The News Review:
- Rwanda: How Communities Can Win Battle Against Malaria
- Children growing up too fast – experts
- Mom’s mental health tied to development
Rwanda: How Communities Can Win Battle Against Malaria
AllAfrica.com – May 15, 2008
Malaria continues to take a huge toll on global health. More than one million lives are lost to the mosquito-borne illness each year, with the vast majority of deaths occurring in Africa among children under age five. The use of mosquito nets is still one of the main elements in preventing malaria. (photo Timothy Kisambira). GA_googleFillSlot(”AllAfrica_Story_Inset”);In Rwanda, malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, accounting for 43% of all deaths and 40% of health center visits… "They say they have full confidence in the distributors and can concentrate on sicker children now that simple malaria is being treated in the community. "Community-based distribution of ant malarial drugs is a key way to reach the Rwanda target of treating 85% of kids under 5 within 24 hours," says Dr. Jules Mihigo, former maternal and child health specialist with USAID in Rwanda. However, major efforts are also made in preventing the disease. Recently, a new national campaign was launched under the theme "Free Rwanda from malaria now". "The new strategy includes the use of coartem, a newly recommended malaria drug, by children below the age of five years," health minister said Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo explains.
Children growing up too fast – experts
stuff.co.nz – May 15, 2008
5 million children in the United Kingdom were affected by a worrying "loss of childhood". Adolescence was also naturally occurring much earlier, it said. Dr Powell and other child health experts were worried teenagers were becoming sexually active much earlier than they should, and experimenting with drugs. New Zealand teens are showing the world the way, with the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the developed world. Figures for 2006 showed 28. 4 births per 1000 girls aged 15-19, up from a 10-year low of 25.
Mom’s mental health tied to development
Independent Online – May 15, 2008
If children get this assistance early, there’s a good chance they will do just fine, Dr. Tough of the University of Calgary in Alberta, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health. But Tough and her team found that more than half of the three-year-olds in their study who were identified as being at high risk for developmental problems had never been referred for assessment to see if they actually did have speech and language delays… While 11 percent of the children were gauged to be at high risk for developmental problems, just 43 percent of these high-risk children had been assessed. Those who were born preterm were more likely to have been identified as at risk, as were children who had undergone hearing tests and those with vision problems. Children were more likely to be at high risk for developmental problems if they were male, had ear infections, came from a low-income environment, or had a mother with poor mental health during the prenatal period and after the child was born. Problems typically included depression, a history of abuse and a poor level of contentment. Fifty-three percent of the children who met each of these criteria were at high risk. However, when the mother’s poor mental health was removed from the equation, the risk fell by 30 percent, to 18 percent. “The big surprise to me in this data was just how important maternal mental health can be,” Tough said.
