WHAT WE eat can play a critical role in determining our health, whatever our age. The eating patterns established in the first few years of life influence our health during childhood and adulthood. Encouraging good nutrition during the early years...

Posted: Tuesday, November 28, 2023. 2:37 pm CST.

By Zoila Palma Gonzalez: World Aids Day is recognized on December 1.

The day is set aside to bring together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity.

The day will be observed under the theme, “Let communities lead”.

World Aids Day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made to date, to raise awareness about the challenges that remain to achieve the goals of ending AIDS by 2030 and to mobilize all stakeholders to jointly redouble efforts to ensure the success of the HIV response.

Data from the Ministry of Health and Wellness shows that in Belize, an estimated 3,682 people were living with HIV at the end of 2022.

Last year, 43 cases of HIV were reported among pregnant women and 17 of those were newly detected cases.

In addition, 35 babies were born to HIV positive women and 1 baby was infected with HIV.

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Belize ~ We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages. Your content is delivered instantly to thousands of users in Belize and abroad! Contact us at mаrkеtіng@brеаkіngbеlіzеnеwѕ.соm or call us at 501-601-0315.

© 2023, BreakingBelizeNews.com. Content is copyrighted and requires written permission for reprinting in online or print media. Theft of content without permission/payment is punishable by law.

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At 19, Velasquez Lopez knows a lot about ammunition because many of his friends own guns, he said. They carry to defend themselves in East Oakland, where metal bars protect shop windows and churches stand behind tall, chain-link fences.

Some people even hide AR-15-style assault weapons down their pants legs, he said.

“It doesn’t feel safe. Wherever you’re at, you’re always anxious,” said Velasquez Lopez, who dreams of leaving the city where he was born. “You’re always wondering what’s going to happen.”

Last year, two gunmen in ski masks stormed his high school, killing a school district carpenter and injuring five other adults, including two students.

Oakland won acclaim just a few years ago as a national model for gun violence prevention, in part by bringing police and community groups together to target the small number of people suspected of driving the gun violence.

Then, in 2020, the covid-19 pandemic shut down schools, businesses, and critical social services nationwide, leaving many low-income people isolated and desperate — facing the loss of their jobs, homes, or both. The same year, police murdered George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, which released pent-up fury over racial discrimination by law enforcement, education, and other institutions — sparking nationwide protests and calls to cut police funding.

In the midst of this racial reckoning and facing the threats of an unknown and deadly virus, Americans bought even more guns, forcing some cities, such as Raleigh, North Carolina; Chicago; New York City; and Oakland, to confront a new wave of violent crime.

“There was emotional damage. There was physical damage,” said James Jackson, CEO of Alameda Health System, whose Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus, a regional trauma center in Oakland, treated 502 gunshot victims last year, compared with 283 in 2019. “And I think some of this violence that we’re seeing is a manifestation of the damage that people experienced.”

Jackson is among a growing chorus of health experts who describe gun violence as a public health crisis that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic residents in poor neighborhoods, the very people who disproportionately struggle with Type 2 diabetes and other preventable health conditions. Covid further eviscerated these communities, Jackson added.

While the pandemic has retreated, gun violence has not. Oaklanders, many of whom take pride in the ethnic diversity of their city, are overwhelmingly upset about the rise in violent crime — the shootings, thefts, and other street crimes. At town halls, City Council meetings, and protests, a broad cross-section of residents say they no longer feel safe.

Programs that worked a few years ago don’t seem to be making a dent now. City leaders are spending millions to hire more police officers and fund dozens of community initiatives, such as placing violence prevention teams at high schools to steer kids away from guns and crime.

Yet gun ownership in America is at a historic high, even in California, which gun control advocates say has the strictest gun laws in the country. More than 1 million Californians bought a gun during the first year of the pandemic, according to the latest data from the state attorney general.

As Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price told an audience at a September town hall in East Oakland: “We are in a unique, crazy time where everybody in this community has a gun.”

The Streets of Oakland

Oakland’s flatlands southeast of downtown are the backdrop of most of the city’s shootings and murders.

The area stands in stark contrast to the extreme wealth of the millionaire homes that dot the Oakland Hills and the immaculate, flower-lined streets of downtown. The city’s revived waterfront, named after famed author and local hero Jack London, draws tourists to trendy restaurants.

