Asia > Health

Health in Asia

  • Virulent bird flu strain threatens to spill out of China

    CHINA, 2017/04/30 A new strain of avian influenza that has high pathogenicity in poultry, and which can be deadly for humans, has resurfaced in China with pandemic potential -- prompting calls for a quick and thorough response to halt its advance and contain the changing H7N9 virus. Until recently, H7N9 has shown low pathogenicity, meaning that it may cause mild or no illness in poultry. Evidence from China’s Guangdong province suggests that the new strain has shifted to high pathogenicity in poultry while retaining its capacity to cause severe problems in humans. This is said to be a genetic change that could lead to high mortality for birds within 48 hours of infection and cause high economic losses for those engaged in poultry production and sales.
  • Pioneering Japanese technology New applications developed for ostrich antibody technology

    JAPAN, 2017/04/19 With less than 7 years of history, Zeal Cosmetics has developed not just a good range of skin care products using the revolutionary ostrich antibody technology, but as well applied the benefits of it to an air-linen spray and a dietary supplement for people with diabetes. In partnership with renowned research institutions and professionals, Zeal President and CEO Osamu Maeda is committed to keep providing innovative products that can improve people’s lives. What’s incomparable about Ostrich antibodies and Zeal’s technology?
  • Flu season: Ways for travelers to protect themselves from springtime bugs

    WORLD, 2017/03/05 Compared to recent years, the 2016-2017 flu season, presently at its peak, is shaping up to be relatively severe. In the US, the flu hospitalization rate was 29.4 per 100,000 people the week of Feb. 10, compared to a rate of 5.1 per 100,000 people during a comparable week in 2016, and pneumonia and mortality rates have presently passed epidemic thresholds. For those taking chance of off-season deals and Spring Break vacations to travel in March, this trend may be particularly alarming – next all, experts say crowded spaces, new germs, recirculated air, and jet lag can make travelers additional vulnerable to the flu.
  • New Zanzibar hospital funded by China

    TANZANIA, 2016/09/04 The final touches are being made to a new hospital in Zanzibar with Chinese government investment of additional than 100 million yuan ($15 million). The Abdulla Mzee Hospital in Pemba is due to open in September. The facility has been built on the site of a hospital that was as well funded by the Chinese government in 1970. The new hospital has 160 beds, compared with 61 at the old one.
  • Health care spending on the rise in Myanmar

    MYANMAR, 2015/12/28 Higher budget allocations for infrastructure and technology are set to create new opportunities for Myanmar’s private health care sector, inclunding international health service providers and suppliers, as the country works to address gaps in staffing and facilities. Although patients or their families currently account for the vast majority of health expenditures in Myanmar – nearly 93% of health care spending was out of pocket in 2012, according to the World Bank – this is expected to change as the government moves ahead with plans to cover all citizens by 2030. State of pay To achieve this, Myanmar will need to significantly increase spending on health services and related infrastructure, particularly in rural areas of the country, where roughly 70% of Myanmar’s people of 51m lives.
  • Chinese first lady attends anti-AIDS activity in South Africa

    CHINA, 2015/12/08 Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, attended an anti-AIDS advocacy activity here on Saturday, pledging to support Africa's medical and health programs. Peng was here accompanying President Xi for the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. China will consistently support the African nations in fighting AIDS, support the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) on AIDS prevention and control in Africa, and support Africa's programs on medical infrastructure inclunding women's and children's healthcare, said Peng.
  • China to help Ebola-hit Guinea hone health care capacity

    CHINA, 2015/12/08 Chinese President Xi Jinping met here Thursday with Guinean President Alpha Conde and pledged to help the West African country once beset with an Ebola outbreak strengthen public health systems. Beijing is pleased to see that Guinea has beaten the Ebola virus, Xi said, recalling that at the same time as the crisis broke out last year, his country, out of its brotherly bond with Guinea, took the lead in providing assistance. China, he added, will continue to send medical teams to Guinea and support Conakry developing public health and epidemic prevention networks and promoting its capacity-building in this vital public-welfare area.
  • Development of Chinese Anti-Malaria Medicine Beneficial to Developing Countries

    CHINA, 2015/10/09 Guinea's Deputy Coordinator for the National Anti-Malaria Program Dr. Timothee Guilavogui on Monday expressed confidence that "the development of traditional Chinese medicine will contribute to helping developing nations to resolve their public health problems."I Interview in Conakry, Guilavogui hailed Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou for her research that led to the discovery of Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria. On Monday, Madam Tu, alongside Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura were jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that helped doctors fight malaria and infections caused by roundworm parasites. According to the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, Tu won half of the prize while Campbell and Omura were jointly awarded the other half of the prize. She is the initial Chinese women national to win a Nobel Prize.
  • Vietnam reports surge in dengue fever cases in first 9 months

    VIETNAM, 2015/09/30 Vietnam reported some 32, 900 dengue fever patients in the initial nine months of this year, inclunding 18 fatalities, compared with the respective figures of 18,800 and 15 in the same period last year, the country's General Statistics Office said Tuesday. In September alone, Vietnam saw over 10,000 cases of dengue fever infections, inclunding 6 fatalities.
  • China is drawing up a plan to help Sierra Leone

    CHINA, 2015/09/29 China is drawing up a plan to help Sierra Leone and two other Ebola-inflicted African nations with economic and social reconstruction and mutually beneficial cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Sunday. During his conference with Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma in New York, Xi said relations between their two nations are a real testimony to the phrase "a friend in need is a friend indeed." Next the Ebola epidemic broke out in Sierra Leone last year, China instantly responded to President Koroma's call, sending emergency medical support and playing a leading and exemplary role for the international community, the president recalled.