms of intergovernmental organizations, including WHO, should also be protected.

Global Vaccine Action Plan

Member states reiterated their support to the Global Vaccine Action Plan to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through more equitable access to vaccines for people in all communities, and for the proposed Framework for Monitoring, Evaluation and Accountability (which is linked to the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health).

Delegates also supported the independent review process to assess and report progress. It acknowledged the leadership demonstrated by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization in this process. Speakers highlighted the need to mobilize greater resources to support low- and middle-income countries to implement the Plan and monitor impact; ensure that support to countries to implement the Plan includes a strong focus on strengthening routine immunization; and to facilitate vaccine technology transfer.

Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory

A resolution on the health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory including east Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan reaffirms the need for full coverage of health services, while recognizing that the acute shortage of financial and medical resources is jeopardizing access of the population to curative and preventive services.

International Health Regulations (IHR)

The newly identified influenza H7N9 and MERS-CoV (novel coronavirus) outbreaks lent even greater relevance to discussions on the IHR. Delegates voiced widespread support for the IHR. The Director-General told delegates that WHO was committed to supporting countries affected by MERS-CoV and to helping "unpack the barriers" standing in the way of the full implementation of the IHR. The Secretariat stressed the need for countries to provide the necessary resources to ensure IHR work can continue in countries and at WHO.

Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children

The adopted resolution urges Member States to improve the quality, supply and use of 13 life-saving commodities for women and children, such as contraceptives, antibiotics and oral rehydration salts; streamline the process for their registration; and develop plans to increase demand and facilitate universal access. Delegates also noted progress in the follow-up to the recommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health and called on WHO to continue supporting them in the implementation of these recommendations.

Malaria

Delegates noted the report on progress in implementation of the resolution on global efforts to prevent, control and eliminate malaria. Mortality rates decreased by more than 25% worldwide between 2000 and 2010, but a global funding shortfall threatens to jeopardize further progress. The report highlights surveillance challenges in many endemic countries and notes new WHO-led initiatives to address emerging drug and insecticide resistance. It also underlines that further progress can only be made if malaria interventions are substantially expanded in the 17 most affected countries, which account for an estimated 80% of malaria cases.

Mental Health Action Plan: 2013-2020

A resolution on WHO's comprehensive mental health action plan 2013-2020 sets four major objectives: strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health; provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings; implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health, and strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health. The plan sets important new directions for mental health including a central role for provision of community-based care and a greater emphasis on human rights. It also emphasizes the empowerment of people with mental disabilities and the need to develop strong civil society and health promotion and prevention activities. The document proposes indicators and targets such as a 20 per increase in service coverage for severe mental disorders and a 10% reduction of the suicide rate in countries by 2020 that can be used to evaluate levels of implementation, progress and impact.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Secretariat reported substantial progress towards the MDGs and their targets - notably in reducing child and maternal mortality, improving nutrition, and reducing morbidity and mortality due to HIV infection, tuberculosis and malaria. Progress in many countries that have the highest rates of mortality has accelerated in recent years, although large gaps persist among and within countries.

The Health Assembly adopted a resolution urging Member States to sustain and accelerate efforts towards the achievement of the health-related MDGs and to ensure that health is central to the post-2015 UN development agenda. The resolution calls on the Director-General to ensure that WHO consultations on the issue are inclusive and open to all regions and to advocate for resources to support acceleration of the MDG targets.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

A resolution on NTDs urges Member States to ensure country ownership of prevention, control, elimination and eradication programmes and calls on international partners to provide sufficient and predictable funding. It encourages greater harmonization of support to countries and the development of new technologies to support vector control and infection prevention.

The resolution also calls on WHO to sustain its leadership in the fight against NTDs; to develop and update evidence-based norms, standards, policies, guidelines and strategies; monitor progress, and support Member States in strengthening human resource capacity for the prevention, diagnosis, including vector control and veterinary public health. Many Member States highlighted the particular importance of intensifying efforts to tackle dengue.

Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs)

A global action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs (including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and chronic lung diseases) comprises a set of actions. When performed collectively by Member States, UN organizations and other international partners, and WHO these actions will set the world on a new course to achieve nine globally agreed targets for NCDs including a reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 25% in 2025. The action plan also contains a monitoring framework, including 25 indicators to track mortality and morbidity; assess progress in addressing risk factors, and evaluate the implementation of national strategies and plans.

WHO is requested to develop draft terms of reference for a global coordination mechanism through a consultative process culminating in a formal meeting of Member States in November 2013. WHO was also tasked to provide technical support to Member States and to develop a limited set of action plan indicators to inform on the progress made with the implementation of the action plan in 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Pandemic influenza preparedness: sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccine and other benefits

Delegates noted the first annual report of the pandemic influenza preparedness (PIP) framework. The report covers three main areas: virus sharing, benefit sharing, and governance.

It was noted that many countries still lack basic capacities (i.e. in laboratories and disease surveillance). A similar concern was highlighted on the regulation and deployment of influenza vaccines during a pandemic.

Poliomyelitis: intensification of the global eradication initiative

Delegates endorsed the new Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 to secure a lasting polio-free world and urged for its full implementation and financing. At the same time, the Assembly received stark warning of the ongoing risk the disease poses to children everywhere, with confirmation of a new polio outbreak in the Horn of Africa (Somalia and Kenya). Noting the generous pledges made to support polio eradication at the Global Vaccine Summit, delegates urged donors to rapidly convert these pledges into contributions. The WHA pointed out that this funding was critical for accelerated implementation of the Plan, given the complexity and scale of introducing inactivated polio vaccine worldwide.

