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Maternal Mortality Rate in U.S. Rises, Defying Global Trend, Study Finds - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/health/maternal-mortality.html

Another analysis this month looked at increases by state and found particularly high rates in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Georgia and Arkansas, especially among black women. (…)

How is it that the United States, a country with some of the most cutting-edge medical treatments, has some of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world?

(…) the increase in recent years has been driven by heart problems and other chronic medical conditions, like diabetes, which has increased sharply in the population. Researchers have theorized that an increase in obesity — particularly acute among poor black women, who have much higher rates of maternal mortality than whites — may be contributing to the problem.

(...) “People may think this is happening because the U.S. has more minorities and poor people,” he said. “But even if you limit the analysis to whites, we would still rank behind all other industrialized countries.”

#santé #indicateurs #femmes #États-Unis

World Leaders Agree at U.N. on Steps to Curb Rising Drug Resistance
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/health/united-nations-drug-resistant-superbugs-antibiotics.html

That groundswell of concern made its way to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. Heads of state agreed to develop national action plans to help shore up the effectiveness of the lifesaving drugs in animals and people. They pledged to strengthen regulation and to improve reporting systems that track how the drugs are used. Farms use antibiotics to make animals grow faster, but some countries, particularly in Europe, have cracked down on such use.

The agreement is nonbinding, and did not require countries to commit to specific targets, as the climate treaty signed by world leaders last year did. But it was a first step in a broad effort to tackle the growing problem of drug resistance, which doctors say could eventually render our most prized medicines powerless.

“Having the U.N. discuss this issue is exciting, but it’s up to the member states to make it real,” said Dr. Lance Price, director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University. He said it was critical to get the world’s attention now. “If the developing world follows the example that we’ve set, then there’s little hope of preserving antibiotics.”

It was the fourth time the General Assembly had taken up a health issue. Others were H.I.V., noncommunicable disease and Ebola.

#santé #résistance_aux_antibiotiques