Flu-like epidemic could kill 80 mn globally, wipe out 5% global GDP: Report

In such an epidemic, India will lose 2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP)--that is, Rs 3.8 trillion.

With increased mobility, unprepared health facilities and the possibility of weaponising disease, a viral respiratory disease can travel through the world quickly, turning into an outbreak capable of killing up to 80 million people and wiping out 5 per cent of the world’s economy, a new report has warned.

In such an epidemic, India will lose 2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP)--that is, Rs 3.8 lakh crore ($53.5 billion) or roughly twice the Centre’s agriculture budget in 2019-20.

This is unless world leaders increase funding for disease control and coordinate their efforts to develop strategies to contain the disease, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, said.

Drawing on the recommendations made by experts after the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and 2014-16 Ebola outbreak along with other reports and data, the 15-member panel of experts, politicians and heads of agencies assessed the preparedness of countries in dealing with pandemics. The panel includes former WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies secretary-general Elhadj As Sy.

An outbreak of a viral disease such as Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and influenza will be more difficult to manage at a time when travel times are shorter than ever before, the report, released on September 18, 2019, said. Management is even more difficult in underdeveloped countries with large populations lacking access to healthcare.

Countries and donor agencies need to increase expenditure on building systems that detect health emergencies to ensure timely and adequate response and share data and resources like vaccines to minimise the spread of the pandemic, the board recommended.

Business Standard

Corporations are funding health research: Here's why you should be worried

Researchers and academics are increasingly being encouraged - even required - to get research funding from different sources, including industry and nonprofit organisations funded by industry.

For the health-conscious consumer, it’s hard to keep up with the dizzying array of products on offer. Consumers want unbiased information to help them make the right choices, and industry says it is listening and working with health researchers to provide better and more nutritionally sound products. For academia, this can translate to serious funding opportunities.

Researchers and academics are increasingly being encouraged – even required – to get research funding from different sources, including industry and nonprofit organisations funded by industry. Generating income has become as important as the quality of academic output in hiring, retaining and even firing academic and research staff. In public health and nutrition, however, industry money remains the subject of fiery debate.

Some see industry as a necessary source of research support. From this perspective, these partnerships give scientists a say in the research, allowing them to improve health and well-being by collaborating with industry.

Corporate funding can pay for staff, conduct of studies, travel, publication charges and other research-related activities. These researchers say that we can better judge influence with clear conflict of interest statements that reveal the nature of their relationship with industry.

Meanwhile, multinational corporations say they remain committed to principles that protect the public interest. After all, it is in their financial interest to do so. This thinking directs how they fund researchers. For example, The Coca-Cola Company has pledged transparency, openness and commitments on social responsibility and research, stating that:

In no event does The Coca-Cola Company have the right to prevent publication of research results. Nor does The Coca-Cola Company provide funding conditioned on the outcome of the research.

We sought to find out to what extent this was borne out in practice, questioning whether it funds research and allows publication, even if the findings could harm its interests and profits. Can industry money really bring all these benefits while simple conflict of interest statements negate any influence?

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As 5G rollout nears, the unending debate over health effects is back

5G networks will use a frequency band separate from the already congested 4G networks.

Business Standard : Affordable access to the fourth generation of wireless communication, or 4G, has had us hooked to our phones for a large part of the day. It’s our gateway to the news, entertainment and to commerce. But what’s coming next may change the way we interact with the internet forever. At transmission speeds of over 1 gigabit per second, 5G – the fifth generation of wireless communication – will be more than 20-times faster than 4G.

At these speeds, the concept called internet of things – where one internet-linked device can send and receive data from another such device – would become more workable. But to enable data traffic at this rate, telecom companies will have to change the way they send data.

5G networks will use a frequency band separate from the already congested 4G networks. And instead of relying on low-frequency radio waves like 4G and all its predecessors did, the 5G network is set to make use of high-frequency radio waves. These would carry more data and enable faster transmission rates.

But there’s a catch.

The millimetre-long radio waves that will do much of 5G’s bidding cannot travel over large distances. They will have to be intercepted and re-beamed after about every 500 metres. To do this, telecom companies plan to place several small antennas 500 metres apart, cramming them in close spatial quarters. This could expose us to radiation from more sources than before.

Unlike X-rays and ultraviolet radiation, radio-wave exposure is non-ionising. It doesn’t damage the DNA per se. However, some studies have shown that continuous exposure may cause small amounts of localised heating. Whether this could lead to more serious health effects is a question many researchers have asked – and the answers remain out of reach.

Few reports have shown a positive relationship between telephone use and cancer. However, there are as many studies that show no association between the two. “So far, the body of evidence is not large enough to say that the association is conclusive,” Manya Prasad, a senior resident at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, told The Wire

Cold plasma shows potential to kill 99.9% of airborne viruses: Study

During the tests researchers also tracked the amount of viral genome that was present in the air.

