Chronic Diseases Bigger Threat than Terrorism

0 Comments read Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 29.02.2008 (IPS): International health experts and activists are calling for immediate global action to avert the looming epidemic of preventable chronic diseases which will kill 388 million people in the next decade, threatening economies in the developed and developing worlds.

Poor diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use are said to be contributing to preventable chronic diseases including heart disease/stroke, diabetes, cancers and chronic lung disease responsible for nearly 60 percent of the world’s
deaths.

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Screening & vaccine protect women against cervical cancer

0 Comments read Cancer, Gender, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 26.02.2008 (Women’s Feature Service): After a routine Pap smear test, Susan Tailford was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 41. Each year in Australia, about 1,000 cases of cervical cancer result in the deaths of over 200 women.

“The shock of being diagnosed with any form of cancer is quite devastating. You want to blame someone, especially for a wart virus that was contracted through sexual intercourse. As there had been very few men in my life, my anger went from my ex-husband to my current partner. My ex-husband wasn’t around so my current partner had to cope with my anger and mood swings,” says Susan, a mother of two daughters.

Unlike some other cancers, cervical cancer is not hereditary. Almost all cases of cervical cancer are associated with some strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a sexually-transmitted virus.

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Grudging support for new cluster munitions treaty

0 Comments read Nuclear Disarmament
Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 20.02.2008 (IPS): Six-year-old Umarvek Pulodov was playing in the dining room of his home in Shul village, Tajikistan, when a cluster bomb pierced through the roof, instantly killing his brother, cousin and another relative and severely injuring him, his sister and two younger brothers.

“I lost my right eye and the bomblet tore a huge chunk of flesh from my hand and back. I can still recall that fateful day of Feb. 23, 1992, when in a fraction of a second our entire lives were changed forever,” Umarvek told IPS on the phone from New Zealand’s capital, Wellington.

More than 500 delegates from 120 countries are attending a conference in Wellington to draft an international treaty banning cluster bombs.

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