El viaje sin regreso

May 20, 2011 at 7:29 am (muerte, Uncategorized, Violence)
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El Viaje Sin Retorno a Los Estados Unidos

Diariamente millones de personas arriesgan sus vidas emprendiendo su ruta hacia los Estados Unidos en busca de una mejor vida. Desafortunadamente la mayoría de estas personas que salen buscando una luz de esperanza, encuentran un destino incierto y un viaje sin retorno. Hoy en día, Centroamérica se ha convertido en la ruta de emigración más popular para llegar a los Estados Unidos, a tal grado que se están viendo afectadas por una intensa campaña de criminalidad.

La presión política a la que ha sido sometido México por parte de EE UU es la causa numero uno de todos los riesgos y muertes que han sufrido los indocumentados. Los “polleros” o “coyotes” cobran entre 4.000 y 9.000 dólares por llevar a los indocumentados a su destino, pero la mayoría son sometidos a secuestros por parte de carteles. Lo cual si no se paga el rescate a tiempo la mayoría de los secuestrados mueren en manos de los raptores.

Según diversas fuentes, en los últimos cinco años han muerto al menos 5.000 salvadoreños y más de medio millar de hondureños, no incluyendo la cifra de las personas desparecidas que vienen de otros países.

La batalla por alcanzar el sueño americano es el costo de un destino incierto y la peor pesadilla a la que se puede someter un ser humano. Pero aun así siguen arriesgando la vida.

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Niño de ocho años muere de un ataque de corazón

February 28, 2011 at 8:26 pm (muerte, Salud de ninos)
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Ataques de corazón en niños: ¿Un nuevo susto médico? Image Src./News.am

Una historia que no se oye muy seguido: un niño de ocho años se muere de un ataque de corazón en la escuela. En el 24 de febrero, el estudiante, quien asistió The Pumpkin Intermediate School en Lincolnton, N.C., fue a la enfermería después de quejarse de dificultad para respirar, informa MSNBC. Allí, el muchacho presuntamente sufrió un paro cardíaco. Él fue trasladado a un hospital cercano, y luego fue trasladado a CMC Charlotte, donde, según Fox Charlotte, falleció durante la noche.

Entonces, ¿se deben de preocupar los padres? Según el Dr. Paul Matherne, jefe de la división de la división de cardiología pediátrica en el UVA, ataques de corazón en los niños son posibles, pero son extremadamente raros. El Dr. William Brady, un médico especialista en medicina de emergencia, agregó que por lo general se producen ”bajo circunstancias inusuales, como la enfermedad de Kawasaki, la ingestión de cocaína, el trauma cardíaco, las anomalías congénitas del corazón, y otros eventos poco frecuentes.”

Los dos médicos dicen que la mayoría de los dolores en el pecho en los niños son el resultado de una infección viral, asma, neumonía, o una tensa los músculos. Pero también dicen que los padres de los niños que se quejan de un “alarming” dolor en el pecho deben dirigirse a la sala de emergencias más cercana. La mayoría de los dolores no son una amenaza para la vida, pero, por supuesto, siempre es mejor estar seguro.

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Cholera outbreak hits Haiti

October 28, 2010 at 5:23 pm (muerte)
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Cholera is an illness we don’t really hear about often. That is until very recently—with Haiti’s department of public health recorded 4,147 confirmed cases and 292 deaths from cholera since the outbreak was reported last week, officials from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced today. The PAHO is watching the spread of the disease closely, for fear that cholera could cross the border into the Dominican Republic.

 

Doctors receive hundreds of Cholera patients per day at the hospital in L'Estere on October 26, 2010. CNN.

 

Stand-out writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez has written a novel set in a time where the disease ran rampantly, but do we really know what cholera is and how it affects the human body?

Cholera is a bacterial illness that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and can be lethal within hours if a person is not treated. Says Dr. William Schaffner, chair of Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center:

“This is a bacteria that actually is in the environment. It’s in brackish water in the river. It can be in seacoasts and if the environmental conditions are not right, the cholera bacteria can grow up and then anyone who ingests that water or food that comes from that water or food that is prepared with that water can get ill.”

In an epidemic, cholera can also be spread from the feces of an infected person.  Children and adults alike are vulnerable.  And according to the World Health Organization (WHO), three-quarters of people carrying the bacteria have no symptoms. For those who do get sick, the main symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, dehydration and shock. To some, the outbreak may not appear to be such a surprise, as some experts predicted that when the earthquake in Haiti hit in January health problems from poor sanitation and crowded conditions would likely continue well into the future.

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New Study: Hispanics in U.S. live longer than Whites, Blacks

October 21, 2010 at 6:40 am (hombres latinos, Latinas and Health, muerte)
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This new study that shows Hispanics have the highest life expectancy in the U.S. comes as a bit of a surprise — especially when you consider the dangerously delicious cuisine we consume — because on average the Hispanic population has lower socioeconomic status than the non-Hispanic white population, as Elizabeth Arias, the lead researcher of this study says — the “Hispanic paradox” as they’ve fittingly named it.

