What is menopause?

Menopause is defined as the state of an absence of menstrual periods for 12 months. The menopausal transition starts with varying menstrual cycle length and ends with the final menstrual period. Perimenopause means "the time around menopause" and is often used to refer to the menopausal transitional period. It is not officially a medical term, but is sometimes used to explain certain aspects of the menopause transition in lay terms. Postmenopause is the entire period of time that comes after the last menstrual period.
Menopause is the time in a woman's life when the function of the ovaries ceases. The ovary (female gonad), is one of a pair of reproductive glands in women. They are located in the pelvis, one on each side of the uterus. Each ovary is about the size and shape of an almond. The ovaries produce eggs (ova) and female hormones such as estrogen. During each monthly menstrual cycle, an egg is released from one ovary. The egg travels from the ovary through a Fallopian tube to the uterus.
The ovaries are the main source of female hormones, which control the development of female body characteristics such as the breasts, body shape, and body hair. The hormones also regulate the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Estrogens also protect the bone. Therefore, a woman can develop osteoporosis (thinning of bone) later in life when her ovaries do not produce adequate estrogen.
Perimenopause is different for each woman. Scientists are still trying to identify all the factors that initiate and influence this transition period.

At what age does a woman typically reach menopause?

The average age of menopause is 51 years old. But there is no way to predict when an individual woman will enter menopause. The age at which a woman starts having menstrual periods is also not related to the age of menopause onset. Most women reach menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, but menopause may occur as earlier as the 30s or 40s or may not occur until a woman reaches her 60s. As a rough "rule of thumb," women tend to undergo menopause at an age similar to that of their mothers.
Perimenopause, often accompanied by irregularities in the menstrual cycle along with the typical symptoms of early menopause, can begin up to 10 years prior to the last menstrual period.

The Impact of Infectious Diseases

Diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites are major causes of death, disability, and social and economic disruption for millions of people.^1-3 Despite the existence of safe and effective interventions, many people lack access to needed prevention methods and treatment. The lost productivity, missed educational opportunities and high health care costs caused by infectious diseases directly impact families and communities.

Infections are prevalent in developing countries, where co-infection is common. The adverse impact of infectious diseases is most severe among the poorest people, who have the fewest resources to draw from and limited or no access to integrated health care, prevention tools and medications.

Emerging, re-emerging, and novel infections increase awareness of our global vulnerability, highlight the borderless impact of disease and underscore the need for strong health care systems.⁴

• Approximately 15 million people die each year due to infectious diseases – nearly all live in developing countries.¹
  
  
  • Children are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria are leading causes of death among children under age 5; cerebral malaria can cause permanent mental impairment.^{3, 4, 6}
    
  • Infectious diseases are also destructive to the health of adults, causing disability, a diminished quality of life, decreased productivity or death.
  
• Co-infection. People infected with one infectious disease become more susceptible to other diseases. For example, people living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to become ill from tuberculosis or malaria. Because some neglected diseases share common risk factors, people are often infected with multiple neglected diseases at the same time.^7-9
  
• Interventions. Illness and death from infectious diseases are particularly tragic because they are largely preventable and treatable with available interventions.
  
• Progress. Recent advances against infectious diseases include:
  
  
  • Efforts to achieve the sixth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which focuses on stopping and reversing the spread of infectious diseases by 2015.¹⁰
    
  • Regional accomplishments, such as:
    
    
    • A 92 percent reduction in deaths resulting from measles in Africa and a 93 percent reduction in the Eastern Mediterranean between 2000 and 2008.¹¹
    • In Southeast Asia, an increase in successfully treated tuberculosis cases from 33 percent to 88 percent between 1995 and 2007.¹²
    • The near eradication of polio and guinea worm disease, and lower prevalence of several other tropical diseases over the past few decades.^{9, 13}
    
  • A renewed interest in the research and development of new diagnostics, vaccines and drug treatments.^{14, 17}
  
  
• Increased funding could help eradicate, eliminate and control diseases, preventing millions of deaths and improving the lives of many millions more.¹⁸