For women around the globe, the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic brought more health challenges than the first.

In 2020, the medical technology company Hologic launched a global survey in partnership with Gallup to assess how well women's health needs were being met. Countries were scored based on women's responses to questions in five categories: general health, preventative care, mental health, safety and basic needs like food and shelter.

The overall score for the Global Women's Health Index in 2021 was just 53 out of 100, one point lower than in 2020.

No country scored higher than 70 points in 2021, with Taiwan, Latvia, Austria and Denmark in the top spots. Three countries scored fewer than 40 points: Afghanistan, Congo and Venezuela. The United States landed in 23rd place, with 61 points out of 100.

"The economic and psychological burden of the pandemic will weigh down many households for a while, and we know that it particularly affected women," said Gertraud Stadler, director of the Institute of Gender in Medicine at the Charite hospital in Berlin, who was not involved in the survey.

In fact, women were more stressed, worried, sad and angry in 2021 than they were at any other point in the past decade, according to a Gallup survey that factored into the Global Women's Health Index rankings.

Women were also more likely than men to say that they didn't have enough money to afford food in 2021, a share that rose from 34% of women in 2020 to 37% in 2021.

"We understand you can only impact and improve what you measure," said Dr. Susan Harvey, vice president of worldwide medical affairs at Hologic and former director of breast imaging at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

"Overall, the data is sobering. And we understand that we need women to be healthy to fully engage and be empowered. It's clear that the time has come to work together and begin to find solutions and improve women's health care."

According to Hologic and Gallup, the five key areas assessed in the Global Women's Health Index can explain most of the variation in a woman's life expectancy at birth.

For example, they found that women who said they had seen a health care professional in the past year had an average life expectancy that was two years longer than those who hadn't.

The overall score for the Global Women's Health Index in 2021 was just 53 out of 100, one point lower than in 2020.

Preventive care is one area where the United States scored better in 2021 than in 2020. It ranked second best in this dimension in the Global Women's Health Index, after only Latvia.

"It was a small improvement, but we have to be joyful about that," Harvey said. "Overall, though, the world is failing women in preventive care."

About 1.5 billion women did not have access to preventive care last year, she said. And globally, fewer than 1 in 8 women were screened for cancer at any point in the past year, according to the survey.

Although the remedy for this shortcoming might seem more straightforward, experts say it actually reflects the multiple layers of challenges women face.

Women "are always the last to take care of ourselves. We are the chief medical officers of our families," said Katie Schubert, president and chief executive officer of the Society for Women's Health Research, an activist group based in the US that was not involved in the new study.

"This goes back to a lot of those different burdens that women are taking on, both from the perspective of being a caregiver but also being a part of their community."

In the US, for example, Schubert says, women are more likely to go to a well visit for their child than they are for themselves. And the share of women who don't show up for a key doctor's visit at six weeks postpartum is "pretty striking."

Despite some improvement, the US remains a poor outlier in overall women's health -- in part because of maternal health, an area that experts agree deserves more attention worldwide.

Opinions of health and safety among women in the US dropped in 2021 Global Women's Health Index, as did measures of individual health, including pain and general health problems.

One safety-related question asked women to assess whether pregnant women where they live get high-quality health care. A study published in June found that maternal mortality in the US spiked in the first year of the pandemic, especially among Hispanic and Black women. And new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 4 in 5 pregnancy-related deaths were preventable.

Wealthy nations generally scored better than low-income nations in the Global Women's Health Index. In fact, the gap in scores between high- and low-income countries nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021, with an average difference of more than 20 points. But life expectancy in the US was lower than average, despite spending on health care that was well above average.

In some ways, broader gender disparities in health care are already well-known around the world.

For example, women seeking medical help for a heart attack in many countries take longer to get a correct diagnosis, are treated less consistently and are less likely to attend cardiac rehabilitation, Stadler said.

"All of this combines to worse outcomes and higher mortality in women than in men," she said.

Experts agree that improving women's health will lift society as a whole.

"Women often have the role of health manager in their families and communities. And they are taking on a large share of care work, so children, partners, parents benefit as well from women's health," Stadler said.

And the effects are wide-reaching.

"Without this foundational health and well-being of women, we won't be able to advance any of the goals related to economic stability or equity in socioeconomic development," Schubert said. "That really all stands on the shoulders of a healthy environment, a healthy person and healthy outcomes."

But gender equality -- in health and other aspects of life -- is still far from reality.

Schubert noted that the Covid-19 vaccine trials did not include pregnant women.

"My hope would be that we can better prepare to be more inclusive and extensive in our biomedical research moving forward, regardless of whether we're dealing with a pandemic or some other public health emergency," she said. But the pace of change has been "excruciatingly slow."

Much of what is measured in the Global Women's Health Index aligns with objectives identified by the United Nations in its Sustainable Development Goals.

And a report published by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs this month found that at the current pace of progress, gender equality will not be achieved by 2030, as originally intended with the Sustainable Development Goals. Instead, it will take centuries.

"It is critical that we rally now to invest in women and girls to reclaim and accelerate progress," Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, said of that report. "The data show undeniable regressions in their lives made worse by the global crises -- in incomes, safety, education, and health. The longer we take to reverse this trend, the more it will cost us all."

But there is some hope.

