Health e News
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Children are being used to grow tobacco and the practice is thriving in the Asia Pacific region. This is according to a new report, launched today (June 12) to coincide with World Day Against Child Labour. The Report on Child Labour in Tobacco Cultivation in the ASEAN Region (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), launched by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), revealed details on child labour activities in tobacco farming in the region. Labour activities performed by children in tobacco farming, as well as related risks and deprivation, violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets out rights of children to attain the highest standard of health and education and to protect them from commercial exploitation. In Indonesia, a case study by Dr Priyo Adi Nugroho on tobacco cultivation in two districts in East Java found children below 15 years carried out a variety of
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A Thailand trial has shown that a daily dose of the antiretroviral (ARV) drug Tenofovir reduces HIV incidence by almost half among injecting drug users and even further if they adhere to the regimen. The latest results complete the picture of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis efficacy for all major HIV risk groups, showing that ARVs are protective. Globally, there are around 16-million people inject drugs and three million of them are living with HIV. According to World Health Organisation statistics, on average, one out of every 10 new HIV infections is caused by injecting drug use and in parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia over 80 per cent of all HIV infections is related to drug use. The Thailand trial is the first to assess whether preventative treatment with HIV drugs could affect rates of HIV infection in people who inject drugs. Published in The Lancet journal Online, the study results
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The amount of smoking in movies has reduced since regulations stopping tobacco companies from buying on-screen brand placements were introduced in 1998, according to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics. Meanwhile the number of alcohol brand appearances has increased in movies rated G or PG-13, and the amount of time characters spend drinking hasn’t changed. “Children who see smoking in the movies are more likely to initiate smoking,” said the lead researcher, Elaina Bergamini from the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire (US). “I think there is some concern that that may hold true for alcohol as well.” For the study, researchers watched the top 100 box office releases of each year between 1996 and 2009 and recorded when a movie character was using or handling tobacco or alcohol, and when a particular brand was pictured. In all, Bergamini and colleagues recorded 500 tobacco and 2 433 alcohol
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Workers that smoke cost their employers nearly $6 000 (around R60 000) more each year than their non-smoking counterparts. A new study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, found that smokers incurred more costs through taking time off, smoke breaks and additional health care costs than non-smokers. These findings could have implications for smoking policies in the workplace, the researchers suggest. “Employees who smoke impose significant excess costs on private employers,” Micah Berman, from the College of Public Health and Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University (US), and colleagues wrote. “The results of this study may help inform employer decisions about tobacco-related policies.” To estimate the costs associated with employing a smoker the researchers analysed previous studies on the issue. For this calculation they analysed absenteeism, presenteeism (lower productivity while working due to smoking-related health problems), smoking breaks, health care costs and pension benefits for smokers. The study
MEDIA RELEASE: The announcement last week that the World Health Organization (WHO) prequalified the PrePex device for non-surgical voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) offers another important option for expansion of VMMC programs in countries hard hit by the HIV epidemic. VMMC, as part of comprehensive HIV prevention programs, is starting to make an impact on the HIV epidemic in many communities and countries. The impact of PrePex, and other non-surgical devices that could also be prequalified, will depend on several factors including the cost of the devices, the quality and scope of data available to guide decisions about product introduction, and sustained investment in product introduction including pilot projects and social marketing. “PrePex and other devices could help expand VMMC programs to meet the HIV prevention needs of more men in Africa. But without strong programs, even the best products have little or no impact,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive
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The most significant lifestyle change people can make to protect their health is to stop smoking, researchers reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The new study shows that although regular exercise and a healthy diet have clear health benefits, the best thing you can do for your health is to quit smoking. “Of all the lifestyle factors, we found that smoking avoidance played the largest role in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease and mortality,” study senior author Dr Roger Blumenthal, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a news release. “Smokers who adopted two or more of the healthy behaviours still had lower survival rates after 7.6 years than did non-smokers who were sedentary and obese.” The study followed more than 6 200 men and women between the ages of 44 to 84 for an average of eight