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Antibiotic resistance burgeoning problem in South East Asia: WHO

A just released WHO report looks at antibiotic resistance globally and finds a very dismal picture for South East Asia.

A new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) – the first to look at antibiotic resistance globally – reveals that this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happeningright now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Antibiotic resistance – when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections – isnow a major threat to public health.

“Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill,” says Dr KeijiFukuda, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security. “Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars allowing us to live longer, live healthier, and benefit from modern medicine. Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating.”

The report, ‘Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance’, notes that resistance is occurring across many different infectious agents but the report focuses on antibiotic resistance in nine different bacteria responsiblefor common, serious diseases such as bloodstream infections (sepsis), diarrhoea, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and gonorrhoea. The results are cause for high concern, documenting resistance to antibiotics, especially“last resort” antibiotics, in all regions of the world.

antibiotic resistance risingKey findings from the report

– Resistance to the treatment of last resort for life-threatening infections caused by a common intestinal bacteria, Klebsiella pneumonia – carbapenem antibiotics – has spread to all regions of the world. K pneumoniae isa major cause of hospital-acquired infections such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, infections in newborns and intensive-care unit patients. In some countries, because of resistance, carbapenem antibiotics would notwork in more than half of people treated for K pneumoniae infections.

– Resistance to one of the most widely used antibiotics for the treatment of urinary tract infections caused by E coli – fluoroquinolones – is very widespread. In the 1980s, when these drugs were first introduced,resistance was virtually zero. Today, there are countries in many parts of the world where this treatment is now ineffective in more than half of patients.

– Treatment failure to the last resort of treatment for gonorrhea – third generation cephalosporins – has been confirmed in Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Slovenia, Sweden and theUnited Kingdom. More than 1 million people are infected with gonorrhoea around the world every day.

– Antibiotic resistance causes people to be sick for longer and increases the risk of death. For example, people with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are 64 per cent more likely to die than people with anon-resistant form of the infection. Resistance also increases the cost of health care with lengthier stays in hospital and more intensive care required.

South East Asia findings

The available data reveals that antibiotic resistance is a burgeoning problem in WHO’s South-East Asia Region, which is home to a quarter of the world’s population. The report shows high levels of E coli resistance to third generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones – two important and commonly used types of antibiotic – in the Region. Resistance to third generation cephalosporins in K pneumoniae is also high and widespread. In some parts of the region, more than one quarter of S aureus infections are reported to be methicillin-resistant (MRSA), meaning that treatment with standard antibiotics does not work. In 2011, the health ministers of the Region articulated their commitment to combat AMR through the Jaipur Declaration on AMR.

Since then, there has been growing awareness of the need for appropriate tracking of drug resistance, and all countries have agreed to contribute information to a regional database. “Combatting drug resistance is a priority area of work for WHO in the Region,” says Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia. “We need to act now to use antibiotics rationally, ensuring their availability for future generations.”

The report reveals that key tools to tackle antibiotic resistance – such as basic systems to track and monitor the problem – show gaps or do not exist in many countries. While some countries have taken important steps inaddressing the problem, every country and individual needs to do more. Other important actions include preventing infections from happening in the first place – through better hygiene, access to clean water, infection control inhealth-care facilities, and vaccination – to reduce the need for antibiotics. WHO is also calling attention to the need to develop new diagnostics, antibiotics and other tools to allow healthcare professionals to stay ahead ofemerging resistance.

This report is kick-starting a global effort led by WHO to address drug resistance. This will involve the development of tools and standards and improved collaboration around the world to track drug resistance, measure its healthand economic impacts, and design targeted solutions.

(Picture courtesy antimicrobial.blogspot.com, www.theguardian.com)

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‘Pet pooja’ in the city

Animal adoption camps are picking up pace in Mumbai and surrounding cities and suburbs, as one in Thane recently proved.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

As each day passes in Mumbai, stories of animal cruelty and abandonment of pets are on the rise. While such tales pain most of us, only dedicated animal lovers decide to do something about it.

Camp in ThaneHence,while some rush to the aid of an injured animal on the street and treat it for free or facilitate its adoption, others set up dedicated camps where those wishing to add a pet to their families can come and adopt a suitable dog or cat. Mumbai and Thane are increasingly seeing more and more such adoptions in the last few months.

