PHA-Exchange> New Service: HealthWize

[Claudio]

From: "Margaret D'Adamo" <mdadamo at jhuccp.org>
> New Service: HealthWize
> -----------------------
> 
> A new weekly service is now available to provide you with expert
> medical knowledge about a variety of public health issues to
> help you design more effective communication programs.
> 
> HealthWise is a joint product of the Health Communication Part-
> nership (HCP) and the INFO (Information and Knowledge for Opti-
> mal Health) Project, both based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
> School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs
> (CCP) and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Devel-
> opment (USAID).
> 
> HealthWise will research and summarize answers to your questions
> about public health problems in reproductive health, HIV/AIDS,
> maternal health, child survival and tuberculosis, malaria. It
> focuses on the medical aspects of these problems to help enhance
> and inform health communication programs with expert health
> knowledge. As HCP's Associate Director of Health Sciences,
> Youssef Tawfik, MD, MPH, is responsible for facilitating Health-
> Wise questions and answers in a brief yet thorough manner.
> 
> We hope you will benefit from having this credible source of
> medical expertise based on state-of-the-art scientific informa-
> tion and evidence provided in simple and easy to understand lan-
> guage. Trying to find a simple answer to a medical question can
> be time-consuming and confusing.
> 
> Please sign up to receive each week's installment of HealthWise
> by visiting http://www.hcpartnership.org or writing directly to
> mailto:healthwise-subscribe at hcpartnership.org. Your questions
> can be sent directly to mailto:healthwise at jhuccp.org or you can
> ask through the website. HealthWise is accessible at both
> http://www.hcpartnership.org and http://www.infoforhealth.org,
> and an archive of past questions and answers can be viewed at
> http://www.hcpartnership.org/Healthwise/archive.php.
> 
> Sample initial questions include determining the health risks of
> getting malaria when pregnant and the role of zinc supplementa-
> tion in managing childhood diarrhea. Here's this week's ques-
> tion:
> 
> Q: What are the health risks of getting malaria while pregnant?
> 
> A: Malaria during pregnancy can result in spontaneous abortion,
> low birth weight or neonatal death, depending on the pregnant
> woman's level of immunity. Pregnant women living in low and un-
> stable malaria epidemic areas usually have less immunity and
> tend to show more severe symptoms when infected with P. falcipa-
> rum, the most common malaria species in Africa. They are also at
> a two- to three-fold higher risk of developing a severe infec-
> tion than non-pregnant adults in the same area. In these areas,
> maternal death may result either directly from severe malaria or
> indirectly from malaria-related anemia. In areas of high and
> moderate (stable) malaria transmission, most adult women have
> developed enough immunity that, even during pregnancy, P. falci-
> parum infection does not usually cause clinical symptoms. In
> these areas, infection can lead to malaria-related anemia in the
> mother, poor nutrition for the fetus and low birth weight for
> the infant. In areas of Africa with stable malaria transmission,
> P. falciparum infection during pregnancy is estimated to cause
> as many as 10,000 maternal deaths each year, 8-14% of all low
> birth weight babies, and 3-% of all infant deaths.
> 
> For more information, visit Roll Back Malaria at
> http://www.rbm.who.int
> 
> References:
> Roll Back Malaria, 2001-2010 United Nations Decade to Roll Back
> Malaria, 2002.
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> Please sign up today to receive HealthWise each week by e-mail.
> Thank you!
> 
> Peggy D'Adamo - Manager, Networking
> The INFO Project - www.infoforhealth.org
> mailto:mdadamo at jhuccp.org
> 
> Subscribe to RHGNews, published in e-mail format twice monthly.
> Look for the calendar of upcoming events and links to new web-
> sites and resources related to reproductive health. Visit
> http://www.rhgateway.org to sign up.