"My hope is that we come out stronger from the pandemic," Stadler said. "The pandemic has brought the importance of preventive behaviors to more people's attention. People learned a lot about the importance of joint action to protect each other."

The-CNN-Wire

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Women's health got worse in 2021, global survey finds - WXOW.com

With the start of the fall season comes the launch of a spectrum of programs from the Wolf Creek Primary Care Network.

The Wolf Creek PCN supports 10 communities altogether, said Jaime LaLiberte, executive director.

We have a service in Blackfalds that just started up a month or two ago for foot care for high-risk diabetic patients as well as for preventative care, education, and the focusing on the treatment of specific foot issues, she said.

We have that in Lacombe already, but now its been extended out to Blackfalds as well.

And specific to Lacombe, the PCN also offers a free outdoor walking group which runs every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. The more advanced walking group goes every Wednesday as well from 1 to 1:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, PCNs extensive selection of programs and workshops is available to local communities.

Helpful workshops run the gamut from Happiness Basics, Anxiety to Calm, Journey Through Grief and Moving On With Persistent Pain to My Way to Health, Sleep and Strong and Steady among others.

Individual programs include Connecting to Community Resources, Talk to a Counsellor, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol, Pregnancy and Babies and Insulin Management to Memory Testing, MINT Memory Care, Recreation Therapy and Tobacco Reduction to name several.

There are a lot of virtual opportunities, and we also look for opportunities to have in-person classes as well all throughout the year, she explained.

Various PCN staff are also available virtually as well.

Our dietitians and mental health therapists can be seen virtually or in person. We leave it up to the patient as to what they prefer.

But for some, when it comes to transportation issues, or they may be at a stage where they have a hard time getting around, sometimes its easier to offer it virtually instead of having them come in, she said, adding that in case of inclement weather, a virtual meeting opens the door to being able to access the services whatever the case.

Its easy to just have a call, and be able to get that same support.

LaLiberte said the overall goal is to make these programs available provincially, beyond the regions that the local PCNs cover.

She also wants to see a heightened understanding of how essential continuity of care is to a persons ongoing sense of well-being.

Thats really what PCNs are all about they are based on the medical home concept.

The concept is that if you have that entire team working within your community for instance, you go to your physicians office and see your doctor, but not only are you seeing your doctor, you also have this entire team of support services RNs, foot care nurses, dietitians, your exercise specialists.

You have everyone there as a team and they all work together depending on what your needs are, she explained.

The communication loop is there as well you are all using the same electronic medical record system, and physicians are aware of the results that are coming back from your dietician or your exercise specialist, for example.

Its all about working towards having that better health outcome for the patient, she said, adding that for most PCN programs, no referral is necessary. Those interested can simply call the PCN office and inquire about signing up for a particular workshop or program.

Its about preventative medicine, too. We dont want to only see you once you are ill, but we want to help prevent things along the way. So come and talk to us when you are starting to struggle in an area it doesnt have to get really bad before we can start to make a difference and work with you on it.

For LaLiberte, the PCNs mission provides her with plenty of inspiration in her day-to-day work.

I love that its tailored around preventative medicine because I really believe thats what our system needs. We cant wait until things are at a point where its harder to handle some of those issues that come up later on in our lives, she said.

If we can be preventative and have all of these amazing programs in place and really support the preventative piece of it now, I think we can really make a difference.

I think thats why Im passionate about it its an area where you can make a difference in peoples lives early on.

For more details on everything offered via the Wolf Creek PCN, check out http://www.wolfcreekpcn.com or find them on Facebook to stay up-to-date.

CommunityHealth and wellness

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Wolf Creek PCN expands programming geared to health improvement - Lacombe Express

New research finds nearly 10 percent of Americans are living with depression, with rates about twice that among teens and young adults.

Our study updates the depression prevalence estimates for the U.S. population through the year 2020 and confirms escalating increases in depression from 2015 through 2019, said lead study author Renee D. Goodwin, PhD, an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in a statement.

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine this week.

She noted this reflects a public health crisis that was intensifying in the U.S. even before the onset of the pandemic.

Researchers used data from the 20152020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative study of U.S. individuals aged 12 years and older.

They found that in 2020, the past 12-month depression rate was about 9 percent for Americans in this age range; however, it rose to 17 percent when they looked at teens and young adults.

Major depression is a clinical disorder, so its characterized by persistently low or depressed sad mood, loss of interest in activities, Dr. Shawna Newman, a psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told Healthline.

While depression prevalence was unchanged among adults 35 years and older, the condition was most common for those between 18 and 25, with the number of people seeking help remaining consistently low.

Our results showed most adolescents with depression neither told or talked with a healthcare professional about depression symptoms nor received pharmacologic treatment from 2015 through 2020, Goodwin said in a statement.

Researchers also found that:

The key here to meet criteria, they have to have a persistently low depressed mood, Newman explained.

Newman said although the official criteria are two weeks, its more typically a month or two.

Two weeks, a month, or maybe even two months and that makes thing more clear, she explained. So, its persistent. Thats different from distress or being upset often people use that kind of language, everyone does, Im feeling depressed today.

Dr. Noshene Ranjbar, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson, said potential causes for rising depression rates include genetic factors, substance use (like alcohol), and environmental or social factors.

