Category: Health

Americans can expect to live just over 78 years and six months on average – a 0.1 year drop from 2016, according to the report released on Thursday, November 29th.

“Tragically, this troubling trend is largely driven by deaths from drug overdose and suicide,” said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)  director Robert Redfield in a statement.

“Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the nation’s overall health and these sobering statistics are a wake-up call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable.”

The CDC found nearly 70,000 more Americans died in 2017 than 2016, with rising rates of death among 25- to 44-year-olds, media reports here say.

The reports revealed synthetic opioid-related overdose death rates rose by 45% on average, nationwide. The suicide rate is also the highest it has been in decades.

The top 10 leading causes of death – including heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and suicide – were the same as in 2016, accounting for the majority of deaths.

Only cancer death rates decreased by 2.1%, while the rates for most other causes increased.

US women continue to outlive men, and the death rate did decrease among 45- to 54-year-olds.

Between 2016 and 2017, mortality rates also decreased for black women, and there was no significant change in rates for black men and Hispanic Americans. Life expectancy in the US began dropping in 2015.

Monaco and Japan currently have the longest life expectancies in the world at 89 and 85 years. The UK’s life expectancy is around 80 years.

As the US grapples with an opioid crisis, overdoses claim more and more lives, the CDC report found. The age-adjusted death rate has gone up 16% per year since 2014.

Drug overdose deaths accounted for 70,237 deaths last year – nearly 10% higher than in 2016 – with a significantly higher rate of death among men, compared to women.  The death rate from overdoses caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl increased by 45% in one year.

West Virginia saw the highest overdose death rate in 2017 at 58 per 100,000 people; Ohio, Pennsylvania and the US capital also topped the list.

The CDC found suicide became the second leading cause of death for 10- to 34-year-olds in 2016, with rates increasing 33% between 1999 and 2017, according to the report.

Urban-area suicide rates were 16% higher in 2017 than 1999, and rural-area suicides increased by 53% over the same time period.

Dr Jerry Reed of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention told the BBC that suicide is not always just a mental health challenge.

“Economic conditions or livelihood opportunities in decline could lead people to positions where they’re at risk. We need to intervene in both mental and public health cases,” Dr Reed says.

From Canada or US: If you’re in an emergency, please call 911. You can contact the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Test Line by texting HOME to 741741. Young people in need of help can call Kids Help Phone on 1-800-668-6868

People when they return after a good holiday often say, “I need another holiday to overcome the stress of this one”. Holidays and celebrations can sometimes be stressful, as some of us must be experiencing after this short Dusshera/Deepavali holiday season, complete with shopping and a bit of overeating. But it was a time to celebrate, so why not?

The Bible says, “To everything there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck…; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;… a time to keep silence, and a time to speak…

Drawing inspiration from the last verse as well as Jesus’ invitation to his disciples, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while”, gave birth to a strong tradition in Christianity of going on a “retreat”.

The term “retreat” is usually used in the context of war. The army either advances or retreats. Retreat in the spiritual realm, however, can only mean “advancing”. Retreat is actually a time to get away from our routine activities to spend time to know God more and to examine one’s priorities. It is a time to make and renew resolutions, reminding ourselves of the ones we made on New Year. It is a time to basically recharge our energies to rediscover the path that God wants us to tread on. When done properly with the help of a spiritual director, a retreat can be a sure and steady road toward personal conversion.

The Bible tells us that before Jesus launched on his mission of sharing the message of God’s love and liberation, he spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying. The time was spent, to pack himself, as it were, with divine energies to withstand the challenges of his mission that lay ahead.

The first important requirement to make a fruitful retreat is to choose a quiet place away from family, friends and workplace. The second absolute necessary prerequisite that spiritual masters recommend is to observe strict silence, a silence, not only of the tongue/ear, but more importantly, of one’s thoughts. For it is only in and through silence can one begin to hear the divine whisper! Keeping silence is probably one of the greatest challenges of our modern times, as we are endlessly distracted with hundreds of things around us.

Anyone looking for a spiritual experience can begin with a short retreat of two-three days and having tasted its sweetness can gradually attempt longer ones. And one need not wait for end of holidays to begin a retreat.

Psychiatrist Bharat Vatwani, one of this year’s winners of the prestigious Magsaysay Award — also known as Asia’s Nobel Prize — hopes to erase the stigma associated with mental illness in India.

“Mental illness is a biochemical response, just like any other illness. Mentally ill people have a right to treatment and should be seen in the same way we see all others,” Vatwani told India-West here Oct. 20 afternoon on the sidelines of the Indians for Collective Action’s Golden Jubilee celebrations (see India-West story here). Vatwani was a keynote speaker at the conference and received an award from ICA that evening at a gala marking the 50th birth anniversary of the organization.

In 1988, Vatwani and his wife Smitha, who is also a psychiatrist, launched the Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation in Mumbai with the aim of helping mentally ill homeless people to be reunited with their families. Since its inception 30 years ago, Shraddha has reunited 7,000 mentally ill street people with their families after providing rehabilitation and support.

Shraddha’s army of volunteers find wandering mentally ill people on the streets and bring them in for the first line of rehabilitation, attending to their physical needs. Many are emaciated, suffering from other illnesses, and in need of hygiene care.

