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• ~ ·~ ~ ...... ....... ... ... ... ...... ...... .:::::. :::::. ::::::: ::::::: ::::::: ::: ::: ::: ::::::: ::::::: :::•::: :::·::: :::···· ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . ..... . ... ... ....... ... ... ... ...... . ......................... . ::: ::::a:::::::: ::: ::: ·:::::: ::::::· ::::::: :::·::: :::···· ::: ::: ::: .... :::.:::.::: .... ::: ::: :::·::: ::::::: ::::::: ::: ::: ::::::: ::::::::::· ::::::· ::: ........... ······· Editor: Philippe Stroot Mitigating the effects of Chernobyl accident WHO's Executive Board which met in Geneva in January discussed the set- ting up of an international programme aimed at mitigat- ing the health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear power station accident in April 1986. This is the first step in the development of a long- term plan of action which includes setting up an inter- national centre for radiation health problems. The project is open to all interested Member States under the sponsorship of WHO. with the participation of other relevant international organizations. Its two major goals are to keep to a minimum the health consequences of the accident and to develop guidelines for dealing with radiation emergencies which might happen in the future. The proposed international centre would be based at the Research Institute of Medical Radiology in Obninsk. about 100 kilometres south- west of Moscow. Appro- priate surveillance of the population affected by the Chernobyl accident (about 200 000 people were exposed to radiation during How does ra d ioac tivi ty affect health? the recovery operations) requires the accumulation and organization of biogra - phical. medical and dose data. Valuable experience has already been gained on ways of treating over- exposure. on evacuating large numbers of people and on the overall organization of the emergency response. The Executive Board asked WHO's Director-General. Or Hiroshi Nakajima. to prepare a report for the World Health Assembly in May in Geneva on the progress of the inter- national programme. and on the preliminary moves and arrangements that would be necessary. • Good quality drugs for West Africa Representatives from the national health authorities of 20 West African states met last December in Lome. capi - tal of Togo. to share experi- ences and recommend ways of improving quality stand- ards for pharmaceuticals. This unprecedented seminar was jointly organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufac- turers' Associations (IF PMA) and WHO's Regional Office for Africa. The Lome meeting is seen as a first step towards further collaborative action by WHO. the pharmaceutical industry Photo W HO/ International Atomic Energy Agency/ Kraftwerk Union 30 Drug quality control in Africa and West African govern- ments. aimed at improving the quality and access to health care for populations in need in the developing world. In particular. the countries represented are expected to benefit from having. as soon as possible. well - run quality assurance systems. including quality control laboratories wherever feasible In the presence of a number of officials from WHO headquarters in Geneva and from the African Regional Office. the participants adopted several resolutions in the context of pharmaceu - tical quality assurance for West Africa They agreed that training must be continuous and adapted to existing facil- ities. preferably with exper- tise from the industry, whether on site or abroad in the drug-producing com- panies' faci I ities. Basic quality control laboratories should be set up in all African countries; more sophisticated regional and sub-regional facilities might be necessary too. but only with clearly defined func- tions in relation to national laboratories. The participants agreed that relevant and enforceable product registration and regulatory controls were the key to ensuring good quality control. while relevant legis- lation shou Id reflect local conditions and resources. and should take advantage of the safeguards afforded by WHO's "Certification scheme on the quality of products moving in international commerce." They said that the counterfeiting of phar- maceutical products posed a major threat to public health in West African countries. and international efforts should be concerted to deal with this threat. Finally. they stressed that the setting up and continuity of much-needed pharmaceu- tical quality control laborato- ries in West Africa would depend on strong political commitment and govern- ment willingness to allocate the necessary resources. • Why Lucky Luke stopped smoking Ranilla was a famous Mexican caballero (cowboy) whose exploits in the early years of this century were fuelled by a high consump- tion of Caprichos. a "cigar of cigars" that "cooled down the throat" and rested it from the burning air of Vera Cruz. The comic strip was. as you might have guessed. spon- sored by a local tobacco manufacturer. Tintin. the little boy with a quiff drawn by Belgian cartoonist Herge. was well 1n advance of his time when . in 1938. in King Ottokar's Sceptre. he retorted: "Thanks. I don't smoke." But times had changed when. in 1983. the cowboy Lucky Luke replaced his cigarette with a wisp of straw. His creator M orris earned a medal from the World Health Organization for that important message. In an incisive. and often funny, article in World Health Forum (Vol. 11. No. 1. 