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Tag: Emergencies

COVID-19 for health workers’
WHO resources for protection of health workers and emergency responders

The protection of health workers is one of the priorities for the response to COVID19 outbreaks. Occupational health services in health care facilities have an important role for protecting health workers and ensuring the business continuity of health care services.
WHO resources for non-healthcare workplaces

Non-healthcare workplaces, such as businesses and enterprises have also the responsibility to protect the health and safety of their workers and those affected by their operations.
Infographics

Prevention COVID-19 at the workplace

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/09-03-2020-covid-19-for-health-workers

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March 10, 2020
WHO resources for protection of health workers and emergency responders
The protection of health workers is one of the priorities for the response to COVID19 outbreaks. Occupational health services in health care facilities have an important role for protecting health workers and ensuring the business continuity of health care services.
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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/09-03-2020-who-resources-for-protection-of-health-workers-and-emergency-responders

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March 9, 2020
France pledges US$100 million (€90 million) for WHO Academy

Geneva: France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO today met at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in Geneva to discuss the WHO Academy, which will be the world’s largest and most innovative lifelong learning platform in global health.

The WHO Academy aims to reach millions of people worldwide, offering high-tech learning environments at a “hub” in Lyon with “spokes” in the six WHO regions. The Academy will provide learning opportunities for leaders, educators, researchers, health workers, WHO staff and the broader public, and will deliver high quality, multilingual learning, both online and in-person, alongside a cutting-edge simulation centre for health emergencies.

The discussion today follows a Declaration of Intent signed by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic and Dr Tedros on 11 June 2019, and a pledge by France in the amount of US$ 100 million (€ 90 million) to WHO to support the creation of the WHO Academy, which will be established as an internal division within WHO.

“Technology and innovation in learning are creating exciting new opportunities to accelerate progress towards health for all in every country,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “The WHO Academy will support millions of learners to maximize health impacts with the best evidence, adult learning approaches and state-of-the-art technologies.”

By propelling and strengthening digital innovations and lifelong learning opportunities around the world, the WHO Academy will play an instrumental role towards achieving WHO’s triple billion goal by 2023 and the health Sustainable Development Goals: 1 billion more people will benefit from universal health coverage; 1 billion more will be better protected in health emergencies, and 1 billion more will enjoy improved health and wellbeing.

The funding from France represents a commitment to accelerate the development of the WHO Academy, and confirms the engagement of France — a longstanding partner of WHO and a key actor in global health – and its strong support to the ambitions of 13^th WHO General Programme of Work to ensure healthy lives and well-being for all ages.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-02-2020-france-pledges-us100-million-for-who-academy

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February 27, 2020
Statement on the meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee for Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 12 February 2020
The meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) to review the current Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) took place on Wednesday, 12 February 2020, from 14:00 to 16:45 Geneva time (CEST).

Proceedings of the meeting

Members and advisors of the Emergency Committee were convened by teleconference.

The Secretariat welcomed the Committee and thanked them for their support. The meeting was turned over to the Chair, Dr Robert Steffen.

Dr Steffen also welcomed the Committee and gave the floor back to the Secretariat.

Representatives of WHO’s legal department and the department of compliance, risk management, and ethics briefed the Committee members on their roles and responsibilities.

Committee members were reminded of their duty of confidentiality and their responsibility to disclose personal, financial, or professional connections that might be seen to constitute a conflict of interest. Each member who was present was surveyed and no conflicts of interest were judged to be relevant to the meeting.

The Chair then reviewed the agenda for the meeting and introduced the presenters.

Presentations were made by representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the WHO Secretariat, and the UN Ebola Emergency Response Coordinator.

The current situation in the DRC was reviewed. As of 10 February 2020, there were a total of 3431 cases, of which 3308 were confirmed and 123 were probable. 2253 persons have died (66%). Between 3 and 9 February 2020, three new confirmed cases were reported in Beni Health Zone, North Kivu. These three cases were already registered as contacts and two were under surveillance at the time of detection. More than 2000 contacts are being followed. There has been an increase in the number of security incidents in recent months.

