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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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Compiled by Shanika Sriyananda October 1 - World Children's Day : Health: a challenge for future kids by Shanika Sriyananda No frequent sneezing... no cold... and cough ... a healthy childhood free of common illnesses will be a blessing to a child. Children are generally born with a good immunity system, but sometimes the immunity loses its power, and, it is the parents' responsibility to help boost their immunity by giving them the right food.
There's no need to run from one 'consultant' to another seeking good 'recipes'. It is just a matter of changing the eating habits of your family. Gradually, your children will come along your way to a healthy lifestyle. After a few hours of celebrating yet another Children's Day, when we talked a lot about children's rights, but yesterday, did we as parents give a thought to their health? Whether you are living in a slum or mansion, your child's health should receive utmost priority. But today's child from their tender days are at risk mainly due to the poor eating patterns of their parents. "Despite some remarkable achievements in reduction of some of the common diseases, a majority of the Sri Lankan children are malnourished, show signs of obesity and stress, and are prone to communicable diseases", Consultant Epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health Dr. Ananda Amerasinghe says. According to Dr. Amerasinghe, special attention should be paid to the two groups of children, who live in rural areas and in the urban slums as the majority of them are malnourished while the other group belongs to families, which are 'economically sound', are more prone to obesity. "Giving food rich in nutrition is not something very costly. Being an agricultural country we have enough food sources, which offer nourishments to these children, at low cost", he says. He says that the popular myth among young parents that expensive food items are always rich in nutrition should be changed, as fresh vegetables, fruits and fish will keep the children growing well. The Western food culture, which opened the doors for more eating houses that serve a whole range of oilily foods with bulks of preservatives, and food which can be cooked instantly have made a great impact in the eating patterns of the Sri Lankans. Today, young children are more hooked to this stuff, which is gradually leading them to obesity, which again is the main root cause of the world's four major killers - coronary heart diseases, hypertension, stroke and diabetes. "Over 10 per cent of children belonging to 'well-to-do families are already showing signs of obesity", Dr. Amerasinghe says. He says, according to the Ceylon Medical Journal Vol. 50/2 of 2005, over 50 per cent of primary schoolchildren are stunted and 3 per cent are overweight. According to Dr. Amerasinghe, not only addiction to fatty and instant food but also less physical activities of these children have immensely contributed to overweight.'Challenges' or the 'competition' in school and even at home is the major 'challenge' to the young ones, whose play time has to be 'cut down', to make it a happy ending in the parent's daily rat race. With their consents or not, computers and video games have replaced the bat and the ball caging them to a room. Even if they want to play, they lack the space to play, due to the squeezing a land into tiny plots as a result of rapid urbanization. On the other hand, though some children in affluent families want to play with the children next door, their parents' rigid rules on 'mind your own business' theory or the ban on mixing with children from poor families to maintain the 'status' keep them isolated, making them more addicted to the TV and indoor games. Lack of safe drinking water and sanitation are the other aspects that still need attention, while eight major communicable diseases - TB, tetanus, dyptheria, whooping cough, measles, polio, hepatitis B, and rubella - have been controlled significantly as a result of islandwide immunization campaigns and education on good hygiene practices. In 2004, out of 10,000 cases of dysentery nearly 55 percent patients are below 15-years of age, of the 3,000 cases of enteric fever 35 per cent area below 15 and 40 percent out of 3,000 viral hepatitis belong to the same age group. According to Dr. Amerasinghe, there is no reduction in the reported dysentry cases in 1980 and 2002 which stagnated to 150,000 cases a year. "This indicates that the quality of drinking water is still poor", he says. Statistics, of course are good indications to get an idea for the policy makers to implement novel projects to keep these diseases at bay, but prevention of most of these health problems simply lies with the parents. Your child's eating habit can be changed easily by changing your eating habits. Always buy fresh vegetables and fruits and cutdown on fatty and instant food items. "Water plays a major role in a child's health. Give them plenty of clean water. Regularly boil water and encourage the child to take his or her water bottle wherever he or she goes", Dr. Amerasinghe advises. According to Dr. Amerasinghe, poor sanitation is also another source that makes little children fall sick. "Due to the busy lifestyles of today's parents, there is no time to keep the children clean. They also lack the education