World Polio Day - Battle Against Polio

Polio - a serious disease that can negatively affect the health of a child and makes him physically challenged. But you can save your child from this chronic disease. If your child is vaccinated for polio, his/her rest of life won’t be threatened by polio. Every year several polio campaigns are held worldwide to give the children oral polio vaccine.

World Polio Day is an effort to eradicate polio completely from the world. With the great efforts, now polio is on verge of an end. But if the disease is not completed eradicated, it can affect more than 10 million children worldwide in coming 40 years. World Polio Day spreads awareness across the globe about the worse consequences of polio, which can paralyze a child.

World Polio Day 2012

Polio eradication partners from every corner of the world will be marking 24 October as World Polio Day. They take an opportunity to eradicate the poliovirus in the remaining endemic countries such as Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. The cause is powered by the World Health Assembly and implemented through national emergency programs.

Why is polio vaccination important?

One might think what is the need of the polio vaccination? You will be surprised to know that polio is highly contagious and polio virus can be easily transmitted. If polio-affected child travels to polio-free country, polio can reoccur in that country and again children will be at higher risk of polio.

So whenever campaigns for polio vaccinations are held, take your child for the oral polio vaccinations. Just few drops - and you can save your child from being paralyzed.

Polio is preventable disease; don’t let your child be paralysed. World Polio Day is a critical step to encourage the people to protect children from polio - by getting them polio vaccination.

medecure urges to give your child polio vaccination so that he is protected against polio for rest of his life.  If your child is less than 5 years, take your child to the polio booth for the vaccination.

Love your Bones - World Osteoporosis Day

Osteoporosis literally means ‘porous bone’ is a medical condition, in which bones become weak and thin. Such a condition increases the risk of fracture in bone. Hip and spine are the most common areas of fracture associated with osteoporosis, accounting for more than 80% of all fractures.

Osteoporosis is a global health problem which mainly occurs without any signs and symptoms. It is considered as the “silent epidemic”; therefore, some efforts are to be made to aware the people about the prevention and causes of the disease. World Osteoporosis Day is celebrated on 20 October annually. The campaign aims to educate and aware the people about the disease, so that people can take effective measures to prevent osteoporosis.

The lifetime chances of osteoporosis in men are 13% and in women it is 30-40%. A person is at higher risk of the disease if he has poor eating habits and due to lack of exercise. But if some lifestyle changes and dietary changes are made, the risk of osteoporosis can be decreased.

Effective ways to prevent osteoporosis

The risk of osteoporosis can be reduced by taking some steps to improve and maintain a good health of the bones. To strengthen the bones you should -

Eat a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D - Consuming adequate nutrients is essential for the healthy bones. Upload your diet rich in Calcium and Vitamin D to make your bones strong and healthy. Good sources of calcium are low-fat milk, yogurt, cereals, breads, and orange juice. Ask a doctor for the supplements of vitamin D.

Exercise – It is another best way to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Exercise is very beneficial in making the bones strong. Strengthen your bones by involving in some physical activities like walking, jogging, hiking, climbing stairs, dancing, and playing tennis.

Apart from above you can also decrease the risk of osteoporosis by adopting healthy lifestyle such as

• Quit smoking
• Limit alcohol intake

So this year on the occasion of World Osteoporosis Day, make a strong will that you will do every effort to win the battle against osteoporosis. Eat healthy food rich in calcium and involve more in exercise to make you bones strong.

Having a look at various Breast Cancer Treatment

One of the leading types of cancer in women is the breast cancer. Many women worldwide die due to breast cancer. Though with so much advancement in the medical field still there has not been a proper cure for this condition. The entire world celebrates the October month as the breast cancer awareness month and tries to promote awareness and hence bring down the incidence of breast cancer.

Celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month

There are many treatments available which have proved helpful. These treatments have been able to bring down the mortality rate among women. Let us now have a look at the various breast cancer treatments developed over a period of time.

There have been some recent advancement in the breast cancer category and the doctors have been able to develop such therapies which target and attack those substances which trigger breast cancer cells. The targeted therapies include :

• Trastuzumab (Herceptin) : this drug targets those cells which are dependent on Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2). This drug blocks the effects of HER2 on cancer cells. This limits the growth of breast cancer. All those breast cancer patients who have got tumors respond well to this medication in combination with chemotherapy.
• Lapatinib (Tykerb) : this drug has same effect as that of Trastuzumab and interferes with HER2 protein signals
• Bevacizuamb (Avastin) : this drug interferes with cancer’s blood supply thus restricting the growth of breast cancer. It shuts down new blood vessel formation around the cancer.