Challenges that remain include: strengthening of community acceptance for full commitment to response measures; protection of personnel at strategic health checkpoints; improvement of infection prevention and control practices in health facilities; strengthening of the local health system; and comprehensive treatment and support for patients in recovery.

The WHO Secretariat gave an overview of the epidemiological situation, which shows an overall encouraging trend in case incidence and geographic spread. It was noted that sustaining this progress depends on the security situation and control of the well-known drivers of transmission, particularly in traditional health facilities, and on continued trust and communication with the community.

A risk communication and community engagement programme has been developed, as has an EVD survivors programme. It is critical to ensure the long-term sustainability of these two initiatives.

The situation in countries neighbouring DRC was reviewed, as was preparedness in nonaffected areas of DRC. An EVD operational readiness standardized approach has been implemented in 9 priority countries. More than 2400 alerts have been investigated, and more than 14,600 health workers have been vaccinated.

The UN Ebola Emergency Response Coordinator gave a brief report on operational support, focused on security challenges and preparations for any resurgence of disease.

Context and Discussion

The Committee noted a great deal of progress in the situation since its last meeting and commended the response, under the leadership of the DRC Ministry of Health and the multisectoral coordination commission established in July 2019. Support provided by WHO, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other partners has also contributed to limiting the spread and impact of this virus in a difficult context. An increase in the number of alerts was attributed to strong and proactive community surveillance.

Conclusions and Advice

It was the unanimous view of the Committee that this event still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the IHR (2005).

The Committee acknowledged the revised risk assessment, which puts the risk now as high at national and regional levels, and low at the global level.

The Committee was concerned that withdrawing the PHEIC now might have adverse consequences for the response efforts through diminishing focus. Additionally, although the primary concern of the Committee is EVD, there are serious ongoing outbreaks of other diseases, including measles and cholera, in DRC. The country continues to need support to combat infectious diseases as well as to strengthen its health system. Further, there remains an urgent need to maintain international solidarity for the response.

The Committee noted the ongoing discussions about the interpretation in the text of the IHR (2005) of the terms international and regional spread, and about creating an intermediate level of response between the binary possibilities of PHEIC or no PHEIC, in a way that does not require reopening negotiations on the Regulations. The Committee supports these discussions, as an intermediate level would be as useful for gradually ending a PHEIC and for signaling the potential for one to be declared.

The Committee provided the following advice to the Director-General for his issuance as revised Temporary Recommendations under the IHR (2005).

For DRC:
- Sustain the political commitment and multisectoral coordination approach to the response.
- Continue to engage and build trust with associations of survivors to facilitate rapid detection of any cases arising from exposure to infected bodily fluids of survivors.
- Continue to strengthen capacity, implementation, and coordination for community awareness and engagement, including a focus on hotspots, preventing resurgence where cases have declined, and to support survivors in their communities.
- Further enhance the acceptance of response measures and address access and security issues by engaging influencers and decision makers for all interventions.
- Strengthen measures to prevent and manage nosocomial infections, including systematic mapping of health facilities, targeting of IPC interventions and sustain support to those facilities through monitoring and supervision, including in private-sector and traditional health facilities.
- Continue cross-border screening and step up monitoring at checkpoints around hotspots and at main roads.
- Continue to implement and share real-time full-genome genetic sequencing of all new confirmed cases.
- Strengthen measures to prevent and manage nosocomial infections, including systematic mapping of health facilities, targeting of IPC interventions and sustain support to those facilities through monitoring and supervision.
- Strengthen preparedness in non-affected provinces of DRC, and more generally strengthen the health system across the country to respond to concurrent health emergencies.
- Continue to implement optimal vaccine strategies that have proven maximum impact on curtailing the outbreak, as recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE).
For countries at risk:
- At-risk countries should maintain their work with partners to improve their preparedness for detecting and managing imported or locally acquired cases, including the transparent sharing of detailed information on suspect cases, as required by the International Health Regulations (2005), and sharing laboratory samples of suspect cases for confirmatory testing in accordance with WHO norms and guidance.
- Countries should continue to map population movements and sociological patterns that can predict risk of disease spread.
- Risk communications and community engagement, especially at points of entry, should be maintained.
For all countries:
- As recommended previously, no country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade.
- The Committee does not consider entry screening at airports or other ports of entry outside the region to be necessary.
The Committee emphasized the importance of continued support by WHO and other national and international partners towards the effective implementation and monitoring of these recommendations.

