Snakes are responsible for 100,000 deaths a year and 800,000 amputations.
International health news
- Resveratrol looks like a promising move forward for dementia – 119 patients who had been diagnosed early with Alzheimer’s disease participated the second phase of a research trial to see what the benefits of resveratrol were to their brains. Findings are promising but inconclusive.
- The world is running out of snakebite anti-venom – snake bites claim 100,000 lives each year and cause over 8,000 amputations; anti-venom stocks are calculated to last until June 2016, and many people will die needlessly should Sanofi (the producing company) not share the recipe with other companies.
- Child mortality reduced by over 50% in 25 years – the World Health Organization and Unicef released a statement saying that although there has been a huge reduction in child mortality rates, efforts need to be doubled until children under 5 can be saved from preventable deaths.
Health advice
- We’re living longer, but in poor health – while life expectancy has increased in the past decade, specialists suggest that many of us will be living our bonus years in poor health, unless we follow these tips.
- Supporting your children during ‘back-to-school’ – children are anxious about new teachers, new classrooms, or seeing an old bully. The way you speak to them as a parent can change their attitude about going back to school.
Country health updates
- UK: still refusing assisted death – after issuing votes on the matter for the first time in almost 20 years, UK MPs are still refusing to allow medically assisted dying.
- USA: 27 states have confirmed the presence of salmonella – the cause of the outbreak has been linked to cucumbers grown in Mexico; it has claimed two lives and sickened hundreds.
- Greece: healthcare decreases dramatically as a result of crisis – clinics and hospitals are understaffed, undersupplied and patients are paying the consequences. The only option is to ‘go private’.
[Image: H. Krisp]