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Cayetano Heredia, UT Southwestern sign five-year affiliation agreement

UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru have signed a five-year affiliation agreement that establishes an exchange program for medical students and related educational opportunities.

6 Dec 2011

Fatal snakebites emerging global threat

Fatal snakebites are a bigger-than-acknowledged global health problem that has been vastly under-reported, according to research presented today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s (ASTMH) annual meeting.

5 Dec 2011

Product Development Partnerships 'essential' in fight against global diseases

"If the momentum gained in the last few years" in fighting global diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, measles, and meningitis "is any indicator of our future trajectory, we are standing on the threshold of a revolutionary change in the state of global health," Wendy Taylor, senior adviser of Innovative Finance and Public Private Partnerships at USAID, and David Cook, executive vice president and COO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI),

3 Dec 2011

Opinion pieces, editorial recognize World AIDS Day

Rear Admiral Susan Blumenthal and Ashley Grosso, Huffington Post's "Impact": Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and Grosso, an Allan Rosenfield fellow at amfAR, outline steps they feel necessary to reach the goal of an AIDS-free generation.

3 Dec 2011

U.S. global AIDS funding faces up to 10% cuts in fiscal 2012

As we approach World AIDS Day, life-saving funding is under attack from multiple fronts, and it couldn't come at a worse time. One of the world's biggest donors, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria canceled its next round of funding, because it couldn't secure enough donations.

2 Dec 2011

CSIS report examines reaching women, girls through GHI in Malawi

A new report by Janet Fleischman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, titled "The Global Health Initiative in Malawi: New Approaches and Challenges to Reaching Women and Girls," examines the U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) in Malawi, stating, "The GHI team in Malawi has identified the health of women and girls, including HIV and family planning (FP)/reproductive health (RH) services, as critical, promising areas for GHI success."

2 Dec 2011

Opinion pieces, editorials recognize World AIDS Day

"This year we will hear that the first AIDS-free generation since the discovery of HIV may be a reality. But we are unlikely to hear what counts. As with every year, we are left more questions than answers," Barrett of Harm Reduction International writes before posing questions about the epidemic to several organizations.

2 Dec 2011

CSIS releases compilation of papers on China's health, foreign aid engagement in Africa

The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) released a compilation of papers "focusing specifically on China's health and foreign aid engagement in Africa," which "includes contributions by U.S. and Chinese experts."

2 Dec 2011

Doctors underestimate worldwide burden of CPA, says public health expert

Researchers have discovered that over a million people worldwide diagnosed with TB go on to develop an incurable but manageable fungal infection which is usually left untreated because it is mistaken for a recurrence of the disease.

2 Dec 2011

Mutation on surface of human red blood cells provides protection against vivax malaria

A mutation on the surface of human red blood cells provides protection against malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax, research led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows.

2 Dec 2011

Cheaper test as effective as a more sophisticated test in guiding anti-retroviral drug treatment

A cheaper laboratory test that helps guide anti-retroviral drug treatment for people with HIV/AIDS may be just as effective as a more sophisticated test, a group of international researchers has found - a discovery that could be particularly important in rural Africa.

2 Dec 2011

South Africa 'witnessing first steps of AIDS-free generation'

In this Business Day opinion piece, Donald Gips, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, examines progress made in the country's fight against HIV/AIDS, writing that, through the coordination of governments, civil society, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), educational institutions, and researchers from around the world, "we now have the tools that allow us for the first time to set the goal of achieving an AIDS-free generation -- when virtually no children are born with the virus; we have effective and comprehensive education and prevention strategies that help to reduce risk; and those who are infected with HIV have access to treatment that helps prevent them from developing AIDS and transmitting the virus."

1 Dec 2011

AIDS 'tipping points' could prompt discussion on effectiveness, efficiency

In this post on the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Jenny Ottenhoff, policy outreach associate at the Center, examines the prospects for U.S. spending on global AIDS programs.

1 Dec 2011

Statens Serum Institut, Aeras initiate new candidate TB vaccine Phase I trial

Statens Serum Institut and Aeras today announce the initiation of the first Phase I clinical trial of a new candidate TB vaccine designed to protect people latently infected with TB from developing active TB disease.

1 Dec 2011

Strengthening family planning services through investment, integration

In this post on Management Sciences for Health's (MSH) "Global Health Impact" blog, MSH President and CEO Jonathan Quick discusses how investing in family planning services and integrating those services into other health care initiatives can save money over the long term and strengthen health systems.

30 Nov 2011

Political will, strong leadership from U.S. needed to end AIDS epidemic

"This Thursday's commemoration of World AIDS Day marks a potential turning point in the fight against a global epidemic that has yet to be arrested," a Detroit Free Press editorial states.

30 Nov 2011

CSIS hosts public launch of USAID Global Health Strategy

The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Monday "hosted the public launch of the new USAID Global Health Strategy to support implementation of the Global Health Initiative," according to its website.

30 Nov 2011

Global Fund postpones Round 11 grants, approves new strategy and organization plan

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to postpone Round 11 grant approval during a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, that concluded on November 22. According to a press release from the Global Fund, the decision to postpone Round 11 was due to "a revised resource forecast presented to the Board which showed that substantial budget challenges in some donor countries, compounded by low interest rates, have significantly affected the resources available for new grant funding."

30 Nov 2011

African countries lose billions of dollars training doctors who then leave for developed nations, study says

Nine African countries -- Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – "have lost approximately $2 billion in their investment in doctors who have subsequently migrated abroad," with South Africa and Zimbabwe suffering "the greatest economic losses," according to a study published Friday in BMJ, VOA's "Breaking News" blog reports (11/25).

29 Nov 2011

Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala make progress against river blindness

Global health consultant Alanna Shaikh writes in this post on the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog about the elimination of river blindness, or onchoceriasis, from Colombia and progress made against the disease in Mexico and Guatemala.

29 Nov 2011