World of Health

A new website, backed up by a hard hitting campaign, has been launched by 14 councils across the Yorkshire and Humber reasons in a unique bid to champion the roles that are played by children’s social workers, and to highlight the difficult but rewarding job that they do.

Children’s social workers across the country are currently have to deal with a record breaking number of cases, and in the Yorkshire and Humber region alone, they were called on to help and support over 74.000 children in 2010. The council has joined forces with another 14 to ensure that the standard of care that vulnerable children so badly need will continue to improve.

A video has been produced to promote the new website, and while there are no images in the video, the words projected on the screen, highlighting the kind of problems that children’s social workers deal with on a daily basis, are nevertheless heart wrenching.

We read about children left alone while their parents go abroad on holiday, a young an vulnerable girl who end up pregnant at 12, physical and mental abuse, neglect, it makes difficult reading but this is the reality of life when you are a children’s social worker, one of the hardest jobs in the world.

The campaign is operating under the banner of ‘Children’s Social Work Matters’ and is also a recruitment drive to attract more children’s social workers to the region, which is the largest region in the UK, and also to change the many misconception that exist about this vital service.

On the website you will be able to see real life stories told on video by some of the children’s social workers in the region, and they also explain how they manage to deal with both the complexities and the challenges that such a job entails. You will also get to meet the team of social work champions who will be dealing with online questions about the role they play and just what it takes to be a successful children’s social worker.

A report published on Tuesday has indicated that a malaria vaccine will be partially successful in protecting children against the deadly disease. Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist who funded the research, described it as “a significant milestone in combatting the disease.”

Andrew Witty, the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline has said about the vaccine, “This vaccine will half the risk in young children who are less than 17 months old. It is this kind of work that GSK is doing that shows we care about health problems in the developing world as well.”

While clinical trials have shown great promise for the vaccine, more research is needed before it is known exactly how effective it will be. It is estimated that malaria kills around 800,000 people every year. The World Health Organisation has said that this is a reduction on the near 1 million deaths that were occurring 10 years ago.

It was just five years ago when Mr Gates stated that his ultimate philanthropic goal was to eradicate malaria. He has invested over $1.75 billion in combatting the disease. He also stated that this is just the first vaccine that has been developed, a second-generation vaccine is already in the pipeline and this should be even more effective at preventing the spread of the disease via the malaria parasite.

There are many drugs on the market that are used to prevent malaria, but the sheer cost of these makes their use in developing countries impossible. A vaccine is a much more cost-effective way of preventing malaria, especially in the long term.

It has been shown that vaccines can be effective against parasites, as well as bacteria and viruses as was previously known. The vaccine works by causing an immune response in the body to the parasite.

It has been in development since the 1980s and $500 million has been spent by the US government, GSK and the Gates foundation combined. Mr Gates also commented, “It has been shown to have a long-term effect of protecting 50% of people. This has the potential to save thousands of lives.”

The cost of the vaccine is currently unknown, but GSK have said that they intend to sell it at 5% above the production costs. The company also said that the profits from the vaccine will be used to research other vaccines for malaria  and other neglected diseases. Discussions will soon begin between donor groups and the drug company.

The most severe form of malaria can kill and this vaccine was found to reduce the chance of developing this type of malaria by nearly 50%. This was only found to be in the one specific age group and outside of that it was less effective. For example in children between five and 17-months old the vaccine was only found to be effective in one third of cases.

Nicholas White a Bangkok-based physician has said, “This vaccine is an incredible achievement, but it is only partially effective. There are also some significant side-effects which occurred in the test groups. Those taking the vaccine were much more likely to develop meningitis.” There are also some other problems with the vaccine, one of these is the logistical problem that it has to be kept cold. This can be a problem when distributing the vaccine in Africa.

If the vaccine makes it to market and donor buyers can be found then Glaxo said that it will probably manufacture the vaccine in low cost countries such as India or Africa. However, until the company knows the demand for the vaccine, it won’t know how much to produce.

One of the best ways today of getting a message across is to release a hard hitting short video that is thought provoking, maybe slightly shocking but really gets the message across. Long used as a marketing medium, other ‘commodities’, such as charities, are also using videos to get their point across, and a new short video from Cancer Research UK certainly pulls no punches.

This animation deals with something most of us have, belly fat, aka a spare tyre. Most of us think nothing of it, despite moaning occasionally the majority of us have a flab on our bellies than any other part of out bodies. These fat cells are far from innocent though, as this video explains.

These seemingly innocent fat cells quickly turn into something called ‘active fat’ which can be very dangerous and the cause of such diseases as cancer, type 2diabetes and heart disease. Three leading health charities have got together to tell us how to beat these vicious active fat cells and this is the first video in a series.

The first step is to get an accurate waist measurement, and it explains exactly how to do this as many of us are confused as to where we should actually measuring. The video tells us that your waist should be measured between the bottom rib and the hip to achieve the most accurate measurement.

It also gives the website address www.activefat.org to check where our waist measurements place us in terms of health, and there are also lots of other help and advice on there regarding fighting back against active belly fat. This is video isn’t pretty, and its not meant to be, as it gets across the message of the possible results of carrying around this belly fat and not doing anything about it.

