Tuesday 24th January 2017- World Health Organisation: 10 things you should know about the Syrian crisis

‘More than 10 million medical treatments were delivered throughout Syria in 2016, through both cross-line deliveries from Damascus and cross-border deliveries from Gaziantep (Turkey) and Amman (Jordan). More than one third of the supplies required for these treatments were delivered to hard-to-reach, opposition-controlled, and besieged areas.

Wounded and critically ill patients were successfully evacuated from besieged areas including east Aleppo, Foah and Madaya. WHO played a key role in the negotiations and in planning and overseeing the evacuations to parts of Syria and Turkey. During evacuations from east Aleppo, for example, the Organization ensured that 811 people safely reached hospitals. A further 31 500 health care consultations were provided to people fleeing east Aleppo through WHO-supported mobile clinics.

More than 16 000 health workers received training on a range of topics including health assessments, trauma care, case management for specific diseases, mental health, nutrition, immunization and other topics. When WHO could not enter besieged east Aleppo to provide training to first responders (eg. nurses and paramedics), the Organization instead delivered training via telephone and video conferencing. More than 300 Syrian doctors and nurses were also trained in Turkey to provide health care to Syrian refugees in Turkish camps.

Life-saving care was provided to people suffering from non-communicable diseases – like diabetes, kidney failure and mental illness. Thirteen-year- old Luma, for example, received haemodialysis treatment at a WHO-supported health centre in northern Aleppo. In just the third quarter of 2016 alone, WHO supported more than 11 500 dialysis sessions.

Millions of children across the country were vaccinated against deadly diseases including hepatitis B, measles, rubella and the flu. WHO trained over 6 000 people on immunization and, together with UNICEF, worked to vaccinate 2.6 million children against polio.’

See:

10 Things You Should Know About the Syrian Crisis

Saturday 19th November 2016- Al Jazeera: Battle for Aleppo: ‘All hospitals are destroyed’

 

‘All medical facilities in Syria’s rebel-held Aleppo have been destroyed, health officials and opposition activists have told Al Jazeera, as another day of ferocious government bombardment on the besieged city left dozens of people dead.

Air raids, barrel bombs and artillery fire killed at least 56 people on Saturday, volunteers with the White Helmets group told Al Jazeera. The rescuers, who operate in rebel-held parts of Syria, said they had been pulling bodies, including those of children, out of the rubble.’

‘The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group monitoring the war, reported a lower death toll of 27 civilians.

The latest deaths came as health officials said that every hospital in the rebel-held east is now out of service – a statement also confirmed by the World Health Organisation, according to Reuters news agency.

“They [health officials] say that they are specifically being targeted to make people give up. In the last few hours, two remaining hospitals have come under intense shelling by the regime,” Al Jazeera’s Osama bin Javaid, reporting from Gaziantep, on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, said.’

Related Articles:

Battle for Aleppo: ‘All hospitals are destroyed’

East Aleppo’s last hospital destroyed by airstrikes- The Guardian

Syria conflict: Aleppo hospitals ‘knocked out by bombardment’- BBC News

Saturday 19th November 2016- Al Jazeera: Syria war: Air raid hits children’s hospital in Aleppo

(This is video is a similar one from Al Jazeera (AIR RAID HITS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IN ALEPPO) but not the same as the video from this article. Please see the link below)

‘An air raid has hit a children’s hospital in Syria’s rebel-held east Aleppo, forcing medical staff to evacuate patients, including several newborn babies still in incubators.

The moment of the attack on Friday was captured by an Al Jazeera crew, including journalist Amro Halabi, who was reporting on survivors of previous Syrian and Russian bombing raids on rebel-held parts of the city.

Halabi was filming a man and his two children, who were suffered breathing problems from an earlier attack, when the room suddenly went dark immediately after a loud explosion.

Nurses and other medical staff were seen scrambling through the blackness, trying to rush the patients out of the badly damaged hospital as children cried out for help.

In another room, nurses grabbed babies from damaged incubators, with one staff member using a cloth to protect a visibly undernourished child before trying to console a weeping colleague, who was also carrying a newborn.

The nurses later moved the babies to another room, putting them on the floor next to each other and covering them with blankets. At least one of the infants still had medical tubes attached.

Staff told Al Jazeera that all of the babies survived the attack.’

Related Articles:

Syria war: Air raid hits children’s hospital in Aleppo

Aleppo’s children’s hospital bombed as it treats chlorine gas victims- The Guardian

Syria conflict: Children’s hospital hit in deadly Aleppo strikes- BBC News

Premature babies in Aleppo removed from incubators after air strikes hit city’s only children’s hospital- The Independent

Sunday 1st November 2015- World Health Organisation: WHO mobilizes 510 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to help control the cholera outbreak in Iraq

‘WHO mobilizes 510 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to help control the cholera outbreak in Iraq’.