“We then slowly add in psychiatric evaluations and begin a course of medication,” Vatwani told India-West. He noted that many people who are found without the ability to speak slowly start talking after a few days of treatment and start to remember bits of their lives. Often, patients can remember mobile phone numbers after some treatment, which eases the search for family members.

Technology has helped immensely, said Vatwani, noting that Aadhar cards and biometrics can more readily identify a mentally ill homeless person. Police helping the organization use the WhatsApp mobile phone app to connect to police stations across the nation to convey information about persons found.

Shraddha has a 95 percent success rate of reunification with families. Those who are not reunited are given over to an NGO which will provide support and rehabilitation to the person throughout his lifetime.

The wandering mentally ill tend to primarily be men, said Vatwani, noting they are often migrant laborers who have left their villages and come to cities in search of work. Women are housed in their communities, often without getting help and treatment for their mental illness.

There is a marked lack of psychiatrists in India, Smitha Vatwani told India-West, noting there were fewer than three per 100,000 people. Speaking at the 22nd convocation of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences last December, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind noted there were only 5,000 psychiatrists and 2,000 psychologists for a country with a population of 1.3 billion.

“India does not simply have a mental health challenge: it is facing a possible mental health epidemic,” he said.

Shraddha was launched after Vatwani met an unkempt young man on the streets of Mumbai who was drinking polluted water from a roadside gutter and eating garbage thrown on the street. The psychiatrist took him to his clinic and started to treat him.

After a few months, the young man — Vijayam — began to remember bits of his former life before the streets: he had graduated from college with a degree in medical laboratory technology and his father was a zilla parishad superintendent in Andhra Pradesh. “It was like a dream when I received a telegram from a faraway unknown place that my son was alive and well,” Vijayam’s father told The Times of India in 1990.

“The wandering mentally ill deserve attention. They have feelings and emotions,” said Vatwani in a keynote address at the ICA jubilee celebrations. He spoke about a boy found by Shraddha social workers. Through the process of rehabilitation, the organization was able to reunite the young man with his family in time to light the funeral pyre for his mother “so that her soul could go to heaven,” he said.

About 180 million people in India suffer from some form of mental illness, said Vatwani in his keynote, adding that overall, 20 percent of India’s population has some form of disability. “I stand before you as a representative of 250 million people who are under-represented.”

“Compassion is like a river, widening and widening until it reaches the sea,” he said.

Civility is a style of argument that implicitly welcomes response. It’s not often that an obituary goes viral, but this October a family chose to expose its immense pain for all the world to see, and the story of that pain rocketed around the Internet.

Madelyn Linsenmeir was 30 when she died from her addiction. She first tried OxyContin as a teenager, a moment that “began a relationship with opiates that would dominate the rest of her life.” Reading on, you find that she had a son. And when she became a mom, she tried “harder and more relentlessly to stay sober than we have ever seen anyone try at anything.” But, her family wrote, “she relapsed and ultimately lost custody of her son.” That loss was “unbearable,” and her addiction took her to places of “incredible darkness”–a reality that friends and families of addicts know all too well.

Madelyn was one life among the hundreds of thousands (72,000 in 2017 alone) lost to drugs. Along with suicide and alcohol-related deaths, overdoses are fueling a stunning three-year decline in life expectancy in the U.S. These deaths of despair are happening in a time of robust economic growth in arguably the most prosperous and powerful nation in the history of the world, and the decline began even as more Americans had access to health insurance than ever before.

When historians review this period, they’ll see two seemingly disconnected cultural realities, existing side by side. Yes, they’ll see the astounding death rates and the terrible spread of self-harm. They’ll also see something else–a nation divided by fear and anger. America has become a nation that mourns and a nation that hates, and the two are more related than they may appear.

Negative partisanship has infected nearly every corner of political life. By 2017, 81% of Republicans and Democrats viewed the opposing party unfavorably, with the percentage viewing their opponents “very” unfavorably nearly tripling since 1994.

This fall, a group called More in Common released a comprehensive survey of America’s “hidden tribes,” seeking to understand the sources of American polarization. It concluded that much of America’s political anger was driven by what it called “the wings,” which are flanked by the 8% of Americans who are “progressive activists” and the 6% who are “devoted conservatives.”

The members of the tribes on each end of the spectrum share some common characteristics. They’re disproportionately white, they’re well off, and they’re intensely engaged in politics–roughly twice as likely to list politics as a “hobby” than the average American. They’re motivated. They have means. And they focus many of those resources and much of that energy opposing a political enemy they view as truly dangerous.

Now let’s contrast the polarizing wings with the suffering segments of society. The overdose crisis is harming every social class, but it’s hitting the least educated the hardest. And it affects single men and women disproportionately, with overdose rates skyrocketing for single men without a college degree.

To be clear, I’m not arguing that poor Americans are killing themselves with drugs because of politics. Nor am I arguing that political fights among the relatively affluent are contributing to the crisis. No, the question I raise is this: When their fellow citizens are suffering on such a terrible scale, what are the most engaged, most resourced Americans doing with their lives?

Unless you’re among the tiny group of people who exercise actual, substantial political authority, each of us can only have a large influence on a small number of people and a small influence on a large number of people. In other words, we have the potential to transform a life. We have minimal capacity to individually change American politics.

