Blog #13: UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water

Many of us take clean water for granted. In America, we use clean drinking water to flush our toilets and water our plants. However, access to safe and clean water is a struggle to find in many developing countries. According to the UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS), while access to water, sanitation, and hygiene has considerably improved globally, service coverage could slip behind if adequate resources are not secured to sustain routine operations. They say that financing and human resources is a major barrier to progress because a lot of the countries do not have information on national sanitation and drinking water. Even if there were clean water available, there is a chronic lac of skilled technicians to operate and maintain sanitation and drinking water infrastructure. Fundings will not be sufficient to maintain routine operation and maintenance. Although there is a global financial crisis, the total amount of development aid for sanitation and drinking water increased by 3% between 2008 and 2010. The problem is that only half of it is targeted to the regions where 70% of the global unserved actually live.

Overall, we know that there is a problem and it needs to be fixed somehow. Having clean water can prevent so many health related issues such as diarrhea. I think that funds need to be distributed equally and be spent wisely. The article said that just having knowledge of the rights to water and sanitation may help target resources and avoid discrimination in the provision of WASH services. I think the main focus of the government should be to provide clean water for their people. Focusing on this idea can dramatically increase the health of the people, because I know that in Africa, baby formula is banned so that mothers cannot be tempted to use the dirty water for the baby. This causes problems because babies in Africa and other places can benefit from formula milk, especially when the mother is malnourished. Having healthier people means having a better country. This ties in with my other post about the importance of having toilets, because this can prevent feces from contaminating the drinking water. 

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/glaas/en/index.html 

Blog #12: Doctors want to redefine autism; parents worried

Experts are considering rewriting the definition for autism for the psychiatric association’s reference manual. The problem with this is that many parents fear that their children may lose out on special therapies. The doctors who want to revise the definition want to eliminate separate terms like Asperger’s disorder and lump everything into one “autism spectrum disorder” category. Some say that this proposal will exclude as many as 40% of kids now considered autistic. Parents of the mildly affected children worry that their kids will be left out and lose access to academic and behavioral services. Experts say that this revision is needed so that doctors won’t misdiagnose kids who only have mild social communication problems that may get better if he has proper service and his brain matures. One parent said that she is afraid that they will be pushed out of the services that they get. This includes a free preschool program for autistic kids and speech and occupational therapy, which costs about $50 a week. They also do not have medical insurance.

Whether rewriting the definition for autism is a good or bad thing, one cannot say. Opponents have their reasons and the expert also have theirs. Both sides have good reasons for their beliefs. This is a social problem because if the experts do decide to rewrite the definition, it will be easier to diagnose children at an earlier age; more specifically before the age of 3. This way, the true number of autistic kids will be known. On the other hand, many children will be left out of free and affordable programs aimed at helping autistic children. I think that rewriting the definition is actually a good thing because it’ll help doctors diagnose this disorder better. Children who have mild cases of other problems can be helped in other ways. If the symptoms are more specific, experts will know how to better treat the problems effectively. 

http://news.yahoo.com/doctors-want-redefine-autism-parents-worried-182002299.html 

Blog#11: Researchers Find Gene Mutations That May Be a Key to Autism

Autism has always been a disorder that was kind of in the dark. Doctors don’t know exactly what causes this disorder, but they are slowly trying to unravel it and they have finally found another piece of the puzzle. The study found that fathers are four times more likely than mothers to pass the gene mutations on to their children. In one of the three new studies, research has found that mutations in parts of genes that code for proteins, called the exome, play a significant role in autism. Genetic mistakes can occur regularly, but if they occur in parts of the genome needed for brain development, then that’s when the problem arises. Autism encompasses many different disorders which can include the inability to communicate, mental retardation, and Asperger’s syndrome. In the US, 1 in 88 children have autism which is a lot. Scientists found that genetics account for about 80-90% of the risk for developing autism. Now that scientists have a clear idea of the genetic landscape, they have what is needed to find which gene contributes to autism.