‘An estimated 250 000 displaced persons will be targeted during the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaign to help control cholera outbreak in Iraq.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has mobilized 510 000 doses of OCV, and the 2-dose campaign is part of a strategy to prevent cholera transmission in high-risk areas and avert a potentially large-scale cholera outbreak in the 62 camps for refugees and internally displaced people. ‘

‘The cholera outbreak in Iraq continues to pose a threat inside the country as well as among its neighbouring countries. Since the start of the outbreak on 15 September 2015, the Ministry of Health has reported 2173 laboratory confirmed cholera with 2 deaths from 15 out of 19 governorates.

The trend of cholera cases has been declining in the last 2 weeks, however, some of the central and southern governorates namely are still reporting confirmed cholera cases. Over the last 7 days, only one confirmed cholera case was reported from the northern governorates which comprise Kirkuk, Erbil, Dahuk and Suleimaniyah.’

‘An OCV is proven to be effective and can protect individuals by 85% in short-term and 65% over 5 years with a good safety profile. Evidence shows that high coverage of OCV in the target population can result in significant reduction of disease transmission in the vaccinated communities.’

See:

WHO mobilizes 510 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to help control the cholera outbreak in Iraq

Thursday 22nd October 2015- The Telegraph: Stem cell breakthrough reverses infertility after cancer

‘Scientists from Egypt’s Mansoura Medical School show it is possible to restore fertility by injecting stem cells directly into the ovaries’.

‘Cancer patients made infertile by chemotherapy have been offered new hope after scientists succeeded in reversing the damage caused to eggs for the first time.

In a landmark breakthrough hailed as “phenomenal” by fertility experts, researchers from Egypt and the US showed that injecting stem cells into ovaries can bring them back to life.’

‘Although the procedure has only been carried out in mice so far, the results were so successful that the researchers say they are ready to move to human trials.

Mice who had suffered ovarian failure from chemotherapy were able to have large litters after treatment.’

‘Lead researcher Dr Sara Mohamed, of Mansoura Medical School in Egypt, said she had come up with the idea after meeting a 22-year-old cancer patient who was at risk of infertility from chemotherapy.’

Related Articles:

Stem cell breakthrough reverses infertility after cancer

Cancer breakthrough offers new hope for survivors rendered infertile by chemotherapy- The Independent

Monday 10th August 2015- The Guardian: Gaza infant mortality rate rises for first time in 53 years, UN study reveals

‘The number of babies dying before four weeks old has risen from 12 per 1,000 live births in 2008 to 20.3 in 2013, agency for Palestinian refugees says’.

‘The infant mortality rate in Gaza has risen for the first time in more than half a century, a new study by the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees says.

“The number of babies dying before the age of one has consistently gone down over the last decades in Gaza, from 127 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 20.2 in 2008. At the last count, in 2013, it had risen to 22.4 per 1,000 live births,” a statement from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said.

“Every five years UNRWA conducts a survey of infant mortality across the region, and the 2013 results were released this week,” it said, adding that because of the data it would conduct a new Gaza-specific survey this year.’

See:

Gaza infant mortality rate rises for first time in 53 years, UN study reveals

Wednesday 1st July 2015- The Scientist: MERS Help on the Horizon?

‘New research finds that a treatment for Middle East respiratory syndrome can prevent and treat the disease in mice, while an experimental vaccine moves into human testing.’

‘With the death toll from Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS)  rising in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and, most recently, South Korea, researchers are scrambling to develop a treatment that can slow the coronavirus. This week (June 29), researchers at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the University of Maryland announced progress on this front: antibody-based technology, which has been used to design experimental treatments against Ebola, has yielded a treatment that can tackle MERS in mice.’

‘First, the researchers had to establish a mouse model of MERS by genetically engineering the animals to express human immune receptors. “Mice are typically not susceptible to MERS,” coauthor Matthew Frieman, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of the Maryland School of Medicine’.

‘The team then screened some 1,000 antibodies that bind to the MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and tested the most-promising ones in humanized mice just before and just after they were infected with the virus. Two antibodies, dubbed REGN3051 and REGN3048, were able to neutralize the virus, making them the first treatments to successfully protect and treat an animal model of MERS, according to the press release.’

‘The researchers are now working to move the two antibodies into human trials. “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be successful, but it’s very hard to predict until it’s actually in clinical trials [in people].” Columbia University’s Stephen Morse told MIT Technology Review.’

See:

MERS Help on the Horizon?

