Dear Friends,
Welcome to my August news update with the pick of the most interesting stories in health and wellbeing over the last month. Please explore these new findings and be sure to share them with your friends, families and colleagues.
With warmest good wishes, – Dr Rosy Daniel
Women’s Empowerment and Health
WHO pledges extensive commitments towards women’s empowerment and health
The World Health Organization announced multiple commitments to drive change for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in all their diversity at the Generation Equality Forum, held last week in Paris. The WHO commitments focused on ending gender-based violence; advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights; and supporting health workers as well as feminist movements and leadership.
Read an extract from this WHO Article
Sound Therapy
Sound research – Scientific innovations harness noise and acoustics for healing
From the original stethoscope, invented more than 200 years ago, to the fleeting chirp of gravitational waves, sound has reverberated throughout the history of technological and scientific advances. Today, the role of sound in science extends beyond the range of audible frequencies: Ultrasonic and other silent acoustic waves have made their way into researchers’ repertoire, helping them push the boundaries of conventional medicine and research.
Read the full Stanford article
Music and Health: Relating Target Engagement to Clinical Benefit—Biomarkers for Brain Disorders of Aging
This is the last of three meetings that are part of Phase I of a National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) project to develop evidence-based music therapies for brain disorders of aging.This meeting will gather input from participants in the music therapy/music medicine, neuroscience, behavioral intervention development, clinical trial methodology, and patient advocacy/art organization communities.
Click here to read the full NCCIH Article
Carnegie UK – Collective Wellbeing
Gross Domestic Wellbeing: loosening GDP’s hold
GDP – Gross Domestic Product – appeared for a long time to have a stranglehold over debates on economic progress and society’s welfare. It’s been the single number that people most often turn to and quote at each other; it’s used to claim political success or berate political failure; and it’s used as the basis of comparisons between countries. Over the last decade or so, there has been a concerted attempt to break this stranglehold. I won’t go into all the reports that have been the waymarkers on this debate. If you’re interested, I suggest starting by Googling “Stigliz/Sen/Fitoussi”.
Read the full Carnegie Trust Article
Cancer Stories
Mindfulness for Cancer course by Penny Brohn UK and NCIM Healthcare
Penny Brohn UK partnered with NCIM Healthcare to deliver mindfulness courses for cancer patients & supporters with funding from Macmillan. The eight-week mindfulness course is specially adapted for people experiencing stress, anxiety or low mood following a cancer diagnosis. The courses have made a real difference to people’s wellbeing and how they cope in everyday life.
Further details about the course
Reimagining survival – Better cancer diagnostics and treatments are in the works
Cancer is a disease of the ages. For 4,000 years, humans have noted its destructive effects. Hippocrates dubbed the enemy Karkinos, for crab, because cancerous tumors are often firmly embedded in normal tissue, surrounded by “legs” of snaking blood vessels that deliver nutrients and oxygen. Pervasive, invasive and deadly, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. We have only recently found the means to fight back. Chemotherapy and radiation first arrived in the mid-1900s; President Richard Nixon declared a war on cancer in 1971, establishing the National Cancer Institute and increasing research funding. We’ve seen a slow march forward with small but meaningful victories since.
Read the full Stanford Article
To see lots more exciting news and evidence go to www.health-e-learning.org.uk and see the health-e-information platform.
Researcher – Sophie Daniel, Health and Wellbeing Trust
Images bought from iStock Getty images – https://www.istockphoto.com