Business Standard : Dangerous airborne viruses can be rendered harmless on-the-fly when exposed to 'cold plasma' -- a stream of energetic, charged fragments of air molecules, scientists have found.

The team from University of Michigan in the US hope to one day harness this capability to replace the surgical mask.

The researchers have measured the virus-killing speed and effectiveness of nonthermal plasmas -- the ionised, or charged, particles that form around electrical discharges such as sparks.

A nonthermal plasma reactor was able to inactivate or remove from the airstream 99.9 per cent of a test virus, with the vast majority due to inactivation.

Achieving these results in a fraction of a second within a stream of air holds promise for many applications where sterile air supplies are needed.

"The most difficult disease transmission route to guard against is airborne because we have relatively little to protect us when we breathe," said Herek Clack, research associate at University of Michigan.

To gauge nonthermal plasmas' effectiveness, researchers pumped a model virus -- harmless to humans -- into flowing air as it entered a reactor.

ALSO READ: Scientists discover minuscule silver particles to kill brain-eating amoeba

Inside the reactor, borosilicate glass beads are packed into a cylindrical shape, or bed. The viruses in the air flow through the spaces between the beads, and that is where they are inactivated.

"By passing through the packed bed, pathogens in the air stream are oxidised by unstable atoms called radicals. What's left is a virus that has diminished ability to infect cells," Clack said in a statement.

During the tests researchers also tracked the amount of viral genome that was present in the air.

In this way, researchers were able to determine that more than 99 per cent of the air sterilising effect was due to inactivating the virus that was present, with the remainder of the effect due to filtering the virus from the air stream.

Poorest & uneducated mothers benefit least from healthcare services: Study

While the poorest households had the highest utilisation of ICDS services in 2006, their share became the second lowest in 2016.

Business Standard : Despite a four-fold increase in the number of women and children receiving supplementary nutrition under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme in the 10 years to 2016, a large proportion of the poorest have not benefited, a new study has found.

Women who were uneducated or from the poorest households had lower access to the flagship programme the study found. While the poorest households had the highest utilisation of ICDS services in 2006, their share became the second lowest in 2016, the study says, suggesting that the reasons could include poor delivery, difficulty of accessing remote regions, and social divisions such as caste.

Started in 1975, ICDS, the world’s largest scheme of this kind, provides nutrition and health services to all pregnant and lactating mothers and children under six years of age. In addition to take-home food supplements and hot, cooked meals, the programme provides health and nutrition education; health check-ups; immunisation; and pre-school care services at either government-run anganwadi (childcare) centres or at home.

The study, “India’s Integrated Child Development Services programme; equity and extent of coverage in 2006 and 2016”, co-authored by researchers the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a research advocacy based in Washington D. C., and the University of Washington, US, will be published in the World Health Organization’s April 2019 bulletin.

Using data from two rounds of the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2005-06 and 2015-16, the researchers examined equity in ICDS’ expansion and the factors that determine the utilisation of its services.

Low to middle socio-economic brackets were more likely to receive food supplements, nutrition counselling, health check-up and child-specific services than both the poorest and the richest groups, the researchers found. Women with no schooling were also less likely to receive ICDS services than those with primary and secondary education.

“Even though overall utilization has improved and reached many marginalised groups such as historically disadvantaged castes and tribes, the poor are still left behind, with lower utilisation and lower expansion throughout the continuum of care,” said IFPRI research fellow and study co-author, Kalyani Raghunathan, in a statement.

Researchers found these gaps especially pronounced in the largest states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which also carry the highest burden of undernutrition. While both states have shown improvements in 2016, they still fall behind national averages, suggesting that overall poor performance in high-poverty states could lead to major exclusions, the authors said.

DRDO develops 'combat drugs' to reduce casualties in Pulwama type attacks

Citing the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama where 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, the defence lab said the medicines could have brought down the death toll.

With 90 per cent of gravely wounded security personnel succumbing to injuries within a few hours, DRDO's medical laboratory has come up with a range of 'combat casualty drugs' that can extend the golden hour till the trooper is shifted to hospital.

The spectrum includes bleeding wound sealants, super absorptive dressings and glycerated salines, all of which can save lives in the event of warfare in jungle and high altitude areas as well as in terror attacks, scientists said.

Citing the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama where 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, they said the medicines could have brought down the death toll.

According to developers of the drugs at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, chances of survival and minimum disability are highest when effective first aid care is given within the golden hour.

Scientists at INMAS, entrusted with research and development in a number of areas concerning the defence sector, said the main battlefield emergencies are excess bleeding, sepsis, shock, hypovolemia (decreased blood volume) and pain

DRDO's indigenously made medicines will be a boon for paramilitary and defence personnel during warfare, said A K Singh, director general of life sciences at the organisation.