Tuesday 5th May 2015- World Health Organisation: WHO/UNHCR issue new guide on mental health in humanitarian emergencies

‘Worldwide close to 80 million people are currently impacted by humanitarian emergencies arising from natural disasters and armed conflicts, such as those in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, and more recently, Nepal. WHO estimates 5% to 10% of these people suffer from a mental health condition such as depression as a result of the emergency.

People with mental health disorders rarely have access to specialized health workers trained in assessing and managing their conditions. WHO and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have therefore produced a Mental health Gap Action Programme Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG), so non-specialist health workers can better identify, assess and manage mental health needs.

The new guide provides practical, first-line management recommendations for mental, neurological and substance use conditions. Contents include modules on assessing and managing conditions such as acute stress, grief, moderate-severe depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, and harmful use of alcohol and drugs.’

See:

WHO/UNHCR issue new guide on mental health in humanitarian emergencies

Wednesday 29th April 2015- World Health Organisation: WHO report finds systems to combat antibiotic resistance lacking

‘A quarter of countries that responded to a WHO survey have national plans to preserve antimicrobial medicines like antibiotics, but many more countries must also step up. A new report, “Worldwide country situation analysis: Response to antimicrobial resistance”, which outlines the survey findings, reveals that while much activity is underway and many governments are committed to addressing the problem, there are major gaps in actions needed across all 6 WHO regions to prevent the misuse of antibiotics and reduce spread of antimicrobial resistance.’

‘Issued a year after WHO’s first report on the extent of antimicrobial resistance globally, which warned of a ‘post-antibiotic era’, this survey—which was completed by 133 countries in 2013 and 2014—is the first to capture governments’ own assessments of their response to resistance to antimicrobial medicines used to treat conditions such as bloodstream infections, pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and HIV. It summarizes current practices and structures aimed to address the issue, and shows there are significant areas for improvement.’

‘Key findings of the report include:

• Few countries (34 out of 133 participating in the survey) have a comprehensive national plan to fight resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines.
• Monitoring is key for controlling antibiotic resistance, but it is infrequent. In many countries, poor laboratory capacity, infrastructure and data management are preventing effective surveillance, which can reveal patterns of resistance and identify trends and outbreaks.
• Sales of antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines without prescription remain widespread, with many countries lacking standard treatment guidelines, increasing the potential for overuse of antimicrobial medicines by the public and medical professionals.
• Public awareness of the issue is low in all regions, with many people still believing that antibiotics are effective against viral infections.
• Lack of programmes to prevent and control hospital-acquired infections remains a major problem.’

Related Articles:

WHO report finds systems to combat antibiotic resistance lacking

Most countries not protecting antibiotics, says WHO- BBC News

Wednesday 22nd April 2015- World Health Organisation: Global vaccination targets ‘off-track’ warns WHO

‘Progress towards global vaccination targets for 2015 is far off-track with 1 in 5 children still missing out on routine life-saving immunizations that could avert 1.5 million deaths each year from preventable diseases.’

‘In 2013 nearly 22 million infants missed out on the required three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing vaccines (DTP3), many of them living in the world’s poorest countries. WHO is calling for an end to the unnecessary disability and death caused by failure to vaccinate.’

‘In 2012, all 194 WHO Member States at the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), a commitment to ensure that no one misses out on vital immunization. However, a recent independent assessment report on GVAP progress rings an alarm bell… [as] only 1 of the 6 key vaccination targets for 2015 is currently on track – the introduction of under-utilized vaccines.

Many countries worldwide have experienced large measles outbreaks in the past year, threatening efforts to achieve the GVAP target of eliminating measles in 3 WHO Regions by end-2015.’

‘WHO estimates that today immunizations prevent between 2 and 3 million deaths annually and protect many more people from illness and disability.’

‘The Global Vaccine Action Plan envisions a world where everyone lives life free from vaccine preventable diseases by 2020. It set 6 targets for 2015:

Immunization against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTP3)
Target: 90% immunization coverage against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough by 2015.
Gap: 65 countries

Introduction of under-utilized vaccines
Target: At least 90 low or middle income countries to have introduced one or more under-utilized vaccines by 2015.
ON TRACK

Polio eradication
Target: No new cases after 2014
Gap: 3 countries remain polio endemic

Maternal and neonatal tetanus: Global elimination by end-2015
Target: Eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus
Gap: 24 countries

Measles elimination
Target: Eliminate from three WHO regions by end-2015
Gap: 16% of all children are not being immunized against measles

Rubella elimination
Target: Eliminate rubella from two WHO regions by end-2015
Gap: Half of all children do not receive the rubella vaccine’

See:

Global vaccination targets ‘off-track’ warns WHO