A Thane-based NGO, PAL Thane, which has been working in the field of animal welfare since 2010, held a pet adoption camp – Pet Ok Please – in Thane on Sunday, April 27, where over 500 people showed up for a look at the animals on offer. “The adoptions were done free,” explains PAL’s Aditi Nair. “The focus of the event was to spread the word about adoptions, helping pet owners and making people awere in general about animals. Of the 20 animals which were up for adoption, 15 found homes.”

Aditi added that the event is likely to be a monthly or quarterly feature in Thane, and it introduces the common public to concepts such as adoption and most importantly, free adoptions.

The animals in such camps are normally a mix of dogs, cats, kittens and puppies. Some of them are rescued from abuse or injury, while others are victims of abandonment and lack of care. ”

Rise in the number of animal adoption programmes

Aditi says that this was the first ever adoption program in Thane, while Mumbai has a couple of NGOs who have regular programmes. “We request people to do a registration for the animal they are interested in and then we contact them in the next couple of days to reach the animals to them. We do not do over-the-counter adoptions as people tend to take the animals home on an impulse and many a times they end up coming back in a few hours or the following day. The registration method gives them more time to mull over the decision they took the previous day.”

Says Gayatri Sarang Patkar, a city-based baker who uses social media to highlight cases of foster homes needed or impending adoption programmes, “I think there is a lot more awareness, and I think social media has gone a long way in ensuring that. NGOs like World For All and Yoda brought animal rights movements to Facebook in a big way. So someone, who earlier wouldn’t even have known that adopting was an option, now suddenly sees all these shares on their feed. A lot of first-time adopters find out that way.”

Why adopt?

Adds Sneha Shetty, who is studying to be a vet, “Since many people today live in nuclear families with stable incomes, they can afford to have a pet. Children, especially, insist on adding a pet to the family. Besides, the awareness about adopting an animal instead of buying a puppy has gone up, which is a great sign. There are several animals needing a home, and it is better to adopt an abandoned or injured animal that needs love and care, than to buy one.”

But, Aditi cautions, it’s not an easy decision to make and should be considered carefully. “Animals are taken home many a times just because they are cute or because the children Camp in Thane 1of the family want something to play with. The fact of the matter is that it is not just a furry looking cute living thing. They have to be fed the right things, watered, walked regularly, vaccinated, taken to the vet regularly, potty trained, trained to do the right things in the house in the right ways, etc. There comes a huge responsibility with an animal. And people should be very clear on this. Such programmes encourage people to interact with animals and understand the factors involved and then take an informed decision about taking an animal home.”

A question of abuse

However, the numbers of animals either abandoned by their masters or left injured owing to abuse and cruelty have also seemingly gone up. Gayatri says, “I think cruelty and abandonment cases happened just as frequently earlier, too, it was just that few recognised it as that.” Aditi adds, “The general apathy of people has increased these days. When people do not do anything and watch girls being raped on the streets in our country, you cannot really expect the general public to raise their voice when they see cruelty to animals. There are a lot of wrong practices as well in the field of animals which are encouraged without being aware about the consequences.

“For example, people readily pay Rs 20,000 and purchase a breed animal from a breeder. They do not check if this breeder is registered with the Animal Welfare Board of India or not. They do not check if the puppy is a result of inbreeding. They do not ask even to see the parents. They are not told by anyone about the responsibilities which go into adopting an animal. They take the puppy home and within a week, it dies maybe because it was sick from the very beginning or because the family had no guidance on what to do and what not to do. The vets many a times get commissions from these breeders if they recommend them, and this results in them recommending the same vet back to the customers for business. It is a vicious cycle and this can be broken only if more correct awareness is generated about all kinds of animals.”

She also explains why animals are being increasingly abandoned. “If the family was not prepared from the very beginning to have a pet and not guided well, the chances of abandonment are very high. We need to break all these intersecting circles and make the non-animal loving as well as the animal-loving public aware. Many a times, being an animal lover is not enough. Anyone can be an animal lover, you need to know the right things to be able to actually help animals.” 

(Pictures courtesy PAL)

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Kharcha paani

Mangoes to cost more this season?

Fall in mango production by about 20 per cent owing to crop damage and rising exports will cause higher costs.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Mango lovers may have to cough up more money this year due to short supply of mangoes for domestic consumption owing to significant crop damage and rising export orders pouring in from the UAE, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bangladesh and others.

This is as per an analysis by ASSOCHAM. “Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, which together account for about 2/3rd share in India’s total mango production, have recently witnessed nature’s wrath owing to unseasonal rains coupled with hailstorm. This has damaged over 50 per cent crop which is likely to hold up mango arrivals, resulting in upward spiraling of prices,” noted the analysis conducted by the Agri-business council of ASSOCHAM.

