More and Better Health
An important study, unique in the world, was done recently in Cuba as part ot the National Program for the Handicapped that covered genetic, psycho-social and teaching factors of all those persons with physical, motor and mental disorders.
Prevalence, the main causes of these pathologies such as Mental Retardation (MR), hearing disorders, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Schizophrenia, Autism and Hereditary Ataxia, among others as well as the social impact on the family and society, were revealed.
The statistics were presented in a resent summary meeting on studies that counted with the participation of geneticists doctors, technicians, professors and local authorities among others in representation of the 34 thousand who carried out this task in two years.
For the development of this research, one of the broadest in Latin America and that could prove useful to humanity, the specialists applied diagnostic systems of the World Health Organization to reduce the possibility of errors.
The combined focus of biomedical, teaching and social tools was a more efficient and widespread cover.
This offered knowledge in the Island that the rate of handicapped persons was 3,26 per hundred inhabitants while Mental Retardation registered 1,25, data comparable to those of the most developed countries.
At the same time, due to the diagnostic tests, it was observed in the attention to the pregnant woman that only 0,078 percent of the births in the country presented Down’s syndrome, considered the primary cause of genetic MR.
According to the analysis made during the study, advanced maternal age was an important risk factor for this syndrome. For women over 40 the possibility of giving birth to a child with a disease is one for every 100 while those under 35 registered one out of every 275.
Another factor to consider is that 19 percent of the children with this pathology (Downs’s) had family histories of the handicap.
Other non genetic factors associated to MR are the environment, such as alcoholism, exposition to high temperatures during the first three months of pregnancy, viral affections and infections and maternal health, the study revealed.
The second genetic cause of MR in the country was the Fragile X syndrome, a dynamic mutation reported for the first time in the world in 1943.
However, Cuban health authorities assure that the country has the means to detect this mutation, give genetic advice and early diagnosis during the prenatal stage and determine the stage of affectation.
Work is on going on new treatments that include neurological and rehabilitation aspects.
Preventive actions on the community level, diagnosis and risk of recurrence, clinical knowledge of the physio-pathological features of the disease as well as genetic studies are combined to reduce the incidence of these illnesses and will cover the entire country.
As part of the effort of specialists of different institutions to achieve a better quality of life of the handicapped, importance is given to work links and an early insertion in the community, regardless of the degree of disability presented.
As a result, 76,87 percent of the mentally retarded have received specialized attention and education.
In addition to the decisions brought about by this study, aimed at a greater attention, including economic factors, of these persons, the study provided more objective statistics that permit working towards a higher level of health level and quality of life of this population group.
All this work was inspired by the words expressed by the Cuban National Hero, Jose Marti, who, while visiting Mexico in 1875, visited a home for deaf children when he said: Blessed are that hands that correct the errors of blind Mother Nature.
Prevalence, the main causes of these pathologies such as Mental Retardation (MR), hearing disorders, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Schizophrenia, Autism and Hereditary Ataxia, among others as well as the social impact on the family and society, were revealed.
The statistics were presented in a resent summary meeting on studies that counted with the participation of geneticists doctors, technicians, professors and local authorities among others in representation of the 34 thousand who carried out this task in two years.
For the development of this research, one of the broadest in Latin America and that could prove useful to humanity, the specialists applied diagnostic systems of the World Health Organization to reduce the possibility of errors.
The combined focus of biomedical, teaching and social tools was a more efficient and widespread cover.
This offered knowledge in the Island that the rate of handicapped persons was 3,26 per hundred inhabitants while Mental Retardation registered 1,25, data comparable to those of the most developed countries.
At the same time, due to the diagnostic tests, it was observed in the attention to the pregnant woman that only 0,078 percent of the births in the country presented Down’s syndrome, considered the primary cause of genetic MR.
According to the analysis made during the study, advanced maternal age was an important risk factor for this syndrome. For women over 40 the possibility of giving birth to a child with a disease is one for every 100 while those under 35 registered one out of every 275.
Another factor to consider is that 19 percent of the children with this pathology (Downs’s) had family histories of the handicap.
Other non genetic factors associated to MR are the environment, such as alcoholism, exposition to high temperatures during the first three months of pregnancy, viral affections and infections and maternal health, the study revealed.
The second genetic cause of MR in the country was the Fragile X syndrome, a dynamic mutation reported for the first time in the world in 1943.
However, Cuban health authorities assure that the country has the means to detect this mutation, give genetic advice and early diagnosis during the prenatal stage and determine the stage of affectation.
Work is on going on new treatments that include neurological and rehabilitation aspects.
Preventive actions on the community level, diagnosis and risk of recurrence, clinical knowledge of the physio-pathological features of the disease as well as genetic studies are combined to reduce the incidence of these illnesses and will cover the entire country.
As part of the effort of specialists of different institutions to achieve a better quality of life of the handicapped, importance is given to work links and an early insertion in the community, regardless of the degree of disability presented.
As a result, 76,87 percent of the mentally retarded have received specialized attention and education.
In addition to the decisions brought about by this study, aimed at a greater attention, including economic factors, of these persons, the study provided more objective statistics that permit working towards a higher level of health level and quality of life of this population group.
All this work was inspired by the words expressed by the Cuban National Hero, Jose Marti, who, while visiting Mexico in 1875, visited a home for deaf children when he said: Blessed are that hands that correct the errors of blind Mother Nature.
Source:
PL
Date:
01/04/2009