Public health

Mexican health officials, doctors and residents along the border with the United States say new outbreaks of COVID-19 are tied to people crossing south over the border. Residents in Nogales, Sonora erected temporary blockades along roadways leading to Arizona during the initial U.S. coronavirus outbreak in March, telling The Associated Press the Mexican government was doing nothing to medically screen people crossing the border from the United States. President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted his border wall construction efforts for helping the " lucky " residents of California, but Mexican officials said their concerns are about people crossing the border - legally - in the other direction. Mexican state governors along the border said thousands of new COVID-19 cases began emerging in late March, just days after California shuttered businesses and issued stay-at-home orders on the other side of the border. Tijuana physicians told the AP that a recent surge in cases is … [Read more...] about Mexico health officials say new coronavirus cases coming from people crossing U.S. border

Two of the leading Democratic senators in the reproductive rights space are urging President Joe Biden to declare a public health emergency as nearly two dozen states move to ban the procedure following Roe v. Wade’s official repeal Friday. In an op-ed published by The New York Times Saturday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota said the emergency declaration would help "protect abortion access for all Americans" and unlock "critical resources and authority that states and the federal government can use to meet the surge in demand for reproductive health services." Ending the constitutional right to abortion has brought the nation to “a perilous time that threatens millions of women,” Warren and Smith wrote in the op-ed, adding that now "the government — not the person who is pregnant — will make the critical decision about whether to continue a pregnancy." Both senators also proposed changing the court’s composition, reforming … [Read more...] about Sens. Warren, Smith urge Biden to declare public health emergency following abortion ruling

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will dedicate to the nation an International School of Public Health at Jipmer on Saturday. The Minister, who is on a three-day visit to Chennai and Puducherry, will also lay the foundation for an International Centre of Excellence for Training in Medical Entomology (ICETIME) at the ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre. Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, and a host of dignitaries will be participating in the events during the Minister’s visit that aims to further strengthen the health system in the Union Territory, an official press note said. According to Jipmer, the Jipmer International School of Public Health (JISPH) has been conceived with the objective of providing the highest-level of education in public health, to train scientists and practitioners of this science and to prepare leaders in this field. It is also expected to generate policy debate on issues related to public health, disseminate health … [Read more...] about Union Health Minister to launch international school of public health at Jipmer

As the World Health Organisation convenes its emergency committee on Thursday to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency, some experts say WHO’s decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic. Declaring monkeypox to be a global emergency would mean the U.N. health agency considers the outbreak to be an “extraordinary event” and that the disease is at risk of spreading across even more borders. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio. Also read: What drives sustained growth of monkeypox cases Many scientists doubt any such declaration would help to curb the epidemic, since the developed countries recording the most recent cases are already moving quickly to shut it down. Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom … [Read more...] about WHO considers declaring monkeypox a global health emergency

There were times, not far back, when the birth of children via C-section used to be an anomaly. Women belonging to my mother or grandmother’s age would instinctively presume that there were acute complications if the baby is born via C-section. Today, I have lost the count of the number of babies born to my near and dear ones via this surgery. If you look around, you will learn the same. Numbers also suggest the same trend. The latest government data shows that Indian women are opting for C-sections to deliver children more than ever. While the birth of babies via C-section (Caesarean section) deliveries has been on the rise for over a decade now, no sense of urgency has been shown by the government to curb the trend. Data auditing, adoption of Robson’s classification and undertaking sensitisation drives among women could have been the immediate steps. The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data shows the rate of C-section deliveries increased from 17% in 2015-16 … [Read more...] about Health Matters: Trained Midwives are the Only Answer to India’s Epidemic of C-section Childbirths

