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AIDS-free generation is within reach but only with fully-funded Global Fund

In the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, ACTION Director Kolleen Bouchane highlights President Barack Obama's mention of global development and global health in Tuesday's State of the Union address.

16 Feb 2013

Institute of Medicine to release ‘Evaluation of PEPFAR’ on Feb. 20

Evaluation of PEPFAR, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, presents the results of an assessment of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief as requested by Congress in its reauthorization of funding for the initiative in 2008.

16 Feb 2013

DNDi in Latin America wins Carlos Slim Health Award for innovations in drug development

Today the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in Latin America received the Carlos Slim Health Award for 10 years of exceptional work and achievements in research and development (R&D) to deliver new treatments for neglected patients in the region. The $100,000 award will be presented at a ceremony in April in Mexico City.

16 Feb 2013

Having launched PEPFAR, George W. Bush is greatest humanitarian to serve U.S. presidency

In a post in Foreign Policy's "Democracy Lab" blog, Christian Caryl, a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute and the blog's editor, asks, "Which United States president will go down in history as the greatest humanitarian to have served in the office?" He writes, "I'd suggest that there's one president whose contribution dwarfs all the others" -- George W. Bush.

16 Feb 2013

Biodiversity in large-scale ecosystems may also provide protection against diseases

The richer the assortment of amphibian species in a pond, the more protection that community of frogs, toads and salamanders has against a parasitic infection that can cause severe deformities, including the growth of extra legs.

16 Feb 2013

Patients with untreated depression are poorly protected by shingles vaccination

Results from a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggest a link between untreated depression in older adults and decreased effectiveness of the herpes zoster, or shingles, vaccine.

16 Feb 2013

New approach could make gene therapy dramatically more effective for HIV patients

A research team from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has discovered an approach that could make gene therapy dramatically more effective for patients.

16 Feb 2013

Opinion pieces address violence against women

Several opinion pieces have been published in recognition of One Billion Rising, a global campaign calling for an end to violence against women and gender equality.

15 Feb 2013

VNI cures both acute and chronic forms of Chagas disease

Chagas disease, a deadly tropical infection caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by biting insects called "kissing bugs," has begun to spread around the world, including the U.S. Yet current treatment is toxic and limited to the acute stage.

15 Feb 2013

China's new first lady has ability to influence public health activism

In an opinion piece published on contextChina, Robert O'Brien, a PhD candidate in international relations at the University of Oxford, examines how China's new first lady, acclaimed folk singer Peng Liyuan, might influence public health activism in the country.

15 Feb 2013

New research focuses on rapid identification of disease outbreaks

EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced new research focused on the rapid identification of disease outbreaks in the peer reviewed publication, Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

15 Feb 2013

Improving tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis: an interview with Professor Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD

TB is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nearly 9 million people develop TB every year, and TB kills nearly 1.4 million individuals each year. While the incidence of TB has steadily declined in the west, it remains a huge public health problem in many developing countries, with India having the highest burden.

15 Feb 2013

Researchers solve complete 3-D structure of E6 proteins in HPV 16

For the first time, researchers from the Laboratoire biotechnologie et signalisation cellulaire at the Strasbourg-based Ecole supérieure de biotechnologie (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) and Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg/Inserm) have solved the three-dimensional structure of an important oncoprotein involved in cell proliferation and in the development of the human papilloma virus (HPV).

14 Feb 2013

Canada-US-Italian research team develops nature-inspired cocaine biosensor

Since the beginning of time, living organisms have developed ingenious mechanisms to monitor their environment. As part of an international study, a team of researchers has adapted some of these natural mechanisms to detect specific molecules such as cocaine more accurately and quickly. Their work may greatly facilitate the rapid screening-less than five minutes-of many drugs, infectious diseases, and cancers.

14 Feb 2013

Cambodia, China report cases of avian influenza H5N1

"Cambodia reported on Wednesday that another four-year-old girl has contracted avian influenza H5N1, becoming the seventh person who infected the virus in 2013," Xinhua reports.

14 Feb 2013

Eleventh global case of SARS-linked virus confirmed in U.K.

"British officials say a mysterious virus related to SARS may have spread between humans, as they confirmed the 11th case worldwide of the new coronavirus in a patient who they say probably caught it from a family member," the Associated Press reports.

14 Feb 2013

The Atlantic examines 'paradigm shift' in global health response

"The world has an 'historic opportunity' to contain and end three of humanity's deadliest scourges by focusing on their 'hot zones,' according to Mark Dybul, the newly appointed director of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria," the Atlantic reports in an article examining a "paradigm shift" in the global health response.

14 Feb 2013

GSK1322322 targets gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant strains of MRSA

An increasing number of bacteria is evolving antibiotic resistance. Much-feared representatives of this steadily growing group include Staphylococci strains. At this point, multi-resistant forms of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus - the "hospital germ" known commonly by its acronym, MRSA - can only be treated with a select subset of antibiotics as many drugs have simply stopped working. This is precisely why the field of medicine is in desperate need of new treatment options.

14 Feb 2013

More polio workers killed than reported cases of disease, NPR reports

"The global effort to eradicate polio has reached a bizarre stage: More people have been gunned down recently over the disease than actually infected with it," NPR's "Shots" blog reports.

14 Feb 2013

Study finds human MPV as second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children

New Vanderbilt-led research published in the Feb. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has identified the relatively unknown human metapneumovirus (MPV) as the second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children.

14 Feb 2013