News

World Experts to Tackle Infectious Disease Threats

February 14, 2011 (HealthCanal.com) Enhancing the world’s ability to respond to the increasing threat of emerging infectious diseases will be the focus of more than 600 international experts in human, animal and environmental health at the 1st International One Health Congress, beginning today in Melbourne. The concept of ‘One Health’ is a global strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for animals, humans and the environment. The Chair of the Congress’ organising committee, Director of CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory Dr Martyn Jeggo, said the three-day conference provides a forum where the world’s best can debate issues critical to the fight against the threat of new diseases.

Alcohol Kills More Than AIDS, TB or Violence: WHO

February 11, 2011 (Reuters) Rising incomes have triggered more drinking in heavily populated countries in Africa and Asia, including India and South Africa, and binge drinking is a problem in many developed countries, the United Nations agency said. Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking's heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect and job absenteeism, it said. Approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes, the WHO said in its "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health." For related article click here ...

The Fight Against Child Marriage: By Hillary Clinton

February 8, 2011 (US State Dept.) At a recent town hall meeting in Yemen, Hillary Clinton reconnected with two of my heroes. Nujood Ali was just nine years old when she was forced by her own family to marry a man three times her age. As is the case with so many child brides, Nujood had to drop out of school against her will, and she was physically abused. Wanting to find a way out of her misery and suffering, Nujood boarded a bus and found her way to the local courthouse. Everyone towered above her and paid no attention to her until a judge asked the young girl why she was there. Nujood said she wanted a divorce. Female attorney Shada Nasser took Nujood’s case and others like it. Today, thanks to Shada’s work, girls across Yemen have been given their childhoods back. They are back in school, where they belong.

U.N. and Artists Use Music to Promote Maternal Health in Tanzania

February 9, 2011 (UN News)The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has teamed up with a group of artists from the United States and Tanzania to raise awareness, through music, on the need to have better maternal health services in the East African nation, where deaths related to childbearing remain a serious challenge. The collaboration, made possible with the help of the global network of artists known as MDGFive.com, just concluded a three-day music workshop with the production of a song calling for increased attention to maternal health in the country. Goal number 5 of the eight globally agreed anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) calls for the reduction of maternal mortality deaths by three quarters, and the attainment of universal access to reproductive health services by the target date of 2015.

WHO Study Finds Many with High Cholesterol Go Untreated

February 5, 2011 (VOA News) A major study by the World Health Organization shows that most people with high cholesterol levels around the world are not getting the treatment they need, to avoid such serious diseases as heart attacks and strokes. And the authors of the study - the largest ever undertaken - say the problem is especially serious in the developing world. The connection between high cholesterol and heart attacks is not new. But the new global study serves as yet another warning about the growing epidemic of untreated high cholesterol levels, which can cause cardiovascular disease. The study was done on 147 million people - and found an increasing incidence of high levels of cholesterol the world over. Even more worrying, the researchers say, is that many of those patients are going untreated.

World Cancer Day, February 4 and release of ACS Global Cancer Facts & Figures

February 4, 2011 (ACS) This years World Cancer Day is more significant than ever before and today, ACS is releasing its 2nd edition of Global Cancer Facts & Figures with a special focus on Africa.. Many renowned leaders gathered in Davos last week for the World Economic Forum, they said that "2011 is a turning point for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)" including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. These diseases cause more than 60% of the world's deaths, yet they receive less than 3% of private and public funding and are not yet on the global health agenda. New York City will shine a light at sundown to raise global cancer awareness by turning the Empire State Building orange and blue, the UICC's World Cancer Day colors. New York City is especially symbolic because the United Nations will host the first ever High-level Meeting on NCDs this September in conjunction with the U.N. General Assembly. Heads of state will be strongly encouraged to attend this critical two-day meeting where plans will be developed to place these diseases on the global agenda to secure the resources and attention they deserve.

Report Analyzes Funding and Programs in U.S. Global Health Initiative Countries

February 2, 2011 (Kaiser) A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines funding and demographic data for countries receiving support under the Global Health Initiative (GHI), the Obama Administration's six-year effort aimed at improving the health and lives of people in the developing world. The new analysis evaluates data from fiscal year 2010 for six programs in the GHI: HIV/AIDS; TB; malaria; maternal, newborn, and child health; family planning and reproductive health; and nutrition. These six program areas, along with health systems strengthening and neglected tropical diseases, were identified as the key target areas under the GHI when the $63 billion effort was first announced in 2009.

Head of Gates Foundation's Global Health Leaving

February 1, 2011 (AP) The head of the global health program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced he will leave the job in June. Dr. Tachi Yamada has directed the foundation's largest department for five years. Bill Gates said in a statement that Yamada has put the foundation's global health work on a path to success. Gates gives Yamada credit for focusing the foundation's efforts to bring vaccines and other medical help to the people who need it most. During his time in Seattle, the foundation has tripled its financial commitment to fighting the diseases and health problems of the poor. From 1994 to the present, the foundation has made grants totaling more than $13.8 billion in the area of global health. That's more than half the total grants made by the foundation during that time.

