Public Health Wednesdays (PHW)- Africa & Asia Health Check
ASIA
JAPAN HAS A FUGU PROBLEM
This is the Fugu Fish, very few chefs can prepare this fish without killing you. It is also known as a Blowfish.
Food & Poison
A grocer at Gamagori, Japan accidentally sold some of the poisonous parts and the city is now on high alert. Fugu is a winter delicacy and a very expensive one. A blow fish will take you back $100-$200. I have never tried but I must admit it is very tempting as I enjoy sushi. I never try it because... Well mortality is a blow.
AFRICA
What's new?
Chikungunya in Kenya
Cholera in Malawi and Zambia
Suspected Rift Valley fever in South Sudan (Viral Haemorrhagic Fever)
NAMIBIA-HEPATITIS E
DO YOU KNOW YOU ABC'S?
Namibia has reported over 200 cases of Hepatitis E and the numbers are at risk of increasing
UGANDA-CRIMEAN-CONGO FEVER
January 5th....
January 14th
FAKE MEDICINE IN AFRICA
World Health Organization (WHO) report counterfeit medicine is responsible for about 100,000 deaths a year in Africa. A 2016 report from Sanofi pharmaceutical discovered that counterfeit medicines laboratories that target the African market are in China, Indonesia, Ukraine, and Poland.
The need for such counterfeit medicine in global south spaces or developing countries in Africa, is a direct result of countries that do not reimbursed their governments for medical expenses.
Accountability goes back to African countries that lack their definitions of just what counterfeit medicine is, more African actors are needed in the pharmaceutical industries not just as consumers but as manufacturers, better regulations, and enforceable policies on legal enforcement for the sellers and manufacturers.
A Chinese policeman walks across a pile of fake medicines seized in Beijing. The rapid growth of Internet commerce has led to an explosion of counterfeit drugs sold around the world, with China believed to be the biggest source of fake medicines in the world.
Source: AFP/GETTY
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