Americans Turn to Plastic Cure
They don't have monopoly, Chinese say
NIPPING AND TUCKING AMERICANS
LOS ANGELES
Nearly seven million Americans succumbed to pressure to remain eternally youthful last year and opted to undergo cosmetic nipping and tucking.
The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery said 6.9 million people underwent some sort of cosmetic medical procedure in 2002, with tummy tucks and breast enlargements growing in popularity. Those opting for surgery rather than nonsurgical changes, increased by one percent to 1.6 million over 2001 as Americans, driven by images of Hollywood stars and top models, strive to remain young.
"Last year's increase in surgical procedures, while small, speaks to people's strong motivation for making positive changes in their lives-despite worries about the economy and world tensions," said the society's president, Dr. Franklin DiSpaltro.
Abdominoplasty surgery, better known as tummy tucks, shot up by 17 percent while breast enhancements rose by 15 percent, facelifts by six percent, breast lifts by four percent, and breast reductions by one percent.
The five most popular cosmetic operations in 2002 were liposuction (372,831), breast enlargements (249,641), eyelid surgery (229,092), and nose jobs (156,973). But would-be Peter Pans choosing nonsurgical intervention declined by 23 percent to 5.3 million procedures over the previous year, the body said.
DiSpaltro said new products including Botox-injected into the skin to eradicate wrinkles-and collagen injections to enhance lip size had helped boost the number of nonsurgical procedures.
The group, which claims to produce the most authoritative US figures on cosmetic surgery, said that the overall number of cosmetic procedures has increased by a staggering 228 percent since 1997.
THAILAND GOES ALTERNATIVE
BANGKOK
Thailand is to build an alternative hospital offering holistic and herbal treatments-the most serious test to date of the efficacy of ayurvedic and natural remedies including Thai cures.
The public health ministry will support the construction of the traditional healing hospital to be run by the Ayurvedic College, Vichai Chokeviwat, director general of the ministry's department for development of Thai traditional and alternative medicine. The hospital is expected to be built within three years in Suphan Buri province, 100 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, and could be a government-approved showcase of the alternative and traditional healing methods that have a long and respected tradition in Thailand.
The hospital will not, however, be equipped to offer emergency medical care, surgical treatment, or to replace Western medicine in its entirety, said Kamala Kumarpawa of Thammasat University's faculty of medicine.
There are 14,000 certified traditional "healers," 16,000 traditional pharmacists, and 400 licensed traditional doctors in Thailand. The Ayurvedic College has already trained 500 healers of its own. Thai remedies including herbs-a US$700 million a year business-are attracting global attention, with hospitals here reporting growing interest in traditional medicine among their foreign patients.
The origins of traditional Thai medicine are not certifiably known, but the Thai government says on an official web site that it blends Indian and Chinese medicine as well as astrological and superstitious beliefs dating back to the 14th century.
15% OF INDIAN KIDS FACE POLIO RISK
LUCKNOW, INDIA
Nearly 15 percent of children in the north Indian Uttar Pradesh state are at risk of contracting polio because of shortcomings in an eradication drive, according to the World Health Organization.
"We cannot have another epidemic in Uttar Pradesh as it spills over to other states who have invested heavily in the eradication. We must strengthen our resolve and be more vigilant," WHO director general Gro Harlem Brundtland said.
Brundtland urged Muslim leaders to support the immunization drive, which the minority Muslim community has shunned in the past. She added tens of thousands of workers would participate in a polio immunization drive in the state to ensure that all children younger than five were immunized.
Last year India was the worst affected country by polio and accounted for 83 percent of all the cases worldwide, largely because of an epidemic that swept the state. There was a sixfold increase in polio cases in 2002 over the previous year and even polio-free states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and West Bengal recorded polio cases as the epidemic spread from Uttar Pradesh.
AFRICA'S TOP KILLERS
JOHANNESBURG
Murder, AIDS, tuberculosis, and road accidents account for more than half of South Africa's premature deaths.
