Meningitis

2. Meningitis • The meninges are the thin layers of tissue that cover the brain& spinal cord. Meningitis is most commonly caused by infection. The disease is very serious and can be fatal • Symptoms: The classic symptoms of meningitis include fever, headache, vomiting, sensitivity to light, irritability, severe fatigue, stiff neck, and a reddish-purple rash on the skin. If the infection is not treated quickly, more serious symptoms develop, including seizures, confusion, and coma. If the infection is not halted, the patient may fall into a coma and die in less than a day. • Prevention: Avoid developing any kind of infection that might spread to the meningitis, especially those of the ear and sinus Provide cross ventilation in your houses. Avoid over congestion or sleeping in an air tight room. Seek for medical help once the above signs manifest.

3. What is Tuberculosis? • Infectious disease that usually attacks the lungs, but can attack almost any part of the body, also called TB. • How is Tuberculosis spread?The germs that cause tuberculosis are spread through the air. Tuberculosis can be spread by an infected person to another person by coughing, laughing, sneezing, singing, and talking. • Tuberculosis is usually spread between family members, close friends, and people who work or live together. • Infected with Tuberculosis and having the Tuberculosis Disease

4. Treatment for TB: See a doctor who will prescribe medication for you. It is important to continue taking the medication even if you begin to feel better or else, the TB can become stronger and you might infect others. The DOT is common • Preventions: Cover your mouth when sneezing & cough, discard sputum properly, provide cross ventilated environment & avoid over crowd, air tight environment. Boil cow & other animal milk before taking. TB as OI • What are the symptoms of Tuberculosis? A person with tuberculosis disease may have some of the following symptoms: cough that will not go away, feeling tired all the time, weight loss , Loss of appetite, fever, coughing up blood & night sweats

5. Dangers of smoking • Dangers of smoking: Smoking health risks, , Pregnancy and smoking, Smoking and nutrition • Smoking and cancer: Bladder cancer, Cancer of the oesophagus,Cancer of the pancreas, Lung cancer, Cancer of the larynx &Stomach cancer • Smoking and your airways:Acute bronchitis, Chronic bronchitis, emphysema and COPD,Laryngitis • Smoking and your arteries:Atherosclerosis,Coronary thrombosis ,Foot and leg ucers, Impotence (erectile dysfunction)Vascular disease SMOKING CESSATION • Thinking about quitting?: Some things you might miss, This is what you gain ,Nicotine and withdrawal symptoms ,The chemical factory ,Smoking – cutting, down or quitting, Smoking: psychological and social influences • Before you quit: Medicines to help you quit, Methods for quitting ,Phases of quitting • Advice for quitting :Keeping your weight downTips for quitting ,StayQuit: free 90-day smoking cessation programme

6. Measles • Death toll: An estimated 530,000 measles deaths annually, mostly children. Infection rate: More than 30 million people are infected with the virus each year. What is it? Measles can cause blindness, brain damage and make children susceptible to pneumonia and diarrhoea. Potentially fatal if left untreated. How is it spread? Coughing and sneezing. It is highly contagious.Facts: 1,400 people die from measles every day. • Treatment and prevention: Vaccination is effective. The disease can be treated with drugs, but strains of drug-resistant measles have developed. Whooping cough, or pertussis • Death toll: 200,000 to 300,000 die each year.Infection rate: 20 million to 40 million cases annually.What is it? Highly contagious acute bacterial disease of the respiratory tract.How is it spread? Coughing, sneezing or talking. Treatment and prevention: Can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccines are the most effective way to control it. Tetanus • Death toll: 214,000 deaths a year.Infection rate: 500,000 cases a year.What is it? Also known as lockjaw, tetanus is a potentially fatal disease of the central nervous system.How is it spread? Caused by a wound becoming infected with bacteria. Clostridium tetanus spores live in soil, so are present everywhere.Treatment: Can be prevented with a vaccine • Advised to attend ante-natal care, then start & complete the immunization cycle of your child

7. HIV/AIDS • Death toll: More than 3 million deaths attributed to AIDS in 2004.Infection rate: Some 39.4 million people in the world live with HIV.What is it? HIV stands for "human immunodeficiency virus". It erodes the immune system. Infection with HIV has been established as the underlying cause of AIDS, which stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS can manifest within 3-5years depending a victim’s feeding, hygienic social & other healt habits. AIDS-related deaths are often caused by pneumonia or tuberculosis.How is it spread? Sex with an infected person (80% of transmissions), blood transfusions or contaminated needles, or from mother to child during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. • Facts: About 70 percent of HIV cases are in sub-Saharan Africa.Teenage girls are at high risk in sub-Saharan Africa, where three-quarters of 15-24-year-olds living with HIV are female.Treatment and prevention: There is no vaccine for HIV, but HIV-positive people can live on life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs for decades.

8. Malaria • Death toll: Between 1 million and 5 million each year.Infection rate: About 300-500 million people affected annually How is it spread? Mosquitoes. • Facts: Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds. Malaria is transmitted to humans by the female anopheles mosquito. Ninety per cent of deaths are in Africa, home to the most deadly form of the virus. Malaria is responsible for 20 percent of Africa's under-five mortality and 10 percent of the continent's overall disease burden. Less than five percent of people at greatest malaria risk have insecticide-treated mosquito nets to sleep under. • Signs & Symptoms: fever, malice & fatigue, loss of appetite, headache, night mares • Treatment and prevention: Insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor insecticide spraying, place nets on doors & windows or keep them closed once it is 5.30pm. Clear stagnant water & bushy environment. There are a variety of anti-malarial drugs, but the malaria parasite has developed immunity to many of them.

9. Diarrhea • Death toll: Kills around 2.2 million people each year.Infection rate: 4 billion cases a year.What is it? Watery stool & sometimes with mucous/blood - caused by dysentery, cholera and a host of lesser-known scourges - is a symptom of infection from bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms like microscopic worms. Most diarrhea-related deaths, particularly in children, are due to dehydration.How is it spread? Contaminated water and food.Treatment: Diarrhea can be treated with oral re-hydration salts. If it continues after 2 days then see a doctor or health professional for advice • Prevention: Wash hand b4 & after meals & after use of toilet, wash fruits & vegetables before eating. Avoid raw & half cooked food. Keep cooked food properly covered. Keep environment clean