So after we take care of ourselves and our families, where do we expend our excess emotional and financial energy? Is it on the community that we can immediately and consequentially reach? Or is it on a national polity that seems immune to our rage? While some members of our most partisan class do engage in their communities, for millions of Americans, the answer is clear. Politics is the true faith, and political argument is the work that replaces our religious salvation.

Solving our most pressing problems is a titanic undertaking, and they won’t be fixed simply by putting a stop to political squabbling. Indeed, the scale of our challenges contributes to a sense of futility. Americans die by the tens of thousands, and each life is hard to save. This can lead us to throw up our hands and focus on the shouting that seems more manageable. Thus too many talented and passionate citizens spend too much energy where they can have the least impact. The nation that hates thus too often ignores the nation that mourns.

Too many of our citizens spend too much of their energy where they can have the least impact

The solution isn’t to disengage. “Can’t we all just get along” is a naive call in a nation so profoundly divided by consequential questions. Those for and against access to abortion, for example, should engage each other in the marketplace of ideas, even when doing so can be emotionally fraught. We should debate the Saudi alliance, the Mueller probe and tax rates. There is, however, a matter of priority and proportion that often gets lost, and that can and should demand a sustained policy response to our national malaise. But there’s a problem. The opioid crisis is so deep-seated and complex that it doesn’t fit neatly in the partisan box. Is there any way through that doesn’t require cooperating with the people we’ve grown to hate?

Not long ago I was deeply convicted by an off-hand comment at my church. A woman lamented that she was “too busy for her community.” She was too busy for the people she could influence most. That’s me, I thought. That is my most fundamental flaw. I don’t know my neighbors well, but you can be sure that I know when someone is wrong online. I sometimes struggle to provide even my own friends who’ve battled addiction and alcoholism with sufficient support. Life gets busy, after all, and there are always libs to own. This is the inversion of our priorities from the neighbor whose life I can help change to the nation I can’t save.

This is a moment of profound historic importance. For the blessed, privileged class of Americans, the challenge is clear. A mass cultural crisis demands a mass cultural response. And if loathing for the distant partisan motivates us more than love for the close neighbor, I’d argue that we’re failing that test. That is the hate that will ultimately shame us all.

(This appears in the November 05, 2018 issue of TIME.)

Source Newsroom: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Newswise — To the government leaders gathered in New York today for the third UN high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases, Michael R. Bloomberg brings a positive message: The 41 million annual deaths from NCDs are largely preventable.

What’s needed to save millions of lives is political will.

Bloomberg, who is to be reappointed today to a second term as WHO’s Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, backed effective strategies against NCDs as a 3-term mayor of New York City—leading to a 3-year increase in life expectancy for residents during his tenure. And as a philanthropist, Bloomberg has supported efforts to reduce the effects of tobacco, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fats and other threats to health. (Bloomberg is a benefactor of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which publishes Global Health NOW.)

In an exclusive Q&A with Global Health NOW conducted via email, Bloomberg shares his advice to national leaders at today’s UN high-level meeting, examples of best-buy interventions against NCDs, the value of solid data in allocating resources, and the under-appreciated power of cities to improve global health.

“Many of the most effective measures to fight NCDs don’t require a lot of money,” Bloomberg says. “They do require political will—and that’s something that today’s meeting at the UN can help to build.”

What will be your takeaway message today to the UN high-level meeting on NCDs?

We’re facing an epidemic—but we can do something about it. Noncommunicable diseases are largely preventable, and we know what works. National governments can save an awful lot of lives by putting the right measures in place, and their leadership can set an example for others.

What has most encouraged you and most discouraged you in the global fight against NCDs?

The progress we’ve made fighting tobacco use is very encouraging, because it is the number one agent of preventable death. Since 2007, Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed nearly $1 billion to combat tobacco use. When we started out, around 40 countries had at least one high-quality tobacco control policy in place. Today, 121 countries do. Over that period, global sales of cigarettes began falling for the first time since the beginning of the tobacco industry. Tobacco control measures adopted in the last 10 years will have saved nearly 35 million lives.

It’s also encouraging to see an increasing number of cities and countries pass taxes on sugary drinks. Obesity is a growing problem that will take an enormous toll on public health and the economy unless we act.

It’s disappointing that more countries and cities aren’t taking action yet—but we can’t let that discourage us.

An Indian-American Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Yale who graduated from University of Kerala, Yale University Rajesh Tampi, has been named Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Cleveland Clinic Akron General in Akron, Ohio.

Tampi will also serve as Section Head of Geriatric Psychiatry for the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Cleveland Clinic. His research interests focus on the management of psychiatric disorders in late life, neurodegenerative disorders, ethical and legal issues in geriatric psychiatry, and integrated geriatric psychiatry care.

Tampi, who completed his Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at Yale School of Medicine, has received three Outstanding Teaching Attending Awards and the Chairman’s Award for outstanding teaching, research, and clinical work from the Yale Department of Psychiatry, the press release said. After graduating from the University of Kerala, Tampi trained in psychiatry at the University of Leeds, England, and at the University of Vermont in the U.S.

Tampi is also a Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he received “Teacher of the Year” awards in the Department of Psychiatry in 2015, 2016, and 2018.

He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and President of the International Medical Graduates Caucus at the APA. He is President-elect of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

The Indian-origin professor has published more than 100 times on various topics in psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry, and is editor of six on psychiatry. He also serves on the editorial board of five international journals in psychiatry and as a peer reviewer for 34 journals, the Yale press release said.