of good hygiene practices. Children should be encouraged to wash their hands, especially after travelling in public transport", he points out. However, Dr. Amerasinghe says that unless parents give the young children an opportunity to experience the joy of childhood without forcing them to be competitive the future generation will suffer from various mental illnesses due to high stress. "Stress among children is high. They are forced to go to long hours on tuition classes after an eight-hour spell at the school. Mostly, young minds cannot cope with these long periods of learning and they end up the stress", he says. Bad air with high concentration of toxic chemicals too are a cause for unhealthy child population. Though a proper study to prove the linkage between cancer among children and their exposure to chemicals through air, water or food, has not been above five children per 100,000 births die annually in Sri Lanka due to cancer. 'Home sweet home' is no more a very safe place for children. Parents should take more initiative to protect their children from falls, bites by pets and from accidents. The other challenge for parents is safeguarding their little ones from road killers. Most of the Sri Lankan roads are not child-friendly and they are more prone to accidents due to reckless driving. According to the Accident Service of the National Hospital Colombo over 100 children below the age of 15 succumb to road accidents. According to Dr. Amerasinghe, communicable diseases are the other prime killers that threaten children's lives, today. "They should be protected from dengue, Japanese encephalitis and water borne diseases. In 2002 over 30 per cent out of all dengue cases and 40 per cent of the deaths were children. Of the total cases of Japanese encephalitis around 25 per cent are children", he adds. ########### HIV up in second quarter The number infected with HIV has increased during the second quarter, compared to the first three months of this year, according to the National STD/AIDS Control program. New cases reported during the period April to June and in the first quarter of the year were 25 and 35 respectively. Three children have been infected with HIV during the last six months and five AIDS patients have died. According to sources, there is no particular reason identified to the soaring number of reported HIV/AIDS cases. " But this may be due to media publicity and public awareness campaigns by the STD/AIDS Control Programs. People know more about the places where they can get their tests done. There is a tendency for people, who suspect that they have HIV/AIDS to visit the clinics. Earlier it was kept secret and the lack of knowledge in screening facilities prevented them from coming to the clinics", he said adding that over 251,871 HIV tests have been carried out during 2004. Though the prevalence rate is still low, the Ministry of Health issues antiretroviral drugs among the patients selected under the World Health Organisation criteria. Under this World Bank grant, each patient will get these drugs, a combination of three drugs, worth Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 13,000, monthly. Upto now over 30 patients are getting the antiretroviral drugs, which help them to reach HIV/AIDS level. ############# Vehicle emissions affect male sperms Men wishing to father a baby should avoid air pollution around the time of conception to ensure best quality sperm, research suggests. A study in human reproduction found a significant link between exposure to long periods of high air pollution and damaged sperm among men. Although the damage is reversible, the study highlights the importance of staying healthy when trying for a baby. Fertility experts advise fathers-to-be to exercise and eat healthily. It takes about three months to produce a sperm so any change they make will take that time to be effective, Fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey says. They should also moderate their alcohol intake and ideally quit smoking. Mounting evidence suggests that traffic pollution reduces the quality of sperm in men. The latest study looked at young men from Teplice in the Czech Republic - an area that has considerably higher air pollution during winter because of coal-burning power stations and fossil fuels burned to heat homes. The sperm quality of the 35 men was monitored throughout the year for two years. During the periods of higher air pollution sperm quality went down significantly. When the air quality improved, so did the quality of the sperm. The study authors said this suggested that the pollution was affecting mature sperm late in their development, damaging the DNA. This, in turn, could make it harder for a couple to conceive and increase the risk of miscarriage, they said. However, the damage appears to be transient and so avoiding such toxins allows new sperm to develop normally. "If it created permanent damage you would tend to see sperm quality go down over time," they said. Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in Andrology, University of Sheffield says "This is the first real evidence that air pollution can damage sperm DNA, but it is reassuring that the effect is reversible. Men attempting to conceive with their partner need to be alert to what may be damaging their sperm DNA and minimize their exposure to chemicals at home or in the workplace. But they should remember that it takes about three months to produce a sperm so any change they make will take that time to be effective." he adds. -BBC News ############### Holistic healing Therapeutic tools for joint ailments By Dr. Danister L. Perera Apart from medicinal plants there are various kinds of therapeutic tools used for managing joint ailments in ayurveda. These therapies can be combined with herbal remedies and complemented with therapeutic procedures. These are supportive therapies which enhance the efficacy and quality of the treatment. Ayurveda does not treat the ailments or the diseases but the sick persons. s Soorya Chikitsa: As you know sunlight consists of seven colours of the rainbow. Western colour therapy is based on these seven colours. But in ayurveda this colour therapy is called soorya chikitsa which dates back to Vedic period. Nevertheless the sunrays are capable of destroying pathogenic organisms, its colours are having a healing power over the human organism. It is mentioned the orange colour is more effective in restoring joint functions and water energized by orange colour is used for treating arthritis. In some cases morning sunbath is recommended. Jala Chikitsa: Inducing water in a systematic way is called Jala chikitsa. Sometimes water cleanses the system and vitalises the soft tissues. Preparing water by boiling into various proportions is an effective remedy for dysfunctions of the body. Famous hydrotherapy is based on cleansing process and drinking water early in the morning as the first drink, is recommended in this therapy. But in ayurveda it is more customized and various sources of water are prescribed for various diseases. Also bathing, sprinkling and soaking various body parts are a part of this water therapy programme. Rasa Chikitsa: In ayurveda, minerals are also used for treating ailments. Specially gold, mercury and lead are used for preparing medicinal compounds which are more potent and efficacious in hardly curable conditions. Gold is a substance included in chemotherapeutic preparations used in the treatment of arthritis even in the Western system. Ayurvedic rasa chikitsa uses purified and fortified gold in arthritis remedies. Sulfur has antimicrobial potencies which can fight against some arthritic conditions caused by contagious pathogens. Nila Chikitsa: In ayurveda, the human body is composed of thousands of vital points which are networked through several energy pathways. By activating vital points governing any organ or a body part, any erroneous function or disorder can be corrected. These points can be stimulated by pressure, puncture, heat, massage, burn or medicine. In our indigenous system of medicine, puncture and burn treatment were very effective for chronic joint diseases. Ahara Chikitsa: Dietetics and therapeutic nutrition are one of the major elements in ayurvedic treatment procedures. In this the patient is restricted to a wholesome food regime which helps the body to be normalised. There are foods recommended for sick persons in order to enhance the healing process of the body. In one axiom 'human body is a creation of foods'. Since that can make the body sick, it can also heal the same in a proper way. Sometimes fasting is recommended as a therapy for most of the diseases caused by accumulated aama and it will help the system to be synchronized. Pancha Karma Chikitsa: In rheumatoid conditions, body had to be cleansed and reprogrammed to restore the normal functions. Since these dysfunctions are creating long term lesions in tissues, it can only be repaired by detoxification. Accumulation of toxic matters and oxidized substances in body tissues may cause long-term disorders in subtle channels in the body and come up with obstructions. These biological barricades are not dissolvable by normal medical therapy and become causative for inadequate micro-circulatory outcomes. Only possible way to clean these routes is pancha karma treatment. This treatment should be performed by a qualified physician capable of managing counter-effects. Madhu Chikitsa: Madhu is bees honey and used for various kinds of diseases in a systematic way with medicated substances. It is very potent natural medicine which can cure many diseases and enhance the natural immunity of the body. There is a newly introduced therapy called Bee Venom therapy in which acupuncture points are injected by bees' stings for relieving symptoms of inflammations. Sagandha Chikitsa: This is presently known as aromatherapy and originated from Ayurveda. In this therapy essential oils are used for stimulating the system and correcting erroneous functions in target tissues. These essential oils are extracted from plants and used in a very low concentration and dosage. Pleasant smell can activate the veiled healing power of the body and regulate the unhealthy outcome of the system. Gandharva Chikitsa: It is clearly demonstrated that music can influence the health and sometimes can heal the body. There are special musical codes and rhythmical sounds composed for relieving discomforts. Some researches have shown that by different musical compositions different organs and glands are stimulated. Satvavajaya Chikitsa: Mental balance is very important for expediting the healing process and it always helps the body to enhance the immunity. There are various kinds of mental exercises and meditation techniques for purifying the mind in order to increase the Sattva quality which leads life to be endurable. |
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