Day: July 19, 2022

Overdose deaths increased 44% for Blacks and 39% for Native Americans in 2020 compared with 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to care and exacerbated racial inequality, an official report showed Tuesday.

“Racism, a root cause of health disparities, continues to be a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acting Principal Deputy Director Debra Houry said in a briefing.

“The disproportionate increase in overdose death rates among Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native people may partly be due to health inequities, like unequal access to substance use treatment and treatment biases.”

Recent increases in deaths were largely driven by illegally manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, according to the report from the CDC.

Before the pandemic, the overdose death rate was similar for Black, Native and white people, at 27, 26 and 25 per 100,000 people in 2019.

But that changed dramatically in 2020, when the respective figures were 39, 36 and 31 per 100,000 people.

Though the increase among white people was not as great as for Blacks and Native Americans, the new rate is still a historic high.

Among key findings: The overdose death rate among Black males 65 years and older was nearly seven times that of their white counterparts.

Black people 15-24 years old experienced the largest rate increase, 86%, compared with changes seen in other groups.

“There was a substantially lower percentage of people in racial and ethnic minority groups showing evidence of ever receiving treatment for substance use, compared to white people,” CDC health scientist Mbabazi Kariisa said during the briefing.

In fact, most people who died by overdose had no evidence of getting prior substance use treatment before their death.

Areas with a wider income gap between rich and poor had the highest death rates.

Being impoverished “can lead to lack of stable housing, reliable transportation and health insurance, making it even more difficult for people to access treatment and other support services,” Kariisa said.

In terms of recommendations, Houry said it was vital to raise awareness about the lethality of the illicit drug supply, particularly fentanyl, and encourage people to carry the life-saving treatment Naloxone.

Improving access to treatment and offering structural support, such as transport assistance and child care, can improve care access.

“Combining culturally appropriate traditional practices, spirituality and religion with evidence-based substance use disorder treatment also helps raise awareness and reduce stigma,” she said.

“While we have made so much progress in treating substance use disorders as chronic conditions, rather than moral failings, there is still so much more work to do, including making sure that all people who need these services can get them,” Houry concluded.
…

Elon Musk lost a fight to delay Twitter’s lawsuit against him as a Delaware judge on Tuesday set an October trial, citing the “cloud of uncertainty” over the social media company after the billionaire backed out of a deal to buy it.

“Delay threatens irreparable harm,” said Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the head judge of Delaware’s Court of Chancery, which handles many high-profile business disputes. “The longer the delay, the greater the risk.”

Twitter had asked for an expedited trial in September, while Musk’s team called for waiting until early next year because of the complexity of the case. McCormick said Musk’s team underestimated the Delaware court’s ability to “quickly process complex litigation.”

Twitter is trying to force the billionaire to make good on his April promise to buy the social media giant for $44 billion — and the company wants it to happen quickly because it says the ongoing dispute is harming its business.

Musk, the world’s richest man, pledged to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, but now wants to back out of the agreement.

“It’s attempted sabotage. He’s doing his best to run Twitter down,” said attorney William Savitt, representing Twitter in Delaware’s Court of Chancery before the court’s Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick. The hearing was held virtually after McCormick said she tested positive for COVID-19.

Musk has claimed the company has failed to provide adequate information about the number of fake, or “spam bot,” Twitter accounts, and that it has breached its obligations under the deal by firing top managers and laying off a significant number of employees.

But the idea the Tesla CEO is trying to damage Twitter is “preposterous. He has no interest in damaging the company,” said Musk’s attorney Andrew Rossman, noting he is Twitter’s second largest shareholder with a far larger stake than the entire board.

Savitt emphasized the importance of an expedited trial starting in September for Twitter to be able to make important business decisions affecting everything from employee retention to relationships with suppliers and customers.

Rossman said more time is needed because it is “one of the largest take-private deals in history” involving a “company that has a massive amount of data that has to be analyzed. Billions of actions on their platform have to be analyzed.”
…

Ghana’s Health Service says more than a third of the people quarantined after an outbreak of the Marburg virus, a relative of Ebola, have been cleared to leave isolation. Authorities quarantined 98 people this week following two deadly cases of the virus in Ghana.

It is the first time ever the disease has been confirmed in the West African country, although nearby Guinea recorded a single case last year.

The director-general of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, told VOA that 39 out of the 98 contacts have completed their quarantine.

He said there is no cause for alarm.

“We’ve had 98 contacts; health workers, mortuary workers, family members,” he said. “We’ve randomly tested 13 of them and they have all been negative so far. There is nothing to worry (about) except to know what to look out for and what to avoid.”

Kumah-Aboagye said Ghana’s surveillance mechanism has been on red alert to catch suspected cases of Marburg.

“We have general surveillance for all conditions including Marburg,” he said. “That’s why the system was able to pick it that early. If we didn’t pick it early, it would have spread to other places and it becomes difficult to contain it.

“We have a response team in the regions who are responsible for all these. We also have community volunteers who have been trained to identify any strange disease and report it for immediate response.”

The World Health Organizations said fatality rates for past Marburg outbreaks have ranged from 24 to 88 percent, and there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments.

The WHO, in a statement to VOA, commended local health officials for being proactive in detecting the disease and said it is mobilizing resources to help Ghana control the virus.

“Health authorities have responded swiftly, getting a head start preparing for a possible outbreak,” the country’s WHO representative, Dr. Francis Kasolo, said. “This is good because, without immediate and decisive action, Marburg can easily get out of hand.”

Anita Asamoah, an independent public health advocate, said more must be done to educate the public about the symptoms of Marburg and safety measures.

“Awareness should be more in the rural communities,” she said, adding that strictly following precautionary measures will be the best approach against Marburg until there is a vaccine, as well as reporting suspected cases.

Symptoms, Asamoah said, include fever, bleeding, coughing blood and blood in the urine.

Apart from Guinea and Ghana, Marburg has also appeared in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.
…

The James Webb telescope is giving the world the clearest ever images of our universe. For VOA News Antoni Belchi has the story.

 
…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning the right to abortion has raised concerns among activists about a domino effect in developing countries, including in Africa. In Kenya, anti-abortion groups have welcomed the ruling while abortion rights supporters fear it could further restrict the reproductive health of girls and women. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo  
…