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Cholera call to action

14 Dec 2008 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's first reading the prophet Isaiah proclaims glad tidings to the poor and liberty to captives. As the people of Zimbabwe, trapped in poverty and virtual political captivity, suffer a growing cholera crisis, world aid organizations and church and political leaders are starting to call for the forcible removal from power of President Robert Mugabe. The World Health Organization said Sunday that close to 14,000 cholera cases had been reported in the African nation, and 589 people had already died. This week the United Nations Children's Fund in Zimbabwe said it was preparing to deal with a possible 60,000 cases of cholera in coming weeks. Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister, urged the African Union to call an emergency meeting to authorize sending troops into Zimbabwe and said Mugabe's actions deserved investigation by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, the second highest figure in the Church of England, said: "The time to remove them from power has come. Robert Mugabe and his henchmen must now take their rightful place in The Hague and answer for their actions." U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak endangered the whole of southern Africa. "I am still really appalled at the inability of the international community to deal with tyrants. Robert Mugabe should have gone a long time ago," she said. Zimbabwe Health Minister David Parirenyatwa spoke against politicizing the outbreak. "Cholera affects everyone and it does not chose between Zanu-PF and MDC supporters," he said, referring to Mugabe's party and the Movement for Democratic Change led by his rival Morgan Tsvangirai. Source: Articles by Tristan Stewart-Robertson for The Scotsman, Agence France Press, and Ekklesia.co.uk

zimbabwe condoleezza rice john sentamu international criminal court raila odinga united nations childrens fund world health organization robert mugabe cholera david parirenyatwa
Swine flu goes global

03 May 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles assures us that Jesus brings healing, and healing is what the world needs at the moment as it is confronted with the threat of a swine flu epidemic. The World Health Organization raised the flu pandemic alert level to a 5 at a Wednesday meeting, signaling that the outbreaks pose a risk of reaching pandemic proportions. The maximum level is six. The number of deaths in Mexico as of Tuesday morning was at least 150, with another 2,400 people sickened. WHO has confirmed 66 cases in the United States and 105 in seven other countries. In an interview with CNN, Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed the flu death of a 23-month-old child in Texas--the first death outside Mexico. Mexico has suspended all schools until May 6, and in Mexico City other public venues have closed and public events have been cancelled. The U.S., the European Union, and several Asian health commissioners have discouraged nonessential travel to Mexico. In an age of widespread air travel, it is difficult, if not impossible, to contain a newly emerged infectious agent, and that is proving to be the case with swine flu. "At this time," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of WHO, "containment is not a feasible option." The name of the flu has caused some controversy. Dr. Nikki Shindo, a WHO flu expert, said WHO affiliates around the world will consider a request from the Food and Agriculture Organization to stop calling the disease swine flu, because the virus is not food-borne and has nothing to do with eating pork. The World Organization for Animal Health, which handles veterinary issues around the world, issued a statement late Monday suggesting that the new disease should be labeled "North American influenza," in keeping with a long medical tradition of naming influenza pandemics for the regions where they were first identified. Source: Articles by the Associated Press and Keith Bradsher for the New York Times and Thomas H. Maugh II for the Los Angeles Times

world health organization nikki shindo keiji fukuda mexico centers for disease control and prevention richard besser pandemic epidemic swine flu influenza
WHO’s worried now?

24 May 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus sent his disciples into the world and promised they would heal those who were sick, the gospel reading for the Ascension tells us. While the number of those sickened by the global H1N1 strain of flu has now topped 10,000 worldwide, many of the world's nations are asking the World Health Organization (WHO) to refrain from sending a global alert declaring the arrival of a pandemic, a move they fear will lead to worldwide panic and confusion. WHO says the virus has spread to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The vast majority of confirmed deaths, 72, have been reported in Mexico. But the greatest number of infections, nearly 5,500, are reported in the United States. Adding to evidence that the new flu strain is no more dangerous than the regular flu, U.S. health officials said Tuesday that those hospitalized with the infection who have underlying health problems fare worse than otherwise healthy people who are hospitalized because of the flu. That mirrors trends seen with seasonal flu strains, officials said. Source: Articles by HealthDay News and VOA News

