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

Oct 1 2009

U.S. Speaker Of The House Recognizes Tanzania's Commitment To Development Initiatives

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). 

Health Experts From West African Countries Meet To Discuss Disease Surveillance

Health experts from 13 West African countries on Tuesday convened in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for the start of a three-day meeting aimed at strengthening integrated disease surveillance, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports. "The experts' meeting is preparatory to that of Ministers on Friday, which is expected to come out with guidelines in response to incessant disease outbreaks in the sub-region such as the deadly epidemics of cholera, meningitis, measles, viral hemorrhagic fevers between 1995 and 1996 as well as a recrudescent polio and the spreading A H1N1 flu pandemic," the news service writes (9/29).

Water, Sanitation Project To Launch In Kenya Targets Urban Slums

Kenyan officials on Tuesday announced a partnership with the German government and European Union to fund a $22.8 million water and sanitation project targeting the urban slums of Kenya, Business Daily reports. The project, which aims to connect thousands of poor urban households with a source of clean water, is supported by an agreement between Kenya, the German government and the European Union (9/30).

Denver Nonprofit To Help Bring Clean Water To People Of Malawi

The nonprofit Water for People announced Tuesday that it will participate in a "$45 million project funded by the European Union to bring safe drinking water and improved sanitation to 543,000 people in the southeast African nation of Malawi," the Denver Business Journal reports. The project aims "to increase water and sanitation access by 50 percent within four years" in the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, "where 70 percent of the people lack formal housing, and half have no regular access to a safe water supply," the newspaper writes (9/29).

Interview With Doctor Who Fought Against Lassa Fever

The Seattle Times' blog, "The Business of Giving," interviews Ross Donaldson, an American doctor who was on the "front lines of the fight against Lassa fever, a neglected and deadly disease in central Africa" (Heim, 9/29).