The Value of Meditation

This article focuses on the effectiveness of meditation in treating issues such as pain, anxiety, and stress.

“According to a new study, even a brief crash course in meditative techniques can sharply reduce a person's sensitivity to pain” (Health Magazine 2010).The study’s results were astonishing; researchers mildly burned 15 men and women on two separate occasions. On the second occasion, the subjects participated in simple meditation techniques and exercises, after which they reported their pain levels. The subjects reported the pain as being 57% less unpleasant and 40% less intense after the meditation, numbers that mirror powerful painkillers such as morphine!

Meditation has also proven effective in treating conditions such as arthritis, anxiety, and mental health problems.  So what about meditation is so effective? Scientists believe that during meditation, the brain’s areas that are responsible for maintaining focus and processing emotions are at a heightened sense; this gives the meditator more control over their physical feelings. “The conventional wisdom has been that meditation relieves pain not by diminishing sensation but by helping people consciously control their perception of pain” (MacLean, Katharine, Ph.D.). Studies also show that in terms of pain relief, meditation changes the nature of pain or stress before it’s perceived by the brain, thus allowing people to better handle the stress.

I chose this article in light of our recently-completed behavior change assignment. Meditation has many health advantages, and it demonstrates the importance of the mind’s control over the health of the body. I believe that this mind-body balance is crucial to maintaining and improving one’s health, and the practice of meditation as a medical prescription may soon become common.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/05/meditation.reduce.pain/index.html

Globalization of Disease

The recent outbreak of cholera in Haiti highlights the global connections of disease, as discussed in this article by the bbc.

The links of this disease to South Asian strains of cholera displays how inter-connected the world is. With increasing technological advances, the world is not as isolated from disease as it once was; it's becoming increasingly easier for diseases to spread across continents and borders. I think this example presents how important it is for developed countries to pay attention to the burden of disease in developing countries. While it's a success for those of us in the developed sphere to eradicate certain diseases, if we ignore the plights of the "3rd world" then these diseases can easily be re-introduced into our populations. What we're seeing in Haiti is that this re-introduced disease is actually more virulent than before due to reduced immunization and resistance in the population of Haiti (given that the country had eradicated cholera before).

The recent outbreak of cholera in Haiti also shows that the international community needs to be much more careful in watching the flow of people and disease. Clearly lax approaches regarding oversight of disease allowed cholera to spread form Asia to Haiti. While I think it would be wrong to quarantine areas of the world, I do think certain restrictions should be placed on the movement of people in and out of certain areas - at least ensuring that people who do leave the area do not have the disease, and that people entering the area have proper resistance. In the case of extremely contagious disease this should be vital. Incidents like this should remind us that with an increasingly-connected global community, we should learn to be mindful of our neighbors who suffer from communicable disease not just as a matter of social justice, but also for the benefit within our environs.

Cholera Surge in Haiti

In Haiti, a new concern regarding cholera outbreaks, is placing fear in many people about getting infect. "Health experts in Haiti warned in January when the cholera outbreak began to slow that there could be a surge of new cases in the spring, when rain would help spread contaminated water," says authors of the article affiliated with the Associated Press.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It has a short incubation period, from less than one day to five days, and produces an enterotoxin that causes a large amount of painless, watery diarrhea and vomiting that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given (WHO).

Last year, Haiti experienced a total of 160,929 cases of cholera, with 3,573 of those leading to death. WHO and partners, including the GOARN (Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network), have continued to support Haiti in their response to the outbreak. Civil unrest in Haiti has caused a delay in the delivery of supplies for prevention and treatment of patients, particularly in Northern Haiti. Trainings on cholera treatment and initiatives to chlorinate water for 300,000 people had to be postponed because of this, which demonstrates the large effect that an unstable government and civil structure of a nation can have on the ability to promote health. In many other countries, the unrest of the people have caused halts in the prevention methods and treatment dispersal for a various number of diseases. One thing that we, as public health students, must take into account is that tackling the distribution and allocation of supplies is just one aspect of global health that we need to focus on. Beyond that, we must also look into the environmental, political, and social stabilities of the country to determine how to best implement methods in the hopes of improving the health of the community.

Fewer Mammograms Being Done

This article discusses the costs and benefits of annual mammogram screenings of women in their 40s. Studies have shown that fewer women are getting annual mammograms after a report in 2009 said mammograms for these women are not absolutely necessary. This has led to a decrease in the number of women receiving mammograms. There are plenty of arguments from both sides about the necessity of these mammograms, but there is no doubt that the rate of younger women receiving them has decreased dramatically over the past couple of years.

I believe the media and other outlets played an important role in the effect this report had on the population. The report in 2009 said that women should discuss the benefits of screening with their doctor, but in the media, it was portrayed that it is totally unnecessary for women in their 40s to be screened annually. While it may be true that as a whole women do not need to be annually screened this young, it is important to note the effect of the media on our views and beliefs about certain topics. Too often, the media is our source of information that shapes our opinions instead of researching and looking into the topic for ourselves.

