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Quantifying the quality of health aid

In this post on the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at CGD, and Denizhan Duran, a research assistant in global health policy at CGD, describe a paper they wrote in which they try to determine "which donor provides the 'best' health aid, and why this is a relevant question."

10 Feb 2012

UofL to receive Grand Challenges tuberculosis biomarkers grant

The University of Louisville announced today that it will receive a tuberculosis (TB) biomarkers grant through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program, an initiative which seeks to overcome persistent bottlenecks in creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world. James E. Graham, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the UofL School of Medicine, will pursue an innovative research project to identify and validate TB biomarkers, titled "Disposable Sampling Plate and Breath Test to Identify Patients with Active Tuberculosis."

10 Feb 2012

Administration officials announce new initiatives to promote innovations in global development

In a White House briefing on Wednesday, "senior Administration officials announced a series of new initiatives to promote game-changing innovations to solve long-standing development challenges" in response to President Obama's "call to harness science technology, and innovation to spark global development," Gayle Smith, special assistant to the president, and Tom Kalil, senior adviser for science, technology, and innovation, write in this post in the White House Blog.

10 Feb 2012

Forsyth Institute to receive TB biomarkers grant from Gates Foundation

The Forsyth Institute announced today that it will receive a tuberculosis (TB) biomarkers grant through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program, an initiative which seeks to overcome persistent bottlenecks in creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world.

10 Feb 2012

Grand Challenges Canada announces 15 grants to support rising stars in global health

Grand Challenges Canada today announced 15 grants valued in total at more than $1.5 million awarded to some of Canada's most creative innovators from across the country in support of their work to improve global health conditions.

10 Feb 2012

International Congress on Nursing Informatics to be held June 23-27

Informatics leaders, practitioners and other members of the healthcare community will convene June 23-27, 2012, in Montreal, Canada, for the 11th International Congress on Nursing Informatics (NI2012). The Congress gives participants from across the world a forum to discuss the impact of informatics on patient care improvement, global health, professional practice, health policy and research.

10 Feb 2012

SomaLogic to receive TB biomarkers grant from Gates Foundation

SomaLogic, Inc., announced today that it will receive a tuberculosis (TB) biomarkers grant through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program, an initiative that seeks to overcome persistent bottlenecks in creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world.

10 Feb 2012

State Department, USAID blog posts support elimination of FGM/C

In support of the ninth annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, and David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, outline several examples of U.S. advocacy and funding related to stopping the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in this post on the State Department's "DipNote" blog.

8 Feb 2012

Debate continues over needle/syringe exchange programs

Matt Fisher, a research assistant at the Center for Strategic & International Studies' Global Health Policy Center, summarizes the ongoing debate in Congress over needle and syringe exchange programs (NSEPs) in this post on the SmartGlobalHealth.org blog.

8 Feb 2012

Ten innovative public health demonstration projects to receive SAHM grants

The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) will award grants to fund ten innovative public health demonstration projects addressing barriers to vaccination among adolescents. The funding for the projects is supported by a grant to SAHM from Merck & Co. Inc.

8 Feb 2012

Calling for greater protection of health care workers in conflict settings

In this post in IntraHealth International's "Global Health" blog, editorial manager Susanna Smith examines how health care workers operating in areas of conflict are "being used as pawns of warfare."

8 Feb 2012

Closing the 'cancer divide' between developing and developed countries

Noting "there is a huge 'cancer divide' between rich and poor," with more than half of new cancer cases and almost two-thirds of all cancer deaths occurring in developing countries, this year's World Cancer Day theme, "Together It Is Possible," "calls on all individuals, organizations and governments to do their part to reduce premature deaths from cancers by 25 percent by 2025," Felicia Knaul, secretariat for the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, and Jonathan Quick, president of Management Sciences for Health, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.

7 Feb 2012

Supporting scientific evidence under PEPFAR to end AIDS

On Wednesday, several HIV experts spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing "supporting the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program's reliance on scientific evidence to drive its work to end AIDS," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

7 Feb 2012

Analysis looks at cost effectiveness of simultaneously confronting several diseases

The great paradox of global health efforts is that regions of the world most plagued by poverty, poor infrastructure and rampant disease are often the most difficult to support. Now, scientists have demonstrated that confronting several diseases at once can make the most of thinly-stretched donor dollars and national health care budgets, to help to save lives.

4 Feb 2012

Al Jazeera speaks with experts about new NTD initiative

Following the announcement on Monday that 13 pharmaceutical companies, several large non-profit organizations, governments, and U.N. agencies are joining forces to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), Al Jazeera's "Inside Story" interviewed several experts in the field, asking, "Why have these diseases been neglected for so long? And how effective will the new plans be to counter these diseases and, in turn, alleviate poverty? Is the target date of 2020 set by the initiative realistic to wipe out some of the world's deadliest conditions? And what is in it for them?" according to the show's summary.

4 Feb 2012

'Humanosphere' blog examines roles of former President Carter, researcher Foege in fighting NTDs

This post in KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog examines how former President Jimmy Carter gave the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) "a good first shove nearly 30 years ago," writing, "Neglected diseases like river blindness, Guinea worm, parasitic (lymphatic) elephantiasis and schistosomiasis have been in Carter's cross hairs since the mid-1980s."

4 Feb 2012

Knowledge, resources exist to reach maternal, child mortality MDGs in Africa with unified efforts

In this Global Health and Diplomacy opinion piece, Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete examines efforts to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets on maternal and child mortality in Africa, noting, "Although Africa has just 12 percent of the global population, it accounts for half of all maternal deaths and half the deaths of children under five."

3 Feb 2012

Ensure future for Global Fund or 'forfeit' chance at 'AIDS-free generation'

"Beyond AIDS, the Global Fund is currently the largest donor in the world for tuberculosis and malaria programs. ... The question is not whether the Global Fund works, but how to ensure it keeps working for years to come."

3 Feb 2012

Presentation highlights contributions of FBOs to global health

This post on the Center for Strategic & International Studies' "Smart Global Health" blog reports on a presentation hosted by the Global Health Policy Center on Monday which "highlight[ed] the contributions faith-based-organizations (FBOs) make to global health, including the fight against HIV/AIDS."

3 Feb 2012

Opinion pieces discuss bird flu research controversy

In December 2011, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) advised that two research teams that had genetically altered the H5N1 virus to be easily transmissible among ferrets redact some of the research details before publishing in the journals Science and Nature.

3 Feb 2012