These include loneliness, losses of loved ones, ones job, finances, or anything else that is particularly stressful, having an illness, being impacted by racism or prejudices against ones gender, sexuality, beliefs, culture, or way of life, she said.

According to Ranjbar, this can also include any other changes in ones life that throw off our ability to cope.

Adverse childhood experiences and traumas can also increase risk of someone experiencing depression later in life, she added.

Stephanie G. Thompson, LCSW, Director of Clinical Operations for Adolescents in San Diego for Lightfully Behavioral Health said the pandemic played a large role in causing mental health strain.

Rates [of depressive symptoms] tripled when the COVID pandemic first hit, rising from 8.5 percent of the population to 27.8 percent in 2020, 32.8 percent in 2021, and continuing to rise today, said Thompson

She pointed out that the pandemic caused a global crisis in all aspects of life for many reasons, including isolation and anxiety fueled by the unknown of the pandemics trajectory and ultimate outcome.

While aging adults have historically experienced depression at higher rates than most, teens are more susceptible to Major Depressive Disorder, Severe type, these days, said Thompson.

Newman said one reason is that their social and developmental demands are greater.

The developmental imperative in that age group is so focused on socialization and emotional growth that the isolation, limitation, distancing, masking its profoundly difficult for adolescents, she said. Because they biologically require facial expression, body language; theyre very social because humans are very social animals but adolescents crave it, they need it.

She emphasized that loss of peer interaction, reduced contact with supports like teachers, group activities, even just walking down the hallway in a normal high school was suddenly gone.

Its a disaster! Newman said. You think of school as almost a primary location where were receiving assessment and treatment for psychological services, and often psychiatric as well.

Newman believes possibly 80 percent of kids relying on school-based services to address their needs werent getting them.

Theyre at home with their thoughts and a computer, she said.

But experiences which are supposed to be three dimensional in nature, or four dimensions if you count time, where youre in a space that has purpose and a goal, and you have groupthink and the teacher and a whole interaction, this is vital and it was gone in a second, Newman continued.

According to Thompson, teens are facing serious difficulties as they face adulthood including inflation and student debt.

However, teens are facing a very different dilemma due to increases in student loan debt and cost of living, she said. These alone are creating their own national crisis and teens are extremely nervous to make decisions and take on responsibilities they are no longer confident they can manage.

She added that theyre also deciding to avoid commitment due to rising divorce rates, longer lifespans, and frequently changing interests in relationship types.

The unknown of the future has created an overwhelming sense of anxiety surrounding decision-making in all aspects of their lives, she continued.

Thompson thinks it is key to focus on continuing efforts to normalize receiving mental health services, talking about it, and creating more easily accessible mental health resources.

She said one of the best places for easily accessible resources is school.

While some public school districts have guidance counselors or one social worker on staff, it isnt enough to address the prevalence and severity of the mental health needs of todays teens, she continued.

According to Thompson, providing classes on brain health, personal wellbeing, and offering therapeutic services in public schools where teens are able to see a licensed therapist with ease, could have a huge impact on the number of teens that are able to access care.

Accessible therapy for teens will reduce the need to take time off of work to get teens to as many appointments for care, she said. And having more professionally trained mental health professionals in schools and better-prepared caregivers will give more opportunities for adults to catch the signs and symptoms of depression in teens earlier.

A recent study finds rates of depressive symptoms have increased dramatically, with teens and young adults particularly affected.

Experts say while many factors could be responsible, the COVID-19 pandemic likely had a significant role in the increase.

They also say that more mental health resources are needed, especially in school settings to make treatment available to those who need it.

Excerpt from:
1 in 10 Adults and 1 in 5 Teens Have Symptoms of Depression, What We Know - Healthline

Within a dozen patient blood draws, Dr. David Myers, an internal medicine physician in Metairie, got the first positive result for a new blood test that detects cancer last summer.

A healthy patient in her 60s had a marker that indicated she may have a type cancer related to HPV, or human papillomavirus. After some detective work and looking closely at her lungs and throat, they found a two-centimeter squamous cell Stage 2 anorectal cancer. She was treated and is now cancer free.

Had symptoms in later stages flagged the cancer, the results may have been less favorable. Stage 3 anorectal cancer has a survival rate of 50%. At Stage 4, it drops to 30%, said Myers.

In her case, it was life-saving, said Myers, who has given the test to about 115 patients who are members of his concierge-style practice.

By the time troubling symptoms lead to a cancer diagnosis, the outlook is often bleak. That is especially true in Louisiana, where more people die of cancer than nearly anywhere else in the U.S.

Screenings like mammography, pap smears and colonoscopies offer some diagnoses, but many in Louisiana find out about cancer late, and later diagnoses disproportionately affect Black people in the state. A bevy of new tests, including the Galleri test that Myers uses, might offer a faster diagnosis, allowing cancer to be treated earlier.

As tests like this known as liquid biopsies show more promise, clinical trials in Louisiana that will offer the test to participants free of charge are ramping up.

The technology for the Galleri test was born out of the same type of blood tests that flag chromosomal abnormalities like Downs syndrome and Trisomy 13 and 18 in pregnant women. Like a developing fetus, cancer sheds fragments of DNA into the bloodstream.

The minuscule pieces of cancer DNA are wrapped in methyl groups, like an electrical wire wrapped in a rubber cord. The test looks at the way the DNA is wrapped up and identifies the type of cancer by comparing it to an ever-growingdatabase of known cancer methylation patterns.

