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.