“These medicines will ensure that our brave soldiers do not suffer from unwanted blood loss while being taken to a better healthcare from war zones,” he told PTI.

The challenges are many. There is only one medical person and limited equipment to take care of soldiers during combat in most cases. This is compounded by battlefield conditions such as forests, hilly terrain and inaccessibility of vehicles, experts said.

Among the drugs developed is glycerated saline, a battlefield intravenous fluid that does not freeze till -18 degrees Celsius and is useful in handling trauma cases in high altitude areas.

According to Manju Bala Popli, senior scientist at INMAS, glycerated saline, unlike normal saline, reduces inflammation. The drug can be life saving, particularly if the traumatic edema, collection of fluid in tissues and cavities of the body, is in the brain or lungs.

Business Standard

Smaller nations are the world's healthiest, Canada tops list

The top 10 in Global Wellness Index includes large nations such as the Philippines and South Korea, but also finds room for Oman, Iceland, Maldives, Netherlands and Singapore.

There’s more to life than money, and economists know it. As new assessments of global living standards proliferate, attempting to gauge how healthy, happy and successful humans are depending on where they live, a pattern is slowly emerging.

While slight variations in data can throw up different winners, smaller countries are increasingly dominating the top of the lists while big countries with booming economies fall behind.

A new analysis, the Global Wellness Index published by investment firm LetterOne, ranks Canada as the best country out of the 151 nations evaluated. The US trails far behind, coming in at 37. In a tighter ranking of G-20 nations combined with the 20 most populous countries on the planet, South Africa comes in dead last, below Ukraine, Egypt and Iraq.

Based on a basket of metrics ranging from government healthcare spending to rates of depression, alcohol use, smoking, happiness and exercise, the new index is the latest attempt by economists to evaluate the world beyond economic growth. Last month, Bloomberg’s own research named Spain the world’s healthiest country.

A common thread in both surveys, and others like them, is that the top ranks are increasingly filled with smaller countries. This may be tied to researchers developing new metrics for the modern world, measures that don’t necessarily correlate economic health with actual health—let alone wellness—at the expense of other, more nuanced barometers.

“The old concerns about growth—that it does not include every country, or every person in growing countries—are ever present,” said Richard Davies, a former Bank of England and UK Treasury economist who compiled the Global Wellness Index.

Davies’ dashboard ranks Canada highly due to its good scores for blood pressure, life expectancy and government healthcare spending, but it also pays close attention to the country’s high happiness levels. South Africa, once a beacon of economic growth, scores poorly for life expectancy, alcohol use, depression and diabetes.

In the overall list, several major economies struggle when ranked against smaller, healthier countries. The global top 10 includes large nations such as the Philippines and South Korea, but also finds room for Oman, Iceland, Maldives, Netherlands and Singapore.

Business Standard

How bold political choices, aligning schemes can improve India's healthcare

That health is not 'merely the absence of disease or infirmity', but 'is a fundamental human right'.

India has to move from vertical to comprehensive programmes, improve quality and access, hire more mid-level health workers and increase funding to improve primary care for achieving universal health coverage, public health experts told IndiaSpend.

That health is not “merely the absence of disease or infirmity”, but “is a fundamental human right” was proclaimed 40 years ago in the Alma-Ata declaration in Kazakhstan in 1978. On October 25 and 26, 2018, the declaration was reiterated by 197 countries around the world as they signed the Declaration of Astana that vowed to strengthen primary healthcare as an essential step for achieving universal health coverage.

India, also a signatory to the Astana declaration, has to strengthen primary healthcare if it has to achieve health for all since it accounts for 17% global burden of maternal deaths, the highest number of tuberculosis cases and deaths in the world and the highest number of stunted children in the world. As many as 55 million Indians slipped into poverty in 2011-12 because of health catastrophes they could not afford.

The Declaration of Astana makes four key pledges:

(1) make bold political choices for health across all sectors

(2) build sustainable primary health care

(3) empower individuals and communities

(4) align stakeholder support to national policies, strategies and plans.

“[Astana declaration] is very important for not just India but the world as a whole to be reminded of the importance of primary healthcare as the foundation of a health system and as the critical component for achieving universal healthcare. It’s a timely reminder,” said K Sujatha Rao, former union secretary of health, public health expert and author of Do We Care: India’s Health System.

Shift from vertical programmes to holistic care

Even though the Alma Ata declaration called for global commitment to comprehensive primary health care in 1978, donor-driven programmes steered low and middle income countries towards ‘selective healthcare’ focussing on a few diseases and health needs, said K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India, a think-tank and research institute... Read More

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