WHO: International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action, 20-26 October, to mobilize for laws, regulations or enforceable standards to stop the manufacture, import and sale of paints that contain lead

22 October 2019
Health


Although exposure to lead remains a key global health concern, particularly as it impacts childhood development, only 73 countries have legally binding controls for lead paint, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported.


Lead exposure killed more than one million people in 2017, according to data cited by WHO, which is why the UN agency and partners are this week urging countries to take action to ban lead paint.

“Lead has devastating consequences on our health and in particular on the health of our children, causing lifelong intellectual disabilities,” said Dr, Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Public Health which deals with with social and environmental factors, at WHO in Geneva.



World Health Organization (WHO)
✔@WHO



FACT: Lead is toxic.

It is harmful to everyone and damages:
-Brain
-Kidneys
-Liver
-Blood
-Reproductive System#BanLeadPaint!


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“Lead paint represents one of the most widespread sources of lead exposure to infants and children. Yet lead paint still lurks in homes, in schools and on toys.”

Decaying lead paint can contaminate soil or dust, meaning young children can ingest it while playing on the ground.

Lead is stored in the teeth and bones and accumulates over time, affecting multiple body systems. It is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones.

As young children’s nervous systems are still developing, they can absorb up to five times more lead than adults.

Dr. Neira explained that lead impairs childhood brain development, which could lead to reduced IQ.

“It will result as well in behavioural changes such as shortening of attention span, increased anti-social behavior, and sometimes even reduced educational attainment”, she added, noting that the impacts can extend into adulthood.

WHO is using International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action, 20-26 October, to mobilize for laws, regulations or enforceable standards to stop the manufacture, import and sale of paints that contain lead.

Many countries are currently establishing laws to reduce the level of lead in paint to below 90 parts per million (ppm): the lowest and most protective regulatory limit set.

One billion people have preventable eye conditions, increasingly linked to lifestyle choices -WHO 8 October 2019 Health

A staggering 2.2 billion people already suffer from eye conditions and visual impairment today, but the global need for eye care is set to increase “dramatically”, with lack of exercise a key factor. While welcoming recent successes in eliminating common conditions such as trachoma in eight countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted evidence indicating that eye problems are increasingly linked to lifestyle choices, including screen time.

Youngsters are among those at risk, WHO’s Dr Alarcos Cieza told journalists in Geneva:

“In children, one of the factors that may influence the increased number of children with myopia, is that children do not spend enough time outdoors. It is a trend that is already observed in some countries like in China”, she said. “But of course, it is a trend that we can predict in other countries if they are an everyday habit, especially with child populations.”
Eye ‘never relaxes’ indoors

The problem with staying inside, is that the lens in your eye rarely relaxes, WHO’s Dr Stuart Keel explained.

“When you’re indoors, the lens inside your eyes is in a complete flex state, or it’s flexed but when you’re outside, it’s nice and relaxed.”


At least 2.2 billion people have vision impairment or blindness
Over 1 billion could have been prevented or have still to be addressed: @WHO’s first ever World Report on Vision http://bit.ly/2ofvys3



Pointing to recent scientific data from China investigating the “clear link” between time spent outdoors and the delayed onset of later-stage short-sightedness, Dr Keel cautioned that studies on “near-task” activities such as watching video on a tablet computer, were “not as conclusive at this stage”.

According to the WHO’s World Report On Vision, the burden of impairment tends to be greater in low and middle-income countries.

Women also suffer disproportionately, along with migrants, indigenous peoples, and those with disabilities and rural communities.

“Eye conditions and vision impairment are widespread, and far too often they still go untreated,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “It is unacceptable that 65 million people are blind or have impaired sight when their vision could have been corrected overnight with a cataract operation, or that over 800 million struggle in everyday activities because they lack access to a pair of glasses.”

Population growth and ageing - along with lifestyle changes and urbanization - will also “dramatically increase” the number of people with eye conditions, vision impairment and blindness in the coming decades, WHO’s report shows.

One of the study’s main findings is that prevention is key, since at least one billion people are living with sight problems that could have been avoided with timely treatment.

Addressing this backlog of vision impairment or blindness owing to short and far-sightedness, and cataracts, will require $14.3 billion, the agency notes.

It points out that prevention is particularly important in low-income regions including western and eastern sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where blindness rates are on average eight times higher than in high-income nations.

The combination of a growing and ageing population will also “significantly” increase the total number of people with eye conditions, but this too could be turned around with preventative measures.

Typical conditions that could be treated if diagnosed early, include diabetic eye disease, along with cataracts and glaucoma.

