Africa struggles to improve drug safety

West Africa struggles to contain Ebola outbreak.

Guinea is struggling to contain west Africa’s first major Ebola outbreak. Laboratory tests have confi rmed an appearance of the Zaire strain—the most deadly subtype of the virus— originating in the impoverished country’s rural southeast. Of the more than 100 suspected infections, at least 70 people have died, according to the country’s health offi cials. Four of the dead are health workers. If ...

Global Challenges to Equity in Safety and Health at Work: Struggles for Fair Work in Southern Africa

Weaknesses in social protection and risk management systems within workplaces and in the wider public health environment and weak investment in health insurance and health services shift a significant share of the burden of production risks onto worker communities and under-funded public services. Inequality has been constructed by powerful economic and political interests and by weak policies ...

Introduction to Endangered Peoples of Africa and the Middle East : Struggles to Survive and Thrive

Strategies to improve drug adherence.

The demographic development of increasing numbers of elderly patients with chronic diseases requiring continuous polypharmacy represents a challenge for medical care. At present, 30–40% of all German patients .65 years are prescribed four or more different medications, and this number is expected to increase. Nonadherence to medical treatments is an increasingly recognized cause of adverse trea...

A Reachable Goal: Application of Pharmacogenomics Biomarkers to Improve Drug Efficacy and Safety

Ensuring drug efficacy and safety are unremitting challenges for drug manufacturers and public health organizations worldwide. It has been estimated that, when all of the drugs in the market used to treat common diseases are considered, only 25% to 60% of patients exhibit the expected pharmacological response [1], while a small portion of patients could develop adverse reactions (ADRs). ADRs ar...