Global Mortality

waltky · Mar 15, 2016

Deadly environments...

Nearly One Quarter of Global Deaths Environmentally Linked
March 15, 2016 A new World Health Organization study estimates nearly one quarter of all annual global deaths - 12.6 million yearly - are from unhealthy environmental causes. The U.N. agency says most of these deaths could be prevented if steps were taken to improve environmental conditions.

The report says environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution; chemical exposure; climate change and ultraviolet radiation cause more than 100 diseases and injuries. It says the South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions have the highest number of environmentally linked deaths. A decade ago, the biggest killers were infectious diseases, such as diarrhea and malaria, linked to poor water, sanitation and waste management. During the past 10 years, death from infectious diseases has declined because an increasing number of people have gained access to safe water and sanitation. The report finds non-communicable diseases linked to unhealthy environments now account for the largest share of global deaths.

A woman holds her son, suffering from dengue fever, as she sits under a mosquito net inside a dengue ward of a local hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

WHO Public Health and Environmental Chief Maria Neira says among them, 8.2 million deaths are attributable to air pollution, including exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. Non-communicable diseases are one of the most important epidemics and public health problems that we are facing today. So, if we could remove those environmental risk factors, we can ensure a major decrease on the incidence and prevalence of those chronic diseases, said Neira.

The WHO report says stroke, heart diseases, cancers, and chronic respiratory disease amount to nearly two-thirds of the total deaths caused by unhealthy environments. Neira told VOA it would be far more cost effective for nations to spend less money on treatment and more on prevention. Ninety-seven percent of the medical expenditure, which are trillions of dollars, are going to treatment of a disease - medical care. And, only three percent of those resources are going to prevention, she said. WHO recommends improving the environment and preventing diseases by the use of clean technologies and fuels for domestic cooking, heating and lighting; increasing access to safe water and sanitation, improving urban transit and building energy-efficient housing.

http://www.voanews.com/content/near...al-deaths-environmentally-linked/3236963.html
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sawyer · Mar 20, 2016

waltky said: ↑

Deadly environments...

Nearly One Quarter of Global Deaths Environmentally Linked
March 15, 2016 A new World Health Organization study estimates nearly one quarter of all annual global deaths - 12.6 million yearly - are from unhealthy environmental causes. The U.N. agency says most of these deaths could be prevented if steps were taken to improve environmental conditions.
Click to expand...

Yes it's true, poor third world countries with oppressive and mostly socialist government suffer from extreme pollution. Rich capitalist countries like America can afford to be cleaner and greener.

OldManOnFire · Mar 20, 2016

sawyer said: ↑

Yes it's true, poor third world countries with oppressive and mostly socialist government suffer from extreme pollution. Rich capitalist countries like America can afford to be cleaner and greener.
Click to expand...

If we think about the pollution from trillions of fossil fuel burning machines each day, other air-bound pollution from coal-fired power generation and myriad oil and chemical factories, all the herbicides and pesticides poured onto our lands reaching rivers and streams and reservoirs, lead in the water, and everything we've done to pollute the oceans, including human and animal population growth, all of it happening in a somewhat finite closed system, it is no surprise to me that illness and deaths are being associated with our environment. If anything might be a surprise...it's that we don't currently have worse problems...

waltky · Aug 3, 2017

Uncle Ferd says, "Yeah - workin' is hazardous to yer health...

Older People Dying on Job at Higher Rate Than All Workers
August 02, 2017 - Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics.

It's a trend that's particularly alarming as baby boomers reject the traditional retirement age of 65 and keep working. The U.S. government estimates that by 2024, older workers will account for 25 percent of the labor market. Getting old - and the physical changes associated with it - "could potentially make a workplace injury into a much more serious injury or a potentially fatal injury," said Ken Scott, an epidemiologist with the Denver Public Health Department. Gerontologists say those changes include gradually worsening vision and hearing impairment, reduced response time, balance issues and chronic medical or muscle or bone problems such as arthritis.

In 2015, about 35 percent of the fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older - or 1,681 of the 4,836 fatalities reported nationally. William White, 56, was one of them. White fell 25 feet while working at Testa Produce Inc. on Chicago's South Side. He later died of his injuries. "I thought it wouldn't happen to him," his son, William White Jr., said in an interview. "Accidents happen. He just made the wrong move." The AP analysis showed that the workplace fatality rate for all workers - and for those 55 and older - decreased by 22 percent between 2006 and 2015. But the rate of fatal accidents among older workers during that time period was 50 percent to 65 percent higher than for all workers, depending on the year.

