PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Developed Countries”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

The use of ultrasound in developing countries.

In many developing countries ultrasound services are either nonexistent or inadequate, although the diagnostic problems for which ultrasound is particularly suited are common in such countries. In view of this, the World Health Organization (WHO) has outlined the indications for diagnostic ultrasound together with the technical specifications for equipment. Where there are larger hospitals the basic ultrasound services should be complemented with the proposed general-purpose ultrasound scanner while at the level of major medical centres there will be need for a variety of special purpose ultrasonic units, e.g. for cardiac, intraluminal and interventional investigations. The usefulness of any ultrasound appliance depends to a great extent on the skill and experience of the operator. Therefore, WHO provides guidance on the training of general practitioner and expert sonographer that is necessary for proper implementations of this technology. In this review the authors discuss the various problems affecting the use of ultrasound in developing countries.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1978

Provision of medicines in a developing country.

In many developing countries the money spent on drugs could often be used more effectively to prevent disease. A large proportion of the drug budget of one developing country is spent on expensive proprietary preparations for use mainly in the larger hospitals, draining resources from health care in rural areas. A major factor in determining the country's expenditure on drugs is the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies; the number of drug company representatives in the country is proportionately five times that in Britain. Many drugs are promoted for diseases for which they are not indicated and in which their use may be hazardous, and information on side-effects and contraindications is inadequate. Information supplied by drug firms to health workers in different countries must be standardised and the purchase and use of drugs in Third-World countries made more appropriate to their needs.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1990

Management of medical technology in developing countries.

To help developing countries to improve their medical use of physical technology, it is essential to study their difficulties and real needs. The greater severity of equipment problems in the third world, relative to the developed countries, indicates the important influence of an established technological culture. Strategies such as the training of technicians cannot succeed in the absence of this culture unless effective national policies to manage technology are implemented. The training of high-level staff in medical technology management must be a priority for international action. Below this level it is necessary to train engineering graduates, rather than technicians, to manage and maintain equipment.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1990

Who dies of what? A comparative analysis of mortality conditions in developed countries around 1987.

The developed countries are often viewed as being relatively homogeneous in terms of health conditions. This is not the case, however. Whilst the overall level of life expectancy in these countries (73.7 years) is well in excess of that observed in the majority of developing countries, there are nonetheless very substantial differences in health status among and between the developed countries. Female life expectancy is typically 6-8 years longer than that of males. The gap in life expectancy between Japan and some countries of Northern Europe, on the one hand, and the nations of Eastern Europe on the other, is of the same order of magnitude. Of the 11 million deaths reported in the developed countries each year, roughly 5.5 million or almost exactly 50% are attributable to cardiovascular diseases. Of these deaths, 2.4 million are coded to ischaemic heart disease and 1.5 million to stroke (cerebrovascular disease). Cancer (all forms) accounts for 2.3 million deaths (21%), 500,000 of which are due to lung cancer alone. External causes of death claim 750,000 lives each year in the developed countries, with suicide and motor-vehicle accidents each accounting for around 180,000 deaths. This pattern of mortality, when viewed in conjunction with the epidemiological evidence about the principal risk factors associated with these causes of death, strongly suggests that national health-for-all strategies must continue to emphasize individual health consciousness as the primary means of achieving national health goals.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Laboratory diagnosis of iron deficiency in a developing country, Pakistan.

In developing countries, such as Pakistan, laboratories do not routinely screen for iron deficiency unless the patient presents with symptoms of anaemia. Efforts to prevent the often serious consequences of iron depletion are hampered in developing countries by the expense and impracticality of routinely screening patients using bone marrow examination. Assays for serum iron concentrations, total iron-binding capacity or haemoglobin and examinations of blood films, although more practical, cannot detect the earliest stages of iron deficiency. Serum ferritin appears to be a sensitive, early indicator of iron deficiency and can be easily and relatively inexpensively determined using an immunoassay kit. In the present study, serum ferritin levels were determined using immunoassay and compared to blood films, serum iron levels and total iron-binding capacity values in 300 apparently healthy Pakistanis. In the early stages of iron deficiency, serum ferritin appeared to be a sensitive measure of iron depletion.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Urbanization patterns: European versus less developed countries.

