imuToday we are looking at rest with regards to listening to our bodies. Every human being needs rest. Maintaining good health depends on quality, satisfying rest, more than on any other aspect of living. Relaxation, comfort and good sleep do more than make us feel good. Rest helps the body to repair itself after each day’s challenges, resetting mental processes, restoring our energy. Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our lives and helps us to rest. Sleep notwithstanding, we need additional rest to nightly sleep.
The human body needs a lot of rest to balance out exercise, eating, and daily activities. Getting the proper amount of sleep is crucial to eliminating stress and healing the body. Not getting enough sleep increases stress, which leaves us more prone to sicknesses. We should always get enough sleep to enjoy our daytime activities.
We also need to take breaks from daily activities and do something we enjoy so we don't burn out. If we work too much, we will not only become too stressed and restless. We also become less productive e.g. we are unable to be creative and generate new ideas at work. Sometimes to even perform our routine functions becomes a problem.
An average of eight hours sleep is recommended for each person, but individual needs vary. The amount of sleep we need also varies in a particular individual at different times. If you have been involved in more tedious activities than usual or you are recovering from illness; then your usual amount of sleep will not be enough for you and you need more rest. For some people, it is normal to drive their bodies beyond the limit of endurance and disguise it as hardwork! It is easy to do this when people are young, but as we get older, the body gives us warning signs more quickly when we need rest. Sometimes people feel pressured to achieve certain goals and this drives them to work ceaselessly without resting. I have heard people say things like, "I didn't come to Lagos to nap"! Well, taking a nap at the right time could jolly well save their life in Lagos.
Other say things like "I no come look bridge!" It may be nice to sit down and have a quite time daily and look at not only the bridges, but anything within your sight wherever you are. This is because rest is not only sleeping. Quite time, is also rest time. Quite time is the time when you sit back and just relax or wind down. You may listen to soothing music whilst doing so. There are even special mood-mellowing sound tracks that are sold to help people relax and meditate. Rest is required not only from too much work, but from too much play! There is a partying adage that says, "Life is for enjoyment", well REST should be an integral part of your enjoyment.
No need to rock oneself to a stand still! Also, if we exercise too much, we risk exhausting our body and depleting our energy. It is recommended that every month and a half (six weeks) we take a week off exercise routines so we may refrain from wearing ourselves out and remain motivated. I once read about a sixty five year old man who was the picture of bustling health. He used to wake up and jog several kilometers every morning. He was supposedly as fit as a fiddle. One morning, he had gone on his usual early morning jog.
He arrived at his house only for him to collapse at the doorstep; he had had a heart attack. He eventually died in the hospital. The story was narrated by his daughter as a lesson about excessive exercise. People routinely die at squash courts, because it is a short burst high impact exercise. We MUST rest our body for it not to wear out. It is true that a sedentary life (life of inactivity/ no exercise) is not good for the body, but excessive exercise is bad too. Resting is a very simple way to achieve fitness and can be very rewarding.
What are the signs that our body gives us when we need rest? Like I wrote last week, some of us are more adept at listening to our bodies than others. For some people; it is easy for them to know when they need rest and they listen and respond to their body. Simple signs like feeling weak, yawning, drowsiness, etc can be very indicative that your body needs rest. Some long distance drivers just fall asleep and this could be fatal if they are driving!! Some others start catching regular colds, coughs and flus; showing that their immunity is down and the body needs a break. The most constant sign in all persons is the change in the vital signs.
Vital signs are clearly important in checking your health. Vital signs included temperature, pulse, respiration rate, blood pressure, and lung capacity. Vital signs vary per individual, but are mostly within the normal ranges. A particular vital sign e.g. blood pressure, usually has a range for different age groups. Notwithstanding, there is the high and low extreme for all age groups. Blood pressure measures the work of you heart while pumping and at rest. The pulse measures how many times your heart beats a minute to circulate oxygen to the tissues.
The respiration rate measures that amount of breaths you need to take to keep the oxygen level your body needs and to remove the carbon dioxide. Temperature is one of the most useful vital signs. This is because you can feel it with your hand (even without any apparatus ‡thermometer). I remember the tragic case of a popular young musician whose performance was so much in demand, that he was grossly overworked. He had gone to perform at a highbrow club on Lagos Island; a dancing guest place a naira note on his forehead in an attempt to spray him and discovered that he had a very high temperature!
He warned him to take care of himself. The musician died a few days after. He had apparently been shuttling Abuja, Calabar, Lagos, etc to meet up his performance dates. Besides temperature, a pounding heart and breathlessness are also very good signs that we can notice without any apparatus. Blood pressure measurement requires the use of a sphygmomanometer. There are affordable and easy –to – use ones available these days. Everybody over the age of thirtyfive should have access to easy blood pressure measurement. Most importantly, make rest a routine part of your lifestyle.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Killing you slowly with cooking oil!
nutriCooking oil is a very ubiquitous part of our diet. It is used in various forms of cooking, whether stewing, frying, broiling or grilling. Oils are a liquid form of fat which are very important to our health. Fats and oils carry essential vitamins and other nutrients which are required by our body. The vitamins are the fat – soluble vitamins, namely; A, D, E and K.
