PAHO finds men contract HIV three times faster than women...teenage pregnancy three times higher in Latin America

PAHO finds men contract HIV three times faster than women…teenage pregnancy three times higher in Latin America

Feb 20, 2019 News

Approximately 6,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes each year in the Region, and more than 163,700 infants die. This has been detailed in the ‘2018 Basic Indicators’, a publication recently released by the Pan American Health Organisation [PAHO].
‘The Americas’ is home to more than one billion people. Every year, 15 million babies are born, and nearly seven million people die. In fact the document is one that shows that life expectancy is 80.2 years for women and 74.6 for men while more than eight in 10 people live in urban areas.
The compendium, produced annually, presents PAHO’s most recent data from 49 countries and territories on the demographic and socioeconomic situation of the Americas, the population’s health status, risk factors, and coverage of health care services and health systems.
“Indicators are an essential element in the production of evidence in health to inform decision making,” says PAHO Director, Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, in the preface to the publication.
Such evidence means that “decision-making will be better informed and lead to increased opportunities for more effective interventions that have a greater impact on health outcomes.”
The publication also shows that women in the Americas have on average two children, while teenage mothers [ages 15 to 19] have 48 newborns per 1,000 women, with sub-regional differences ranging from a low of 18 teen births per 1,000 women in North America to 61 per 1,000 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Non-communicable diseases—such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke—are the main causes of death in the Americas, the document further notes. It continues by pointing out, too, that region-wide, the death rate from non-communicable diseases is 427.6 people per 100,000 population, which is seven times higher than the death rate from communicable [infectious] diseases, at 59.9 people per 100,000 population.
With regards to infectious diseases, in 2017 Latin America and the Caribbean reported approximately 580,000 cases of dengue [44 percent of this total were reported from Brazil], more than 31,000 cases of leprosy [nearly 90 percent from Brazil], and more than 13,800 cholera cases [99 percent from Haiti].

PAHO Director, Dr. Carissa F. Etienne.

The HIV diagnostic rate was 14.6 people per 100,000 population region wide, and for every new HIV diagnosis among women, there were 3.6 HIV diagnoses among men.
Data are also presented on risk factors [variables that increase the chances for ill health] and protective factors [which reduce that risk]. For example, breast milk is a protective factor, as it meets all a young child’s nutritional and immunological needs. In the short term, it reduces the risk of disease and death from diarrhea, respiratory and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome.
In the long term, it reduces the risk of dental malocclusion, overweight/obesity, and diabetes mellitus. In women, it reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer, ovarian cancer, overweight/obesity, and diabetes.
Despite ample evidence that breastfeeding benefits children’s health, cognitive development and likely even their long-term economic prospects, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at six months varies considerably among countries, ranging from 2.8 percent to 68 percent.
Regarding risk factors, about eight percent of newborns in the Region have low birth weight [less than 2,500 grams/5.5 pounds]. Chronic malnutrition affects 10 percent of children under five, and six percent of children in the same age group are overweight [data from 2012].
Rates of overweight and obesity are high among adults in the Americas: in 2016, 64 percent of men and 61 percent of women were overweight or obese. Additionally, 39 percent of adults do not perform enough physical activity.
In the Americas, the document states, that it was found that 13 percent of adolescents consume tobacco, a percentage that varies across countries from a low of 3.8 percent in Canada to 25 percent in Chile and Dominica.
High blood pressure affects 21 percent of men and 15 percent of women in the Region [latest available data from 2015], while diabetes mellitus affects nine percent of men and eight percent of women.
Vaccination coverage in 2017 varies for different vaccines. This has translated to 94 percent of the target population of children in the Americas receiving the tuberculosis [BCG] vaccine; 90 percent receiving the vaccine for the first dose of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR1); 88 percent receiving three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis [DTP3] vaccine; 85 percent receiving three doses of polio vaccine; and 73 percent receiving the last dose of rotavirus vaccine.
According to the ‘2018 Basic Indicators’, in the Americas, there are 18 doctors, 59.7 nurses and 6.7 dentists per 10,000 population. Public expenditure on health as a percentage of gross domestic product [GDP] is five percent on average region-wide [below the six percent recommended by PAHO’s Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage].
The percentage in North America [eight percent] is twice that of Latin America and the Caribbean [four percent]. Out-of-pocket expenditure as a percentage of total health expenditure was 22 percent as of 2015.
PAHO’s strategy on universal health recommends eventually eliminating out-of-pocket payments altogether, because they constitute a significant barrier to access health services.
Blood donation from voluntary donors, the safest way to collect blood, varied from 100 percent in North America to an average of 40 percent in the rest of the Region [data from 2015].