Based on this advice, the reports made by the affected State Party, and the currently available information, the Director-General accepted the Committee’s assessment and on 12 February 2020 maintained the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The Director-General endorsed the Committee’s advice and issued them as Temporary Recommendations under IHR (2005) to reduce the international spread of Ebola, effective 12 February 2020. The Director-General thanked the Committee Members and Advisors for their advice and requested their reassessment of this situation within two months or earlier if the situation requires.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/12-02-2020-statement-on-the-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-for-ebola-virus-disease-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-on-12-february-2020

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February 27, 2020
Remarks by Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme at media briefing on COVID-19 on 13 February 2020

Good afternoon everyone and apologies for being late, and apologies too from Dr Tedros, who is just about to land in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he is following up on important Ebola matters and meeting with President Tshisekdi and many others to look at the future post-Ebola of the health system in Congo.

I’m sure you’ll understand how important a task and mission that is given the last year-and-a-half in Congo and the ongoing struggles in that country to deliver effective healthcare and reduce suffering and mortality from infectious diseases.

Let me start by updating you on the latest numbers.

In the last 24 hours China has reported 1,820 laboratory-confirmed cases, bringing the total to 46,550.

In addition, China reported 13,332 clinically confirmed cases in Hubei province, and crucially, we understand that most of these cases relate to a period going back over days and weeks and are retrospectively reported as cases, sometimes back to the beginning of the outbreak itself.

So this increase that you’ve all seen in the last 24 hours is largely down to a change in how cases are being diagnosed and reported.

So, in other words, in Hubei province only, a trained medical professional can now classify a suspected case of COVID-19 as a clinically-confirmed case on the basis of chest imaging, rather than having to have a laboratory confirmation.

This allows clinicians to move and report cases more quickly, not having to wait for lab confirmation, ensuring that people get to clinical care more quickly, and also allows public health responses in terms of contact tracing and other important public health measures to be initiated.

As you’ve noticed with suspect cases, there have been some backlogs in testing and this is also going to help ensure that people get adequate care and adequate public health measures can be taken.

So we are not dealing, from what we understand, with a spike in cases of 14,000 on one day.

To an extent this is an artefact of the reporting and we are working with our colleagues in China, and our team there are working very hard to see exactly how many days and weeks and how those numbers are spread across those days and weeks.

In the rest of China and the rest of the world, laboratory confirmation for reporting is still required.

WHO will continue to track both laboratory and clinically-confirmed cases in Hubei province.

We’ve seen this spike in the number of cases reported in China, but this does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak.

Outside China, there are 447 cases from 24 other countries, and now two deaths. In addition to the death in the Philippines, there is now one more death in Japan.

We have said consistently that we need to be cautious when drawing conclusions from daily reported numbers. I think we were having that discussion yesterday and I think the numbers today speak to that.

We need to be very careful when interpreting any extremes. Be it in incubation period, be it in daily numbers, we must take all numbers into account, we must look at all numbers seriously but we also must try and interpret what those numbers mean and not react directly to the number itself.

The number of countries reporting cases has still not changed and outside the cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, we’re not seeing a dramatic increase in transmission outside China.

That is the current picture. We’re still saying to governments around the world that we still have an opportunity to prepare for the potential spread of the virus.

Regarding the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is currently quarantined in Yokohama, 218 passengers have tested positive for the virus, which does represent the largest cluster of COVID-19 cases outside China.

This morning, I briefed health ministers from the European Union, convened by Croatia, the presidency, about COVID-19 and our teams are working with governments and partners of the European Union to ensure that the latest information is disseminated, that preparations are made and there’s good coordination between ourselves and the European Union and our WHO Regional Office for Europe.

And we very much welcome the strong support from the European Union in supporting countries with weaker health systems and ensuring that other countries have the investment and support needed to prepare for the arrival of the virus.

