SciDev.Net

Cardiovascular disease accounts for 30% of deaths worldwide and 10% of all years of healthy life lost to disease, and the figures are nearly as high in developing countries — 27 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. This compares with 10% of lives lost worldwide from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria put together (12% in developing countries). So why have donors not invested as heavily into tackling non-communicable chronic diseases as they have with infectious ones? The authors of this article suggest several reasons: infectious diseases are in some ways easier to solve by a vaccine or drugs so it might seem sensible to use precious funding this way; Western donors may want to see epidemics contained quickly to avoid global spread; pictures of small African children dying of AIDS are more heartrending than a middle-aged man with hypertension, even if that man is supporting a large family; there is a myth that chronic diseases are more costly to prevent than infectious ones. This last issue is one that should be tackled strongly to spread awareness that low-cost methods can have an enormous effect on chronic diseases.

Vaccination for infectious diseases is a vital method of prophylaxis, and has transformed modern medicine. By contrast, research into vaccines against chronic diseases has been less successful, in part because of the increased complexity involved.

In this opinion piece, the authors outline the prospects for the development of chronic disease vaccines. These might not need to rely on the traditional method of inducing the body to produce antibodies, but rather on introducing monoclonal antibodies against specific proteins — this has so far worked well against Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

The authors outline key hurdles in developing a successful therapeutic vaccine. Safety and efficacy are two obvious ones, but there is a third that is unique to vaccines for chronic diseases. Because these vaccines would block bodily chemicals — such as cytokines or hormones — it would not be acceptable for a vaccine to induce a life-long block (unlike a malaria vaccine, for example, where a lifelong block would be ideal).

These might be particularly useful in developing countries, say the authors. Because prophylaxis with vaccines is already a familiar concept, there should be no problem with patients' compliance, and judicious partnerships between public and private organisations could mean the vaccines are produced cheaply.

China is likely to focus its efforts on reducing poverty through economic growth, which will have consequences for how the country addresses climate change. This OECD study considers the effects of a carbon tax on health and agricultural productivity.

The paper shows that there is considerable scope for slowing emissions growth without hurting economic growth. The health benefits of reducing regional pollution are significant, and the welfare gains from improved agricultural productivity are almost as great. The combined health and agricultural benefits of a carbon tax make reducing carbon dioxide emissions using such a tax a realistic goal.

While somewhat technical, this report is well researched and gives a thorough assessment of the subject. It is pertinent reading for anyone interested in climate change and human health, including health care professionals.

This document is available in pdf format only. An abstract is available online here.

In October 2004, China submitted its initial National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, providing a detailed picture of the country and its activities within the context of climate change.

This is the executive summary of the National Communication. It provides insight into the Chinese government's efforts to deal with the issue. It includes a general overview of the country, an emissions inventory (which is not currently required of China under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), climate change impacts and adaptation, policies related to mitigation, and a capacity building assessment.

It also includes an overview of what is needed for national communication, research, systematic observation, and education. Of particular interest is section 4, which describes the country's policies and measures related to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

This document is key reading for anyone interested in China's role for climate change.

This report, published in English and Chinese by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is the result of a 30-month project exploring how climate change is affecting agriculture in China.

The project involved numerous participating research institutions from China and the United Kingdom, and a steering committee including representatives from both countries' government ministries.

A regional climate model, PRECIS, was used to develop climate change scenarios for four crops in China: maize, wheat, rice and cotton. Based on these scenarios, the effects of an increase in temperature of three to four degrees Celsius can be predicted.

The results suggest that maize, rice and wheat fields that are not fertilised by spraying them with carbon dioxide could be 37 per cent less productive as a result of climate warming.

And while cotton yields are generally expected to increase in a warming environment and with higher levels of carbon dioxide_, the level of increase is uncertain and also affected by other factors, such as water and nutrient availability.

 This is an interesting and accessible example of a collaborative assessment of climatic impacts in a specific region of the world. The project also produced national scenarios of socio-economic development in relation to Chinese agriculture, which will be valuable for the sector in the long term.