Health
For Children in Rural Mozambique, the Future Comes Into Focus
Over the past year, Muanema Fakira noticed something odd about the eyes of her 1-year-old daughter Sumaya. Her left eye was cloudy. It did not gleam with curiosity or glint in the sun. When the problem persisted, Ms. Fakira made the rounds to health clinics in their town in central Mozambique. Doctors said they could not help.
But they knew of someone who could, if Ms. Fakira could take Sumaya, now 2, on a 100-mile journey to the coast.
The family made the trip to the city of Quelimane, where Dr. Isaac Vasco da Gama examined Sumaya’s eyes and quickly diagnosed a congenital cataract.
Ms. Fakira was skeptical — cataracts are for old people, she said. But Dr. da Gama explained that an infection at birth, or shortly after, can cause cataracts in children. The condition is particularly worrying because vision problems affect the development of a child’s physical function. But the good news, he said, was that the problem can be solved with a simple surgery, one he does a dozen times a week at Quelimane Central Hospital.
This was particularly lucky for Sumaya because Dr. da Gama is one of just three pediatric ophthalmologists in Mozambique, a country of 30 million people.
Sumaya had her surgery in November, and a day later headed home, already recovering. Dr. da Gama was pleased to have seen her while she was still young, before permanent damage was done.
It was a sign that a system he and colleagues have been trying to put in place for the last few years might be taking hold: Sumaya’s parents sought help from the medical system for an eye problem — rather than a traditional healer, or a sorcerer to remove a curse.
When Sumaya was referred for care, it was a long and expensive trip, but she got help relatively quickly for a problem that might otherwise have blighted her life. Ideally her cataract would have been spotted at birth by a midwife.
“I do believe that by pushing forward, we can slowly overcome this challenge,” Dr. da Gama said.
In Mozambique, as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, awareness of vision problems is so low, and access to help so limited, that few children get the care they need, even though many suffer from easily treatable problems.
In 2021, a global commission on eye health reported that 510 million people around the world, 90 percent of them in low- and middle-income countries, had uncorrected vision impairment. That is, they could not see properly because they did not have glasses.
The consequences are enormous: Children with vision loss in these countries are significantly less likely to be in school. One study found that for those who do attend school, those with uncorrected vision problems learn half as much as their peers with normal vision.
Access to treatment is so limited because of a scarcity of trained staff and a failure to integrate vision care into health systems. Children are not screened for vision loss, and parents and teachers don’t understand the simple causes of eye trouble that can manifest in distraction, lack of physical coordination and behavior issues.
Mozambique has just 20 ophthalmologists, up from six two decades ago. Almost all of them are based in the capital, Maputo, in the south.
Dr. da Gama completed his studies in India in 2017 and set up a clinic in Quelimane, a seaport town halfway up Mozambique’s long Indian Ocean coastline. But to his surprise, he saw very few patients in the first year. He discovered that no one was being referred to him because health workers did not recognize treatable eye diseases. He started traveling to local clinics to tell medical workers about screening and solutions.
Then he teamed up with the charity Light for the World, which had sponsored him to complete specialized training in pediatric eye care in Tanzania. They designed an outreach program to show teachers, community health workers, traditional healers and local leaders how to spot vision problems and to refer children to the new ophthalmology ward at the Quelimane hospital.
Now, a couple of times a year, for up to a month at a time, he takes a mobile clinic to small communities to do surgeries on children with cataracts, glaucoma or strabismus (misaligned eyes).
Cataracts cause nearly half the preventable blindness in Mozambique’s children; they can be genetic, or the result of trauma (like a stick or a stone in the eye), or of an untreated eye infection.
On his outreach journeys, Dr. da Gama teaches other health care workers how to perform the simple surgeries, and how to spot the conditions. “Operating per se is not a problem: We can train in a week, two weeks, how to operate on a cataract,” he said. “But it is how to identify the children who need the operations.”
Mozambique’s Ministry of Health is trying to build awareness of vision problems and refractive errors, for which a pair of glasses is a life-altering intervention.
Glasses or simple surgeries that keep children in school can change the future for their families, and for the country as a whole. “If you have children less educated or with fewer skills,” he said, “the future of the economy is affected.”
