More than 3 million people died as a result of harmful use of alcohol in 2016, according a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. This represents one in 20 deaths. More than three quarters of these deaths were among men. Overall, the harmful use of alcohol causes more than five per cent of the global disease burden.

WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 presents a comprehensive picture of alcohol consumption and the disease burden attributable to alcohol worldwide. It also describes what countries are doing to reduce this burden.

“Far too many people, their families and communities suffer the consequences of the harmful use of alcohol through violence, injuries, mental health problems and diseases like cancer and stroke,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “It’s time to step up action to prevent this serious threat to the development of healthy societies.”

Of all deaths attributable to alcohol, 28 per cent were due to injuries, such as those from traffic crashes, self-harm and interpersonal violence; 21 per cent due to digestive disorders; 19 per cent due to cardiovascular diseases, and the remainder due to infectious diseases, cancers, mental disorders and other health conditions.

Despite some positive global trends in the prevalence of heavy episodic drinking and number of alcohol-related deaths since 2010, the overall burden of disease and injuries caused by the harmful use of alcohol is unacceptably high, particularly in the European Region and the Region of Americas.

Globally an estimated 237 million men and 46 million women suffer from alcohol-use disorders with the highest prevalence among men and women in the European region (14.8 per cent and 3.5 per cent) and the Region of Americas (11.5 per cent and 5.1 per cent). Alcohol-use disorders are more common in high-income countries.

An estimated 2.3 billion people are current drinkers. Alcohol is consumed by more than half of the population in three WHO regions – the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific. Europe has the highest per capita consumption in the world, even though its per capita consumption has decreased by more than 10 per cent since 2010. Current trends and projections point to an expected increase in global alcohol per capita consumption in the next 10 years, particularly in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions and the Region of the Americas.

The average daily consumption of people who drink alcohol is 33 grams of pure alcohol a day, roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, a large bottle of beer or two shots of spirits.

Worldwide, more than a quarter of all 15–19-year-olds are current drinkers. Rates of current drinking are highest among 15–19-year-olds in Europe followed by the Americas and the Western Pacific (38 per cent. School surveys indicate that, in many countries, alcohol use starts before the age of 15 with very small differences between boys and girls.

Worldwide, 45 per cent of total recorded alcohol is consumed in the form of spirits. Beer is the second alcoholic beverage in terms of pure alcohol consumed followed by wine Worldwide there have been only minor changes in preferences of alcoholic beverages since 2010. The largest changes took place in Europe, where consumption of spirits decreased by three per cent whereas that of wine and beer increased.

“All countries can do much more to reduce the health and social costs of the harmful use of alcohol,” said Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Coordinator of WHO’s Management of Substance Abuse unit. “Proven, cost-effective actions include increasing taxes on alcoholic drinks, bans or restrictions on alcohol advertising, and restricting the physical availability of alcohol.”

Higher-income countries are more likely to have introduced these policies, raising issues of global health equity and underscoring the need for greater support to low- and middle-income countries.

Almost all countries have alcohol excise taxes, but fewer than half of them use other price strategies such as banning below-cost selling or volume discounts. The majority of countries have some type of restriction on beer advertising, with total bans most common for television and radio but less common for the internet and social media.

“We would like to see Member States implement creative solutions that will save lives, such as taxing alcohol and restricting advertising. We must do more to cut demand and reach the target set by governments of a 10 per cent relative reduction in consumption of alcohol globally between 2010 and 2025,” added Dr Tedros.

Reducing the harmful use of alcohol will help achieve a number of health-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those for maternal and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and mental health, injuries and poisonings.

Measles outbreaks continue to spread rapidly around the world, according to the latest preliminary reports provided to the World Health Organization (WHO), with millions of people globally at risk of the disease.

In the first six months of 2019, reported measles cases are the highest they have been in any year since 2006, with outbreaks straining health care systems, and leading to serious illness, disability, and deaths in many parts of the world. There have been almost three times as many cases reported to date in 2019 as there were at this same time last year.

This follows successive yearly increases since 2016, indicating a concerning and continuing upsurge in the overall measles burden worldwide.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Ukraine have reported the highest numbers of cases this year. However, cases have dramatically decreased in Madagascar in the past several months as a result of nationwide emergency measles vaccine campaigns, highlighting how effective vaccination is in ending outbreaks and protecting health.

Major outbreaks are ongoing in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan and Thailand.

The largest outbreaks are in countries with low measles vaccination coverage, currently or in the past, which has left large numbers of people vulnerable to the disease. At the same time, protracted outbreaks are occurring even in countries with high national vaccination rates. This results from inequities in vaccine coverage, and gaps and disparities between communities, geographic areas, and among age-groups. When enough people who are not immune are exposed to measles, it can very quickly spread.