 

\Global Health is Important Foreign Policy Issue for 2011

January 5, 2011 (The Hill) Global health was disturbingly absent from “Five key foreign policy issues to watch in the new year” (Jan. 2). Global health policy is at a critical turning point right now with the impending implementation of President Obama’s Global Health Initiative, which will change our fundamental approach to health programs and policy. There are ominous signs global women’s health will be under further attack in the new Congress, with oversight used as a smokescreen. Helping couples delay or space pregnancies — not at all controversial among Americans, who are overwhelmingly users of family planning themselves — is one of the most cost-effective ways to dramatically improve health and sustainability. Unfortunately, these programs are threatened perennially by legislators who see little value in giving women the power to decide when to be pregnant.

 

Japan is on High Alert as a Virus Infiltrates Bird-Heavy Regions

January 3, 2011 (NYTimes) Japanese bird sanctuaries, poultry farms and zoos went on high alert last month after several species of migratory birds in different regions were found dead of what appeared to be H5N1 avian influenza. The virus frightened flu specialists when it resurfaced in Hong Kong in 2003 and quickly spread throughout Asia and along bird migratory routes to Europe and Africa. It has not mutated to spread among humans, though it still kills them occasionally — Egypt reported its 38th death last month. Japan has the largest wild crane wintering site, and the prefecture is the nation’s top poultry-raising area.

 

Cure for HIV? German Doctors Claim to Have Found Treatment to Cure Virus

December 15, 2010. (NYDailyNews.com) Doctors in Germany believe they've cured a man of HIV. Timothy Brown, an American living in Berlin, was given stem-cell therapy and chemotherapy in 2007 to treat leukemia, a condition that developed after he was infected with the AIDS virus. Three years later, doctors believe the 42-year-old has been cured of both cancer and HIV.

 

Management of Mental Disorders: Lesson from India

December 14, 2010. (The Lancet) For remission of depression, care management in primary care is superior to usual treatment. A meta-analysis of 37 collaborative-care trials yielded an overall effect size of 0·25. Depression care management might also prolong life and enhance its quality. Collaborative care for depression entails simple screening and guideline-based management by mental health professionals in primary care, or by general medical nurses who are trained in screening and management, supervised by primary care physicians with psychologists and psychiatrists as needed.

 

The Cost of Malaria-Free World

December 14, 2010. (Reuters) Joe Cohen, a scientist tantalizingly close to delivering the world's first malaria vaccine, is on the stump.  After 23 years of painstaking laboratory work and a program of major trials in seven countries, the 67-year-old biologist says the clinical case for the vaccine is almost proved. It's a breakthrough moment that could save hundreds of thousands of lives, but when it comes to public health in the developing world, Cohen knows hard science is only half the job. The bottom-line question: is the vaccine -- and the global health community's aim of completely eradicating a disease that kills a child every 45 seconds -- really worth the money?

 

The Beginning of the End for Africa's Devastating Meningitis Outbreaks?

December 10, 2010. (Science) Nine years ago, a small group of infectious-disease experts gambled on an unorthodox strategy to make a much-needed—and affordable—vaccine for Africa. Last Monday in Burkina Faso, it paid off in spades with the kickoff of a massive campaign to immunize 20 million people in three African countries against deadly meningococcal meningitis by the end of December. The eventual goal, if the money comes through, is to immunize some 250 million people in 25 countries over the next several years, putting an end to the ferocious epidemics that regularly sweep across Africa's so-called meningitis belt.

 

How effects on health equity are assessed in systematic reviews of interventions.

December 8, 2010. (Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews) Enhancing health equity has now achieved international political importance with endorsement from the World Health Assembly in 2009.  The failure of systematic reviews to consider effects on health equity is cited by decision-makers as a limitation to their ability to inform policy and program decisions.  There is a need for improvement in conceptual clarity about the definition of health equity, describing sufficient detail about analytic approaches (including subgroup analyses) and transparent reporting of judgments required for applicability assessments in order to assess and report effects on health equity in systematic reviews.

 

Colleges are Producing New Style of AIDS Activist

November 30, 2010. College activism, and AIDS activism in particular, is nothing new. On Wednesday, World AIDS Day, students across the nation will participate in speeches, fund-raisers and the like. But a loose-knit band of about two dozen Ivy Leaguers, mostly from Harvard and Yale, is using more confrontational tactics, as well as some high-powered connections, to wangle encounters with top White House officials in a determined, and seemingly successful, effort to get under Mr. Obama’s skin.

