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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System --------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Jun 2006 Title: New information in diseases in Africa --------------------------------------------------------------- By Lavinia Mahlangu, tel: (012) 314 2175 There had been "dramatic advancement" in information on health, diseases and demographics in Sub-Saharan Africa, a World Bank report launched in Cape Town today revealed. "This new edition of Disease and Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa represents a dramatic advancement in knowledge about illness and disease in Sub-Saharan Africa since its first publication in 1991," said Eduard Bos, Lead Population Specialist of the World Bank. "New sources of health and demographic information have become available as a result of unprecedented international interest in health conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa." The report's launch seminar, jointly organised by the World Bank and the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), included discussions by several of the editors and authors of the book and was chaired by Professor Anthony Mbewu, President of the MRC. According to the new report, TB had re-emerged as a leading cause of death for adults, and malaria mortality of children increased during the 1990s. The report is also said to show that one in six African children died from both preventable and treatable diseases, before reaching their fifth birthday. "While the authors of the first edition anticipated the potentially ruinous impact of HIV/AIDS, the latest report describes the subsequent depth and breadth of the physical and social costs that the epidemic is inflicting on Africa 15 years later," Mr Bos said. The MRC said the new report also showed how illness and deaths from other causes had changed against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic, as well as in the context of demographic and economic changes that have affected the health of the population in the region. The report said more countries were now faced with a dual burden of disease: while illness caused by infectious diseases persisted especially among poor people, non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancers, were rapidly increasing due to changes in lifestyles and aging populations. The report, said the MRC, also reflects that not all trends had been negative. "Uganda has seen falling prevalence of HIV/AIDS; southern Africa has virtually eliminated deaths from measles; and across Africa, onchocerciasis or river-blindness control has continued to improve during the 1990s. "But the continued success of such efforts depends on both the monitoring of disease indicators and the effectiveness of programs to address them." Given the looming proximity of 2015, the year when the Millennium Development Goals fall due, the new report said developing countries and their wealthy country donors must assign greater priority to improving their disease surveillance. Countries and their donors were also urged to share public information more quickly, and to adopt the best evidence-based policy steps to prevent and treat diseases, which the report said continued to exact too high a social and economic cost on the poorest Africans and their families. The report contains 24 chapters contributed by 70 authors and would be an invaluable resource to those working in the health sector - in epidemiology, public health, population and reproductive health, and health policy - whether in government, research, academia, consulting, or operations, the MRC said.-BuaNews |
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