International Paradox of Low Mesothelioma Rates in America

Though I wasn't planning on doing another post on asbestos statistics, a writer named Taylor Dardan asked me to do a guest post on mesothelioma. Taylor made the interesting correlation in the essay between America's success in keeping mesothelioma cancer rates down by regulating asbestos, and the domino effect of lowering public recognition of this asbestos-related disease. If America's awareness is lowered, it follows that international awareness of the correlation between asbestos and health will suffer as well. Canada is considering reopening a mine over one of the world's largest known asbestos deposits. Canada exports to India - where mesothelioma cancer rates are inordinately high. We live in a global world, and as Americans, we can make our fellow citizens and international friends aware that asbestos is deadly.


Alarming Statistics on Asbestos Exposure
by Taylor Darden

In America, people are used to seeing eye-popping statistics on the number of cancer diagnoses for the more "popular" cancers. For example, most people are at least vaguely aware that about one in eight women (12%) will develop invasive breast cancer. They may be aware that over one-hundred and fifty thousand people died of lung cancer in 2007 (the most recent year the numbers were available). Or, that more people died of lung cancer in America than any other cancer. However the statistics on supposedly rare cancers like mesothelioma have far less recognition by the general public.

Partially, this is because American statistics on mesothelioma are not considerably shocking. Only about three thousand cases are diagnosed each year. The majority of those cases occur in people between the ages of fifty and seventy, and nearly a third occur in veterans. Because it is rare, it is often overlooked or ignored. In terms of statistical awareness, mesothelioma is a forgotten cancer.

However, the statistics on worldwide mesothelioma cancer rates paints a strikingly different picture. The number of mesothelioma diagnoses sky rockets to over one-hundred thousand a year. As most of these cases are diagnosed in third-world countries, it’s likely the figures are highly understated. Combined with the extremely low mesothelioma survival rate (most patients survive only twelve to fourteen months after their initial diagnosis), it’s clear that mesothelioma deserves far more attention than it currently receives.

But even these statistics understate the truly alarming statistics about mesothelioma. The fact is, mesothelioma could be far lower. Mesothelimoa is a result of asbestos exposure. In fact, the rate of mesothelioma diagnosis in America is so low because asbestos use is heavily regulated, as it is throughout most developed countries. However, even developed countries such as Canada continue to export thousands of tons of asbestos - despite knowing the deadly consequences.

Canada exports nearly two-hundred thousand tons of asbestos a year to third-world countries such as India, where health and safety regulations are lax, and a staggering portion of the mesothelioma diagnoses are made each year. Even worse, Canadians plan on reopening the Jeffrey Mine, which sits atop the world’s largest deposit of asbestos, and has already produced over one-hundred and fifty thousand tons of asbestos since 2006 by itself. The Canadian government is currently debating propping up the Jeffrey Mine, which sits atop the world’s largest asbestos deposit, with a $58 million dollar loan that should allow it to export over two-hundred tons of asbestos each day at the request of the mine’s owner G. Bernard Coulombe.

Coulombe’s strategy is to reinvent the small Quebec town Asbestos, named after the mineral during its boom days in the mid 20th century, where the Jeffrey Mine is located by reopening the mine and selling the deadly material to India, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Quebec, which is part of the mineral’s part of its mining history still advocated its use and insists, against the words of the WHO and all international experts, that asbestos is safe. Despite this, asbestos use is heavily regulated in Quebec, as well as the rest of Canada.

The wide gap in the statistics between mesothelioma occurrences in America and worldwide demonstrate our ability to effectively prevent the cancer- but it requires far more attention and awareness than it is currently receiving. Ironically the mundane quality of the statistics in America may to be blame for this, even as they provide a textbook case for why the worldwide numbers are so alarming.

Statistic Resources on Children with Aids for World Aids Day

Statistics on Children with Aids are slowly surfacing as the Aids epidemic passes down through the generations. One of the primary locations for research on AIDS with recent statistics and information on Aids is at the United Nations Aids website, UNAIDS.ORG. This website has information on the latest research, statistics, graphs, tables, Excel formatted data, charts and international Aids information. There is a free pdf download of UNAIDS 2008 Global Report on Aids, with a link to a jpg wall chart demonstrating the prevalence of Aids by country on the same page.

UNICEF has produced one of the most notable reports on children with Aids. The Children and AIDS: Third Stocktaking Report, 2008 is a free pdf download available on the UNICEF and UNAIDS websites. UNICEF has a short article on the Children and Aids report which lists some highlights and findings on transmission of AIDS to children, awareness and prevention, and statistics on treatment.

International Aids statisticians and medical experts agree that early treatment of Aids in children significantly increases the chances of survival. The Children and Aids report lists a study on Antiretroviral Therapy which demonstrated that treatment of AIDS in the first 12 weeks of a child's life reduces mortality by around 76%.