You may not have had to undergo a blood transfusion yourself, but the majority of us know someone who has at some time had to be given blood as the result of an illness, accident or during surgery. While most think that somewhere deep in the bowels of a hospital there is a never ending supply of blood waiting to be used, this is far from reality.

Yes hospitals have a store, but how do they get extra or rare blood if there is an emergency situation? The answer is through a nationwide team of volunteers who run ‘blood bikes’. These are ordinary people who volunteer in their own time, mainly during the night, to collect and deliver blood wherever and whenever it is needed. They pay for all their own fuel too, thus costing the NHS nothing for this vital service.

A new video has been released showing one of these volunteers. Explains that when the call comes they have no idea who the patient is, or what is wrong with them, they simply jump on their bikes and get the blood from A to B as quickly as possible. The guy in the video tells how he mainly rides at night, and how it feels, at times, to be the only vehicle on the A1 motorway in the middle of the night while everyone sleeps.

The video is sponsored by Honda as this particular ‘blood biker’ uses a Honda as his work bike, due to their speed and reliability. This is an incredibly thought provoking insight into a group of people that many don’t even realise exist. This is true charity work as they get nothing from it except the knowledge that they could have saved another life. After watching this video, you will think very differently about blood supplies to hospitals.

Fishing is being used in Scottish hospitals for mental health patients as a way of therapy. A group of nurses in Clyde and Greater Glasgow and Dykebar and Leverndale from two NHS mental health hospitals hit about the idea to help calm the patients down and are now taking them out fishing.

A nursing assistant said they are finding it extremely therapeutic and their thought is that angling will help a number of the patients as they would benefit from the experience. They want to improve their patient’s quality of life and include a change in their everyday routine. The managers gave immediate and brilliant feedback to establish a plan with the results surpassing all their hopes.

The patients love the trips and even the rain and wind has not put them off. They take out groups of between eight and 10 patients to teach them the basics of fishing with the aim to give them a new life skill while creating a challenge for them and a sense of achievement. The patients that go out are the ones from the long tern ward and for many the trips may be their only time to get out and about.

‘Just amazing and inspirational’ Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 presenter

Defying medical wisdom by recovering from Lock-in Syndrome a young mother of three wrote a book about her experience in less than a year and has been named the 2011 Extraordinary Woman of the Year.

Caused by a severe blood clot in her brainstem, Kate Allatt, 39, businesswoman and fell-runner suffered a massive stroke on February 7, 2010. She was only able to blink her eyes in order to communicate after being completely paralysed by the stroke. Her family was warned by doctors that her chance of survival was only 50/50 and if she survived she would never talk, walk, swallow or lead a normal life.

Kate walked onto the stage, on Tuesday May 10, and gave a speech thanking organizers for the award at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham while accepting the award at the Extraordinary Women conference and award ceremony. She learned to talk and walk after eight difficult and hard months of work and determination.

She was discharged last September from the hospital and returned home to her husband Mark and three children. With regular therapy sessions since then, she has continually improved her speech and her movements. She ran her first 20m at a charity fun run on the first anniversary of her stroke as 200 people looked on.

On May 19 she launches her autobiography Running Free: Breaking Out from Locked-on Syndrome after signing a publishing deal with Accent Press Ltd.

Her defiant recovery impressed judges who named her the Extraordinary Woman of the Year 2011 and winner of the Extraordinary Personal Endeavour category.

Kate said: ‘It’s been an interesting year. This time last year when I was lying in a hospital bed willing my fingers to move, my family and friends would never have imagined I would be standing on a stage accepting awards. Yet the thought that I would never be a mum again always inspired me to walk and talk again and my family and friends have helped me to get where I am today. My motto has always been “life is without limits, push them”.

‘By winning this award I hope to help other survivors of locked-in syndrome and their families, by showing that you don’t have to accept limits on your recovery.’

Hazel Cushion, MD, of Accent Press Ltd, said: ‘I am delighted that Kate has won this award. She is such an inspiration. I first met Kate via Facebook when she was still in hospital and using just one hand to communicate her story to the world. She has made an amazing recovery and really lives up to the title of Extraordinary Woman of the Year.‘

Over just the last two years the number of malaria infections has increased by over 30% in UK residents. In 2010 there were more than 1,700 new cases per figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA). The majority of the cases are among those that have visited in the past decade South Asia and West Africa.

Malaria is the world’s second largest killer and the HPA is warning travelers to take their advice as to how to avoid the sickness. Each year since 2008 the numbers have increased and in 2010 alone, more than 40% UK residents that had contracted the disease had visited Ghana or Nigeria and 11% had been to India.

The HPA believes that the travellers may have thought they knew the area they were travelling to and did not think they were in risk or that the did not seek or were unable to get access to advise about the prevention of malaria.

Also, it is these types of travellers, because they tend to stay for longer periods of time that are more prone to contract the disease. And because they usually stay with family and friends than hotels or resorts they are exposed to the same risks that local people are exposed to.

Travellers need to take precautions before arriving. They need to get advice and take medication before they travel. Even those that have live in the UK and are just visiting family where they grew are not going to be immune to the disease. There are some that believe that once you have contracted the disease once you cannot contract it again and this is a fallacy.

