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U of O introduces Refugees and Global Health online program in Canada

All Canadian medical students, residents and practitioners now have full access to an innovative Web-based tool to enhance their understanding of medical care for refugees and new Canadians.

25 Apr 2012

Despite progress in reducing measles deaths, international community falls short of 90% reduction target, study says

The number of deaths from measles fell about 74 percent between 2000 and 2010, from slightly more than 535,000 in 2000 to an estimated 139,200 people worldwide in 2010, "missing an internationally agreed target for a 90 percent fall mainly because of low vaccine coverage in India and Africa where the virus kills tens of thousands a year," Reuters reports.

25 Apr 2012

Report calls on BRICS nations to invest more in global health

In this post on Foreign Policy Association's "Foreign Policy Blogs Network," writer Julia Robinson discusses a recent report showing "the rising profile of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- in health and development assistance and call[ing] upon the group to further their cooperation for better global health in the developing world."

24 Apr 2012

USAID's Shah urges cooperation to improve child health, survival

"Seeing a child die from pneumonia, diarrhea or a mosquito bite is simply unimaginable to most parents. But that is the sad reality for many families each day," USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah writes in a Huffington Post Blog opinion piece, noting, "Last year over seven million children under five died of largely preventable causes."

24 Apr 2012

APS's new journal opens new field of science

The Association for Psychological Science and SAGE announce the launch of Clinical Psychological Science, a new peer-reviewed journal focused on publishing advances in clinical science and providing a venue for cutting-edge research across a wide range of conceptual views, approaches, and topics.

24 Apr 2012

GSMA-mHA Mobile Health Summit to take place in Cape Town, South Africa

The GSMA-mHA Mobile Health Summit will be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa on 29th May – 1st June 2012. Taking advantage of the global reach of the GSMA and mHealth Alliance, this year's summit will demonstrate the commercial scale and sustainability of mobile health initiatives.

21 Apr 2012

Examining links between agricultural development, nutrition

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, the director of global health policy and a research fellow at the center, examines the connection between smallholder farming, agricultural productivity and nutrition. She writes, "For some time now, the food security movement has been stating that improving the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers improves nutritional status."

21 Apr 2012

Evaluating priority setting for health

"When facing a limited budget as most low- and middle-income countries are how can countries best sort multiple priorities into effective, sustainable policies?" Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Kate McQueston, a program coordinator at CGD, ask in the CGD's "Global Health Policy" blog.

21 Apr 2012

UNAIDS welcomes new WHO guidelines for HIV testing, counseling, ART for couples

UNAIDS on Thursday "called on all countries to implement new WHO guidelines that encourage couples to go together for HIV testing to ascertain their status" and recommend offering antiretroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV who have a partner without HIV, "even when they do not require it for their own health," the U.N. News Centre reports.

21 Apr 2012

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Executive Director responds to Washington Post article on clean cookstove research

In a statement published on the website of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Executive Director Radha Muthiah responds to an article published in the Washington Post on Monday, which highlighted the results of a recent MIT/Harvard study on the public health benefits of clean cookstoves.

21 Apr 2012

New wiki of medical devices designed for resource-limited settings

In parts of the world without reliable electricity, a pedal-powered nebulizer could provide life-saving asthma treatments. Small wax-filled sleeping bags could keep premature infants warm. A salad spinner centrifuge for blood samples could help clinicians diagnose anemia.

20 Apr 2012

Blog examines potential effects of AIDS funding cuts, shortfalls

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines a memorandum from the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), distributed "to a targeted list of congressional leaders with jurisdiction over PEPFAR or the appropriations committees that fund it," "that makes the case for continued funding for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program at least at fiscal year (FY) 2012 funding levels."

20 Apr 2012

Guardian blog examines potential impact of Global Fund reform on organization's future

In this post in her Global Health Blog, Guardian Health Editor Sarah Boseley examines the potential impact of reform within the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on the organization's future. She writes, "It's been only seven weeks since banker Gabriel Jaramillo took over as general manager of the fund, but it is already clear the worthy organization set up by Kofi Annan to channel money to treat and prevent diseases in poor countries is a leaner, meaner machine."

20 Apr 2012

Experts discuss interconnectedness of gender issues, family planning, access to safe water

"In the last of its series called '7 Billion: Conversations That Matter,' Aspen Institute's Global Health and Development on Wednesday hosted a panel of experts based in Africa and the United States on the interconnectedness of gender issues, family planning, population, and access to safe water," GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports.

20 Apr 2012

WHO releases guidance on couples testing, counseling, including ART for discordant couples

The WHO on Wednesday released its new 54-page "Guidance on couples HIV testing and counselling, including antiretroviral therapy (ART) for treatment and prevention in serodiscordant couples: Recommendations for a public health approach," according to the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog.

20 Apr 2012

G8 foreign ministers highlight global health, agriculture, nutrition in statement

The ONE blog examines how G8 foreign ministers "will additionally prioritize smart and effective global health, agriculture and nutrition plans at this year's [s]ummit."

19 Apr 2012

Blog posts respond to selection of Jim Yong Kim to lead World Bank

The World Bank on Monday selected U.S.-nominated Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American physician and anthropologist, as its new president. The following is a summary of blog posts and commentary published in response to his election.

19 Apr 2012

CSIS report examines future of global health agenda

In a new report examining the future of the global health agenda, published by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday, J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Center on Global Health Policy and a senior vice president at CSIS, writes, "The naught decade (2000–2009) saw remarkable, explosive growth, concentrated in low- and lower-middle-income countries, in dollars delivered to infectious diseases -- HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, along with maternal and child health, and health systems."

19 Apr 2012

CDC lays out perspective on role of public health institutions in global health systems strengthening

In this article in PLoS Medicine's "Policy Forum," Peter Bloland of the Division of Public Health Systems and Workforce Development at the CDC Center for Global Health, and colleagues "set out the U.S. CDC's perspective on the role of public health institutions in global health system strengthening efforts," according to the article summary.

19 Apr 2012

Global summit on international breast health to take place from Oct. 3-5

Supportive care and quality-of-life issues should be considered essential elements of a multidisciplinary approach to breast cancer treatment at the point of breast cancer diagnosis. However, for women suffering from breast cancer in low- and middle-resource countries and other medically underserved areas around the world, this fundamental area of patient care generally is neglected and misunderstood.

19 Apr 2012