According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 4,700 new childhood cancer cases in the Philippines annually. Forty percent of these cases are leukemia—a treatable condition, especially during early diagnosis and with consistent chemotherapy. Unfortunately, 1,700 children still die from leukemia each year in our country. Compounding this are unseen impacts of COVID-19 […]
COVID-19 can have severe effects on people with immunity problems. They are part of the group of immunocompromised individuals who must be vaccinated and provided with additional protection, even more than the general population. There are more than 400 types of immunodeficiencies that have been identified. Some people have inborn immunity errors (IEI), while other immunodeficiencies manifest […]
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune cells, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. If left untreated, HIV can lead to AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV is a major global public health issue, having claimed 40.1 million lives since 1981. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the […]
Some people experience symptoms of COVID-19 long after the virus has infected them. But what do we know about post-acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC), or chronic COVID, better known as “long COVID”? According to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), “post-COVID conditions are found more often […]
Malnutrition in the Philippines has been a chronic, silent, and insidious threat to health and development. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic started, around 30 percent of children under five years old were stunted or not tall enough for their age. The Philippines is among the top ten countries with the highest number of stunted children […]
Last month, the University of the Philippines’ (UP) “Stop C.O.V.I.D Deaths” webinar covered monkeypox as it was emerging in non-endemic countries in Europe and the United States of America. Since then, monkeypox cases have continued to rise, which prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare this a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. And […]
COVID-19 has put an additional strain on patients with kidney disease. Earlier in the pandemic, there was limited access to dialysis centers, which led to many patients missing their crucial dialysis schedules. Also, as immunocompromised patients, the risks of COVID complications are far higher for them. With the introduction of the vaccination program, a new […]
There are an estimated 10 million senior citizens in the Philippines, which may double by 2040. Within this sizable population, a growing number suffer from dementia. Worsening the situation is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to impact older people both physically and mentally. Seniors are at the highest risk for infection, complications, and even […]
Dengue is endemic in the Philippines. It used to appear in 2- to 3-year cycles, particularly at the start of the rainy season. Cases per year have ranged from 200,000 to 400,000 but have gradually dropped during the lockdown phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, two weeks ago, Cebu City reported an alarming rise in […]
In mid-May, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 12 countries had cases of the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox is not new. The virus has been endemic in several African countries for years already. What may be new and alarming is that monkeypox cases are emerging in non-endemic countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, […]