On a Saturday night in August, Shawn Upshaw drove through the flatlands along International Boulevard, past the prostitutes who gather on nearly every corner for at least a mile, and into “hot spots,” where someone is shot nearly every weekend, he said.

“When I grew up, women and kids would get a pass. They wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire,” said Upshaw, 52, who was born and raised in Oakland. “But now women and kids get it, too.”

Upshaw works as a violence interrupter for the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, which coordinates with the police department and community organizations in a program called Ceasefire.

When there’s a shooting, the police department alerts Upshaw on his phone and he heads to the scene. He doesn’t wear a police uniform. He’s a civilian in street clothes: jeans and a black zip-up jacket. It makes him more approachable, he said, and he’s not there to place blame, but rather to offer help and services to survivors and bystanders.

The goal, he said, is to stop a retaliatory shooting by a rival gang or grieving family member.

Police also use crime data to approach people with gang affiliations or long criminal records who are likely to use a gun in a crime — or be shot. Community groups follow up with offers of job training, education, meals, and more.

“We tell them they’re on our radar and try to get them to recognize there are alternatives to street violence,” said Oakland Police Department Capt. Trevelyon Jones, head of Ceasefire. “We give them a safe way of backing out of a conflict while maintaining their street honor.”

Every Thursday at police headquarters, officers convene a “shooting review.” They team up with representatives from community groups to make house calls to victims and their relatives.

After the program launched in 2012, Oakland’s homicides plummeted and were down 39% in 2019, according to a report commissioned by the Oakland Police Department.

Then covid hit.

“You had primary care that became an issue. You had housing that became an issue. You had employment that became an issue,” said Maury Nation, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University. “It created a surplus of the people who fit that highest risk group, and that overwhelms something like Ceasefire.”

With ever-rising housing prices in Oakland and across California, homeless encampments have multiplied on sidewalks and under freeway bypasses. The city is also bracing for the loss of jobs and civic pride if the Oakland Athletics baseball team relocates after April 2024, following departures by the NBA’s Golden State Warriors in 2019 and the NFL’s Raiders in 2020.

“Housing, food insecurity, not having jobs that pay wages for folks, all can lead to violence and mental health issues,” said Sabrina Valadez-Rios, who works at the Freedom Community Clinic in Oakland and teaches a high school class for students who have experienced gun violence. Her father was fatally shot outside their Oakland home when she was a child. “We need to teach kids how to deal with trauma. Violence is not going to stop in Oakland.”

Shared with permission from The Trace.

Homicides in Oakland climbed to 123 people in 2021, police reports show, dipping slightly to 120 last year. Police have tallied 108 homicides as of Nov. 12 this year. Neither the police department nor the city provided statistics on how many of those killings involved firearms, despite repeated requests from KFF Health News.

Experts also blame the rise in killings in Oakland and other American cities on the prevalence of gun ownership in the U.S., which has more guns than people. For all the pandemic disruption worldwide, homicide rates didn’t go up in countries with strict gun laws, said Thomas Abt, director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland.

“We saw gun violence, homicides, shootings spike up all around the country. And interestingly, it did not happen internationally,” Abt said. “The pandemic did not lead to more violence in other nations.”

Unrest in Oakland

Oakland residents are angry. One by one, business owners, community organizers, church leaders, and teenagers have stood at town halls and City Council meetings this year with an alarming message: They no longer feel safe anywhere in their city — at any time.

“It’s not just a small number of people in the evening or nighttime. This is all hours, day and night,” said Noha Aboelata, founder of the Roots Community Health Center in Oakland. “Someone’s over here pushing a stroller and someone’s getting shot right next to them.”

One morning in early April, automatic gunfire erupted outside a Roots clinic. Patients and staff members dropped to the ground and took cover. After the shooting stopped, medical assistants and a doctor gave first aid to a man in his 20s who had been shot six times.

Everyone is blaming someone or something else for the bloodshed.

Business owners have had enough. In September, Target announced it would close nine stores in four states, including in Oakland because of organized retail theft; the famed Vietnamese restaurant Le Cheval shut its doors after 38 years, partly blaming car break-ins and other criminal activity for depressing its business; and more than 200 business owners staged an hours-long strike to protest the rise in crime.

The leadership of the local NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, made headlines this summer when it said Oakland was seeing a “heyday” for criminals, and pointed to the area’s “failed leadership” and “movement to defund the police.”

“It feels like there’s a dark cloud over Oakland,” said Cynthia Adams, head of the local chapter, which has called on the city to hire 250 more police officers.