This paper develops a model in which the interaction between transport costs, increasing returns to scale, and labor migration across sectors and regions creates a tendency for urban agglomeration. Demand from rural areas favors urban dispersion. European urbanization took place mainly in the 19th century, with higher costs of spatial interaction, weaker economies of scale, and a less-elastic supply of labor to the urban sector than in less developed countries (LDCs) today. These factors could help explain why primate cities dominate in LDCs, whereas a comparatively small share of urban population lives in Europe's largest cities.

Demography↗
PubMed2003

Interventions for micronutrient deficiency control in developing countries: past, present and future.

There has been an evolution in our understanding of the causes of undernutrition and of the nutrition intervention programs that should be prioritized. This article discusses why nutrition programs have shifted their primary emphasis from control of protein deficiency, to energy deficiency, and now to micronutrient deficiencies. It has become recognized by the nutrition community that micronutrient malnutrition is very widespread, and is probably the main nutritional problem in the world. The most commonly used strategies for micronutrient deficiency control are supplementation and fortification, because they are cost-effective and to some extent, relatively easy to deliver. They have important limitations, however. Relatively little emphasis has been placed on food-based approaches to control micronutrient malnutrition. Evidence from several past studies, including the Nutrition Collaborative Research Support Program (N-CRSP), indicated a strong positive association between animal source food (ASF) intake, micronutrient status, and many human functions. This association motivated the intervention studies supported by the Global Livestock CRSP and described in this supplement, which found benefits of increasing ASF intake. In contrast to the common assumption that increasing consumption of ASF in poor communities is infeasible, and will only cause environmental problems, the articles in this supplement show the potential economic benefits of animal ownership in poor communities, and provide examples of innovative programs that have increased local production and consumption. Much more communication is needed among the nutrition, agriculture and development communities to achieve improved dietary quality for poor populations.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Health problems after travel to developing countries.

Travelers to developing countries participated in a follow-up study of the health risks associated with short (less than three months) visits to these nations. Travelers to the Greek or Canary Islands served as a control cohort. Participants completed a questionnaire to elicit information regarding pretravel vaccinations, malaria prophylaxis, and health problems during and after their journey. Relevant infections were confirmed by the respondent's personal physician. The questionnaire was completed by 10,524 travelers; the answer rate was 73.8%. After a visit to developing countries, 15% of the travelers reported health problems, 8% consulted a doctor, and 3% were unable to work for an average of 15 days. The incidence of infection per month abroad was as follows: giardiasis, 7/1,000; amebiasis, 4/1,000; hepatitis, 4/1,000; gonorrhea, 3/1,000; and malaria, helminthiases, or syphilis, less than 1/1,000. There were no cases of typhoid fever or cholera.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The tobacco problem: commercial profit versus health--the conflict of interests in developing countries.

As smoking gradually decreases in developed countries, the tobacco epidemic is overtaking developing countries, where the legislative controls and other measures, which in industrialised countries succeed in limiting tobacco use, either do not exist or are, at best, inadequate. Of particular concern is the penetration of developing countries by the transnational tobacco companies, who with aggressive promotional campaigns and the use of political and commercial pressures, open up markets to promote foreign cigarettes. The number of smokers in developing countries will inevitably increase, due to the rise in population, increased smoking among youth and women, lack of awareness of the harmfulness of tobacco, shortage of funding for tobacco control measures, and difficulties in implementing legislation. An appalling increase is predicted in disease, disability, and death from tobacco in developing countries. Developing countries must exercise their own public health responsibility and implement measures to reduce the growing tobacco epidemic. Health concerns in Western countries can assist by bringing these issues to public and government attention in order to ensure that transnational tobacco companies, at minimum, adhere to the same standards of product, marketing, promotion, and sales in developing countries as are required in their country of origin; that these tobacco companies should desist from lobbying and pressuring the governments of developing countries to prevent the passing and implementing of antitobacco measures; that the United States and UK governments desist from helping their tobacco companies with export activities; and that Western expertise in countering the tobacco epidemic be shared with developing countries so that the West becomes an exporter of health rather than of tobacco-related diseases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Perinatal HIV transmission: developing country considerations.