 

Malaria Deaths in India May be Much Higher Than Estimated, Study Says

November 25, 2010. A new study claims that malaria kills nearly 13 times more Indians than previously estimated. If confirmed, the findings could call into question the effectiveness of the government's efforts to stem the parasitic disease.

 

World Toilet Day: November 19, 2010

November 19, 2010. World Toilet Day brings attention to the 2.6 billion people worldwide without access to adequate sanitation.  It's a key date to champion the right of people everywhere to somewhere safe, clean and private to dispose of human waste.

 

Corporations Invest in Global Health

November 11, 2010. Less than 10 years ago, Coca-Cola was hiring two workers for every one job opening it had in Africa. That's because "they knew that one would get sick and die," said John Tedstrom, chief executive of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "Talk about high overhead."

Cell Phones Help Save the Lives of Mothers, Infants and Children

November 7, 2010. Simple mobile technology, like basic cell phones, can be used to save the lives of mothers in childbirth, and improve the care of newborns and children, reaching underserved populations in remote areas.

 

China Reports First Cases of South Asian Superbug

October 26, 2010. China said Tuesday it had detected the nation's first three cases of a multi-drug resistant superbug that surfaced in South Asia and has triggered a global health alert, state media reported.

 

Emotional Problems Among Kenyan Youth Linked to Higher Sexual Activity

October 18, 2010. A study of adolescents in rural Kenya found that higher sexual activity is associated with emotional problems. Published in the journal AIDS and Behavior this month, it is among the first studies in sub-Saharan Africa to examine the ways that mental health and adolescents’ relationships with their caregivers may be related to HIV risk behaviors.

 

Dengue Cases In Western Pacific Doubled In Last 10 Years; WHO Says Disease Needs Higher Profile

October 18, 2010. The number of dengue cases "has more than doubled in the last decade" in the Western Pacific, according to the WHO, BBC reports. "National resources need to be mobilized to sustain dengue prevention and control, and the disease's profile needs to be raised on the global health agenda to stimulate the interest of international agencies and donors," said Shin Young-soo, the WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, where the majority of the population at risk of dengue lives.

 

Polio Beyond Politics: US and Islamic Nations Cooperate to Eradicate Childhood Disease

October 15, 2010. Spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has reduced the global incidence of polio by 99 percent. The disease has successfully shrunk from 350,000 cases in 1988 to less than 2,000 cases in 2008.

 

Africa Hails New Meningitis Vaccine

October 14, 2010. For the people in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, a new meningitis vaccine offers hope of an escape from one of the world's deadliest, most disabling and infectious diseases.

 

Poor Countries Neglect Mentally Ill: U.N. Agency

October 7, 2010. (Reuters) - Hundreds of millions of people in poor countries suffer from untreated mental health disorders that could be helped with inexpensive care, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

 

CGH Faculty Associate, Frank Anderson, featured in UMHS News
In-Country OB/GYN Training Programs Contribute to Retention of Doctors

Sept 29, 2010. Ghanaian Obstetrics and Gynecology residents say in-country training programs contributed to their decision to remain in their home country to practice medicine, new University of Michigan research shows.

 

Eve of an HIV Epidemic in Romania

September 20, 2010. With the global community focused on AIDS in Africa, Romania isn't an obvious front line in the fight against HIV. But across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, injecting drug use is driving the world's fastest-growing HIV epidemic.

 

Tuberculosis: Automated Test for Drug-Resistant TB Gives Results in Hours, Not Weeks

September 9, 2010. A new automated test for drug-resistant tuberculosis gives accurate results in two hours instead of four to eight weeks, scientists said last week, and public health officials greeted the news enthusiastically, saying it could greatly speed up diagnosis.

 

New 'Superbug' May Endanger Global Health

September 7, 2010. Japanese experts say they fear an enzyme that turns bacteria into superbugs resistant to antibiotics may be able to similarly affect poisonous bacteria.

 

China Urged to Close Health Gap

August 25, 2010. A new report aims to rebalance the world’s approach to health in developing countries like China, and in particular to revolutionize cancer treatment. Among the recommendations is a call for pharmaceutical companies to lower prices in poor countries for cancer drugs as was done with medicine for the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

 

Clue Found to Why Swine Flu Spread in People

August 5, 2010. The H1N1 swine flu virus underwent a mutation and used a new trick to spread efficiently in people, another signal to help experts predict whether a flu virus can cause a pandemic.

 

Experts Roll Out Malaria Map, Urge Mosquito Study

August 3, 2010. Nearly 3 billion people, or two-fifths of the world's population, were at risk of contracting malaria in 2009 and closer study of the mosquito's life cycle is needed to combat the disease, researchers said in two reports.

