Medical Centre

I attended a seminar on 11 September 2014 today on "Rebuilding Immunity After Treatment for Haematological Malignancies". The seminar was given by Professor Per Ljungman of the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. In the seminar, we discussed the use of vaccines to protect patients from infection following Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) and after treatment for haematological malignancies. The levels of antibodies to diseases that can be prevented by vaccination decrease during the first few years after a stem cell or bone marrow transplant. The immunities acquired by the patient before the transplant are also generally lost. For this reason, this group of patients are advised to start a full course of vaccinations starting 3-6 months after they finish their cancer treatment.

A paper published in the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal   reviews the current state of tobacco use, governance and national commitment for control, and current intervention frameworks in place to reduce the use of tobacco among the populations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and Yemen. It further reviews structured policy-oriented interventions (in line with the MPOWER package of 6 evidence-based tobacco control measures) that represent government actions to strengthen, implement and manage tobacco control programmes and to address the growing epidemic of tobacco use. The findings of the review show that tobacco control in the GCC countries has witnessed real progress over the past decades. These are still early days but they indicate steps in the right direction. Future investment in implementation and enforcement of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, production of robust tobacco control legislation and the establishment of universally ava...