The importance of these vitamins cannot be underscored and have been trashed severally in this column. Without fats and oils in our diet, we would not be able to access these vitamins and would have vitamin deficiencies in them. It is therefore the height of stupidity for anyone to go on a fat – free diet. Such a person would be doing him or herself immeasurable harm. Having reasserted the importance of fats and oil in our diet, it is evident that cooking oil is one of the vehicles through which we get energy and nutrients. The choice of the right type of cooking oil is a very serious matter in every home.
The type of oil you choose to cook with can also add or detract from the nutritional value of your meal. Even the most nutritious meal can be sabotaged if you fry it or douse it with the wrong type of oil. Wait for it; the wrong type cooking oil over years can help to shorten your life! Unfortunately, only very few people pay attention to the constitution of the cooking oil that they use to cook. The choice of cooking oil is made based on decisions like the cost (very important parameter for most cooks, especially for commercially oriented cooking), smell, colour, packaging, effect of advertisement, etc.
Source of cooking oils: Literarily all cooking oils are made from animal or plant origin. I am yet to come across any cooking oil that is completely synthesized in the laboratory for commercial sale. It is generally agreed that cooking oils of animal origin are high in saturated fats and less healthy than oils from vegetable origin. Vegetable oils Include, coconut oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, sesame oil, olive oil, avocado oil, etc. Sadly, some cooking oils of vegetable origin have been processed such that they are worse than animal fats.
Dangerous cooking oils: The absolute worst oil you can use is highly processed, low-quality vegetable oil. These oils are pressed or solvent extracted from seeds and nuts, they are degummed, refined, bleached, and deodorized. The result is known as an RBD (refined, bleached, deodorized oil) and these oils, as a result, become colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Sellers recommend these oils for salads, baking, and frying. Their containers usually have lovely photos of salads or chicken that are cooked with these oils. What many people don't know is that valuable 'minor ingredients' including antioxidants, phytosterols, chlorophyll, flavor molecules, color molecules, lecithin, and other oil-soluble beneficial molecules are removed too.
In the case of bleached palm oil, betacarotene; a very powerful antioxidant and provitamin A is completely removed!! These are valuable nutrients naturally packed into the oils for your health benefit. Anytime that use see cooking oil that has been refined, bleached and deodorized; take a long walk! Unfortunately, these are the types of cooking oils that are most used in Nigeria today. These mostly imported cooking oils are very nicely packaged (especially in attractive tins and plastic bottles) and affordable. They are the cooking oil of choice in most restaurants as well. If you eat out regularly, then your body fat is mostly constituted of these dangerous oils. The first thing you need to know is that these oils are devoid of nutrients.
They are also very susceptible to going rancid (and rancid oil should not be consumed). When you use them to cook, the fats easily become rancid, and rancid oil may contribute to oxidative stress and damaging free radicals in your body. Research has shown that, 0.5 to 1% of the oil molecules themselves are damaged during the processing. Some of these molecules have been isolated, tested with animals, and found to be very toxic.
The damaged molecules found in cooking oils are much more toxic than the trans- fats which, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, double the risk of heart attacks, kill at least 30,000 people in the US every year, and increase diabetes. We do not know what the statistics are here, but these oils are definitely contributing to the sudden upsurge in heart disease and diabetes. This is especially true in the last three decades that we have changed from our traditional cooking oils to these imported refined and bleached oils. In general, any highly processed vegetable oil is not the best choice for a healthy diet.
Choosing the Right Type of Cooking Oil: Cooking oils are not created equal, and you will find a wide variety of qualities, and price ranges, in your grocery store. Try experimenting with different types and flavors of natural oils.
Palm oil and Coconut Oil: Palm oil and Coconut oil are saturated fats, but don't let that scare you. Recent research has disproven all the deliberate black listing of these oils. These incredibly stable oils contain a type of saturated fat called medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs are actually great for your immune system, intestinal health and even may help to support weight management. These oils are highly stable, it won't become damaged during cooking. They are also highly resistant to frying. These are our traditional cooking oils which are high in valuable nutrients. I will write about each oil individually at a later date. When trying to choose cooking oil for your home, you should look for varieties with the following properties:
• Minimal, gentle processing: Highly processed oils can become damaged. Look for expeller-pressed or cold-pressed oils to be sure you're getting high-quality, undamaged oil.
• Minimal refining: Refined oils have been stripped of their flavor, color and nutrients. Although they have a place if you'll be using them for high-temperature cooking (as they're processed to be made more stable), for other uses (particularly when flavor and nutrition are important) seek out unrefined oils.