 

100 Legislators Call on Obama to Increase Global Fund Contribution

August 2, 2010. Last week, 100 House members joined Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) in sending a letter to President Obama encouraging him to make a three-year commitment of at least $6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

 

Increasing Access to Health Workers in Remote and Rural Areas Through Improved Retention

July, 2010, WHO. Globally, approximately one half of the population lives in rural areas, but less than 38% of the nurses and less than 25% of the physicians work there. While getting and keeping health workers in rural and remote areas is a challenge for all countries, the situation is worse in the 57 countries that have an absolute shortage of health workers.

 

Congo, Where So Many Children Die Bearing Children

July 28, 2010. The Congo is a difficult place to be born, or borne — as in utero. Dangerous for the baby, dangerous for the mother and dangerous for the first five years of life — a dismal mortality rate shared with many nations in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Preventing Mother-To-Child Transmission Of HIV Is Critical To Achieving Millennium Development Goals In Africa

July 28, 2010. Investing in the health of women and children was the focus of the high-level Summit of the African Union held 25-27 July in Kampala, Uganda. The meeting, attended by more than 35 Heads of State and politicians, highlighted progress and challenges in advancing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, which call for reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

 

Ultra Rice: Whatcom County Invention Holds Hope for Health

July 24, 2010. A simple bowl of white rice sits on a conference table inside the Seattle headquarters of global-health nonprofit PATH. What looks and tastes like ordinary rice is actually the product of two decades of research and development.

 

GLOBAL: Seven Strategies for Smarter HIV Programmes

July 22, 2010. Speaking at the International AIDS Conference earlier this week, former US President Bill Clinton told delegates that the credit crunch meant HIV programmes would need to work “faster, better and cheaper”.

 

North Korea Facing Health and Food Crisis, says Amnesty International

July 15, 2010. A desperate picture of the health of North Korea's population is painted by a report describing a country of stunted children, where the hungry eat poisonous plants and pigfeed, amputations are conducted without anaesthetic and doctors are paid in cigarettes.

 

Palliative Care Lacking in Much of the World

July 14, 2010. Most people who are dying around the world have inadequate or no access to painkillers, hospice and palliative care, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

 

Antibiotics Could Help Control Malaria--Study

July 14, 2010. People at high risk of malaria may benefit from taking a cocktail of antibiotics as a preventative step, according to the results of a study in mice.

 

Improving Global Health: Five Engineering Strategies

July 13, 2010. After researching more than 600 health-related technologies and traveling to Nicaragua to observe medical care there, University of Michigan graduate students have identified five keys to developing sustainable health technologies in resource-limited settings such as developing nations.

 

Improving Healthcare In Zambia

July 9, 2010. The United States is committing nearly $90 million to strengthen Zambia's health care system. "This new program, which emphasizes training and capacity building of the healthcare sector, will provide confidence and hope to millions of Zambians,' said U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires Michael Koplovsky.

 

Neglected Tropical Diseases

July 8, 2010. Over one billion people, about one-sixth of the world’s population, are infected with one or more neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

 

More Than Two Billion People Worldwide Lack Access to Surgical Services

July 7, 2010. Operating theatres and essential surgical equipment often unavailable in developing regions. More than two billion people worldwide do not have adequate access to surgical treatment, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

 

The Razor and the Damage Done: Female Genital Mutilation in Kurdish Iraq

July 5, 2010. Mixture of motives persuades villages to maintain practice that often leaves lasting effects on young girls.

 

Senate Hearing Examines FDA’s Role in Advancing New Tools for Global Health

June 29, 2010. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a crucial role in facilitating the introduction of health tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases that affect millions of people worldwide every year. On June 23, a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations held a hearing to discuss this role, specifically the FDA’s review process for products to treat neglected tropical diseases and rare conditions.

 

Lancet Features Issue on Global Diabetes

June 25, 2010. Since 2000, the number of people with diabetes has more than doubled, and an increasing majority live in low and middle income countries.

 

World Day Against Child Labour

June 12, 2010. Hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights. The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 as a way to highlight the plight of these children.

 

Gates Foundation Gives $1.5 Bln for Women's Health

June 7, 2010. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $1.5 billion on Monday in a joint push with the United Nations to improve the health of women and children, while launching a lobbying effort to get governments and other non-profit groups on board.

 

Call for abstracts: The Lancet Conference on HPV and Cancer 2010

The Lancet Oncology invites authors to submit abstracts for the Poster Sessions. The deadline for abstract submission is July 4, 2010. Abstracts should describe any original research that advances or illuminates clinical practice in HPV-associated cancers.

 

Women Deliver: Lancet Special Issue on Women and Children

June 4, 2010. Large numbers of the public remain unaware of the health issues facing women and children. A themed issue of The Lancet covers a range of global issues on maternal, child, and newborn health.

