World Health Organisation

High blood pressure: Global total almost doubles in 4 decades

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The largest study of its kind reveals that the number of people worldwide living with high blood pressure has nearly doubled in the last 4 decades. The huge international effort also reveals a stark contrast between rich and poor countries.

The number of people living with high blood pressure, or hypertension, worldwide has grown from 594 million in 1975 to over 1.1 billion in 2015 – mainly because of population growth and aging – says the study, published in The Lancet.

However, while average blood pressure is high and rising in less affluent countries, especially in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, it has dropped to an all-time low in high-income nations like Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The authors say the reason for this contrast is not clear, but they suggest a major factor could be that people in wealthier nations enjoy better health overall and eat more fruits and vegetables.

Earlier diagnosis and control of hypertension is also more likely to occur in wealthier countries. Taken together, these factors also help reduce obesity, another risk factor for high blood pressure.

Childhood nutrition could be another reason, suggests Majid Ezzati, a senior author of the study and a professor at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London in the U.K., who notes:

“Increasing evidence suggests poor nutrition in early life years increases risk of the high blood pressure in later life, which may explain the growing problem in poor countries.”

High blood pressure major global killer

Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood in the blood vessels. It is assessed from two numbers measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg): systolic pressure and diastolic pressure.

Systolic pressure is a measure of the heart pumping blood. Diastolic pressure – taken when the heart rests between beats – measures the resistance to blood flow in blood vessels.

High blood pressure is defined as 140 mmHg systolic and 90 mmHg diastolic pressure or higher. This is normally shown as 140/90 mmHg.

Recent research suggests that the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases like ischemic heart disease and stroke doubles with every 20 mmHg systolic or 10 mmHg diastolic increase in people of middle age and older.

“High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for stroke and heart disease, and kills around 7.5 million people worldwide every year,” says Prof. Ezzati.

The condition is caused by various factors, he and his colleagues note in their paper.

These include diet (for example, eating too much salt and not enough fruit and vegetables), obesity, lack of physical activity, plus environmental factors – such as air pollution and lead exposure.

‘Major health issue linked to poverty’

For the research, the World Health Organization (WHO) teamed up with hundreds of scientists from all over the globe and looked at changes in blood pressure in every country in the world from 1975-2015.

They pooled and analyzed data from nearly 1,500 population-based measurement studies involving a total of 19 million participants.

This showed that of the whole world, South Korea, the U.S., and Canada have the lowest proportion of people with high blood pressure. The U.K. had the lowest in Europe.

The research also shows that in most countries, there are more men with high blood pressure than women. Worldwide, there are 597 million men with high blood pressure, compared with 529 million women.

The figures for 2015 show that more than half of adults with high blood pressure in the world live in Asia, including 226 million in China and 200 million in India.

Prof. Ezzati says high blood pressure is no longer a problem associated with wealthy countries but with poor countries. He says their findings show it is possible to achieve substantial reductions in rates of high blood pressure – as seen in the data from more affluent countries over the last 4 decades. He adds:

“They also reveal that WHO’s target of reducing the prevalence of high blood pressure by 25 percent by 2025 is unlikely to be achieved without effective policies that allow the poorest countries and people to have healthier diets – particularly reducing salt intake and making fruit and vegetables affordable – as well as improving detection and treatment with blood pressure lowering drugs.”

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314155.php

Michael Bloomberg named World Health Organization ambassador

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The World Health Organization has appointed billionaire philanthropist and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg as a global ambassador to help spur governments and donors to tackle prevalent diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart and lung disease.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Wednesday’s announcement that she was “absolutely delighted” that he will be WHO’s Global Ambassador for Non-communicable Diseases.

She cited Bloomberg’s longtime support for WHO efforts to control smoking and tobacco use, improve road safety and prevent drowning.

Chan said Bloomberg will help mobilize global action to prevent and treat non-communicable diseases and combat injuries, which together account for almost 80 percent of deaths worldwide.

Bloomberg expressed excitement that by replicating effective measures globally, “we can save many millions of lives.”

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/08/17/michael-bloomberg-named-world-health-organization-ambassador.html

Polluted air linked to 7 million deaths in 2012: WHO

Air pollution killed about 7 million people in 2012, making it the world`s single biggest environmental health risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The toll, a doubling of previous estimates, means one in eight of all global deaths in 2012 was linked to polluted air and shows how reducing pollution inside and outside of people`s homes could save millions of lives in future, the United Nations health agency said.

Air pollution deaths are most commonly from heart disease, strokes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is also linked to deaths from lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.

“The evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe,” said Maria Neira, head of the WHO`s environmental and social public health department.

“The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes,” she said.

Poor and middle-income countries in southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012, with 3.3 million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths to outdoor air pollution.

Indoor pollution is mostly caused by cooking over coal, wood and biomass stoves. The WHO estimates that around 2.9 billion people worldwide live in homes using wood, coal or dung as their primary cooking fuel.

Flavia Bustreo, a WHO family health expert, said women and children – especially those living in poor countries – often bear the brunt of the risks from indoor pollution “since they spend more time at home breathing in smoke and soot from leaky coal and wood cooking stoves.”

Outdoors, air is mainly polluted by transport, power generation, industrial and agricultural emissions and residential heating and cooking.

Research suggests outdoor air pollution exposure levels have risen significantly in some parts of the world, particularly in countries with large populations going through rapid industrialisation, such as China and India.

The WHO`s cancer research agency IARC published a report last year warning that the air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and should be officially classified as carcinogenic to humans.

