PAHO News – November 20, 2003

 

In this issue:

- PAHO DIRECTOR AWARDED PUBLIC HEALTH DISTINCTION

- DIABETES REMAINS A MAJOR, COSTLY HEALTH PROBLEM IN THE AMERICAS

- NOW IS THE TIME TO DEAL WITH HEALTH AGING IN THE FUTURE

- GRAND CHALLENGES IN GLOBAL HEALTH ANNOUNCED IN $200 MILLION INITIATIVE

- AIDS IN CHINA: AN ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGY 1985-2003

- FEATURE: CHAGAS DISEASE IN LA CUCHILLA, STA BARBARA, HONDURAS 

 

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PAHO DIRECTOR AWARDED PUBLIC HEALTH DISTINCTION

Pan American Health organization (PAHO) director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago
received three prestigious Argentine public health awards this week
during a ceremony in Buenos Aires. She was recognized by the Konex
Foundation as the top public health official of the last decade. During
a ceremony at Buenos Aires' National Academy of Medicine, Roses was the
recipient of the Public Health Merit Award, the Konex Platinum Prize and
the Konex Diamond Prize.  For more information, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr031117.htm

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DIABETES REMAINS A MAJOR, COSTLY HEALTH PROBLEM IN THE AMERICAS

November 14 was World Diabetes Day - a good time to remember that
diabetes is one of the leading health problems in Latin America and the
Caribbean, a region in which nearly 20 million people suffer from this
disease. According to projections from the Pan American Health
Organization's Diabetes Initiatives for the Americas (DIA), this number
could rise to 40 million by 2025.

The theme for World Diabetes Day 2003 was 'Diabetes could cost you your
kidneys: Act now!'. The International Diabetes Federation notes that at
least half the people with type 1 diabetes will develop early signs of
diabetic nephropathy, and among these people, almost one third will
develop more severe kidney disease ultimately reaching kidney failure,
leaving the person in need of either a kidney transplant or dialysis
treatments. 

According to DIA's Action Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean,
diabetes is considered the main cause of some 45,000 deaths annually in
Latin America and the Caribbean. However, that figure is considered
conservative and the actual number may be more than six times higher.
The highest incidence of diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean is
in Jamaica (17.9 percent), followed by Cuba (14.8 percent). The lowest
was registered in 1998 in an indigenous Aymará community in rural Chile
(1.6 percent). In general, urban populations have an incidence of 10
percent.

For more information, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr031113.htm

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NOW IS THE TIME TO DEAL WITH HEALTH AGING IN THE FUTURE

Latin America is not doing well in preparing for the coming demographic
revolution sparked by the huge growth in the number of people over age
60 years between now and 2050, according to a Pan American Health
Organization/World Health Organization official.

Dr. Alexandre Kalache cited the example of Brazil, saying that that
country did not educate its children in the past or offer satisfactory
health services. The result is that now 30 percent of Brazil’s
population is marginalized.

Kalache is the coordinator of the Aging and Life Course Program of
PAHO/WHO. He spoke today on lifetime prevention of noncommunicable
diseases (NCDs) in an address to the III Global Forum on Integrated NCDs
Prevention & Control, held recently in Rio de Janeiro. For more
information, visit: http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr031111.htm

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GRAND CHALLENGES IN GLOBAL HEALTH ANNOUNCED IN $200 MILLION INITIATIVE

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation has announced the first 14 scientific
challenges that will be the focus of the Grand Challenges in Global
Health Initiative. The intent of the initiative is to engage creative
minds from across the world and the breadth of scientific and technology
communities, including those who have not traditionally engaged in
global health research, to partner in developing solutions to the stated
challenges. For more information, visit:
http://www.grandchallengesgh.org/ and
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/302/5644/398 

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AIDS IN CHINA: AN ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGY 1985-2003

 

Over a year in the making, "AIDS in China: An Annotated Chronology
1985-2003" compiles more than 20 years of Chinese and international
open-source material, concise overviews and analysis on the extent of
AIDS in China and its major policy issues.  The objective of this report
and the website, China AIDS Survey, is to increase the overall awareness
and provide a historical foundation of China's AIDS crisis among policy
makers, international aid workers, professional stakeholders and the
general population.  For more information, visit:

http://www.casy.org/pubpage.htm

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FEATURE: CHAGAS DISEASE IN LA CUCHILLA, STA BARBARA, HONDURAS 

 

Submitted by Plan ROCCA (Regional Office for the Caribbean and Central

America): The community of La Cuchilla, Santa Barbara, Honduras, has
asked Plan ROCCA for help in rebuilding their houses with cement blocks
and zinc sheets. Why? Because they do not trust that fumigation and
plastering alone can save their children from Chagas disease, which is
caused by a flagellate protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi,
transmitted to humans by triatomine insects. The vector finds a
favorable habitat in crevices in the adobe (or mud brick) walls and
roofs in rural areas and peripheral urban slums. More information on
Chagas disease: (http://www.who.int/health_topics/chagas_disease/en/) 

For more information on Plan ROCCA's program:
http://www.who.int/heca/infomaterials/en/hecanet_planrocca.PDF

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