 

Sharing Health Data: Developing Country Perspectives

June, 2010. Sharing data is not only about the technical dimension such as data management, repositories and libraries; developing countries are concerned about factors that impede data sharing, in particular, fairness.

 

Failing to Deliver: The Rich Countries Will Not Meet Their Targets for Aid to Africa

May 27, 2010. In the Scottish golfing hotel at Gleneagles in 2005, the governments of the G7 club of rich countries promised with much fanfare to raise their combined aid to sub-Saharan Africa. But they are dismally failing to do so.

 

Stemming the Brain Drain of Health-Care Workers from Developing Countries

May 28, 2010. Last week, international health leaders meeting at the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva made history by endorsing new guidelines to prevent health-worker brain drain from developing countries.

 

Dad Says Smoking Toddler is ‘Addicted’

May 26, 2010. A video of smoking toddler is sparking outrage on the web. When the clip of 2-year-old Sumatran Ardi Rizal puffing away surfaced on YouTube Wednesday, it spread to online social media like, well, fire.

 

Telemedicine Transforming Rural India

May 25, 2010. Eye doctors in India are now able to treat patients in remote villages thanks to a new wi-fi video conferencing network. In this eye clinic in Andipatti village in Tamil Nadu state, patients are seeing things a little differently.

 

Polio Outbreak Spreads in Tajikistan, WHO Warns

May 18, 2010. A polio outbreak in Tajikistan has spread, with 108 confirmed cases among children, and more expected, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

 

Battle to Control TB Has Failed, Experts Say

May 18, 2010. Global efforts to control tuberculosis have failed and radical new approaches are needed, experts said Wednesday. With more than 9 million people infected last year, including 2 million deaths, officials say there is more tuberculosis now than at any other time in history.

 

CARE Celebrates the Introduction of the Global MOMS Act in U.S. House of Representatives

May 12, 2010. CARE applauds the leadership of Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) who last night introduced the Improvements in Global Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes While Maximizing Successes Act in the United States House of Representatives. If passed, this legislation – also known as the GLOBAL MOMS Act – would improve access to life-saving care for women and infants around the world, including skilled medical assistance, family planning information and services.

 

Benefits of Prenatal Vitamin A Last a Decade: Study

May 12, 2010. Lung capacity was about 3 percent higher in children whose mothers took vitamin A compared to those whose mothers received a placebo, the study of 1,371 children in Nepal showed.

 

New Children's Medicine Guide Released by UNICEF and WHO

April 29, 2010. Geneva -- A new publication that lists medicines formulated for children is being made available online by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, to help doctors and organizations obtain some of the 240 essential medicines that can save the lives of children.

 

AIDS Programs Hit Setbacks in Africa

April 27, 2010. One year ago, Obama unveiled a new $63 billion global health initiative. So why are advocacy groups raising the alarm about HIV treatment shortages?

 

One-child Rule May be Eased in China

April 26, 2010. For years, China curbed its once-explosive population growth with a widely hated one-child limit that at its peak led to forced abortions, sterilizations and even infanticide. Now the long-sacrosanct policy may be on its way out, as some demographers warn that China is facing the opposite problem: not enough babies.

 

South Africa Redoubles Efforts Against AIDS

April 25, 2010. South Africa, trying to overcome years of denial and delay in confronting its monumental AIDS crisis, is now in the midst of a feverish buildup of testing, treatment and prevention that United Nations officials say is the largest and fastest expansion of AIDS services ever attempted by any nation.

 

Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, Drugs and HIV -- Let's Get Rational

April 2010. Armed with bracing logic, wit and her "public-health nerd" glasses, Elizabeth Pisani reveals the myriad of inconsistencies in today's political systems that prevent our dollars from effectively fighting the spread of HIV. Her research with at-risk populations -- from junkies in prison to sex workers on the street in Cambodia -- demonstrates the sometimes counter-intuitive measures that could stall the spread of this devastating disease.

 

African Trials Registry Launches Child Strategy

April 24, 2010 An African initiative to improve the regulation of clinical trials on the continent has launched a new strategy to safeguard children involved in such research. Adele Baleta reports from Cape Town.The likelihood of more child-focused clinical trials being undertaken in Africa against a backdrop of scant regulation and monitoring has led to an initiative to ensure a better deal for children in Africa and globally.

 

How the Icelandic Volcanic Ash May Affect Human Health

April 19, 2010. How the volcanic ash that has suspended many flights affect the health of the humans living near the volcano.

 

India Has More Cell Phones Than Toilets: UN report

April 15, 2010. Far more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet, according to a UN study on how to improve sanitation levels globally. India's mobile subscribers totalled 563.73 million at the last count, enough to serve nearly half of the country's 1.2 billion population. But just 366 million people - around a third of the population - had access to proper sanitation in 2008, said the study published by the United Nations University, a UN think-tank.

