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Global Health Rounds - April 9, 2018

After enduring more than two years under the control of so-called Islamic State, the people of Mosul were again thrown into war when Iraqi and allied forces moved to retake the city in October 2016.

 

In the extreme destruction that results when heavy munitions meet urban structures, an estimated 9,000-11,000 civilians were killed and thousands more wounded. Many of those wounded had the improbable experience of being treated not by military medics but by volunteer emergency medical technicians from New York City.

 

As the response of the Iraqi state and armed forces was lacking, the World Health Organisation arranged with the pro-government forces to coordinate the emergency trauma response system within the military operation – an unheard of frontline military-humanitarian collaboration on such a scale. When most of the usual non-governmental outfits it works with declined to participate – for reasons of principle, security or both – WHO turned instead to an assortment of private and volunteer-based groups. Many volunteers had never before worked in a conflict setting. As the troops moved in, the trauma response system, designed along a standard military model, was quickly up and running. Traditional humanitarian responders, such as Médecins Sans Frontières, remained at a distance, providing medical services further from the fighting.

 

When I was a student in King George’s Medical College, India, a group of doctors came from the UK to visit our hospital. They said to my Professor, May we see a tuberculosis (TB) patient.”

 

They wanted to see just one patient as a learning experience, because at that time, TB had largely been eradicated from high income countries. I recall my Professor’s reply:  We have wards and wards full.”  This was in the 70s. 

 

Today, there are 10.9 million new TB cases in the world every year.

 

A disease which is as old as the hills has become a global pandemic, leading to huge suffering, economic loss and deaths. In fact, TB has been responsible for the death of more people than any other infectious disease in history. In 2006, I established Operation ASHA with a focus on TB, the biggest health crisis in the world and , which the World Health Organization declared a ‘global emergency’ in 1993.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, appears to have stopped Guinea worm disease within its borders, the country’s health minister announced Wednesday.

 

“Having known the suffering it inflicted, one is very happy today,” the minister, Dr. Riek Gai Kok, said. “Future generations will just read of Guinea worm in the books as history.”

 

Dr. Kok made the announcement in Atlanta at the Carter Center, a philanthropy founded by former President Jimmy Carter that leads the effort to eliminate the parasitic worm.

 

Only 30 worm infestations were detected last year, 15 in Chad and 15 in Ethiopia. When Mr. Carter began the eradication drive in 1986, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases in 21 Asian and African countries.

 

To read more about this article go to https://www.nytimes.com

 

Labelling it a “concern for global health security”, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have sounded the alarm about a surge in cases of a sometimes-fatal close relative of smallpox called monkeypox.

 

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC notes a “recent apparent increase in human monkeypox cases across a wide geographic area”, and calls for urgent public health action and international collaboration to head off the threat of a pandemic.

 

Monkeypox is described by the World Health Organisation as being similar to smallpox. Primary infection is caused by contact with the bodily fluids of sick animals, but cases of human-to-human transmission have also been documented.

 

The disease presents in two phases. After an incubation period of up to three weeks, victims experience up to five days of intense fever, headache and muscle pain. This is followed by a rash, typically on the face, palms and soles of the feet, and sometimes across the entire body. The rash period lasts for around three weeks, after which recovery or death occurs.

 

To read more about this article go to https://cosmosmagazine.com/

The main causes of death during population movements can be prevented by addressing the population’s basic needs. In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a framework for decision making to help prioritize vaccinations in acute humanitarian emergencies. This article describes MSF’s experience of applying this framework in addition to addressing key population needs in a displacement setting in Minkaman, South Sudan.

 

 Annual Rich Man Poor Man Dinner Event 2018

 

 

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