• Stored in a dark, glass bottle: Oil can become damaged by heat and light, which is why you'll find high-quality oils stored in dark-tinted bottles. It is also possible that the oil could leach potentially dangerous chemicals from a plastic storage bottle, which is why you should, ideally, seek out those stored in glass bottles. When I was small, oil was stored in glass bottles. Now, it is plastics everywhere!
The importance of these vitamins cannot be underscored and have been trashed severally in this column. Without fats and oils in our diet, we would not be able to access these vitamins and would have vitamin deficiencies in them. It is therefore the height of stupidity for anyone to go on a fat – free diet. Such a person would be doing him or herself immeasurable harm. Having reasserted the importance of fats and oil in our diet, it is evident that cooking oil is one of the vehicles through which we get energy and nutrients. The choice of the right type of cooking oil is a very serious matter in every home.
The type of oil you choose to cook with can also add or detract from the nutritional value of your meal. Even the most nutritious meal can be sabotaged if you fry it or douse it with the wrong type of oil. Wait for it; the wrong type cooking oil over years can help to shorten your life! Unfortunately, only very few people pay attention to the constitution of the cooking oil that they use to cook. The choice of cooking oil is made based on decisions like the cost (very important parameter for most cooks, especially for commercially oriented cooking), smell, colour, packaging, effect of advertisement, etc.
Source of cooking oils: Literarily all cooking oils are made from animal or plant origin. I am yet to come across any cooking oil that is completely synthesized in the laboratory for commercial sale. It is generally agreed that cooking oils of animal origin are high in saturated fats and less healthy than oils from vegetable origin. Vegetable oils Include, coconut oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, sesame oil, olive oil, avocado oil, etc. Sadly, some cooking oils of vegetable origin have been processed such that they are worse than animal fats.
Dangerous cooking oils: The absolute worst oil you can use is highly processed, low-quality vegetable oil. These oils are pressed or solvent extracted from seeds and nuts, they are degummed, refined, bleached, and deodorized. The result is known as an RBD (refined, bleached, deodorized oil) and these oils, as a result, become colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Sellers recommend these oils for salads, baking, and frying. Their containers usually have lovely photos of salads or chicken that are cooked with these oils. What many people don't know is that valuable 'minor ingredients' including antioxidants, phytosterols, chlorophyll, flavor molecules, color molecules, lecithin, and other oil-soluble beneficial molecules are removed too.
In the case of bleached palm oil, betacarotene; a very powerful antioxidant and provitamin A is completely removed!! These are valuable nutrients naturally packed into the oils for your health benefit. Anytime that use see cooking oil that has been refined, bleached and deodorized; take a long walk! Unfortunately, these are the types of cooking oils that are most used in Nigeria today. These mostly imported cooking oils are very nicely packaged (especially in attractive tins and plastic bottles) and affordable. They are the cooking oil of choice in most restaurants as well. If you eat out regularly, then your body fat is mostly constituted of these dangerous oils. The first thing you need to know is that these oils are devoid of nutrients.
They are also very susceptible to going rancid (and rancid oil should not be consumed). When you use them to cook, the fats easily become rancid, and rancid oil may contribute to oxidative stress and damaging free radicals in your body. Research has shown that, 0.5 to 1% of the oil molecules themselves are damaged during the processing. Some of these molecules have been isolated, tested with animals, and found to be very toxic.
The damaged molecules found in cooking oils are much more toxic than the trans- fats which, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, double the risk of heart attacks, kill at least 30,000 people in the US every year, and increase diabetes. We do not know what the statistics are here, but these oils are definitely contributing to the sudden upsurge in heart disease and diabetes. This is especially true in the last three decades that we have changed from our traditional cooking oils to these imported refined and bleached oils. In general, any highly processed vegetable oil is not the best choice for a healthy diet.
Choosing the Right Type of Cooking Oil: Cooking oils are not created equal, and you will find a wide variety of qualities, and price ranges, in your grocery store. Try experimenting with different types and flavors of natural oils.
Palm oil and Coconut Oil: Palm oil and Coconut oil are saturated fats, but don't let that scare you. Recent research has disproven all the deliberate black listing of these oils. These incredibly stable oils contain a type of saturated fat called medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs are actually great for your immune system, intestinal health and even may help to support weight management. These oils are highly stable, it won't become damaged during cooking. They are also highly resistant to frying. These are our traditional cooking oils which are high in valuable nutrients. I will write about each oil individually at a later date. When trying to choose cooking oil for your home, you should look for varieties with the following properties:
• Minimal, gentle processing: Highly processed oils can become damaged. Look for expeller-pressed or cold-pressed oils to be sure you're getting high-quality, undamaged oil.
• Minimal refining: Refined oils have been stripped of their flavor, color and nutrients. Although they have a place if you'll be using them for high-temperature cooking (as they're processed to be made more stable), for other uses (particularly when flavor and nutrition are important) seek out unrefined oils.
