Focus on: Latin America & Caribbean

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Mercury and lead threaten Latin American communities Intervention programmes are vitally needed to support Amazonian communities exposed to mercury contamination in Latin America, and children who are among those most affected by lead poisoning. These are the conclusions of a review of studies conducted between 2016 and...

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Frequency of GBA gene variants in complex disease patients in Southwestern Colombia. Gaucher Disease (GD) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder, caused by a deficiency of the enzyme B-glucocerebrosidase (GBA). In Colombia, despite considerable research on GD, the frequency of the GBA gene variants in the population is unknown, making it difficult to determine the risk of...

Grandmothers: central scaffolding sources impacting maternal and infant feeding practices in Colombia. A growing body of evidence highlights that maternal and child nutrition programmes need to extend beyond the mother-child dyad by adopting a family systems approach, particularly in the Global South. Guided by a sociocultural and community psychology understanding of health, the paper explores...

Essential and toxic elements in sardines and tuna on the Colombian market. The presence of metals in canned fish has been associated with adverse effects on human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate risk-based fish consumption limits based on the concentrations of eight essential elements and four elements of toxicological concern in sardines and tuna brands...

Gaps in hypertension care and control: a population-based study in low-income urban Medellin, Colombia. Objectives: To assess hypertension prevalence and the extent and associated factors of hypertension diagnosis, follow-up, treatment and control gaps in low-income urban Medellin, Colombia. Methods: We randomly sampled 1873 adults aged 35 or older. Unaware hypertensive individuals were defined as...

Taxes to unhealthy food and beverages and oral health in Mexico: an observational study. In January 2014, taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and nonessential energy-dense food were implemented in Mexico to discourage the consumption of these products. Published evaluations have shown reductions in purchases of taxed food and beverages associated with the implementation of this fiscal...

Psychological impact and sleep quality in the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, Colombia and Portugal. The objective of the study was to evaluate, through an online questionnaire, aspects related to levels of anxiety, suicidal thoughts and quality of sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic period in three countries. With 988 participants from Colombia, Brazil and Portugal. 2.1% of the subjects presented...

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CABI book chapters (your subscription gives you fulltext access to selected chapters)

What have we learnt from epidemiological studies of Taenia solium cysticercosis in Peru?

Paratransgenic control of Chagas disease. This chapter reviews the epidemiology and global distribution, modes of transmission, and control of Chagas' disease (caused by Trypanosoma cruzi). Novel approaches for the control of Chagas' disease are described, including paratransgenic control (in this approach, a symbiotic bacterium within a...

Exploring how medical voluntourism contributes to health and wellbeing in Haiti. This chapter explores the ways in which medical voluntourism (i.e., where health professionals travel to another country to provide medical services) contributes to community health and wellbeing in Haiti, particularly in issues such as malnutrition, water access/sanitation and waste disposal. It...

CAB Reviews – CABI’s e-Journal

Chronic non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries: concepts and strategies for prevention, control and advocacy. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of Africa, Asia and Latin America bear a significant proportion of the global burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). LMICs are unable to respond appropriately to their NCD burden because of a complex blend of epidemiological, demographic, health...

WNV: emerging threat to the Americas and opportunities for control. West Nile virus (WNV; family Flaviviridae; genus Flavivirus) is currently the most widely distributed arbovirus in the world. It is maintained in nature in an enzootic cycle between ornithophilic mosquitoes and avian hosts. At least five lineages of WNV have been reported based on nucleotide...

The threat of urban yellow fever in tropical America. Yellow fever (YF) is an infectious disease caused by the YF virus (YFV) that, in its most severe form, is characterized by jaundice, fever, liver and renal failure, and neurologic and haemorrhagic manifestations. In the Americas, the virus has two well-established cycles of transmission: the wild...

Proposed strategies for mitigating the impact of high food prices on nutrition and health in Latin America and the Caribbean. High food prices are expected to have detrimental impacts on the dietary intake of vulnerable populations around the world, exacerbating malnutrition and poor health. Prior to the onset of the price rises, 53 million individuals in Latin America already lacked sufficient daily energy intake, and...

CAB reviews