In many developing countries, because the prevalence of maternal HIV infection is high (more than 30% in some sub-Saharan African countries) and the resources commonly used to prevent transmission in developed countries are generally not available, transmission of HIV from mother to infant is a devastating problem. Countries already experiencing infant mortality rates 10- to 20-fold greater than those in developed countries can expect a doubling of infant and childhood mortality due to HIV. Those infants who escape infection themselves can expect to be orphaned in early childhood. Low-cost antiviral therapy can reduce transmission substantially, but many countries do not have the infrastructure to screen pregnant women for HIV and appropriately treat the mothers and infants. In developing countries, reduction in maternal-child transmission is feasible, but will require substantial additional resources and a well-functioning obstetric care system.

Anti-HIV Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

HIV and infant feeding: issues in developed and developing countries.

Women in developed countries who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive generally feed their infants formula to avoid virus transmission via breastfeeding. However, for most of the world's women who are HIV positive, the choice of infant feeding method is not so clear. Poor socioeconomic and living conditions place infants on breast milk substitutes at higher risk of non-HIV infectious diseases as compared with breastfed infants. Mothers in these settings who are HIV positive must weigh the risks and benefits of breastfeeding to choose the best infant feeding option.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1992

The health transition in developing countries: a role for internists from the developed world.

Demographic and epidemiologic changes that have occurred in the past five decades in many developing countries provide new opportunities for internists from developed countries to contribute to improvements in international health. These changes, called the "health transition," are characterized by major growth in the number and proportion of middle-aged and elderly persons and in the frequency of the chronic diseases that occur in these age groups. The health transition is the result of concentrated national and international efforts to improve maternal and child health by emphasizing primary care and community-organized outreach services. In many developing countries, such efforts have been responsible for a decrease in the birth rate; reduced maternal mortality; improved preventive services; and a vigorous therapeutic approach to infantile diarrhea and respiratory infection, which, in turn, have resulted in the reduced infant mortality and the increased life expectancy that defines the health transition. These changes, often accompanied by increasing urbanization and industrialization, are creating health problems similar to those seen in the "developed" world but are occurring in countries that have far fewer resources. Internists interested in working in developing countries can therefore bring their skills, experience, and perspective to bear on these problems, primarily by working within well-structured programs, the aim of which is to strengthen the capacity of the organizations and institutions within these countries to cope with the rising tide of chronic adult diseases.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2000

An open label evaluation of topotecan in patients with relapsed or refractory epithelial ovarian cancer - single institution experience in a developing country.

Investigators in developing countries rarely get an opportunity to participate in clinical drug trials in oncology. We recently participated in two clinical trials involving the use of topotecan in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer who had failed initial platinum based chemotherapy. It provided us an opportunity to gain experience with the use of a rather highly myelosuppressive drug and also enabled us to compare our data with those reported from the western countries. Thirty-nine patients with good performance status and adequate bone marrow, liver, and renal functions were accrued. All patients had previously received at least one platin containing regimen of chemotherapy. The most common histologic sub type was serous adenocarcinoma. Almost half of the patients had platinum refractory disease. Mean number of cycles delivered was 7.5. Eleven patients (28%) achieved complete or partial remission. Time to progression was 4.6 months. Mean overall survival was 11.3 months. Toxicity was primarily hematologic and manageable. Performance status was the only variable predictive of response. Ability to obtain informed consent, data management, and availability of adequate radiologic and laboratory facilities were important limitations. Our results confirm the applicability of results obtained in the western countries to other patient groups and ability to conduct clinical trials in oncology in the developing countries.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Body size at birth and blood pressure among children in developing countries.