In Quelimane, Dr. da Gama also sees cases of retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina. When patients come early enough, he can save their lives, if not their eyes.
Camilo Rosario brought his daughter Grace, 3, to his clinic in November, from their home in a village 300 kilometers (about 185 miles) away. She had a tumor protruding from her eye that caused her excruciating pain. Mr. Rosario said she had begun to complain about her eye just weeks before. He shifted anxiously from foot to foot while Dr. da Gama explained that he would operate quickly to remove the tumor, but that he feared the disease was already in her brain.
Grace soon recovered from the first surgery, clinging to her father with a bulky bandage around her head. But as Dr. da Gama had feared, she had come to him too late; she died in early January.
Aminata Kaba was screened alongside her classmates in high school last year — and was surprised to learn that she was myopic. After she got glasses, school became significantly easier, she said, and her grades soon improved. Now, she said, she will continue on in school, and she hopes to be a lawyer.
Screening older children is easy; coaxing cooperation out of the small ones is a much greater challenge, Dr. da Gama said. They rarely look where he needs them to for eye exams. The eyedrops, the equipment, even his white coat, all can be frightening. He said he smiles and sings to distract, removing the coat when required.
“I like difficult things,” he said.
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Research continues to uncover new details on how fasting may help extend life.
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications investigated how intermittent fasting can boost longevity in small worms often used in aging research.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas compared worms that were fed normally to those that underwent a 24-hour fast in early adulthood and were then fed again, according to a press release.
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The scientists measured a variety of factors, including stored fat, gene activity related to fat metabolism and lifespan.
The results showed that the life-boosting benefit did not depend on the fasting itself but on the body’s behavior after eating again.
Experts say sustainability is key when choosing a long-term weight-loss strategy. (iStock)
Study lead Peter Douglas, associate professor of molecular biology and a member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern, suggested that these discoveries “shift the focus toward a neglected side of the metabolic coin – the re-feeding phase.”
“Our data suggest that the health-promoting effects of intermittent fasting are not merely a product of the fast itself, but are dependent on how the metabolic machinery recalibrates during the subsequent transition back to a fed state,” he said.
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“Our findings bridge a gap between lipid metabolism and aging research,” he added. “By targeting aging, the single greatest risk factor for human disease, we move beyond treating isolated conditions toward a preventive model of medicine that enhances quality of life for all individuals.”
Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, called this a “high-quality” study that adds an “important nuance to how we think about fasting and longevity.”
Intermittent fasting typically involves limiting meals to an eight-hour daily window or fasting every other day. (iStock)
The benefits of the refeeding phase after fasting were “especially interesting,” Wright, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“The researchers showed that longevity was linked to the body’s ability to turn off fat breakdown after fasting, allowing cells to restore energy balance,” she reiterated.
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“From a scientific standpoint, that’s a meaningful shift because it suggests fasting is not just about burning fat, but about metabolic flexibility.”
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Fasting may support longevity through triggering metabolic switching, enhancing cellular repair and stress resistance and improving markers like insulin sensitivity, research shows.
Limitations and cautions
Although this study provides “important insight” on the power of refeeding, Wright noted that the findings should be approached with caution, as the study was done on worms and cannot always be translated to humans.
“Additionally, it explains how a process might work in a controlled lab condition rather than real-world eating behaviors,” she added as a limitation. “Finally, the study is short-term and doesn’t give us the long-term translation on lifespan outcomes.”
The review found intermittent fasting was barely more effective than doing nothing, according to the study authors. (iStock)
Wright cautioned that fasting is “not a magic solution for longevity, and how you eat overall matters more than when you eat.”
“I advise, first and foremost, to focus on diet quality, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and minimally processed foods,” she said.
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For those who are considering fasting, it’s better to stick with a moderate plan — like a 12- to 14-hour overnight fast — rather than going to extremes, Wright said. After fasting, she recommends focusing on well-balanced meals.
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Several groups of people should be cautioned against fasting, according to Wright, including those with diabetes who are on insulin or hypoglycemic medications, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone with a history of eating disorders and older adults at risk of malnutrition.
Anyone considering intermittent fasting should consult with a doctor before starting.
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More than three million people travel to undergo cosmetic surgery each year, statistics show — but the potential savings come at a cost.
Most people opting to pursue this so-called “medical tourism” are chasing budget-friendly price tags.
