
Why some are more physically active than others
An international team of researchers examined the current understanding of why some people are more physically active than others.

An international team of researchers examined the current understanding of why some people are more physically active than others.

Worldwide, around a third of adults (about 1,5 billion people) and four out of five adolescents are failing to do the recommended amount of physical activity, placing them at a 20 to 30 percent greater risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

With the world's biggest sporting showcase kicking off in London Friday, researchers are warning that physical inactivity has become a contributor to the burden of disease similar to tobacco smoking or obesity, responsible for 5,3 million of the 57 million deaths that occurred globally in 2008.

The high prevalence, global reach, and colossal harms of physical inactivity means it should be recognised as pandemic, according to a paper in The Lancet.

Information and communication technologies, especially mobile phones, could be an effective way of encouraging millions of people worldwide to become more physically active.

Researchers have identified various successful and promising interventions from around the world that could be used to improve opportunities for regular physical activity and encourage more people to be physically active.
A new combination of drugs to treat tuberculosis (TB) could offer renewed hope in the fight against the disease, thought to kill around 1.4 million people every year. The results of a Phase II trial involving 85 patients, and reported in The Lancet, show that the new combination could kill more than 99% of patients' TB bacteria within two weeks, and could lead to improved treatment for patients infected with forms of TB that are resistant to existing drug treatments, as well as those infected with drug-susceptible TB.

Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe addressed the delegates at the opening of the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington. Read it here.

'We believe that after six months, our patients will have become strong so they can go back and do their usual work,' said Esther Oduli, a social worker in Western Kenya, who works for the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH).

When the International AIDS Conference was last held in Washington, D.C. in 1987, Ronald Reagan was U.S. president, the Soviet Union stood, a wall scarred a divided Berlin and China's economy was roughly the size of Spain's. The wider world ' and the AIDS epidemic ' has changed more than anyone foresaw. By David Wilson

A far-flung Northern Cape town has been making world headlines over the last few years. Unfortunately for the wrong reasons - a 2002-study revealed that more than one in 10 (12.2%) children in the De Aar community had foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), giving the town the highest reported rate in the world.

Sport scientist Professor Tim Noakes continued his controversial stance yesterday, stating that dietary advice fed to the public for the last few decades are part of a conspiracy to promote higher consumption of corn-based products that are harmful to human health.

Countries most affect by the HIV pandemic are struggling to place enough people on treatment and to implement the best science and prevention strategies to fight the disease, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned.

Remember how difficult understanding sexuality and the changes in your body was when you were growing up? Well, today's adolescents go through the same hardships and probably know no better. But help is at hand in a newly published guide that explains the changes and developments in young bodies.

Medicine stock-outs, broken machinery and poor hospital administration are hindering access to cancer treatment that determines whether patients live or die in the public sector.