The United States has reported its highest measles case count in 25 years. In the WHO European region, there have been close to 90,000 cases reported for the first six months of this year: this exceeds those recorded for the whole of 2018 (84 462) already the highest in this current decade.

The reasons for people not being vaccinated vary significantly between communities and countries including lack of access to quality healthcare or vaccination services, conflict and displacement, misinformation about vaccines, or low awareness about the need to vaccinate. In a number of countries, measles is spreading among older children, youth and adults who have missed out on vaccination in the past.

With governments and partners such as the Measles & Rubella Initiative, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and others, WHO is helping countries stop outbreaks, strengthen health services, and increase essential vaccination coverage.

Measles is almost entirely preventable with two doses of measles vaccine, a safe and highly effective vaccine. High rates of vaccination coverage 95 per cent nationally and within communities – are needed to ensure that measles is unable to spread.

According to WHO and UNICEF coverage data released in July 2019, 86 per cent children have received the first dose of measles vaccine and 69 per cent the second. This means that around 20 million children in 2018 received no measles vaccine through their routine vaccination programmes. Furthermore, 23 countries have yet to introduce the second measles vaccine dose into their national schedule.

WHO is urging everyone to ensure their measles vaccinations are up to date, with two doses needed to protect against the disease, and to check their vaccination status prior to travel.

According to its latest travel recommendations, everyone 6 months and older should be protected against measles prior to travel to an area where measles is circulating. Anyone unsure of their vaccination status should consult with their healthcare provider. WHO recommends that travelers get vaccinated against measles at least 15 days prior to travel.

Despite recent efforts-including distribution of mosquito nets, the Ministry of Health says there has been a 40 per cent increase in the Malaria, from 1 million cases in June 2018 to 1.4 million cases in June 2019.

“While this is lower than the number of cases registered between 2016-2017, it is important to note that this is the peak Malaria season where an increase in the Malaria cases are registered,” the ministry says in latest press release.

The increase in Malaria cases is attributed to prolonged intermittent rains in various parts of the country that have lasted right from June till to August 2019, reduced net ownership and use due to the aging of nets distributed in 2017 mass campaign, low malaria prevalence in areas such as Kampala, and as such people have become lax in prevention practices such as net use, closing doors windows early, early seeking of care and treatment.

The increase in the disease has also been attributed to population growth and refugee immigration in specific regions, Movement of populations from high burden areas (Busoga, West Nile, Northern Uganda, Karamoja) to low burden areas (Kampala, South Western Uganda) and vice versa for festive season, employment like farming.

“This was supported by evidence we got from Naguru hospital in July 2019 where 85 per cent of the malaria patients had travel history outside Kampala,” the ministry says.

People in areas with very little malaria such as Kampala (parasite prevalence less than 1 per cent) are prone to severe malaria due to reducing/low immunity. It is therefore important that everyone protects themselves whenever they travel upcountry in areas with high malaria burden/transmission In order to mitigate this situation.

The Ministry says it has put in place a number of interventions that will lead to a decrease in the overall number of Malaria cases. They include; supporting districts with increased cases to order and receive emergency supplies (Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACTs) and Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) to ensure facilities are well stocked but also revised the quantification of ACTs for this financial year, 2019/20 to take into account this increase in cases.

Also, the ministry says, there has been redistribution of Malaria Commodities from facilities and districts with overstocks to those that are facing a stock out of malaria commodities, monitoring of malaria cases, admissions and deaths and using data to guide decisions at all levels that has helped identify and contain many outbreaks, strengthening the capacity of Village Health Teams (VHTs) at community level through training and providing adequate stock of antimalarials.

The ministry says it will continue the routine distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide treated mosquito Nets (LLINs) to pregnant women attending Antenatal care and children in immunization clinics as well as fast tracking the implementation of the 2020 LLIN Mass Campaign and introduce new channels of LLIN distribution such as school distribution in selected districts plus community outreaches in high burden areas to conduct testing and treatment.

How Malaria is transmitted

Malaria is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes which normally bite at night when a person is sleeping. An infected mosquito bites a human being and transmits the plasmodium into the blood of the person.

The signs and symptoms of Malaria in your body

The signs and symptoms of Malaria are; fever, headache, vomiting, Chills (shivering), sweating, Backaches, Body weakness, loss of appetite and diarrhea.

The Ministry urges the public to sleep under a mosquito net every night to avoid Malaria, always seek early treatment from the nearest Health Facility within 24 hours of onset of symptoms, take and complete dosage of Malaria medicine as advised by the health worker, clear all mosquito breeding sites (stagnant water, bushes and broken containers) around your homestead.” All pregnant women must attend all antenatal care visits 6. Avoid self-medication and sharing of medicine,” it says.