The Sunday Independent newspaper said a report by the government-funded Medical Research Council (MRC) found AIDS accounted for 39 percent of all premature deaths in 2000, the last one for which full data were available. Murders accounted for 7.5 percent, tuberculosis for five, and road accidents for 4.1.
"The rates for these causes of deaths are exceedingly high compared with estimates for any other region of the world," the newspaper quoted the report as saying.
Debbie Bradshaw, the head of the MRC's burden of disease research unit, said South Africa's history of institutionalized violence and inequality played a role in the figures. "We also know that societies in transition tend to have high levels of violence and injury rates," she said.
The report said tuberculosis, pneumonia, and diarrhea were the most common indicator-conditions that caused AIDS deaths, "often reflected as the cause of the death without reference to HIV."
AIDS TO PEAK AT 7.7 MILLION IN AFRICA
JOHANNESBURG
The number of South Africans infected with HIV or AIDS will peak at 7.7 million in the next three years, creating the potential for an economic disaster. The annual report on labor relations and employee benefits in South Africa said that as a result of the pandemic, the decline of the working-age population would translate into a severe shortfall of available labor and the likelihood of declining productivity.
"The number of people infected with AIDS in South Africa is projected to peak at about 7.7 million in 2006 to 2007 and taper off to about 7.2 million by 2010, mainly as a result of increased AIDS mortality," said the report made by a private labor consultancy group. "In the face of this potential for macroeconomic disaster, it is very clear that massive interventions will be necessary to halt, or even slow down the progress of the epidemic to manageable proportions."
The report estimated one million people in the 20 to 59 age group would develop AIDS in the next seven years, while the number of economic dependents, those under 20 and over 60, would increase by 1.6 million. this would drive up expenditure on sickness and related benefits and pensions for surviving dependents.
At the same time, tax revenues would decrease and the government would have fewer resources available for economic development.
The predicted drop in productivity and spending on goods was likely to push companies to relocate to countries less affected by the epidemic, leading to a potential decline in foreign investment. More pressure would also be brought to bear on employers for financial assistance to employees and their dependants.
The report said roughly five million South Africans were living with AIDS in 2002-20.1 percent of the 44 million population-with 4.7 million in the 15 to 49 age group. Some 262,000 people died of the disease in 2002.
AUSSIES BLAME COMPLACENCY
SYDNEY
The Australian government has been accused of complacency over an upsurge in AIDS cases, which reached 20 percent in some states. It's a worrying sign that reflected a lack of government leadership on the issue, said the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations.
New figures show there were 700 new AIDS cases across Australia last year, with cases up 20 percent in Queensland, seven percent in Victoria and 3.8 percent in New South Wales.
Federation president Bill Whittaker said there had been indicators over the past few years that infections could climb. "We've seen rises in unprotected sex, we've seen increases in sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea and syphilis, and we've seen trends in other comparable Western countries that have also been experiencing rises in HIV infections over the past couple of years after many years of decreasing infections," he said.
Whittaker said government funding for AIDS prevention intitiatives had declined and said Canberra was not showing leadership on the issue. "HIV is still very much a problem in Australia and one we have to be constantly vigilant about," he said.
Health Minister Kay Patterson described the figures as a wake-up call, saying "any rise in AIDS is deeply concerning."
MORE SWISS TEST HIV-POSITIVE
BERN
HIV cases in Switzerland rose 25 percent last year, after a drop in previous years. The health ministry said 792 tests had proved positive from 2002 to February this year, the increase largely because of sexual transmission.
"Transmission by sexual means-male homosexuality and heterosexuality-is clearly to the forefront of this development," the latest ministry bulletin reported.
The increase due to homosexual contacts was particularly noticeable among indigenous Swiss citizens, while members of the country's large immigrant community were affected above average by heterosexual contacts, the report said.
The ministry confirmed that the proportion of HIV-positive victims in Switzerland remained the highest in western Europe. In 2000, Switzerland's rate was 8.2 positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with a western European average of 6.1.
But actual AIDS cases did not appear to have increased, the ministry said.
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