Child Health News

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Partnerships key to ending preventable child deaths

"I'm encouraged by the focus on children's health alongside other pressing global issues" at the U.N. General Assembly meeting last week, Dagfinn Hoybraten, vice president of the Norwegian Parliament and chair of the GAVI Alliance Board, writes in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, adding, "These discussions come in the wake of UNICEF's latest report on declines in child mortality around the world."

2 Oct 2012

World Food Programme warns of hunger threat in Yemen

"Nearly half of Yemenis go to bed hungry every night as political instability compounds a global food and fuel price surge, giving the Arabian Peninsula state the world's third-highest rate of child malnutrition, the World Food Programme [WFP] said on Sunday," Reuters reports.

2 Oct 2012

Babies' non-verbal communication skills can help predict autism symptoms in children

Approximately 19 percent of children with a sibling diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will develop Autism due to shared genetic and environmental vulnerabilities, according to previous studies.

2 Oct 2012

Self-harming and premature death: an interview with Prof Keith Hawton, University of Oxford Centre for Suicide Research

“Self-harm” is the term used in the UK, much of Europe and elsewhere, to describe intentional self-poisoning or self-injury. Thus it includes overdoses, attempted hanging, self-cutting etc.

2 Oct 2012

Administering immunotherapy for three years can reduce allergies, asthma in children

When children suffer from dust mite induced allergies and asthma, finding relief can seem impossible. While there isn't a complete cure for childhood respiratory allergies, researchers have found that long term control of allergic asthma can occur after only three years of allergy shots.

1 Oct 2012

Serious physical abuse on the rise among children

A new Yale School of Medicine study shows that cases of serious physical abuse in children, such as head injuries, burns, and fractures, increased slightly by about 5% in the last 12 years. This is in sharp contrast to data from child protective services agencies, which show a 55% decrease in physical abuse cases from 1997 to 2009.

1 Oct 2012

Social bullying just as prevalent in children's TV as depictions of physical aggression

A new research study led by an Indiana University professor has found that social bullying is just as prevalent in children's television as depictions of physical aggression.

29 Sep 2012

Blogs examine efforts to improve global food security

In this post on the State Department's "DipNote" blog, Jonathan Shrier, acting special representative for food security, discusses an event, co-hosted on Thursday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Malawi President Joyce Banda, "to highlight both the progress made in the last three years under Feed the Future and the contributions of civil society organizations to advance our food security goals."

29 Sep 2012

Gentle chiropractic care improves child's overall health and well-being

Irritation to a young person's nervous system can begin in utero. The baby's position during delivery (natural or cesarean) can create stress on their nervous system. Even a "normal, healthy" birth can induce 40-50 pounds of pressure on a newborn's neck and spine.

29 Sep 2012

U.N. meetings focus on improving nutrition among women, children

Political and private sector leaders met on Thursday at a High-Level Meeting on Scaling Up Nutrition, held in New York on the sidelines of the 67th U.N. General Assembly session, the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Sep 2012

Atrazine may increase risk of choanal atresia

A common herbicide used in the United States may be linked to an increased risk of a congenital abnormality of the nasal cavity known as choanal atresia, say researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and other Texas institutions.

29 Sep 2012

World leaders unite behind global polio eradication efforts at U.N. General Assembly

Political leaders, donor representatives, and medical experts on Thursday met on the sidelines of the 67th U.N. General Assembly session "to celebrate polio eradication efforts that have already reduced the incidence of the crippling and potentially fatal disease by 99 percent around the globe," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Sep 2012

Study to look at whether maternal exercise during pregnancy can reduce risk of cancer in offspring

If a mother exercises during her pregnancy, will that benefit her children? Researchers at the University of Kentucky have initiated studies to look into the idea: a group from the UK Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences has received a $100,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study whether maternal exercise during pregnancy can lead to a reduced risk of cancer in offspring.

29 Sep 2012

Autism Speaks announces new round of research grants

Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today announced the awarding of new research grants totaling nearly $5 million. "Autism Speaks is committed to continuing our research which has tremendous potential to increase our understanding of autism and addressing the needs of individuals with autism," said Autism Speaks Co-founder Bob Wright, "and we are grateful to the donors who make this research possible."

29 Sep 2012

New partnership to provide access to contraceptives for more than 27M women

A new partnership announced today at the United Nations will make a safe, effective, long-acting, reversible method of contraception available to more than 27 million women in the world's poorest nations.

28 Sep 2012

IADR/AADR publish study about improving oral health through sense of coherence

Today, the International and American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR) published a study titled "Enhancing Oral Health via Sense of Coherence: a Cluster Randomized Trial." This study by lead author Orawan Nammontri, University of Sheffield, UK, is published in the IADR/AADR Journal of Dental Research.

28 Sep 2012

Broad spectrum sunscreens needed to block UVB and UVA

Writing in the latest edition of Australian Prescriber, Associate Professor Jane Hanrahan from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney writes that UVB is the cause of sunburn, but UVA can be more damaging to the skin. It is therefore best to use broad spectrum sunscreens that block both wavebands.

28 Sep 2012

Loyola offers corrective surgeries for adults with strabismus

Since she was a child, Katie Szymczak has had eyes that wandered. Her right eye, which was the worst, would look up and to the side, rather than straight ahead. Her husband affectionately called them "googly eyes." But other people could be mean. "They would say to me, 'What's wrong with your eyes, why aren't you looking at me?'" Szymczak said. "It really hurt a lot."

28 Sep 2012

Researchers identify genetic origins in 10% of aortic valve malformations

Researchers at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and University of Montreal have identified genetic origins in 10% of an important form of congenital heart diseases by studying the genetic variability within families.

28 Sep 2012

Intellectual disability often results from genetic causes that are not inherited

New research published Online First in The Lancet suggests that a high proportion of severe intellectual disability results from genetic causes that are not inherited. These findings are good news for parents, indicating a low risk of passing on the disorder to further children.

28 Sep 2012