• Stored in a dark, glass bottle: Oil can become damaged by heat and light, which is why you'll find high-quality oils stored in dark-tinted bottles. It is also possible that the oil could leach potentially dangerous chemicals from a plastic storage bottle, which is why you should, ideally, seek out those stored in glass bottles. When I was small, oil was stored in glass bottles. Now, it is plastics everywhere!
Your health and diabetes
It is now a well known and established fact that we are facing a global pandemic of Diabetes Mellitus. Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing and most costly disorders worldwide. Scientists report that at least 25 per cent of the population are walking around undiagnosed and insulin resistant (the latter is the syndrome just preceding diabetes). The sad news is that the age bracket is sliding lower and lower.
Children are affected!!
Type 2 diabetes used to be called "adult-onset" diabetes, because it mostly occurred in people over 50. But no longer! The rising rate of diabetes in children is epidemic. "If you go back 20 years, about two per cent of all cases of new onset diabetes (type 2) were in people between nine and 19 years old. Now, it's about 30 per cent to 50 per cent " said Dr. Gerald Bernstein, an endocrinologist with New York's Beth Israel Medical Center.
Among Americans in their 30s, the 1990s saw a 70 per cent rise in type 2 diabetes, reports the CDC (Centre for Disease Control). Other age groups also showed significant increases. For those in their 40s the disease rose by 40 per cent, and by 31 per cent for those in their fifties. It is also important to note that blacks seem to be the most susceptible race in America. A lot of developing countries are in the grip of this global pandemic. While countries, like India seem to be most adversely affected, Nigeria is now having an explosion in the level of occurrence.
I was going to write a different topic today, but decided to write on free radical damage with regards to diabetes, because of a specific request by someone. I felt, it is a topic that would benefit others so I decided to share it.
The statistics I quoted above show that there is serious cause for concern. You may begin to wonder what is going wrong or what are we doing wrong?
I and probably a lot of others have written exhaustively about the predisposing factors. People usually do not bother and feel insulated against ailments, like diabetes until a relative or they themselves are diagnosed. It is important, to be well educated about issues around you and adopt measures that will reduce ones susceptibility as well as ensure a healthier lifestyle for the diagnosed. People with a positive family history (i.e. with one or both parents who have been diagnosed as diabetic), should adopt lifestyles which would reduce the probability of their developing the disease.
While free radicals is the focus for today in relation to diabetes; I will briefly mention exercise, which is a very important factor.
Inactivity: These days, more and more people are engaged in blue collar jobs, which do not necessitate their working their bodies. Nobody wants to be a labourer or a farmer. Nigerian engineers are always teased about being in the office! These days, it is literarily unheard of for anybody to trek to the office. You either catch a bus and the more affluent drive or are driven. The bottom line is that rich or poor, day in day out, people sit on their buttocks to and from work. By the time they get back from work at the close of day, they are so tired that wild horses would not be able to drag them to do any form of exercise!!
Children and adolescents are not spared. Not exercising, being sedentary (watching TV, spending time on the computer, and playing video games), and eating larger portions of foods than they need take the lion's share of blame for the downward age progression of the diabetes epidemic. It is very important for people to arrange their lives in a way to increase the amount of exercise they do. Start small. Easy to do activities, like walking and dancing, can make a huge difference to tuning the body for good health. Sports like tennis (table and lawn), swimming, etc can be picked up with time. What are free radicals?
What do they have to do with diabetes?
What are free radicals? I will give the straight scientific definition of free radicals which may be a bit difficult for non-science oriented readers to understand. But that is what free radicals are Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. Free radicals are not completely bad. They are generated during normal biological processes that take place within our body. In fact, they are needed in vital body metabolic processes. The problem starts when free radicals that the body cannot handle or neutralize are generated. Some are xenobiotic or alien free radicals to the body. Certain substances are potent free radical generators.
Once formed, these highly reactive radicals can start a chain reaction. Their chief danger comes from the damage they can do when they react with important cellular components, such as DNA, or the cell membrane. Cells may function poorly or die if this occurs. Now imagine that these cells are the cells of an important organ, like the pancreas, which secretes insulin. What do they have to do with diabetes? Free radical stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Free radical stress would contribute to spontaneous type 2 diabetes development. I had written about free radicals in this column precisely in 2004 though not in specific relation to diabetes. Despite this, I mentioned that free radicals is the way a lot of substances and microbes exert their damage on cells of the body.
Free radicals are implicated in a wide assortment of diseases. With diabetes, some chemicals used in processing modern day food are potent agents that exert free radical stress on the pancreas. One of them is ALLOXAN, which is used to bleach wheat and make flour white. While Parental stock is an important determinant of susceptibility for glucose intolerance disorders, it wise to adopt a lifestyle which ensures reduced exposure to potent food toxins. In food toxins, I mentioned that we eat toxins in our food everyday.
