Today’s blog comes to us from our GLOBALHealthPR Australia partner, VIVA! Communications It is the sum of every individual event, large and small, that makes World Rabies Day a global movement. Saturday, September 28, 2013 marks the sixth annual World Rabies Day, co- sponsored by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). World Rabies Day aims to raise awareness about and prevent the spread of rabies – a life-threatening disease that affects more than 3.3 billion people living in enzootic areas. Rabies is the deadliest disease on earth with a 99.9 per cent fatality rate once the first sign of clinical symptoms appear. Rabies is endemic in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas and is transmitted by a wide range of animals. The virus attacks the central nervous system causing severely distressing neurological symptoms before death occurs. The disease results in an estimated 55,000 deaths world-wide each year, causing approximately one death every 10 minutes. The vast majority of deaths from rabies occur in Asia and Africa, primarily among children who are bitten by rabid dogs. Sadly however, the disease remains neglected. “Travellers have little understanding about rabies at all, let alone how to minimise the risk of rabies, which is quite concerning considering it’s such a potentially fatal disease,” said Caroline Nash, Victoria, Australia, who has authored a brochure on rabies also transmitted into Russian. The combination of educational activities, vaccination of dogs in affected areas and the timely provision of travel health advice to those visiting rabies-endemic regions, serve in the fight to eliminate this preventable disease. This...
Diabetes prevalence is on the rise and has reached epidemic levels in China. According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the percentage of Chinese with diabetes has surpassed that of the U.S. In China, 11.6 percent of adults – 114 million people – have diabetes. Most alarming, only 30 percent of Chinese with diabetes are aware they have the disease. Ninety-five percent of Chinese citizens have health coverage and overall health spending in the country might hit $1 trillion by 2020. Despite these expenditures, there is still a major shortfall in identifying, screening and treating populations who are at-risk for diabetes. How do health care providers and government leaders address this? In China and elsewhere, urgent action is needed to expand screening initiatives to reach more patients. Bi-directional screening, where testing for an infectious illness (such as TB or HIV) is combined with a non-communicable disease screen (such as diabetes or cancer), could be key. This allows health professionals to integrate new programs into already-existing clinics. In China, the World Diabetes Foundation and World Health Organization have shown some promise in integrating diabetes and tuberculosis screenings. However, if any real, measurable progress is to be made in reducing the 70 percent of undiagnosed diabetes cases in China, we must go beyond the traditional tactics of stakeholder meetings and training sessions that often result in only a few thousand screenings. While meetings and trainings are essential to global health intervention, they must not be considered primary tactics. “Capacity building” is a buzz term popular in development and public health NGO spheres. If real...
The Find the Other 150 Campaign is a joint Progeria Research Foundation and GLOBALHealthPR collaboration to locate the remaining 150 of the estimated 200-250 children living globally with Progeria. Beginning in July and through the next several months, approximately 40 children from around the world will travel to Boston, Mass., in the United States to participate in the Triple Drug Trial, the latest clinical trial to test potential treatments for Progeria. To mark this expansion, The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF) is re-launching its highly successful “Find the Other 150” campaign to locate the remaining unidentified children living around the world with Progeria. Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is a rare, fatal genetic condition characterized by the appearance of accelerated aging in children. Symptoms of Progeria include growth failure, loss of body fat and hair, aged-looking skin, stiffness of joints, hip dislocation, and cardiovascular (heart) disease, among others. “At the launch of the campaign, we said that finding even one child would make the campaign a success, but we’ve significantly exceeded our expectations and identified nearly 50 additional children in a few short years,” said Audrey Gordon, President and Executive Director, PRF. “Our success is a testament to the power of global collaboration. We now know that through our continued global efforts, we can find even more children with Progeria to provide them with unique and essential medical services and care, and significantly further medical research to develop treatments and a cure.” When the “Find the Other 150” campaign originally launched in 2009, only 54 children in 30 countries living with Progeria had been identified. In less...
