Depression - WHO report

Depression is a more disabling condition than angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes, World Health Organization research shows.
And those with depression plus a chronic illness, such as diabetes, fare particularly badly, the study of more than 245,000 people suggests.
Better treatment for depression would improve people's overall health, the researchers concluded in the Lancet.

Dr Somnath Chatterji and colleagues asked people from 60 countries taking part in the World Health Survey a variety of questions about their health, such as how they sleep, how much pain they have, and whether they have any problems with memory or concentration.

After taking into account factors such as poverty and other health conditions, the researchers found that depression had the largest effect on worsening health.
And people with depression who also had one or more chronic diseases had the worst health scores of all the diseases looked at or combinations of diseases.

Dr Somnath Chatterji said: "The co-morbid state of depression incrementally worsens health compared with depression alone, with any of the chronic diseases alone, and with any combination of chronic diseases without depression.

Marcus Roberts, head of policy at mental health charity Mind, said the impact of depression could be devastating on relationships, finances and physical health.
"The treatment of depression must be given equal footing to the treatment of other conditions.
"While treatments for most physical health problems are readily accessible, mental health treatments such as talking therapies are limited, with some patients waiting months or even years for their first appointment with a therapist."
He added that mental health was often overlooked in those with chronic health problems, as doctors focused on the physical symptoms.

source: BBC

WHO warns of global epidemic risk

In a report, A Safer Future, the WHO says new diseases are emerging at the "historically unprecedented" rate of one per year.

Since the 1970s, 39 new diseases have developed, and in the last five years alone, the WHO has identified more than 1,100 epidemics including cholera, polio and bird flu.

"It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like Aids, another Ebola, or another Sars, sooner or later," the report says.

Infectious diseases emerging at a rate of one or more a year since the 1970s :-
These include bird flu, Sars, also Ebola, Marburg and Nipah viruses
Flu pandemic could affect more than 1.5 billion people or 25% of world population
Comeback by cholera, yellow fever and epidemic meningococcal disease in the last quarter of the 20th Century
685 verified events of international public health concern from September 2003 to September 2006
Growth of anti-microbial resistance, notably drug-resistant TB