We at the Medscape Professional Network would like to work with you on important and share clinically relevant contributions from different countries around the world in recent weeks.
EUROPA
France
Shortage of doctors: In an article published this week in Le Monde , warns Professor Antoine Pelissolo , Head of the Department of Psychiatry am University Hospital-_ Henri-Mondor (AP-HP, Créteil), in view of the explosion in demand for health services before the insufficient number of trained doctors.
Warning: In France , a group of patients suffering from the side effects of fluoroquinolones has filed a lawsuit.Fluoroquinolones continue to be widely prescribed despite warnings and precautions issued by health authorities.
Spain
After the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increase in mental health problems, including suicide, among adolescents. Now, a group of Spanish medical societies has issued a document with recommendations, risk factors and diagnostic algorithms on how to improve the management of self-harm in adolescents.
Germany reported to Spain Cases of dengue fever, from which 6 German citizens fell ill after they had been on holiday in Ibiza. The regional authorities then drew up a monitoring and vector control plan. The impact of the disease in Spain is estimated to be very small, as most cases will most likely not be severe and the national health system will be able to correctly detect and treat the cases.
The Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC) and the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) have published the new edition of the «Guide for pacemaker wearers» with recommendations for patients.
In connection with the Protests of health workers in Spain, doctors in GP practices and paediatrics in Madrid have given the green light to the agreement in principle between the Ministry of Health and the strike committee.Once signed, they will end the strikes that have been going on for almost 4 months.
Germany
In Germany, currently the second flu wave is rolling. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the beginning is dated to the week of March 5. The second wave was triggered by influenza B viruses. Thus, the flu season continues at an unusual pace.
This season, according to the RKI, there was an unusually early flu wave before the turn of the year. It was caused by influenza viruses of subtype A(H3N2) and slowed down relatively quickly by the Christmas holidays.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has help for people with long-term damage after a Covid-19 illness or vaccination confirmed.He will start a program with the Ministry to investigate the consequences of Long Covid and vaccine damage and to improve the care of those affected, said the politician on Sunday evening in the ZDF-«heute journal». It is also a matter of networking the experts in this field in such a way that appropriate therapy can take place, he said.
Lauterbach said the long-term consequences of a Covid-19 vaccination need to be recognized more quickly. At the same time, he emphasized that severe vaccine damage is very rare – according to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) and the European regulatory authority, less than 1 in 10,000 vaccinations leads to such damage.
AMERICA
United States
Following Eli Lilly’s announcement earlier this month that to reduce prices for most of his insulins in the U.S. by 70% prices for several of its insulin products by 75%, and French drugmaker Sanofi said it would reduce the price it will reduce the price of its most commonly prescribed insulin by 78% next year while raising the cap. for the co-payment of $35 to all patients with commercial insurance who use.
The measures follow political pressure from the White House to reduce the cost of the life-sustaining drug. The diabetes drug Ozempic
by Novo Nordisk returns to pharmacy shelves back after months of supply shortages reportedly due in part to the popularity of its off-label weight loss application.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week voted in favor of the full approval of the Covid drug Paxlovid for adults.Full approval would give doctors more flexibility in prescribing.
While the number of Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. continues to decline, 2 new reports once again show the deadly effects of the virus: From July 2021 to March 2023, pregnancy-related deaths increased by up to 40% .
Mexico
Medical associations denounced the lack of specialized drugs for the treatment of neurological-psychiatric disorders as well as behavioral and obsessive-compulsive problems in both the public and private sectors. Experts told Medscape en Español that a pharmaceutical policy is needed that coordinates all players in the sector and takes into account the entire access chain from planning, financing, procurement, distribution, storage and availability of products on demand, as well as pharmacovigilance.
Latin America
A new study shows that cities in Latin America affect the metabolic health of their inhabitants in different ways compared to cities in Europe or North America: urban fragmentation was associated with a lower body mass index and a 7% lower likelihood of obesity.The second variable was the density of the crosses: the higher the density of the crosses, the higher the body mass index and the higher the likelihood of developing diabetes.
Mexico, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil are on a list of only 9 countries worldwide that have comprehensive measures to reduce sodium intake and received the best rating from the World Health Organization (WHO) .
Brazil
On September 16, the Brazilian health authority (Anvisa) approved the testing of a tetravalent vaccine against the influenza virus in children aged 6 to 35 months. The clinical trial provides for the participation of 1.9 thousand volunteers from São Paulo, Roraima, Sergipe and Pernambuco. The difference between this vaccine and the vaccine currently used in the national flu vaccination campaign is that a second strain of influenza B is added.
On March 16, the Heart Institute of the University of São Paulo School of Medicine (InCor/FMUSP) performed the first artificial intelligence-assisted angioplasty in South America.During the procedure, the coronary arteries of a 70-year-old patient were decongested and a stent inserted. The algorithms analyzed data from optical coherence tomography images to identify the most severe sites of obstruction and their features. The devices also helped calculate the size of the stent and verify that the device was unfolded properly in the artery, allowing doctors to correct problems.
ASIA
India
In India, more and more Cases of H3N2 influenza virus are reported. Several states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Odisha and Haryana, are reporting cases. State governments are taking precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak.
Lebanon
According to Alexandre Laridan, head of operations at the French NGO Tulipe, the Lebanese health situation is at Abyss.As a result of the ongoing financial crisis, for example, a medical consultation can cost 3 million Lebanese liras, while the minimum wage is only 450,000 lira. Medical care is also becoming increasingly scarce, and the black market is growing.
Turkey
Japan
Since March 13, Japan officially no longer recommended wearing masks indoors to protect against Covid-19.
A panel of the Ministry of Health stated on 17 March that a causal link between the death of a 42-year-old woman in November and preceding Covid-19 vaccination (Comirnaty, Pfizer) «cannot be denied». Of the total of 382 million vaccinations administered since the introduction of the Covid-19 vaccine in Japan, nearly 2,000 reports of deaths following Covid-19 vaccinations have been received in Japan. This case is the first in which a causal relationship has been proven so far.A postmortem CT scan revealed that the patient had suffered acute pulmonary edema.
China
Canada has mandated mandatory Covid-19 testing for air travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macao abolished as of March 17, the Canadian Health Administration announced on March 16.
AFRICA
The health authorities in Burundi have declared the poliomyelitis outbreak in the country a national health emergency .8 cases were identified, the first in more than 3 decades. Further epidemiological investigations will be carried out to determine the extent of the outbreak, while a vaccination campaign is planned to prevent further spread.
The cholera outbreak is evolving: According to WHO data, 13 countries are currently reporting new cases, although there has been a declining trend in the Region over the past 2 weeks. Between January and March, a total of 40,563 cases with 818 deaths were reported in the region. Malawi 57.5% of all reported cases in 2023, followed by Mozambique with 15% and Democratic Republic of the Congo with 13 percent.
In a Briefing in early March, experts from the African Science Media Center reported on the progress of the campaign to include noma in the WHO list of neglected tropical diseases.
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Source — https://www.univadis.de/viewarticle/was-%25C3%2584rzte-und-gesundheitspersonal-weltweit-2023a10005x8