Price, a progressive elected last year, already faces a recall effort, in part because she rejects blanket enhanced sentences for gangs and weapons charges, and has declined to charge youths as adults.

The new mayor, Sheng Thao, was criticized for firing the police chief for misconduct and breaking a campaign promise to double funding at the city’s Department of Violence Prevention. In her first State of the City address last month, Thao described the surge in crime as “totally and completely unacceptable,” and acknowledged that Oaklanders are hurting and scared. She said the city has expanded police foot patrols and funded six new police academies, as well as boosted funding for violence prevention and affordable housing.

“Not a day goes by where I don’t wish I could just wave a magic wand and silence the gunfire,” Thao said.

Many in the community, including Valadez-Rios, advocate for broader investment in Oakland’s poorest neighborhoods over more law enforcement.

City councils, states, and the federal government are putting their faith in violence prevention programs, in some cases bankrolling them from nontraditional sources, such as the state-federal Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people.

Last month, California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom approved an 11% state tax on guns and ammunition, and $75 million of the revenue annually is expected to go to violence prevention programs.

Although these programs are growing in popularity, it is unclear how successful they are. In some cases, proven programs that involve law enforcement, such as Ceasefire, were cut back or shelved after George Floyd was murdered, said Abt, the Maryland researcher.

“The intense opposition to law enforcement means that the city was unwilling to use a portion of the tools that have been proven,” Abt said. “It’s good to work on preventing youth violence, but the vast majority of serious violence is perpetrated by adults.”

Not a day goes by where I don’t wish I could just wave a magic wand and silence the gunfire.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

A Focus on Schools

Kentrell Killens, interim chief at the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention, acknowledges that young adults drive Oakland’s gun violence, not high school kids. But, he said, shootings on the streets affect children. Of the 171 homicides in 2019 and 2020, 4% of victims were 17 or under, while 59% were ages 18 to 34, according to the Oakland Police Department.

The number of children injured in nonfatal shootings is also worrisome, he said. Roughly 6% of victims and 14% of suspects in nonfatal shootings were 17 or younger in 2019 and 2020.

“We’ve seen the impact of violence on young people and how they have to make decisions around what roles they want to play,” said Killens, who spent a decade as a case manager working with schoolkids.

By being in the schools, “we can deal with the conflicts” that could spill into the community, he added.

At Fremont High School, Principal Nidya Baez has welcomed a three-person team to her campus to confront gun violence. One caseworker focuses on gun violence and another on sexual assaults and healthy relationships. The third is a social worker who connects students and their families to services.

They are part of a $2 million city pilot program created after the Oakland School Board eliminated school-based police in 2020 — about one month after George Floyd was killed and after a nine-year push by community activists to kick police out of schools.

“We’ve been at a lot of funerals, unfortunately, for gang-related stuff or targeting of kids, wrong-place-wrong-time kind of thing,” said Baez, whose father was shot and injured on his ice cream truck when she was a child.

When Francisco “Cisco” Cisneros, a violence interrupter from the nonprofit group Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, arrived at Fremont in January, students were wary, he said. Many still are. Students are hard-wired not to share information — not to be a “snitch” — or open up about themselves or their home life, especially to an adult, Cisneros said. And they don’t want to talk to fellow students from another network, group, or gang.

“If we catch them at an early age, right now, we can change that mindset,” said Cisneros, who was born and raised in Oakland.

Cisneros pulls from his past to build a rapport with students. This summer, for example, when he overheard a student chatting on the phone to an uncle in jail, Cisneros asked about him. It turns out Cisneros and the boy’s uncle had grown up in the same neighborhood.

That was enough to begin a relationship between Cisneros and the student, “J,” who declined to be identified by his full name for fear of retribution. The 16-year-old credits Cisneros, whom he describes as “like a dad,” with keeping him engaged in school and employed with summer jobs — away from trouble. Still, he regularly worries about making a wrong move.

“You could do one thing and you could end up in a situation where your life is at risk,” J said in Cisneros’ office. “You go from being in school one day to being in a very bad, sticky situation.”

The program is underway in seven high schools, and Cisneros believes he has helped prevent a handful of conflicts from escalating into gun violence.

A Better Life

After his school counselor was shot at Rudsdale High School in September 2022, Velasquez Lopez heard that the man and other victims were treated at nearby Highland Hospital.