Last week, Grail, the company that produces Galleri, released results from a clinical trial called the Pathfinder study that detected dozens of new cases of cancer in around 6,600 adults over the age of 50. Nearly half were found in early stages and 71% of the newly detected cancers were types that are not typically screened for, such as ovarian and pancreatic cancers.

In the study, 92 of the 6,621 patients who were tested were flagged with potential cancer. Additional testing confirmed cancer in 35 people about 1.4% of the initial group.

Although scientists are optimistic about the tests and dozens of companies have invested in developing the tests, there are potential drawbacks.

The test misses two fatal cancers 100% of the time: early-stage melanoma, because the skin cancer cells are flaking off the body rather than in the blood, and brain cancer, Myers cautioned.

It gets all the other big nasty cancers the things we have no way of screening for that everyone is scared of, said Myers.

The test is also not meant to give the all-clear for cancer status. Dr. Margaret Pelitere, a New Orleans-based internal medicine physician, recommends it, but still has patients do the standard screening tests.

I think statistically, this is a very good thing to have, said Pelitere, who has had one patient test positive, likely for lymphoid cancer, out of 32 tests shes given. But this does not replace other cancer screenings, such as colonoscopy and mammogram.

During a year-long follow-up of the 6,662 Galleri trial patients, 29 cancers were identified in routine screenings that were not flagged by the test, and another 56 cancers were diagnosed after symptoms appeared or tumors were found incidentally or from monitoring for cancer recurrence.

There are also false positives. In the recent trial, 38% of the positives were correct. However, the false positives still made up a small proportion of the total study group. And the rate of false positive is by design, said Myers.

These tests are powered to capture a lot of positives, said Myers. We want to not miss stuff.

Then there is the cost. A test is around $950, and its recommended annually. Insurance does not cover it.

There is no way for probably 80% of the residents in Louisiana to afford it, said Tony Ye Hu, director of Tulane Universitys Center for Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics. Hus work focuses on identifying biomarkers for cancer and infectious diseases, and he is also researching a liquid biopsy test to detect pancreatic cancer.

But pointing to the much-lowered cost of COVID tests over the last two years as an example, Hu said political will can lower the cost of testing, especially if use is widespread.

Galleri is not currently approved by the FDA, but a bipartisan bill has been introduced that would require liquid biopsy test coverage for Medicare once it is. If the cost remains the same, covering Louisianas 900,000 Medicare patients about 20% of the states population would be around $900 million.

As of now, there is no data showing that widespread liquid biopsy screenings would lower the risk of death.

You have to run very large trials to show that is beneficial to the population, said Dr. Pedro Barata, a former Tulane University oncologist who uses liquid biopsy to determine treatment for existing cancers. Screenings like colonoscopy and mammography are recommended at certain ages because they are proven to save lives.

Doctors agree that its not an ideal test for every patient, especially if they have a poor outlook from other diseases or are elderly. And some slow-growing cancers such as prostate cancer, hormonally sensitive breast cancer and some thyroid cancers dont necessarily need aggressive treatment.

For some people, treating a disease early doesnt always mean a good thing, said Barata. Some cancers don't progress to a worrisome point, and in those cases the cure painful drugs that wipe out the body's defenses may be worse than the illness.

Despite those concerns, most agree that the blood tests will become more of a standard detection tool in the future as artificial intelligence learns the distinct patterns of different types of cancers.

Its going to get better all the time. The test is learning, said Myers. The blood specimen of the patient with anorectal cancer has been added to Galleris database, so others with similar patterns can identify cancers faster.

About 480 total patients have taken the Galleri test in Louisiana, according to the company, though that does not include people in some large trials or any of the other blood tests for cancer on the market.

Ochsner Health has entered into a partnership with Galleri and is enrolling 1,000 patients over the age of 50 in New Orleans and Baton Rouge into Grails Pathfinder 2 study, a follow-up study that will track patients for three years, according to Dr. Marc Matrana, medical director of precision cancer therapy at Ochsner.

Ochsner is also enrolling 7,500 people in another study called the Reflection study, which will track how the Galleri test affects the health outcomes of high-risk patients with low socioeconomic status who typically dont have good access to health care.

Of the few dozen patients at Ochsner who have opted to pay out of pocket for tests so far, Matrana has seen one positive result. In the future, he expects the test will just be part of a standard workup with a preventative care doctor.

"Our prediction is that as the years go on, pretty rapidly, these tests are going to be just part of the way we practice medicine," said Matrana.

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A blood test that detects cancer without symptoms could be a game changer for Louisiana - NOLA.com

Is your youth athlete eating like a winner?

When it comes to nutrition, many of us tend to focus on foods relationship to weight loss or weight management rather than its powerful health-improving properties. Eating a well-balanced diet is preventative medicine and is essential for better brain function, higher energy levels, and a stronger immune system. And for the students in your family, proper nutrition is vital for enhancing not only their academic performance, but athletic abilities, too.

Students have a strenuous school schedule. Theyre up early, endure long hours of learning, and if theyre involved in sports, expend an extraordinary amount of physical energy. Combined with the school day, practice, team travel, and games, the typical youth athlete works a whopping 12-hour day. And that doesnt account for the hours of homework to follow. Too often, stamina-sustaining nourishment is sacrificed at the expense of these seriously stacked schedules.