Carlos Dora, a WHO public health expert, called on governments and health agencies to act on the evidence and devise policies to reduce air pollution, which in turn would improve health and reduce humans` impact on climate change

“Excessive air pollution is often a by-product of unsustainable policies in sectors such as transport, energy, waste management and industry,” he said.

“In most cases, healthier strategies will also be more economical in the long term due to healthcare cost savings as well as climate gains.”

Source: Zee news

Saudi Reports 4 New Cases Of MERS Virus, 1 Fatal

The new infections bring the worldwide total of confirmed cases to 170 with 72 deaths, the WHO said.

Four more people in Saudi Arabia have been infected with the SARS-like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus and one of them – an elderly man – has died, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

The new infections, including in two health workers from Riyadh who have not reported any adverse symptoms, bring the worldwide total of confirmed cases of the respiratory disease to 170 with 72 deaths, the United Nations health agency said.

MERS first emerged in the Middle East in September 2012 and is from the same family as the SARS virus, can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia.

Cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Tunisia as well as in several countries in Europe, and scientists are increasingly focused on a link between the human infections and camels as a possible “animal reservoir” of the virus.

In Friday’s update, the WHO said the latest MERS death – a 73 year-old man from Riyadh – had reported having contact with animals but had no travel history outside the Riyadh region.

The fourth case, in a 53-year-old man from Riyadh, was after contact with a previously confirmed MERS case. He was hospitalised on November 26 and is currently receiving treatment in an intensive care unit, it said.

Dutch and Qatari scientists published research earlier this month that proved for the first time that MERS can also infect camels – strengthening suspicions that these animals, often used in the region for meat, milk, transport and racing, may be a source of the human outbreak.

The WHO said people at high risk of severe disease due to MERS should “avoid close contact with animals when visiting farms or barn areas where the virus is known to be potentially circulating”.

For the general public it advised normal hygiene steps such as hand washing before and after touching animals, avoiding contact with sick animals and good food hygiene practices.

Source: Gulf Business

HIV infections up in Europe and Central Asia

Sweden – HIV infections in Europe and Central Asia increased by eight percent in 2012 compared to a year earlier, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control announced on Wednesday, November 27.

The rise of 131,000 new cases was driven by a nine-percent increase in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region which accounted for 102,000 new infections — around three-quarters of them in the Russian Federation alone.

In the European Union and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, new infections rose by less than one percent to 29,000, according to the joint report by the EU agency and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Almost half of the new cases were detected at an advanced stage of the infection which raises the risk of transmission to others.

Among the reasons for the increase is the lack of awareness of anti-retroviral treatments.

“We know that providing antiretroviral therapy earlier will allow people with HIV to live longer and healthier lives, and will reduce the risk that they transmit HIV to others,” WHO regional director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab said.

AIDS cases were down by 48 percent in Western Europe between 2006 and 2012, while in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of newly diagnosed cases of the disease caused by HIV increased by 113 percent.

According to the report, only one in three people in need of anti-retroviral therapy was receiving in last year, despite improved figures compared to 2011.

In 2011 there were 2,300,000 people living with HIV in Europe and Central Asia, according to the WHO.

Source: Rappler

Number of adolescents with HIV jumps by one-third: UN

Geneva:  The number of adolescents infected by the HIV virus has jumped by one third over the past decade, the United Nation’s health agency said on Monday, blaming gaps in care programs.

“More than 2 million adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years are living with HIV,” marking a 33 per cent rise since 2001, the World Health Organization said.

“Many do not receive the care and support that they need to stay in good health and prevent transmission. In addition, millions more adolescents are at risk of infection,” it warned.

In the world’s most AIDS-affected region, sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of adolescents with the virus are girls who have had unprotected sex, sometimes under duress.

In addition, many of those born with the virus or infected at birth in sub-Saharan Africa are becoming adolescents.

In Asia, meanwhile, young drug-users were the worst affected.

The WHO said that the failure to provide proper adolescent-focused programs had also resulted in a 50-per cent increase in reported AIDS-related deaths in the age group from 2005 to 2012.

In 2005, 70,000 adolescents died of AIDS. Seven years later, the figure was 104,000.

That contrasted starkly with the 30-per cent decline in the general population, the WHO underlined.

The year 2005 marked the high point of global AIDS deaths, which hit 2.3 million. Last year, the toll was 1.6 million.

“Adolescent girls, young men who have sex with men, those who inject drugs or are subject to sexual coercion and abuse are at highest risk,” said Craig McClure, head of HIV programs at UN children’s agency UNICEF.

“They face many barriers, including harsh laws, inequalities, stigma and discrimination which prevent them from accessing services that could test, prevent, and treat HIV,” McClure added.

“About one-seventh of all new HIV infections occur during adolescence. Unless the barriers are removed, the dream of an AIDS-free generation will never be realised,” he insisted.

The data was issued as the WHO released its first adolescent-specific care guidelines ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1.

“Adolescents face difficult and often confusing emotional and social pressures as they grow from children into adults,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, head of the WHO’s HIV/AIDS Department.

“Adolescents need health services and support, tailored to their needs. They are less likely than adults to be tested for HIV and often need more support than adults to help them maintain care and to stick to treatment,” he added.

Among the measures needed, the WHO said, is an end to the requirement for parental permission to have an HIV test.

In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that in the 15-24 age bracket, only 10 percent of young men and 15 percent of young women know their HIV status.

In other regions, although data are scarce, access to HIV testing and counseling by vulnerable adolescents is consistently reported as being very low, the WHO said.

Source: NDTV