| Top : 2007 : 2007_03_01 |
Life expectancy rates rise in JapanThu, 01 Mar 2007 09:23:23 GMTTOKYO - Life expectancy for Japanese women — already the longest in the world — has risen by nearly one year, the Health Ministry said Thursday, citing the latest census data. Female life expectancy increased to 85.52 years in 2005 from 84.60 years in 2000, Health Ministry official Morio Akimoto said. The latest figures were calculated based on the fixed census data taken in 2005. The census is taken every five years in Japan. Akimoto said Japanese women's life expectancy remained the world's longest for the 21st straight year, ahead of Hong Kong and Spain, according to U.N. demographic figures. For men, life expectancy rose to 78.56 years from 77.72 years, the fourth-longest in the world after Hong Kong, Iceland, Switzerland, Akimoto said. Japan has long been touted as one of the world's longest-living populations, but experts are worried that changing eating patterns — from the traditional fish and rice-based diet to fast food such as hamburgers and instant noodles — may soon change this. Malaria drugs could cut deaths in AfricaThu, 01 Mar 2007 11:13:38 GMTBy MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer LONDON - The first affordable combination anti-malarial drug tailored for children will soon be available across Africa, potentially saving millions of lives, the nonprofit organization and the pharmaceuticals giant who worked to develop it said Thursday. The new medication, known as ASAQ, combines two of the most effective drugs known to treat malaria, artesunate and amodiaquine. ASAQ is the result of a $21 million, two-year project by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis. To make the drugs available where they are most needed, the new drug is not patented and will be available to anyone who wants to manufacture it. "This drug will save lives," said Dr. Bernard Pecoul, executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. "The aim of this project was to develop a product as adapted as possible to the malaria situation in Africa." The drug already has been registered in Morocco, and has been authorized in 10 other African countries. Every year there are as many as 500 million cases of malaria worldwide with more than 1 million deaths. The disease primarily affects children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. If ASAQ and other drugs like it are made widely available, along with other anti-malaria weapons such as bed nets impregnated with insecticide, the number of malaria cases in Africa could be dramatically cut. Instead of cutting two different pills intended for adults into child-appropriate sizes — a less-then precise method — health care workers will now be able to give children a single pill. The drug comes in four formulations, including versions for infants and children over 13, or adults. ASAQ merges two pills into one, making it easier both to prescribe and to take. Children will need to take one tablet per day for three days. "Having a fixed-dose combination is a significant advance," said Dr. Chris Hentschel, president and CEO of the Medicines for Malaria Venture. "The fewer pills people have to take, the more chance they will actually take them." In addition, the problem of resistance developing should be lessened. Experts worry that when patients have multiple pills to take, they may not take all of both sets of pills, which can lead to the development of resistance. But because ASAQ combines two drugs in one, there are fewer concerns about patients taking their full doses. ASAQ is the first of numerous malaria treatments in the drug development pipeline, which marks a new era in anti-malarials. "We need a greater diversity of drugs to drive the prices down to affordable levels," said Dr. Sylvia Meek, technical director at the Malaria Consortium. As a result of new partnerships between public and private sectors, as well as an injection of funds from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, there is a newfound drive to develop new drugs for Africa, which has previously been seen as unprofitable. ASAQ is cheaper than other currently available fixed-dose combinations, and will be available at-cost price to countries battling malaria, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. The pills cost less than 50 cents for children, and less than $1 for older children and adults. Even at these relatively low costs, however, that may still be too expensive for Africa. "Only 5 percent of people who need anti-malaria drugs get them," said Dr. Nick White, a malaria expert at Mahidol University, Bangkok. "That's pathetic and we need to do better." Malaria is one of the top three killer diseases in Africa. It is transmitted to people from mosquitoes and usually causes symptoms including fever, vomiting, headaches, and other flu-like symptoms. If left untreated, the disease can be fatal. Prescription abuse to pass illicit drugsThu, 01 Mar 2007 06:24:48 GMTBy WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria - Abuse of prescription drugs is about to exceed the use of illicit street narcotics worldwide, and the shift has spawned a lethal new trade in counterfeit painkillers, sedatives and other medicines potent enough to kill, a global watchdog warned Wednesday. Prescription drug abuse already has outstripped traditional illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy in parts of Europe, Africa and South Asia, the U.N.-affiliated International Narcotics Control Board said in its annual report for 2006. In the United States alone, the abuse of painkillers, stimulants, tranquilizers and other prescription medications has gone beyond "practically all illicit drugs with the exception of cannabis," with users increasingly turning to them first, the Vienna-based group said. Unregulated markets in many countries make it easy for traffickers to peddle a wide variety of counterfeit drugs using courier services, the mail and the Internet. "Gains over the past years in international drug control may be seriously undermined by this ominous development if it remains unchecked," Narcotics Control Board President Philip O. Emafo said. Discount medications that seem to be authentic often turn out to be powerful knockoffs concocted from recipes posted on the Web, he added. "Instead of healing, they can take lives," Emafo said, characterizing the danger as "real and sizable." Up to 50 percent of all drugs taken in developing countries are believed to be counterfeit, the board said, citing estimates from the http://www.incb.org Indonesia WHO to end bird flu disputeThu, 01 Mar 2007 06:21:15 GMTBy ZAKKI HAKIM, Associated Press Writer JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia is expected to resume supplying samples of bird flu virus to the World Health Organization after receiving a guarantee they will not be used to develop a commercial vaccine that the country cannot afford, the health minister said Thursday. Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said a letter of guarantee from WHO Director General Margaret Chan was expected to arrive Thursday, after which "Indonesia will resume sending as soon as possible." The agreement will almost certainly resolve the stand off between the WHO and Indonesia, which triggered a storm of criticism last month by withholding samples from the U.N. health body. The country hardest hit by bird flu is worried that large drug companies will use its H5N1 strain to make vaccines that will be too expensive for developing nations in the event of a global pandemic that could kill millions. Several countries are developing vaccines to protect against H5N1, the strain of bird flu responsible for 166 human deaths worldwide, more than one-third of them in Indonesia. The virus remains essentially an animal disease, but experts fear it may mutate into a form easily spreadable between humans. Asian and Pacific region health leaders meet in Jakarta later this month to work out a way to ensure an influenza vaccine is made available to their populations. "We want to change the system so that third world nations are not always the victims of developed countries," Supari said. "It is for the sake of humanity, not just for Indonesia." Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, is seen as a potential hotspot for a global pandemic because of its high density of people and chickens. The government's decision to withhold the vaccine was a major departure from the WHO's virus-sharing system, where bird flu samples are freely passed throughout the global community for public health purposes, including vaccine and antiviral development. |