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U.S. delegation in South Africa to renew bilateral relationship, create sustainable partnerships in health

This post on the Center for Strategic and International Studies's Commission on Smart Global Health Policy blog examines tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa, "which has the highest tuberculosis infection rate per population and accounts for 5 percent of the global TB burden."

10 Aug 2011

The graying of HIV and AIDS

At 57, Bill Nissley he still leads an active life - traveling, teaching tennis to budding young players, conversing in five languages with whomever he can find. But Nissley is growing older, and that in itself is astounding. The Santa Monica resident has coexisted with human immunodeficiency virus since testing positive in 1987, which led to him contracting acquired immune deficiency syndrome in 1998.

10 Aug 2011

Proportion of new HIV cases increasing among older population in China

The case of a Chinese man nearly 80 years old who was recently diagnosed with HIV is "shedding light on a segment of the Chinese population said to be overlooked by the country's AIDS education efforts," according to "a recent report from state-run media Xinhua News Agency," the Wall Street Journal's "China Real Time" blog reports.

10 Aug 2011

Researchers clarify role of two proteins key to T-cell development

In the latest issue of Nature, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarify the role of two proteins key to T-cell development.

9 Aug 2011

Novel link between two receptors mediates fungal recognition in macrophages

Whitehead Institute researchers have uncovered a novel association between two fungal recognition receptors on the surface of certain immune cells, called macrophages.

9 Aug 2011

Roundup: Calif. adult day care plan?; R.I. shift to Medicare; Texas mental health coverage

State health officials are circulating a plan they say will help keep about 35,000 elderly and disabled Californians out of institutionalized care when Medi-Cal stops offering an adult day healthcare benefit in December.

9 Aug 2011

GE Healthcare receives FDA clearance for Optima CT660 system

GE Healthcare today announced FDA clearance of Optima CT660 - a powerful and compact Computed Tomography (CT) system offering improvements from its predecessors in diagnostic capabilities at low dose levels, and designed for sustainability and ease-of-use.

9 Aug 2011

Guardian features fact pages on MDGs

The Guardian on Friday published fact pages on the eight Millennium Development Goals.

8 Aug 2011

Cook Medical launches Doppler DP-M350 Blood Flow Monitor

In an effort to provide surgeons and nurses with an advanced tool to better monitor blood flow during free flap procedures, Cook Medical has launched the Doppler DP-M350 Blood Flow Monitor, a medical device at the forefront of transplant and reconstructive surgery.

8 Aug 2011

Panel discusses global health approaches and sustainable results

The Center for Global Health Policy's "ScienceSpeaks" blog describes a panel discussion, which took place at last week's Society for International Development 2011 World Congress, that focused "on vertical and integrated approaches to global health [and] addressed the question of how best to achieve sustainable results in the field."

6 Aug 2011

Economic slowdown should not hamper global fund donations

With the new knowledge that providing antiretroviral treatment to people living with HIV would "contribut[e] to a sharp slowdown in the spread of the virus," "scaling up treatment now may prove to be the least expensive option if we want to bring this deadly pandemic, which still infects 1.8 million people every year, under control," Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

6 Aug 2011

Lancet reports on Global Fund donors that have held back contributions

Several donors to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "continue to hold back their contributions for this year … adding up to more than $500 million that the Global Fund had been counting on for this year out of a total budget of about $3 billion," the Lancet reports.

6 Aug 2011

U.S. should demand human rights-based approach to HIV prevention programs in Uganda

"Uganda has sometimes been considered a success story in fighting HIV and has been a darling of international donors," including the U.S., which has poured over $1 billion into the country for AIDS programs.

6 Aug 2011

New HIV numbers stable at 50,000 per year, down from 130,000 in the mid-1980s

According to government figures released Wednesday, the number of Americans newly infected with the AIDS virus each year has been holding steady at about 50,000. But a U.S. health official said just keeping the number stable was unacceptable, noting a dramatic increase in new HIV cases among young gay and bisexual black men.

5 Aug 2011

CDC: HIV infection rates hold steady except among young black males

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that while the overall number of people who are infected each year is relatively steady, but there was a 48 percent increase in the number of young HIV-infected African American men who have sex with men from 2006 to 2009.

5 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: 'Real' Medicare cuts?; HIV/AIDS prevention push; contraceptive coverage

Well, not really. A primer on the debt deal's health-care bookkeeping. All politicians—but these days especially Democrats—like to pretend they'll pay providers somewhat less in the future, despite knowing that is unlikely to happen in practice. Medicare's prospective payments are low enough that further reductions may jeopardize access to care and in many cases threaten the viability of hospitals and physician practices.

5 Aug 2011

World must scale up AIDS fight, even as donors scale back

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece that "amid all the good news" about HIV prevention recently presented at the 6th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, "one stubborn fact was hard to ignore: AIDS remains a metaphor for inequality."

4 Aug 2011

European Respiratory Journal publishes updated WHO guidelines on drug-resistant TB

The European Respiratory Journal is today publishing the updated guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) that aim to help manage drug-resistant tuberculosis.

4 Aug 2011

Concentrated HIV epidemics emerging among MSM in Middle East, North Africa, study shows

Concentrated HIV epidemics are emerging among men who have sex with men in the Middle East and North Africa, "and high levels of risky sexual behavior threaten to spread the AIDS virus further in the region, researchers said Tuesday" in a study published in PLoS Medicine, Reuters reports.

4 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Geithner, Bowles, Simpson, Ryan, Vladeck, Wilensky on health spending and the deficit

The agreement sets up a powerful mechanism for agreement on tax reforms to strengthen growth, and entitlement reforms to strengthen programs such as Medicare. A congressional committee with fast-track authority will have a Nov. 23 deadline to recommend a balanced package of long-term reforms to produce $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction.

4 Aug 2011