A new study concludes there’s no amount of alcohol consumption that’s safe for overall health — a finding that’s likely to surprise moderate drinkers, and that has left some experts unconvinced.

For years, public health officials have said that, while no one should pick up drinking in search of better health, moderate drinking (defined as up to a drink per day for women and up to two per day for men) probably won’t hurt anyone who already imbibes, and may even confer some benefits. This standard is written into the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and is supported by organizations including the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.

But the new paper, published Thursday in The Lancet, calls that long-held conclusion into question.

“The evidence is adding up that no amount of drinking is safe,” says study co-author Emmanuela Gakidou, a professor of global health and health metrics sciences at the University of Washington. “I don’t think we’re going out on a limb to say anything that the data do not support.”

The new research was based on a review of nearly 700 existing studies on global drinking prevalence and nearly 600 studies on alcohol and health, and found that alcohol was the seventh leading risk factor for premature death in 2016, contributing to 2.8 million deaths worldwide. That number is equivalent to 2.2% of all female deaths and 6.8% of all male deaths that year, according to the study.

The health risks likely only increase the more you drink, the study found. Compared to non-drinkers, people who had one alcoholic beverage per day had a 0.5% higher risk of developing one of 23 alcohol-related health problems, including cancer, road injuries and tuberculosis, in a given year, the study says. At that level, the absolute increase is small, equaling only four additional deaths per 100,000 people per year, according to the study. But those who had two drinks per day had a risk 7% higher than non-drinkers. At five drinks per day, the risk was 37% higher, the study says.

Gakidou’s paper did show some modest cardiovascular benefits associated with moderate drinking, particularly among women, but she says that effect is overshadowed by the numerous ways alcohol can threaten health. When you consider risks like breast cancer and road traffic injuries, she says, “the protective effect goes away, even at low doses.”

Other experts have recently come to similar conclusions. In May, for example, the World Cancer Research Fund released a report saying that, at least in terms of cancer prevention, “it’s best not to drink alcohol.” The U.K. government made a similar recommendation in 2016.

Meanwhile, some studies have questioned the long-standing idea that moderate drinking is good for heart health. That’s in part because some older studies didn’t account for the fact that many people who don’t drink abstain either because they had addiction issues in the past, or have other health problems that force them to stay away from alcohol. Including these individuals in the general non-drinking population may have skewed research results to make teetotalers as a whole group look unhealthier than they actually are, some studies have suggested.

Walter Willett, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, questions the conclusion that the cons of drinking always outweigh the pros. While there’s “no question” that heavy drinking is harmful, he says that plenty of data supports links between moderate drinking and lower total mortality and a decreased risk of heart disease — which, he says, are far more relevant concerns for most Americans than something like tuberculosis, which the Lancet paper identifies as a leading alcohol-related disease worldwide. Tuberculosis is very rare in the U.S.

“Our decisions about drinking in the United States shouldn’t be influenced by what alcohol does to tuberculosis,” Willett says. “When you throw together everything in one big pot and draw conclusions for the whole world, it’s just misleading.”

Willett does acknowledge that even moderate drinking comes with tradeoffs. A drink a day may decrease a woman’s risk of heart disease but increase her risk of breast cancer. For a young, healthy woman who is unlikely to die of heart disease, those risks might outweigh the benefits. But that’s a decision that woman would have to make with her doctor, Willett says — and it’s unlikely the entire population would or should come to the same conclusion.

“I think they went too far in this paper,” Willett says. “There are risks and benefits, and I think it’s important to have the best information about all of those and come to some personal decisions, and engage one’s health care provider in that process as well.”

Gakidou, on the other hand, says her paper’s recommendation is valid precisely because individual health decisions are so variable.

“We don’t have the information for specific individuals…we’re making overall recommendations at the population level,” she says. “If you’re running a health system in a country, it’s better overall for the population of your country to not drink at all than to drink a little bit.”

Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, agrees with that assessment. It’s clear, he says, that drinking comes with health risks, and far less clear that it comes with any benefits. So while some moderate drinkers might never experience health problems from drinking, “if you look at all the risks and all the benefits of alcohol, it’s probably net harmful, on average, for the whole population,” he says.

While that conclusion may seem stark to people who have come to feel virtuous about their nightly glass of wine, Mozaffarian says it’s actually not so different from current medical advice.

“I think this is actually consistent with every organization’s recommendation that, overall, no one should start drinking to prevent heart disease or diabetes,” Mozaffarian says. “No organization has ever recommended to drink alcohol. The recommendation has been that if you drink — and that’s the key caveat — don’t drink more than moderately.”

XinQi Dong, director of Rutgers University’s Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research and the lead researcher of the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE), published 20 articles based primarily on his teams’ examination of the health and wellbeing of Chinese older adults globally. For the study, researchers interviewed more than 3,000 Chinese Americans between 60 and 105 over a two-year period to explore their psychological wellbeing, involvement in their community and neighborhood, quality of life, and acculturation and use of traditional Chinese medicine.

“Aging Asian-Americans are underrepresented in the discussion of health disparity issues in the United States,” said Dong, who guest-edited the special issue focusing on Asian-American health. “This journal compilation is the first substantive step in trying to understand the health of this population.”

