World BreastfeedingWeek

1–7 August 2010

Mother’s milk is best. It is the ideal food for newborns and infants. Breast milk gives infants all the nutrients they need for healthy development. It is safe and contains antibodies that help protect infants from common childhood illnesses - such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, the two primary causes of child mortality worldwide. Breastfeeding also benefits mothers. It reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer later in life, helps women return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster, and lowers rates of obesity.

This is why World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries – to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made jointly by WHO and UNICEF policy-makers in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

The fact that some women do not breastfeed ‘exclusively’ during the first six months of their newborns life is believed to contribute to over a million avoidable child deaths each year around the world. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until a baby is six months old, and continued breastfeeding with the addition of nutritious complementary foods for up to two years or beyond.

Links

World Breastfeeding Week site

Promoting proper feeding for infants and young children
More on breastfeeding

Thai Breastfeeding Centre

New TB prevalence survey in 2011

Thailand is one of the 22 high TB burden countries with 2008 estimates of about 90,000 new cases of tuberculosis of all forms. In a major undertaking in nearly 20 years, 2011 will see a comprehensive National Tuberculosis (TB) Prevalence Survey conducted to assess the burden of the disease and estimate the proportion of cases detected and treated. 

Though two primary targets set by WHO for monitoring TB control - 70% detection of new infectious cases and 85% successful treatment of those cases - have not been met by Thailand, the results of the survey can be used for planning tuberculosis control, and for measuring the epidemiologic impact of TB control and progress toward a 50% reduction in TB prevalence by 2015. 

The survey is being developed by Thailand’s Bureau of Tuberculosis in accordance with WHO’s recommendations (Assessing tuberculosis prevalence through population-based surveys), and with the support of technical experts from both WHO and US CDC. It will be conducted with a representative sample of approximately 90,000 adults and take around 12 months to complete. Eligible participants of 15 years of age and above will be screened for TB by chest X-ray (CXR) and by TB symptoms.

Additionally, the survey will also serve as a baseline measurement for comparison with future surveys.  These will be conducted periodically every 5 or 10 years to determine the trend of TB epidemic.

Links

More information on WHO TB programmes

The global STOP TB Partnership

Bureau of Tuberculosis

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated June 14th every year. In 2010 Barcelona in Spain hosts the event.  It is an opportunity to express gratitude to those who donate their blood in order to save lives.

This year’s focus is on young donors with the theme: “New blood for the world”.  The overwhelming majority of the world’s population does not have access to safe blood, which is why since 2004 World Blood Donor Day has been jointly sponsored by four organizations, including WHO and the Red Cross.

Thailand joins in this year’s global campaign with the main event at the National Blood Center in Bangkok on 13 June.  There will be awards for competition winners and recognition of organizations and young people that have achieved outstanding blood donation milestones.     

Links

Co-sponsors joint website

Global governmental activities

Campaign website

Thailand campaign (in Thai only).

Iodine Deficiency Disorders

Iodine, the natural mineral found mainly in the soil, is essential for the development of human brain cells from infancy. Humans absorb iodine from the food that they eat but in many countries the food chain does not contain enough of this mineral. The result is iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) – the world’s most prevalent cause of brain damage.

Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy can also result in stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, and congenital abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form of mental retardation. But most alarming of all, IDD can greatly lower the IQ levels of a nation’s entire generation of youngsters by as much as 10 to 13 points. An infant’s brain needs iodine to develop the dense network of interconnections among brain cells even while it is still in the mother’s womb. Without it the child may have reduced intellectual capacity at home, in school and, later in adulthood, at work.

In Thailand, where only 47% of households (out of a targeted 90%) consume adequately iodized salt, a 2004 study by Ramathibodi Hospital showed that the IQ level of children sampled had dropped from an average of 91 in 1997 to 88 in 2002.  This is lower than the WHO recommended average IQ range of 90 to 110, and much lower than the average IQ of 104 in the world’s developed countries.

But IDD is entirely preventable by iodizing all salt for human and animal consumption, called “Universal Salt Iodization”. The cost of iodizing salt is small – just $0.05, a mere 1.3 baht, per person per year. However, all salt used by the food industry has to be iodized including for example the salt used in processed foods and in fish sauce as these comprise a major source of salt intake in the Thai population. Thus, it is very important to make iodization of all salt for human and animal consumption legally compulsory.  This makes it fair for all salt producers to abide by the recommendation and helps prevent leakage of ‘cheaper’, non-iodized salt into the human food chain.  The World Health Organization believes that the elimination of iodine deficiency disorders is a critical development issue for every nation and should be given the highest priority by every national government. WHO is working steadfastly with the Thai government and other partners towards this goal.

Links

More information on IDD

International Council for the Control of IDD

External Review IDD Elimination in Thailand (English and Thai)