Some are used to preserve or process the food. The bottom line is that certain substances can generate free radicals, which increase the probability of developing type 2 diabetes, especially in positively predisposed persons. It is important to eat a diet that is low in such substances, but high in antioxidants containing foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc. The latter help to neutralize free radicals before they are able to exert any damage.
Children are affected!!
Type 2 diabetes used to be called "adult-onset" diabetes, because it mostly occurred in people over 50. But no longer! The rising rate of diabetes in children is epidemic. "If you go back 20 years, about two per cent of all cases of new onset diabetes (type 2) were in people between nine and 19 years old. Now, it's about 30 per cent to 50 per cent " said Dr. Gerald Bernstein, an endocrinologist with New York's Beth Israel Medical Center.
Among Americans in their 30s, the 1990s saw a 70 per cent rise in type 2 diabetes, reports the CDC (Centre for Disease Control). Other age groups also showed significant increases. For those in their 40s the disease rose by 40 per cent, and by 31 per cent for those in their fifties. It is also important to note that blacks seem to be the most susceptible race in America. A lot of developing countries are in the grip of this global pandemic. While countries, like India seem to be most adversely affected, Nigeria is now having an explosion in the level of occurrence.
I was going to write a different topic today, but decided to write on free radical damage with regards to diabetes, because of a specific request by someone. I felt, it is a topic that would benefit others so I decided to share it.
The statistics I quoted above show that there is serious cause for concern. You may begin to wonder what is going wrong or what are we doing wrong?
I and probably a lot of others have written exhaustively about the predisposing factors. People usually do not bother and feel insulated against ailments, like diabetes until a relative or they themselves are diagnosed. It is important, to be well educated about issues around you and adopt measures that will reduce ones susceptibility as well as ensure a healthier lifestyle for the diagnosed. People with a positive family history (i.e. with one or both parents who have been diagnosed as diabetic), should adopt lifestyles which would reduce the probability of their developing the disease.
While free radicals is the focus for today in relation to diabetes; I will briefly mention exercise, which is a very important factor.
Inactivity: These days, more and more people are engaged in blue collar jobs, which do not necessitate their working their bodies. Nobody wants to be a labourer or a farmer. Nigerian engineers are always teased about being in the office! These days, it is literarily unheard of for anybody to trek to the office. You either catch a bus and the more affluent drive or are driven. The bottom line is that rich or poor, day in day out, people sit on their buttocks to and from work. By the time they get back from work at the close of day, they are so tired that wild horses would not be able to drag them to do any form of exercise!!
Children and adolescents are not spared. Not exercising, being sedentary (watching TV, spending time on the computer, and playing video games), and eating larger portions of foods than they need take the lion's share of blame for the downward age progression of the diabetes epidemic. It is very important for people to arrange their lives in a way to increase the amount of exercise they do. Start small. Easy to do activities, like walking and dancing, can make a huge difference to tuning the body for good health. Sports like tennis (table and lawn), swimming, etc can be picked up with time. What are free radicals?
What do they have to do with diabetes?
What are free radicals? I will give the straight scientific definition of free radicals which may be a bit difficult for non-science oriented readers to understand. But that is what free radicals are Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. Free radicals are not completely bad. They are generated during normal biological processes that take place within our body. In fact, they are needed in vital body metabolic processes. The problem starts when free radicals that the body cannot handle or neutralize are generated. Some are xenobiotic or alien free radicals to the body. Certain substances are potent free radical generators.
Once formed, these highly reactive radicals can start a chain reaction. Their chief danger comes from the damage they can do when they react with important cellular components, such as DNA, or the cell membrane. Cells may function poorly or die if this occurs. Now imagine that these cells are the cells of an important organ, like the pancreas, which secretes insulin. What do they have to do with diabetes? Free radical stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Free radical stress would contribute to spontaneous type 2 diabetes development. I had written about free radicals in this column precisely in 2004 though not in specific relation to diabetes. Despite this, I mentioned that free radicals is the way a lot of substances and microbes exert their damage on cells of the body.
Free radicals are implicated in a wide assortment of diseases. With diabetes, some chemicals used in processing modern day food are potent agents that exert free radical stress on the pancreas. One of them is ALLOXAN, which is used to bleach wheat and make flour white. While Parental stock is an important determinant of susceptibility for glucose intolerance disorders, it wise to adopt a lifestyle which ensures reduced exposure to potent food toxins. In food toxins, I mentioned that we eat toxins in our food everyday.
Some are used to preserve or process the food. The bottom line is that certain substances can generate free radicals, which increase the probability of developing type 2 diabetes, especially in positively predisposed persons. It is important to eat a diet that is low in such substances, but high in antioxidants containing foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc. The latter help to neutralize free radicals before they are able to exert any damage.
