Category: 2018

As New Year and Christmas holidays approach, the healthcare ministry has issued a number of advices on how to keep the eating part of the holiday season safe.

The ministry released a statement, advising certain precautions and calling on citizens to maintain a healthy diet.

“Very often during holiday seasons food can become the reason of not only food poisoning but also various digestive system disorders if you were to abuse food that are difficult to digest or that are incompatible”, the ministry says.

It calls for limiting the use of fried and fatty foods, and instead cook more by steaming and boiling. Healthcare officials also call for limited sugar intake, because abusing sugar might lead to  intestinal microflora disorders and accumulation of fat. “It is necessary to use desserts, creamed pastry, candy, juice and carbonated beverages as minimally as possible”.

Eat more fruits and vegetables, the ministry said.

But most importantly, healthcare officials reminded to eat in limited quantities. “You don’t have to taste all dishes on the table. The diverse the given intake is, the more overload will be on the digestive system”.

Healthcare officials also put special emphasis for parents to supervise their children’s diet and to maintain regular (4-5 times daily) meals.

Medics also call for limiting alcohol intake and refraining from abuse. “You must know that vinegar, mushrooms and grapefruit is incompatible with alcohol”.

An imported measles case has been documented in Armenia. The lab test confirmed the case on December 24. The patients has arrived from Russia with already visible symptoms, the healthcare ministry told ARMENRPESS. The nationality and identity of the patient was undisclosed.

The ministry released a statement, noting that “the only preventive measure for the disease is vaccination”.

Details of the abovementioned particular case weren’t immediately clear.

The ministry said that people who get at least two doses of vaccinations develop a 97-98% immunity from the disease and maintain it for a lifetime.

Below is a factsheet of the World Health Organization (WHO) on measles.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. It remains an important cause of death among young children globally, despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine.

Under the Global Vaccine Action Plan, measles and rubella are targeted for elimination in five WHO Regions by 2020. WHO is the lead technical agency responsible for coordination of immunization and surveillance activities supporting all countries to achieve this goal.

Measles is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons. Initial symptoms, which usually appear 10–12 days after infection, include high fever, a runny nose, bloodshot eyes, and tiny white spots on the inside of the mouth. Several days later, a rash develops, starting on the face and upper neck and gradually spreading downwards.

Severe measles is more likely among poorly nourished young children, especially those with insufficient vitamin A, or whose immune systems have been weakened by HIV/AIDS or other diseases. The most serious complications include blindness, encephalitis (an infection that causes brain swelling), severe diarrhoea and related dehydration, and severe respiratory infections such as pneumonia.

Routine measles vaccination for children, combined with mass immunization campaigns in countries with low routine coverage, are key public health strategies to reduce global measles deaths.

While global measles deaths have decreased by 84 percent worldwide in recent years — from 550,100 deaths in 2000 to 89,780 in 2016 — measles is still common in many developing countries, particularly in parts of Africa and Asia. An estimated 7 million people were affected by measles in 2016. The overwhelming majority (more than 95%) of measles deaths occur in countries with low per capita incomes and weak health infrastructures.

The measles vaccine has been in use since the 1960s. It is safe, effective and inexpensive. WHO recommends immunization for all susceptible children and adults for whom measles vaccination is not contraindicated. Reaching all children with 2 doses of measles vaccine, either alone, or in a measles-rubella (MR), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), or measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) combination, should be the standard for all national immunization programmes.

Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia Ara Babloyan had meetings with President Armen Sarkissian, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, on the eve of completion of his term in office.

During the meetings the role of the Parliament in the country’s progress was emphasized, in particular in the directions of improving the legislative field, conducting control functions, development of political forces and civil society, ensuring transparency of legislative activity and etc.

The legal activities of the Parliament of 6th convocation, the works carried out in international platforms and parliamentary structures have been summed up and appreciated.

The officials expressed hope that the newly-elected Parliament will continue the parliamentary traditions aimed at boosting the activity of the legislative body.