“Mango production across India in all likelihood will remain about 15-20 per cent lower than last year’s level of 18 million tonnes (MT) and even the exports are likely to remain muted this year,” said DS Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM while releasing the analysis. Clocking a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over five per cent, the production of mangoes across India has increased from 13.9 MT in 2007-08 to 18 MT in 2012-13. Besides, the cultivated area and productivity have also grown at a CAGR of 2.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively during the aforesaid period.

Of over 1,300 varieties of mangoes grown across the world and India alone cultivates over 1,000 varieties of the fruit.

Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh together account for about half of the total mangoes being produced in India, with both the States accounting for almost similar share of over 24 per cent. Karnataka (10 per cent), Bihar (7.6 per cent) and Gujarat are amid top five states with high share in mangoes’ production across India.

The UAE is the top most export destination for India’s mangoes accounting for over 61 per cent share followed by the UK (12 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (five per cent). Qatar, Kuwait and Bangladesh are other leading export destinations for Indian mangoes.

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Climate change impacts could increase risk of violent conflicts

A recently released IPCC report finds that climate change impacts may potentially trigger, increase rivalry among States over shared resources.
by TERI Feature Service

The second volume of the most comprehensive and up to date report on the state of knowledge on climate change was released late last month, establishing that the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans, and that the severity of impacts will increase unless the rate and magnitude of climate change is brought under control.

The United Nations’ report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that countries at all levels of development lack preparedness for risks from a changing climate. The geographic scale of widespread impacts is concerning as they spread from tropics to the poles, from small islands to large continents, and from the wealthiest countries to the poorest. The impacts of climate change could make efforts to tackle poverty more difficult, trapping people in poverty, hunger and poor health.

The impact of climate change could increase risks of violent conflicts in the form of civil war, says Pachauri, by amplifying well-documented drivers of these conflicts such as poverty.

Potential impacts, as mentioned in the report

Save the EarthThe impacts of climatic change are not limited to natural systems such as water resources, oceans and ecosystems. Some impacts on human systems such as food production, agriculture, human health and peoples’ livelihoods have also been attributed to climate change. The report identifies vulnerable people, industries and ecosystems around the world and finds some impacts are expected to disproportionately affect poor people, as they have less infrastructural and adaptive capacity to cope with climate-related losses.

But the worst is yet to come. The IPCC report is compelling in terms of the impacts of climate change that are already occurring: “Many terrestrial, freshwater and marine species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, abundances, and species interactions in response to ongoing climate change,” says the report. “Based on many studies covering a broad range of regions and crops, negative impacts of climate change on crop yields have been more common than positive impacts.”

“I hope these facts – for want of a better word – will jolt people into action,” said Dr RK Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, at the release of the report in Yokohama, Japan, recently.

New findings

Some studies till now had revealed a mix of impacts on food production, with some regions of the world benefiting from climate changes, while others were hit harder. But the IPCC report assesses with high confidence that the negative impacts of climate change on crop yields have been more common than positive ones. The impact of climate change could increase risks of violent conflicts in the form of civil war, says Pachauri, by amplifying well-documented drivers of these conflicts such as poverty. He said that nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change. “The world has all kinds of drivers of stress and drivers of conflict. With the climate change, these are likely to get exacerbated further,” said Pachauri.

The report, in fact, establishes a link between climate change impacts and increase in inter-State rivalry. “The impacts of climate change on the critical infrastructure and territorial integrity of many states are expected to influence national security policies.”

For example, land inundation due to sea-level rise poses risks to the territorial integrity of small-island States and States with extensive coastlines. “Some trans-boundary impacts of climate change, such as changes in sea ice, shared water resources, and pelagic fish stocks, have the potential to increase rivalry among States, but robust national and intergovernmental institutions can enhance cooperation and manage many of these rivalries,” the report says. The report found evidence of climate change in the thawing permafrost in the Arctic and in the destruction of coral reefs. It found many freshwater and marine species had shifted their geographical range due to climate change.

The report also projects that risks will get more severe if global greenhouse gas emissions are not mitigated. “Increased tree mortality and associated forest dieback is projected to occur in many regions over the 21st century, due to increased temperatures and drought. Forest dieback poses risks for carbon storage, biodiversity, wood production, water quality, amenity and economic activity.”