Delegates condemned the deadly attacks on health workers in Pakistan and Nigeria, and called on all governments to ensure the safety and security of frontline health workers.

Prevention of avoidable blindness and visual impairment 2014–2019

In the resolution "Towards universal eye health: a global action plan 2014-2019" delegates endorsed an action plan that aims to further improve eye health, reduce avoidable visual impairment and secure access to rehabilitation services. The global target is to reduce the prevalence of avoidable visual impairment by 25% by 2019.

Social determinants of health

The Secretariat noted improved performance in the four areas highlighted a resolution on the outcome of the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health: consideration of social determinants of health in the assessment of global needs for health; support to Member States in implementing the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health; work across the United Nations system on advocacy, research, capacity-building and direct technical support; and, advocating the importance of integrating social determinants of health perspectives into forthcoming United Nations and other high-level meetings related to health and/or social development.

Universal health coverage

The WHA adopted a resolution on the importance of educating health workers as part of universal health coverage. Member States expressed their ongoing commitment to ensuring that all people obtain the health services they need without the risk of financial ruin. They emphasized that universal health coverage is not just about health financing but requires strong health systems to provide a range of quality, affordable services at all levels of care.

Member States expressed strong support for WHO's action plan and reiterated their call for a monitoring framework to help them to track progress towards universal health coverage. Many delegates expressed support that universal health coverage should feature in the post-2015 development agenda.

WHO Reform

The delegates received an update on the progress of WHO reform. Implementation of reform is under way with the majority of the outputs on track. Deliberations highlighted ongoing efforts needed to strengthen WHO's workforce model to address country needs. Additional work is required to reinforce measurement of performance as part of the reform to demonstrate WHO's impact at country level. Member States are also expecting the results of the taskforce on roles and responsibilities at the three levels of the Organisation.

Substandard / spurious / falsely-labelled / falsified / counterfeit medical products (SSFFC)

Delegates supported the decision to establish an open-ended working group to identify the actions, activities and behaviours that result in SSFFC medical products. Participants highlighted the need for increased cooperation and collaboration among national (and regional) regulatory authorities including the exchange of best practices and knowledge.

12th General Programme of Work (GPW)

The delegates adopted the GPW outlining the high-level strategic vision for the work of WHO over the next six years. The document explains how the Organization will contribute to the achievement of health outcomes and impacts. The GPW reflects on the changing political, economic and institution context in which WHO is working. It also takes into consideration the current epidemiological and demographic trends and how they could impact on people's health and health systems in countries. Member States agreed to highlight the importance of antimicrobial resistance and the risk it poses to health gains.

The World Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland and is the decision-making body of the WHO. It is attended by delegations from WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board. The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General in election years, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget.

(source: www.ngrguardiannews.com)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Wednesday called on nations to ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship to help reduce the number of tobacco users and keep young people from becoming addicted. As the May 31 World No Tobacco Day approaches, Douglas Bettcher, director of the WHO's Prevention of non-communicable Diseases Department, said most tobacco users start their deadly drug dependence before the age of 20. The theme of this year's World No Tobacco Day campaign is 'Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship'.

'Banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is one of the best ways to protect young people from starting smoking as well as reducing tobacco consumption across the entire population,' Xinhua quoted Bettcher as saying in a statement. Research shows that about one-third of youth experiment with tobacco as a result of exposure to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Worldwide, 78 percent of young people aged 13 to 15 have reported regular exposure to some form of tobacco advertising, according to the WHO.

Bettcher said targeting 'women and children in developing countries' was the 'last frontier' of the tobacco industry. He warned that the tobacco industry has been finding new tactics to target potential smokers, including handing out free cigarettes, using online and new media, and placement of tobacco products and brands in films and television. 'That is why the ban has to be complete in order to be fully effective,' he said. The WHO's report on the global tobacco epidemic in 2011 showed that only 19 countries have reached the highest level of achievement in banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, while more than one third of countries have minimal or no restrictions at all.

According to the '2012 Global Progress Report on Implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)', 83 countries introduced a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Currently, tobacco kills nearly six million people every year and the WHO estimated that the weed will kill more than eight million by 2030. Read on to find out how you're being manipulated by tobacco companies.

(source: health.india.com)

Two children have recently been found to have the type of paralysis caused by polio — one in the southern part of Somalia and the other in a Kenyan camp that includes many Somali refugees.

Two healthy children related to the second child also had evidence of infection. Only about one infection in 200 causes paralysis, but the rest can silently shed the virus, which is spread by fecal-oral contact, often through sewage gutters and dirty puddles.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative recently vaccinated 450,000 children in southern Somalia. It plans to vaccinate 2.1 million children there and in neighboring eastern Kenya by June, and then to repeat that in July and again in August.

If the outbreak is not quickly contained, the consequences could be far-reaching. From 2002 to 2005, the virus spread from Nigeria, where it has never been wiped out, to 21 other countries, paralyzing more than 1,000 victims.

During those years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it moved east to Sudan, from there across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. From Saudi Arabia it spread as far as Indonesia and from Yemen to Somalia. Those outbreaks took months to stamp out. Saudi Arabia began requiring polio vaccination certificates of all pilgrims headed to Mecca and in 2009 began vaccinating on arrival all pilgrims from countries with polio.

Polio is very close to eradication. Last year the world had only 223 known cases of paralysis. Until recently they were found only in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Virus has also been found this year in the sewers of Cairo, but no paralyzed children have been found in Egypt.

(source: www.nytimes.com)