Other treatment options available :

• Intra operative Radiation Therapy : This is advancement over the radiation therapy in which the therapy is done after a woman has undergone surgery to remove breast (after some days of undergoing surgery) but what happens in intra operative radiation, the therapy is given to the woman right after the operation in the operation theater. This way it saves both time and all procedure is done at one go. Such a therapy is not recommended for pregnant women because it is known to increase the risk of birth defects in the baby. In such a condition the doctor suggests lumpectomy and radiation therapy.
• Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy : in this procedure the doctors try to locate the lymph node where the breast cancer is most likely to spread. This is done using a dye or a radioactive substance. The doctor would remove that lymph node and would examine it. If there is no cancerous tissue in that lump, then there is no need to remove other lymph nodes from the patient’s breast.
• High dose Chemotherapy followed by Stem cell transplant : this method is still under much debate as many doctors have found that those women who have received high dose chemo reported high mortality then women who received standard chemo therapy. Also the side effects associated with chemotherapy are very much debated.

Treatment for such breast cancer which comes back : such a cancer which comes back after treatment it s called recurrence. The recurrence could be local or distant. When the cancer comes back in the same breast or near the mastectomy scar this is local recurrence. If the cancer is farther it is distant recurrence. But if a cancer is found in the other breast, it is not recurrence and would require its own treatment.

Treatment for Local Recurrence :  The treatment would depend upon the earlier treatment. If earlier breast conserving therapy was used, then now mastectomy would be used. But if the first treatment was mastectomy, then radiation therapy could be used. The doctor would make sure that the woman has not undergone radiation therapy earlier. In such a case hormone therapy, chemo or a combination of available treatment would be done.

Treatment for Distant Recurrence : when the cancer spreads beyond the breast and lymph to other parts of the body then it is treated with systematic therapy. Again combinations of available treatments are used to cure such condition.

These treatments are available but would be of no use unless and until you get the screening done. So go for the breast cancer screening this October and pledge it to eliminate it from the world. medecure is with you in this endeavor.

Why Visiting an Eye Specialist is necessary?

Why visit an eye specialist when my vision is proper? This is the common statement which we all make at different point of time in our lives. Not only for eye specialty rather any doctor for any specialty. We all have heard that prevention is better than cure a million times but this saying has remained confined only to books. We have failed to implement them in real life as far as health care is concerned. Until and unless our condition deteriorates to worse only then we consider going for a consultation with the doctor. We even become doctors ourselves and start taking self medication which many a times prove fatal.

Eye exams are not only for those who have poor vision rather they are a very important and precautionary measure to detect certain eye infections and diseases even before the symptoms show up. Many of you might not even know that an ophthalmologist just by looking at your eyes would be able to tell you that you might suffer from diabetes. This is just an example of diabetes; there are various health problems which could be detected through a simple eye examination.

This Oct 13, 2012 world over would be celebrated as World Sight Day. Various NGOs would be running eye camps which would be offering free eye checking service and even free consultation session with the ophthalmologist. But our callous attitude would stop us from going there. Medecure urges all the people to shun such thoughts and get your eyes checked.

If you miss such free eye check up camps, do not hesitate to visit an eye doctor. Such sessions would prove to be fruitful and even if there is some problem you along with your ophthalmologist would be able to control and eliminate it well before time. Now when you have understood the importance of such eye tests you could make other people aware as well. Spread the word and contribute to the welfare of the society. Make this society a better place to live.

Medecure prays to the almighty that all stay healthy and blessed!!

What all is done on World Mental Health Day?

This year World Mental Health Day would be celebrated on 10th Oct worldwide. Some of you might even wonder that why we celebrate mental health day. To many people the word mental has a different meaning which means that the person is insane, crazy or foolish. But mental health is equally important as Physical health. The general definition of health even says, Health is a state of physical and mental well being. Physical health is well taken care off but much less or say nothing is done to make mental health better.

What is Mental Health and what all the World Health Organization does on the World Health Day?

WHO defines Mental health as," not just the absence of mental disorder. A state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community ".

This year the World Mental Health Day would be celebrated with the theme," Depression: A Global Crisis ". More than 350 million people are affected globally by depression and what is surprising to note is that now the number of children facing depression is increasing. What surprises medecure is that in the year 2004 unipolar depressive disorders were ranked as the third leading cause of the global burden of the disease as per the report generated by World Health Organization?

But let us focus on what would be done this year is to promote the message that it is easy to overcome mental health issues and depression is treatable. The governments and civil society worldwide would be engaged in activities through which people could be made aware. The people could be educated that they should not ignore the early signs of depression. They should not feel low and confide these signs to themselves rather they should seek the help of their family members, friends and colleagues and if required even consult a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Medecure appreciates the efforts and the pains taken up by World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH) to make people aware about maintaining good mental health.