 

2 Maternal Death Reports in Sharp Conflict

The number of women dying worldwide in childbirth has dropped dramatically, according to a British medical journal that says it was under pressure to delay its findings until after UN meetings this week on public health funding. A separate report by a group headed by the United Nations reached a different conclusion on maternal mortality, saying the figure remains steady at about 500,000 deaths a year.

 

Poverty Can Slow Kids' Normal Development

April 12, 2010. The effects of poverty -- from crowded housing to insufficient heat and an uncertain diet -- combine to lower the chances that infants and toddlers will be healthy and grow normally, new research suggests.

 

Keystone Symposium in Global Health: Call for abstracts, scholarship and travel award applications

The Keystone Symposia Global Health Series presents a conference on Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination, in Seattle, WA USA on Oct 27 - Nov 1, 2010. Keystone offers scholarships to students and post-docs, and global health travel awards for scientists, physicians, fellows, or students from countries where the meeting topic health problems are indigenous. Abstracts and scholarship applications due: June 28 / travel award applications due: June 1, 2010.

 

World Health Day: 1000 Cities, 1000 Lives

This year’s World Health Day campaign “1000 cities, 1000 lives” calls upon cities to open up public spaces for health activities for one day during the week of 7–11 April 2010. Many cities have planned activities such as closing off portions of streets to motorized traffic, town hall meetings with mayors, clean up-campaigns and events that promote social solidarity.

 

Calling Young Researchers

The First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research together with the Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet announce an essay competition for the under-30s on the theme Health systems research: towards universal coverage. Deadline for entries: May 17, 2010.

 

Kevin Bales: How to Combat Modern Slavery

March 2010. In this moving yet pragmatic talk, Kevin Bales explains the business of modern slavery, a multibillion-dollar economy that underpins some of the worst industries on earth.

 

Air Quality in Hong Kong Seen as Possible Liability

March 31, 2010. The air breathed by Hong Kong’s 7 million residents is three times more polluted than New York’s and more than twice as bad as London’s. And when one applies the standards of the World Health Organization, Hong Kong’s air is healthy only 41 days per year, they say.

 

Two Groups Push for Health Funds

March 29, 2010. Two global health organizations on Friday began an effort to raise as much as $24 billion from members of the Group of 20 nations that will test whether a major push begun a decade ago against infectious diseases can survive the global recession.

 

Preventing road deaths - PLoS Medicine focus

March 30, 2010. In keeping with scope of PLoS Medicine to prioritize studies on all factors that contribute substantially to morbidity and mortality worldwide, this month the PLoS Medicine editors call for better data to support policy changes that could reduce the global burden of death and injury that results from road traffic crashes.

 

GAVI Alliance Announces Agreement With Pharmaceutical Firms to Provide Low-Cost Vaccines

March 25, 2010. The GAVI Alliance announced an agreement with two major pharmaceutical firms to provide vaccines that help protect against pneumococcal disease at a significantly reduced price to millions of infants and young children in the world's poorest countries.

 

New Online Portal Aims To Comprehensively Track Global Aid Flow

March 25, 2010.  "A new online information portal on aid flows around the world" aims to improve transparency and prevent billions of dollars in international aid from being misused, according to academics and aid officials who launched the tool at a conference.

 

World Tuberculosis Day

World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in the third world.

 

Call for papers on health-related MDGs

The Lancet is issuing a call for papers on progress made towards achieving the health-related MDGs. They are especially interested in receiving original research, country case-studies, programme evaluations, and health-policy papers that will help build the evidence base to accelerate efforts towards 2015. All articles must be received online by June 25, 2010.

 

Dental Care or Die

March 18, 2010.  Women with gum disease are almost three times more likely to give birth prematurely than those with healthy gums, according to more than a decade of research. But scientists are still uncertain how significant a risk dental bacteria is to healthy pregnancies – or how to save foetuses from potentially deadly exposure.

 

Access to Safe Drinking Water Improving; Sanitation Needs Greater Efforts

March 14, 2010. The world is on track to meet or even exceed the drinking-water target of the Millennium Development Goals, according to the new WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme report. However, almost 39% of the world’s population or over 2.6 billion people live without improved sanitation facilities.

 

The role of academic health science systems in the transformation of medicine

March 13, 2010.  This Viewpoint draws attention to the potential of academic organisations in leading the transformation of medicine through the development of a discovery-care continuum—a network to disseminate knowledge and innovations globally.

 

Rural Haiti Struggles to Absorb Displaced

March 16, 2010.  Life has come full circle for many Haitians who originally migrated to escape the grinding poverty of the countryside. After the earthquake, more than 600,000 returned to the countryside, according to the government, putting a serious strain on desperately poor communities that have received little emergency assistance.

