Week in Health

In the latest health developments, the World Health Organisation (WHO), issued new guidelines in the fight against HIV. The new approach suggests that anyone infected with HIV should begin anti-retroviral treatment as soon possible. The “treat-all” recommendation, removes all earlier limitations on eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV; hence all populations and age groups are now eligible for treatment. Meanwhile in related stories around Rwanda, African Evangelical Enterprise (AEE) Rwanda, a local non-governmental organisation, stepped up efforts to scale up access to HIV testing, counselling and treatment with a one-month campaign expected to cover 8,000 families in Gatsibo District. While speaking to The New Times Emile Munyandinda, the AEE coordinator in the area, said they have been combining expertise and capacity to support the initiative and develop a community model for scaling up access to HIV testing. This programme, that targets every household, is expected to cover Kizuguro, Kiramuruzi, Murambi, Gasange, Rugarama and Remera sectors. Munyandinda said the HIV testing services and treatment outreach was being organised under a programme dubbed, “Community allied against violence, HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty.” According to Munyandinda, the efforts are to deliver HIV testing to thousands of people, including some of the most marginalised people in hard-to-reach communities. Meanwhile, more than 200 eye patients were operated on last week in Musanze. This figure, however, came from a bigger group of 600 that were examined and given eyeglasses free of charge. Dr David Muhire Karama, the Director of Ophthalmology Department at Ruhengeri Hospital, appreciated the service offered by the Spanish experts. Muhire also expressed gratitude for their input and for lessons learnt a lot to eventually reinforce the service. Else where around the world, a Swedish study of five million people appears to support the theory that height and cancer risk are connected. According to the study, taller people had a slightly higher risk of breast cancer and skin cancer, among other cancers. Its results found that for every extra 10cm (4in) of height, when fully grown, the risk of developing cancer increased by 18 per cent in women and 11 per cent in men. But experts said the study did not take into account many risk factors and that tall people should not be worried. To reduce risk of cancer, the most important things to do are, give up smoking, cut down on alcohol, and adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle, according to experts. Previous studies have shown a link between height and an increased risk of developing cancer, although why it exists is not known. The preliminary report of the study was presented at the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology conference where researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm described track of a large group of Swedish adults for more than 50 years.