An incredible 155 million children around the world are chronically undernourished, despite dramatic improvements in recent decades. In view of this, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals include Zero Hunger. But what do we understand by the word hunger? It may refer to lack of food or widespread food shortages caused by war, drought, crop failure or government policies. But as researchers, we are particularly interested in a different kind of hunger – one that is less visible but equally devastating. Micronutrient deficiencies, also known as hidden hunger, occurs when there is a lack of essential vitamins and minerals in a person’s diet. This condition…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
African Swine Fever, a severe haemorrhagic disease of pigs, has been reported in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province, the department of agriculture said on Thursday. The virus can result in “a great number of the death of pigs in a short span of time”. The virus is also transmitted by contact with infected pigs, ticks or feeding of infected swill, the department said in a statement. It is not transmitted to humans. (Reuters)
Sri Lanka’s Health Officials on Thursday said 14 children had died from a viral fever which was spreading in Southern Sri Lanka. They urged the public to take safety health measures to prevent its spread. Director of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in southern Sri Lanka, Dr Jayampathi Senanayake told Xinhua that out of the 14 deaths, 13 were reported in Karapitiya while one was reported in Colombo. All children who had died were below 2 years of age. According to doctors, the symptoms of the virus included fever, cough, cold and headache. The patients then developed breathing problems which led…
At least five people have been killed and 1,400 houses destroyed as strong cyclone storm swept across Myanmar over the last two days, the local 7Day Daily reported on Thursday. Of them, one person was knocked to death by fallen trees, two people by electric shock in Manaung township and other two people died in vessel capsize in Bokale township. The deep tropical depression occurred over parts of the Bay of Bengal and the cyclone swept across areas between Kyaukphyu and Manaung, coastal area of the country’s Rakhne state with maximum wind speed to 45-60 miles per hour. Townships in…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday charged Nigerians on the need to maintain high hygiene to prevent either outbreak of Cholera or its spread within communities of their abode. The agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, gave the charge in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. Ihekweazu said that the warning became imperative because the deadly cholera disease was prevalent during the rainy season. He said the disease, which causes acute watery diarrhea in children and adults, could kill the patient within hours, if left untreated. While stressing that cholera was endemic in Nigeria, he said…
Two more people have died in the outbreak of Nipah virus in the southern Indian state of Kerala, taking the total number of deaths due to the brain-damaging disease to 15, officials said on Thursday. Kerala Health Department official, KJ Reena said two new cases of Nipah have been detected in the state, which brings the total number of confirmed cases to 17. “A 28-year-old and a 55-year-old man, who were undergoing treatment at hospitals in the Kozhikode district died on Wednesday,’’ Reena said. Federal Health Ministry officials have said the outbreak is “localised’’ to the state’s two districts of…
Almost everyone knows that tobacco smoking is dangerous to health. “However, what many do not know are the dangers that disposing cigarette butts or filters pose to their environment,” according to an expert, Mr Alexander Akhigbe. Akhigbe, Chief Environmental Officer, African Clean Up Initiative, an NGO, made the statement on Thursday in Lagos as the world marked the 2018 World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). WNTD is marked annually on May 31 and the theme for 2018 is: “Tobacco and Heart Disease.” This year’s activities aim to increase awareness on feasible actions and measures that key audiences, including government and the…
Hamburg on Thursday became the first German city to impose a partial ban on diesel vehicles as part of the country’s much-debated move to improve air quality. The port city blocked a 600-metre stretch of the Max Brauer Allee and a 1.6-km stretch of Stresemannstrasse in the Altona-Nord district for older diesel cars and trucks from midnight (2200 GMT Wednesday). Meanwhile signs marking the restrictions and diversions have been put in the place over recent weeks in the Altona-Nord district. All diesel vehicles that do not meet the Euro-6 emissions standards are affected by the Hamburg ban. “Less than a…
American and Chinese scientists have found that an antimicrobial ingredient commonly used in hand soaps and toothpastes could have adverse effects on colonic inflammation and colon cancer by altering gut microbiota, the microbes found in people’s intestines. A study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine revealed that short-time treatment with low-dose triclosan led to low-grade colonic inflammation, and exaggerated disease development of colitis and colitis-associated colon cancer in mice. “These results, for the first time, suggest that triclosan could have adverse effects on gut health,” said Zhang Guodong, assistant professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,…
There are around 1.1 billion smokers in the world today, the same number as at the turn of the century, according to latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO’s ‘Global Report on Trends in Prevalence of Tobacco Smoking 2000-2025’, which coincided with World No Tobacco Day 2018, observed every May 31, warned that smoking is a habit that destroyed the hearts. The report states: “Tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by manufacturers. “WHO has estimated that tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) is currently responsible for the death of about…