Transcript of WHO Podcast - 22 November 2007
Plan for better access to medicines; diabetes along US-Mexico border; polio outbreak in Sudan
Emma Ross: You're listening to the WHO podcast for the week of 19th November 2007. I'm Emma Ross.
In this episode:
- governments negotiate a plan to ensure people in poor countries have better access to medicines;
- researchers find interesting trends in diabetes along the US-Mexico border; and
- an on-the-ground report on efforts to head-off a polio outbreak in Sudan.
Story 1
Governments are in the middle of a historic process of negotiating a global strategy aimed at stimulating innovation in research and development in diseases that disproportionately affect people in developing countries. The aim is to find ways to create drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools for diseases that don’t have any. In situations where these technologies exist but are too expensive, the goal is to find ways to make them more affordable.
The strategy is scheduled to be submitted to the Member States of the World Health Organization in May at their annual general meeting, the World Health Assembly. I asked Dr. Howard Zucker, Assistant Director-General of Health Technologies and Pharmaceuticals at WHO, why this effort is so historic.
Dr Howard Zucker: Everybody has come together, recognized the problem, put the issues on the table - research and development, issues of cost, of financing, issues of intellectual property, issues of access - and they have identified that these things we need to address. Once you identify what the problem is, you can take the next steps forward to solving them. I think that is what makes this so historic. Plus, the fact is that (those) people have come together who at times were at different ends of the spectrum on these issues, and we are starting to find a consensus. I look forward to the success of this (process) closer to the World Health Assembly in 2008.
Story 2
Emma Ross: Vaccination teams began an immediate immunization round of 6.3 million children last month in Sudan, after the virus was reported there for the first time in two years. A key to the success of the campaign is building vaccination teams from the communities themselves, according to Dr Liliane Boualam of the Polio Eradication Initiative, who spoke to us from the field in Darfur.
Dr Liliane Boualam: The main concern is to ensure that vaccination teams are part of the communities they are immunizing. This increases the confidence and the trust of parents who are facing many challenges and insecurity on a daily basis and having somebody from their own community makes them more comfortable to accept the vaccines. The governmental authorities are very serious on this issue and are making sure that the vaccinators are selected from among the communities who are operating in the different areas.
STORY 3
Emma Ross: World Diabetes Day was marked last week. A recent study on the topic found that 16% of people living along the U.S.-Mexican border had diagnosed diabetes, and that another 5 or 6% had the disease but had never been diagnosed with it. That area, which runs from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, is home to about 13 million people. Dr Maria Teresa Cerqueira, Chief of the U.S.-Mexican border office of the Pan American Health Organization, came into the studio to tell me what’s behind the findings.
Dr Maria Teresa Cerqueira: I think you've got this whole transition of food habits and cultural habits and greater access maybe to fast food. There is also speculation that the stress of changing from one country to the other, working on one side and living on the other, the increased security measures, all of this sort of stress may be making people compensate by eating more, doing less exercise, using the car more, not as familiar with security on the streets, areas to do physical activity.
Emma Ross: You mention that stress seems to be exacerbated in these borderlands. What does that tell us about what we should do?
Dr Maria Teresa Cerqueira: One of the things is obviously to make people aware of the problem. This is not something that because my grandmother had it and my grandfather had it, well, there is nothing to do, and I am going to have it also. Making people aware there is a problem and that they can do something to prevent it - to take better care of themselves so they are not out of control, if they already have the disease. I think there is a possibility to reduce the prevalence of diabetes in future generations if people now begin to eat more healthy, take care of their weight, make sure they don’t increase weight as much, that they are not overweight or obese, do more exercise, definitely not smoke because that increases the complications and risks and just in general: go for health care, have a physical examination, just to make sure if they are in pre-diabetes stage, which we found also a high prevalence, that they can begin to prevent it from becoming diabetes.
Emma Ross: Thanks for listening to the WHO podcast. For the latest public health news and more information about WHO’s work, visit our website at www.who.int.