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Women worldwide suffer bias in healthcare

15 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's reading from the Book of Daniel refers to the dead as "those who sleep in the dust of the earth." In its first study of women's health around the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44. Throughout the world one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to the virus, according to the U.N. agency. "Women who do not know how to protect themselves from such infections, or who are unable to do so, face increased risks of death or illness," WHO said in the 91-page document. The data were included in a report that attempts to highlight the unequal health treatment a female faces from childbirth through infancy and adolescence into maturity and old age. WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan noted that in many parts of the world women suffer because of poverty, poorer access to healthcare, and cultural norms that put a priority on the well-being of men. Chan called it a "preventable tragedy" that nearly 15 percent of deaths in adult women occur in maternity, according to the statistics from 2004. She said the discrimination extends throughout a women's life, from girlhood diseases that aren't identified because they are not sicknesses affecting boys to clinical trials and medicines developed on the basis of curing adult males. "We will not see a significant improvement in the health of women until they are no longer recognized as second-class citizens in many parts of the world," Chan said. Source: An article by Bradley S. Klapper for the Associated Press

world health organization women who sexism margaret chan aids womens health
Stay off tobacco road, health organizations urge

06 Jun 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Before blessing the loaves and fishes in this Sunday's gospel, Jesus "healed those who needed to be cured." The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes smokers will improve their health by quitting. Five million people worldwide die from tobacco-related illnesses each year and the toll is expected to rise to 8 million annual deaths by 2030, according to a WHO report released Monday to coincide with World No Tobacco Day, held annually on May 31. "Exposure levels are up," said Samira Asma, chief of the Global Tobacco Control Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "If there is no action, I think we are going to see a grim future." WHO created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to tobacco use and the preventable death and disease it causes. Not only is tobacco use increasing, according to WHO report, but it's increasing especially among women. Although women account for only about 20 percent of the world's smokers, WHO found female smoking rates on the rise, "suggesting that tobacco companies might be targeting this group." Statistics indicate that female lung cancer fatalities are rising, the American Lung Association said. More than 170,000 American women die every year from tobacco-related illness, and diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema kill more women than men. The tobacco industry spends tens of billions of dollars annually on direct and indirect advertising, according to WHO. Cigarette use among Americans, after declining for decades, has remained virtually unchanged for five straight years, with nearly 21 percent of the U.S.'s adult population being regular smokers. The greatest increases in smoking in recent years are in poor and developing countries. According to WHO, only 26 countries have implemented comprehensive bans on direct and indirect tobacco advertising, and many do not have high levels of compliance. Source: Articles by Stephen Kurczy for Christian Science Monitor and HealthDay News

world health organization women who smoking tobacco world no tobacco day samira asma
Continued asbestos promotion creates international dust-up

25 Jul 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s reading from the Letter to the Colossians contains the good news that our transgressions have been forgiven. But does the continued manufacture and sale of asbestos, a known carcinogen, represent an unforgivable transgression of public health? The question is being asked by public health officials and government watchdog groups worldwide in the wake of an extensive investigation revealing a global network of lobby groups, led by Canada’s Chrysotile Institute, that spends heavily to preserve and promote the international market for asbestos. Backed by public and private money and aided by bankrolled scientists and friendly governments, the network of lobbyists helped facilitate the sale of 2.2 million tons of asbestos last year, mostly in developing nations. Its message is that asbestos can be used safely under “controlled” conditions. As a result, asbestos use is growing rapidly in developing countries such as China, India, and Mexico, prompting health experts to warn of future epidemics of lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, an aggressive malignancy that usually attacks the lining of the lungs. Clement Godbout, Chrysotile Institute’s president, said his organization’s message had been misinterpreted. “We never said that chrysotile [the most prevalent form of asbestos] was not dangerous,” he said. “We said that chrysotile is a product with potential risk and it has to be controlled. It’s not something that you put in your coffee every morning.” The notion of “controlled conditions” for asbestos handling assumes that employers provide proper dust controls, ventilation, and protective equipment for workers, but public health experts say that such measures are uncommon in the developing world. “Anybody who talks about controlled asbestos use is either a liar or a fool,” said Barry Castleman, an environmental consultant based near Washington who advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on asbestos matters. WHO says that 125 million people still encounter asbestos in the workplace, and the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 100,000 workers die each year from asbestos-related diseases. Thousands more perish from exposures outside the workplace. “It’s totally unethical,” Jukka Takala, the director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and a former ILO official, said of the pro-asbestos campaign. “It’s almost criminal. Asbestos cannot be used safely. It is clearly a carcinogen. It kills people.” Indeed, a panel of 27 experts convened by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer reported last year: “Epidemiological evidence has increasingly shown an association of all forms of asbestos . . . with an increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma.” Source: An article by Jim Morris for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

