 | Health MattersSaturday | 25 January, 2025 |  |
| Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there |
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Health care and a changing world orderHealth Matters U.S. President Donald Trump takes oath on the day of his Presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025 | Photo Credit: Reuters On U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing the country from the World Health Organization, the need for an overhaul of obesity measurements, exercise helping neurons grow, and more(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Ramya Kannan writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.) The strongest arm to strike the health desk this week is Donald Trump’s. While we have been anticipating Trump to overturn the world order of things, certainly, among the first few signatures he cast sent the health community tipping headlong into the portending gloom. He signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, as he has been threatening to. “The United States will exit the World Health Organization,” he said on Monday (January 20, 2025), accusing the global health agency of having mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises. Trump said the WHO had failed to act independently from the “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and required “unfairly onerous payments” from the U.S. that are disproportionate to the sums provided by other, larger countries, such as China. As usual, he flung accusations without substantiation, and invoking the right of America as he had many times during his inauguration, he said: “World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore.” Why should this worry us? Precisely because this move means the U.S. will leave the United Nations health agency in 12 months’ time and stop all financial contributions to its work. The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. WHO’s most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion. This will most certainly affect programmes being rolled out across the world, including the world’s largest intervention programmes in tuberculosis and HIV. It is not the first time Trump has done this: during his last term he took steps to quit the WHO, while the international body continued to deny all the allegations. Trump has also exited the Paris Climate Treaty, and given how critical environmental health is to human health and animal health, there are likely to be far reaching implications for this Presidential order as well. But more on that, next time. Meanwhile, former WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan called to set up a body to regulate environmental health at The Hindu’s Lit for Life fest over the weekend, Geetha Srimathi reported. Another huge development in the health sector is possibly this: Experts urge overhaul of obesity measurements, introduce two new diagnostic categories of obesity. Bindu Shajan Perappadan says the proposed recommendations, endorsed by more than 75 medical organisations around the world, are designed to address limitations in the traditional definition and diagnosis of obesity that hinder clinical practice and healthcare policies. Seeking recalibration on how obesity is measured worldwide a global commission on this issue, in its recent report published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, has said that Body Mass Index (BMI) is not an adequate indicator of obesity, as distribution of body fat is also crucial to assess overall health and disease patterns. We have been talking about the R.G. Kar rape and murder case at length in our columns, so here is a milestone update. Shiv Sahay Singh, Moyurie Som and Shrabana Chatterjee report that in the case, the court has granted Lifelong imprisonment for convict Sanjay Roy. There has been a loud demand for justice ever since the body of the postgraduate trainee doctor was found at the seminar room of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. However, soon after the award of sentence protests erupted outside the court and slogans were raised against the CBI. Doctors and members of civil society who were expecting a death sentence, expressed their dissatisfaction with the verdict and said they will continue with their protests. Do also read The Hindu’s edit on the issue, while you are at it. Meanwhile the NMC’s proposal to allow non-medical graduates to teach some subjects has drawn criticism. The National Medical Commission (NMC), in its recent draft “Teachers Eligibility Qualifications (TEQ) in Medical Institutions Regulations”, has retained a two-year-old provision allowing non-medical graduates with M.Sc and Ph.D degrees to teach medical students anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology during a transitional period. As January has been cervical cancer awareness month, we have had a number of articles to stress on prevention and cost aspects. Siddharth Kumar Singh reports that Across India, 50,000 physicians to be trained to eradicate cervical cancer through HPV vaccination. An update on the cervical cancer vaccine: India still working on bringing cervical cancer vaccine into the national immunisation program Afshan Yasmeen reports on a study that found that Smokeless tobacco products contribute to over 50% of oral cancer cases in India and researchers have underlined the pressing need to regulate flavoured and smokeless tobacco (SLT) products in India. While the sale of cigarettes is well regulated by law, the same oversee does not spill over into this category of tobacco. The power of celebrities speaking about their health condition is always under rated, but UK’s Princess Catherine’s revelations about her cancer, have done so much for awareness generation than several structured dissemination programmes put together. So it is being celebrated across the world when she announced that was in remission from cancer. Serena Josephine M. throws together a piece from an Indian perspective, reiterating the cancer risks of alcohol consumption after US Surgeon General Vivek Moorthy released the new advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk, and called for cancer risk warnings on alcohol-containing beverages. V. Geetanath brings in some good news for diabetics: BITS-Pilani Hyderabad research team unveils non-invasive diabetes monitoring device. How does it work? It uses advanced biosensing technique Electro-Chemi-Luminescence and machine learning algorithms. In ECL, light is emitted during the electrochemical reaction involving excited luminophores. After certain chemical reaction, diabetes biomarkers trigger signals which are highly sensitive, specific, and measurable, enabling precise glucose detection. ECL’s efficiency and low background noise make it ideal for non-invasive diabetes monitoring. On the gender angle, Snehal Mutha reports: Over 90% of women skip consultation on menstruation-related issues over lack of women doctors, says report. Jacob Koshy says latest Research questions ‘iron deficiency’ as key cause of anaemia in India. From the world of infectious diseases, here are some updates. R. Prasad writes that kids exposed to Zika in the womb show development delays and that COVID-19 vaccines fail to alter neuro symptoms of Long COVID. Also, Young people face lasting educational and emotional struggles after COVID, reports say. The WHO has also warned of a Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills 8 in Tanzania. The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88%, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola, which is transmitted to people from fruit bats which are endemic to that part of East Africa. Chapal Mehra and Lancelot Pinto write that the Long overdue, short-term regimen for TB is all set to be a game changer, but overview and surveillance are important even as the new B-PaLM regimen is rolled out, they say. The tailpiece for this week is Sayan Tribedi’s article on how the Newfound nerve-muscle crosstalk means exercise can help neurons grow. A recent study by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, has revealed that exercise may also stimulate the growth of neurons through its physical and biochemical effects. So there is nothing really holding you back from setting on that new year resolution for 2025 and incorporating exercise into daily activity. While you are here, do also stop by on the following links: Serena Josephine M. says In Chennai, mycoplasma pneumoniae infections surge, even as flu continues to do the rounds among children Afshan Yasmeen writes that Facing acute shortage of human resources, Karnataka’s Health Department will now hire specialists on ‘per day, per case’ basis R. Sujatha says Sexual assault survivors need trauma-informed mental health interventions, say experts Ravina Warkad says when NEET PG percentile is slashed so seats don’t go vacant; may open doors to seat sale racket RNA, not DNA, is the main cause of acute sunburn For many more health stories, head to our health page and subscribe to the health newsletter here. |
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