Category Health & Science

What clinicians need to know when treating polio survivors

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 16.02.2023 (The Medical Republic): While Australia was declared polio-free in 2000, there is a major need to invest in medical care of many of the tens of thousands of people, who contracted poliomyelitis (polio) during the 20th century polio epidemics and are now experiencing what is known as the “late effects of polio” (LEoP) and its subset, the post-polio syndrome (PPS).

“Late effects of polio” is an umbrella term which includes the onset or worsening of residual muscle weakness, joint and muscle pain, severe fatigue, intolerance to cold temperatures and a range of biomechanical symptoms, such as osteoporosis and scoliosis, that occur usually 15 to 40 years after a person contracted the disease. Its subset, the post-polio syndrome, is a diagnosable neurological condition. Its symptoms cross over with late effects of polio and may also include loss of function and difficulties with sleeping, breathing and swallowing.

Most survivors of paralytic polio, and many of those who had non-paralytic polio and people who were never diagnosed with polio, are at risk of experiencing the late effects of polio or post-polio syndrome. Continue reading

Smartphone operated tool uses light beam to detect malaria

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 16.12.2022 (SciDev.Net): A quick, affordable, non-invasive detection tool could help accelerate progress in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ target to eliminate malaria, say researchers who developed it.

The WHO’s global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 aims to reduce malaria incidence and mortality rates by at least 75 per cent by 2025 and at least 90 per cent by 2030 against a 2015 baseline. But by 2021, malaria case incidence and deaths are both off track by 48 per cent. Based on the current trajectories, the world will be off track in reaching the malaria targets by 88 per cent, according to Abdisalan Noor, head of the Strategic Information for Response Unit, WHO Global Malaria Programme.

To help get back on track, researchers from Australia and Brazil have come up with a handheld, smartphone-operated, near-infrared spectrometer that shines infrared light for about five seconds on a person’s ears, arms, or fingers to detect changes in the blood caused by malaria.

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Investing in global agri-R&D also ‘benefits donor countries’

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 09.12.2022 (SciDev.Net): Investment in international agricultural research and development (R&D) not only increases the capacity of lower-income countries to tackle food insecurity and manage natural resources but also brings significant returns to donor countries like Australia, says a study commissioned by the Crawford Fund.

The study makes a case for increasing the proportion of the development assistance budget allocated to international agricultural R&D. “Collaborative research is a two-way learning. Both the recipient and donor countries benefit from the exchange of knowledge, insights, science and technical ideas,” says Neil Byron, lead author of the study launched on 1 December in Canberra.

Currently, only 2.5 per cent of Australia’s aid budget goes to agriculture R&D. “All the evidence suggests that we are seriously underinvesting. We can easily double or triple the [agriculture R&D] aid because the benefits — social, economic and environmental payoffs — are so much greater than the costs,” says Byron, director of Alluvium Consulting Pty Ltd. which prepared the report for the Crawford Fund.

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