A total of 54 human cases of dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease) were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019, with Chad reporting 48 out of the 54 cases. In Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan, trained volunteers are supporting surveillance and detection of infections in domestic dogs and cats. Surveillance has been heightened, as…
With offices across the country shuttered and workers being asked to work remotely when they can, the nation is relying on the robustness of the internet and technology infrastructure as never before. To understand the issues in play, the Gazette spoke with Jim Waldo, chief technology officer for the Harvard John A. Paulson School of…
The rapid spread of COVID-19 is testing the resilience of robust health systems around the world. WHO and its partners are taking measures to mitigate the potential impact of sustained transmission of the coronavirus in malaria-endemic settings – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which shoulders more than 90% of the global malaria burden. To date, a…
KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah (pix) today decreed all Malaysians to obey the movement control order announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday and to give full cooperation in containing the spread of Covid-19 infections in the country. The order will take effect from tomorrow until March…
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today any Cabinet member holding a new portfolio would require time to study the ministry and manage it well. Commenting on women’s groups concerns with the Women and Family Ministry’s new appointments, Muhyiddin said he had briefed the newly-minted minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun about what…
As a marketing or sales professional, knowing your customer is vital for success. Taking extra care to understand what your customer values will help you to communicate in an effective manner with him or her. Customers want to receive assurance about certain things before they purchase a product or invest in a service. They may…
Scientists from Salk Institute (U.S.), Skoltech (Russia), and the Riken Center for Brain Science (Japan) investigated a theoretical model of how populations of neurons in the visual cortex of the brain may recognize and process faces and their expressions, and how they are organized. The research was recently published in Neural Computation and highlighted on…
Globally, there are 1.1 billion adult smokers, 60% of them want or intend to quit. Much has been written and said about the potential of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as e-cigarettes to help tobacco users quit. While the evidence is still inconclusive, e-cigarettes are often used along with one or more tobacco products.…
Good afternoon everyone and apologies for being late, and apologies too from Dr Tedros, who is just about to land in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he is following up on important Ebola matters and meeting with President Tshisekdi and many others to look at the future post-Ebola of the health system in…
E-cigarette vapour is much less harmful to lung cells than cigarette smoke. Lab tests show that, unlike tobacco smoke, which causes oxidative stress and cell death, e-cigarette vapour does not. Oxidative stress and cell death are driving factors in the development of many smoking-related diseases such as COPD and lung cancer. Vapour from e-cigarettes has…