The Health News – 27 July 2015

Overview:

• The world’s first malaria vaccine called RTS,S or Mosquirix has been given the green light from European drugs regulators who recommend it should be licensed for use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease.

• Parents and health experts have said it has become common for psychiatrists to prescribe anti-psychotic medication to young people to overcome the sleeplessness that comes with anti-depressant medication.

• Canberra artist Lien To has been able to continue the hobby she loves thanks to the latest in that was hosted by Royal Society for the Blind (RSB) Canberra Blind Society they introduce to adaptive technological that advances for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Health News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 27TH July 2015. Read by Rebecca Foster.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-25/malaria-vaccine-mosquirix-gets-go-ahead-from-eu-regulators/6647580

The world’s first malaria vaccine has been given the green light from European drugs regulators who recommend it should be licensed for use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease.

The shot — called RTS,S or Mosquirix — would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help prevent millions of cases of malaria in countries that use it.

The vaccine was developed by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and will now be assessed by the World Health Organisation, which has promised to give its guidance on when and where it should be used before the end of this year.

Malaria killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

More than 80 per cent of malaria deaths are in children under the age of five.

Global health experts have long hoped scientists would be able to develop an effective malaria vaccine, and researchers at GSK have been working on RTS,S for 30 years.

The vaccine was part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-25/anti-psychotics-prescribed-as-sedatives-for-troubled-children/6647232

There are concerns doctors are prescribing powerful [and] anti-psychotic medications to troubled children and teens to help them get to sleep.

Parents and health experts have said it has become common for psychiatrists to prescribe anti-psychotic medication to young people to overcome the sleeplessness that comes with anti-depressant medication.

The concerns were first raised by a mother last year in a submission to the National Children’s Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission.
The mother, who did not want to be identified, spent three years dealing with the mental health system after her daughter’s thyroid condition was misdiagnosed as depression.

Child psychiatrist Jon Jureidini has backed her concerns and said it had become too common for the drugs to be prescribed as a sedative among young people.

The drugs have not been properly studied for use in children and teens and are prescribed by GPs off-label, which means it is not an approved use.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-26/latest-in-technology-to-help-vision-impaired-on-show-in-canberra/6648174

Canberra artist Lien To has been able to continue the hobby she loves thanks to the latest in technological advances for people who are blind or visually impaired.

This weekend, the latest in adaptive technology has been on display in Canberra.

The exhibition, hosted by the Royal Society for the Blind (RSB) Canberra Blind Society, … introduce[d] clients to adaptive technology which could make their lives easier.

“I’m an artist so I use CCTV technology to draw a lot of patterns,” Ms To said.

“It makes things bigger and because I do a lot of fine-detail work, it makes it so much easier.”

Ms To said events like the RSB Canberra Blind Society Overview days helped her keep up with changes in technology.

“Technology changes every single day and every single year,” she said.

“Twenty or 30 years ago when you went to school, you had big sheets of paper that teachers would enlarge for you to poster size.

“It was very annoying and it took up the whole space and now you’ve got technology that can enlarge things for you and you can read a normal-size page without any difficulty.”

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