Testa Produce Inc. plant on the South Side of Chicago, July 20, 2017. Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statist

The number of deaths among all workers dropped from 5,480 in 2005 to 4,836 in 2015. By contrast, on-the-job fatalities among older workers increased slightly, from 1,562 to 1,681, the analysis shows. During that time period, the number of older people in the workplace increased by 37 percent. That compares with a 6 percent rise in the population of workers overall. Ruth Finkelstein, co-director of Columbia University's Aging Center, cautions against stereotyping. She said older people have a range of physical and mental abilities and that it's dangerous to lump all people in an age group together because it could lead to discrimination.

She said she's not sure that older workers need much more protection than younger workers, but agreed there is a need for all workers to have more protection. "We are not paying enough attention to occupational safety in this country," she said. The AP analysis is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census for Fatal Occupational Injuries and from one-year estimates from the American Community Survey, which looks at the working population. It excludes cases where the cause of death was from a "natural cause," including a heart attack or stroke.

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waltky · Nov 3, 2017

Infant mortality improving...

More Children Surviving to Age 5
3 Nov.`17 | WASHINGTON - In the past 25 years, the world has made remarkable progress in saving the lives of young children, according to the latest report from the United Nations.

In 1990, 35,000 children died every day; last year, 15,000 children and babies died daily, the first time that annual child deaths have fallen below the 6 million mark. But most of these deaths could have been prevented, according to a U.N. interagency group that put together this year's report on child mortality. Dr. Flavia Bustreo of the World Health Organization acknowledged the effort it has taken to get to this point. But while the progress is good, it is not enough, she said. "I need to stress these deaths can be prevented. With the scientific knowledge we have, with the interventions we have, with the resources that we have available, these deaths can be prevented," said Bustreo, WHO assistant director-general for family, women's and children's health. And that is the tragedy that coincides with this achievement. The report on child and infant mortality states that every year, millions of children younger than 5 die, mostly from malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. The last two are related to unsanitary conditions.

Malnutrition plays a part

In almost half of these cases, malnutrition weakens the immune system, leaving the child unable to fight off the disease. Bustreo said access to clean water and exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life can reduce an infant's risk of infection. Although more children are living to their fifth birthday, Bustreo says the U.N. report shows that 46 percent of child deaths occur shortly after birth. She said the babies who die in the first months of life are born prematurely. "They (the deaths) are caused by low birth weight. They are caused significantly by sepsis, severe infection that is acquired during the delivery, and they are also caused by asphyxia," Bustreo said.

While in the womb, the fetus floats in amniotic fluid. This fluid is in the fetus' mouth, ears and nose. But after birth, if a baby cannot breathe and the birth attendant, if there is one, does not know how to clear the baby's airways, the baby will suffocate. The report shows the largest number of newborn deaths occurred in Southern Asia (39 percent), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (38 percent). Five countries accounted for half of all newborn deaths: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. Children younger than 5 also are more likely to die from malaria than adults, which is one reason sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia have higher child mortality rates than other parts of the world.

Progress with vaccines

But there are bright spots in the report. A vaccine for yellow fever spared children's lives during an outbreak in Angola last year, and a new vaccine for malaria has proved effective for children. Tanzania has tackled air pollution, improved sanitation, and has worked to provide safe drinking water, which has also had a positive impact on child health there. Bustreo said the concentration of child deaths are increasingly occurring in countries that are either in acute conflict or in a chronic state of strife, such as Somalia, which has the highest child death rate. "That is important because it also links to not just the medical care, but also the social determinants of health, which, of course, include peace, stability and education, particularly girls' education," she said. Bustreo explains that a girl who is educated can take better care of herself, "she does not become pregnant too early, because that is another important social phenomenon that we're seeing that is early pregnancy associated with early and forced child marriage."

Part of the solution lies in multisectorial planning, better training for midwives, training for nurses and vaccines. Bustreo is dismayed that some parents in developed countries are refusing to get their children vaccinated against these diseases. Ongoing outbreaks of measles in Europe have claimed the lives of 35 children so far. She said this trend needs to be tackled aggressively. Parents in low- and middle-income countries want to see their children immunized against measles and other disabling or life-threatening diseases.Despite the overall gains in reducing child mortality, there's a sense of urgency among health officials. The U.N report said if current trends continue, about 60 million children younger than 5 will die between now and 2030, and half of them will be newborns.

http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/255242179/more-children-surviving-to-age-5
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Reiver · Nov 4, 2017

Unsustainable growth will undoubtedly create further inequalities that accentuate death and misery. The 'rich north' has benefited from early industrialisation and, as it maintains its overconsumption, it will demand production that further increases environmental calamity on the 'poor south'.

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