Ten threats to global health in 2019

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Offline Dr Alauddin Chowdhury

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Ten threats to global health in 2019
« on: February 03, 2019, 05:17:28 PM »
Ten threats to global health in 2019
The world is facing multiple health challenges. These range from outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and diphtheria, increasing reports of drug-resistant pathogens, growing rates of obesity and physical inactivity to the health impacts of environmental pollution and climate change and multiple humanitarian crises. Here are 10 of the many issues that will demand attention from World Health Organisation (WHO) and health partners in 2019.

1. Air pollution and climate change[/b]
Microscopic pollutants in the air can penetrate respiratory and circulatory systems, damaging the lungs, heart and brain, killing 7 million people prematurely every year from diseases such as cancer, stroke, heart and lung disease. Around 90% of these deaths are in low- and middle-income countries, with high volumes of emissions from industry, transport and agriculture, as well as dirty cookstoves and fuels in homes.

2. Non-communicable diseases[/b]
Non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease, are collectively responsible for over 70% of all deaths worldwide, or 41 million people. The rise of these diseases has been driven by five major risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets and air pollution.

3. Global influenza pandemic
The world will face another influenza pandemic – the only thing we do not know is when it will hit and how severe it will be. Global defences are only as effective as the weakest link in any country's health emergency preparedness and response system.

4. Fragile and vulnerable settings
More than 1.6 billion people live in places where protracted crises (through a combination of challenges such as drought, famine, conflict, and population displacement) and weak health services leave them without access to basic care. Fragile settings exist in almost all regions of the world, and these are where half of the key targets in the sustainable development goals, including on child and maternal health, remains unmet.

5. Antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance – the ability of bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi to resist medicines – threatens to send us back to a time when we were unable to easily treat infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonellosis. Drug resistance is driven by the overuse of antimicrobials in people, but also in animals, especially those used for food production, as well as in the environment.

6. Ebola and other high-threat pathogens
In 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw two separate Ebola outbreaks, both of which spread to cities of more than 1 million people.This shows that
the context in which an epidemic of a high-threat pathogen like Ebola erupts is critical.

7. Weak primary health care
Primary health care is usually the first point of contact people have with their health care system, and ideally should provide comprehensive, affordable, community-based care throughout life. Yet many countries do not have adequate primary health care facilities. This neglect may be a lack of resources in low- or middle-income countries, but possibly also a focus in the past few decades on single disease programmes.

8. Vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy – the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease – it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved.

9. Dengue
Dengue, a mosquito-borne disease that causes flu-like symptoms and can be lethal and kill up to 20% of those with severe dengue, has been a growing threat for decades. Now, its season in these countries is lengthening significantly (in 2018, Bangladesh saw the highest number of deaths in almost two decades), and the disease is spreading to less tropical and more temperate countries such as Nepal, that have not traditionally seen the disease.

10. HIV
The progress made against HIV has been enormous in terms of getting people tested, providing them with antiretrovirals, and providing access to preventive measures such as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP, which is when people at risk of HIV take antiretrovirals to prevent infection). Since the beginning of the epidemic about 35 million people have died.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/health/news/ten-threats-global-health-2019-1693402
https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019


Offline Nujhat Anjum

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Re: Ten threats to global health in 2019
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2019, 04:30:02 PM »
thanks for sharing

Offline Nujhat Anjum

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Re: Ten threats to global health in 2019
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2019, 04:30:19 PM »
thanks for sharing