Category: Health alert
Pollution kills 9 million people every year
A wide scale report published in The Lancet has revealed that pollution claims the lives of 9 million people annually. That is one in six of all deaths around the world. The majority of these deaths are due to non-communicable diseases caused or exacerbated by exposure to pollution, including asthma, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, [...]
Obesity predisposes people to 13 types of cancer
There’s a link between obesity and 40 % of all the cancers diagnosed in the United States. That doesn’t mean too much weight is causing all these cancer cases, just that there’s some kind of still-to-be explained association, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, the study findings suggest that being obese or overweight was associated with cancer cases involving more than [...]
Avoid alcohol if you’re pregnant
Experts are conflicted on the effects of alcohol on pregnancy, therefore the National Health Service (NHS) has advised pregnant women to stay away from consuming alcohol altogether. What happens when I drink alcohol while pregnant? Alcohol passes from your blood through the placenta and to your baby. A baby’s liver is one of the last [...]
Mental disorders, poor diet rank as greatest causes of ill health globally
Mental health disorders and poor diets are among the greatest causes of ill health globally, while heart disease and tobacco are ranked along with violence and conflict as the world’s biggest killers in 2016, according to a large international study. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study found that while life expectancy is increasing, so [...]
Thailand bans infant formula milk, baby food ads to encourage breastfeeding
Thailand has passed a new law that bans manufacturers, importers and distributors from advertising and marketing infant formula milk or powdered milk and other food products for toddlers. Department chief Dr. Wachira Pengchan said that the law is meant to ensure that baby food marketing is appropriate and that it meets international standards to prevent [...]
Chronic lung diseases due to smoking, pollution killed 3.6 mn in 2015
Around 3.6 million people all over the world were killed by two of the most common chronic lung diseases in 2015, according to a study. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), caused mainly by smoking and pollution, was responsible for 3.2 million deaths, while 400,000 people died from asthma. COPD is a group of lung conditions [...]
First skin-to-skin contact between mother, infant can prevent newborn death
In the Western Pacific Region, a newborn dies every two minutes because of inappropriate clinical practices at the time of birth and during the first few days of life. However, newborn mortalitycan easily be prevented through Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC), a set of simple, cost-effective interventions that can save newborn lives and give them [...]
Singapore sees first diphtheria case in 25 years
A Bangladeshi construction worker living in Singapore died on August 4 from diphtheria in what is believed to be the first case of the bacterial infection in the country in 25 years, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH). MOH said the last local case of infection was reported in 1992 while the last imported [...]
People who work long hours may be more at risk of irregular rapid heartbeat
People who work long hours, usually more than 35 to 40 hours a week, may be at higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation, an irregular rapid heartbeat that can lead to strokes, heart failure and chronic fatigue, according to a recent study. Researchers followed more than 85,000 working men and women without an atrial fibrillation [...]
WHO warns against untreatable superbug gonorrhea
The World Health Organization has warned against the impending spread of the totally untreatable “superbug” strains of gonorrhea. The agency said there are at least three people worldwide infected with the untreatable superbug which could be spread through sex. Giving details of studies showing a “very serious situation” with regard to highly drug-resistant forms of [...]
