World News

Vitamin D deficiency in Africa | Central Europe's low numbers

Posted by: The Conversation Global

Date: Tuesday, 30 June 2020

 

Exposure to sunshine for a few minutes a day is enough to provide us with sufficient vitamin D. Because people living in Africa are exposed to more sunshine than their northern cold climate counterparts, a common view has developed that they have less of a vitamin D deficiency problem. But this isn’t true. Reagan Mogire sets out what he found doing a review of research on the issue in Africa and why under-diagnosis is a serious problem.

Croatia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have had much lower death rates than most Western European countries. Jan Culik and Mirna Solic ask: why has so little attention been paid to these apparent successes in the east?

Julius Maina

Regional Editor East Africa

Exposure to sunshine for a few minutes is enough to provide sufficient vitamin D. GettyImages

Think vitamin D deficiency is not common in Africa? Think again

Reagan Mogire, KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme

Vitamin D has been shown to regulate the function of 229 genes in humans, suggesting that it plays many roles in maintaining health.

EPA/Antonia Bat

Why don’t we hear about the low number of coronavirus deaths in Central Europe?

Jan Culik, University of Glasgow; Mirna Solic, University of Glasgow

Death rates are low in the region but this has largely gone ignored.

Politics + Society

Authorities are yanking the legacy of slaveholder John C. Calhoun from public sphere, but his bigotry remains embedded in American society

Christian K. Anderson, University of South Carolina

Despite his defense of slavery, the former vice president and US senator from South Carolina has been honored with statues and streets, schools and counties. That's finally changing.

America’s Black female mayors face dual crises of COVID-19 and protests – but these women are used to uphill battles

Sharon Austin, University of Florida

Four decades after Ellen Craig-Jones of Urbancrest, Ohio, became the US's first Black woman mayor, seven of the nation's largest cities are lead by Black women. And what a time to be in charge.

Business + Economy

How Asia’s clothing factories switched to making PPE – but sweatshop problems live on

Alessandra Mezzadri, SOAS, University of London; Kanchana N Ruwanpura, University of Edinburgh

The story of how many Asian garment manufacturers joined this different supply chain during the pandemic – with no help from western retail customers.

Hajj 2020: coronavirus pandemic frustrates Saudi vision for expanded religious tourism

Seán McLoughlin, University of Leeds

Expanding pilgrimage is a key part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 – COVID-19 has put that on hold.

COVID-19

Should you fly yet? An epidemiologist and an exposure scientist walk you through the decision process

Kacey Ernst, University of Arizona; Paloma Beamer, University of Arizona

Fear of flying means something altogether different in the age of the new coronavirus. Now the biggest concern is how to keep from becoming infected. If you must fly, here are some things to consider.

COVID-19 brings students back to Himalayan villages with public health messages

Adrian Ashraf Khan, University of Toronto

During the COVID-19 crisis, some medical students at school in Pokhara, Nepal, went to rural Himalayan villages to teach about the virus. Others go home to challenge social inequities.

En Français

Épidémie de Covid-19 : quel impact sur l’espérance de vie en France ?

Michel Guillot, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED); Myriam Khlat, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Les données actuelles indiquent que la baisse de l’espérance de vie en France en 2020 par rapport à 2019 devrait être modeste, malgré l’épidémie de Covid-19 qui a frappé notre pays. Pourquoi ?

La loi condamne-t-elle le racisme systémique en France ?

Lionel Zevounou, Université Paris Nanterre – Université Paris Lumières

La discrimination raciale est au coeur de plusieurs décisions juridiques en France.

En español

COVID-19: ¿Hacia otra década perdida en América Latina?

Elisa Aracil, Universidad Pontificia Comillas

Las perspectivas económicas en la región para los próximos meses pueden no ser tan catastrofistas de lo que augura el FMI.

Plástico o vidrio: ¿qué botella debemos escoger para cuidar el medioambiente?

Ramón Rubio García, Universidad de Oviedo

Si hacemos un análisis de ciclo de vida de los mismos productos hechos con distintos materiales para evaluar su sostenibilidad podemos llevarnos una sorpresa.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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