Posts filed under ‘health’
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets
Increasingly, people are adopting alternative diets to improve their health or address ethical concerns. Vegetarianism and veganism are diet choices that attract debate, not only about their implications for health, but also about the associated ethical arguments. Vegetarian and Vegan Diets looks at the current debate on the pros and cons of these elimination diets and gives an overview of the related animal welfare issues.
The information in this book comes from a wide range of sources including government reports and statistics, newspaper features, magazine articles, surveys and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website; you can buy it there, or on Amazon.
Editors: Lisa Firth and Cobi Smith
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
ISBN: 978 1 86168 406 6
Published: September 2007
Mental health
Research suggests that mental disorders affect one in four people, yet stigma around mental disorders continues. Mental Health gives an overview of some chronic mental illnesses and looks at the difficulties we have in dealing with them – especially when friends or relatives are affected. This book also covers common psychological challenges and how to cope with them.
The information in this book comes from a wide range of sources including government reports and statistics, newspaper features, magazine articles, surveys and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website; you can buy it there, or on Amazon.
Editors: Cobi Smith and Sophie Crewdson
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £6.95
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 978 1 86168 407 3
Published: September 2007
Problem drinking
People drink alcohol for various reasons – socially, to relax or sometimes just to get through the day. Problem Drinking explores the issues around alcohol dependency and abuse and considers their implications for health and society.
The information comes from a range of sources including government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles, surveys, and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website; you can buy it there, or on Amazon.
Editors: Lisa Firth and Cobi Smith
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £6.95
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 978 1 86168 409 7
Published: September 2007
Smoking trends
Smoking is now banned in all enclosed public places in England – a step already taken in some other parts of the world. This has sparked discussion about the effects of smoking on health and society. The ban has generated debate about human rights and freedom of choice, as well as consideration of the links between smoking, poverty and mental health. The impact of opposition to smoking in developed countries also raises questions about the increasing prevalence of smoking in the developing world.
The information in this book comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper features, magazine articles, surveys and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
You can read more about this book on the publisher’s website; you can buy it there, or on Amazon.
Editors: Cobi Smith and Sophie Crewdson
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £6.95
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 978 1 86168 411 0
Published: September 2007
Suriname has already hit malaria MDG
The country of Suriname in northern South America has already exceeded its 2015 Millennium Development Goal target for the reduction of malaria.
Leopoldo Villegas, consultant for the Global Fund Malaria Program in Suriname, presented a poster on the success at the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in London last week (14 September).
Part of Millennium Development Goal six is to halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria.
Villegas said that rates of malaria in Suriname fell by 70 per cent between 2001 and 2006, and there have only been 700 cases of malaria this year – a 90 per cent reduction since 2001.
Suriname’s malaria decline is the result of an intensive campaign that began in 2005, Villegas said.
“We have the whole population of the interior of Suriname covered with insecticide-treated nets, we have passive case detection through the primary healthcare system and we have active case detection – so we don’t wait for patients to come to us, we look for them, we have mobile teams,” said Villegas.
These measures are complemented by insecticide spraying in high-risk areas, a comprehensive public awareness campaign and good detection systems for possible epidemics.
“When we had a lot of malaria our epidemic detection was at 70 or 200 cases. Now the epidemic starts when you have three cases reported,” he said.
“If three cases are coming from the same place we automatically activate a team who go there and have a mass screening of people to see who have parasites.”
Chris Curtis, professor of entomology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said Suriname’s progress was excellent, but warned the campaign must be maintained.
“They can’t afford to relax – the parasites and the mosquitoes are still there and if they do relax then there is the risk that eventually it will come back,” he told SciDev.Net.
He said the need for constant vigilance was demonstrated by the situation in neighbouring French Guyana.
“I think now French Guyana has the worst malaria rates in South America, which is a great shame because in the late 1940s they eradicated malaria in the inhabited north using DDT house spraying,” he said.
Villegas said Suriname’s malaria prevention measures have reduced the number of cases in French Guiana, and there are plans to replicate efforts in other South American countries.
“We’re now trying to put down all the data and start publishing to show that we can work in border areas between two governments, it doesn’t need to be one side,” he said.
Read this story on the Science and Development Network.