                Like many other disorders such as AIDS and SIDS, there is no medicine to cure the problem. The only thing that researchers and scientists can do now is to find out the exact cause of it and work from there. Autism affects children of all ethnic backgrounds, so this is a global social problem. It is hard for parents to prevent this disorder, because not much information is known. One known fact from this research is that fathers who are older generally have a higher risk of having an autistic child. There are many fundraisers out there which raise money for autism research. Because the cause of autism is unclear and it can happen to anyone, we all need to raise awareness of this disorder. Also, we can be informed of the symptoms so we can detect it earlier in children. The earlier we detect it, the better it is because we can find ways to help the child grow as healthy as possible. 

http://news.yahoo.com/researchers-gene-mutations-may-key-autism-180440027.html 

Blog #10: Fight may cost Big Tobacco a packet

People all around the world smoke cigarettes. It’s becoming a popular trend, especially in Asia where independent women see smoking as a fun hobby. This article is about Australia’s fight against the tobacco industry. Australia has a law that enforces cigarette packs to be plain. They said that the plain design will lower their smoking rates, and studies show that it does. In the late 80’s, 30% of Australian smoked, and now it’s 15%. They predict that by 2025, only 5% of Australians will smoke. Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organization, will fight this battle. She told the tobacco industry that they are running a killing and intimidating industry, but not in a crush-proof box. Chan says that the success in Australia is going to be the success of the world. In the 20^th century, tobacco killed 100 million people, more than all wars combined. Now in the 21^st century, 1 billion people will die from tobacco-related illnesses. In the Soloman Islands, more than 41% of the population smoke. In China, Chinese men alone smoke one-third of the world’s cigarettes. Australia and other countries around the world are in this battle against the tobacco industry to lower the rate of smokers.

This is an important battle and it’s good that people are implementing laws that reduce smoking. Although there are battles going on, the tobacco industry is still going strong. They are always on the search for new targets and new areas to promote the selling of cigarettes. Their newest target is women in Asia, where the tobacco industry has put Hello Kitty and other cute characters on cigarette boxes to attract the women. It is shocking how a bad thing can be so popular. This reminds me of the war on drugs, because as long as there is a demand, there will be a supply. People will always be hooked on smoking cigarettes, so this is going to be one hard battle. The most important thing to keep in mind is that there are people out there fighting to reduce this statistic, and it’s also important to prevent the next generation from falling into this pattern. 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/fight-may-cost-big-tobacco-a-packet-20120323-1vp5d.html 

Blog #9: Drug-resistant "white plague" lurks among rich and poor

Tuberculosis-when you hear of that disease, it does not sound like a common disease of today, right? It’s one of those diseases where you only hear about in history class or literature class….one that goes along with the bubonic plague, measles, etc. But surprisingly, it is still present today. According to this article, there is a new strand of TB which is deadlier than ever. It is called multi-drug resistant TB, or MDR-TB. Like the name describes, this drug is resistant to numerous drugs and doctors cannot find a cure for it. A law student in London went through months of losing weight and suffering fevers, night sweats, and shortness of breath. She didn’t know what was going on until one day she went to the hospital and the doctors diagnosed her with TB. Even worse, the anti-biotics that the doctors prescribed her just were not working. TB was often seen in the impoverished 18^th or 19^th century women and children. Today, wealthy cities like London and crowded cities like India are hearing new cases of this deadly MDR-TB. Experts say that they cannot “afford this genie to get out of the bag” because if it does, they won’t know how to control it. TB is a bacterial infection that destroys patients’ lung tissue which makes them cough and sneeze, and spread germs through the air. It is also very contagious. Doctors are saying that this new strand of TB is produced by humans, because patients were treated badly with either poor quality drugs or not enough drugs and some patients did not finish the treatment course, so the original TB strand was not fully eliminated.

                  

This is a major social health problem because this new strand of TB is very deadly. It also spreads very easily among people at a fast rate. It is mutated in a way where doctors cannot find a cure for it, because it is resistant to dozens of modern drugs. The law student in London did not know exactly how she got this disease, but it goes to show how hand washing is a must, especially when you’ve been in contact with crowded areas. This is alarming because who would have thought that an old disease can be “brought to life” again, in a new mutated form. People need to be educated of this so that they can take better health pre-cautions to avoid getting this TB. WHO and doctors are trying to investigate how to cure this disease, but we do not know when they will find a cure. The best way to avoid this is to spread the word and stress the importance of hand washing around the world. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/19/us-tuberculosis-idUSBRE82I0D820120319