Moreover, IPCC concludes that people, societies, and ecosystems in poor and rich countries around the world are vulnerable and exposed to climate change, with different vulnerability and exposure in different places. “Impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems to current climate variability.”

(Pictures courtesy

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More Indian women in the driver’s seat

A survey finds that with financial independence, more women are driving cars in India and stating their specific personal preferences.
by Nielsen India

The following is excerpted from a survey conducted recently by Nielsen.com (India), which tracked the numbers of women on Indian roads, their choices in the cars they drive and whether they are decision-makers in the car-buying process.

How Women Decision-Makers Are Influencing Car Purchases

– Women have become more involved in decision-making when buying a car.

– For women, safety features more important than price.

– Automatic transmission, abs and run-flat tyres key factors for women car buyers.

The gender gap on Indian roads is rapidly decreasing. As with other roles, women in India are taking the wheel in larger numbers—a shift that can be attributed to several factors, including rising education levels and increased career opportunities.

In Patna, for example, 3,228 driver licences were issued to women in 2010- 2011, up 37 percent from the previous year. Moreover, between 2008 and 2011, the percentage of cars registered by women in the city has doubled.

This growth spurt in women drivers has prompted car makers to innovate and design vehicles to suit women’s preferences. A Nielsen study into the subject of gender-based auto needs found that women today play an important role when choosing, and in some cases, even buying the family car.

Who’s making the decisions? 

Almost half of all women respondents in the survey were the key decision-makers during car purchases. One in every four women said she was a joint decision-maker on important car features, including the manufacturer and type.

Based on the survey, women not only influence decisions about which car to buy, but on occasions, are also the sole decision-makers on crucial vehicle features. Around 75 percent of women decision-makers said they were the only ones deciding a car’s key elements during a purchase.

Nielsen’s findings also revealed that income plays a role in women’s involvement in the purchase process. Women who earn more than 75,000 rupees a month and are in control of the household budget are the key decision-makers while purchasing a car. Moreover, families with higher incomes have more women decision-makers. According to the survey, older women from more affluent families are also likely to be highly influential at the time of car purchases.

Consider the graphic below (click to magnify):

women and cars

 

 

 

 

 

(Featured image courtesy www.bbc.co.uk)

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Mumbai children are nutritionally at risk

Survey finds that seven out of 10 children aged 2 to 10 years in four metros had below-median growth parameters.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Children today are exposed to a variety of junk food, and are getting very little exercise. Now a new study reveals that while most children are not eating right at home, they are also at risk of not growing properly.

A study commissioned by Abbott and carried out by market research agency TNS finds that of 1,181 children surveyed in the country’s four metros, as many as 45 per cent are nutritionally at risk. The survey was conducted on the premise that many mothers in metro India are concerned that their child is a fussy eater; this prompted dieticians to study the growth parameters of these children, i.e. their height and weight as per their age and eating behaviour.

The findings

children refuse to eatMumbai was found to lag the most in children’s nutritional intake: most number of respondents were below-median (78 per cent failing on either height or weight or both), below 15th percentile children (45 per cent nutritionally at-risk). However, Mumbai had the lowest percentage of fussy eaters (36 per cent) but the proportion of fussy eaters falling below the 15th percentile on weight was the highest (45 per cent).

Additionally, 455 of the below-median children failed on both height and weight parameters, and four of 10 children in the metros are nutritionally at risk.

Interestingly, vegetarian or non-vegetarian food preferences were not observed to have much impact on height or weight as the eating behaviour. The top three fussy eating behaviours observed in the survey were strong food likes/dislikes, consuming a limited number of food items, and refusal to eat vegetables and/or foods from other food groups.

Fussy eating was observed more in the affluent socio-economic classes as compared to lower SEC C and D households.

“Fussy eating is often brushed aside as a growing-up phenomenon by elders in the family. But, over a long period of time, it can impact growth”, says Dr PS Moralwar, senior paediatrician from Navi Mumbai. “It begins as early as infancy and has an impact that is evident in later years of life.”

“The study findings confirm the concerns of Indian mothers in metros,” says Amal Kelshikar, Country Head and General Manager, Abbott Nutrition International, India. “Growth in children can be impacted by different factors, nutrition being one of them. Nutrition is important and is linked to eating behaviour. Awareness of fussy eating behaviour needs enhancement.”  

(Pictures courtesy www.nestle.in, blog.babyoye.com. Images are used for representational purpose only) 

 

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