scourge from the past came back.
Climate change and conflict have overheated cholera, a diarrheal disease caused by ingestion of contaminated water and food, killing thousands of people from Haiti to Malawi.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last year more people died from cholera worldwide than in the past five years combined. Nearly 20 countries are battling outbreaks and do not have enough vaccines available to immunize everyone at risk. According to WHO, 1 billion people (1 in 8) are at direct risk.
“It is very sad that in 2023 we will be losing people to a disease that is largely preventable with hand washing and clean, safe drinking water,” Chalilwe Chung, a Zambian doctor who treated cholera patients, told Carmen. .
Things necessary: Access to safe drinking water and toilets. These basics have eliminated cholera in developed countries, but are not yet widely available in many developing countries.
WHO has dealt with major cholera outbreaks in the past, but only one at a time. “We are currently experiencing large-scale fires in many parts of the world at the same time,” said Philippe Barboza, WHO’s cholera chief.
This is because extreme weather events, such as successive tropical cyclones in Malawi and early strong monsoons in Bangladesh, cause flooding, polluting water and displacing people.
Last fall, WHO and other organizations jointly managed an oral cholera vaccine stockpile. decided to immunize people One dose instead of the usual two doses to reach as many people as possible.
All 35 million doses of the cholera vaccine produced last year have been shipped and used, Barboza said.
Currently the only remaining manufacturer, South Korea’s EuBiologics, is expanding production, but it is expected to only supply more doses in 2024.
Barboza said it would take years for a South African-based manufacturer that wants to enter the cholera market to get up and running.
Hard Hit: The increase in cases in Africa is exponential. The number of cases recorded in January 2023 alone will reach a third of all cases recorded in 2022. WHO regional offices on the continent said Thursday.
Malawi is experiencing the worst of epidemics In 20 years, there have been more than 40,000 cases and nearly 1,400 deaths to date.government Campaign started on Monday Halting the spread of cholera by the end of February by increasing access to prevention, treatment, safe water, food and sanitation, and educating people on how to protect themselves.
Elsewhere on the continent, more than 300 people died in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, about 560 deaths have been reported in Haiti.
Gang violence, political instability and lack of resources are more responsible than climate change for the resurgence of the disease.
Haiti’s cholera treatment centers do not meet standards and “we are working to ensure that we have adequate human resource support, medical supplies and supplies to treat cholera patients,” the humanitarian group said. Adib Fletcher, who works in Haiti with Project HOPE, said. relief group.
Here we explore the ideas and innovators shaping healthcare.
love the language There is little evidence to support the theory that some couples prefer one of the languages described in Gary Chapman’s 1992 bestseller. 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Lasting Love Build better relationships.
So says Gary CarantzasA professor at Deakin University in Australia reviewed research on five languages: acts of service, physical contact, quality time, gifts, and words of affirmation. Karantzas writes in The Conversation that the handful of studies done on love languages are largely inconclusive.
Chapman argued that couples drawn to one of these methods of communication were more likely to be satisfied.
Share your thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard. [email protected]Ruth Leader [email protected]Carmen Pawn [email protected] or Erin Shoemaker [email protected].
Send tips securely Via SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp.
Today is
pulse check
desire to regulate America’s largest tech company is one of the few things Democrats and Republicans can agree on on the Capitol.
That point was made clear Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting children online. He said he is working with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) on a consumer protection bill and is looking to create an industry regulator.
Witnesses — including mental health advocates, child trafficking experts, and individuals and families victimized by social media — spoke of cyberbullying and the sexual exploitation of children.
They also said algorithms expose children to mentally-harmful content, making them dependent on social media.
Need more research? Mitch J. Prinstein, chief scientific officer of the American Psychological Association, called on senators to make social media platforms more transparent so that psychologists can study the effects of social media.
What’s next: There was bipartisan support in Congress last year data privacy bill and another aimed at protecting children onlineNeither passed, but lawmakers have expressed strong interest in getting the bill into law in 2023.
Graham wants to set content moderation and privacy protection rules for social media companies and create a new regulatory body to amend Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
he also plans to reintroduce his EARN IT ActThis strips technology companies that host child pornography of their Section 230 protections.
Graham came up with the idea first Last September, the head of the new technical regulator said he wanted to create a “regulatory environment with teeth.”
Parents know their kids’ screen time increased in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
Research published in JAMA network open Shows an increase figure: 40 percent more time.
This does not include time spent in Zoom School.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the 228 children surveyed watched an average of four hours a day of video, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College and other universities. and spent another 30 hours doing homework and educational games.
After COVID-19 closed schools and activities and put kibosh on play days, total average screen time for children aged 4 to 12 surged by more than two hours, while educational use outside of school dropped to 1.5 Over time, recreational use increased to 5.3 hours. time.
Between May and August 2021, screen time dropped to around 6 hours, well above pre-pandemic levels, despite most Covid restrictions being lifted in the meantime.
In addition to gearing up avatars in Roblox and fighting virtually to the death in Fortnite, researchers found that the number of kids who had social media accounts during the pandemic increased from 4.4% to 11.2%.
What’s next: Despite their concerns, the researchers acknowledged that it has not yet been conclusively determined that additional screen time is bad for children’s health.
They asked for:
— Families ‘reestablish healthy screen time use’
— More guidance from pediatricians on screen time
— Further research on the link between screen time and obesity and mental illness
“It is important to understand the long-term health effects of increased screen time and whether they differ by type of screen time,” the researchers wrote. “Screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic.” There is a need to identify long-term associations between an increase in
