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UTA chemist to develop simple, paper-based test for drug-resistant TB

Developing a simple, paper-based test for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is the goal of a University of Texas at Austin chemist, whose project just received a $1.6 million point-of-care diagnostics grant through Grand Challenges in Global Health, an initiative created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

23 Dec 2011

Examining the proposed federal global health appropriations

In this post on the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Denizhan Duran and Amanda Glassman of CGD review the proposed FY12 federal global health appropriation approved recently by Congress.

22 Dec 2011

Guardian podcast examines development issues of 2011, outlook for 2012

This Guardian "Global Development" podcast looks back at development issues in 2011 and asks "what the big development stories might be in 2012," examining the impact of the economic crisis on developing countries and the outlook for future global health funding.

22 Dec 2011

Report outlines steps for transition of PEPFAR service delivery to S. African government

The Center for Strategic & International Studies' "Smart Global Health" blog highlights a report called "Terra Nova: How to Achieve a Successful PEPFAR Transition in South Africa," writing, "The United States and South Africa are negotiating a complex, multi-year handoff that will shift financial and managerial responsibilities for HIV/AIDS to the South African government and move the United States away from direct service delivery and into technical assistance.

22 Dec 2011

Research into how flying fox spreads infectious diseases

The flying fox is an adorable doe-eyed bat with a dark side - it is the perfect vector for emerging infectious diseases from Asia. Susan Tsang, a PhD student in ecology and evolutionary biology at The City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center, turned to a revolutionary way to help fund her research into how this species spreads disease.

21 Dec 2011

Examining the impact of USAID-funded Sudan Health Transformation Project

In this post in Management Sciences for Health's (MSH) "Global Health Impact" blog, Erin Polich, a communications consultant with the USAID-funded Sudan Health Transformation Project (SHTP II) working in South Sudan, examines the impact of the project, which is led by MSH in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.

21 Dec 2011

Vacc-4x nasal vaccine can effectively treat HIV

Thirty years after AIDS was first described, there is still no effective vaccine against the HIV virus. Worldwide, roughly 33 million people are HIV-positive. Researchers are working to find out whether a HIV vaccine developed by a Norwegian biotech company can be administered nasally.

21 Dec 2011

UC Davis professor monitors world's hot spots for signs of emerging diseases

It's not a matter of if a worldwide pandemic will strike but when, say experts like veterinarian and epidemiologist Jonna Mazet, a professor in the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology in the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. That's why Mazet, who leads an early warning pandemic system called PREDICT, monitors the world's hot spots, or "hot interfaces" for signs of emerging diseases.

21 Dec 2011

Opinion pieces address federal funding ban on domestic, global health spending for needle-exchange programs

The FY12 Appropriations Agreement recently passed by Congress includes reinstatements of bans on the domestic and international use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs, the Haiwai'i News Daily reports.

21 Dec 2011

Congress passes FY12 spending bill, including funding for global health

"The Senate on Saturday passed the final spending bills for 2012, eliminating the risk of a government shutdown until next fall," National Journal reports. The House passed the measure on Friday, National Journal notes.

20 Dec 2011

OneWorld Health to become PATH affiliate

"PATH and OneWorld Health (OWH) on Friday announced that OWH will become an affiliate of PATH, bringing its drug development expertise and experience in neglected infectious diseases to bear on PATH's mission of improving global health through innovation," according to a PATH press release.

20 Dec 2011

A call for continued investment in global health, development

In this Politico opinion piece, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who chairs the non-profit Hope Through Healing Hands, writes, "Continued investment in the fight to end global AIDS is more than an investment in the lives of families and communities in developing nations -- it is an investment in security, diplomacy and our moral image worldwide."

17 Dec 2011

Vanderbilt to develop low-cost extraction device for people in resource-poor settings

They call it "The Extractionator." The prototype looks like nothing more than a length of clear plastic tubing until you inspect it closely. But it could be the basis of an easy-to-use and low-cost sample collection and preparation system that will help bring the benefits of medical diagnostic testing to the people who live in the poorest areas of the world.

17 Dec 2011

Raising salaries helped reduce health worker migration in Malawi

Mary O'Neil, a principal program associate at Management Sciences for Health (MSH), examines how Malawi has reduced health care worker migration through a program to raise salaries, "with support from the U.K.'s Department for International Development (DFID) and other development partners," in this post in the Global Health Council's Global Health Magazine blog.

16 Dec 2011

Global health aid continues to grow despite recession, report indicates

"Spending to improve health in developing countries has continued to grow during the three-year economic downturn, although at only half the blistering pace it did a decade ago," according to a report by researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the Washington Post reports.

16 Dec 2011

Global Fund releases 'Information Note' on Transitional Funding Mechanism

The Center for Global Health Policy's "ScienceSpeaks" blog reports on a recently released "Information Note" from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "explaining the Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM) that the Fund Board recently decided would replace a Round 11 funding cycle.

16 Dec 2011

Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges to develop new diagnostics for tropical diseases

Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have teamed up on an unprecedented global effort to discover and develop affordable, easy-to-use tools to help developing country health workers rapidly diagnose diseases in rural communities. The expected result: more timely and appropriate treatment of illnesses in poor countries, potentially saving countless lives.

16 Dec 2011

Potential budget cuts threaten U.S. military HIV research program

This post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines how potential budget cuts are threatening the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), "a $175 million program supported by the Department of Defense and other entities that is vulnerable to cuts in the fiscal year 2012 funding battle currently taking place on the Hill."

15 Dec 2011

CSIS High-Level Forum discusses vaccines

The Center for Strategic & International Studies' (CSIS) blog SmartGlobalHealth.org describes the second CSIS High-Level Forum on U.S. Leadership in Global Health, which "placed a focus on vaccines as instruments of U.S. global leadership in pursuit of security and economic interests at home and abroad, in close enduring partnerships with corporations, foundations, multilateral organizations, and other countries."

15 Dec 2011

USAID infographic on how to save 5M children by 2015

USAID provides an infographic describing how, "under President Obama's Global Health Initiative, USAID will work with other global leaders in child health to help save five million children between 2010 and 2015" through targeted interventions for the leading causes of preventable death among children.

14 Dec 2011