Malaria Eradication Worldwide
A dramatic twist has pushed up the modest goal set eight years ago by leaders of 44 African nations: They sought to halve by 2010 the population of malaria-infested cases in their countries. The stakes have suddenly gone up practically exponentially. Whatever they have achieved at their progressively slow pace since 2000 to date is nothing compared to the gargantuan task they face in the remaining two-and-half years of their projected deadline.
Hence the question mark about their capacity and readiness to cope with the larger burden ahead.
For, the international community has imposed an acute demand on their political will, resources and commitment to eradicate the disease. Which might as well: For, malaria kills more than a million per year. It saps the health of the continent’s productive population to reduce its annual economic growth rate by 1.3 percent. Above all, it accrues estimated economic losses of N1.42 trillion ($12 billion) annually, according to Roll Back Malaria (RBM), from health budget expenditures and morbidity with absenteeism from formal and informal employment by all ages and sex. Thus, the sooner it is eradicated, like small pox, the better for all humans.
Malaria was a tropical and subtropical disease. It was relatively rare in temperate regions of the world. But globalization and jet age travels have increased the frequency of interactions for business and pleasure among residents of the endemic tropical countries and temperate regions of the world. With lowered borders, as RBM explained, so is the ease of the global spread of the parasites of the infectious disease by its vector, the anopheles mosquito.
To combat this menace which threatens an estimated 40 percent of the world’s population, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the UN has upped the African goal from partial to worldwide eradication of the disease by 2010. "The aim is to put a stop to malaria deaths by ensuring universal coverage by the end of 2010," said Mr Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, in his statement to mark the first-ever World Malaria Day last month.
According to New York Times, an estimated 300 million to 500 million new malaria infections are recorded annually. Its symptoms include high fevers, shaking chills and anaemia. The infected anopheles mosquito transfers its parasites to any person it bites. "In humans, the parasites (called sporozoites) migrate to the liver where they mature and release another form, the merozoites. These enter the bloodstream and infect the red blood cells," it explained.
Thus, preventive programmes include extermination of the vector mosquitoes from their stagnant aquatic breeding habitats; radioactive sterilisation of male mosquitoes to mate without procreation; protection of humans against being bitten by the mosquitoes with insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and residual sprays of residences with chemical insecticides. Or, in the absence of effective and efficient preventive methods, resort to curative methods which currently involve the therapeutic treatment with artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs as contrasted with chloroquine-based medicines because the parasites have become resistant to the latter in many regions of the world.
ExxonMobil Corporation, the world’s largest oil, gas and petrochemical conglomerate, has thrown its weight into the fight to help eradicate one of the world’s infectious killer diseases from the continent. It is the largest corporate sponsor of research and development efforts in the anti-malaria combat worldwide outside the pharmaceutical industry.
ExxonMobil announced it has pledged N1.18 billion ($10 million) to Malaria No More, an NGO committed to the eradication of the malaria scourge. The disease kills about 3,000 children daily among its one million deaths. According to a statement from Irvin, Texas, its corporate headquarters, the donation to Malaria No More will bring to N15.3bn ($130 million), ExxonMobil’s commitment to partnerships with organisations engaged in important community and social development projects in Africa, including N5.9bn ($50m) budgeted for its Africa Health Initiative project.
It explained that ExxonMobil made the pledge in its very popular sponsored television programme, American Idol, last month to commemorate the first-ever World Malaria Day. So also has it sponsored several activities to commemorate the day in Africa, Europe and North America to heighten awareness about the killer scourge.
Mr Rex W. Tillerson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil, explained the rationale for the donation, saying: "Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds and more than 1 million people a year. World Malaria Day provides an opportunity to increase awareness and direct engagement in fighting the devastating consequences of this preventable disease. ExxonMobil is committed to the fight, which is why we’re doing everything we are -- from helping to develop new drugs to distributing insecticide-treated nets to places where they are desperately needed."
RBM, the agency set up jointly in 1990 by four UN agencies to eradicate the scourge, has reported that the majority of malaria victims are children under five years old and pregnant women. Roll Back Malaria was set up by World Bank, World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and UNDP.
Dr Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director of RBM, in an optimistic statement from Geneva on World Malaria Day, made it clear the slow progress of the African countries, especially over the past eight years, garnered adequate experience to take on the total eradication battle: "The know-how is available, the commitment of donors and key actors to fight the disease has never been as firm and the funding gap that has prevented progress for a long time is beginning to close."
She listed the immediate benefits: "Malaria may not appear to be a top-tier problem but tackling it once and for all is a top-tier solution to some of the most daunting global issues of our time. Investing in malaria (eradication) is investing in poverty eradication, in reducing child mortality, in combating major disease and in achieving universal primary education."
RBM projected that more lives will be saved with commendable results if countries in endemic regions could provide insecticide treated nets, insecticide sprays and ACT treatment to 80 percent of their populations this year. So also has UNICEF projected that providing the insecticide treated nets will reach 110 million needy persons this year, 267 percent higher than the 30 million produced in 2004.
