November 8, 2010

Netherlands most gender equal country in the world

Filed under: General,Health by Branko Collin @ 12:41 pm

According to a report by the United Nations Development Program released last week, Dutch women are closest to being equal to men.

The UNDP measured gender inequality in 136 countries. After the Netherlands, gender inequality was the lowest in Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, and the highest in Yemen, Congo and Niger. Among the developing nations, gender equality is the highest in Burundi. The indicators used for measuring inequality were maternal mortality, adolescent fertility, parliamentary representation, educational attainment and labour force participation.

See also: Women have low impact on Dutch work force.

Link: UN Dispatch.

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October 23, 2010

Dutch cuisine increases sperm count

Filed under: Food & Drink,Health by Branko Collin @ 3:41 pm

Dutch cooking, the kitchen that has put the meat and the potatoes in meat ‘n’ potatoes, is great for increasing male fertility according to PhD student Marijana Vujkovic.

Men who eat meat, potatoes and vegetables have a sperm count twice as high as those with other diets.

Women on the other hand seem to benefit the most from a Mediterranean diet, which includes vegetable oils, vegetables and fish.

Vujkovic gets to defend her thesis next Wednesday, Trouw reports. An article by Vujkovic and others about the same issue in the Oxford Journal on Human Reproduction can be read here.

(Photo by FotoosVanRobin, some rights reserved)

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September 30, 2010

Small cafes get to allow smoking again

Filed under: Dutch first,Health by Orangemaster @ 9:41 am

While outgoing Minister of Health Ab Klink blew up his own political career recently with his yes-no-yes-no behaviour at a crucial moment, now one of his biggest political accomplishments is being turned over: the smoking ban.

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After fighting tooth and nail, small cafe owners with no staff will be allowed to smoke and allow smoking in their establishment. Although the smoking ban has been in effect since 2008 and there have been creative people with small cafes fighting it, the first nation-wide exception is coming up. This is a big ‘international sign of friendship’ salute to Mr Klink.

Besides the obvious monetary arguments, protecting staff again smoking when you don’t have staff is nonsensical. The Netherlands is funny that way.

(Link: dutchnews.nl)

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September 22, 2010

No more sex shop on Texel island for now

Filed under: Gadgets,General,Health by Orangemaster @ 12:26 pm

Due to family illness, the only sex shop on the island of Texel, owned by a woman and run together with her daughter, was forced to close after two years of existence. They tried to find someone to take over the business, but nobody responded.

Back when the shop opened, municipal rules had to be changed because a sex shop with adult toys was a no-no. However, since other shops like drugs stores and the likes sell sex-related articles, it was OK to have a sex shop on the island.

It’s the end of an era.

(Link: trouw.nl, Photo of Texel island by Searocket, some rights reserved)

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September 20, 2010

Half of the Dutch higher ed students are good in bed, they think

Filed under: General,Health by Branko Collin @ 8:41 am

A ‘sex sells’ issue (aren’t they all?) of weekly Nieuwe Revu questioned almost 3,000 university students about sex, Blik op Nieuws reports.

Here are some of the numbers:

  • Some 51% think they are good lovers
  • Some 12% think they are great lovers
  • More than 50% lost their virginity before the age of 18
  • Another half has had a one-night-stand
  • Some 79% think that love is necessary for sex
  • Some 2.3% calls themselves gay, 4.6% bi-sexual
  • Some 10% says to have had same-sex sex
  • Some 16% want to try same-sex sex
  • A staggering 22% never uses a condom
  • But only 7.6% have ever had an STD

For the sake of transparency I will list my answers to the magazine’s questions below, but for the sake of privacy I will do it in random order: 314, twice, yes, no, maybe, in Spain, in a hot air balloon, leather, a puppy’s tongue, 19, every other minute, 13, pickled gherkins, beards and moustaches, hanging upside-down, always, velvet, always, always.

(Photo by David Morris, some rights reserved)

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September 13, 2010

Child therapy increased by 50% in two years

Filed under: Health by Branko Collin @ 9:06 am

The amount of children under the age of 18 in psychotherapy has increased by 50% in two years, Volkskrant reports. The paper writes that “insurers such as CZ and Achmea” have noticed the trend.

