Category: Medical/Health Care

ANKARA: Amid an Israeli order to evacuate the region and continued bombardment, 70% of the population in north Gaza is now deprived of health care, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday.

“After the UN evacuated its centers and stopped providing health care, 70% of the population in North Gaza in now deprived of medical care,” said a ministry statement.

On Friday, the Israeli army ordered over 1 million people to evacuate north Gaza for the southern strip, with a ground operation seen as likely soon.

The order was widely condemned, with the UN and other international actors warning it would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe, and hospitals in Gaza saying many patients were not well enough to travel.

The strict Israel blockade of Gaza since last week – cutting off water, electricity, food, and medical supplies – is also taking a heavy toll on healthcare providers.

In a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, last weekend Israeli forces launched a sustained military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air.

Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening living conditions in an area that has suffered under a crippling siege since 2007.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

In Cyprus, approximately 700 new cases of breast cancer are detected and recorded each year in women and 7 new cases of breast cancer in men, said the Minister of Health, Popi Kanari, addressing the scientific conference on breast cancer organised by Europa Donna Cyprus on Saturday.

As Kanari said, breast cancer affects not only women but also men and its treatment requires the joint effort of the state, science and society.

“Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women and, according to statistics from the European Commission, in 2020 more than 355 thousand cases have been recorded in women in the European Union,” she pointed out.

“In Cyprus, according to the Cancer Archive, approximately 700 new cases of breast cancer are detected and recorded per year in women and seven new cases of breast cancer in men. Of the 700 new cases detected, 70 are non-invasive cancers,” she added.

The Minister of Health also said that the upgrade of the detection programme for breast cancer and the introduction of detection programmes for other forms of cancer, within the framework of European guidelines for cancer, for the purposes of early detection and corresponding treatment, are a priority for the Ministry of Health.

That is why, as she went on to say, the Ministry of Health is going ahead with the introduction and implementation of other population screening programmes, with the ultimate goal of protecting the population.

She noted that the Ministry of Health, taking into account the European guidelines through the European Strategic Plan and the recommendations of the National Cancer Commission, has extended the age limit for preventive mammographic screening to the ages of 45-74.

Kanari also thanked Europa Donna Cyprus for the important work it has been doing for more than 20 years, by supporting women in practice.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Health and Food Safety EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides presented here on Friday the main provisions of the proposed EU pharmaceutical reform which is ‘the embodiment of our vision to build a European Health Union that delivers to our citizens, societies and economies’. Kyriakides delivered on Friday a keynote speech on the pharmaceutical strategy for Europe, in the framework of a conference held at Nicosia University. Noting that the pharmaceutical reform is based on the ‘3 As: Accessibility, Availability and Affordability’ she stressed that it consists the EU’s opportunity to address long-standing challenges and to make sure all patients across Europe have the medicines they need and continue to foster innovation for the EU pharmaceutical industry to remain a world-class innovator. European Commissioner indicated that the pharmaceutical reform includes concrete actions to improve access to medicines in the EU, such as, among others, modulation of the current system of regulatory protection for developers of innovative medicines, so that the incentives better reflect specific public health objectives while safeguarding the competitiveness of the EU and its pharmaceutical sector, a new European alert system with earlier notification of shortages and withdrawals by companies, harmonised reporting criteria and coordinated management of shortages by EMA and measures that facilitate timely market entry of generics and biosimilars once the protection of innovative medicines expires that is expected to increase competition and reduce prices. Commissioner Kyriakides said that at the same time Commission proposes to simplify and modernise the regulatory framework to make it more competitive and innovation friendly. ‘Simplification will result in shorter authorisation times from de facto over 400 days down to 180 days, while maintaining our high standards for the assessment of quality, safety and efficacy,’ she noted ‘We also proposed more digitalisation, better use of data and other future-proofing measures, so we can keep pace with scientific and technological progress and ensure Europe remains an attractive place for investments. ‘We are also putting forward a new toolkit to combat antimicrobial resistance by stimulating enterprise and innovation. This includes the world-pioneering proposal to stimulate the development of game-changing antimicrobials via a transferable exclusivity voucher,’ she added. Kyriakides concluded by expressing confidence that ‘together we can deliver on an ambitious reform that promotes access to medicines for all European patients, while also strengthening our regulatory system so it remains innovation-friendly, competitive, and fit for the future.’

