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In recent years, the massive global expansion in the
availability and use of chemicals in industrial, agricultural and domestic
fields and overuse and abuse of drugs has led to the increased incidence of
accidental and deliberate poisonings. Globally, WHO estimates that annually
more than 6 million poisonings occur, - nearly 500,000 persons suffer from
pesticides poisoning and of these nearly 20,000 cases are fatal -. The
estimates for SEAR are that over 1 million persons get poisoned annually.
Individuals can become directly exposed to man made or
natural toxic substances such as heavy metals either at their workplace,
mining sites, chemical plants, or at the farm level. Indirect forms of human
poisoning occur through contaminated food. WHO estimates that 12 million
children worldwide are exposed to excessive levels of lead, recent data indicate that over 10 million people in the Region are at risk of mercury poisoning and 40 to 60 million confront the risk of arsenic contamination from groundwater. Accidental poisonings range from snake
bites to chemical incidents, such as the Bhopal
gas leak. Intentional poisonings are becoming more frequent, especially among
desperately indebted farmers who have easy access to pesticides.
The recognition over a decade ago that toxic exposures are
an important threat to human health, lead to the establishment of several
Poisons Information Centre in the SEA region. Currently, solely 15 poison centers
are providing specialized poisoning patient management in the entire SEA
region. Analytical toxicological support facilities are provided at some, but
not all, of these institutions.
At a SEA Regional level, the strengthening of poison
control measures are being promoted, but a lot more needs to be done in terms
of commitment from the SEAR Countries to address this issue.
The basis of WHO’s collaboration is to promote recognized
harmonized approaches, preferably international harmonized, with a view to
subsequent regional and global collaboration. Yet, specific collaboration
through networking arrangement among those currently providing poison control
facilities in the region is still very poor.
In terms of training and awareness , during the last ten
years SEARO sponsored a number of national meetings and courses to promote
the development of comprehensive poisons information, and related clinical
and analytical, facilities.
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