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Cultural frameworks and institutional practices for quality health care

As health care moves to the forefront of the national discourse, new research in the social sciences argues that the health of the population and the success or failure of many public health initiatives hinges as much on cultural and social factors as it does on doctors, facilities, or drugs.

19 Oct 2009

WHO, UNICEF publish plan to reduce childhood diarrhea deaths

The WHO and UNICEF have released a seven-point treatment and prevention plan to reduce the number of children around the world who die from diarrhea, the BBC reports (10/14). BMJ News writes, "Every year 1.5 million children aged under 5 years die from diarrhoea, more than 80% of them in Africa and south Asia" (Zarocostas, 10/14).

19 Oct 2009

Recent releases in global health

In light of a recent Guttmacher Institute report that indicated 70,000 women in developing countries die each year from unsafe abortion, a Lancet editorial outlines ways to reduce deaths, and says, "The current political climate is favourable, because the global-gag rule (the U.S. Government's policy on banning funding of foreign organisations linked to any type of abortion practice) is out of favour" (10/17).

19 Oct 2009

Innovative tool for providing patient-centered care for diabetics

Mayo Clinic clinicians and designers, along with colleagues from other institutions, have developed and tested a tool to involve patients more in their diabetes treatment and medication choices.

19 Oct 2009

New EVestG diagnostic technique aids in quick detection of mental and neurological illnesses

An innovative diagnostic technique invented by a Monash University researcher could dramatically fast-track the detection of mental and neurological illnesses.

19 Oct 2009

Opinions: Fighting hunger; property ownership, trade key to Africa's development

"For one billion people around the world, the daily effort to grow, buy or sell food is the defining struggle of their lives. This matters to them, and to all of us," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton writes in a Times of India opinion piece.

19 Oct 2009

FDA approves 100th antiretroviral for PEPFAR

HHS recently announced the FDA's 100th approval of an antiretroviral drug for PEPFAR, PharmTech.com reports. Seventy-one of the more than 100 drugs reviewed by FDA for PEPFAR were generic products.

19 Oct 2009

FDA approves Ortho Clinical Diagnostics' anti-HIV 1+2 test for use on VITROS 5600 & 3600 systems

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a diagnostic assay for the detection of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) types 1+2 (Anti-HIV 1+2) for use on the VITROS® 5600 Integrated and VITROS® 3600 Immunodiagnostic Systems.

From Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. 15 Oct 2009

Opinions: Pragmatic vs. moral approach to health care access; Pres. Bush's PEPFAR

"[T]he global campaign to equalise access to healthcare has had a surprising result: it has made global healthcare more unequal," William Easterly, a professor of economics at New York University and co-director of its Development Research Institute, writes in a Financial Times opinion piece.

15 Oct 2009

News outlets examine efforts to control TB in South Africa

Agence France-Presse examines the ongoing fight to control the spread of tuberculosis in South Africa. "The World Health Organisation estimates almost one percent or 461,000 South Africans develop TB annually, with government figures showing that the disease was the country's leading natural cause of death in 2006," the news service writes.

15 Oct 2009

IMF policies harm Kenyan health system, report says

According to a report released Tuesday, policies set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have restricted government spending on health services, "denying sick Kenyans access to drugs and quality healthcare," Business Daily reports.

15 Oct 2009

New York Times examines HIV stigma in Vietnam

The New York Times examines the story of Vietnamese orphans from the Mai Hoa AIDS Center who were turned away from a local primary school because they are HIV-positive. Though the principal at the primary school agreed to accept the children, the parents of the other students at the school refused to allow their children in classes with the orphans, leading the principal to turn the students away.

15 Oct 2009

Study: Animals are not essential for human cancer research

A recently released paper published in the journal Alternatives to Laboratory Animals (ATLA 37, 399-416), presents a serious challenge to long-standing claims that animals are an important part of human cancer research.

14 Oct 2009

Harvard researchers unite in fight against antibiotic resistance

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded $5 million to an interdisciplinary group of Harvard researchers to launch the "Harvard-wide Program on Antibiotic Resistance."

14 Oct 2009

Researchers discover compounds that show promise as novel treatments for AIDS

While studying an HIV protein that plays an essential role in AIDS progression, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered compounds that show promise as novel treatments for the disease.

14 Oct 2009

NIH awards research grants for NYU Langone Medical Center

NYU Langone Medical Center has been awarded more than $30 million in research grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) for 86 research projects being conducted at NYU School of Medicine across a broad range of basic science and clinical departments.

14 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Ban addresses women's health; Afghanistan's health services; PMI Africa grants; Q&As

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday called for countries around the world to "renew their commitment to educate girls, end sexual violence, and provide access to modern birth control," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

14 Oct 2009

Endoscopic surgery reduces postoperative discomfort and recovery time

Endoscopic surgery has steadily gained in popularity since it was developed in the 1980s. Dr. Richard Siegfried has teamed with Dr. Louis Quartararo one of only a handful of surgeons who have been trained to perform endoscopic surgery on the spine.

14 Oct 2009

AHF praises the California Governor for signing rapid HIV testing bill

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the operator of the largest non-government HIV testing program in California, today praised the California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing Assembly Bill 221, legislation which updates and streamlines the training of counselors for rapid HIV testing by exempting persons administering finger stick rapid HIV tests from the requirement for certification as a limited phlebotomy technician (LPT).

13 Oct 2009

USAID awards Abt Associates 'Strengthening Health Outcomes Through Private Sector' grant

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded a five-year grant, Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector, to Abt Associates, Inc. Sub-recipients under the grant are Banyan Global, Jhpiego, Marie Stopes International, the Monitor Group, and O'Hanlon Health Consulting, LLC.

13 Oct 2009