“Vision impairment should not be seen as part of the ageing process,” Dr Cieza insisted, “because if you receive the appropriate care, for example, in the case of glaucoma, you can prevent the vision impairment associated with glaucoma, or if you receive cataract surgery, you can avoid the visual impairment associated with cataracts.”

High-quality eye care for all

Another key thrust of WHO’s report is that high-quality eye care should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their income and location.

To do this, treatment should be included in countries’ national health plans as an essential part of the overall aim of achieving effective universal health coverage, it says.

For the most part, eye conditions that can cause vision impairment and blindness –cataracts, trachoma and refractive error – are the main focus of national prevention strategies.

Nevertheless, other eye conditions that do not typically cause vision impairment – including dry eye and conjunctivitis – should not be overlooked, WHO says, noting that they “are frequently among the leading reasons for presentation to eye health care services all countries”.

WHO and UNICEF in campaign to protect 1.6 million in Sudan from cholera

Health

UN agencies are working with the authorities in Sudan to protect more than one million people from cholera, an infectious disease which can kill within hours if left untreated.


So far, there have been 215 confirmed cases, including eight deaths, since an outbreak was declared in Blue Nile state on 8 September.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, will support an oral cholera vaccination campaign aimed at covering 1.6 million people there and in neighbouring Sinnar state.

The first round is expected to start in mid-October, targeting everyone above one year of age, including pregnant and lactating women.

“Sudan has bad health infrastructure and a dilapidated safe water and sewage system. Re-occurring floods have further led to polluting water sources. All of these factors heighten the risk of cholera and other diarrheal diseases and threaten to cause a wide spread if no immediate response interventions are not adopted”, WHO Spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said in Geneva on Tuesday.

WHO, alongside UN agencies and local and international partners, also are preparing to respond to potential outbreaks in six other at-risk states in Sudan.

Some $10 million to $15 million will be needed to contain the outbreak in the coming months to address issues such as health, safe water, safe nutrition and access to quality care services, in addition to mobilizing communities and youth.

WHO recalled that nearly 37,000 cases of cholera and/or Acute Watery Diarrhoea were recorded in 18 states in Sudan between August 2016 and March 2018. Overall, 823 people died, 15 per cent of whom were children under-five. The UN health agency is using lessons learned from the 2016-2018 outbreak to inform current preparedness and response measures.

Cholera is caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholorae, resulting in watery diarrhoea and severe dehydration.

The disease is preventable and can be eliminated through provision of clean water and sanitation facilities, combined with satisfactory hygiene conditions, according to WHO information.

1 October 2019

RUSSIA: Strict alcohol laws which cut intake more than 40 per cent in Russia, linked to historically high life expectancy -WHO

Studies show that more than three million people across the world died as a result of alcohol misuse in 2016, more than three quarters of them men.

Russian alcohol consumption decreased by 43% from 2003 to 2016, a World Health Organization (WHO) report says.


1 October 2019
Health


Strict laws put in place by the Russian authorities since 2003 have resulted in a significant drop in alcohol-related deaths nationwide, a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Tuesday.


The impact study on the effects of "alcohol control measures on mortality and life expectancy", shows that the amount of alcohol consumed per person fell sharply by 43 per cent, between 2003 and 2016.

Following concerted efforts by the Russian Federation, a plunge in alcohol consumption has been linked to a rise in life expectancy. Find out how in the thread and read the report http://bit.ly/2nakPyA




Russia, says the WHO, has long been considered one of the world’s heaviest-intake countries, with consumption patterns described as “hazardous”, and associated with some of the highest levels of alcohol-related deaths.

The worst period in recent times came during the 1990s and 2000s – described by the WHO as “Russia’s mortality crisis” – when, according to research, one in every two men of working age, would die prematurely because of alcohol abuse.

Russia’s alcohol control measures, which have seen a dramatic decline in the consumption of homemade, smuggled or illegally produced alcohol, are being credited with helping average life expectancy in the country to reach a historic high in 2018, at almost 68 years for men and 78 years for women.

“These results show that measures such as the introduction of monitoring systems, price increases and limited alcohol availability, work to save lives and health system costs”, said Carina Ferreira-Borges, from the Alcohol and Illicit Drugs programme at WHO Europe.

Many of the policies implemented by the Russian authorities to curb alcohol consumption have been recommended by the WHO: these include raising taxes on alcohol, and introducing a minimum unit price on vodka and other alcoholic drinks; introduced a real-time tracking system on the production and sale of alcohol; and curbing the availability of alcohol in some regions, coupled with strict policies on alcohol-free public spaces, such as parks and recreation areas.

The WHO hopes that the success seen in Russia will spur other countries to implement effective alcohol policies, in order to reduce the major health and economic burdens stemming from alcohol abuse, and improve the life prospects of their citizens.