world health organization cancer asbestos chrysotile institute carcinogens clement godbout chrysotile barry castleman jukka takala
How is growth of drug-resistant TB to be resisted?

25 Mar 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus suffered and offered “loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death,” this Sunday’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews informs us. Many suffering from tuberculosis (TB) may be wondering who will save them. Long viewed in the West as a disease of bygone eras, TB is returning with a vengeance. Rapidly rising rates of drug-resistant TB in some of the wealthiest cities in the world as well as across Africa and Asia are causing alarm among world health officials.The worldwide TB death rate currently runs at between two and three people a minute, but it could get even worse if the drug-resistant strain spreads. "We can't afford this genie to get out of the bag. Because once it has, I don't know how we'll control TB," said Ruth McNerney, an expert on tuberculosis at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.In 2010, 8.8 million people had TB, and the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that more than 2 million people will contract multi-drug resistant TB by 2015. WHO convened a special meeting last week to discuss whether the emergence of TB strains that seem to be resistant to all known medicines merits a new class-definition of "totally drug-resistant TB."If so, it would add a new level to an evolution over the years from normal TB, which is curable with six months of antibiotic treatment, to the emergence of mildly and then heavily resistant strains of the disease. What's so frustrating about that progression, said Lucica Ditiu of WHO's Stop TB Partnership, is that resistant TB "is a totally man-made disease".Like other bacteria, the TB bug can evolve to fight its way past antibiotic medicines. The more treatment courses patients are given and fail to complete, the stronger and more widespread the resistance becomes.One of the biggest difficulties in tackling TB is the ease and speed with which it spreads. When patients cough or sneeze they propel thousands of germ-carrying droplets into the air around them. With people travelling the world in confined spaces, a disease like TB can easily hitch a ride. "It is spreading, it's spreading as we speak right now," Ditiu said. "The situation is extremely worrying." Source: An article by Kate Kelland for Reuters

world health organization tuberculosis drug-resistant tuberculosis ruth mcnerney lucica ditiu
Pollution preys on world health

30 Mar 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s Psalm 23 responsorial evokes images of “verdant pastures” with “restful waters” that refresh the soul. The present environment, however, is considerably less healthy and hospitable, with pollution killing about 7 million people worldwide each year, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).One of the main risks of pollution is that tiny particles can get deep into the lungs, causing irritation. Scientists also suspect air pollution may be to blame for inflammation in the heart, leading to chronic problems or a heart attack, the WHO reported Tuesday.Around the world one out of every eight deaths is tied to air pollution, the agency determined—twice as many as previously estimated. Its report identified air pollution as the world’s single biggest environmental health risk.“The big news is that we have a better understanding of how large a role air pollution plays in strokes and coronary heart attacks,” said Dr. Carlos Dora, coordinator of public health and the environment at the organization. “Given the astronomical costs, countries need to find a way to prevent these noncommunicable diseases.” Last year WHO's cancer agency classified air pollution as a carcinogen, linking dirty air to lung and bladder cancer.The report found that those who are most vulnerable live in a wide arc of Asia stretching from Japan and China in the northeast to India in the south. Exposure to smoke from cooking fires means that poor women and children in the home are especially at risk, the agency said.Indoor air pollutants loomed as the largest threat, involved in 4.3 million deaths in 2012, while toxic air outdoors figured in 3.7 million deaths, the agency said. Many deaths were attributed to both. Breakneck urbanization in the developing nations of Asia, especially China, is a major force contributing to the air pollution problem.Homily hint: The number of deaths from air pollution worldwide is more than die in many wars. Why are we killing ourselves by poisoning the air we breathe? We will have to answer to future generations on what kinds of stewards we have been—that is, if future generations get the chance to ask us. Sources: Articles by Maria Cheng for the Associated Pressand Andrew Jacobs and Ian Johnson for the New York Times

world health organization who air pollution carlos dora
Don’t let Zika apathy infect you