BACKGROUND: Studies in developed countries have shown that reduced fetal growth is related to raised blood pressure in childhood and adult life. Little is known about this association in developing countries, where fetal growth retardation is common. METHODS: In 1994-1995, we measured blood pressure in 1570 3-6-year-old children living in China, Guatemala, Chile, Nigeria and Sweden. We related their blood pressure to patterns of fetal growth, as measured by body proportions at birth. The children were all born after 37 weeks gestation and weighed more than 2.5 kg at birth. RESULTS: In each country, blood pressure was positively related to the child's current weight. After adjusting for this and gender, systolic pressure was inversely related to size at birth in all countries except Nigeria. In Chile, China and Guatemala, children who were proportionately small at birth had raised systolic pressure. For example, in Chile, systolic pressure adjusted for current weight increased by 4.9 mmHg (95% CI : 2.1, 7.7) for every kilogram decrease in birthweight, by 1 mmHg (95% CI : 0.4, 1.6) for every centimetre decrease in birth length, and by 1.3 mmHg (95% CI : 0.4, 2.2) for every centimetre decrease in head circumference at birth. In Sweden, systolic pressure was higher in children who were disproportionately small, that is thin, at birth. Systolic pressure increased by 0.3 mmHg (95% CI : 0.0, 0.6) for every unit (kg/m3) decrease in ponderal index at birth. These associations were independent of the duration of gestation. CONCLUSIONS: Raised blood pressure among children in three samples from China, Central and South America is related to proportionate reduction in body size at birth, which results from reduced growth throughout gestation. The relation between fetal growth and blood pressure may be different in African populations. Proportionately reduced fetal growth is the prevalent pattern of fetal growth retardation in developing countries, and is associated with chronic undernutrition among women. Improvement in the nutrition and health of girls and young women may be important in preventing cardiovascular disease in developing countries.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed2003

Water safety plans for small systems: a model for applying HACCP concepts for cost-effective monitoring in developing countries.

The development of water safety plans (WSPs) for small systems should be based on a thorough understanding of the relationships between risk factors and contamination events. This can be achieved through the use of well-designed assessments of water quality that provide better evidence to support the identification of control measures, performance limits, monitoring parameters and verification procedures. Training of community operators is critical to the success of the WSP and the understanding gained from the assessments provides a sound basis for addressing these needs. The WSP approach provides for more effective control of water quality and the use of targeted assessments is cost-effective in improving the design of WSPs.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1998

Food from developing countries: steps to improve compliance.

Developing countries seeking to expand their exports often turn to food exports and seek to market these products in developed countries such as the United States. To be successful, developing countries must overcome an array of obstacles, including the need to comply with the food safety and other requirements of the importing country. This article discusses how compliance with international food norms and national food laws benefits exporting and importing countries, what trends in food trade influence measures to deal with food problems, and what categories of controls are available to deal with good products offered for importation. The article concludes by outlining several suggested steps that can be taken to improve the likelihood of acceptability of food offered for importation. These steps include assessing the needs of the importing country and improving the physical, legal, and technical infrastructure in various ways. Technical assistance from developed countries and international organizations can assist developing countries, but such assistance needs to be carefully designed and coordinated.

Commerce↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Socioeconomic disadvantage and adolescent women's sexual and reproductive behavior: the case of five developed countries.

CONTEXT: Differences among developed countries in teenagers' patterns of sexual and reproductive behavior may partly reflect differences in the extent of disadvantage. However, to date, this potential contribution has received little attention. METHODS: Researchers in Canada, France, Great Britain, Sweden and the United States used the most current survey and other data to study adolescent sexual and reproductive behavior. Comparisons were made within and across countries to assess the relationships between these behaviors and factors that may indicate disadvantage. RESULTS: Adolescent childbearing is more likely among women with low levels of income and education than among their better-off peers. Levels of childbearing are also strongly related to race, ethnicity and immigrant status, but these differences vary across countries. Early sexual activity has little association with income, but young women who have little education are more likely to initiate intercourse during adolescence than those who are better educated. Contraceptive use at first intercourse differs substantially according to socioeconomic status in some countries but not in others. Within countries, current contraceptive use does not differ greatly according to economic status, but at each economic level, use is higher in Great Britain than in the United States. Regardless of their socioeconomic status, U.S. women are the most likely to give birth as adolescents. In addition, larger proportions of adolescents are disadvantaged in the United States than in other developed countries. CONCLUSIONS: Comparatively widespread disadvantage in the United States helps explain why U.S. teenagers have higher birthrates andpregnancy rates than those in other developed countries. Improving U.S. teenagers' sexual and reproductive behavior requires strategies to reduce the numbers of young people growing up in disadvantaged conditions and to help those who are disadvantaged overcome the obstacles they face.

Adolescent↗