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Public Health
Low-level exercise can still save lives
A leading UK sports consultant has said that the public should be encouraged to do more ‘low-level’ exercise and that standing up for three...
HPV vaccination could save lives of hundreds of thousands annually
The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of 58m girls could prevent 690,000 cases of cervical cancer and 420,000 deaths, according to research in The Lancet...
Research changing the definition of post-partum depression
A fast-growing body of research is changing the very definition of maternal mental illness, showing that it is more common and varied than previously...
Number of pre-diabetes sufferers triples in England
More than one in three adults in England are on the cusp of developing type-2 diabetes, and if nothing is done to stop the...
SA’s Circumcision ‘season’ opens with fears of death and injury
This month, youths in some rural areas will head to secluded huts for circumcision rituals meant to usher them into manhood, an annual rite...
Midwives – the unsung heroes of maternal health
A United Nations report lauds midwives as the unsung heroes of maternal and newborn health and urges greater investment in these healthcare professionals, who...
Link found between cardio-vascular problems and air pollution
Air pollution is linked to increased risk of developing an irregular heartbeat and blood clots in the lung, but researchers say the impact of...
Malaria genetic ‘barcode’ discovered
Researchers have found a new genetic ‘barcode’ for malaria parasites, which could be used to track and contain the spread of the disease, reports...
US facing a growing obesity-linked liver disease epidemic
Despite major gains in fighting hepatitis C and other chronic liver conditions, public health officials in the US are now faced with a growing...
E-cigarettes part of the solution in anti-smoking fight – scientists
A group of 53 leading scientists has warned the World Health Organisation not to classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, arguing that doing so would...
Shortage of funds block attempts to reign in rabies
A shortage of funds for vaccinating dogs against rabies is costing the lives of tens of thousands of children around the world every year....
WHO: Alcohol kills 3m a year – and SA has heaviest boozers in Africa
A recent World Health Organisation report shows that more than 3m people died from using alcohol in 2012, for reasons ranging from cancer to...
Proper healthcare at birth would save millions of lives
The lives of 3m mothers and new-born babies could be saved every year if they received proper healthcare, especially during birth. Health-e reports that...
Study warns against delaying routine immunisations
Delaying certain routine immunisations past the first 15 months of life could boost the risk of fever-related seizures, new research suggests. Health24 reports that...
Malaria discovery gives new hope for a vaccine
Researchers have discovered an antibody-generating protein that could help prevent multiplication of malaria parasites inside the body, giving new hope for a vaccine, reports...
US body updates its male circumcision guidance
A low rate of adverse events (AEs) was associated with male circumcision (MC) when the procedure was performed during the first year of life,...
Overcrowded SA schools helping the spread of TB
Schools might be as dangerous as prisons and mines when it comes to contracting tuberculosis. The Times reports that a year-long study at an...
New evidence on causes of maternal deaths
Maternal deaths have fallen worldwide, dropping by 45% since 1990, reports BBC News. The World Health Organisation says most deaths in of women in...
WHO meets over polio emergency
The uncontrolled spread of polio from Pakistan led to a meeting of the Emergency Committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the first...
Researchers tackling baffling Central American kidney disease
A painful disease that affects the kidneys has killed at least 20,000 people across Central America over the past decade. But, reports The New...
Vaccination campaigns helping ease yellow fever burden
Yellow fever, an acute viral disease, is estimated to have been responsible for 78,000 deaths in Africa in 2013, reports Science Daily. Researchers from...
Scientists scramble to unravel MERS-CoV mysteries
Saudi Arabia says the total number of cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), an often deadly new disease, had nearly doubled in the...
Emerging type of CKD hits poor agricultural communities
In the past two decades, deaths from chronic kidney disease (CKD) have risen so rapidly that CKD now represents the third highest rate of...
Non-communicable disease deaths ‘preventable’ with lifestyle changes
Heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, and unintentional injuries cause nearly 900,000 premature deaths in the US each year. But, notes a...
Tanzania using climate data to fight malaria
Tanzania is enlisting climate data in a new approach to curbing malaria, reports Health24. Enhancing National Climate Services, a system established by the Tanzania...
Genes of the tsetse fly decoded
After 10 years, a team led from Yale School of Public Health has finally decoded the genes of the tsetse fly, a bloodsucking scourge...
US vaccination campaign preventing thousands of deaths
A US government programme launched 20 years ago to increase vaccinations for low-income children in the US will prevent more than 700,000 deaths, but...
The vulnerable in SA need routine TB screening – WHO
People with weak immune systems, like children, the elderly, and HIV and diabetic patients are at increase risk of developing active TB. But, reports...
Schistosomiasis adds to children’s HIV/Aids burden in SSA
Researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) have called for more research into HIV and schistosomiasis co-infection in children in sub-Saharan Africa,...
SA: Nationwide HIV prevention campaign needed
While new HIV infections among young South Africans (aged 15 to 24) have continued to decrease, the latest Human Sciences Research Council’s ( HSRC)...
Only a third of worldwide child TB cases ever diagnosed
New estimates by US researchers say as many as 32,000 children worldwide become sick each year with MDR-TB. According to Health24, the study found...
India declared polio-free
The World Health Organisation has declared India free of the crippling polio virus, making the country’s almost two-decade-long, multi-billion-dollar effort one of the biggest...
Drug resistant TB a ‘global health security risk’ – WHO
Half a million people fell sick with dangerous superbug strains of tuberculosis (TB) in 2012, but fewer than one in four were diagnosed, putting...
New radical plan to fight malaria
Some leading malaria experts are advocating a radical plan to try to stamp out the disease before resistance to the newest and best treatment...
Healthy lifestyle leads to longer life
Live longer thanks to fruit, an active lifestyle, limited alcohol and no cigarettes. Science Daily reports that this is the conclusion of a study...
Climate change will see malaria moving to tropical highlands
More people may contract malaria in the tropical highlands of Africa, Asia and South America as global warming makes the climate in these areas...
New estimates show higher TB rate in children
New estimates indicate that over 650,000 children develop tuberculosis (TB) every year in the 22 countries with a high burden of the disease (HBCs)...
Two-vaccine therapy advocated to eradicate polio
A polio jab that fell out of favour in the 1960s should be given a frontline role to help stamp out the disease. Dawn...
WHO ‘strongly recommends’ healthy g ay men take HIV drugs
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is urging all sexually active g ay men to take antiretroviral drugs to reduce the spread of HIV. But,...
Impact of malaria interventions shown in new RBM report
A new report highlighting the impact of malaria interventions on maternal, newborn and child health has been launched, which is the latest in the...