Category: Community
WHO: Yemen cholera cases reach 500,000
The recent cholera outbreak in the war-torn Yemen has already affected half a million people in the country, with 5,000 people being infected every day, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported. At least 1,975 people have died since the waterborne disease began to spread rapidly at the end of April. Even though the overall caseload [...]
Asia’s factory farms pose major global health threats, report says
Factory farming in Asian countries could lead to major global health risks, according to the report “Factory Farming in Asia: Assessing Investment Risks”. In over just a decade, the use of antibiotics in factory farms in Asia is set to more than, with potentially damaging effects on antibiotic resistance around the world. Factory farming of [...]
Singapore needs more “generalist” doctors than specialists, med schools say
The deans of three medical schools in Singapore say the city-state needs more “generalist” doctors who are skilled enough to treat a patient with several medical conditions to avoid having patients switch from one specialist doctor to another. “Increasingly, I think that’s what we need in the health system – we need generalists,” said Associate [...]
APHM 2017: Collaborate with competitors for better patient-focused service
The healthcare industry should emulate the airline industry in collaborating with competitors and working together for the benefit of the patient, said Mike Wagner, executive director and chief teaching officer of The Advisory Board Company, at the APHM 2017 conference and exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 25 to 27. The airline industry [...]
Myanmar seeks aid from WHO to battle swine flu outbreak
Health authorities in Myanmar have asked the World Health Organization (WHO) for help in battling a deadly swine flu outbreak in the country that has already infected more than 30 people and killed at least six people over the last week. Most of the victims are from the country’s biggest city, Yangon, a senior health [...]
Sea sponge from icy Alaska waters may be key to pancreatic cancer treatment
A small deep-sea, dull green sponge found in the icy waters of the Pacific off Alaska may be holding the key to effective pancreatic cancer treatment, according to researchers. Pancreatic cancer, with particularly aggressive tumors, is notoriously difficult to treat. Bob Stone, a researcher at the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, discovered the sponge, called [...]
Malaysia’s first total aorta replacement surgery successful
The National Heart Institute (IJN) in Malaysia has successfully performed the first total aorta replacement surgery in the country, marking a breakthrough in heart treatment. According to consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Paneer Selvam, the surgery from the root of aorta up to the vessel to the lower limb was a cutting edge procedure carried out [...]
APHM 2017: Winner Sg’s Transfer Wheelchair reduces back injury for healthcare workers
Patients can be moved without being lifted, with the transfer wheelchair, which is designed to facilitate lateral transfer and back injury for healthcare workers, according to Michael Pang, Managing Director of Singapore-based Winner Sg Pte Ltd, speaking at the APHM 2017 conference and exhibition recently. The rear wheel of the chair is retracted, allowing an [...]
Tick-borne disease kills Japanese woman after being bitten by sick cat
An unnamed Japanese woman in her 50s was killed last year by a tick-borne disease after she was bitten by a sick stray cat in what could be the first such mammal-to-human transmission, according to Japan’s healthy ministry. The woman has been helping the sick cat. Ten days later she died of Severe Fever with [...]
Dengue outbreak in Sri Lanka claims almost 300 lives
Sri Lanka is intensifying measures against the recent outbreak of dengue fever that has already claimed almost 300 lives. Schools across the island nation will be closed to help prevent the spread of the mosquito-borne disease. The Red Cross also announced it was scaling up its emergency response to the country’s worst-ever outbreak of the [...]
