2014 has been another dramatic, controversial, and progressive year for health in the international community. We have seen the spread of virus epidemics and the development of chronic disease cures; heated debates around health policies and progressive international aid.
If nothing else, 2014 has witnessed the ultimate highs and lows of health in the headlines. It is almost impossible to shortlist some of the most impressive developments made in disease management and cure and to measure the scale of some of this year’s most concerning international epidemics, but here are ten of some of the most important headlines from 2014.
1. The Ebola Virus
Ebola has been the word on everybody’s lips this year, when West Africa’s largest outbreak of the virus to date spread rapidly through three countries over summer. Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea have experienced around 17,145 cases of the virus and 6,070 deaths as a result of the current outbreak. Panic that an ‘international epidemic’ may hit prompted outstanding efforts in international aid as well as drastic policies designed to control the spread of the virus in countries in the West. Experts studying the virus have now developed various vaccines to be tested, and suggest that if the virus arrived in the UK it would be unlikely to spread.
2. Legal Highs
Legal highs have prompted controversial debate this year as more and more of these dangerous substances are becoming criminalised across the world. While longstanding drugs still pose a significant health risk to users, legal highs have become a popular choice for young adults since they are generally made available for sale before they can be properly tested, and therefore criminalised. In the UK, shops are now being discouraged from selling the drugs as reports suggest that the number of drug-related deaths has increased eight-fold in last three years alone.
3. International Obesity Epidemic
This year, obesity was declared an ‘international epidemic’ which put the same economic strain on Western health systems as smoking and warfare. The World Health Organisation assesses the complexities of tackling obesity when it describes the epidemic as ‘one with serious social and psychological dimensions, that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries’. Particularly in Western communities, nutrition organisations are pointing to sugar, antibiotics, and chemical preservatives as important contributing factors to obesity in ‘developed’ countries.
4. The Privatisation of the UK’s NHS
Recent debate has prompted many MPs and political parties to withdraw suggestions of complete privatisation of the NHS, but the public debate surrounding ‘healthcare for profit’ has escalated in recent months. After previously suggesting that the UK’s far-right Independence Party (UKIP) would privatise the NHS, the party’s leader Nigel Farage has since retracted his statement. The UK’s NHS is arguably one of the most progressive healthcare systems in the global community due to being free at the point of contact. Suggestions of privatisation have prompted concerns that the UK’s healthcare system may become an industry for profit and become a more regressive democratic healthcare model based on the present US system.
5. Electronic Cigarette Bans
Particularly popular in European countries such as France, and growing rapidly in popularity in the UK and the US, electronic cigarettes have prompted health concerns this year which have in turn led to further restrictions and bans. Anti e-cigarette campaigners argue that they are largely untested and that the water vapour they contain could potentially be just as harmful for those inhaling it. Pro e-cigarette campaigners argue that statistics have proven their contribution to smokers successfully quitting the habit and that by restricting their usage, new policies may discourage people using new methods to quit. In France, it is still legal to smoke e-cigarettes in indoor spaces, but their restriction in the UK to outdoor spaces is being pursued.
Electronic cigarette. Image Credit: France24 http://bit.ly/16oYcbm
6. Suicide, Self-Harm, and Mental Health
As the global recession continues, mental health remains at the centre of international health debates. Due to cuts to the UK health service, many mental health patients are being refused beds in hospitals and recent reports suggest that self-harm hospital admissions are at a five-year high among adolescents. In Wales, new reports show that suicides are three times more common than road accident deaths, while actor and comedian Robin Williams’ suicide earlier this year prompted a cultural reassessment of mental health treatment in the USA and for those in the public eye.
7. Transplant Breakthroughs
2014 hasn’t all been negative: this year has seen some of the most innovative developments in transplantation. Usually an organ donor has to be alive to donate, but this year Australian scientists made a crucial breakthrough when they successfully transplanted the first ever heart from a corpse. The first ever spinal transplant was also successfully completed in 2014, allowing paralysed Darek Fidyka to walk again for the first time since he was repeatedly stabbed in 2010.
8. Cure Development: Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
2014 has also been the year of development in chronic disease cures. Major breakthroughs have been made into the management and treatment of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s this year, with researchers working on cell engineering to combat the diseases. For Parkinson’s, researchers are developing dopamine cells from embryonic stem cells and transplanting them in the brain to replace the cells destroyed or lost by the disease. For Alzheimer’s, a team at Stanford University are working on research into Microglia cells which could be responsible for causing the disease.
9. The Alcohol Pill
Late this year, drinkers were offered an ‘alcohol pill’ for the first time, which is designed to reduce alcohol consumption in those craving alcohol or drinking more than half a bottle of wine or three pints per night. The pill has been described as a ‘life-saving’ opportunity for the 600,000 UK inhabitants that are eligible to receive it, as healthcare officials and organisations continue to point to excessive alcohol consumption as a cause for heart disease, obesity, and cancer. The Guardian reports that ‘experts claim the drug, which costs £3 a tablet, could save as many as 1,854 lives over five years and prevent 43,074 alcohol-related diseases and injuries.’
10. Curing The Senses
Crucial developments in sight and hearing impairments have been made in 2014, with efforts being made to robotically and genetically cure blindness and deafness. Dramatic improvements were made to the bionic eye this year, which was introduced to the legally blind for the first time. Larry Hester from North Carolina, US, was able to see his wife for the first time in 30 years after being fitted for a bionic eye, while Orly Shamir became the first Canadian to receive the bionic eye last month. Developments in deafness have also been made this year, as the first gene therapy for deafness was introduced. Magazine, New Scientist claims that it works by injecting a harmless virus into the patient which contains a gene that can trigger the regrowth of the ear’s sensory receptors.
Despite the controversy, the debates, and the failings, 2014 has been a challenging and productive a year for health in the global community. Serious developments are being made to cure chronic, longterm, and even fatal diseases and, while many deaths have been caused by health epidemics this year, breakthroughs made by international researchers are improving and even saving many lives.
Sources
About the Author