Another important issue to consider is the effectiveness of mammograms of younger women. The article says that out of all the biopsies done on women in their 40s at an Ohio hospital, 15% turned out to be cancerous. In public health, it is important for the correct information to be distributed and the article addresses this fact as well. It states that even though the number of mammograms being done has decreased, doctors are now discussing the benefits and risks instead of just recommending mammograms for all women. This is a positive step because universal testing does not always make sense, and giving women the correct information and allowing them to make their own, well informed decision is important.

Topics like this always make me interested in what is the best course of action in these situations. Annual screening of all younger women would undoubtedly save some lives that are lost if they are not tested and the cancer is not caught soon enough. How do medical professionals and public health officials make these decisions about at what point saving the few lives is worth the cost? Overall though, I think doctors discussing issues such as this with their patients and allowing them to make an informed decision is a positive step.

Asthma Numbers Rise in US

I wasn't too surprised to see the article in the New York Times describing the increase in the numbers of asthma sufferers in the United States; it seems like something that you hear mentioned far more now than even a few years ago. However, when looked at in the context of global health, this has significant and dangerous implications.

The levels of asthma in the country have now reached 1 in 10 for children and 1 in 12 for adults according to the most recent figures. Looking at the prevalence of asthma in populations across the country, figures have increased since 2003 for all racial groups as well as gender and age groups. This suggests that the problem of asthma is not just affecting individuals with a particular lifestyle, but everyone.

One of the most alarming parts of this report is that the increased numbers of people with asthma occurred at the same time as a general decrease in the number of smokers in the country. Before this information, many scientists assumed that smoking was the leading cause of asthma increases. What this suggests is that there are environmental triggers causing the disease. These could include environmental pollutants, traffic exhaust, plastics, and use of pesticides.

This has a major tie-in to the topic of environmental health that we looked at in class. When people don't live in a healthy environment, their overall health deteriorates, which also causes a rise in the cost of treating the general population. The article mentioned that people should be better informed about how to treat their asthma, but I consider this to be a very superficial solution. If asthma levels are universally rising, it seems like the root cause of this increase is something that would be work investigating and solving.

Burkina Faso Tests Malaria Vaccine

The African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET), recently embarked on a phase IIb clinical trial of GMZ2, a newly developed vaccine against Malaria. (See article)

Malaria is a major health concern for Burkina Faso. On average, each Burkinbe child under age five will fall ill with Malaria twice a year. On April 29th, Burkina Faso's national malaria research center began vaccinating volunteer subjects. This clinical trial is part of a multi-national program funded by the European an Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Burkina Faso is the second site in Africa to begin testing the vaccine on human subjects. Clinical testing of the vaccine has been underway in Gabon since November of last year. The next two nations to carry out clinical trials of GMZ2 are Ghana and Uganda.

If effective, vaccinations against malaria could save a significant number of disability-adjusted life years globally. Do you think plasmodium falciparum will mutate too rapidly for the vaccine to be benificial in the long term? After having gained insight from our mock World Health Assembly session on Polio, can you think of any difficulties that might arise if health authorities decide to try to vaccinate all populations at risk for Malaria?

Hormones Create Hope

As we have talked about during many class periods this semester, premature birth is the leading cause of death and illness among new-borns. An article I recently read in the New York Times shed some positive light on this otherwise saddening topic. According to a recent study, a daily dose of hormone gel reduced premature births by nearly half among women at particularly high risk. If proven accurate, this study could turn into an extremely effective world-wide health intervention.

This new treatment is a hormone treatment, taken by the woman daily during the second half of a pregnancy. This treatment is relatively simple yet it could have a great impact on the birth of several babies worldwide. It is estimated that 2% of the nation’s 500,000 annual preterm births could be prevented. Also, it is predicted that screening all women and determining which are at highest risk for delivering pre-term could save the nation’s health system 12 million dollars a year. The treatment is also relatively easy for women to administer to themselves.

As I read this article, I was encouraged by the potential this treatment has for mothers and their children worldwide. However, it left me questioning how this drug would be administered due to the social, culture and financial barriers that could get in the way. It frustrates me that these barriers could prevent the use of a treatment that could significantly reduce the leading cause of infant mortality. I strongly believe that if a distribution program was set up to address these barriers, this hormone treatment could really make a difference. It is inexpensive, relatively easy to use, and overall the perfect candidate for poorer, less educated countries (the countries that need it most). I think the major problem will be the follow up—making sure that the women are taking the hormones every day for the most effect. This could certainly cause any program to lose effectiveness.

The Struggles of Diagnosing Mental Disorders

We discussed in class las week the wide spectrum of mental health problems that millions of people cope with each year. One of the topics analyzed was the difficulty diagnosing a disease of the brain which appears different for each person, with symptoms varying widely. However, the doctors only have symptoms on which to rely, and thus diagnosis can become very inaccurate. This article from the CNN Health blog illustrates a study trying to quantify just how bad our worldwide diagnosis of bipolar disorder is. The researchers found that the United States has the highest incidence rate of the disease out of the 11 nations that were involved in the study. 4.4% of Americans are diagnosed with bipolar disorder in their lifetime, compared to just 0.1% in India.

