| | | Save our children |  Along with the recent furore over the sacking of one health minister and continuing office of another, infant and child mortality in South Africa has been hitting the headlines. The Medical Research Councils hard hitting report on the unacceptable levels of child mortality in South Africa is backed up by a study on research priorities to prevent this carnage, published in the open-access journal Plos Medicine. Nearly 100 000 children in South Africa never see their fifth birthday each year. Such simple measures as making sure that every child had sufficient vitamin A in their diet and was able to wash their hands with soap and water through the day would go a long way to reducing this death rate. South Africa prides itself on being one of the richest and most developed countries in Africa, but while our children are dying in these numbers we have nothing to be proud of. Let's stop buying expensive weapons from countries that don't need the income, cut ministerial perks and get on top of graft and start spending money where it matters – on the future of our country.
Dr Bridget Farham, editor: https://www.bizcommunity.com
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| | Headlines | No biscuit, no blood
FDA approves human thrombin for topical use in surgery
AIDS education not reaching booming Yei fast enough
Increase vitamin A supplementation to reduce child deaths in South Africa
GUINEA: Cholera cases still rising
Baby survives transplant of five new organs
Cholesterol-lowering statins may also reduce the risk of Alzheimer's
A glimpse into the HIV prevention policy of Uganda's LRA
Untreated sewage makes its way into Harare's drinking water
Adding a new meaning to the term sexagenarian
South Africa: Too many babies die
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Medical | | FDA approves human thrombin for topical use in surgery
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Evithrom (human thrombin), a blood-clotting protein used to help control bleeding during surgery.
Nigeria suspends construction of hundreds of local health centres
Recently-elected Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua has suspended the construction of 774 healthcare centres throughout his country, drawing questions on how his administration plans to tackle the increasingly dire health care situation in Africa's most populous nation.
Adding a new meaning to the term sexagenarian
Slap and tickle is alive band well in the sixties, seventies and eighties - those oldies are still at it!
Industry news: Woolworths launches first instore pharmacy - liquidlingo Communications
Always looking for ways to make customers' lives easier, Woolworths this month opened its first in-store pharmacy, which will provide customers with the convenience of a one-stop shop that includes a full-service pharmacy alongside their favourite food store.
PIASA news: Lively discussion on pharmacovigilance at PIASA conference - InZalo Communications
Realising the increasing importance of pharmacovigilance in the pharmaceutical industry, the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of South Africa (PIASA) recently held a two-day conference on this key subject.
Industry news: Pfizer breaks into generics - Owlhurst Communications
To enhance the quality of life of more people in South Africa, Pfizer SA recently launched Pharmacia, focusing exclusively on the provision of original generic medicines to specifically address some of the country's critical disease areas.
Late flu season can cause problems - Oz Healthcare Communications
We're in the midst of a very late flu season and it is too late to be encouraging people to go out and get vaccinated now.
Industry news: Most medical reps lack necessary skills - SimonSays Communications
Most pharmaceutical reps do not have the skills to fulfill their mandates, according to Knowledge Warehouse
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Chronic diseases | | Cholesterol-lowering statins may also reduce the risk of Alzheimer's
Researchers in the United States say they believe cholesterol-lowering drugs may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's.
Avastin approved in Europe for first-line treatment of patients with advanced lung cancer
It is claimed to be the first medicine shown to extend survival beyond one year in previously untreated lung cancer patients.
Higher rate of diabetes among people who suffer heart attacks
People who suffer heart attacks appear to have a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, according to a recent study published in The Lancet. This suggests that a heart attack is a prediabetes risk equivalent.
Benefits of Vitamin D for cancer prevention
A new study looking at the relationship between vitamin D serum levels and the risk of colon and breast cancer across the globe has estimated the number of cases of cancer that could be prevented each year if vitamin D3 levels met the target proposed by researchers.
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HIV/AIDS | | AIDS education not reaching booming Yei fast enough
It's the middle of the afternoon and a group of teenagers are playing cards in a homestead in the town of Yei, southern Sudan. The girls are heavily made up and the boys sport cowboy hats and basketball vests. You can smell the cigarettes and vodka they are passing around, and there are hormones in the air.
A glimpse into the HIV prevention policy of Uganda's LRA
Almost nothing is known about life in the ranks of northern Uganda's cult-like rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), but their track record of violence and abduction is no secret.
Uganda: State homophobia threatens health and human rights
Critics claim that the Ugandan government's persecution of homosexuals is contributing to that country's HIV pandemic.
ZIMBABWE: Fake ARVs threaten lives
HARARE, 24 August 2007 (PlusNews) - The high cost antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and inadequate control mechanisms in Zimbabwe are driving a flourishing trade in fake ARVs by unlicensed dealers, activists have warned.
Health Dept recalls Zalatex-made condoms
The Department of Health is recalling two condom consignments for March and July 2007 from warehouses and health facilities throughout the country. This follows reports that Latex Surgical Products (LSP), which was awarded a contract by the Department of Health through Zalatex, to produce Choice condoms for the public, had allegedly bribed the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) official to pass the defective condoms.
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Infectious diseases | | GUINEA: Cholera cases still rising
DAKAR, 28 August 2007 (IRIN) - At least 800 more people have been infected with cholera over the last week, bringing the total number of reported cases to 2,500 since January out of which 90 people have died, according to the Guinean Ministry of Health.
Oglufanide disodium in new hepatitis C trial
Physicians at Southern Health have started a phase IIa clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of a new strategy for defeating hepatitis C viral infection, one of the toughest infectious diseases in the modern world.
Microbes don't know geography - WHO report
Regardless of capability or wealth, no country is immune to the increasing risk of disease outbreaks, epidemics, industrial accidents and other health emergencies, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
Untreated sewage makes its way into Harare's drinking water
 The dumping of untreated sewage into Lake Chivero, the main water supply dam of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, has finally caught up with the authorities, with an upsurge in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery in the city.
Fruit bats the culprit in spreading Marburg virus
Scientists have found that fruit bats that roost in caves could be the culprits in the spread of the deadly Marburg virus.
The Marburg virus causes a deadly hemorrhagic fever and is a cousin of the equally deadly but possibly more infamous, Ebola virus.
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Obstetrics and Gynaecology | | No biscuit, no blood
Zimbabwe's blood reserves are being exhausted because donors are not coming forward as in the past. Why? Because the service cannot provide refreshments anymore, and donors saw them as a perk.
New patent for use of transrenal nucleic acid in prenatal diagnostics
Xenomics announces issuance of a European patent that covers use of transrenal nucleic acid technology for prenatal diagnostics.
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Paediatrics | | Increase vitamin A supplementation to reduce child deaths in South Africa
Increasing the number of children who receive vitamin A supplementation should be the top research priority according to a new study in PLoS Medicine.
Baby survives transplant of five new organs
A baby boy is said to be doing well following surgery where he received five organ transplants.
IRAQ: Violence taking toll on pregnant mothers, infants
Leila Abdel-Karim, 27, longed for a child and, after two years of trying, she got pregnant, but could not foresee that the baby's delivery - and future health - would be severely affected by the ongoing violence in Baghdad.
South Africa: Too many babies die
Every year almost 23,000 South African babies die in their first month of life, yet one in five of these deaths could be avoided with better education, and relatively inexpensive and easily implemented changes in healthcare, says a new study by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
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