For youth athletes to thrive, they need easily accessible, nutritious snacks to power them through their days. Here are the top three ways to ensure your children are staying fueled and healthy:

We know were supposed to drink water throughout the day. But why? Water regulates body temperature, lubricates joints, helps organs function properly, flushes toxins from the system, improves cognitive skills, and increases energy all crucial functions for students to be successful.

Unfortunately, younger folks are more apt to opt for sodas or energy drinks, which are loaded with sugars, artificial flavors, and other harmful chemicals. High-sugar drinks are also linked to such dangerous health conditions as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Although sugary drinks will give you an instant energy jolt, they leave you feeling depleted and energy deprived.

Even Gatorade and other beverages marketed as sports drinks, intended to replenish the electrolytes lost during intense exercise, contain a substantial amount of artificial dyes and sugars. To create an all-star formula, fill a large water bottle halfway with Gatorade and dilute the rest with water to ensure that youre staying well-hydrated.

Dont let pre-practice or pregame snacks be an afterthought. The food an athlete eats can make all the difference in practice and game-day performance. Students train for long hours, with drills consisting of such arduous tasks as sprint work, long-distance runs, weight training, and back-to-back scrimmages. When your body is fueled with the right foods, youll have more speed, strength, and stamina.

Opt for wholesome foods that promote and sustain energy levels, and that are rich in carbohydrates and proteins. But beware: Not all carbs are created equal. Be sure to choose complex carbohydrates and lean protein combos, such as whole wheat bread with peanut butter or whole grain crackers with cheese. These will burn slowly to keep the body satisfied longer. Ideally, athletes should eat these snacks 30 to 60 minutes before exercise. This time frame usually falls right after the end of the school day. Foods that contain dairy, are high in fat, or full of fiber are less ideal. They can be difficult to digest beforfe exercise and cause cramps or other unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms.

Making sure your youth athlete replenishes with the right ingredients after exercise is just as important as what goes in it before playing. Similarly, youll want foods consisting of complex carbohydrates and lean proteins to help restore the body after exertion. Homemade energy bars, Greek yogurt with berries, a banana with nut butter, or reduced fat chocolate milk are all good options. Aim to refuel 30 to 45 minutes after exercising.

When its time to sit down for dinner, design a well-rounded plate that has complex carbohydrates, proteins, and vegetables. Whole wheat pasta with grilled chicken and vegetables, or salmon with quinoa and vegetables, are just a few ideas that help guarantee that your athlete is getting all the necessary nutrients to regenerate muscle fibers broken down during exercise, as well as replenish energy that was expended.

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Three tips to keep youth athletes in top nutritional shape this school year - The Philadelphia Inquirer

About three years ago I was incredibly lucky: I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Lucky? One of the most lethal forms of cancer, how on earth was that lucky? Well, because it was found incredibly early. No, not before lunchtime, but before it had gone anywhere.

A decade before I had asked my doctor for a quick death. It wasnt for me, it was for a play I was writing called Death The Musical. With all the boomers heading for the final curtain, I thought it was an interesting subject for comedy to examine. Mike Nichols hated it. We would have read-throughs around our dining table, with fine people like Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, Tracey Ullman, Rita Wilson, Julian Sands, Jim Piddock, and a young Jordan Peele, where wed read the play and John Du Prez would play the songs wed demoed and people would laugh and be very happy and Mike would invariably say, No. Its crap.

Once, on Mikes birthday, we had a reading, and when I got to David Geffens mansion in Bel Air for his party, Mikes wife, his daughter, and various other friends all congratulated me on the success of the reading.

Theyre all talking about how funny it was.

No, said Mike, its still crap.

My play was about a writer who is writing a musical about death when he discovers he is about to die. Dramatic irony, right? The joke for me was that as he was only a writer and there was a playoff game that weekend in L.A., they were having trouble getting people to attend his memorial.

FATHER NED

When a world-famous star falls under a bus

It makes us feel better that it isnt us.

MADGE

It makes us feel better that no matter who

The rich and the famous must also die too.

But though I loved Freddie and Im his PR

The name of a writer wont go very far.

FATHER NED

Yet though he was kind and no one politer,

Still, in the end, Fred was only a writer.

LUCY

For Stars and their sex lives

The internet hums

But for only a writer

Nobody comes.

For my plot to work I needed to kill my character off quickly, and as part of my research, I asked David Kipper, my doctor friend, the quickest way to die.

He gave me the skinny during a ball game at Dodger Stadium.

What is the quickest, surest, and most sudden cause of death? I asked.

Pancreatic cancer, said Kipper without hesitation. You may only have three weeks.

Perfect, I said.

Flash forward 10 years to 2019 and my same friend Kipper is taking me to a variety of tests at imaging facilities. He specializes in preventative medicine, and I rather reluctantly go through these checks because, while I quite like being alive, as the son of a nurse, I have an inbred fear of hospitals. So this day we are doing an MRI. He has already done blood work and notices a slightly high marker, a dubious blood score on a panel, and on a hunch asks Westside Medical Imaging, while they are examining a couple of other areas, to shoot an isotope into me to highlight and take a look at the pancreas.

Just add a little contrast, he instructs the technician.