 

India:  Tobacco warnings go explicit

March 11, 2010. Pictorial warnings on tobacco products are set to get scarier. Tobacco products will now carry pictures of mouth cancer, showing rotting teeth and lips.

 

MacArthur Provides $2.2 Million to Support Long-Term Relief Efforts in Haiti

March 11, 2010. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is investing nearly $2.2 million to support relief and reconstruction efforts in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake. The grants will primarily help address long-range needs in the areas of health and communications.

 

March 8 is International Women's Day

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All".

 

Call for Young Health Researchers

This year, The Lancet and the Global Forum for Health Research are teaming up with the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research to launch an essay competition for young researchers. The theme of the competition is “health-systems research: towards universal health coverage”.

 

South Africa: Preparing for the worst

Mar 1, 2010. When a crisis strikes, access to antiretroviral drugs can be among the first casualties, particularly in countries where many people are on treatment. New research by the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division at South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal compared three recent crises that caused treatment disruption - Mozambique's 2008 floods, Zimbabwe's ongoing public healthcare crisis, and South Africa's 2007 public sector strike – to identify potential strategies for keeping patients on treatment during emergencies.

 

Communities in Peril Report on Pesticide Hazards in Asia Released

February 25, 2010. The use of some pesticides in Asian countries has exposed communities across the region to unacceptably high health risks, according to a study conducted by the international Pesticide Action Network. PAN is urging countries to make huge efforts to implement international regulations on pesticides and stop the registration of pesticides that require personal protective equipment.

 

Early Arrival of Meningitis 'Alarming'

February 22, 2010. A meningitis epidemic has struck earlier than usual and is spreading across sub-Saharan Africa's "meningitis belt" from Senegal to Ethiopia, according to health ministries in the region. As of 7 February, health ministries in high-risk countries reported 2,298 cases, with a 13-percent fatality rate.

 

What is "Global Health"?  Debate continues

February 13, 2010.  "Global health and public health are indistinguishable," contends the authors of this week's Lancet commentary. Controversy over this topic continues.

 

Global Health Technologies Coalition Applauds White House Budget Proposal

February 16, 2010.  President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal clearly demonstrates that the White House is committed to research and development and global health issues by increasing funding for several key US agencies.

 

Humanitarian system gets a “B-minus”

February 8, 2010.  The emergency aid industry has improved but must try harder, according to the broadest ever assessment of its performance. The latest analysis showed that aid on the whole was becoming more efficient, better coordinated, and timelier. But many shortcomings remain intractable. A number of aid sectors continue to be neglected year in and year out, among them: protection, early recovery, emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction.

 

Civilian-military coordination works, despite challenges

Jan 27, 2010.  Haiti is the latest example of humanitarian agencies and the military working together to provide relief after a disaster – and lessons are still being learnt.

 

 

 

Haiti earthquake: The emergency response

January 13, 2010 -- The severe earthquake that struck Haiti and the Dominican Republic has inflicted large-scale damage, including to hospitals and health facilities. This podcast features WHO experts discussing the situation and the emergency health response.

 

 

Dr. Sofia Merajver is the new director of the UM Center for Global Health, effective January 1, 2010

Dr. Sofia Merajver is Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.  She is also Director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk and Evaluation Program and Co-Director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the University of Michigan.  Her research interests are in molecular genetics of breast cancer, gene function, cancer risk assessment, international breast cancer research, and prevention. Dr. Merajver’s significant international activities have evolved from her own professional and cultural connections to Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America. To read more about Dr. Merajver’s background and research, go to http://www.med.umich.edu/merajverlab/.

 

US lifts ban on HIV-positive travelers

November 1, 2009. UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed US President Barack Obama's removal of a decades-old travel ban on HIV-positive visitors, and urged other countries to do the same. "If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," President Obama said.

 

Public Health Foundation of India and Pfizer Announce Joint Health Systems Strengthening Initiative

October 26, 2009. The Public Health Foundaiton of India, led by CGH External Advisory Committee member Sinrath Reddy, will work with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, on several initiatives to strengthen public health through education, training, research, community empowerment and improve access to health services in India.

 

Disease warning as Philippines awaits Typhoon Lupit

Oct 19, 2009. Still reeling from Ketsana and Parma, the Phillipines brace for a third storm, Typhoon Lupit, due to hit on Oct 22. Relief workers worry the situation is a communicable disease disaster in the making.

 

 

Cholera returns to Zimbabwe

October 20, 2009. Five people have died from cholera at two different locations in Zimbabwe, and 30 other people are undergoing treatment for the waterborne disease, raising the specter of another epidemic.

 

mHealth Summit

Mobile technologies hold promise for playing a crucial, strategic role in reducing health disparities around the world, but there is limited research that gauges their current efficacy and which could accelerate their successful use. This event will bring together researchers, policy-makers, collaborators and visionaries from around the world to exchange ideas, novel approaches, research and findings surrounding mHealth issues both in the US and in developing countries. Live webcast: October 29-30, 2009.