GLOBALHealthPR IHSMS 2.0 Initiative Reveals Opportunities for Healthcare Providers, Communicators, Industry and Public Health Advocates to Shift Dialogue Related to Global Health Crisis Washington, D.C., September 12, 2012 – The online dialogue about childhood obesity falls surprisingly short considering its prevalence, according to a recent research initiative sponsored by GLOBALHealthPR. IHSMS, in its second year, is a calculated, cross-cultural social media listening approach that focuses on different public health issues across the globe. This year, the IHSMS analysts discovered that while childhood obesity is a global problem, it’s not exactly a global conversation. Today, GLOBALHealthPR, the largest independent public relations organisation dedicated exclusively to health and scientific communications worldwide, released an infographic on the shortcomings of the childhood obesity conversation online. GLOBALHealthPR revealed that while one in 10 children worldwide is obese, there were only 15,189 online conversations in one month –one per 23,440 obese children. Also, GLOBALHealthPR analysts uncovered that while obesity rates of many nations are quite comparable, the bulk of conversation still occurs in the U.S. Included below are key insights revealed through the IHSMS 2.0 initiative: Given that child obesity is a preventable but widespread condition, GLOBALHealthPR analysts were surprised to find that the levels of conversation around prevention and treatment are extremely low, compared to less common diseases with few or no treatment options. For example, leukemia is connected with 7,813 times as many conversations as childhood obesity, despite the fact that leukemia affects fewer people per capita and is not preventable. Listening has shown that there is huge opportunity for growth with respect to the childhood obesity conversation. Opportunity begins with simple steps,...
I learned several weeks ago that I’m to receive the Genetic Alliance “Art of Reporting” Award in June for Spectrum’s work on behalf of The Progeria Research Foundation‘s (PRF) “Find the Other 150” campaign. I want to publicly thank Genetic Alliance for recognizing this campaign and our commitment to such a rare disease. Progeria is a rare, rapid aging disease in children and our client, PRF, is working to find a treatment and cure for this disease. As of October 2009, experts estimated that there were approximately 150 unidentified children with Progeria around the world. Spectrum and our global partners, GLOBALHealthPR, teamed up with PRF to launch a global communications effort to find these 150 children. I am accepting this award on behalf of our team at Spectrum and our GLOBALHealthPR partners who bring their local market expertise to this global outreach effort. Our partners have been so instrumental in the success of this campaign, continually assisting with media outreach and support to find new and creative channels to spread PRF’s message. This campaign is a great example of the power of strategic global communications. When we started the “Find the Other 150” campaign more than a year ago, the medical director of PRF said that if we found even one child, the campaign would be considered a success. Today, our efforts have led to the discovery of 17 children with Progeria from 12 countries around the world. Each child identified brings PRF one step closer to finding effective treatments and a cure. In addition, each child benefits from PRF’s unique medical care and is connected with trained medical...
A global quest for “missing children” begins in earnest today. Only 54 children with Progeria, a rare disease that causes premature aging in children, are known to researchers and patient advocates. However, experts estimate that another 150 unidentified children with Progeria live throughout the world. GLOBALHealthPR partners have pooled our resources in an international campaign to promote awareness and dialog to help locate these children. Each child who is brought forth could benefit from the medical services and unique care that The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF), our pro bono client, can provide. “Our goal is to find these children as quickly as possible so we can educate their families and health-care providers on the latest in Progeria research and treatments. We are excited to launch this campaign with GlobalHealthPR because their global reach will help us spread awareness to a worldwide audience,” said Audrey Gordon, President and Executive Director of PRF. Progeria is personal for Gordon and her sister, who is PRF Medical Director Dr. Leslie Gordon. Dr. Gordon’s son was diagnosed with Progeria more than 10 years ago and the family is dedicated to finding a treatment and cure. If you have contacts or friends overseas, or if someone you know or treat has Progeria-like characteristics, please contact The Progeria Research Foundation at www.findtheother150.org for resources that will help to provide them the best treatment...
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