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First Edition: October 16, 2009

News reports continue to focus on the landmines that exist within health reform proposals.

16 Nov 2009

New faces of HIV/AIDS: A report

World AIDS Day 2009 will be marked with both grim and hopeful data: more than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide since 1981; 33 million are living with HIV/AIDS. While potent, effective medications have changed an HIV diagnosis from death sentence to manageable chronic illness in resource rich countries, global rates of infection still outstrip prevention and treatment capacity.

16 Nov 2009

Low-cost, simple interventions could save 2.5 million child lives a year: World Vision

Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal and newborn care, leading aid agency World Vision said today. Currently, 8.8 million children a year die before age five, most of preventable causes.

16 Nov 2009

TIME examines efforts to combat malaria resistance along Thai-Cambodia border

TIME reports on evidence along the Thai-Cambodia border that the malaria parasite is gaining resistance to artemisinin - "the only remaining effective drug in the world's arsenal against malaria's most deadly strain."

16 Nov 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

As a follow-up to a survey conducted in May 2009, this poll examines Americans' attitudes toward U.S. global health investments and priorities.

16 Nov 2009

NIDA awards $17 million to University of California to establish TMARC

Igor Grant, MD, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues have been awarded a $17 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to establish the Translational Methamphetamine AIDS Research Center (TMARC) at UC San Diego. Grant is director of the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC), a clinical research center designated and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

16 Nov 2009

Chembio Diagnostics to donate more than 4,500 rapid HIV test kits

Chembio Diagnostics, Inc., a NY-based company that develops, manufactures, licenses and markets proprietary rapid diagnostic tests, is donating more than 4,500 rapid HIV test kits to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's 2009 Testing Millions Global Campaign, based in Los Angeles, to commemorate World AIDS Day 2009 on December 1st.

16 Nov 2009

Global Fund approves $2.4B for ninth round grants

During its recent board meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved $2.4 billion for the three diseases, PlusNews reports.

16 Nov 2009

Health policy research round up - Medicare and Massachusetts

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: The Secrets of Massachusetts' Success - "By the summer of 2008, less than two years after Massachusetts' health reform law became effective, only 2.6 percent of state residents were uninsured—the lowest proportion ever recorded for any state." This study by the RWJF-funded State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) initiative "explains how national reforms can use similar methods to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued other coverage expansions."

13 Nov 2009

DC HIV study: Can intense treatment prevent spread

The Washington Post: "The National Institutes of Health and the D.C. Health Department are preparing to launch a study in the District with an ambitious goal: to determine whether aggressive treatment of every adult with HIV could eliminate AIDS." In conjunction with the study, NIH will provide experts to the city health department to help modernize clinic record-keeping efforts and to improve the tracking of HIV-infected people.

13 Nov 2009

Scientists describe how HIV assemble at the membrane of infected cells and are released to attack healthy cells

Although recent advances have raised hopes that a protective vaccine can be developed, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) remains a major public health problem. Much has been learned about HIV-1, the virus that causes the disease.

13 Nov 2009

New findings on human genome may be useful for developing specific AIDS drugs

The AIDS virus inserts its genetic material into the genome of the infected cell. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center have now shown for the first time that the virus almost entirely spares particular sites in the human genetic material in this process. This finding may be useful for developing new, specific AIDS drugs.

13 Nov 2009

George W. Bush Institute to include global health focus; University of California system launches Global Health Institute

Former President George W. Bush will deliver a speech on Thursday marking the launch of the "George W. Bush Institute as a forum for study and advocacy in four main areas: education, global health, human freedom and economic growth," the New York Times writes.

13 Nov 2009

Data on BioAlliance Pharma's oral chemotherapy nanoparticle formulation presented at the AAPS meeting

BioAlliance Pharma SA, a company dedicated to the treatment and supportive care of cancer and AIDS patients, has presented its results on new oral chemotherapy nanoparticle formulation at the AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles (November 8 to 12, 2009).

13 Nov 2009

Health minister calls for ramped up fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa

South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday called for a reinvigorated effort in the country's fight against HIV/AIDS, echoing comments recently made by South African President Jacob Zuma, Agence France-Presse reports. Motsoaledi said to reporters, "In 11 years - from 1997 to 2008 - the rate of death has doubled in South Africa" (11/10).

12 Nov 2009

Tips for preventing cancer

The risk of cancer can be dramatically reduced through everyday choices about diet, exercise and tobacco use, according to a Special Report on Cancer Prevention in the November issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource.

12 Nov 2009

Also in global health news: Funding shortfall in Philippines; WHO-approved ARV

Bloomberg examines the U.N.'s continued appeal for aid for the people of the Philippines "after three tropical cyclones left almost 1,000 people dead" and an estimated 1.7 million people displaced or living in flooded areas. "The UN's humanitarian agency issued a 'flash appeal' for $74 million in October and has received $26 million, according to the world body's newswire," the news service writes.

12 Nov 2009

Businesses at risk from health reform, or status quo, depending on source

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Employment Policies Institute and other friends of business have joined to launch a national television ad campaign, beginning Thursday, that will warn against the health care overhaul, The Boston Globe reports. The $10 million ad blitz "features June O'Neill, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, arguing that the bill would deepen the national debt and hurt job creation."

12 Nov 2009

HUD threatens to block Washington D.C.'s AIDS funding

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is threatening to halt federal funding for the Washington D.C.'s AIDS programs after a Washington Post investigation found many delivered faulty services and failed to account for their work.

12 Nov 2009

First Edition: October 12, 2009

Today's headlines continue to focus on certain aspects of pending health overhaul measures, while also noting that the timeline for Capitol Hill action is now stretching closer to the Christmas holiday.

12 Nov 2009