Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

To meet TB treatment goals, latent TB cases must be diagnosed

"If everyone in the world were tested for latent infection with tuberculosis (a status that predisposes people to develop active disease) today, at least one billion people would be positive," Ray Chambers, U.N. special envoy for health financing, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

4 Apr 2013

'Remarkable alignment' of PEPFAR, Global Fund efforts is reason for continued support

Recent global health events -- including the release of PEPFAR's Blueprint for an AIDS-Free Generation (.pdf), the launch of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's new funding model, and the Institute of Medicine's evaluation of PEPFAR -- "mak[e] it clear; it is a time of transformation for global health," Deborah Derrick, president of the Friends of the Global Fight Against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

3 Apr 2013

Inovio Pharmaceuticals reports release of phase II clinical trial results of ChronVac-C

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the release of preliminary clinical trial results by its collaborator ChronTech AS of their open label phase II clinical study of ChronVac-C, ChronTech's vaccine to treat hepatitis C virus infection.

2 Apr 2013

Bill Gates recounts tour of Ghana's health systems

Writing in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, foundation co-chair Bill Gates recounts his recent trip to Ghana, where he "got to watch an effective health system in action -- from the decision makers at the national level to nurses who live and work in the villages."

2 Apr 2013

New research discovery in mosquitoes could lead to possible tools for controlling malaria

A surprising research discovery in mosquitoes could affect future prospects for malaria control. A team of scientists from West Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom found that the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, which was thought to be splitting into two completely new species, may actually have a more complex range of forms due to frequent inter-mating.

2 Apr 2013

Post-2015 development agenda must address global health

"A proliferation of complex challenges to development, such as political conflict, economic austerity, and environmental degradation, all demand attention, but should not deflect from recognizing that good health is central to advancing global prosperity," GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria Executive Director Mark Dybul, World Bank Sector Manager for Health in Latin America Keith Hansen, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin, and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, write in a Lancet opinion piece examining the post-2015 development agenda.

30 Mar 2013

Global Coalition of TB Activists lends voice to international discourse

"The Global Coalition of TB Activists came together at a February Stop TB Partnership meeting in Geneva, [an] announcement says, with the aim of closing gaps that leave those most affected by tuberculosis out of decision making at local, national, and global levels," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

30 Mar 2013

Preventing 4.4M child deaths in next 1,000 days is possible

"To reach the goal of decreasing deaths of children who have not yet reached their fifth birthday to four million in 2015, we estimate that 4.4 million children's deaths must be averted in the next 1,000 days," U.N. Special Envoy for Malaria Ray Chambers writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog, in the first of what he says will be a series of entries discussing successes, challenges, and actions.

30 Mar 2013

Congress passes, President signs continuing resolution for FY 2013

Funding for HIV through PEPFAR "took a hit while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria got a boost last week when the House and Senate passed a Continuing Resolution bill to avoid a government shutdown and continue funding the government through Oct. 1, the end of fiscal year 2013," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports (Aziz, 3/26).

28 Mar 2013

Additional resources needed to stave off TB resurgence

The release of new data by the CDC "showing that the number of people contracting tuberculosis in the U.S. has been declining for 20 years ... should be good news," but "as a physician and adviser working to control TB for more than 40 years, I'm more concerned than ever before about our ability to protect the public from this deadly airborne disease," Lee Reichman of the New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute writes in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

26 Mar 2013

Experts to meet in Cape Town to discuss development of vaccines for deadly airborne disease

At a time of growing global concern about the rising level of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis in South Africa and worldwide, the world's top TB vaccine experts are meeting this week, the first time this scientific forum has been held in Africa, where they will present new research aimed at advancing development of vaccines against the deadly airborne disease.

26 Mar 2013

First multi-gene DNA sequencing test launched for cancer patients

The first multi-gene DNA sequencing test that can help predict cancer patients' responses to treatment has been launched in the National Health Service, thanks to a partnership between scientists at the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

26 Mar 2013

Newly discovered molecule could form the basis of anti-malaria drugs

An international study, involving researchers from Griffith University's Eskitis Institute, has discovered a molecule which could form the basis of powerful new anti-malaria drugs.

25 Mar 2013

Financial Times special report focuses on tuberculosis

The Financial Times has published a special report, titled "Combating Tuberculosis 2013," as World TB Day on March 24 approaches.

25 Mar 2013

Scientists develop novel method to accurately predict dengue fever outbreaks

A team of scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has developed a novel method to accurately predict dengue fever outbreaks several weeks before they occur.

24 Mar 2013

Swaziland, South Africa announce initiative to improve diagnosis, treatment of TB/HIV co-infection

"Health ministers from Swaziland and South Africa have agreed to radically change the diagnosis and treatment of the co-epidemic of [tuberculosis (TB)]/HIV in their countries," VOA News reports.

22 Mar 2013

Effectiveness of candidate malaria vaccine decreases over time, study shows

"The effectiveness of an experimental malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline wanes over time, with the shot protecting only 16.8 percent of children over four years, according to trial data," Reuters reports.

22 Mar 2013

New hope for treating, preventing malaria

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Medical Center have developed a drug that may represent one of the world's best hopes for treating and preventing malaria - a disease that kills more than one million people each year.

22 Mar 2013

GlobalPost, humanitarian agencies examine impact of childhood TB

Noting the WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Monday issued a joint statement calling for an additional $1.6 million a year to fight tuberculosis (TB) in low- and middle-income countries, GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog examines the global impact of childhood TB, writing, "While health officials did not single out the devastating impact of the disease on children ... WHO estimates that at least 500,000 children contract TB each year and that 70,000 die from the disease, largely in Asia and Africa."

21 Mar 2013

Blog reports on Consortium of Universities for Global Health annual conference

The Global Health Technologies Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog reports on the Consortium of Universities for Global Health annual conference held last week, highlighting "a panel hosted by the GHTC, which focused on current fiscal and policy realities in the United States that will impact global health research and development in the coming year and beyond."

21 Mar 2013