Volkskrant further quotes an unknown quantity of unnamed sellers of therapy, the child therapists, as saying that children haven’t gotten any crazier in the past two years—it’s the parents who have gotten over their reluctance to seek help for their kids.

You’d better read the article yourself (Dutch) to see if you can discover anything resembling reporting in it.

See also: Dutch children could not be any happier

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September 11, 2010

Gonorrhea infections among American teens 33 times higher than among Dutch teens

Filed under: Health by Branko Collin @ 10:15 am

According to a study by Amy Chalet, 0.5 percent of all US teens aged 15-19 catch gonorrhea, whereas among Dutch teens the number is almost a statistical error (0.01 %).

There might be epidemiological reasons for the large discrepancy, but the evidence points elsewhere: Chalet’s study also shows “dramatic differences between the US and the Netherlands in rates of contraceptive use, teen pregnancy, abortion, and STI transmission”, as Lisa Wade writes (the American sociologist, not the Dutch TV personality).

Wade’s angle is that the Dutch (and Western Europeans) treat (teenage) sex as normal, not as ‘the nasty’, and that Dutch teenagers (therefore?) use condoms and contraceptives where their American peers do not. “Accordingly, most American teenagers hide their virginity loss from their parents, furtively popping the cherry in risky situations, often without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In contrast, most Dutch teenagers lose their virginity in their own bedrooms with their parents’ approval… and condoms.”

Americans can find comfort in the fact that according to some of their leading thinkers, “the way they do the statistics in the Netherlands is different”.

Link: Martin Wisse.

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September 8, 2010

Postcards help against suicide

Filed under: Health,Weird by Orangemaster @ 5:05 pm

A mental health institution in the province of Friesland plans to use an Australian treatment to help people who have attempted suicide: sending them postcards. Six months after the attempted suicide, patients will be sent a postcard from a counsellor, asking them how they are doing and all.

The people at the mental health institution say it works, that patients like having someone think of them. If the patients are in need of more help, they’ll have something to read to that effect on their postcard.

Of course, it’s by no means a cure of any kind, but if it can stop even one person from trying to off themselves, it’s surely worth it explains the article. This postcard has a ‘lean on me’ quality to it.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl, Photo: some card I got once)

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August 21, 2010

Rail operator ProRail wants to rein in suicide by train

Filed under: Health by Branko Collin @ 12:33 pm

ProRail, the Dutch railway network operator, wants to diminish the number of suicides committed by people jumping in front of a moving train. The organisation aims at a reduction of 5% over the next four years. Currently, 200 people kill themselves by jumping in front of a moving train, which is 12% of the total number of suicides, the highest ratio in the region.

According to ProRail, about half of all suicides are committed by people who are undergoing psychiatric care. The network operator has already experimented by placing gates near psychiatric hospitals and by turning level crossings into viaducts.

The current policy of the Dutch Association for Psychiatry (NVvP) is to advise its members to send the suicidal out into the street. This policy is much to the dismay of the Union for Train Drivers and Conductors (VVMC) who point out that people jumping in front of moving trains are very traumatic experiences for their members.

(Photo by Jason Rogers, some rights reserved)

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August 9, 2010

Psychiatric patients get a bit of privacy back

Filed under: Health by Branko Collin @ 8:25 am

healthcareA court ordered last week that the national care monitor NZA can no longer demand of psychiatrists that they provide details about their patients’ mental health problems.

Nationale Zorg Autoriteit, which monitors the application of the health care laws and sets prices where necessary, bases its rates for psychiatric care on so-called ‘diagnosis-treatment combinations’ (DBCs) and requires psychiatrists to report the DBCs they have used for specific patients.

The court (College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven, i.e. ‘college of appeal for businesses’) held on August 2 that since insurance company employees who were not bound by medical confidentiality had access to the DBCs, the NZA had not given enough weight to the privacy interests of patients.

NZA now gets to go back to the drawing board and come up with new plans for a rate structure that does not (or to a lesser extent) compromise patients’ privacy.

Last year, political blog Sargasso already pointed out that once these data are out from under the protective umbrella of medical confidentiality, they can easily be abused by for instance the government, which could, for example, decide not to hire somebody as a civil servant based on their detailed medical history.

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