Ban described his initiative, announced alongside his special representative on malaria, Ray Chambers and Dr. Coll-Seck, as a bold but achievable vision to ensure universal coverage by 2010. He drew up a tall list of requirements to meet the goal and gingered leaders at all levels in every endemic society, especially African countries, be they in public and private sectors, NGOs and in communities, to provide to everybody at risk: Indoor insecticide sprays, 250 million insecticide treated nets, supply all health facilities with malaria diagnostic equipment and personnel plus treatment with preferably ACTs, train and retain community health workers who treat malaria, encourage R & D for longer term efforts to "control, eliminate and eradicate malaria.
"We have the resources and the know-how. But we have less than 1,000 days before the end of 2010. So we urgently need your leadership and commitment. Let's get to work," he told stakeholders worldwide including policymakers, the donor community, UN staff and NGOs in the fight against malaria.
Theoretically, ITNs, which kill mosquitoes and other insects on contact, reduce malaria transmissions by 20 percent. However, RBM reported recent studies which showed that the ITNs combined with effective drugs have reduced "significantly" malaria deaths in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Zanzibar. Hence its conclusion that the ITNs "are an expedient ‘first wave’ of a comprehensive malaria control effort."
World Bank, Global Fund, USAID and other major donors and financial institutins have provided funds for about 99.5 million ITNs over the next 32 months till December 31, 2010. Of the remaining 150 million, ExxonMobil and two sovereign donors have pledged more resources to reduce the needed nets supply gap to 119 million.
According to the ExxonMobil statement, its employees and executives participated in several activities to mark World Malaria Day in Africa, Europe and North America to raise awareness and resources for the on-going battle against the disease.
• For instance, in both Africa and Europe, its employees at ExxonMobil filling stations took part in fund-raising campaigns to buy insecticide treated nets for the needy, while its African affiliates also distributed ITNs and held several malaria-related community and employee events such as poster displays, conferences and education sessions.
• Dr Stephen Phillips, its Medical Director (Global Issues), took part in the RBM’s Zambezi River Expedition sponsored and coordinated by the corporation to tour six Southern African countries to showcase the successes and highlight the challenges confronting the anti-malaria combat, distribute ITNs donated by the corporation and provide medical treatment for the sick.
It concluded that last year, ExxonMobil Corporation, its philanthropic Foundation, divisions, affiliates, employees and retirees worldwide donated N24.43bn ($207m) to improve basic education and combat malaria and other infectious diseases in developing countries such as Nigeria and Angola, where the corporation has its production and distribution activities in Africa.
Hence the question mark about their capacity and readiness to cope with the larger burden ahead.
For, the international community has imposed an acute demand on their political will, resources and commitment to eradicate the disease. Which might as well: For, malaria kills more than a million per year. It saps the health of the continent’s productive population to reduce its annual economic growth rate by 1.3 percent. Above all, it accrues estimated economic losses of N1.42 trillion ($12 billion) annually, according to Roll Back Malaria (RBM), from health budget expenditures and morbidity with absenteeism from formal and informal employment by all ages and sex. Thus, the sooner it is eradicated, like small pox, the better for all humans.
Malaria was a tropical and subtropical disease. It was relatively rare in temperate regions of the world. But globalization and jet age travels have increased the frequency of interactions for business and pleasure among residents of the endemic tropical countries and temperate regions of the world. With lowered borders, as RBM explained, so is the ease of the global spread of the parasites of the infectious disease by its vector, the anopheles mosquito.
To combat this menace which threatens an estimated 40 percent of the world’s population, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the UN has upped the African goal from partial to worldwide eradication of the disease by 2010. "The aim is to put a stop to malaria deaths by ensuring universal coverage by the end of 2010," said Mr Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, in his statement to mark the first-ever World Malaria Day last month.
According to New York Times, an estimated 300 million to 500 million new malaria infections are recorded annually. Its symptoms include high fevers, shaking chills and anaemia. The infected anopheles mosquito transfers its parasites to any person it bites. "In humans, the parasites (called sporozoites) migrate to the liver where they mature and release another form, the merozoites. These enter the bloodstream and infect the red blood cells," it explained.
Thus, preventive programmes include extermination of the vector mosquitoes from their stagnant aquatic breeding habitats; radioactive sterilisation of male mosquitoes to mate without procreation; protection of humans against being bitten by the mosquitoes with insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and residual sprays of residences with chemical insecticides. Or, in the absence of effective and efficient preventive methods, resort to curative methods which currently involve the therapeutic treatment with artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs as contrasted with chloroquine-based medicines because the parasites have become resistant to the latter in many regions of the world.
ExxonMobil Corporation, the world’s largest oil, gas and petrochemical conglomerate, has thrown its weight into the fight to help eradicate one of the world’s infectious killer diseases from the continent. It is the largest corporate sponsor of research and development efforts in the anti-malaria combat worldwide outside the pharmaceutical industry.