It goes into my IV. A slightly warming feeling as the iodine spreads. He disappears into the control booth and I am slid under the banging scanner. Its not long. The banging stops and I meet Kipper in the control area.

Hey buddy, he says, lets just go in here.

I can tell immediately he is serious.

It cant be more serious.

Its pancreatic cancer.

Of course I find it funny. How could I not? Heres Kipper giving me the diagnosis I asked him for 10 years ago. Whats my life motto? Entropy and Irony. Both pigeons limping home to roost. He and the MRI technician gaze at the ghost of a tumor sitting in the middle of my pancreas. It is intact. It is unattached. But it is undeniably, most probably, the C thing. However, this little puppy is still fairly new. It hasnt burst or spread.

Read More: Can Complementary Therapies Ease Cancer Treatment Symptoms? Heres What the Science Says

Heres the good news, Eric, he says, neither the technician nor anyone here has ever seen this at this stage. Its unattached, no nodes, and we have a very good chance of whipping it out.

I break the news to my wife Tania, and even though she will reveal later that she would go into the garden with the dogs and cry, I tell her early on that she is in no way British and that tears, and even other expressions of emotion, are quite acceptable. She can weep. She can come for a hug. Anytime, night or day. She is steadfast, strong, and determined to see me up on my feet again.

We immediately decide that pancreatic cancer is such a scary term and freaks people out so much that we will call my diagnosis Kenny. Kenny is far less threatening. Kenny is manageable. Kenny is something we can talk about publicly. The next day I have an appointment at The Kenny Center. In the Kennyology parking lot, as the valet takes away my car, I say to Tania: This is the Valet of the Chateau of Death.

There is still no cure for the common comedian.

Idle (far right) with members of the Monty Python team on location in Tunisia to film Monty Python's Life of Brian, which features the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," 1978.

Evening Standard/Getty Images

Kipper has cleared his schedule to join us. The Kenny doctor is late. Caroline, his medical assistant, goes through the results. They are as predicted. A cancerous tumor in the middle of the pancreas. Tania asks her how long I have. Caroline says, I honestly cant tell you, weve never had someone at such an early stage as this. Its so early that there are no statistics on it.

Not only is this good news, Eric, says Kipper, but the doctors are going to love this. They rarely get a chance to cure these things, and your diagnosis is so early we have a very good chance of getting it all out.

This optimism is confirmed by the surgeon who now comes down to see me. An air of comedy enters with him as Dr. Nissen is wearing what can only be described as a Monty Python jacket, something Michael Palin or I would have worn as a TV game-show host: a purple floral paisley dinner jacket. He laughs as we all do and excuses himself. He had just come from a reunion lunch at Manhattan Beach. Later he promises to wear the jacket for my surgery.

Kipper discusses the benefits of robotic surgery with him, which is apparently far more accurate than a surgeon.

And a lot cheaper, I point out. To laughter.

They are all keen. The whole team, doctors, nurses, and surgeon. Usually they are fighting a hopeless battle against Kenny. With me they might have a good result. And Im fit and healthy, adds Kipper. Its odd to think that had he not called for that extra test I might have been walking around without knowing this time bomb was ticking away inside me. Just carried on with my year, making plans, looking good and healthy with this growing inside. As I hug him, I say, Theres no doubt you just saved my life.

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Im hardly home before were booked for my next appointments. Shots Monday. Full-body scan Tuesday. Operation Thursday.

The question now is who to tell. Of course the kids. Id sent my son Carey an email the night before asking him to call over the weekend. Hed called immediately. Taking me by surprise. Tania and I had just toasted Kenny with a glass of Cristal Louis. Im not drinking. But Im not not drinking at moments like this. My son is brave and very encouraging. He immediately offers to fly in from Australia. Now the hardest thing I have left to do, apart from having no tea for 24 hours, is to break the news of Kenny to our daughter Lily. She has been avoiding me as if some instinct is warning her. I suspect she thinks we are going to have a financial talk. She gets married in a year, and I want to reassure her I will be there for her. Long ago I promised I was going to dance at her wedding, but, I warned her, it was going to be an interpretative dance.

Now, I say to my wife, it may have to be a lap dance

Our friends we mostly decide to spare. Better to break the news when it is over. One way or another. But I make my lawyer friend Tom Hoberman laugh when I say that at least its better than boarding school. He is a Kenny survivor of both lung and prostate, so Im lucky to even have him still in my life. And at dinner on the eve of the surgery, I am tempted to tell my old friend Jim Beach that I am heading into hospital for a major op, but his film Bohemian Rhapsody has just picked up four Oscars at the Academy Awards.

Oh, four Oscars, eh? I got awarded Pancreatic Cancer, but theyre still cutting it

No, it seems utterly tasteless to rain on his parade. And we are thrilled for him.

Tania is being very brave, and I remember to tell her the gag I made when Kipper first broke the news to me: Well, Trump and Brexit have certainly made death a far more appealing alternative.

But at least now we know where we are: the soap opera aint over and the proverbial fat lady hasnt only not sung yet, she hasnt even ordered her Uber. Theres a chance. We must attempt to bid Kenny goodbye.

Idle shakes hands with Queen Elizabeth II.