In Africa alone it accounted for more that 20% of the childhood death and continues to be a very devastating disease in developing countries with only tuberculosis killing more people worldwide.

The spread of malaria is through mosquitoes in tropical areas and it cannot be transmitted for person to person. Symptoms are fever, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, nausea and diarrhoea. Medical experts are quick to point out that malaria is a very deadly disease but it is also very preventable.

A new campaign to raise awareness about Lyme disease and tick bits is being spearheaded by Ray Mears, survivalist and TV presenter. He says there are not enough people that know about the disease as he spoke to kick off the tick bite prevention week. In the UK cases of Lyme disease are increasing with over 3,000 cases per year being reported says the Health Protection Agency.

The latest figures available show that Welsh residents accounted for 18 laboratory confirmed cases of the disease in 2009, the last year of available figures. In 2009 confirmed cases for England and Wales rose from 813 in 2008 to 973 in 2009 with over 80% of infections being contracted in the UK.

While outside in good weather you and your family need to be protected against tick bites in order to reduce your risk of Lyme disease. In rare cases the disease because chronic and there is not enough information known by people about the disease.

Infected Ixodid ticks cause the disease they bite someone and there are numerous high risk areas such as – woodland areas in the south and south western England, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, North York moors, Thetford Forest and the South Downs.

It is also very widespread in Europe from the southernmost Scandinavia countries to northern Spain and Portugal and east to many eastern and central European countries. Symptoms for Lyme disease and usually the only symptom is an ever so slow expanding pink and reddish rash called erythema migraines that usually moves outwards from the site of the tick bite and resembles a bullseye pattern.

Flu-like systems are also common such as muscle and joint pains and a fever. If it is not properly treated the disease can affect the nervous system where one can have facial palsy, viral meningitis and radiculitis, an inflammation that can lead to pain, clumsiness of movement and disturbance of sensation. The impact can be enormous on the individual and the family and it is imperative that as the weather gets warmer and we move outside it is important to be vigilant for the presence of the ticks.

If you don’t suffer from a mental illness yourself, the chances are that you will know someone who does. This indicates just how many people now suffer from mental health issues. So why is it still something that the majority of us are reluctant to talk about? A nationwide campaign called ‘It’s Time to Talk, it’s time to change’ is being launched in May by the ‘Time for Change’ anti discrimination programme.

Their aim is to remove the stigma and to talk to sufferers without making them feel inferior. That may sound harsh, but many do feel inferior, and isolated, and different. Having a mental illness affects every single aspect of their lives. Families often find it difficult to accept that one of them has a mental illness. Friends may be awkward around them and be stuck for words, resulting in the sufferer feeling even worse.

Imagine what it’s like for them going for jobs. If they are happy to talk about their mental illness and aren’t ashamed of it, the chances are they won’t get the job. Many of these illnesses can be controlled by medication in the same way that Asthma is controlled by an inhaler or a nebuliser. There are no prizes for guessing between the asthmatic and the mental health sufferer who would get the job.

The stigma must be removed, and that is why so many celebrities are backing the campaign. Everybody thinks they are fine about mental illness, until they come into contact with it. Many sufferers report that before they succumbed to it, they didn’t realise how strangely people would react to it. They wished they had made the effort to accept it as part of society, as they now felt isolated and ashamed.

Nobody should ever feel ashamed of suffering from an illness over which they have no control, but those with mental health issues do. This is due to the attitude of everyone around them, and their reluctance to really talk to the sufferer and try to understand. These are the same person they have always been; they just now have an illness. Would they treat a Diabetic like this?

We all need to support this campaign and make the effort. If you know someone with a mental illness talk to them, listen to what they have to say.  Learn what you can about the various types of mental illness and what the sufferers are going through. Above all don’t make them feel like outcasts, embrace them and accept them. The difference you can make to their lives by doing this is phenomenal.

How do you fancy a free health assessment done completely online? You can now do just that, thanks to Bupa International.

They have added a new section based on health to their website, and it is in this section you will find the assessments. There are more than 50 fact sheets available to view and a whole series of health themed pages including videos and articles giving full explanations into all kinds of medical issues.

The online health assessments have been designed to be user friendly and easily allow people to find the answers quickly to any health related questions.

These new  health assessments will firstly ask a series of questions to determine the risk factors of their lifestyle. Once the assessment is finished, the user will get a report based on the answers they have given and tips on how to improve their lifestyle, if need be. It takes less that 10 minutes to complete the assessment, and could end up saving your life.
The health assessments on the site include maternity, diet, stress, fitness, heart disease risk and breast cancer risk.

First time users are asked to register so that Bupa can get some very basic personal information, which is important for the quality of the assessments. This also means that returning users won’t have to enter the same information again the next time they visit. First time users will have to register an email address and a chosen password, which is a different login from the one currently used by Bupa International Members for Membersworld.

On the main ‘Health Information’ page users can find links to Bupa’s A-Z list of factsheets and the health theme pages. All the content has been written by Bupa’s medical team and reviewed by doctors or clinical professionals.