Umar Bacha is an associate professor at the School of Health Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. He obtained a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and an MPhil and Ph.D. in Nutrition. He has published several research papers and authored and co-authored several books. His fields of interest are nutrient and drug interactions, nutraceuticals, and public health. Dr. Bacha has several national and international awards to his credit.
Mortality Rates in Middle and Low-Income Countries describes causes and factors leading to high mortality as well as presents the latest developments in the field of healthcare with best practices to reduce mortality in all ages. It addresses mortality and related health outcomes in economically poor countries and presents a new matric/index for measuring healthcare effectiveness and monitoring levels. It also discusses the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the challenges of implementing prevention measures in developing countries. The information in this book can be adopted at various levels to bolster the quality of healthcare systems across the globe.
Go to the bookAbout 25% of total agriculture products are contaminated with aflatoxins (AFs) and other mycotoxins in the world especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, completely losing about 2–3% of food values and thus causing economic losses to farmers. The mycotoxin contaminations of food supply chain impact on human and animal health primarily, whereas production is the second major concern especially in developing countries. Aflatoxins (colorless to pale yellow colored crystals) are the most studied (>5000 research articles) group of mycotoxins. AFs impose major problems regarding health, growth, FCR (feed conversion ratio), etc. in the subtropical zone. In the agricultural commodities, the prevention of fungal contamination during plant growth, harvesting and storage seems to be the most effective and rational precautionary measures to avoid mycotoxins. Activated charcoal; aluminosilicates; polymers, such as polyvinyl pyrrolidones and cholestyramine; and yeast, yeast-based products, and humic acid have been studied extensively with promising but variable results. A live yeast, named Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), has also been observed to lighten the adverse effects of aflatoxicosis in poultry. These beneficial effects were later attributed to glucomannan, being derived from the cell wall of S. cerevisiae.
Part of the book: Mycotoxins
Age-specific and sex-specific cause of death determination is becoming very important task particularly for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Therefore, consistent openly accessible information with reproducibility may have significant role in regulating the major causes of mortality both in premature child and adults. The United Nations (UN) reported that 86% deaths (48 million deaths) out of 56 million globally deaths occurred in the LMICs in 2010. The major dilemma is that most of the deaths do not have a diagnosis of COD in such countries. Despite of the allocation of a large portion of resources to decrease the devastating impacts of chronic illnesses, their prevalence as well as the health and economic consequences remains staggeringly high. There are multiple levels of interventions that can help in bringing about significant and promising improvements in the healthcare system. Currently, Pakistan is facing double burden of malnutrition with record high prevalence rates of chronic diseases. Pakistan spends only a marginal of its GDP (1.2%) versus the recommended 5% by World Health Organization. On average, there are eight hospitals per district, with people load per hospital being 165512.452 and poor data management in the country, and we lack a consistent local registry on all-cause of mortality. This article was planned to compile the data related to major causes and disease specific mortality rates for Pakistan and link these factors to the social-economic determinants of health.
Part of the book: Mortality Rates in Middle and Low-Income Countries