Heart health organisation Hartstichting is starting an awareness campaign to highlight the dangers of high blood pressure. The organisation will be making blood pressure measuring equipment available at various public locations, such as libraries and supermarkets, between May 27 and June 8. Advice on a healthier life style will also be available. The organisation said many people have no idea they are suffering from high blood pressure which can affect the heart, brain and other organs and lead to strokes and heart attacks. The Hartstichting found that one in three people in the Netherlands between the ages of 30 and 70 have high blood pressure or are taking medication to combat it. Four in 10 of people suffering from high blood pressure in this age group are unaware their blood pressure is too high. ‘High blood pressure doesn’t always present symptoms but it is doing damage all the same, for instance to blood vessels, the heart and the brain,’ family doctor and Hartstichting spokesman David Smeekes told broadcaster NOS. That is why measuring blood pressure should become just as normal as going to the dentist for a half-yearly check-up, Smeekes said. The Hartstichting estimates that 6,000 new cases of heart disease and 1,500 deaths could be avoided annually if the population’s blood pressure were to drop, something that could be achieved by cutting down on smoking, salty food and by exercising more.  More >

The number of children diagnosed with diabetes in the Netherlands has doubled over the past 30 years, according to research by paediatrician Angelien Spaans-Hummelink. 'The research stemmed from a feeling we had that more children were being diagnosed with diabetes,' she told local broadcaster RTV Noord. There are some 6,000 children with type 1 diabetes in the Netherlands, and 500 to 550 new cases are identified every year. Spaans-Hummelink said there is no direct reason about why the number has gone up but says she suspects there is a link with other auto-immune diseases. 'We know that children with type 1 diabetes are more likely to have another auto-immune disease such as an over or under-active thyroid or a gluten allergy,' she said.  More >

Nearly all women who undergo treatment breast cancer are left with lingering health problems such as fatigue or difficulty concentrating, a survey has found. Pins and needles were another common after-effect of cancer treatment, according to the research carried out by the national cancer centre IKNL and research institution NIVEL. Researchers interviewed 404 women who had operations for primary breast cancer between 2012 and 2016 about their health in the five years since they were diagnosed. Overall 93% reported problems with their health after treatment, most commonly from chemotherapy. Previous research by IKNL and the Dutch federation of cancer patients' organisations concluded that there was not enough post-operative care for the 800,000 cancer survivors in the Netherlands. The latest study said that better awareness of the problems that cancer patients experience would enable oncologists to devise better post-treatment plans. 'The balance has to be struck between the risk of the disease returning and the chance of later health complications.'  More >

A batch of vegetarian sausages named Little Willies has been recalled after the manufacturer warned they may contain small pieces of plastic packaging. De Vegetarische Slager said a production fault meant the sausages may have been contaminated and urged customers to take them back to the shop. The affected packs have a 'best before' date between April 10 and May 7. The Lincolnshire-style soy-based sausages have also been recalled in Britain, where they are sold in supermarkets under the same name. Customers can claim a refund by sending an email to the manufacturer at info@devegetarischeslager.nl with a photo of the packaging with the best before date showing. Alternatively, they can post the empty package in an unstamped envelope to De Vegetarische Slager, Antwoordnummer 10356, 4800 VB Breda.   More >

Het Gooi, home to some of the richest neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, may not have the country’s happiest pharmacists. According to the NOS, 24 stores have closed their doors on Wednesday for a morning of protest at the aggression they experience from their customers. ‘A colleague from Weesp was recently hit in the face because a certain drug brand was no longer covered by insurance,’ Bernadine Armbrust, a pharmacist from Hilversum, told the NOS Radio 1 Journaal. She said her protest had a dual function: to ask clients to behave differently, but also to ask insurers and politicians to take note of the effects of limited supplies of insurance-funded medicines in the Netherlands. ‘There was already a lot of frustration among clients because brands were no longer covered and they would then have to switch,’ she added. ‘But then you also get drug shortages.’ Gerben Klein Nulent, chair of the KNMP pharmacists’ trade association, told the NOS the frustrations are not only in Het Gooi. ‘Screaming, threats and hitting have become daily events, and we find this unacceptable,’ he reportedly said. His organisation found that last year, medicines were not available for 769 prescriptions. Zorgverzekeraars Nederland told the NOS that it was not responsible for client frustrations. ‘Shortages are an international problem, and the causes are outside the Netherlands,' it reportedly said. 'It’s not about the coverage policy of health insurers as the demonstrating pharmacists suggest.’ Earlier this year, a ‘just be nice’ (‘doeslief’) campaign also claimed that 8% of public transport workers are spat at each year, and 72% of traffic wardens regularly ‘get the middle finger’. Posters from this campaign were displayed in the windows of at least one of the protesting pharmacies.  More >

A large Dutch childcare group has gone public in saying that it will ban children who have not be vaccinated against mumps, measles and German measles from July 1, broadcaster NOS said. The Berend Botje daycare group, which looks after over 3,000 children in Noord-Holland province, has told parents that children who have not been inoculated will be sent home after that date. The aim is to protect children of pre-inoculation age. There have been four cases of measles at a daycare centre in The Hague in recent weeks. Several are under 14 months old, the age at which children are vaccinated against the three diseases. So far around 100 daycare groups in the Netherlands have said that they will not accept children who have not been inoculated, but Berend Botje is thought to be the first one which has said it will ban children who already use its facilities. It is currently illegal to discriminate against non-vaccinated children under discrimination legislation but legislation to make a ban possible is currently going through parliament. Parents Berend Botje looks after children in a variety of age groups at 50 different locations across the province. So far around 10 parents have asked for further information about the ban, which will come into effect on July 1, the organisation told NOS. At the moment 90.2% of Dutch children are vaccinated against potentially serious illnesses such as measles, polio and whooping cough. This is below the level of 95% the World Health Organisation considers safe. The last measles epidemic in the Netherlands hit the Dutch Bible belt in 2013. In total, 2,600 people were diagnosed with measles and the outbreak was concentrated in families with young children who had not been vaccinated for religious reasons. One girl, who had not been vaccinated, died.  More >