July 10, 2018, (Africa) Eurek Alert: Project aims to improve asthma control in African schoolchildren https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-07/qmuo-pat071018.php Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have been awarded £2 million to study how to improve asthma in African children The investment from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is part of its Global Health Research Programme and will fund the three year project 'Achieving Control of Asthma in Children In Africa' (ACACIA) taking place in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Previously, asthma in African children was not thought to be a major health issue. But more African children are developing the long-term disease as they move to urban areas. Recent surveys in schools found that over 20 per cent of South African children aged 13 to 14 have ongoing asthma symptoms. But to date, there has been a lack of evidence to tackle the issue. The study will involve 3,000 children aged between 12 and 14 years old with asthma symptoms, and use surveys to assess their asthma control, treatment, attitudes to asthma, as well as the barriers to achieving good control…. 'Diseases of urbanisation' Professor Jonathan Grigg from Queen Mary's Blizard Institute, and Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Group, said: "The number of children in sub Saharan Africa who live in urban areas is rapidly increasing. These children are developing diseases of urbanisation such as asthma. However, very little is known about the severity of asthma in African children. Working with leading paediatricians across Africa, this grant will allow us to describe the burden of asthma in children, and the reasons underlying poor asthma control."…
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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