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Threat of climate change to health and security must be tackled urgently

Climate change poses an immediate, grave and escalating threat to the health and security of people around the globe and must be tackled urgently, warned leading experts at a high-level meeting hosted by the BMJ (British Medical Journal) in London today.

18 Oct 2011

New Regenstrief initiative to encourage and propel innovation

Integrating some of the best new practices of industry into the strengths of the academic research process, the Regenstrief Institute is launching an initiative to encourage and propel innovation. The Institute has over 40 years of experience as an international leader in improving healthcare delivery.

18 Oct 2011

Rep. Lee asks Obama to take leadership role in fight against HIV/AIDS

According to the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on Thursday sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking for "his leadership in launching a renewed global effort to end the AIDS pandemic on World AIDS Day, December 1."

18 Oct 2011

New global atlas for malaria elimination

A new global atlas charts prospects for malaria elimination by offering the first full-color, detailed depiction of a disease now declining in many parts of the globe. The "Atlas of Malaria-Eliminating Countries" spotlights countries successfully moving toward eliminating the disease and provides a visual tool to help focus resources where they are needed most.

18 Oct 2011

Facing national deficit while preserving foreign assistance

Noting some of the successes of U.S. foreign assistance in the area of global health, Christopher Elias, president and CEO of PATH, and Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S., write in The Hill's "Congress Blog," "Unfortunately, ... American aid is being threatened with severe cuts, though it makes up less than one percent of the federal budget."

18 Oct 2011

Movement to end female genital cutting spreads through Senegal

The New York Times reports on a growing movement in Senegal to end female genital cutting, which was officially banned in the nation more than a decade ago. "The change is happening without the billions of dollars that have poured into other global health priorities throughout the developing world in recent years," the newspaper writes.

18 Oct 2011

UEA scientists to assess future impact of global warming on allergic diseases

A new study by an international team of scientists including the University of East Anglia (UEA) will assess the future impact of global warming on allergic diseases.

18 Oct 2011

Health groups urge Secretary of U.S. Army to sustain funding for military HIV research program

"Speaking out against a potential $16 million cut in the Army's base research and development budget for HIV, leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) sent a letter Thursday to the Secretary of the U.S. Army, John McHugh, making the case for sustaining the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP)," according to the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog.

15 Oct 2011

Funding for NCDs doesn't have to come at the expense of NTDs

In this "End the Neglect" blog post, Alanna Shaikh, a writer for U.N. Dispatch, writes that while "[a]t first glance, the new focus on cardiovascular and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) looks like trouble for the funding for things like neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) ... that conflict is mostly superficial. NCDs and NTDs have much more in common than their initials.

14 Oct 2011

Survey measures what Americans know about the U.S. foreign aid budget

This post in Population Services International's (PSI) "Healthy Lives" blog reports the results of a "survey of 507 Americans [administered] at the end of September [that] sought to capture what, exactly, Americans know about the foreign aid budget."

14 Oct 2011

BCL11A protein might serve as potential target for sickle cell disease

Flipping a single molecular switch can reverse illness in a model of sickle cell disease, according to a study by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. When turned off, the switch, a protein called BCL11A, allows the body to manufacture red blood cells with an alternate form of hemoglobin unaffected by the mutation that causes the disease.

14 Oct 2011

Growing global trade puts world at greater risk for foodborne disease outbreaks, WHO officials say

"The world has become more vulnerable to outbreaks of disease caused by contaminated food because of growing global trade, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports.

14 Oct 2011

Haiti uses 'peanut butter medicine' to battle malnutrition

CNN/Global Health Frontline News examines how "ready-to-use therapeutic foods" are being used in Haiti to help children with severe malnutrition. U.S. nonprofit organization Meds and Food for Kids makes "Medika Mamba, which means 'peanut butter medicine' in Creole. It's a ready-to-eat paste packed with nutritious ingredients that -- over a period of weeks -- gives a jolt to the system and puts children back on track," the news agency writes.

13 Oct 2011

University of Cape Town, UT Southwestern sign affiliation agreement

UT Southwestern Medical Center and the faculty of health sciences of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, signed a five-year affiliation agreement today to collaborate on faculty and student exchanges, joint research and training activities and other educational opportunities.

13 Oct 2011

'Building Sustainable Surgical Systems' conference to be held in San Diego

Today, around the world, more than two billion world citizens do not have access to emergency and essential surgical care. The results are devastating, leading to more than 500,000 maternal deaths and more than 5 million fatalities associated with everyday injuries such as road traffic accidents and burns. This lack of surgical care is arguably a top killer around the world but mostly ignored by organizations that can affect positive change.

13 Oct 2011

VOA News examines how a public-private partnership will combat cancer among women in the developing world

This VOA News editorial examines how a public-private partnership between PEPFAR, the George W. Bush Institute, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, as well as private sector partners will launch a program called Pink Ribbon, Red Ribbon to "combat cervical and breast cancer for women in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America."

13 Oct 2011

Vitamin D plays an essential role in the body's fight against TB

Not just important for building strong bones, an international team of scientists has found that vitamin D also plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections such as tuberculosis.

12 Oct 2011

Preliminary analysis suggests $258M HIV/AIDS prevention program in India may have prevented some 100,000 infections

A $258 million HIV/AIDS prevention program in six Indian states may have prevented an estimated 100,000 infections from 2003 to 2008, researchers from the Public Health Foundation of India and the University of Washington suggest in a study published in the Lancet on Tuesday, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

12 Oct 2011

Momentum builds for reform in U.S. foreign aid, one of our 'most effective' investments

In this Global Health Magazine opinion piece, Aaron Emmel, senior policy advisor at PATH, examines a momentum for reform in foreign aid that "has been mounting in both Congress and the Administration," writing, "Now we face one of the most austere budget environments in our nation's history, making the need for an efficient, accountable, transparent, effective, and strategic foreign assistance policy all the more important. Clearly, foreign aid needs to be reformed so that it can do the job it was originally intended for: assisting the people who need it most in the most efficient and effective way possible."

11 Oct 2011

Nigeria's minister of health presents public health vision to save one million lives, improve quality of care

Speaking at the event "Innovative Approaches to Expanding Health Care Services" at the Africare House in Washington, D.C. on September 21, Nigeria's Minister of State for Health, Muhammad Ali Pate, "presented a sweeping panorama of Nigeria's current health status and what it must do if it is to make progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015," Global Health Impact reports.

11 Oct 2011