In terms of the international mission, the advanced team and their Chinese counterparts have now finalized the scope of work and design of the mission and we expect the rest of the international team to start arriving in China over the weekend.

Thank you.

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February 27, 2020
WHO and FIND formalize strategic collaboration to drive universal access to essential diagnostics

Geneva, Switzerland – 10 February 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) announced today that a memorandum of understanding has been signed by the two organizations to formalize a strategic collaboration that will strengthen diagnosis in resource-poor countries by closing major diagnostic gaps at country level and bolstering disease surveillance that will inform public health initiatives and enhance outbreak preparedness and response.

“This collaboration is an inspiring development that will take us a long way towards ensuring access to diagnostics to all who need them,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “Global health challenges such as the ongoing novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak demonstrates that without these essential elements of health systems, we cannot hope to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. I look forward to working closely with FIND to determine what countries need and to forge a path to deliver these innovations so that no one is left behind.”

Diagnosis is a driver of patient, financial and health systems impact, and a critical enabler of universal health coverage, but it is also the weakest link in the care cascade. This is especially true in primary healthcare settings in low- and middle-income countries. A unique and unprecedented opportunity exists to expand the role and impact of diagnostics to fully realize their potential to address major health security threats and evolving disease burdens through technological and digital advances.

FIND has been an active partner with WHO since 2008 and a WHO Collaborating Centre since 2014, acting in the areas of laboratory strengthening and diagnostic technology evaluation. This expanded collaboration will put in place the building blocks necessary to enable transformative change in a move toward a country-led diagnostics alliance. Initial workstreams will focus on demand-driven access to essential diagnostics and the development of national Essential Diagnostics Lists, alongside collection of data that assist the scale up of diagnostics to support low- and middle-income countries on their paths to universal health coverage.

“Each and every person has the right to a quality, timely diagnosis,” said Catharina Boehme, CEO of FIND. “Comprehensive diagnostic services underpin functional and efficient health systems not only to manage day-to-day healthcare needs, but also to ensure new disease outbreaks can be spotted and contained quickly. Working closely with WHO as part of a country-led alliance, we will strive to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have what they need to develop their own comprehensive, data-driven diagnostic strategies that enable universal health coverage and empower disease surveillance. Our ambition is that all patients, providers and decision-makers have access to the diagnostic solutions needed for optimal health outcomes.”

The strategic collaboration agreement will initially run for a period of 5 years, until 2025.

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About FIND

FIND is a global non-profit organization that drives innovation in the development and delivery of diagnostics to combat major diseases affecting the world’s poorest populations. Our work bridges R&D to access, overcoming scientific barriers to technology development; generating evidence for regulators and policy-makers; addressing market failures; and enabling accelerated uptake and access to diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since 2003, we have been instrumental in the development of 24 new diagnostic tools used in 150 LMICs. Over 50 million FIND-supported products have been provided to our target markets since the start of 2015. A WHO Collaborating Centre, we work with more than 200 academic, industry, governmental, and civil society partners worldwide, on over 70 active projects that cross six priority disease areas. FIND is committed to a future in which diagnostics underpin treatment decisions and provide the foundation for disease surveillance, control and prevention. For more information, please visit www.finddx.org

About WHO

The World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. WHO is committed to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health as one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition. WHO’s current global programme of work sets out three interconnected strategic priorities: ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages; achieving universal health coverage; and addressing health emergencies and promoting healthier populations. These priorities are linked to three ambitious targets, the “triple billion”: one billion more people to benefit from universal health coverage; one billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/10-02-2020-who-and-find-formalize-strategic-collaboration-to-drive-universal-access-to-essential-diagnostics

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February 27, 2020
Online training as a weapon to fight the new coronavirus

More than 25 000 people across the globe have accessed real-time knowledge from WHO experts on how to detect, prevent, respond to and control the new coronavirus in the 10 days since the launch of an open online training.

The learning team of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme worked with technical experts to quickly develop and publish the online course on 26 January – 4 days before the 2019-nCoV outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern.

Approximately 3000 new users have registered for the training every day since its launch, demonstrating the high level of interest in the virus among health professionals and the general public. In addition, more than 200 000 people have viewed the introductory video to the course on YouTube.