This study does not reflect in any way the actual prevalence of the disorder in one country compared to another. The data simply shows that there are more psychiatrists trained in the US to diagnose such problems or other doctors are more aware of the possible symptoms of bipolar disorder, and thus more likely to recommend that a patient see a psychiatrist. In addition to these great differences between the two health care systems, the cultural impacts of the disorder are even greater. There is a much higher awareness in the United States of bipolar and its effects. This means that there is a much better chance of a family member, friend, relative or the person themselves realizing they need help and going to seek it in the US than in India. In addition to the high level of health education in this country, there is a much higher chance that someone in India realizing they need help, but choosing not to seek that help because of fear of being outcast.

The authors of the article argue that some heightened exposure to social media, etc. in the US make Americans more disposed to these disorders, but I think that these trends are drastically more impacted by irregularities in diagnosis. The article is another sad reminder of how far we still have to come in dealing with mental health problems, especially in the developing world. Are there any solutions to these daunting statistics?

Aftermath in Japan

When I saw an article about the recovery that's occurring in Japan, I was almost taken aback, because it's an issue that got so much publicity in the direct aftermath of the disaster there, but that I haven't heard about recently. However, this article in the New York Times focused on how people are recovering and still trying to protect themselves by working with government regulations and their own perceptions of what is safe.

The Japanese government has ordered an evacuation within 12 miles of the nuclear power plant site, but what's becoming a problem is deciding what to do for people living beyond that. One family that lives 40 miles away from the site still doesn't feel comfortable going back to their farm because of fear of radiation lingering in the area. Indeed, tests have shown that even beyond the designated 12 mile radius, radiation levels are significantly higher than normal.

Experts still have very limited knowledge of what low-levels of radiation can do to people. Since exposure to radiation is avoided generally, there haven't been direct studies on its effects at a low level such as that around the power plants. Even within Japan's government and scientists, there are huge disagreements right now about where it is safe to inhabit.  This is especially concerning for Japan because of the demographic structure of the cities, with many people of all ages living in very close proximity to each other. Because of this, radiation in a given area has the potential to affect a very large population.

Specific attention is also being paid to areas with children, since most experts agree that radiation exposure should be especially limited for children. As a result, some elementary schools in the area are changing the topsoil on their playgrounds or waiting to allow children back at all.

Issues such as this really emphasize how important it is to have policies in place before disasters strike so that people can be taken care of immediately instead of having disagreements between scientists, politicians, etc. Also though, it shows the different approaches that can be taken towards public health issues. Personally, I would advocate taking a high level of caution until something is definitely known to be safe.

Cultural Health Barriers

This sad article from the New York Times talks about the relationship between culture and health that we have discussed recently in class. The article was written by a Boston pediatrician who was working at a hospital in Haiti when he was faced with trying to save a five-month-old boy who weighed less than four and a half pounds due to severe diarrhea and malnutrition. The boy's mother considered herself to have "bad milk" and was therefore bottle feeding the baby with watered-down 7Up. The boy didn't survive. Here is an instance where the mother was probably doing what she felt was best for the child in not "poisoning" him with her breast milk which was culturally considered bad. At first glance, we might tend to wonder how someone could make such a mistake. With some thought, however, it is easy to see that culture plays a huge role in our own ideas of sickness and health. For example, a single poorly-run study by a doctor who is now banned from practicing medicine showed a link between autism and childhood vaccines. Nearly twenty studies have since proved the link to be false, but suspicion about childhood vaccines still seems to be lingering. The idea that cold temperatures cause illness and that chicken noodle soups help colds are also cultural ideas about illness. What if any of these cultural conceptions (especially concerning the vaccinations) were to be very harmful to society's health? We would have much the same problems as the misconceptions about breast feeding are causing in Haiti. This is yet another reason to realize that culture must be respected and it emphasizes the importance of understanding a culture's role in lifestyles and health decision making.

Beyonce's Creative Campaign Against Childhood Obesity

Today online I found a really interesting article about the singer Beyonce and her campaign with Michelle Obama to fight childhood obesity. The campaigned just launched a music video, starring Beyonce, called "Move Your Body", which comprises of 4 minutes of dancing that incorporates various exercises all in an attempt to get kids more excited about being healthy. The coolest part about the video is that it isn't meant to just sit online and simply motivate people. Schools across the country have signed up to "flashmob" the video and perform the dances in it, and a link is even available online with instructions on the choreography.

This is what I find the most intriguing about the video, and I think it can be applied to a lot of other situations to encourage healthier lifestyles. By using the internet to encourage schools to practice the dance, record it, and upload it to the internet, incentives are created to motivate people to be healthy. What if stars like Beyonce continued to post new dances for schools to learn, or even made an online competition out of it? Although I'm not the biggest fan of dancing, I can't help but to admit that there aren't many other activities that large groups of people can do together that keep everyone in constant motion. If applied to something like gym class, it can really encourage everyone to be active and moving. Also,what if sports stars made online videos encouraging kids and schools to post videos on the internet?

If schools can encourage their students to participate in these kind of online events that encourage healthier behaviors, I think many school children can be challenged to live a healthier and more active lifestyle.