Page 286 – Public Health Update

LIPSTICK INGREDIENTS

by Public Health Update July 28, 2012

‘Makeup‘ – many of us love it – but most of us have No idea that some of our favorite Beauty products contain Harsh chemicals & Potentially Harmful Ingredients!

METHYLPARABEN: they’ve been linked to Cancer & may disrupt the Endocrine system.

PROPYLPARABEN: can Irritate Skin & Eyes or cause reactions in allergic. They hv also been linked to Endocrine disruption,Cancer & other toxic effects.

RETINYL PALMITATE: a synthetic form of vit.A,Toxic to pregnant women. Evidences link exposure to a range of health problems, from Cancer to Reproductive effects. Colorants, such as D&C Red 36 & D&C Red 22 Aluminum Lake linked to Nervous System Damage!

TOCOPHERYL ACETATE,also known as vitamin E acetate,used in a variety of products like Lipstick, Moisturizer and Foundation,may cause Itching, Burning, Scaling, Hives and Skin Blistering, and may even be Toxic!!!

source: facebook

July 28, 2012 0 comments

HIV cases on rise in Kavre

by Public Health Update July 28, 2012

written by Public Health Update

The number of people living with HIV in the district is on the rise, show recent statistics from the District Public Health Office (DPHO).

Acute HIV infection

The number of HIV -infected people reached 213 in the 2011-12 fiscal year from 170 in 2010-11. “The number of people living with HIV increased significantly in the district this year,” said DPHO chief Dr Arjun Prasad Sapkota. He added that most of those infected are sex workers and migrant workers who returned home from foreign jobs. In addition to raising awareness on safe sex through health workers and providing medicines for those with HIV , the DPHO launched an orientation programme on preventing mother-to-child transmission of the disease at Dhulikhel Hospital on Wednesday.

The Health Ministry has been conducting special programmes in all 75 districts of the country to control HIV /AIDS. Sanjaya Dahal, an official at the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control, said an estimated 50,000 people were living with HIV in the country in 2011. “The Health Ministry is working to control the disease,” said Dahal.
The government has been distributing free antiretroviral drugs to the HIV -infected from 36 depots across the country. Available data show 6,483 people with HIV were taking the drug last year.

Posted on: ekantipur 2012-07-21

July 28, 2012 0 comments

Public Health

Bird flu 'could mutate to cause deadly human pandemic'

by Public Health Update June 23, 2012

written by Public Health Update

Bird flu ‘could mutate to cause deadly human pandemic’

Writing in the journal Science, they say it would be theoretically possible for these changes to occur in nature.Researchers have identified five genetic changes that could allow the virus to start a deadly pandemic.

Avian influenza is flu infection in birds. The virus that causes the bird infectin can change (mutate) to infect humans. Such mutation could start a deadly worldwide epidemic.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors
The first avian influenza virus to infect humans occurred in Hong Kong in 1997. The epidemic was linked to chickens and classified as avian influenza A (H5N1).
Human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) have since been reported in Asia, Africa, Europe, Indonesia, Vietnman, the Pacific, and the near East. Hundreds of people have become sick with this virus. Slightly more than 60% of those who became ill have died.
The more the avian flu virus spreads, the greater the chances of a worldwide outbreak in humans. There is a tremendous concern that H5N1 poses an enormous pandemic threat.

The following people have a higher risk for developing the bird flu:

Farmers and others who work with poultry
Travelers visiting affected countries
Those who touch an infected bird
Those who eat raw or undercooked poultry meat, eggs, or blood from infected birds

Health care workers and household contacts of patients with avian influenza may also be at an increased risk of the bird flu.
The avian flu virus (H5N1) has been shown to survive in the environment for long periods of time. Infection may be spread simply by touching contaminated surfaces. Birds who were infected with this flu can continue to release the virus in their feces and saliva for as long as 10 days.

Symptoms
Symptoms of avian flu infection in humans depend on the strain of virus.
Infection with the H5N1 virus in humans causes typical flu-like symptoms, which might include:

Cough (dry or productive)
Diarrhea
Difficulty breathing
Fever greater than 100.4°F (38°C)
Headache
Malaise
Muscle aches
Runny nose
Sore throat

Signs and tests
If you think you have been exposed to avian influenza, call your health care provider before your visit. This will give the staff a chance to take proper precautions that will protect them and other patients during your office visit.
Tests to identify the avian flu exist but are not widely available. A test for diagnosing strains of bird flu in people suspected of having the virus gives preliminary results within 4 hours. Older tests took 2 to 3 days.

Treatment
Different types of avian flu virus may cause different symptoms. Therefore, treatment may vary.
In general, treatment with the antiviral medication oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza) may make the disease less severe if you start taking the medicine within 48 hours after your symptoms start.
Oseltamivir may also be prescribed for persons who live in the same house as those diagnosed with avian flu.

The virus that causes human avian flu appears to be resistant to the antiviral medicines amantadine and rimantadine. Therefore these medications should not be used if an H5N1 outbreak occurs.

People with severe infection may need to be placed on a breathing machine. Experts recommend that persons diagnosed with avian flu be put in isolation.
Doctors recommend that people get an influenza (flu) shot to reduce the chance of an avian flu virus mixing with a human flu virus, which would create a new virus that may easily spread.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a vaccine to protect humans from the avian flu. Experts say the vaccine could be used if the current H5N1 virus starts spreading between people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

June 23, 2012 0 comments

PH Important Day Public Health Tobacco Control

World No Tobacco Day 2012

by Public Health Update May 31, 2012

written by Public Health Update

The World Health Organization (WHO) selects “tobacco industry interference” as the theme of the next World No Tobacco Day, which will take place on Thursday, 31 May 2012.

The campaign will focus on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry’s brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) because of the serious danger they pose to public health.

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80% will live in low- and middle-income countries.

As more and more countries move to fully meet their obligations under the WHO FCTC, the tobacco industry’s efforts to undermine the treaty are becoming more and more energetic.

For example, in an attempt to halt the adoption of pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco, the industry recently adopted the novel tactic of suing countries under bilateral investment treaties, claiming that the warnings impinge the companies’ attempts to use their legally-registered brands.

Meanwhile, the industry’s attempts to undermine the treaty continue on other fronts, particularly with regard to countries’ attempts to ban smoking in enclosed public places and to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

World No Tobacco Day 2012 will educate policy-makers and the general public about the tobacco industry’s nefarious and harmful tactics.

It will also be in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the WHO FCTC. The preamble of the treaty recognizes “the need to be alert to any efforts by the tobacco industry to undermine or subvert tobacco control efforts and the need to be informed of activities of the tobacco industry that have a negative impact on tobacco control efforts”.

In addition, Article 5.3 of the treaty states that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”.

Furthermore, the guidelines to the implementation of Article 5.3 state that Parties are recommended to “raise awareness about…tobacco industry interference with Parties’ tobacco control policies”.

On World No Tobacco Day 2012, and throughout the following year, WHO will urge countries to put the fight against tobacco industry interference at the heart of their efforts to control the global tobacco epidemic.
source:World Health Organization (WHO)

LIPSTICK INGREDIENTS

HIV cases on rise in Kavre

Bird flu 'could mutate to cause deadly human pandemic'

World No Tobacco Day 2012

Presentation – Prevention of Malnutrition, STIs & Cancer

Presentation – NCDs

Presentation – MDGs in Nepal

Presentation – Mental Health

Tetanus – Presentation

Presentation – First AID

PUBLIC HEALTH INITIATIVE