Category: Features
Ventilator-associated infections in hospitals preventable – study
A recent study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute of Patient Safety and Quality in the US has demonstrated that ventilator-associated events in hospitals can be prevented by health care providers. Going on a ventilator is often the difference between life and death for some hospital patients. In the US, around 800,000 patients [...]
Sudden rise in Yemen cholera cases, death toll
A sudden increase in Yemen’s cholera cases has been shown in a World Health Organization (WHO) document earlier this week, with the number of suspected cases rising to 35,217 since April 27, when the outbreak began to spread rapidly. That figure represents a 50% increase in the reported incidence compared with the last given figures [...]
Ethiopia’s Tedros becomes first African to head WHO
Ethiopia’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has become the first African to lead the World Health Organization (WHO) after winning the race for the top spot in the United Nations (UN) agency. Ethiopia’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Negash Kebret Botora described the win as a “victory day for Ethiopia and for Africa”. The former health [...]
WHO expects 300,000 cholera cases in Yemen within six months
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is expecting as many as 300,000 cases of cholera in Yemen within six months and an “extremely high” number of deaths. “We need to expect something that could go up to 200,000-250,000 cases over the next six months, in addition to the 50,000 cases that have already occurred,” [...]
Wales receives UK’s first proton beam machine
Proton Partners International (PPI), a Wales-based private company that provides innovative cancer care, has received the key component that will fire the UK’s first high-energy proton beam machine at its Rutherford Cancer Centre. Currently, only low-energy treatment is available in the UK for rare eye cancers. But PPI said the UK’s “most-advanced piece of cancer [...]
G20 health ministers agree to take on antibiotic resistance
Health ministers from the G20 major economies met for the first time and agreed to cooperate in tackling issues such as antibiotic resistance. They also agreed to begin executing national action plans by the end of 2018. Germany, which holds the G20 presidency this year, said it was an “important breakthrough” that all nations had [...]
Scientists to test Zika virus against brain tumor cells
Scientists in the UK are planning to use and test Zika virus against brain cancer cells in an effort to find new ways in combatting an aggressive type of cancer. Zika causes severe disability in babies by attacking developing stem cells in the brain – but in adults, whose brains are fully formed, it often [...]
CVDs account for one-third of deaths worldwide
A scientific study that examined every country over the past 25 years has found that cardiovascular diseases (CVD), like stroke and heart diseases, cause one-third of deaths globally. Countries with the greatest number of cardiovascular deaths, after accounting for population size, are found throughout Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, [...]
Way to create unlimited supply of healthy blood cells discovered
An innovative way to create an unlimited supply of healthy blood cells from blood-forming stem cells has been discovered by researchers at New York’s Weill Cornell Medicine in the US. This breakthrough achievement marks the first time that any research group has generated such blood-forming stem cells. “This is a game-changing breakthrough that brings us [...]
Capsule robot could make colonoscopies easier for patients
A new 18-mm magnetized capsule colonoscope which is guided by an external magnet attached to a robotic arm has been shown to successfully navigate and perform intricate maneuvers inside the colon. Researchers are hoping the new technology could help make the life-saving screening test easier and less uncomfortable for patients. They are also hoping the [...]