1990). Philippe Videlier and Pierine Piras examine how health matters are dealt with in strip cartoons. Using a wide variety of examples. starting from the end of the last century and spanning the world from Brazil to China. from Belgium to Zaire. they show that health may figure in strip cartoons in at least three ways: - medical adventures or sto - ries focused on a physician; - health as an element of suspense. or part of the adventure; - the depiction of ways of life. That Or Benjamin Justice should be a staff member of the World Health Organi- zation might have surprised some of the readers of the cartoon Pif; the doctor's methods were not quite in line with those of WHO. The name was therefore changed to the fictitious "International W ORLD HEALTH. March -April 1991 Health Organization." which gave the good doctor "greater freedom of action." as the authors put it At the other end of the scale we find the Pieds nickeles (The Layabouts). created in 1908 by Forton They were a gang of tricksters who wandered far and wide. neatly hoodwink- ing their victims in every possible way. Their "Medic o-H o me o path a- Therapeutic Institute" had as its main purpose to relieve patients of their savings, to the great amusement of the young readers. Herge once said that he did not think it possible to draw a strip cartoon about something as serious as disease. Disease is. however. frequently used as part of strip cartoon stories. Scurvy for example is. like storms and pirates. one of the sailor's enemies. Lucky Luke sets an example Alcohol. tobacco. food and accidents are elements of many stories. Could depiction of a drunken char- acter be seen as an adver- tisement for alcohol or of a smoker as approval of tobacco? Videlier and Piras think not. They conclude that "Neither good nor bad in themselves. strip cartoons - like any other form of culture and literature - are as varied as their authors and readers. This popular medium. has never ceased to attract young people, and it is. like any other medium with its own discipline. a vehicle of cul- ture. With the emblematic figures of doctors. the arche- typal scenes of hospitals or accidents. and the everyday scenes depicting living con- ditions. the strip cartoon tackles the vital theme of health in society and trans- mits the values of that period." • W ORLD HEALTH. March -April 1991 Nevvsbriefs * Collaborating centre in Viet Nam. The Central Institute for Medical Science Information (CIMSI) in Hano1~ capital of Viet Nam. was recently designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre under the health and biomedical information programme for Francophone countries The Institute has been collaborating with both WHO headquarters and with the Western Pacific Regional Office (Manila) since 7 984. and it has undertaken the translation of several newsletters and journals into French. Vietnamese and English. As a collaborating centre. it will help to strengthen the links between the Regional Office and French-speaking Member States in the field of health and biomedical information. UNESCO focuses on the cities. The January 7997 issue of UNEsco·s popular magazine Courier is largely devoted to the problems of urbanization and the city environment. With the general title of "Cities under stress. " the magazine looks at the major problems that will face the world's expanding cities in the 7 990s and in the next century. * Medical Schools. Two schools of medicine in South Africa were inadvertently omitted from the sixth edition of the World Directory of Medical Schools. published by WHO. They are: The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Orange Free State. PO. Box 339. Bloemfontein (0) 9300: and the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA). Pretoria (T) 0007 * Mental Health Week. Pakistan marked the period 9 to 7 6 December 7 990 as Mental Health Week. coinciding with the 8th International Psychiatric Conference. attended by leading professionals from more than 60 countries. Arranged by the Department of Psychiatry at Rawalpindi General Hospital. a WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Training. the Conference included special workshops dealing with " the delivery of mental health services in developing countries." and with "poverty, illiteracy and mental health." Catalogue of disasters. The Panafrican Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia. has published a new Disaster Reduction Documen- tation Catalogue. The WHO/ EPR documentation unit of the Centre has collected 3.040 articles and books dealing with disaster management. planning and training, as well as several hundred other articles on related subjects which have appeared in publications from all over the continent. WHO now possesses at the Addis Ababa Centre the only informa- tion management system in the world specializing in health aspects of emergency preparedness and response in Africa. * Cholera alert: When a cholera epidemic struck Peru last February. the Pan American Health Organization - the WHO Regional Office for the Americas - coordinated emergency assistance. An epidemiologist was immediately sent to the area of the epidemic. and 7 00 000 doses of rehydration salts were made available to the Peruvian Government. A guide on cholera control was also provided to all Member States in the Region. * WHO in the Gulf crisis: Since the beginning of the Gulf crisis. WHO has provided health assistance to Jordan. the Syrian Arab Republic. Turkey and the Islamic Republic of Iran. On 7 6 February 7 99 7 a joint WHO/ UNICEF humanitarian mission was sent to Iraq with the objectives of delivering a shipment of emergency supplies to assist in the care of children and mothers in all areas under Iraqi control, and ascertaining essential health care needs. • In the next issue Certain risk factors associated with lifestyles. such as alcohol and tobacco. induce a variety of diseases in both industrialized and developing countries. The May-June issue of World Health will describe the Inter- Health Programme. a global attack launched by WHO to counteract these factors . lt will also describe how diabetes can be treated and prevented. 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