The research challenges the pervasive “model minority myth” — the belief that U.S. Asian populations have fared better than other ethnic groups in socioeconomic status, social relationships and health. The Chinese-Americans in the studies reflect the overall Asian-American population, which face a high prevalence of psychological distress and disorders, dementia and cancer, especially in advanced age. “These conditions usually go untreated for multiple reasons, such as a desire to ‘save face’ and a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate treatment and prevention methods,” Dong said.

The articles address a gap in understanding health equity issues in the Asian community — in the United States and globally — and offers insight on how health care professionals and policymakers can provide support through understanding cultural values, such as filial piety, collectivism, individualism and sense of harmony in families.

Six of the papers examine the risk factors and impact of psychological distress among global Chinese populations. The researchers found that while depression and loneliness may negatively impact cognitive function, those effects may be buffered by individual, social and family resources. “We found the more older adults talked about their concerns, the lower the likelihood they experienced depressive symptoms,” Dong said. “Individuals who were frequently demanded upon or criticized were more likely to experience depressive symptoms.”

The studies show that a well-connected community, active social life and high acculturation are essential to improving older Chinese adults’ health and lowering depression. Actively social individuals were found to participate more in preventative health screenings for diseases like cancer, while negative neighborhood conditions, such as crime or decrepit buildings, was shown to potentially increase the risk of self-neglect. “We also found that immigrants who had been in the United States longer were at higher risk of tooth symptoms, which shows that more studies are needed to better understand the relationship between acculturation and oral health in Chinese-American populations,” Dong said.

Individuals who were employed and those who lived in rural areas reported a higher quality of life than those who did not work or lived in urban settings. The studies revealed that a higher perceived gap in acculturation between grandparents and grandchildren negatively impacted their relationships, which in turn could undermine the health and wellbeing of the older generation. “This tells us that acculturation should be looked at on a family level as well as an individual level,” Dong said.

Family relationships and cultural backgrounds also factor in to end-of-life care, a complex concept in the Asian-American community, Dong said. “Our research indicates that a comprehensive end-of-life care plan should include cultural considerations and traditional family values in addition to physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs,” he noted.

The studies revealed that traditional Chinese medicine is still widely used among Chinese older adults in the United States in conjunction with non-western and western forms of health care, especially with respect to preventive care.

“Health is multifaceted,” Dong said. “These studies reinforce the idea that we cannot just look at the individual, but must take into account the person’s social, community, national and cultural contexts. More systematic and integrated approaches are needed to generate and translate knowledge in Asian populations in order to move the needle on health equity in our increasing diverse populations.”

Indian Americans and other South Asian Americans are more likely to die of heart attacks and strokes, according to a new statement from the American Heart Association released May 24, and published in its journal Circulation.

“Statistics about heart disease and stroke risk among Asians can be deceiving when all people of Asian ethnicity are combined into one group. Overall, Asians are at a lower risk for heart disease and stroke compared to people of European ancestry,” said Annabelle S. Volgman, M.D., chair of the statement’s writing group and professor of medicine at Rush Medical College and medical director of the Rush Heart Center for Women in Chicago, Illinois.

“But when you look at South Asians – both immigrants and people of South Asian ancestry born in the United States – their risk for heart disease and stroke is higher than people from East Asia and people of European ancestry,” said Volgman. More than 3.4 million people who identify themselves as South Asians live in the United States, and about 80 percent come from India.

The American Heart Association provided an overview of the behaviors that influence the risk factors for heart disease and stroke among South Asian Americans, based on a review of existing scientific research.

South Asian Americans have a greater risk of having severe atherosclerosis – the narrowing of the arteries that underlies most heart disease and strokes; they are more likely to have multiple segments of their arteries narrowed by atherosclerosis; and have higher levels of artery clogging LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and lower levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, which predispose the arteries to develop fatty deposits in artery walls that cause them to narrow.

Indian Americans over age 60 have a higher level of calcium deposits, a marker for atherosclerosis. They are more likely to have diabetes, which is believed to accelerate atherosclerosis; and also likely to develop diabetes at a younger age.

Volgman notes that diet is a key factor: many South Asian Americans, even if they are vegetarians, eat a lot of saturated fats from tropical oils – such as palm and coconut oil – and refined carbohydrates, such as sugar, white bread and highly processed foods.

Reintroducing whole grains into the diet, as well as replacing ghee with olive or corn oil, can improve diet quality, noted the American Heart Association.

South Asian Americans also engage in less physical activity than other minority group members, according to the statement: a recent study found that only 49 percent of South Asian Americans believed that exercise was important in preventing heart disease.

“As healthcare providers, we need to do a better job of helping our South Asian patients understand the importance of exercise, because many don’t realize how important it is to their health,” said Volgman.

Community programs that encourage South Asians to exercise and reduce stress through yoga and Bollywood dancing or other culturally specific physical activities are likely to be more successful than other forms of physical activity, noted the authors.

Co-authors of the study are: Latha S. Palaniappan, M.D., (vice-chair); Neelum T. Aggarwal, M.D.; Milan Gupta, M.D.; Abha Khandelwal, M.D.; Aruna V. Krishnan, Ph.D.; Judith H. Lichtman, Ph.D.; Laxmi S. Mehta, M.D.; Hena N. Patel, M.D.; Kevin S. Shah, M.D.; Svati H. Shah, M.D.; and Karol E. Watson, M.D., Ph.D.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the MMR has declined by 77 per cent from 556 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 130 per 100,000 live births in 2016.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center say South Asians have a habit of making less nutritious dietary choices leading to the rise of Type 2 diabetes in the U.S. The likelihood of Type 2 diabetes occurring in South Asians is four times greater than in other Americans, according to a study by the researchers.