Courtesy Photo

I drive myself to Cedars-Sinai before dawn to check in. It has been decided I will use a pseudonym. To keep away the tabloids. I wonder if the tabloids are at all interested in me, but still, it will be safer, they insist. However, what name to choose? I cant think. I finally settle on Mr. Cheeky. Of course the name of the character in The Life of Brian who sings, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

Its fine until I hear someone calling this name at check-in.

Everyone looks up.

Mr. Cheeky, they repeat loudly.

Oh sh-t, thats me.

Good thing I didnt choose Biggus Dickus.

Time to face the music.

Cedars at dawn. Warm blankets, and Dr. Nissen is as good as his word and makes me smile as he comes in wearing his paisley dinner jacket. I count backward from 10 and long before 4, I have disappeared into the Propofol-filled world. When I wake up, I am in recovery. A vague gray world of being washed and fed. And painkillers. The surgery went well, I am assured. Five hours, part of it robotic. The ministering angels in the hospital minister through the long nights while I come off the opiates, and my inner Yorick comes up with riffs on Famous Last Words:

Ouch.

F-ck.

Sh-t this hurts.

No, I havent had a bowel movement yet

Finally my surgeon tells me to go home.

Youll get better a lot quicker there.

He is right. A few days later he confirms the results. It was pancreatic cancer. He has cut it all out. It was not attached to anything and my lymph nodes were clear. The cancer is gone. They could find no further trace in my body. I had been a dead man walking. I am going to live.

Only then do I cry.

This summer, after two years of lockdown, I have finally succeeded in making it back to Europe and I am sitting happily in the sunshine eating croissants with a big grin on my face when I get an unexpected offer. The producers of The Masked Singer want me to turn around and go all the way back to California. Really?

Should I?

On the phone they say it is a very silly show and Ive not exactly been a stranger to very silly shows. I have been a singing water rat and a crooning moon. I sang Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as a Japanese maid from Madame Butterfly to the late Queen, as a dying swan in a tutu with an entire corps de ballet to Prince Charles, and once, dressed as Emma Thompson from Angels in America, to Mike Nichols. Even at my proudest moment, singing my own song at the London Olympics, I was lifted up and tossed around by Bhangra dancers. So I have some experience with silly singing in public, but would I still be able to do that?

Idle performs during the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games on August 12, 2012.

Adrian DennisAFP/Getty Images

Only one way to find out. I turn right round and come back.

On our first Zoom call, I need to pick an avatar. They show me three costume sketches, and I instantly choose the hedgehog. Its easy to become a prickly old bastard at my age and I do curl up into a ball when attacked, so yes, a hedgehog seems an appropriate identity.

Next I have to choose a song. Recently I have been admiring Love Me Do, but I know its hard to get permission to do a Beatles song so I call my old pal at Apple who tells me that its not actually in the Beatles catalog but in Paul McCartneys.

You might have a chance if you asked him, says Jonathan. I think hes forgiven you by now, he adds, referring to my playing Dirk in The Rutles.

So I pluck up courage and write to Paul. He is kind and helpful. He ends with, Anyway, have fun, good luck and let me know what show it is so I can make sure to give it a miss!

Yes, he is that funny.

On stage, I am in constant danger of tipping forward and face planting, but strong hands always reach out to grab me. The show is the first time I have performed since my operation, and the crowd is happy, the jury funny, the producers pleased. I am proud to have pulled it off.

As I take my place beside him during the filming, moments after being unmasked, William Shatner, dressed as a knight, whispers in my ear, Wasnt that the hardest thing youve ever had to do in your entire life?

Hedgehog in the Season 8 premiere of The Masked Singer.

Michael BeckerFOX

It is then that I begin to reflect on how fortunate I have been, not only to survive but to be able to squash my feet into oversize paws and sing and dance on the telly. I decide to finally ask Kipper how long he thinks I have. I have been testing every six months and doing well, but still, his answer shocks me.

Well, youre in very good shape. The cancer hasnt recurred. You should have about 10 years.

Ten years! Wow.

So, having survived both the disease and the show, I realize I must tell people what happened to me. And apart from thanking Dr. Kipper, Dr. Nissen, and all the amazing people at Cedars, its time to do something to help. Because its good news. And I wish to help spread it. Its early days, but were starting the Bright Side Fund at Stand Up To Cancer to fund pancreatic-cancer research. I want to encourage people in families at high risk of pancreatic cancer to explore the newer tests available for detecting the disease early. Kipper said that if we had delayed by only two weeks, I would not even have seen the surgeon. So please talk to your doctor to understand which screening tests may be right for you and tell your loved ones to do the same. Help me help others like me to survive. And, all together now: Always look on the bright side of life

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Eric Idle on Surviving Pancreatic Cancer - TIME

In a new joint submission to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine (IICIU), four independent NGOs call on the Commission to investigate the ongoing attacks on hospitals and health workers in Ukraine perpetrated by Russian forces, which are flagrant violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

The four organizations Ukrainian Healthcare Center (UHC), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), eyeWitness to Atrocities, and Insecurity Insight spotlight seven health facilities across Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy that were subjected to particularly egregious and well-documented attacks during the first month of the full-scale invasion. Since February 24, 2022, the World Health Organization has reported more than 500 attacks on health care facilities, personnel, and transports, killing more than 200 people. During the period from March 1 to March 21, UHC reports that five to six health facilities were attacked each day.