“Seeing him get hurt, he obviously needed medical attention,” Velasquez Lopez said. “That made it obvious I could help my community if I were to be a nurse to help people that live around my area.”

When a recruiter from the Alameda Health System came to campus to promote a six-week internship at Highland Hospital, Velasquez Lopez applied. It was, he said, a dramatic step for a student who had never cared about school or sought vocational training.

Over the summer, he volunteered in the emergency room, learned how to take a patient’s vitals, watched blood transfusions, and translated for Spanish-speaking patients.

Velasquez Lopez, who graduated this year, is now looking for ways to get a nursing degree. The cost of college is out of reach at the moment, but he knows he doesn’t want to stay in a city where you can easily buy a gun for $1,000 — or half that, if it’s been used in a crime.

Velasquez Lopez said he has bigger goals for himself.

Young people in East Oakland “always feel like we’re trapped in that community, and we can’t get out,” he said. “But I feel like we still have a chance to change our lives.”

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. 

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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In developing this technique, it was broached that utilization of an auricular cartilage graft, which was being widely used by ophthalmic plastic surgeons in lower eyelid retraction repair, had inherent problems in upper eyelid retraction repair. Often, the cartilage graft was

Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, formerly known as Willingdon Hospital, was established by the British for their staff and had only 54 beds. After independence, its control was shifted to New Delhi Municipal Committee. In 1954, its control was again transferred to the Central Government of Independent India.

RML Hospital Vacancy Details:Total no of vacancies: 171

The Vacancies are in the departments of Transfusion medicine(Blood Bank), Cardiac Anesthesia, Endocrinology, Forensic Medicine, Gastroenterology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Medicine, Microbiology, Neonatology, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Pathology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Radiology, Surgery, Anesthesia, Anatomy, Community Medicine, Physiology, and Pharmacology.

The last date and time of submission of the application is 5th December 2023 till 3:00 PM.For more details about Qualifications, Age, Pay Allowance, and much more, click on the given link:https://medicaljob.in/jobs.php?post_type=&job_tags=RML+Hospital&location=&job_sector=all

Eligible Candidates (How to Apply)?

The application should be submitted in the Central Diary & Dispatch Section, Near Gate No. 3, ABVIMS & Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospitals New Delhi-110001, latest by 5th December 2023 till 03:00 PM. The application should be accompanied by a latest passport-size photograph, copy of the fee receipt, and self-attested copes of all documents that should be delivered/received, either through Post or by Hand, in the name of the Director & Medical Superintendent. The application sent by Post must be written prominently on the envelope "Application for the Post of Senior Resident (Non-Academic) department. The Hospital will not be responsible for any Postal delay.

The list of rejected candidates, after the screening of the applications, will be displayed on the Hospital website ((www.rmilhnjic) by O5.12.2023. Representation, if any, regarding the rejection of the application should be sent through email only by 5th December 2023.

The Hospital email ID will be mentioned/provided in the rejection list. No other form of representation will be entertained after the date as mentioned above.

The candidates must submit a copy of the following documents (self-attested) along with the application form:

i. Certificate in support of age (10th class passing certificate).

ii. Internship completion certificate.

iii. MBBS/BDS Degree.

iv. P.G. Degree/Diploma/DNB/Provisional Pass Certificate from University.

v. DMC/DDC Registration certificate for PG/DNB/Diploma as prescribed in clause 2 a.

vi. Caste/Community/Disability/EWS Certificate wherever applicable.

vii. OBC Certificate only as per Annexure-Il with required validity as mentioned in para 5 (b) above.

viii. NOC from present employer (if employed).

ix. Adhaar and PAN card.

x. Copy of fee receipt.

Also Read:Assistant Professor Post: Walk In Interview At RML Hospital Delhi, View All Details Here

From illness caused by extreme climate events to the increased incidence and spread of vector-borne diseases and the rise in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases caused by extreme heat and air pollution, respectively — the impact of climate on human health are inescapable.

"The health of humans and our planet are inextricably linked and, after years of promises, rapid action is needed urgently to protect both," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general. "Only climate policies driven by health outcomes will result in the action needed to save lives, prevent disease, and build healthier, fairer societies."

Mainstreaming health in national climate strategies

Significant progress has been made in the integration of health in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and long-term low emissions and development strategies (LT-LEDS)the main policy instruments to reduce emissions and build climate resilience as set out by the Paris Agreement.