Scientist also said that these results could be applicable to South Asians living in other countries such as the UK, Europe and Singapore. “Our findings may be less applicable to South Asians living in their native countries because of the effect of acculturation on dietary intake in South Asian migrants in the U.S. and because of the economic disparity and its effect on food choices between the two populations,” said Dr. Meena Shah, an assistant professor of internal medicine and the lead author of the study.

An earlier research done in Eurpe in 2012 had similar findings. That study had shown that approximately half of all South Asian, Black African and African Caribbean people in the UK will develop Type 2 diabetes by the age of 80, compared to only one in five people of European descent.

The findings, published in the journalDiabetes Careare the first to reveal the full extent of ethnic differences in the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The study was by the Southall and Brent Revisited (SABRE) study, a large-scale population-based investigation which has followed 4,200 middle-aged Londoners of European, South Asian and African Caribbean descent for over 20 years.

The US study in 2018 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that out of the 4 million South Asians, 8.1 percent of men and 6.8 percent of women are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at an earlier age when they have a lower body mass index.

“This is the first study that thoroughly compared both the macronutrient and micronutrient intakes in South Asians with and without Type 2 diabetes using an objective measure – a three-day dietary assessment method that included images of all foods consumed,” said Dr. Abhimanyu Garg, a professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study in diabetes research and clinical practice. The University of Texas Southwestern Center for Human Nutrition team studied 77 South Asian-Americans, 44 with diabetes and 33 without.

According to a university press release, the study found that those with Type 2 diabetes consumed less of the following beneficial nutrients: dietary fiber, linoleic acid, vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium and ß-carotene.

“These results clearly indicate that diabetic South Asians may need to improve their dietary habits to achieve nutrient intakes recommended by the Institute of Medicine. We recommend that South Asians with Type 2 diabetes include in their diets more yellow and orange fruit and vegetables, dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, fatty fish, and low-fat milk and dairy products. These recommendations may also be helpful to improve their blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels,” Garg added.

This new study was built on the earlier work in diabetes that Garg started when he joined the University of Texas Southwestern in 1985 and the findings back then concluded that monounsaturated fats and dietary fiber are beneficial for controlling high blood glucose and cholesterol levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Along with Garg’s research, the study was partially supported by the Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation, the Jiv Daya Foundation and Southwestern Medical Foundation, according to a university press release.

Among the many challenges India faces, the most under noticed is the mental health crisis. In his recent address at the  22nd convocation of National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS)  the President Ram Nath Kovind cautioned  that India is facing a possible ‘mental health epidemic’. “The number of affected in India is larger than the entire population of Japan. We need to address this gap and ensure that by 2022 at least those who are suffering from severe mental disorders have been diagnosed and have access to treatment facilities. Let us take it up as a national mission,” he said.

The importance of emotional and mental health in the overall wellbeing of an individual and its impact on national economy and growth is now being increasingly acknowledged. At present, the mentally ill account for nearly 6.5 percent of the country’s population and it is estimated that by 2020 this number will increase to a staggering 20 percent.

Further, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nearly 56 million Indians, that is 4.5% of India’s population, suffer from depression. Another thirty-eight million Indians, or 3% of India’s population, suffer from anxiety disorders including panic attacks, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Depression is the single largest contributor to   disability.

The pathetic state of mental health care in the country and the apathy of government is a cause for great concern. The plausible reason is the sheer scale of the problem .Hence nobody wants to discuss about the elephant in the room. But the nation cannot afford to ignore the stark realities .There are only about 43 mental hospitals in the country  and most  of them are in disarray  .they lack essential infrastructure and treatment facilities and have a sickening ambience. Visiting private clinics and sustaining the treatment — usually a long drawn out affair — is an expensive proposition for most families.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare report, India faces a treatment gap of 50-70 percent for mental healthcare. The government data highlights the dismal number of mental healthcare professionals in India — 3,800 psychiatrists, and 898 clinical psychologists. A large number of them are in urban areas .The WHO reports that there are only three psychiatrists per million people in India, while in other Commonwealth countries, the ratio is 5.6 psychiatrists for the same. By this estimate, India is short of 66,200 psychiatrists.  Mental health accounts for 0.16 percent of the total Union Health Budget, which is less than that of Bangladesh, which spends 0.44 percent. The developed nations’ expenditure amounts to an average of 4 percent.  ..  India must find better ways to parlay its impressive economic growth into faster progress in this critical area .it has till now looked at it only with a distant lens.

The National Mental Health Survey 2015-16 conducted by National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) estimates that 13.7 percent of the Indian population above the age of 18 suffers from mental morbidity, requiring active intervention. It also suggests that one in every 20 Indians suffers from depression and nearly 1 percent of Indians suffer from high suicidal risks. A survey by conducted by  All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with WHO  across 11 centres in the country, involving3,000 people from each city found that 95 percent of those with mental-health problems  remain deprived of treatment due to stigma, shame  and being shunned from  societies. Three age groups are particularly vulnerable to depression – pregnant or post-partum women youth, and the elderly.