The Narendra Modi government is getting ready to make another big move in the healthcare sector -– creating a common platform to handle procurement of medicines for all central government agencies. It includes the purchase of medicines for Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and other public sector undertakings such as Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospitals, Jan Aushadhi scheme and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The idea is to drive down the prices of medicines, apart from maintaining the quality of drugs. While the benefits of the concept are undisputed, given the scale and complexity of the exercise, a pilot-based approach and gradual scale-up will help in launching a well-oiled project. In a discussion, Rishabh Bindlish, managing director and partner, BCG, who co-leads the healthcare practice for BCG in India, said it is well established that organized procurement of drugs leads to significant margin gains – of around more than 10% – … [Read more...] about Health Matters: This Healthcare Plan, if Done Right, Could be Modi Govt’s Next Showstopper in Poll Rallies

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic threaten to reverse the limited progress made on gender equality and women's sexual and reproductive health, an NGO said. The Population Foundation of India (PFI) has recommended timely measures to ensure women and girls remain central to COVID-19 response planning and recovery efforts. On the occasion of World Population Day, the NGO released a policy paper 'Impact of COVID-19 on Women' which takes a comprehensive look at the different impacts of the COVID-19 crisis across the country, specifically on women and girls. It said that evidence from past epidemics, as well as the existing evidence around the impact of COVID-19, suggests that the disruption of essential health services puts women and girls at risk of decreased access to services as resources are diverted from routine health services, including pre- and post-natal health care, family planning and contraceptive supply and other reproductive health services. The limited … [Read more...] about Women, Girls at Risk as Covid-19 Pandemic Disrupts Essential Health Services: PFI

Nearly 15 years ago, a young man who had shot himself in the head with his father’s gun was wheeled into the emergency room where Megan Ranney worked. Despite her team’s best efforts, the patient died. “It was the first firearm suicide I’d ever taken care of,” Ranney, an emergency physician and public-health expert in Rhode Island, told me. In the days after, Ranney found herself wondering about the circumstances that had landed that boy in her hospital. What had made that gun so easily accessible? Why had he reached for it? What had failed to stay his hand? In the decade-plus since, many, many more firearm injuries have crossed her path—“truly, I can’t even count the number of folks I’ve taken care of who have been shot,” she said. Each year, guns kill tens of thousands of people in the United States; on Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman added at least 21 more to 2022’s horrific tally, when he entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire in a fourth-grade … [Read more...] about An ER Doctor’s ‘Third Way’ Approach to the Gun Crisis

JAKARTA, June 27 (The Straits Times/ANN): Indonesia, which has reported an uptick in Covid-19 cases driven by the Omicron subvariants, may see the wave peak in the second to third week of July before it starts to flatten, said Health Minister Budi Sadikin. His forecast is based on the experience of South Africa, the first to report the emergence of the subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which saw its wave peak in 30 days. Indonesia's expected peak next month would see about 17,400 daily new cases, based on an assumption that the number will be about 30 per cent of that during the peak of the original Omicron variant in the third week of February, when the daily new cases reached 58,000. The seven-day average of the daily new cases rose 70 per cent to 1,688 on June 25, from 996 cases the previous week, according to government data. The Omicron subvariants, which have proven more transmissible, have however not caused higher hospitalisation and death rates in Indonesia. The seven-day … [Read more...] about Omicron subvariant wave may peak in Indonesia in second to third week of July, says health minister

COVID-19 cases in California remain stubbornly high, with the Bay Area’s rate of infections continuing to outpace other regions across the state. Hate crimes in California shot up 33% to nearly 1,800 reported incidents in the second year of the pandemic. Vaccination campaigns narrowed disparities in COVID death rates in California, especially for the Latino community, which was hit disproportionately hard in the early days of the pandemic. Latest updates: Convicted killer Scott Peterson’s court hearing delayed due to COVID A hearing for convicted murderer Scott Peterson in Redwood City was delayed because of COVID-19, a court spokeswoman for Santa Clara County said Tuesday. One of Peterson’s attorneys tested positive for the virus, according to Deputy Court Executive Officer Sarah Lind, who spoke with KTVU. Peterson was also exposed to COVID at San Quentin, she added, and is under “loose quarantine.” He has been seeking a retrial since he was convicted of killing … [Read more...] about COVID in California: State health workers slated to get pandemic bonuses of up to $1,500