ExxonMobil announced it has pledged N1.18 billion ($10 million) to Malaria No More, an NGO committed to the eradication of the malaria scourge. The disease kills about 3,000 children daily among its one million deaths. According to a statement from Irvin, Texas, its corporate headquarters, the donation to Malaria No More will bring to N15.3bn ($130 million), ExxonMobil’s commitment to partnerships with organisations engaged in important community and social development projects in Africa, including N5.9bn ($50m) budgeted for its Africa Health Initiative project.
It explained that ExxonMobil made the pledge in its very popular sponsored television programme, American Idol, last month to commemorate the first-ever World Malaria Day. So also has it sponsored several activities to commemorate the day in Africa, Europe and North America to heighten awareness about the killer scourge.
Mr Rex W. Tillerson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil, explained the rationale for the donation, saying: "Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds and more than 1 million people a year. World Malaria Day provides an opportunity to increase awareness and direct engagement in fighting the devastating consequences of this preventable disease. ExxonMobil is committed to the fight, which is why we’re doing everything we are -- from helping to develop new drugs to distributing insecticide-treated nets to places where they are desperately needed."
RBM, the agency set up jointly in 1990 by four UN agencies to eradicate the scourge, has reported that the majority of malaria victims are children under five years old and pregnant women. Roll Back Malaria was set up by World Bank, World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and UNDP.
Dr Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Executive Director of RBM, in an optimistic statement from Geneva on World Malaria Day, made it clear the slow progress of the African countries, especially over the past eight years, garnered adequate experience to take on the total eradication battle: "The know-how is available, the commitment of donors and key actors to fight the disease has never been as firm and the funding gap that has prevented progress for a long time is beginning to close."
She listed the immediate benefits: "Malaria may not appear to be a top-tier problem but tackling it once and for all is a top-tier solution to some of the most daunting global issues of our time. Investing in malaria (eradication) is investing in poverty eradication, in reducing child mortality, in combating major disease and in achieving universal primary education."
RBM projected that more lives will be saved with commendable results if countries in endemic regions could provide insecticide treated nets, insecticide sprays and ACT treatment to 80 percent of their populations this year. So also has UNICEF projected that providing the insecticide treated nets will reach 110 million needy persons this year, 267 percent higher than the 30 million produced in 2004.
Ban described his initiative, announced alongside his special representative on malaria, Ray Chambers and Dr. Coll-Seck, as a bold but achievable vision to ensure universal coverage by 2010. He drew up a tall list of requirements to meet the goal and gingered leaders at all levels in every endemic society, especially African countries, be they in public and private sectors, NGOs and in communities, to provide to everybody at risk: Indoor insecticide sprays, 250 million insecticide treated nets, supply all health facilities with malaria diagnostic equipment and personnel plus treatment with preferably ACTs, train and retain community health workers who treat malaria, encourage R & D for longer term efforts to "control, eliminate and eradicate malaria.
"We have the resources and the know-how. But we have less than 1,000 days before the end of 2010. So we urgently need your leadership and commitment. Let's get to work," he told stakeholders worldwide including policymakers, the donor community, UN staff and NGOs in the fight against malaria.
Theoretically, ITNs, which kill mosquitoes and other insects on contact, reduce malaria transmissions by 20 percent. However, RBM reported recent studies which showed that the ITNs combined with effective drugs have reduced "significantly" malaria deaths in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Zanzibar. Hence its conclusion that the ITNs "are an expedient ‘first wave’ of a comprehensive malaria control effort."
World Bank, Global Fund, USAID and other major donors and financial institutins have provided funds for about 99.5 million ITNs over the next 32 months till December 31, 2010. Of the remaining 150 million, ExxonMobil and two sovereign donors have pledged more resources to reduce the needed nets supply gap to 119 million.
According to the ExxonMobil statement, its employees and executives participated in several activities to mark World Malaria Day in Africa, Europe and North America to raise awareness and resources for the on-going battle against the disease.
• For instance, in both Africa and Europe, its employees at ExxonMobil filling stations took part in fund-raising campaigns to buy insecticide treated nets for the needy, while its African affiliates also distributed ITNs and held several malaria-related community and employee events such as poster displays, conferences and education sessions.
• Dr Stephen Phillips, its Medical Director (Global Issues), took part in the RBM’s Zambezi River Expedition sponsored and coordinated by the corporation to tour six Southern African countries to showcase the successes and highlight the challenges confronting the anti-malaria combat, distribute ITNs donated by the corporation and provide medical treatment for the sick.
It concluded that last year, ExxonMobil Corporation, its philanthropic Foundation, divisions, affiliates, employees and retirees worldwide donated N24.43bn ($207m) to improve basic education and combat malaria and other infectious diseases in developing countries such as Nigeria and Angola, where the corporation has its production and distribution activities in Africa.
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