Let’s Talk About Depression

Posted on by
Today is the World Health Day; for this year, the WHO strives to raise awareness of depression and has put together a campaign with very useful material to be shared with patients. More than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression, which is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease.
We invite you to join us on Among Doctors and discuss best practices & experiences on #depression and #mentalhealth in our dedicated group.
 
Image credit: WHO
Posted in , , , ,

28th July: World Hepatitis Day

Posted on by

On this year’s World Hepatitis Day, WHO calls for a rapid action to raise awareness of the disease, and increase access to testing and treatment services. Globally, 400 million people are affected by a viral hepatitis infection -a number that represents more than 10 times that of people infected with HIV. According to WHO, it is estimated that approximately 95% of people with chronic hepatitis are unaware of their infection, and less that 1% have access to treatment.

Moreover, WHO has recently published guidelines for the screening and treatment of people with hepatitis C infection, providing recommendations on the preferred regimens, and encouraging the employment of direct-acting antiviral combinations when appropriate.

Comment the story on Among Doctors!

Posted in , ,

Picks of the Week: Chronic insomnia, NSAIDs, opioids for low back pain and more!

Posted on by

Besides the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva that saw the release of many reports and news, this was a week of  a plethora of other articles and evidence published worldwide. Fellow physicians selected the most important ones and shared them on the Among Doctors network:

Do you wish to comment on these news or share your own? Join Among Doctors here and start exploring the physician-exclusive social network right away!

read more
Posted in , , , , , , , ,

World No Tobacco Day 2016

Posted on by

The World #NoTobacco Day is an annual awareness day organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31st May, aiming at highlighting the health risks of tobacco use and prompting governments to take actions against smoking. According to the WHO, while tobacco use kills nearly 6 million people each year, approximately 1 country in 3 has minimal or no restrictions at all on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

ad-tobacco

Over the last three years, the WHO has focused on the advertising ban, increased taxation and tackling the smuggling of tobacco products, all of which are actions based on evidence from epidemiological studies. This year, the World No Tobacco Day promotes the implementation of the standardized plain packaging of tobacco products.

Plain packaging is a proven measure that tackles consumption by making tobacco products less attractive to consumers, curbing the use of promotional material on the package, limiting misleading design techniques suggesting that some products are less harmful than others, and increasing the effectiveness of health warnings. The package should bear only the name of the brand and product name in standardized characters and dark colors.

World No Tobacco Day - Among Doctors

The measure was first adopted in Australia in 2012, where early evidence suggests that it has begun to achieve its public health objectives. Since then plain packaging laws have been passed in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom, while several other countries are evaluating the implementation of such a measure.

Join the AmongDoctors physicians-only professional network and discuss with us different topics on smoking cessation, public health policies and evidence on tobacco use!

Posted in , , , , ,

WHO establishes a Health Emergencies Programme, adds operational capabilities

Posted on by

During the 69th World Health Assembly, the WHO announced the establishment of a new Health Emergencies Programme, which adds operational capabilities for outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies to complement the traditional technical and normative roles of the organisation. The programme aims at delivering support to contexts as they prepare for, face or recover from emergencies, whether disease outbreaks, natural or man-made disasters or conflicts.

Read the press release and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: WHO/L. Cipriani

 

 

Posted in , , , ,

WHO Report on Eliminating Malaria

Posted on by

A year after the World Health Assembly resolved to eliminate malaria from at least 35 countries by 2030, WHO is releasing a World Malaria Day report that shows this goal, although ambitious, is achievable. Since the year 2000, malaria mortality rates have declined by 60% globally. In the WHO African Region, malaria mortality rates fell by 66% among all age groups and by 71% among children under 5 years. But reaching the next level—elimination—will not be easy. Nearly half of the world’s population, 3.2 billion people, remain at risk of malaria. Last year alone, 214 million new cases of the disease were reported in 95 countries and more than 400 000 people died of malaria.

Read the report and comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: United States Mission Geneva – Flickr: World Health Organization Headquarters and Flag, CC BY 2.0

Posted in , ,

WHO Releases the Global Report on Diabetes

Posted on by

On the occasion of World Health Day 2016, WHO issued a call for action on diabetes, drawing attention to the need to step up prevention and treatment of the disease. The first WHO Global report on diabetes demonstrates that the number of adults living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults. Factors driving this dramatic rise include overweight and obesity. In 2012 alone diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths. Its complications can lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputation.

Read the report or comment the story on Among Doctors

Image credit: WHO / Eduardo Martino

Posted in , ,

United to End TB

Posted on by

Today is World TB Day and WHO calls on governments, communities, civil society, and the private sector to “Unite to End TB”. WHO and partners are promoting dialogue and collaboration that unites individuals and communities in new ways to end the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. 43 million lives were saved through effective diagnosis and treatment, 2000-2014, yet 480,000 people developed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in the world in 2014.

Read the article or comment the story on Among Doctors

Posted in , ,

Picks of the Week: Zika virus updates

Posted on by

This week many of the shared updates focused on the presently ongoing, large outbreak of the Zika virus. Let’s have a look at the top news that were shared on the Among Doctors network:

  • Zika virus: all the updates
    All the latest evidence on DynaMed Plus, a map of the outbreak and the European Medicines Agency to provide support to global response on the emerging epidemic of the Zika virus.
  • WHO joins the world in marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
    More than 125 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of Female Genital Mutilation in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the harmful practice is most concentrated.
  • Recommendations for screening for depression in adults
    Although major depressive disorder is one of the world’s great public health problems, the morbidity and increased mortality associated with this common illness can be attenuated by the large number of effective treatments that are now widely available. It is therefore important to ensure that efficient methods for population screening are in place and directly linked to health care systems so depressed patients receive appropriate treatment.
read more
Posted in , , , , , ,

Pick of the Week: Chest pain, lung cancer screening and more!

Posted on by

Plenty of news were posted on the Among Doctors network over the past days. Some of the highlights of what our fellow colleagues shared include the clinical assessment of patients with chest pain and practical guidelines for the lung cancer screening. Let’s have a more in-depth look at this week’s top updates:

  • Clinical assessment of patients with chest pain: a systematic review of predictive tools
    The risk of coronary artery disease can be estimated on clinical grounds in patients with chest pain in different clinical settings with high accuracy. The estimation of probabilities of coronary artery disease could be used for a better management of patients with chest pain and also in the development of future predictive tools.
  • Lung cancer screening: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines
    The use of low-dose computed tomography presents an exciting development for high-risk individuals. Several expert bodies and governments have recently issued and updated their clinical practice guidelines for lung cancer screening. In this review the clinical practice guidelines are evaluated and the recommendations are compared between them.
  • Smoking associated with increased mortality in breast cancer patients
    In a prospective cohort study of over 4500 women with invasive breast cancer, patients who actively smoked prior to breast cancer diagnosis demonstrated a 25% increase in overall mortality compared to never smokers. Patients who continued to smoke post-breast cancer diagnosis demonstrated a significant increase in both cancer-specific and overall mortality. Patients who quit smoking after breast cancer diagnosis demonstrated a 9% risk reduction in overall mortality.
read more
Posted in , , , , , , , , ,