Finding & reporting every case is 🔑 to defeating #ChagasDisease - a potentially life-threatening illness, transmitted through contact with the faeces or urine of a triatomine bug found mainly in Latin America.
About 6 to 7 million people are infected with #ChagasDisease, causing 10 000 deaths yearly. Most infections occur in Latin America but the disease is increasingly detected in other parts of the 🌐, with 75 million at risk of infection
In many countries, there are low detection rates of this 'silent disease' & frequent barriers to access adequate healthcare. Equitable access to health care & services for everyone affected by #ChagasDisease are crucial.
The symptoms of #ChagasDisease are most often non-existent or mild and unspecific. The first visible signs can include:
🔸 skin lesion
🔸 purplish swelling of an eyelid
🔸 fever
🔸 difficulty breathing
🔸 abdominal or chest pain
The spread of #ChagasDisease can be prevented by:
✅ vector control
✅ good hygiene
✅ food safety
✅ screening of blood donors & women of childbearing age
👉 bit.ly/3LOfH8N
Addressing #ChagasDisease early is 🔑 to treating it:
✅ Contact your doctor if you live or have travelled to an area at risk of Chagas & experience symptoms
✅ 2 medicines are effective in curing the disease if given soon after infection
#ChagasDisease is transmitted by:
🕳️ Contact with the faeces or urine of a triatomine bug (kissing bug)
🥘 Contaminated food
🩸 Blood transfusion / organ transplant
🤰 Mother to child
"On #COVID19, there’s good news. Last week, the lowest number of COVID-19 deaths was recorded since the early days of the pandemic. However, some countries are still witnessing serious spikes in cases, which is putting pressure on hospitals"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros "This week, the #COVID19 IHR Emergency Committee met and unanimously agreed that the pandemic remains a public health emergency. I appreciated their advice and agree that far from being the time to drop our guard, this is the moment to work even harder to save lives"-@DrTedros
"It’s a real pleasure to be here in Washington, D.C., on #WorldHealthDay. Over the past few days, I’ve had a series of very productive meetings with representatives of the Administration, senators, house members and other leaders"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros "We renewed old friendships & forged new ones. We discussed #COVID19, the war in #Ukraine, and WHO’s 5 major priorities for the next 5 years, incl. supporting countries to make a paradigm shift towards promoting health and preventing disease, not just treating it"-@DrTedros
Today is #WorldHealthDay!
Environmental factors - including climate change - claim 13 million lives every year.
Stop burning fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas for a #HealthierTomorrow
Climate change is a threat to human health, driving diseases like cancer, asthma, heart disease, and mosquito-borne diseases like dengue bit.ly/WorldHealthDay…
Shocking!
99% - or almost the entire world's population breathes air with unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter & nitrogen dioxide, and threatens their health.
More: bit.ly/3uW6wfC
Over 6,000 cities in 117 countries are now monitoring air quality, but the people living in them are still breathing air that exceeds WHO air quality limits, with people in low & middle-income countries suffering the highest exposures bit.ly/3uW6wfC
Particulate matter, especially PM2.5, is capable of penetrating deep into the lungs & entering the bloodstream, causing cardiovascular, cerebrovascular (stroke) & respiratory impacts bit.ly/3uW6wfC
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. With appropriate support from caregivers, the health and education sectors and society at large, autistic people can live happy, fulfilled lives.
The abilities and needs of autistic people vary and evolve over time. Health-care services need to be designed with the participation of autistic people
to promote personalized care and respond to their evolving needs.