Archive for the 'Health and Medicine' Category

We’re all aware that in poor developing countries, fewer girls than boys attend school. International development “experts” have analyzed the problem to death and have produced heaps of books and reports that offer all sorts of explanations and solutions for the school-attendance gender gap. (Examples: Girls aren’t in school because the culture is patriarchal. The solution is to offer parents cash or food subsidies to keep their daughters in school.)

Sometimes in life, however, problems aren’t as complex as they might seem. I’ve recently come across two pieces of evidence that suggest that part of the gender gap in school attendance is simply a matter of feminine hygiene — or lack of it. With more maxi-pads and more toilets, more adolescent girls could be back in school.

Piece of Evidence #1 (Source: Thomas Friedman’s April 18, 2007, column)

Naisiae Tobiko, a 28-year-old Kenyan woman, noticed that when she was a child, girls from families poorer than hers often came to school, but as they grew older, they missed four days of school each month. Many even ended up dropping out because of missed school days. She asked them what was going on, and they said they could not attend school when they were menstruating because their families could not afford maxi-pads.

“How can I come to a place when I am bleeding?” asked the girls, some of whom were using rags or mud. 

Today, it’s Tobiko to the rescue. In partnership with the Girl Child Network and other NGOs, she distributes free menstrual products to girls. So far she’s reached 189,000 girls out of a target of 500,000. More maxi-pads equals more educated young women, which equals more informed moms, which equals healthier, happier children in the next generation.

Piece of Evidence #2 (Source: Page 378 of William Easterly’s hardcover book The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good and Nov. 29, 2004’s BusinessWeek article “The eBay Way“)

GlobalGiving is a “matchmaking” organization that pairs development projects with funders. In 2002, some teachers in Coimbatore, India, noticed that many girls were leaving school once they reached puberty. The teachers posted a project on GlobalGiving. The project ad was titled “New Toilet Block for School. $5,000.” Four U.S. donors, including a writer from New York City, funded the project. Three months later, the girls had their own toilet block. It turns out that girls had been dropping out en masse because lack of private toilets made them feel embarrassed when they were menstruating. Two years after the toilet block was constructed, 100 girls had stayed in school. GlobalGiving estimates that by 2012, 440 girls will have stayed through graduation — that’s $11.36 per girl to keep her in school.

Sometimes, it’s the small things that make all the difference.

So I’ve been working at the coffee shop in our undergraduate library for what seems like an eternity (2.5 year and counting). While my salary hasn’t increased too much, everything else has. Drink size, food quantity, appetites, espresso shots–the list goes on…

I always work on Wednesday, which is our “two dollar latte” day. Any size latte for just two dollars. Basically, hoards of customers all day long. Practically everyone orders a large (20 oz) latte with caramel, vanilla, or more commonly- both.

Now it’s no absurdity that everyone gets into this whole ’super-size my drink’ mode when its free. You want to get the most value for your buck. No big deal.
But I did a rough calculation (Starbucks nutrition facts) and a large vanilla latte has around 400 calories. Add 50 calories for caramel and 130 calories for whip cream. Grand total= 580 calories. And that’s without a muffin, coffee cake, or scone (all of which would tack on another 400-500 calories each).
An article that recently ran in the New York Times titled “You Are Also What You Drink” reports that some of your biggest health ailments stem from poor beverage choice consumption. Although these findings aren’t anything new to the health industry, it’s an important reality check for all of us. I’ll admit it– I initially gained weight when I starting working at a coffeeshop.
Most of the time, we don’t even realize how calorie-infested some of our favorite drinks actually are. I’m not out to ruin your monday morning, but these nutrition facts might be worth a glance.

Jamba Juice Citrus Squeeze Smoothie 470 calories (original size)

Dairy Queen Chocolate Malt Shake 880 calories (16 oz)

Panera I.C Caramel 550 calories (grande)
Jack in the Box Oreo Shake 910 calories (16 oz)
Baskin Robbins Strawberry-Banana Creamy Breeze 730 calories (medium)

Steak ‘n Shake Root Beer Float 557 calories (medium)

Kahlúa Mudslide 494 calories (one serving)

Jager Bomb 213 calories (1.5 fl oz)

Indulge in your favorite drinks every once in a while, but for the sake of your liver, cholesterol, and blood sugar level, try not to go too overboard. Health officials argue that there’s just no point in drinking all your calories away. And they’re right.

The average smoker needs 5000 cigarettes a year. That’s a lot.

In light of all the recent excitement surrounding the Cricket Word Cup, the UK NHS (Nation Health Service) Smoke-free campaign has been gung-ho in their attempt to urge cricket fans to stop smoking. While smokers are usually quick to argue that a few drags quickly will calm their nerves, the NHS reports that smoking actually increases stress levels. Basically, the Nicotine high wears off quickly and the withdrawal makes smokers even more tense. The only appropriate de-stressor is, alas, another cigarette.

The Smoke-Free Campaign basically plays off the notion that you, the die-hard cricket fan, will already be tense and stressed-out while watching one or all of the 51 Cricket World Cup matches. Smoking will just force you to sit even more at the-edge-of-your-seat, in a bad way.

So no offense to the NHS, but their whole Smoke-Free during the Cricket World Series Campaign is a bit elementary. Watching sports is stressful, smoking is stressful. Thus, stressful+stressful= double stressful. Oh my!

But the NHS did highlight some alarming statistics and health trends that South Asians (especially the smokers) should take a look at. Below are the five most relevant points:

• Smoking rates amongst Asian communities are often higher than the national average and this is particularly the case with the male population. 40% of Bangladeshi males, 20% of Indian males and 29% of Pakistani males are all addicted to smoking (Source: Health Survey for England, 2004)
• Ethnic minorities have been shown to possess relatively poor knowledge concerning the link between cigarette smoking and disease. 22% of Bangladeshi men and 20% of Pakistani men believe smoking has ‘no effect’ on their current health, compared to 12% of the UK as a whole (ASH)
• Smoking is one of the major causes of Chronic Heart Disease and reports indicate that South Asians living in Britain are 50% more likely to die from CHD than the general population (note: South Asians residing in the United States are also overwhelmingly more susceptible to CHD than the general population)
• Of men that have smoked regularly at some stage in their life in Britain, Pakistani and Bangladeshi men are the least likely groups of males to have successfully stopped smoking, with only one in five men who had ever smoked regularly having given up. (Health survey for England)
• The risk of disease among South Asians is particularly high due to the combination of smoking and the presence of other risk factors. For example, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities tend to eat fewer fruit and vegetables and do less physical exercise than other minority groups

To give them a bit of well-deserved credit, the NHS really is a great resource for South Asian (especially in the UK) smokers who want to kick their addiction. The NHS Asian Tobacco Helpline provides confidential and free advice on how to give up ethnic-specific tobacco habits, like smoking “bidis” or chewing paan. Smokers also have the option of calling different helpline numbers depending on if they would feel more comfortable speaking in their native languages such as Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, or Bengali.

And with an ironic twist, new reports indicate that Pakistan’s coach Bob Woolmer died aged 58 on Sunday after being found unconscious in his hotel room the morning after their surprise defeat by Ireland. His son, Russell Woolmer, was quoted saying “There was a lot of stress in his job and it may have been stressed that caused [his death]”.

I don’t know if Bob Woolmer was a smoker but aside from that possibility, stress and cricket seem to go hand-in-hand… I guess the UK NHS knew what they were talking about when they launched this whole get “Smoke-Free” for the Cricket World Cup campaign.