Home


About DLHA



Login/Subscribe



Editorial


  Health news
and reports by
Country
 

  Search
News and
Databases
 

  Community
Consumer
Professional
Health Industry
Jobs, Grants, Ads
 

  Links to world
health resources
 


Contact us


LogOut

 


Welcome Guest    

ADVISORY BOARD

Akintola B. Odutola
(Founder/ Publisher)
Dr. Lola Dare
(Member)
Dr. Freddie Ssengooba
(Member)
Prof. Paget Stanfield
(Member)
Dr. Annie S. Wesley
(Member)
Prof. Mamoun Homeida
(Member)

  Title: Breast Cancer in Lower-Income Countries

In some of the lowest-income African countries, the overwhelming reality of breast cancer is the high burden of mortality in the setting of relatively low incidence. The ratio of the mortality rate to incidence is 0.69 in Africa, as compared with 0.19 in North America. This high ratio results partly from incomplete reporting of disease but largely reflects the high proportion of women who present with late-stage disease, which is not curable even in wealthy countries.

Read more

Posted Date: 1/28/2008

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.

          
Title: Nigeria: Appalling prison conditions

The deplorable state of Nigeria's prisons has been so over-flogged it has become a permanent standard for assessing a government that is uncaring of its citizens, particularly the disadvantaged, as strident calls for prison reform have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. And it is indeed amazing that Bayo Ojo (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation and a long-term member of Nigeria's justice system, will only now 'discover' and express alarm at the high figure of 65 per cent of inmates in the country's prisons being detainees awaiting trial. This national average obscures figures as high as 96 per cent in Ikoyi prison in Lagos, and underscores the inhumane and unacceptable delay, in many cases, up to as long as seven years, in bringing suspects to trial, even for menial offences.

Read more

Author(s): Editorial - The Guardian, Lagos, Nigeria

Posted Date: 8/3/2006

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.

          
Title: A tax on the sick

Poor countries have long claimed that their people suffer needless sickness and death because the price of medicines is too high. They are right. But in many cases, part of the fault lies in their own policies, which jack up prices by taxing medicines, raw materials for drugs and medical devices.

Six years ago, African leaders pledged to stop putting taxes and import duties on bed nets. These nets protect people from mosquitoes that carry malaria, but are often slapped with high textile tariffs. In many countries, government taxes at least double the price that consumers pay for nets.

In Tanzania, for example, the retail price dropped from $6 to $2.50 when taxes were eliminated, a huge help for families that live on less than a dollar a day. Usage of bed nets soared. But many governments that made the pledge have not followed through so far.

Adding sales tax or value-added tax to medicines is the most regressive form of taxation, and no country should do it.

Read more. Free registration needed to access report.

Copyright: New York Times, July 04, 2006.

Posted Date: 7/9/2006

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.

          
Title: The hidden epidemic of road-traffic injuries

This year, 1•2 million people will die as the result of road-traffic accidents—accounting for 2% of deaths worldwide—and 50 million will be injured or disabled. The vast majority of this carnage (85%) will occur on the increasingly crowded streets, roads, and highways of the developing world. A report released on June 8 by the Commission for Global Road Safety, draws attention to what developing countries can do to address this public health problem.

Read full editorial

Posted Date: 6/18/2006

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.

          
Title: Getting the right message across on malaria

Although research on malaria needs greater support, the fight against the disease will not be won in the laboratory but with tools in the field, many of which already exist. Improved techniques are needed to communicate this reality to decision-makers.

Read full editorial

Author(s): David Dickson and Priya Shetty

Posted Date: 2/26/2006

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.

          
Title: Bird flu: a wake-up call to the African media

The only way for Africa to combat bird flu successfully is through an effective communication strategy that enables the public to prepare both for outbreaks in their poultry stocks and for a possible human pandemic.

Read full editorial


Author(s): Tom Egwang

Posted Date: 2/26/2006

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.

          
Title: Human resources for community eye care in Africa

Community eye health is about providing eye health care to the people as close as possible to where they live and as much as possible at a price they can afford. It promotes people-centred care rather than the traditional disease-centred eye care services. In order to provide effective and efficient eye care services, we need an adequate number of well-qualified, well-motivated and equitably distributed eye health workers (EHWs).

The reality today is that in most communities in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, there are very few EHWs. Those that are available are overworked, under compensated, unrecognised and very poorly motivated. The managers of district health facilities have no control or input into training, recruitment, compensation or deployment of staff and have limited knowledge or skills in how to motivate the staff working with them. This scenario may have advised the decision to make human resources development one of the main pillars of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight. If the objectives of this global initiative are to be met, then we need to have adequacy in number and quality of well- motivated EHWs at every level of eye care.

Click here to read full editorial

Author(s): Kayode Odusote

Posted Date: 2/18/2006

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this editorial are those of its author(s) and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by DLHA Inc.