To most of us, the holiday season brings plenty of good food — and too often too much of it. While obesity is growing all over the world, millions of people, especially children, in low-resource areas suffer from hunger all year round.
The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is “Communities make the difference.” The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that communities of people living with HIV and community health workers play a key role in the fight against HIV/AIDS, which is on WHO’s list of the 10 threats to global health.
Any infection can lead to sepsis — a life-threatening emergency — yet few people know what it is. Sepsis is a complication of infection that can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. The condition constitutes a global healthcare problem, and despite advances in modern medicine such as vaccines, antibiotics and intensive care, it is the primary cause of death from infection, especially in underserved countries.
Chronic diseases impact the way we live our lives every day. Many people do not believe that chronic diseases — such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and many cancers — can be prevented. We know the major causes of these noncommunicable diseases; if we knock out risk factors, then we are much less likely to fall ill, so that, for example, 80% of all heart disease could be prevented.