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Health Minister, Popi Kanari, travels on Tuesday to London to promote agreements with British hospitals for the establishment of a hepatology clinic in Cyprus.

According to a Ministry of Health press release, during her stay in the British capital, Kanari will visit hospitals King’s College and Royal Free London to promote the signing of agreements in the framework of which the two hospitals will provide expertise and training for setting up the hepatology clinic in Cyprus.

The Minister will be accompanied by the State Health Services Organisation Chief Executive Officer, Kypros Stavrides.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The World Health Organization’s technical lead on COVID-19 on Wednesday said that new variants of the virus did not change the severity of the disease. “We have not detected a change in severity,” Maria Van Kerkhove responded to Anadolu’s question during a press briefing in Geneva. She was referring to variants such as BA.2.86 (Pirola), XBB.1.15, EG.5 (Eris) and XBB.1.16. “The good news is that our countermeasures work,” Kerkhove said. She noted that the current COVID-19 vaccines remain “safe and effective” to prevent severe virus-related diseases and deaths. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was part of the same press briefing, also drew attention to the concerning trends of COVID-19 as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere. Tedros said both hospitalizations and emergency (ICU) admissions have increased in the past 28 days, particularly in the Americas and Europe, while vaccination levels among the most at-risk groups remain “worryingly low.” Two-thirds of the global population has received a complete primary series, but only one-third has received an additional or booster dose, he added. ‘COVID-19 may no longer be the acute crisis it was two years ago, but that does not mean we can ignore it,’ he said. ‘Countries invested so much in building their systems to respond to COVID-19. We urge countries to sustain those systems, to ensure people can be protected, tested, and treated for COVID and other infectious threats.’ – Libyan floods Tedros underlined that WHO is working closely with Libya’s Ministry of Health to assess the needs on the ground after the Sept. 10 floods, provide supplies, and restore primary healthcare services, especially for routine immunization and mental health. ‘Only a third of hospitals and half of the primary health centers remain fully functional due to structural damage to health facilities and hospitals, lack of medicine and medical equipment, and shortages of health workers,’ he said. He added that affected communities are facing the threat of mosquito- and water-borne diseases, and acute mental distress. To support this effort, he said, the WHO has requested $11 million and disbursed $2.3 million from the Contingency Fund for Emergencies. According to the WHO, more than 4,000 people are dead, while over 8,500 people are missing, and the number of displaced has passed 30,000. Rescue teams continue search operations in the sea for survivors of the Sept. 10 floods in eastern Libya, according to officials.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

Health officials feared a deepening public health crisis in Bangladesh as authorities on Monday reported 18 more deaths due to mosquito-borne dengue fever.

With new casualties in the past 24 hours, the death toll rose to 416, including 318 in Dhaka, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The total number of dengue cases rose to 87,891 since January this year. Of the total cases, 43,665 were reported from Dhaka, showed DGHS data.

Last year, 281 people died due to dengue, the second highest in history after the South Asian country started keeping records in 2000.

Public health experts saw no sign of immediate improvement in the dengue situation.

July this year reported 8-time higher dengue cases compared to the last corresponding year.

Benazir Ahmed, former director (disease control) of the DGHS, told Anadolu that the dengue cases have already crossed the number projected by local entomologists and WHO.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday termed Bangladesh’s dengue situation endemic and suggested swift measures, including entomological surveillance.

‘The growing dengue infection has already overwhelmed the hospitals in Dhaka. Patients are seen taking treatment on the floors and verandas of government-run hospitals. Medicines crisis, including saline and fluid, affected the patients most which have already forced the authorities to allow imports of certain medicines,’ he added.

The worrying development is that the dengue, which earlier affected Dhaka city, has been spreading across the country, all 64 districts, since July. ‘Yet we failed to develop strong surveillance in Dhaka in the past 23 years. We fear that such a fragile situation will prevail in other cities too for the next couple of years,’ he warned.

Dengue is a viral infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes but there is no specific treatment for dengue.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s climate conditions are becoming more favorable for the transmission of dengue and other vector-borne diseases due to excessive rainfall, waterlogging, flooding, rise in temperature, and the unusual shifts in the country’s traditional seasons.

‘Dengue is now recorded in winter due to temperature rise and climate change effect,’ Dr. Ahmed added.

Source: Anadolu Agency