The economic consequences of poor mental health are quite significant. The cognitive symptoms of depression like a difficulties in concentrating, making decisions and remembering cause significant impairment in work function and productivity A World Economic Forum/Harvard School of Public Health study estimated that the cumulative global impact of mental disorders in terms of lost economic output will amount to $16.3 trillion between 2011 and 2030. In India, mental illness is estimated to cost $1.03 trillion (22% of economic output) between 2012-2030.

The fact is that poor mental health is just as bad as or maybe even worse than any kind of physical injury. Left untreated it can lead to debili­tating, life-altering conditions.   Medical science has progressed enough to be able to cure, or at least control, nearly all of   the mental-health problems with a combination of drugs, therapy and community support. Individuals can lead fulfilling and productive lives including going to school, raising a family and pursuing a career.

Although mental illness is experienced by a significant proportion of the population, it is still seen as a taboo. Depression is so deeply stigmatized that people adopt enforced silence and social isolation.  In villages there   dreadful cases of patients being locked up in homes during the day, being tied to trees or even being flogs to exorcise evil spirits. In some cultures family honour is so paramount that the notion of seeking psychiatric help more regularly is uncomfortable and an anathema. We should recognize mental-health problems like we would asthma or diabetes or any other health condition.

Several times mental-health problems are looked down upon or trivialized. These barriers deprive people of their dignity. We need to shift the paradigm of how we view and address mental illness at a systemic level. Tragically support networks for the mentally ill are woefully inadequate. There is need of an ambience of empathy , awareness and acceptance of these people so that  prejudices dissipate and patients are able to overcome stigma and shame .

We must push the conversation about mental illness forward whether it be in the classrooms or workplaces or with our families, neighbours and friends. These issues are real and lethal, and the first means of prevention is acknowledging their existence. People are quite scary about talking of mental illness but it doesn’t need to be like that .to get real relief they  have to come out  of the shadows, patients should be coaxed  and counseled   to open   up    feelings about their pain. This has a powerful cathartic effect.

There have been some encouraging innovations in India led by voluntary organizations that are both impactful and replicable .Dr Vikram Patel, who is a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-founder of Goa-based mental health research nonprofit Sangath   has been in the forefront of community mental health programmes in Central India.

It deploys health workers, some with no background in mental health. These workers are trained to raise mental health awareness and provide “psychological first-aid”. Since they are drawn from the same community, they are able to empathies with the patients .The next consists of mental health professionals. The programme uses Primary Health Centres for screening   people with mental illnesses.

According to Patel, mental health support workers can be trained at a modest cost. Given the limited availability of mental-health professionals, such first-aid approaches can be suitably and successfully adapted to community needs with limited resources. The senior therapists  can be given basic training in general medicine, psychology, psychiatry ,psychopharmacology, social work and patient management

Community mental health services a can offer a mix of clinical, psychological and social services to people with severe, moderate and mild mental illnesses. These can be provided by teams including mental health professionals, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, and peer workers. Counseling can make a profound difference and build resilience to cope with despair. Providing psychoeducation to patients’ families can also help. Unfortunately, in recent decades academic psychologists have largely forsaken psychoanalysis and made themselves over as biologists.

We can turn the tide in the struggle of these people through the simple power of compassion. With this contribution, we can become a powerful force for lifting the dark shadows.

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Moin Qazi, PhD Economics, PhD English, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment and author of the bestselling book, Village Diary of a Heretic Banker. He has worked in the development finance sector for almost four decades in India and can be reached at moinqazi123@gmail.com.

Santhigram Kerala Ayurvedic Co., USA, a leading provider of holistic treatments based on authentic Kerala specific Ayurveda and Panchakarma Therapies in the United States, celebrated its 10th anniversary in a grand function on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at Edison Hotel Banquet and Conference Center, Edison, New Jersey.

In an unprecedented and awe inspiring event in the illustrious and distinguished history of Santhigram USA, more than 500 esteemed guests from various walks of life including clients, stakeholders, friends and well-wishers from diverse locations in US including renowned guests encompassing Elected Officials, Media, Community Associations, Chambers of Commerce, business and other prominent forums graced the occasion.

Among the most notable distinguished guests were New Jersey Senator Vin Gopal, Commissioner of New Jersey State Mr. Upendra Chivukula, Mr. Peter Jacob, Contestant for US Congress from New Jersey, Padma Shri H.R. Shah, Chairman of TV Asia, Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media, Dr. Sudhanshu Prasad and Dr. Binod Sinha, prominent physicians and owners of Edison Hotel, Ms. Melinna Giannini, Health Insurance Consulting Specialist and President of ABC Medical Coding Solutions, Swami Siddhananda, Acharya of Chinmaya Mission and Deepak Parashar, the Bollywood cine actor.

