International—Key studies, new health policies, health alerts…Discover the selection of the main health news of the last two weeks produced by our international editorial team.
EUROPE
Socio-professional: Thousands of doctors demonstrated in Paris on February 14 to complain about their working conditions, their remuneration and the bureaucracy of the health insurance system.
New: Medical students in France will benefit from a specific education in environmental health as of the next academic year in the form of a compulsory digital educational module.
Specifically, students from 2e et 3e years of medical school will follow an online digital educational module. This MOOC, lasting a total of 6 hours, gives the floor to around thirty experts, doctors, scientists, ecologists, engineers, climate specialists, etc. They present in short videos the principles of One healththe planetary limits, the philosophical evolution of the relationship between man and nature or the action levers to reduce our carbon footprint.
Medical : All hormonal contraceptives may be associated with a low risk of depression or mood disorders. A large French study has just looked into the case of intrauterine devices (IUDs) containing levonorgestrel. It shows that the risk of using antidepressants in the two years following the insertion of the IUD is very slightly increased with a higher dosage of levonorgestrel, 52 mg versus 19.5 mg (RR=1.13). It is particularly important in women under 25 (RR=1.61). On the other hand, no increase in the consumption of anxiolytics or hypnotics was observed.
Spain
Last Tuesday, February 14, was European Sexual Health Day. In Spain, sexually transmitted diseases have increased over the past decademainly among young people.
Socio-professional: 93% of doctors who passed theMIR exam [équivalent des ECN, NDLT] last Saturday, January 21, passed the exam. There were 11,577 applicants, of which 10,792 passed the stage.
Meanwhile, the situation of general practitioners in Spain remains critical. Strikes continue in areas such as Madrid. Last Sundayon February 12, citizens demonstrated in favor of public health care in various regions of Spain, with nearly a million helpers in the capital (according to the organizers).
Socio-professional: In Germany, the Federal Ministry of Health wants to learn from the drug shortages of recent months and is therefore working on a bill to address short-term disruptions and bottlenecks in the supply chain and cover additional needs. The central element is “the obligation to build up stocks for several months”. According to the suggestion, the drugs in question that need to be stored should be sufficient for consumption for about 3 months.
At the same time, a recent survey of its members by the Professional Association of German Internists shows how divided the country’s medical profession is over the much-discussed hospital reform proposals by the coalition government in Berlin.
AMERICAS
Medical : A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly 3 teenagers out of 5 in the United States constantly feel sad or hopeless and that almost one in five have experienced sexual violence in the past year, a 20% spike since 2017.
The data, which looked at more than 17,000 male and female students in grades nine to 12 between 2011 and 2021, shows that 57% of teenage girls reported feeling constantly sad or hopeless in 2021, an increase of 60% compared to the previous decade.
In response to another crisis in the United States, that of opioids, an advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration gave its fire verton Thursday to an over-the-counter version of naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal agent. The agency still has to officially approve this measure before the drug can be sold without a prescription.
While an average of 3,000 people still die each week from Covid-19 in the United States, vaccine maker Moderna promised last week that it would there would be no charge for its mRNA vaccines when government support will end in May. This does not mean that the company does not intend to increase the price of the vaccine dose to $ 130, but that “Moderna remains committed to ensuring that people in the United States will have access to our vaccines. Covid-19 regardless of their ability to pay,” said declared society in a communiqué.
The other mRNA vaccine maker in the United States, Pfizer, said last fall that‘ he also planned to increase the price of his vaccines by a roughly equivalent amount, explaining that “anyone who has commercial or public insurance and is eligible for vaccination should be able to access the vaccine without having to pay a penny”.
Mexico
Socio-professional: On February 7, the Durango State Attorney General’s Office arrested 3 suspected perpetrators of fungal meningitis outbreak, which, as of February 9, has accumulated 79 confirmed cases and 35 deaths, including 34 postpartum women. Among those arrested is the anesthetist Omar “N”, who is accused of professional misconduct in the 4 hospitals where the cases were generated.
Latin America
Medical : According to a Latin American study In nearly 8,000 people between the ages of 20 and 65 (half of them women) who participated in the Latin American Nutrition and Health Study (ELANS), sitting for more than 8 hours a day leads to greater likelihood of being overweight or obese, unlike spending 4 hours a day sitting. The cross-sectional survey included representative samples of urban populations from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Median time spent sitting was 420 minutes per day, being lowest in Ecuador (300 min/day) and highest in Argentina and Peru (480 min/day).
AFRICA
Equatorial Guinea confirmed last Monday, February 13, the very first outbreak of the Marburg virus disease. According to the WHO, preliminary tests were carried out after the death of at least nine people in the east of the country and one of them came back positive. The Marburg virus causes hemorrhagic fever with a mortality rate of up to 88%.
According to’OMSa seasonal Lassa fever epidemic is ongoing in Nigeria.
ASIA
Turkey and Syria
The earthquakes in southeastern Turkey, the worst in more than 80 years, not only caused huge loss of life in Turkey and Syria, but also left thousands injured, displaced people from their homes and caused significant damage or collapse to many buildings, including at least 15 hospitals, theWorld Health Organization February 17. Many other health facilities were also significantly affected.
Chine
China’s senior leaders have declared a « decisive victory» on Covid-19, claiming the lowest death rate in the world, although experts have cast doubt on Beijing’s data after it was largely sidelined for three years. At the same time, EU countries agreed to phase out Covid-19 restrictions on travelers from Chinawhich had been put in place to guard against possible new variants of the coronavirus after the reopening of China caused an upsurge in cases.
*Contributors to this article Aude Lecrubier (Medscape French edition), Claudia Bravo (Medscape in Spanish), Leoleli Schwartz (Medscape in Portuguese), Vanessa Sibbald (Medscape UK), Maria Baena (Univadis Spain), Brenda Goodman (Medscape United States), editorial staff Coliquio (Germany), Daniela Ovadia (Univadis Italy).
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