Ninety-one per cent of the available NDCs now include health considerations, compared to 70 per cent of those reporting in 2019. Compared to previous rounds of national climate plans, health-inclusive and health-promoting climate targets and policies are increasingly being developed for mitigation, adaptation, means of implementation, loss and damage, and long-term sustainable development strategies.

"Countries have made significant progress in recognising climate change's threat to human and planetary health in their national plans to tackle climate change, but we need to see these commitments scaled up, accelerated, and adequately funded to ensure an equitable response that protects the health and livelihoods of current and future generations," said Dr Maria Neira, WHO director of Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health.

Urgent action needed to prevent air pollution deaths

Despite this progress, there remain huge gaps in the action being taken. Ambitious action on air pollution will save lives, yet only 16 per cent of NDCs include stand-alone targets, measures, or policies to reduce air pollution.

Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to health. Ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution together cause around seven million premature deaths each year from ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases, like asthma and pneumonia, which disproportionately affects children in low- and middle-income countries.

By scaling up action to cut carbon emissions, countries will also see wider health benefits. For example, encouraging walking and cycling and supporting shifts to sustainable and healthy diets improve health while reducing impacts on the climate.

Additionally, countries can be expected to reap health benefits which outweigh the financial investments necessary to mitigate climate change. For example, the LT-LEDS of the US estimates that the air quality improvements that would come from implementing climate change mitigation measures could prevent up to 300,000 deaths and avoid US$150-250 billion in health and climate damage by 2030. Similarly, the LT-LEDS of other countries, including Fiji, Morocco, and Spain, acknowledge that reaching climate change mitigation goals will bring economic savings from air pollution reduction.

Health-specific climate action is underfunded

Sustainable climate finance is essential for health adaptation, mitigation, and climate-resilient development, but health remains chronically underfunded in national plans to tackle climate change.

The ability for countries to engage in climate change adaptation and mitigation actions is highly dependent on their financial capacity, and too often the countries that are most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis are those without the resources to fund climate action.

Most countries depend on international financial support for climate action. Only one in 10 NDCs include domestic funding for some or all of their health actions and only one in five long-term strategies include specific health funding provisions, such as taxes, levies, and carbon pricing mechanisms.

Despite this reliance on multilateral climate financing, only two per cent of adaptation funding and 0.5 per cent of overall climate funding is currently allocated to projects that explicitly aim to protect or improve human health.

To ensure an equitable and effective response to climate change, the WHO is calling for multilateral climate financing mechanisms to allocate more funding to policies and initiatives that explicitly aim to protect or improve human health.

The WHO continues to support countries to protect health by building climate resilient health systems, reducing carbon emissions from health care, and tracking global progress.

The WHO is working with the COP28 presidency to lead the first-ever day dedicated to health at COP on December 3, 2023 and the meeting of health and climate ministers, underlining the urgent need to accelerate health-focused climate action at every level.

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic has positioned itself as the leading destination in the Caribbean region for health tourism, but many do not know that the sector that leads this appetizing market niche is dentistry.

This was clearly evidenced during the 6th International Congress on Health and Wellness Tourism, where statistics on the sector were presented and an interesting panel entitled “The Dominican health offer for the world” was held.

This expert discussion was moderated by renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Arnaldo Espaillat and was attended by Dr. Virginia Laureano, president of the Dominican College of Dentists (CDO); Sergio Guzmán, president of the Dominican Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (SODOCIPRE); Héctor Sánchez Navarro, renowned robotic surgeon, and engineer Carlos Prato, investor and president of IMG Hospital.

Dr. Laureano revealed that 179,000 international dental patients will spend an average of over 5,000 dollars per case in the country during 2022, leaving a significant economic benefit.

According to Dr. Sergio Guzmán, president of SODOCIPRE, over 40 thousand international patients underwent plastic surgery procedures due to medical tourism in 2022 and a favorable growth is expected for 2023.

Dr. Sánchez Navarro and engineer Carlos Prato pointed out that for a health center to stand out at an international level, it requires planning, investment in technology, training and international accreditation, focus on protocols, quality, safety, differentiating factors and a good communication strategy.

The experts concluded that it is essential that in addition to these private efforts, the government and the Tourism Ministry should encourage and invest in promoting health and wellness tourism internationally.

Health needs to be front and centre of national plans to fight climate change

Cristina Mitchell

23 Nov 2023