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Ugandan civil organizations ask Supreme Court to declare death during childbirth violates women's rights

In an effort to lower the maternal mortality rate in Uganda, activists from more than 50 civil service organizations on Tuesday asked the country's Supreme Court "to declare that women's rights are violated when they die in childbirth," which could help make the government put more resources toward maternal health care and lower the rate of maternal deaths, currently about 100 per week, the Associated Press/Fox News reports.

15 Jun 2012

Opinion pieces, blog posts address Child Survival Call to Action

The governments of the United States, India, and Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNICEF, today are scheduled to launch the Child Survival Call to Action in Washington, D.C., a two-day event that brings together world leaders, public health experts, child health advocates and others in an effort to reduce child mortality to 20 per 1,000 by 2035 worldwide, with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child deaths.

15 Jun 2012

END7 campaign launches tweet chat series

The END7 campaign, a global advocacy campaign run by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) "to raise awareness of the seven most common NTDs and cultivate the resources necessary to end them by 2020," is launching a tweet chat series on Twitter, which aims to bring global health non-governmental organizations together "to ask questions and share tips on social media," a post in the Global Network's "End the Neglect" blog reports.

15 Jun 2012

Sabin initiates novel human hookworm vaccine Phase 1 clinical trial

Today, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, in partnership with the George Washington University and the Children's National Medical Center, began vaccinating participants for a Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel human hookworm vaccine.

14 Jun 2012

Inovio to participate at Marcum Microcap Conference, BIO International Convention

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that Dr. Niranjan Sardesai, COO, will participate on a panel of senior vaccine experts at the 2012 BIO International Convention,the largest global event for the biotechnology industry. Dr. J. Joseph Kim, President and CEO, will present an overview of the company at the Marcum Microcap Conference, which is designed for investors interested in micro-cap companies.

14 Jun 2012

mHealth products, services market in developing countries likely to see more growth than U.S. market, report suggests

"The global market for mobile health [mHealth] products and services is expected to approach $23 billion by 2017, and much of the growth will not happen in the U.S. but rather in less-developed countries, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers [PwC]," MobiHealthNews reports.

14 Jun 2012

If health continues to wane on G8 agenda, a serious void will be left

In this post in the Global Health Governance blog, Jenilee Guebert, director of research for the global health diplomacy program and G8 research group at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, writes that, "for the second year in a row, the amount of attention devoted to global health" at the annual G8 summit, which took place at Camp David in Maryland in May, has declined.

13 Jun 2012

Child Survival Call to Action event signals a 'hopeful moment' in global health

"Helping mothers give birth to HIV-free children is an essential piece of the puzzle of ending preventable child deaths," U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby writes in this post in the AIDS.gov blog, adding, "Yet 390,000 infants around the globe were born with the virus in 2010."

13 Jun 2012

Report makes recommendations for improving allocation of scarce health funding

In this episode of the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Prosperity Wonkcast," Lawrence MacDonald, vice president for communications and policy outreach at the CGD, interviews Amanda Glassman, a research fellow and director of CGD's global health program, about her recent report, Priority Setting in Health: Building Institutions for Smarter Public Spending, which "draws on the expertise of a CGD working group to offer recommendations for improving the allocation of scarce health funding, despite political and bureaucratic constraints."

13 Jun 2012

Investment in global health programs protects national security, promotes economic growth

"Investment in global health programs protects our national security, promotes economic growth, and upholds humanitarian values," Jenny Eaton Dyer, executive director of Hope Through Healing Hands and a member of the Tennessee State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, writes in this opinion piece in the Tennessean.

13 Jun 2012

Newborn babies account for 40% of preventable child deaths, see little global health funding, report says

"Newborns now account for 40 percent of preventable child deaths worldwide, but only a tiny fraction of international aid targets newborns, according to" Save the Children's new report on newborn survival, to be published in the medical journal Health Policy and Planning Tuesday, USA Today reports.

13 Jun 2012

Scientists establish link between autoimmune diseases and nanoparticles

New groundbreaking research by scientists at Trinity College Dublin has found that exposure to nanoparticles can have a serious impact on health, linking it to rheumatoid arthritis and the development of other serious autoimmune diseases.

12 Jun 2012

Peace Corps official reflects on Global Health Service Partnership

In this post in the AIDS.gov blog, Buck Buckingham, director of the Peace Corps Office of Global Health and HIV, reflects on the Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP), launched by Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams in March, writing, "Although this partnership is an exciting innovation for the Peace Corps, the commitment to health which it reflects finds deep roots in our history, as Director Williams described at the launch on March 13."

8 Jun 2012

Study: HIV superinfection may be more common than previously believed

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) superinfection may be as common as initial HIV infection and is not limited to high risk-populations, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

8 Jun 2012

Independent evaluation of PMI presented to U.S. Congress

The Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD) at Boston University on Thursday delivered its report on the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), released in February, to the U.S. Congress, IIP Digital reports, noting the "independent evaluation team finds that the [PMI] has been 'very successful' in reducing children's deaths from the mosquito-borne parasitic disease, but also warns that the program must gear up if those gains are to be sustained."

8 Jun 2012

CSIS publishes report on Advancing Health in Ethiopia

The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Wednesday released a report called "Advancing Health in Ethiopia." The report examines what the U.S. can "realistically expect to achieve in its ongoing engagement in health in Ethiopia" and what the core considerations to guide future U.S. efforts should be, CSIS writes on its website.

8 Jun 2012

Clinical study shows positive effects of CAD106 vaccine against AD

A study led by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden reports for the first time the positive effects of an active vaccine against Alzheimer's disease. The new vaccine, CAD106, can prove a breakthrough in the search for a cure for this seriously debilitating dementia disease. The study is published in the distinguished scientific journal Lancet Neurology.

7 Jun 2012

Arrowhead initiates final IND-enabling steps for ARC-520 to treat HBV

Arrowhead Research Corporation, a targeted therapeutics company, today announced that its hepatitis B virus (HBV) program has completed all internal preclinical requirements and has named a clinical candidate.

7 Jun 2012

Now is the time for new global health framework, experts say

In this opinion piece in Stanford University's "Policy Review," Mark Dybul, a distinguished scholar and the inaugural global health fellow at the George W. Bush Institute; Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, discuss the need for "a structural and philosophical shift" in the global health field, writing, "As we approach the post-[Millennium Development Goal] era, now is the time for a new framework to establish an accelerated trajectory to achieve a healthy world."

6 Jun 2012

STELARA effectively reduces signs and symptoms of active psoriatic arthritis

Patients with active psoriatic arthritis receiving the interleukin (IL)-12/23 inhibitor STELARA (ustekinumab) experienced significant improvements in signs and symptoms of the disease, according to new findings presented today from a Janssen Research & Development, LLC, (Janssen)-sponsored investigational study.

6 Jun 2012