The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported on November 19, 2008 a landmark study that further confirmed early treatment can reverse a child's death sentence with AIDS. In this New England Journal reported study, it was discovered that infants with HIV who received Antiretroviral Therapy at an average age of seven weeks increased their chances of living, and the HIV infected infants were "four times less likely to die in the next 48 weeks" when compared to waiting until the symptoms of HIV surfaced.

The NIAID also has an informative page on HIV, Aids and Infants with a summary of treatment and statistics from 2004. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the US has a page with statistics and research on mother to child Aids transmission. Fortunately, it demonstrates that transmission has be reduced with increased treatment of Aids during pregnancy. They also have graphs on the state of HIV/Aids as defined by several categories, and a separate page on graphs with teenage Aids statistics. The National Institute of Health has a branch for Pediatric, Adolescent & Maternal AIDS.

Unfortunately, the majority of women do not get tested for Aids during pregnancy and statistics are showing that 25% of pregnant women who have Aids are unaware that they carry the disease. The Children and Aids report also indicated that children from an AIDS household were often not tested until they were two months old. Awareness and availability of AIDS therapies and medications will determine which child lives and which child dies.

US Aid reports that 90 percent of the 5.1 million people in India with HIV/AIDS don't know about their status until a crisis occur. A Times of India November 2008 article on Aids and Children lists some very grim statistics for children with Aids in India.

Paediatrician Sanjay Lalwani, head of the department of paediatrics, Bharati Hospital and Research Centre, says 10 to 15 per cent of children who get the infection from their mothers die within the first two years. Eighty to 85 per cent of them develop AIDS between the ages of five and seven and die.

The progression from HIV infection to AIDS can be prevented by treating these children with anti-HIV drugs (anti-retroviral therapy) when their immune system starts deteriorating. "The treatment may not be of much help if you start it at late stage of infection. At present, the government of India gives the drugs only to those children in the later stages of HIV infection," said Oswal.

The article lists AIDS statistics from the World Health Organization, and expresses the need for treatment with a listing of Aids Clinics and Aids care facilities that are available for children in India with Aids. The World Health Organization also has a page dedicated to information on children with Aids which has many pdf files, Aids treatment research, tables and graphs with statistics available in a free download.

Children with Aids have many faces. UNICEF has a Voices of Youth page. There is a YouthAids website that has Aids statistics on youth and Aids as well as general Aids statistics. The Global Ministries at The United Methodist Church has personal stories from HIV infected individuals and those suffering from AIDS. The Children with Aids Project seeks to find homes for children with AIDS and raise money for the orphans of Aids. National Public Radio has an audio broadcast from a 14 year old with Aids.

BBC reported in an article on 40 children contracting Aids in a hospital in Uzbekistan that "The United Nations says Central Asia has one of the world's fastest-growing HIV infection rates" and "Unsafe blood supplies and contaminated equipment are often blamed for spreading the infection." CNN did an indepth study on AIDS in the early 21st century, and there are many valuable historical facts on AIDS as well images, graphs and personal stories at their website. A 2006 BBC article examined how AIDS affects the workforce in Africa. This has a link to a BBC bar graph on Aids statistics around the world.

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has a bar graph on the transmission methods of Aids to children under 13 in the US according to race. The chart is slightly outdated, as it is from 2004. Nationmaster is always good for statistics on just about anything, and they have an easy bar graph to follow which reports children living with AIDS by country.

The Stolen Childhood blog, which lists international issues and global statistics on many health, drug and crime issues that are tragic to the livelihood of children, has a post on Aids and Kenya from 2007. The UC Atlas of Global Inequality from the University of California has a link to charts, graphs and maps on children and Aids. However, be aware that the page on children and Aids has not been updated since 2006. The website however, is rich with information, statistics, whitepapers, information on conferences and links to rich resources of global statistics.

Swivel is great for finding graphs and charts, and if you need more statistics on Aids, a search for AIDS at Swivel will bring a couple pages of results about Aids statistics. Some statistics on Aids in the United States by State can be found at State Health Facts website, which offers links to many statistics on health topics, including demographics and health indicators.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has a Fact Sheet on Aids, The US Government also has an HIV/AIDS website at AIDS.GOV which has links to preventative literature and statistics on some US prevention efforts, location of HIV testing sites, and research on clinical studies. There is also a link to a list of funding agencies and programs for Aids, an Aids Youth Fact Sheet, and a nice list of Aids Agencies and Programs.

Statistics on Aids can be found on millions of websites. However, if you are doing research and are looking for accurate figures on Aids and Youth and Children, keep in mind that "youth" and "children" are often defined by different age groups. The age 15 has been included in children, youth and adult statistics on Aids.

Educating and providing early treatment to women and infants with Aids can drive the mortality statistics on children and Aids on a sharp down curve. Keeping our future generations free from Aids by providing education and early treatment of pregnant women and infants will put a stop to its generational growth. Who knows? One of the lives that are saved could be the life that finds a cure for Aids and ends the deadly disease for all future generations.