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BOSTON - The unprecedented increase in overweight and obesity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has led to an alarming rise in diabetes in these regions. Of the estimated 463 million people with diabetes worldwide, 79% live in LMICs.
Until now, however, there were scant empirical data to guide clinicians and health systems in determining which individuals should be screened for diabetes based on body mass index (BMI). There are guidelines from the World Health Organization that recommend screening individuals age 40 and older with a BMI of 25 kg/m2 and above for diabetes, says Jennifer Manne-Goehler, MD, ScD, faculty member at the Medical Practice Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). But it s long been suspected that these BMI and age thresholds may not be optimal for diabetes screening in all regions of the world. Our goal was to estimate the relationship between BMI and diabetes risk across many low- and middle-income countries to help
Warm temperatures and tropical climates may really help reduce the spread of COVID-19, a new study suggests.
The study found that places with warm temperatures and long hours of sunlight such as countries close to the equator and those experiencing summer had a lower rate of COVID-19 cases, compared with countries farther away from the equator and those experiencing colder weather.
The findings held even after the researchers took into account other factors that could affect both the spread of COVID-19 and the number of reported cases, such as a country s level of urbanization and the intensity of COVID-19 testing.
KIGALI, Rwanda, 21 April, 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and Baden-Württemberg International (BW i) have kicked off a virtual scientific conference under the theme “How can digitalization contribute to a more resilient global health”. Launched to bring together young scientists from Africa and Germany, the two-day (April 20-21) event will provide a unique platform for knowledge exchanges, facilitate networking, and draw insights from global health and digitalization experts.
“The theme of this conference perfectly interlocks with our current global context, in terms of crisis management, global cooperation, leadership, and above all, science for advancement,” said Lydie Hakizimana, AIMS CEO. “There is no doubt that ICTs present new opportunities for the global advancement agenda, notably, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We cannot overemphasise the benefits of strategically leveraging these ICTs in global