Obesity in children is rising, tobacco use remains high

As the decade comes to a close, the Health Ministry is evaluating how well Chile accomplished the health goals set for students in 2,000.  Many of the goals were met, while some remained the same or even got worse. 

Goals that were met include the reduction of infant mortality by cancer and the 43 percent reduction of deaths caused by cervical cancer.  There was also a 66 percent decrease in mortality from abortion complications and a drop in tobacco use in 13 year olds.  The rate had been at 26.6 percent, and it is now at 20.4 percent.

Some 127 light years away in the constellation of Hydrus, a new solar system has been discovered by a team of astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on Cerro La Silla in Chile’s Coquimbo Region (IV). 

The team used an instrument known as the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) to locate the system.

Punta Arenas restaurant owner Agel Trivino is being fined US$3,360 by a local court for not having separate smoking and non-smoking areas in his restaurant –the first such fine made in the four years since Chile’s smoking ban was enacted.

In early October almost 16,000 eighth graders will be doing stomach crunches, sit-ups and jumping exercises as part of the government-ordered SIMCE test to measure student physical fitness levels.

Education Minister Joaquín Lavín and National Sports Director Gabriel Ruiz-Tagle announced Tuesday that 15,836 students (7,859 females and 7,977 males) from 337 schools throughout Chile would participate in the exam.

While the morning after pill remains controversial, and many women in Chile find it hard to get the pill even with a doctor's prescription, there may now be another option. Chilean researchers have found that the anti-inflammatory drug Meloxicam may have similar effects to the morning after pill.

After becoming frustrated with the debate in Chile over whether the morning after pill was an abortifacient – or abortion inducing – Dr. Horacio Croxatto, with the Chilean Institute of Reproductive Medicine, said he decided to look into possible alternatives.