The high engagement levels emerged as the international community launched a US$675 million preparedness and response plan to fight further spread of the new coronavirus and protect states with weaker health systems.

The free learning resource is available to anyone interested in novel coronavirus on WHO’s open learning platform for emergencies, OpenWHO.org. The platform was established 3 years ago with emergencies such as nCoV in mind, in which WHO would need to reach millions of people across the globe with real-time, accessible learning materials.

The online training – entitled “Emerging respiratory viruses, including nCoV: methods for detection, prevention, response and control” – is currently being produced in all official UN languages and Portuguese.

“Our job is to work with technical health experts to package knowledge using adult learning principles, quickly so that it is most useful to health workers and our staff,” said Heini Utunen, who manages OpenWHO for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE). “Our online platform – OpenWHO – is already accessed by users from every country on earth, providing more than 60 courses in 21 languages. Delivering trainings in the local language of responders is really important, especially in an emergency”.

WHE has been investing in learning and training to strengthen preparedness and real-time response to health emergencies. The programme developed its first-ever learning strategy in 2018 and has a small dedicated Learning and Capacity Development Unit that allows WHE to develop trainings quickly and get know-how to those who most need it at the front line.

For the latest information on the new coronavirus, visit the 2019-nCoV page.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/07-02-2020-online-training-as-a-weapon-to-fight-the-new-coronavirus

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February 27, 2020
WHO to accelerate research and innovation for new coronavirus

WHO is convening a global research and innovation forum to mobilize international action in response to the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

“Harnessing the power of science is critical for bringing this outbreak under control,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “There are questions we need answers to, and tools we need developed as quickly as possible. WHO is playing an important coordinating role by bringing the scientific community together to identify research priorities and accelerate progress.”

The forum, to be held 11-12 February in Geneva, is organized in collaboration with the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness.

The forum will bring together key players including leading scientists as well as public health agencies, ministries of health and research funders pursuing 2019-nCoV critical animal health and public health research and the development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, among other innovations.

Participants will discuss several areas of research, including identifying the source of the virus as well as sharing of biological samples and genetic sequences.

Experts will build on existing SARS and MERS coronavirus research and identify knowledge gaps and research priorities in order to accelerate scientific information and medical products most needed to minimize the impact of the 2019-nCoV outbreak.

The meeting is expected to produce a global research agenda for the new coronavirus, setting priorities and frameworks that can guide which projects are undertaken first. “Understanding the disease, its reservoirs, transmission and clinical severity and then developing effective counter-measures is critical for the control of the outbreak, to reduce deaths and minimize the economic impact,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Chief Scientist.

This will also fast-track the development and evaluation of effective diagnostic tests, vaccines and medicines, while establishing mechanisms for affordable access to vulnerable populations and facilitating community engagement.

“The WHO R&D Blueprint is a global strategy and preparedness platform that drives coordinated development of drugs and vaccines before epidemics, and allows the rapid activation of R&D activities during epidemics. It speeds up the availability of the diagnostics, vaccines and treatments and technologies that ultimately save lives,” added Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

Setting clear global research priorities for the novel coronavirus should lead to more efficient investments, high-quality research and synergies among global researchers.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/06-02-2020-who-to-accelerate-research-and-innovation-for-new-coronavirus

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February 27, 2020
US$675 million needed for new coronavirus preparedness and response global plan
To fight further spread of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in China and globally, and protect states with weaker health systems, the international community has launched a US$675 million preparedness and response plan covering the months of February through to April 2020.

“My biggest worry is that there are countries today who do not have the systems in place to detect people who have contracted with the virus, even if it were to emerge,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Urgent support is needed to bolster weak health systems to detect, diagnose and care for people with the virus, to prevent further human to human transmission and protect health workers.”

The Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) for the new coronavirus lays out activities and resources needed by international health organizations globally, including WHO, to implement priority public health measures in support of countries to prepare and respond to nCoV-2019 for a period February-April 2020. The objectives of the plan are to limit human-to-human transmission of the virus, particularly in countries most vulnerable if they were to face an outbreak; identify, isolate and care for patients early; communicate critical risk and event information; minimize social and economic impact; reduce virus spread from animal sources; and address crucial unknowns.