22 May 2016 - Preaching the News for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Cycle C

As we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, we are given hope in the second reading that our affliction will lead to a happy ending, a positive outcome: “affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint.” When it comes to the Zika virus afflicting a widening net of countries, the hope is that the virus can be contained and an effective vaccination and treatment can be developed. Until then, the threat of serious illness and birth defects persists. Zika virus was first discovered in 1947 and is named after the Zika Forest in Uganda where it was first detected in monkeys. In 1952, the first human cases of Zika were detected and since then, outbreaks of Zika have been reported in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. In May 2015, the Pan American Health Organization issued an alert regarding the first confirmed Zika virus infection in Brazil. On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Local transmission has been reported in many countries, and Zika virus will likely continue to spread to new areas. Clearly the threat is real. At this time, the illness cannot be prevented by medications or vaccines. Zika may spread from a pregnant woman to her unborn baby. This may result in microcephaly—a severe birth defect—and other severe brain problems. Zika infections in adults can, rarely, result in Guillain-Barré syndrome, a serious condition attacking the nervous system. The current Zika outbreak began in April 2015 in Brazil and has spread to other countries in South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In January 2016, the WHO said the virus was likely to spread throughout most of the Americas by the end of the year, and in February 2016, the WHO declared the cluster of microcephaly and Guillain–Barré syndrome cases reported in Brazil—strongly suspected to be associated with the Zika outbreak—a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. It is estimated that 1.5 million people have been infected by Zika in Brazil, with approximately 5,000 cases of microcephaly reported to date. With the 2016 Olympic games set to be hosted in Rio de Janeiro in a few weeks, health officials worldwide have voiced concerns over a potential crisis, both in Brazil and with international athletes and tourists who may be unknowingly infected and return home to spread the virus. In the U.S., pregnant women need to do all they can to avoid mosquito bites, says Scott Weaver, who studies Zika at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. They should start wearing long-lasting insect repellent and long sleeves and long pants even during the daytime. "These are daytime biting mosquitoes, and they're mosquitoes that like to enter peoples' home," he says. And pregnant women should avoid travel to the high-risk zone in the United States, says Dr. Karin Nielsen, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of California, Los Angeles. "I think pregnant women should stay away from areas that have had dengue outbreaks in the continental U.S.," which includes the Florida Keys, Houston, and the border of Texas and Mexico, Nielsen says. "Zika will go where dengue has been, to some extent." These precautions also apply to two other groups: pregnant women's partners, because Zika can be transmitted sexually; and people with suppressed immune systems, because they could have more severe complications from a Zika infection. Lessons drawn from the readings In the Sunday reading from the Book of Proverbs, wisdom establishes her important place in God’s creation as one who has been there from the beginning of time. Time is running short when it comes to Zika, and it will take the wisdom of the scientific community working together to establish an adequate defense against the virus and effective treatment in cases of infection. Final thought in light of the news President Obama first requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds to address the Zika outbreak in February, and now, nearly three months later, both chambers have finally begun acting on the issue. The Senate this week took initial action in favor of allocating $1.1 billion to Zika-related efforts. But House Republicans released a standalone bill, which would only allocate $622 million to the crisis, drawn from unspent funds from the 2014 Ebola outbreak and "other unused administrative funding" within the Department of Health and Human Services. President Obama has threatened to veto these proposals as being inadequate to the threat. Do we need to wait until a full-blown crisis engulfs the nation before we respond adequately? Call on your representatives to fully fund the effort to stop Zika. As believers, and as citizens, we are called to alleviate suffering whenever possible. It is possible now.

zika virus public health world health organization pregnancy
Fact of the week

26 Mar 2017 - Preaching the News for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

Cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness globally, except in the most developed countries. Globally about 80 percent of all visual impairment is avoidable. World Health Organization

cataracts blindness vision world health organization