In the welcome address, Dr. Gopinathan Nair and Dr. Ambika Nair, the founders of Santhigram USA unveiled before the distinguished guests the saga of Santhigram USA operations during its decade long journey in US. Mr. Nair said, “We humbly acknowledge the multitude of hurdles and challenges we faced, because there was absolutely no precedence in running an Ayurveda wellness business in the US. Coming to US with a dozen Ayurveda specialists in November 2007 exclusively with a mission of spreading Ayurveda wellness was a great challenge in itself.” He further said. “We are pleased to say with great pride that we have moved forward, overcoming obstacles and managed to spread our wings to as many as five states, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin.” “This would not have been possible without the support of our dedicated team and the clients who had absolute faith in the effectiveness of the unique system of Kerala-specific Ayurveda treatments,” he said. “It is gratifying to see that hundreds of patients have taken advantage of our side-effect-free holistic solution to take care of their health issues, but many are still not able to avail our services due to insurance regulations.” “Things are changing, and we are helping our clients to get the coverage needed,” he added.

New Jersey State Senator Vin Gopal presented to Dr. Gopinathan Nair, a joint resolution of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly honoring Santhigram. It noted that the company has established a model to emulate and set a standard of excellence which others might strive. ‘The Santhigram Kerala Ayurvedic Company has grown from its humble beginnings to its present vital and dynamic state due to the capable and effective guidance of President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Gopinathan Nair and Vice President and Chief Consultant Dr. Ambika Nair, as well as the steadfast commitment of its tireless staff. It is altogether proper and fitting for this Legislature to pause in its deliberations to recognize the Santhigram Kerala Ayurvedic Company, and to praise it as an essential and superb holistic health organization…,’ the proclamation said.

Noted guests joined the lamp lighting ceremony including New Jersey Utility Commissioner Upendra Chivukula, Congressional candidate Peter Jacob, Padma Shri H.R. Shah, chairman of TV Asia, Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media, Rajeev Bhambri, COO of India Abroad, Prof. Indrajit Saluja, editor of India Panorama, Dr. Sudhanshu Prasad and Dr. Binod Sinha, prominent physicians and owners of E Hotel, Melinna Giannini, health insurance consulting specialist and president of ABC Medical Coding Solutions, Deepak Parashar, Bollywood actor and Swami Siddhananda, Acharya of Chinmaya Mission.

Dr. Gopinathan Nair and Dr. Ambika Nair honored several people, who helped them in the early days including Attorney Anand Ahuja, Vinay Mahajan, Late Ashok Diwakar, Alex Koshy Vilanilam, Aniyan George, Late Dr. Shakir Mukhi, CPA PK Ramnachandran, Attorney Ram Cheerath, Gulshan Chhabra, Dr. Sudhansu Prasad, Sheela Sreekumar, Dr. Prem Kumar, Attorney Thomas Vinu Allen and Commissioner Upendra Chukula.

Three people working with Santhigram for the last ten years-Reeja Beegum, Sheena Mohan and Jooly Joy-were honored at the event. Employees who completed more than five years, Nishad Balan, Meenu K Mani and Pradeep Pillai too were honored with excellence awards. Melinna Giannini, Senior Consultant who have done yeomen service by contributing dedicated and stellar services towards marching Santhigram USA to greater heights and glory was also honored during the function.

A souvenir with several articles on Ayurveda and greetings from various dignitaries from India and US was released at the event. Dr. Nair presented the details of the new projects. The Ayurveda training school has the approval of New Jersey State. The said School is aimed to train and equip interested persons in Ayurveda modalities so that they can be employed during Santhigram’s impending expansion plans to meet the shortage of critical specialist workforce in US.

The second project was introducing authentic Ayurveda products under the label of Santhigram Herbals. It includes classical Ayurveda products and beauty products from tooth powder to hair pack and shampoo.

The third project, Santhigram Foundation, a non-profit charity wing of Santhigram was also launched in order to support Patients Lacking Money to Pay for Ayurveda Treatments, Seniors Needing Options to Opioids & Barbiturates, Patients Suffering from Mental Stress, Patients Suffering from Chronic Diseases, People incapacitated due to sports injuries and War Veterans suffering from PTSD, etc.

The glittering event highlighted the growing influence of Ayurveda in the US as well as the remarkable journey of Santhigram. The event began with a presentation by Dr.Drakshayani BAMS, MD(Ay) on Ayurvedic diet and nutrition. When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use, when diet is right, medicine is of no use, she quoted the old saying. Ayurveda is based on the belief that nothing is right for everyone and everything is right for someone, she noted. “With a proper diet and lifestyle, Ayurveda’s goal is to help each person to reach their maximum potential physically, emotionally and spiritually,” she concluded.

The presentation given by Dr. Anurag Nair, a physician of modern medicine and one of the vice presidents of Santhigram noted the renaissance of Ayurveda. He pointed out that till early 20th century all medical systems were respected equally. But the new inventions changed the western medicine and its effectiveness.

An entertaining musical concert with live orchestra was presented by world renowned singer Anitha Krishna and troupe which was highly applauded and gained encomiums from the audience. A vote of thanks was given by Mr. Binu Nair, Vice President of Santhigram and he expressed gratitude to all the guests who graced the occasion and also thanked all the media persons who came in horde to cover the event. Mr. Binu also expressed his thanks and appreciation for all those who persevered relentlessly towards making the event a grand success and specially thanked Tanvi Prenita Chandra, President of Renascent Media for incorporating new style of creative marketing and Kulraaj Anand of 8K Radio. He also expressed appreciation for MCs Sanjiv Pandya of TV Asia and Aanchal Pahwa (Mrs. Bharat USA 2017) who anchored the program splendidly to the satisfaction of all and presented a memorable and one of a kind evening for the gathering