The plan focuses on:
- Rapidly establishing international coordination and operational support;
- Scaling up country readiness and response operations;
- Accelerating priority research and innovation.
“The effectiveness of outbreak response depends on the preparedness measures put in place before outbreaks strike,” said Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. “That is why we are seeking resources to safeguard the most vulnerable countries to protect people from the new coronavirus before it arrives on the doorstep.”

As noted in the SPRP, WHO assesses that the outbreak poses a very high risk in China, and high risk regionally and globally. The risk assessment was based on factors including the likelihood of further spread, the potential impact on human health, and the varying levels of effectiveness in national preparedness and response measures. Accelerated action, as called for in the plan, can address these risks and areas requiring support.

As of 10 a.m. Central European Time on 5 February, 25 countries have reported confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, including China, where 24,363 people had contracted the virus, or over 99% of all cases. In all other countries, 191 cases have contracted the virus.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/05-02-2020-us-675-million-needed-for-new-coronavirus-preparedness-and-response-global-plan

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February 27, 2020
Advantages and Disadvantages of Alternative Medicine

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There are reasons why people chose alternative medicine and reasons why they avoid it, preferring conventional medicine. Alternative medicine is safer than standard health treatments and usually works. It’s true that it can’t be used in severe conditions like car accidents or other severe emergencies, but be that as it may, there are enough situations in which alternative medicine is recommended. When it comes to emotional and spiritual needs, non-conventional medicine may come up with the solution. Furthermore, it’s better for preventing illnesses than standard medicine. More and more physicians nowadays agree upon the benefits of alternative medicine and also even advise their clients to choose the best natural treatment for them.

One of the advantages of alternative medicine is that it encompasses a broad range of therapies, treatments and products, thus the search for obtaining positive results doesn’t flow on a narrow path at all.

A pretty important disadvantage states the idea that, even though the expenses of using acupuncture or chiropractic are sometimes covered by health insurances, the majority of alternative treatments are not reimbursed.

There are certain risks that come along with the usage of natural remedies. Despite the use of herbs throughout the years and even ancient times, not all of them have been studied regarding their safety and efficiency. There are issues concerning their purity and their possible interaction with other substances related to conventional therapies. The majority of information regarding herbs have been perpetuated throughout history and with the help of tradition. Many people assume that herbal medicines are better than synthetic drugs simply because, well, they are natural and not synthetic, therefore present no risk. But they are not risk free; they can do more harm than good if taken without having the details of their effects over the body.

People might abuse of natural medicines the same way as they do it in the case of synthetic drugs. They have the misconception that if unconventional medicine consists of herbal products which are natural, then there is no harm done if they triple the dosage or more. This is totally wrong and can have serious consequences. Take vitamins for example. They are just vitamins, right? They can’t possibly do any damage inside the body. But they do. Vitamin overdosing or vitamin toxicity can lead to unpleasant effects depending on the vitamin that has been taken one too many times. Vitamin A over dosage can cause liver problems, osteoporosis, hair loss and other dangerous effects and Hypervitaminosis D leads to dehydration, vomiting, anorexia and even kidney stones.

An advantage of using herbal remedies concerns the effectiveness related with chronic health issues that don’t respond well or even at all to traditional medicines. If long term medication is needed, then herbs are pretty much safer than conventional drugs. The alternative medicine industry takes advantage from this and keeps evolving and developing due to the constant need for natural remedies.

Another advantage is the low cost of herbal products compared to synthetic drugs which are highly priced for the simple reason that researching and testing the products is expensive. Furthermore, herbal products can be bought without a prescription and are easy to procure. The availability of natural remedies is outstanding; chamomile for example can be easily picked out from a nearby field.

The advantages of using herbal medicines are numerous, but so are the disadvantages. The best idea would be to consider modern medicine according to the severity of the illness, to consult a physician upon the proper medication and dosage and if you do chose the alternative medicine, try to gather enough information upon both kinds of treatments, natural or synthetic, so you may reassure yourself that you took the right decision to balance your health situation.

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Source by Peter Rosenblum

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January 24, 2020