Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

Research on malarial drugs for travelers

A new review of existing research finds that a combination drug and the common antibiotic doxycycline allow travelers to fend off malaria with the fewest side effects in areas where the parasite is resistant to a widely accepted preventive treatment.

7 Oct 2009

Reuters examines health effects of climate change in Africa

Reuters examines how floods, droughts and rising temperatures, thought to be caused by climate change, are compromising African farm lands and leading to health problems for already vulnerable populations - a topic discussed at the "first pan-African climate hearings."

7 Oct 2009

USAID grants over $10.5 million for fight against malaria

The U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced over $10.5 million in grants to seven organizations working in six countries in Africa to extend malaria prevention and control activities in communities most affected by the disease, particularly children under age 5 and pregnant women.

7 Oct 2009

Opinion piece responds to 'skeptics' of development aid

After a recent trip to Africa, "to see firsthand the region's fight against malaria," Tachi Yamada, the president of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in a CNN opinion piece that a visit to a pediatric hospital ward in Zanzibar that did not have "a single patient" was the "single most memorable image of the trip."

7 Oct 2009

Inviragen, SingVax merge their complementary vaccine pipelines

Inviragen and SingVax have merged their complementary vaccine pipelines and their international product development capabilities to create a company that is developing a wide range of vaccines for infectious diseases prevalent in emerging economies.

6 Oct 2009

More than 1 million babies worldwide born prematurely die in first month, Study says

Each year more than 1 million babies born prematurely - before 37 weeks of development in the womb or within the first month of life - the "March of Dimes said Sunday in the first comprehensive global report on premature births," CNN reports. Nearly 10 percent of total births worldwide, or 12.9 million infants, are preterm, the study found.

6 Oct 2009

$40B needed to 'dramatically' reduce millions of child deaths annually, report says

Two million infants die within 24 hours of birth each year and almost nine million children died before the age of 5 in 2008, according to a report by Save the Children, which says it would take $40 billion annually to "dramatically" cut these numbers, Agence France-Presse reports (Mohiuddin, 10/5).

5 Oct 2009

MSF calls on drug companies to pool HIV patents

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) recently launched an e-mail campaign calling on nine of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to "release their patents on specific HIV drugs into a collective pool that will increase access and affordability to treatment in developing countries," Inter Press Service reports (Borde, 10/1).

5 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health news: World Bank budget concerns; Ethiopia prepares for malaria surge; malnutrition in Yemen; malaria prevention in Africa

Before the start of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund World Bank on Friday, World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that the international lender expects to "face serious constraints" by the middle of next year unless developed nations provide the bank with more resources, the Associated Press reports.

5 Oct 2009

Genzyme named to the 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index

Genzyme Corporation announced today that it was included on both the 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and North American Index. This marks the fifth consecutive year Genzyme has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North American Index and the first year the company has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

5 Oct 2009

Professor's research to transform mobile phones into powerful medical devices

Cell phones have come a long way in the last decade. Today, one can talk, text message, shoot photos and video, send and receive e-mail, and even access the Web. Now imagine a cell phone that can be used to monitor diseases like HIV or malaria and to test water quality after a major disaster like a hurricane or earthquake.

3 Oct 2009

TIME examines breastfeeding in the Philippines

TIME examines breastfeeding in the Philippines, noting that the country will be one of 18 taking part in a "global moment of breastfeeding" on Friday.

3 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health news: U.S. food aid declines; agriculture in Zimbabwe; U.S.-backed ITN network; reducing maternal mortality; DNDI expands; healthcare in Congo

Although U.S. food aid funding has increased by 53 percent over the last two years, a Government Accountability Office report on Wednesday said that during the same time period, the "amount of food delivered to address emergencies abroad fell 5 percent," the Washington Independent reports.

3 Oct 2009

Bacteria could be used to control mosquitoes, prevent disease, study says

New findings, published in the journal Science, about the bacteria Wolbachia could be used to control mosquito populations and prevent malaria, dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases, Discovery News reports.

2 Oct 2009

Children and adolescents over five are at risk from malaria

Insecticide treated mosquito nets reduce the chances of developing life-threatening malaria in Africa, however recent research shows that older children are the least well protected by nets in the community. The research, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, has found that parents and their young children were much more likely to have malaria nets than older children.

1 Oct 2009

Mondial Assistance participates in global fundraising initiative

Mondial Assistance today announced its participation in a new global fundraising initiative, aptly named: MASSIVEGOOD. The aim of MASSIVEGOOD is to encourage consumers to make small, voluntary financial contributions (around $2, for example) when they make a travel-related purchase.

1 Oct 2009

Also in global health news: Tanzania's development initiatives; disease surveillance in West Africa; water, sanitation in Kenya, Malawi; doctor fights Lassa fever

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday commended Tanazanian President Jakaya Kikwete on the country's utilization of U.S. aid money and vowed her support for the country's future development projects, during a meeting in Washington, D.C., the Zimbabwean reports. "Pelosi hailed President Kikwete and his government for the commitment demonstrated by the campaigns against HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB and implementation of MCC programmes," the newspaper writes (Kulekana, 9/30).

1 Oct 2009

The Replikin Count of H1N1 virus’s infectivity gene shows continued elevation

The latest H1N1 genomic data shows a 50% drop in the Replikin CountTM of the virus’s replikins lethality gene since its recorded highs in April 2009. In contrast, the Replikin Count of the virus’s infectivity gene showed a continued elevation.

30 Sep 2009

SBIR grant from NIH to GenVec for metastatic cancer research

GenVec, Inc. announced today that it has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the research of a new approach to treating metastatic cancer. Under this grant, valued at over $300,000, GenVec will investigate the hypothesis that the delivery of a specific gene will stimulate an antitumor response that could control cancer metastases.

30 Sep 2009

The still elusive malaria vaccine

A deadly disease, malaria afflicts 350-500 million people worldwide each year and kills more than a million people. Transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, the disease occurs in more than 100 countries and territories, with at least 40 percent of the world's population at risk.

30 Sep 2009