A1SaudiArabia.com

RIYADH: The Ministry of Health announced in a statement issued on Saturday that swine flu is no longer a threat to public health in the Kingdom.

The statement said official figures “showed a sharp drop in the infection figures from around 17,000 cases – 124 of which were fatal – in 2009 to only 875 infection cases so far this year.”

The infections that have been diagnosed this year have been mild and scattered, the statement pointed out.

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JEDDAH: Although access to health information is easy and available through magazines and websites, Saudi families are still living unhealthy lives, according to health experts.

The majority of Saudis are still indulging themselves in unhealthy food and habits. According to the experts, there is still a huge lack of awareness of basic health principles, while many have called for the introduction of health-related subjects at schools as early as the elementary stage.

Research from several local and international health organizations, including the national First Care and Preventive Medicine, confirmed that Saudi Arabia is ranked as one of the worst countries in terms of obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, osteoporosis and cancer rates.

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JEDDAH – The Middle Eastern region holds great potential for drugmakers in terms of sales, especially in the generic drug sector, but local manufacturing needs greater investment in order to meet demand and stay competitive with regional rivals, especially in terms of price, Business Monitor International said in a new report.

One of the UAEs oldest drugmakers, Julphar, distributes just 10 percent of its output within the Emirates, focusing the rest on exports, says BMI, which adds that, since the UAE is likely to have limited domestic demand in the medium and long term, this strategy is particularly wise.

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JEDDAH: Examples of Saudi hospitality and generosity can often be seen at weddings and during holidays, especially during Ramadan, when people tend  to throw parties where large amounts of food are prepared.

However, due to a lack of awareness and concern, leftovers often end up in the garbage.

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JEDDAH: The International Islamic Relief Organization Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) has established about 56 health projects in 17 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa providing health-care services to about 500,000 patients, according to IIROSA Secretary-General Dr. Adnan Khalil Basha.

“Health services are considered an integral part of the relief work. The presence of these services is an extreme necessity among victims of natural disasters, civil wars, sectarian conflicts and other crises. Such predicaments often breed a large number of injured, let alone the refugees and displaced children, women and old men who are amassing at refugee camps and who need medical care,” he said.

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ABHA – An agriculture official here has denied that there has been an outbreak of the potentially deadly Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the region over the past few days.

Mubarak Bin Muhammad Al-Mutlaqah, Director of the Agriculture Ministrys branch in Asir, stressed that his administration has been following scientific methods to fight viral and epidemic diseases in the region.

Al-Mutlaqah said the ban on the entry of livestock to the Jizan region is still continuing as a precautionary measure. He said the ban will only be lifted if the region is cleared of carriers of the disease.

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JEDDAH – Stop TB Jeddah has always made great efforts to contribute to local health awareness programs and has joined regional conferences aimed at devising ways to clear the world of this chronic disease.

One such gathering was held recently in Amman, Jordan under the auspices of the Jordanian Ministry of Health, with a number of officials and celebrities taking part, including Dr. Mohammad Al-Faiz, the Jordanian Minister of Health and Jorge Sampaio, the former president of Portugal who is currently the secretary general of the United Nations program to combat tuberculosis, as well as Jordanian artist Raniya Abu Barkook and the well-known football player Luis Figo.

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NAJRAN – Another man is suspected of being infected with Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in Najran, which if confirmed, will bring to four the number of people in the region afflicted with the disease.

According to sources, the person is an Egyptian, Hassan Ahmad Hussein, 38, who works as a butcher at a slaughterhouse in Sahban. The slaughterhouse is affiliated to the mayoralty in Najran.

The other cases reported in Najran over the past week are a Saudi national and two Indians.

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NAJRAN – Two suspected cases of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) were reported on Monday in Najran. This comes in the wake of a Saudi national, Saleh Bin Hussein Aal Mialaq, contracting the disease last week.

An informed source at King Khaled Hospital in Najran, where the Saudi man was treated and discharged, said two Indian nationals are suspected of contracting the viral disease. He said the two Indians are being kept at the hospital until the authorities receive their final test results from the Central Laboratory in Riyadh.

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NAJRAN – A Najran man, who was announced Thursday to have been infected with Rift Valley Fever (RVF), said he only learned about his illness through the media.

Nobody at King Khaled Hospital in Najran, where he had been hospitalized for a week, told him about his contagious disease, said Saleh Al-Mialaq.

Al-Mialaq, who works as a police officer, said he left the hospital without being told that he had RVF and that it had been officially announced by the Ministry of Health. A health team visited his house Saturday and installed a mosquito net. “They didnt even bother to take blood samples to test me and my family,” he said.

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