So what do you recommend for soccer fever? Paracetamol and aspirin just won’t work! The whole country has gone soccer crazy, and maybe even the whole world!

Painful monthly periods (dysmenorrhoea) is one of the most common gynaecological complaints made by adolescent females, often causing such considerable pain and discomfort that it can interfere with normal every day activities.

Cystitis is a lower urinary tract infection involving inflammation of the bladder or urethra (the tube that transports urine out of the bladder). Cystitis is common in women but rare in men. Cystitis occurs when bacteria pass up along the urethra and enter and multiply within the bladder. As the urethra is much shorter in women than men, the passage of bacteria up the urethra and into the bladder is much easier.

I recently visited a Mall pharmacy because I needed to purchase a bottle of Andolex. As the required product is a S1 item, I queued patiently between the ropes at the pharmacy within the store. By the time I reached the person behind the counter I had already perused the shelf and when requesting it, I pointed to the product on the shelf. The server promptly picked a bottle of Andolex C from the shelf and placed it before me.

Breast milk is the ideal food for newborns. The World Health Organization recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for their first six months. There are many health benefits from breastfeeding for both baby and mother.

When a child develops a fever, it may cause them discomfort and distress and may cause their parents a great deal of concern. Numerous over-the-counter paediatric preparations are available to enable parents to manage a child’s fever at home. In the pharmacy the pharmacist’s assistants can provide useful assistance with the selection of the most appropriate anti-pyretic agent in the most suitable formulation. The pharmacist’s assistant should use every opportunity to educate parents about the correct dosing and safe use of these products as they will most likely be kept in the home to be used at a later date. They will also need to be able to assist parents in determining when it is necessary to take their feverish child to the doctor or to ask the pharmacist for further advice.

The period of intrauterine growth and development is one of the most vulnerable periods in a person’s life and maternal nutrition is an important part of this process. The best way to assure adequate nutrition is to consume a variety of foods in appropriate amounts. However, this may not always be feasible and some women may be at increased risk for dietary deficiencies during pregnancy. Well-nourished women may not need multivitamins to satisfy daily requirements but in the absence of careful evaluation by a nutritionist, many health care professionals recommend them.

Nasal decongestants work by constricting the dilated blood vessels in the nasal mucosa. The nasal membranes are effectively shrunk, so drainage of mucus and breathing are improved while the feeling of nasal stuffiness is relieved. The decongestant effects of topical products containing oxymetazoline or xylometazoline are longer lasting (up to 6 hours) than those of some other preparations e.g. ephedrine or phenylephrine.

The bones in our body are constantly undergoing change, as specialised cells in our bodies are consistently busy building (osteoblasts) and breaking down (osteoclasts) the structure of our bones. Unfortunately, due to the a ging process and various other factors (hormones, diseases, excessive alcohol consumption), the rate at which bone is being broken down can sometimes exceed the rate at which it is built up again, causing bones to become more porous and brittle. This could potentially lead to complications such as osteoporosis, a condition where the bones are so weak that a minor bump can cause a bone to fracture.