The organizations write:

The evident pattern of violence against healthcare will continue to have severe negative implications for the safety, health and rights of Ukrainians for many years. We urge the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to investigate these violations and ensure that attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities comprise an important part of the Commissions analysis into the events committed in the forementioned regions of Ukraine between late February and March 2022.

The UN Human Rights Council formed the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine on March 4, 2022, comprised of three human rights experts working over an initial period of one year. The IICIUs mandate is to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and related crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation, and to establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of any such violations and abuses, as well as to make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to ending impunity and ensuring accountability, including, as appropriate, individual criminal responsibility, and access to justice for victims, among several other actions.

All attacks on health care warrant investigation and accountability. In the joint submission, the four organizations highlight seven specific facilities that were violently attacked as a result of Russias full-scale invasion:

See the full submission for additional details and context about each attack. The submission relies on information gathered from a variety of sources, including open-source materials, site visits conducted by the UHC, local witness statements, remote interviews with Ukrainian civil society colleagues, and photo and video footage collected by the UHC with the eyeWitness to Atrocities app.

The organizations also call on the Commission to investigate the gendered impacts of attacks on health, as the destruction of health facilities can lead to limited access to reproductive care, forced pregnancy, mental health issues, and barriers to preventative care and specialized services for women and girls, including for survivors of sexual or gender-based violence.

The widespread and systematic nature of Russias assault on the health care system of Ukraine is an extension of the strategy it deployed to devastating effect in Syria and Chechnya. To date, there has been no accountability for these wanton violations of international law. Through its new joint submission, the four organizations call on the IICIU to include attacks on health care within its ongoing investigations and recommendations into broader human rights violations in Ukraine, and that such cases be prioritized for prosecution. The IICIU is expected to publish its first short report on the human rights situation in Ukraine on Friday, September 23. Each of the above incidents is elaborated in the new UHC report Massive, Brutal, Deliberate: Attacks on Hospitals in the Russia-Ukraine War during the First Phase of the Invasion, which offers further documentation and analysis of these and other attacks on hospitals and health care clinics. Individual incidents can also be viewed on Insecurity Insights interactive map on attacks on healthcare.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.

Media Contact

Kevin Short

Media Strategy, Senior Managermedia@phr.org1.917.679.0110

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Attacks on hospitals and healthcare in Ukraine: Joint Submission to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine,...

ByLuke Coutinho,

Lifestyle Medicine or Lifelong Medicine Choose Wisely?

More often than not, when the topic of preventive healthcare arises, it is uncommon for an individual to say, But I am a healthy individual.. Why should we invest in preventive wellness?Spending money on tests when I am asymptomatic makes no sense! It is like wasting resources in preparation for calamities yet to occur!

My advice to them is to sit back, relax, take a trip down memory lane, and remember the age-old maxim that our school taught us Prevention is better than cure.

Spending on health and wellness in a way that adds value to your living is not a cost, it is an investment.

Preventive wellness is not just health care to treat illness, but healthcare to prevent disease onset in the first place. Does this only involve regular screenings? Not at all. Holistic approaches include diagnosing lifestyle diseases, treating them, and making sustainable lifestyle changes.

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It is much easier for us to recover faster when we treat every organ in our body with great care.

Also, it is crucial to consider the quality of the daily products or groceries. Your lifestyle changes are also heavily influenced by this.

Through Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine and Holistic Nutrition, food and lifestyle are powerful tools for alleviating pain in people suffering from severe illnesses and lifestyle diseases. Unfortunately, the quality of products available today is highly questionable. Choosing chemical-free, ethically sourced, organic, sustainably produced products from an honest market is of the utmost importance.

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A conventional farming method involves using harmful chemicals, GMOs, synthetic pesticides, and fertilizers. In contrast, organic foods are grown without synthetic pesticides or artificial fertilizers. While these chemicals are safe to use in conventional farming and are present in food at low levels, they have been found to have adverse health effects. Imagine how pesticides would affect humans if they were used to kill pests.

However, organic is commonly thought to mean pesticide-free. In some cases, it is true but not always. Foods that are organic do not contain genetically modified organisms. While organic pesticides come from natural sources and are not processed, they also contain certain chemicals found in non-organic pesticides.

The benefits of organic and chemical-free meat are also numerous. No antibiotics or synthetic hormones are present in organic meat. Animals raised conventionally can be fed antibiotics to prevent illness, making it easier for farmers to breed them under crowded or unsanitary conditions. There is evidence that these residues contribute to widespread antibiotic resistance, the onset of early puberty, growth of tumors, heightened cancer risk, risk of autoimmune conditions, and genetic problems. Organic meat, produced without antibiotics, is intrinsically safer in this respect.

Organic or ethically sourced foods have higher antioxidants, high levels of vitamins, minerals, and lower saturated fat than their conventional counterparts. It also helps preserve our ecosystem and also prevents us from deadly diseases.

Choosing organic or ethically sourced products should be done with complete and correct knowledge. When buying organic food, go local to avoid possible pesticides.

Though organic foods and chemical-free products might cost more, it is always better to invest in preventative wellness than in medicines. The environment and we deserve a healthier, more sustainable food system for a better overall lifestyle.

(The author is Co-Founder ofyoucarelifestyle.com.Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the FinancialExpress.com.)

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Spending on Food and lifestyle for preventive wellness is better than spending on medicines and treatment - The Financial Express