The study shows that life expectancy for Hispanics is 80.6. Life expectancy is 78.1 for Non-Hispanic whites and 72.9 for non-Hispanic blacks. Overall, the life expectancy at birth for all Americans is 77.7.

A print graphic showing life expectancies in the U.S. for hispanics, blacks and whites. P. Prengaman / AP

The study, which appears in the October issue of Vital and Health Statistics, marks the  first time that this longevity information has included reliable statistics for Hispanics living in the U.S. For this particular study, researchers analyzed 2006 data from death certificates in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories.

Hispanic males’ life expectancy at birth is 77.9, but their life expectancy once they reach the age of 65 is 84. Hispanic women’s life expectancy at birth is 83.1 years, and this number reaches 86.7 if they live to 65, the study shows — very ripe ages, as many would say. But possibly the bigger question here would be:

Why do Hispanics live longer?

Some medical experts claim that this phenomenon is due to the “immigrant factor.” About 39 percent of the 45 million Hispanics are immigrants. Moving from one country to another takes some effort and fitness. So the United States may be attracting relatively healthier people from Mexico, the largest source of Hispanic immigrants, and other countries, according to NPR via AP.

Other factors that account for the paradox? Arias (of the National Center for Health Statistics), speculated that the longer life expectancy might also have to do with cultural factors, including close social and family networks and low rates of smoking.

Will this “achievement” be maintained?

What happens when that immigrant hardiness diminishes? Which possibly can occur after a couple of generations of their living here. Many believe that since the children of immigrants take up smoking, fast-food diets and other habits, they could wreck the health of other ethnic populations.

I suppose only time will tell.


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Uncovered: STD Experiments in Guatemala

October 4, 2010 at 5:06 am (Abuse, muerte, salud mental)
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It’s no secret that relations between the U.S. and Latin American have been historically problematic. From the UFCO’s exertion of power of almost half of Guatemala’s land to today’s struggle for immigration reform, let’s just say that things haven’t necessarily been peachy. To even further prove testament to this rocky relationship, the United States issued an apology Friday for government-sponsored experiments that deliberately infected hundreds of people in Guatemala with gonorrhea or syphilis in the 1940s.

U.S. Public Health Service researchers and others experimented on institutionalized mental patients, giving them gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge. About one-third of the patients who became infected never received adequate treatment, MSNBC reported.

“The sexually transmitted disease inoculation study conducted from 1946-1948 in Guatemala was clearly unethical,” according to a joint statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health. We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices.”

Records of the experiments, which were hidden, were discovered by a professor at Wellesley College named Reverby. The research involved the antibiotic penicillin but never provided useful information.

So where was the Guatemalan government when this was taking place?

“Deception was also used in Guatemala,” Professor Reverby said. Dr. Thomas Parran, the former surgeon general who oversaw the start of Tuskegee, acknowledged that the Guatemala work could not be done domestically, and details were hidden from Guatemalan officials.

Considering that these experiments were being done around the time the U.S. was prosecuting Nazi doctors for crimes against humanity, the fact that U.S. government was supporting research that placed human subjects at enormous risk further proves what a an “interesting” relationship we’ve had with Latin America.

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El suicidio

October 8, 2009 at 8:21 pm (depresion, muerte, salud mental, suicide, suicidio, tabu, Uncategorized)
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GetAttachment.aspx

EL SUICIDIO

es catalogado como asesinato contra si mismo o muerte autoinfligida. Este problema afecta a todos sin discriminar sexo,raza,edad,credo,o estado economico-social.

El suicidio es un grave problema de salud publica y un tema tabu.

En el Mundo,cada año mueren aproximadamente 1 millon de personas debido al suicidio.En Los Estados Unidos, cada 15 minutos una persona se esta quitando la vida y otras 25 lo estan intentando.En Los Angeles, de acuerdo a la oficina del servicio forense desde enero del 2006 hasta septiembre del 2008,1579 personas en sus mayoria hombres se quitaron la vida.

El suicidio en los hombres es cuatro veces mas alta que en las mujeres  la OMS asegura que mas personas mueren cada año debido al suicidio que a la suma de homicidios y guerras. Las personas que comtemplan suicidarse en su mayoria muestran signos de alarma a los cuales debemos estar atentos.

Factores de riesgo el 90% de estas personas sufren de alguna enfermedad mental o siquiatrica, abuso de sustancias quimicas toxicas,cambios de temperamento radical,depresion,problemas familiares ,legales,de trabajo o social entre otros.

Como ayudar a una persona suicida escuchele, no tema hablar del suicidio en una forma abierta y directa, recuerdele que los sentimientos cambian con el tiempo incluso los sentimientos de depresion, desarrolle un plan de ayuda y apoyo para la persona puede incluir a los amigos,la iglesia,un sicologo,o algun grupo de apoyo,tenga un numero telefonico del centro para la prevencion del suicidio cerca del telefono, recuerdele que la muerte es permanente;es un destino del que no se puede volver.

Aunque el suicidio paresca ser la unica solucion,no lo es! si tu o alguien que conoces esta considerando el suicidio por favor busque ayuda o llame a las Lineas de ayuda 1-877-7274747 o 1800 854 7771

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