 

World Food Day

October 16, 2009. World Food Day is an annual worldwide event designed to increase awareness, understanding and informed, year-around action to alleviate hunger. World Food Day events take place at local, state, national and international levels.  Events will be posted between now and World Food Day.  Look for an event in your area. 

New Delhi to Have a Public Health University

Oct 2, 2009. The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), led by CGH EAC member K. Srinath Reddy, will work to establish a public health university and an Indian Institute of Public Health in New Delhi. This endeavor, a brainchild of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, received 51 acres of land from Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit last Friday.

First World Health Summit

Oct 14-18, 2009, Berlin. This event will bring together researchers, physicians, leading government officials and representatives from industry as well as from non-governmental organizations and health care systems. It aims to address the most pressing issues that medicine and health care systems will face over the next decade and beyond and to develop cogent and timely responses regarding the health of populations worldwide.

 

CABI Global Summit: Food Security in a Climate of Change

Oct 19-21, 2009. The CABI Global Summit will bring together government officials and major funding, development, and private organizations to consider policies, practices and technologies that can help improve food security against a background of environmental change.

Africa: Great Leap Forward on Free Healthcare

Sept 24, 2009. A taskforce on International Innovative Finance for Health Systems unveiled a $5.3 billion package to roll back user fees in Malawi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nepal, and Burundi. The taskforce was co-chaired by the President of the World Bank and the Prime Minister of the UK.

Child mortality down, not enough to meet MDG

September 10, 2009. Although recent data shows a 28 per cent decline in the under-five mortality rate from 1990 to 2008, the global rate of improvement is still insufficient to reach the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

 

Enhancing HIV Prevention Programs through Evidence-Based Practices

PATH and the Canadian International Development Agency
This initiative's main objective is to avert HIV infections in high-risk populations in a cost-effective manner. PATH encourages applications from a range of institutions and projects that focus on low and middle-income countries. See the request for Letters of Interest for more information.

 

International Guidelines on Sexuality Education spurs controversy

September 4, 2009. An attempt to help educators around the world develop sex-education programmes has become bogged down in controversy.  The document makes recommendations based on a review of 87 published studies. Critics have rebuked suggestions that teachers discuss such topics as homosexuality, abortion, contraception, and gender-based violence.

Economic recession has resulted in increased malnutrition, death in Africa

September 1, 2009. A recent UN report shows that the global economic crisis has resulted in increased malnutrition and death among Africa's children. At the same time, the crisis has weakened governments' ability to provide social safety nets. Global leaders meeting in Pittsburg, USA, later this month will discuss strategies to protect the world's most vulnerable.

First Global Status Report on Road Safety released in Panama

August 21, 2009 According to the report, over 1.2 million people die and 20-50 million are injured on the world's roadways each year, where over 90% of those killed are in low- and middle-income countries. This report represents the first-ever assessment of global road safety, encompassing 178 countries.

 

Collins says Global Health is One of his Top Priorities

New NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins singled out global health as one of five areas he wants to focus on during his tenure, citing it as an example of "soft power" the United States cannot afford to pass up.

 

 

 

World Water Week in Stockholm: August 16-22, 2009

The World Water Week in Stockholm is an annual meeting place for the planet’s urgent water-related issues, bringing together experts, practitioners, decision makers and leaders from around the globe to exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions.

 

 

Male circumcision rollout a long way off – How much does this help in the transmission of HIV?

July 25, 2009. Providing male circumcision as an HIV prevention measure in Zimbabwe’s state hospitals is off to a very slow start, and experts cite the country’s crippled health sector as the main reason for the delay.

 

 

Sri Lanka in Grip of Dengue Epidemic

July 21, 2009. Sri Lankan authorities have reported over 18,000 cases and 190 deaths due to dengue in 2009, representing a sharp increase from 2008. Health authorities continue to carry out extensive public awareness and mosquito-control campaigns.

 

 

 

GAVI, Sweden, Netherlands Withdraw Health Funding from Zambia

July 15, 2009. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Netherlands have suspended funding to the Zambia Ministry of Health, following recent revelations of corruption. Professor Nkandu Luo, former health minister, encourages Zambians to demand a national response.

Dhaka Rivers Threaten Health of Residents

July 12, 2009. The rivers surrounding Dhaka, which supported a healthy fishing industry just 2 decades ago, are now biologically dead. Industrial dumpting is the primary culprit; with chemical pollutants such as ammonia, aluminum, cadmium, lead, and mercury being dumped daily into the rivers by thousands of small and medium factories in the area. Experts warn that any physical contact with the water is potentially hazardous.

 

 

UN Refugee Agency forced to cut services to Iraqi refugee