Health Specialists

Qui as dit qu'on ne lave pas l'anus avec du savon?🌝🤔

Scientists may have found the secret to eternal youth—by reversing aging in mice.

At Harvard’s Sinclair Lab, researchers have achieved something that borders on science fiction: they reversed aging in old mice, restoring them to youthful states using gene therapy and epigenetic programming. Skin, eyes, muscles—even brain tissue—began functioning like in a young animal again.

The process involves reprogramming the “epigenetic clock”—a biological system that accumulates damage over time and causes aging. By using a three-gene cocktail (Oct4, Sox2, and Klf4), scientists triggered the cells to reset themselves to a younger biological age without turning cancerous.

The treated mice didn’t just look younger—they were younger, according to molecular analysis. Their tissues regenerated, their metabolism improved, and their risk of age-related diseases dropped dramatically.

This technique, still in its early stages, could one day allow humans to slow or even reverse aging in vital organs. Imagine a future where people don’t just live longer—but stay healthy and youthful while doing so.

But this raises critical ethical dilemmas: Who gets access? How do we handle a society where some may choose not to age? And what will it mean for life if death becomes optional?

🌏 24-30 April 2025 is *World Immunization Week*.

💉Over the last 50 years, vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives. That’s 6 lives a minute, every day, for five decades.

During this period, there has been a 40% improvement in infant survival. However, we still need to reach millions of children who’ve never had a single vaccine.

*We also need to protect:*

👵🏽 older people from flu
👧🏾 young girls from HPV
🍼 babies from malaria & RSV
🤰🏼 pregnant women from tetanus

⚠️ We are at a watershed moment in the history of global health. Hard-won gains in stamping out diseases that are preventable through vaccination are in jeopardy. Decades of collaborative efforts between governments, aid agencies, scientists, healthcare workers, and parents got us to where we are today –– a world where we’ve eradicated smallpox and almost eradicated polio.

World Immunization Week 2025 aims to ensure even more children, adolescents, adults – and their communities – are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
☂️ Protect yourself and your family with immunization and learn more here ➡️ https://bit.ly/4cGCQsg

💪🏿 MALARIA 🛑⛔

It’s time to recommit to ending malaria.

🦟 Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes. It is mostly found in tropical countries. It is preventable and curable.

In 2023, there were 263 million malaria cases and 597 000 deaths in 83 countries.

💡 We know how to end malaria. The choice is ours: act now or risk losing ground. Ending malaria is not just a health imperative; it is an investment in a more equitable, safer and prosperous future for every nation.

*Here are some key facts to know:*

🔹 Malaria claims an estimated 1 life every minute.

🔹 95% of deaths from malaria occur in in the African Region.

🔹 11 countries in Africa bear two thirds of the world’s malaria burden.

🔹 Since 2000, 2.2 billion malaria cases and 12.7 million deaths have been averted.

🔹 After years of steady decline in malaria cases and deaths, progress has stalled.

Malaria can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites and by taking medicines. Talk to a doctor about taking medicines such as chemoprophylaxis before travelling to areas where malaria is common.

*Lower the risk of getting malaria by avoiding mosquito bites:*

1️⃣ Use mosquito nets when sleeping in places where malaria is present.
2️⃣ Use mosquito repellents (containing DEET, IR3535 or Icaridin) after dusk.
3️⃣ Use coils and vaporizers.
4️⃣ Wear protective clothing.
5️⃣ Use window screens.

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
Learn more about malaria and the World Malaria Day here ➡️ https://bit.ly/3YL9l2M

🛑⛔ VACCINATION

🤔 Should kids “just get the disease” instead of being vaccinated? Can vaccines really overwhelm a child’s immune system? Who decides what vaccines we get and why?

If you’re a new parent with questions about vaccines, you’re not alone.

Children are exposed to millions of different microbes:

🌇 In the natural environment
🥗 In the food they eat
🌼 In the environment, by touching things
🧒🏽 In their own bodies

We all have, in fact, more microbes in our body than we do human cells. This is an important way that children's immune systems develop.

❓ The issue is, how to allow children to develop immunity against those germs that are very serious and cause disease?

Here is some information you may find useful:

💉 The vaccines that have been developed, that are in our program, are vaccines against serious diseases.

💪🏼 Children's immune systems are more than able to respond to multiple vaccines, given at the same time, and multiple doses that are given over the course of their lifetime.

🗓️ Vaccine schedule is timed so that the protection is developed before children are most at risk of the particular disease that the vaccine is protecting against.

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Learn more about childhood vaccinations in the latest Science in 5 episode ➡️ https://bit.ly/3SeUrhE

🙌🏽HAND HYGIENE 🛑⛔

❓ Did you know…

Healthcare-associated infections are one of the most common problems in healthcare, affecting about 1 in 10 patients on average.

🙌 Hand hygiene is a simple yet powerful way to prevent infections—stopping up to 50% of avoidable infections during healthcare.

Simple tips include:

🧼 Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
🖐️ Use alcohol-based hand rubs if water isn’t available.
🧤 Don’t rely on gloves alone—clean hands before and after glove use.
🍽️ Wash hands before eating and after using the restroom.
🏥 Poor hand hygiene leads to longer hospital stays, higher treatment costs, and avoidable deaths.
📢 Everyone has the right to safe care—stay informed and speak up for hand hygiene.

Clean hands save lives.

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Learn more tips about a proper hand hygiene here ➡️ https://bit.ly/4jXo7M8

🛑⛔ ASTHMA

😮‍💨 Millions of people live with asthma and yet, many of them don’t know it. It is one of the most common conditions among children. Unfortunately, it is also unknown, underdiagnosed and undertreated.

🫁 Asthma is a chronic condition and affects the airways in our lungs. People who have asthma have particularly sensitive airways and they can become narrowed from time to time.

When the airways become narrow, symptoms start:

❤️‍🩹Cough
❤️‍🩹Difficulty breathing
❤️‍🩹Wheezing

The symptoms are not there all the time, they come and go, but are often worse at night or during exercise.

Asthma can be triggered by many different things, for example:

🔹 Cigarette smoke
🔹 Air pollution
🔹 Dust
🔹 Animal fur
🔹 Respiratory infections
🔹 Grass pollen

Even though there is no cure for asthma, for children, the condition often gets better as they get older. It’s important to try to avoid the triggers, but it’s not always possible.

👩🏾‍⚕️ If you or your loved ones are experiencing symptoms, make sure to see your healthcare professional. They can make the diagnosis, prescribe treatment and provide you with an action plan to manage the condition successfully.

SOURCE : World Health Organization (WHO)
Learn more about asthma here ➡️ https://bit.ly/3YwNFaJ

👋🏽 WORLD NURSING REPORT

👩🏼‍⚕️ A new State of the World’s Nursing 2025 report has been published today, on International Nurses Day.

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the nursing workforce.

Here are some key takeaways:

📈 The global nursing workforce has grown from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023.

🌍 Wide disparities in the availability of nurses remain across regions and countries.

📍 Approximately 78% of the world’s nurses are concentrated in countries representing just 49% of the global population.

🎓 Low- and middle-income countries are facing challenges in graduating, employing and retaining nurses.

👴🏾 In parallel, high-income countries need to be prepared to manage high levels of retiring nurses and review their reliance on foreign-trained nurses.

🤵🏾‍♀️ Women continue to dominate the profession, making up 85% of the global nursing workforce.

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

To learn more about the report and its findings ➡️ https://bit.ly/4dggVIP