International surgeries, such as hair transplants in Turkey, can cost as little as $4,000 to $5,000 compared to $20,000 to $30,000 in the U.S., but often come with extreme risks, according to board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Sheila Nazarian of California.
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The doctor recently joined Lisa Brady on the “The FOX News Rundown” podcast to discuss the rising trend of medical tourism. One of the biggest risks, she said, is the lack of safety regulations in popular destinations like Mexico and Turkey.
As demand spikes in these medical tourism “mills,” there have been reports of non-medically trained staff performing procedures like hair transplants.
Most people opting to pursue “medical tourism” are chasing budget-friendly price tags. (iStock)
“I’ve heard that they [international clinics] are even recruiting people who maybe were taxi drivers and then putting them through their own training program … to become hair transplant technicians,” Nazarian said. “That’s how high the demand has become.”
In the U.S., medical school graduates are granted a “physician and surgeon” license, which means doctors — including pediatricians or OB-GYNs — can legally perform cosmetic surgeries, even if they didn’t receive specialized training for those procedures during residency, Nazarian noted.
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Instead of pinching pennies, the doctor recommended paying whatever amount is necessary to ensure quality treatment.
“People think of it as, you know, going to the mall. … It’s surgery, and surgery has risks,” she said. “You need to be with someone who not only can perform a beautiful surgery, but who can handle possible complications well.”
“You need to ask them: ‘What was your residency training in? And if you wanted to, would you be allowed to do this procedure in a hospital?’”
Aftercare is another critical factor in the success and safety of a cosmetic procedure, as the doctor emphasized that 20% of a surgical result depends on post-operative care.
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This can be difficult or even impossible to manage when a doctor is in a different time zone, she cautioned, or if the clinic disappears shortly after the procedure.
Nazarian also noted the importance of addressing the psychological component of plastic surgery, noting that no procedure will fix underlying unhappiness. The doctor said she uses screening questionnaires to ensure that patients are truly seeking self-improvement rather than a “cure” for deeper issues.
International surgeries, such as hair transplants in Turkey, can cost as little as $4,000 to $5,000 compared to $20,000 to $30,000 in the U.S., but often come with extreme risks. (iStock)
“If you’re not already generally very content with your life, a knife in my hand is not going to bring you there,” Nazarian said.
“The analogy I always give is you don’t want a paisley couch — you want a neutral couch and you can put paisley pillows on it,” she said, noting that a procedure should “make you look normal, God-given, athletic. And then you can change your clothes when the trends come and go.”
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Samuel Golpanian, M.D., a double board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, said he has also seen an increasing number of patients undergoing cosmetic procedures abroad, sometimes with “devastating consequences.”
“The key is being extremely careful before embarking on this journey.”
“I’ve seen a wide range of complications, including infections, poor wound healing, significant scarring and tissue necrosis (skin death),” he told Fox News Digital. “These complications often lead to prolonged pain, ongoing medical problems, and significant additional costs to repair the damage.”
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Golpanian said he’s treated patients who received unsafe or non-medical-grade injectable materials, which can lead to serious long-term health issues.
One surgeon said he’s treated patients who received unsafe or non-medical-grade injectable materials, which can lead to serious long-term health issues. (iStock)
“I’ve also seen damage to underlying structures, asymmetry and results that are extremely difficult — sometimes impossible — to correct.”
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“That said, I’ve also seen some good outcomes, so it’s not all bad,” he noted. “The key is being extremely careful before embarking on this journey.”
Quick tips for safe ‘medical tourism’
Fully vet the surgeon. “Most surgeons will provide information about their education and training, but it’s important not to accept these claims at face value,” Golpanian said. “Verify them directly by contacting the institutions where they trained.”
Ask for references from prior patients. Ideally, it’s best to get references from U.S.-based patients who can speak candidly about both their experience and their results, the surgeonsaid.
Think beyond the cost. Golpanian emphasized the adage “you get what you pay for.” “Cost should take a back seat to experience, training, judgment and proven results,” he advised.
Be cautious about relying on before-and-after photos. These can be selective or even enhanced, Golpanian warned.
Keep aftercare in focus. “Make sure the practice emphasizes comprehensive follow-up care and has a clear, realistic post-operative plan in place.”
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