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Access to malaria drugs transformed by new global subsidy

A new international scheme providing lifesaving antimalarial drugs at cheap subsidised prices has rapidly transformed access to effective artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) in seven African countries accounting for a quarter of the world’s malaria cases, and could save millions of lives.

31 Oct 2012

EU Tobacco Products Directive further delayed

The EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive – which was set to place substantial new restrictions on tobacco companies’ promotion of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, including banning “e-cigarettes” – is dangerously close to stalling, and “further delay will raise serious questions about whose interest the EU Commission is promoting”, according to the authors of a Comment, published in The Lancet.

26 Oct 2012

Allergies and hygiene: an interview with Sally Bloomfield

Allergies occur when the body overreacts to substances in our environment, such as pollen, dust mites and so forth. What happens is that when we are exposed to these potential threats, the immune system should react, deal with it, and then shut down.

26 Oct 2012

GW SMHS to host health expo for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences' (SMHS) Doctoral Physical Therapy program and Physician Assistant program will be hosting a health and wellness expo for persons living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ages 16 and up). Caregivers are encouraged to attend, as well.

26 Oct 2012

Differing opinions about AMFm 'unlikely to be resolved' after Global Fund decision on program's future

In her "Global Health Blog," Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley examines the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), "which aims to enable countries to increase the provision of affordable artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) through not only the public sector but also the private sector and [non-governmental organizations (NGOs)]."

26 Oct 2012

Simple approach results in low rates of MRSA infections

High compliance with hand hygiene and focusing on other simple infection control measures on medical, surgical and neuroscience intensive care units resulted in reduced rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection by 95 percent in a nine-year study, according to research findings by Virginia Commonwealth University physicians presented during IDWeek 2012.

26 Oct 2012

Feedback intervention improves hand hygiene compliance in modern hospitals

A major three-year trial led by researchers at UCL, in partnership with the Health Protection Agency, has shown that giving one-to-one feedback to healthcare workers makes them twice as likely to clean their hands or use soap.

25 Oct 2012

Microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs

The cabin of a spacecraft halfway to Mars would be the least convenient place -- one cannot say "on earth" -- for a Salmonella or Pneumococcus outbreak, but a wide-ranging new paper suggests that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs.

22 Oct 2012

Peace Corps, USAID, Coca-Cola Company announce WASH training initiative

"The Peace Corps has announced a strategic partnership with the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) -- a long-standing public-private partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) -- to improve local capacity to deliver sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for the reduction of waterborne disease around the world," a Peace Corps press release reports.

17 Oct 2012

Public-private partnership will promote handwashing to help reduce child mortality in Africa

Though the number of children dying of preventable and treatable diseases worldwide has dropped significantly since 1990, there is "realistic hope for much more" progress, particularly if "improved hygiene and sanitation ... play a key role in the next stage," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, write in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

17 Oct 2012

Hepatitis C rapid and point of care tests highly accurate and reliable

Timely screening and diagnosis is critical to the success of new treatments and ultimately to the survival of hepatitis C patients. A new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) is the first to show that hepatitis C rapid and point of care tests with a quick turnaround time are highly accurate and reliable as conventional first-line laboratory tests.

16 Oct 2012

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make sufficient insulin or the insulin it makes doesn’t work sufficiently well to maintain a normal level of blood glucose and so the blood glucose rises.

12 Oct 2012

Hospital superbugs can float on air currents and contaminate surfaces

Hospital superbugs can float on air currents and contaminate surfaces far from infected patients' beds, according to University of Leeds researchers.

12 Oct 2012

Poor sleep shows cardiovascular links in adolescents

Sleep disturbance in healthy adolescents is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease in later life, research suggests.

11 Oct 2012

U.K. announces $56M to assist Yemen with nutrition

"The U.K. has announced that £35 million ($56 million) in aid over the next three years will be aimed at improving nutrition for mothers and children in Yemen amid fears that a hunger crisis will derail fragile gains in the Middle East's poorest country," the Guardian reports.

11 Oct 2012

Best-practices protocol significantly reduces ventilator-associated pneumonia

An intensive care unit-initiated protocol implementing “best practices” significantly reduces ventilator-associated pneumonia, research shows.

8 Oct 2012

High levels of chronic and acute illnesses in Palestinian refugees

New research draws attention to the continuing and urgent health emergency facing Palestinians living under occupation, especially the health and wellbeing issues surrounding refugees from the occupied Palestinian territories. Abstracts of the research, which were presented at the fourth meeting of The Lancet Palestinian Health Alliance in March 2012, are published online in The Lancet.

8 Oct 2012

Study demonstrates efficacy of genotyping technology in identifying source of clinic infection outbreak

Researchers from East Carolina University used a new technique of genotyping to identify the source of a hematology clinic outbreak of Mycobacterium mucogenicum, a gram-positive, acid-fast bacteria found in tap water. This is the first outbreak of M. mucogenicum in an ambulatory care setting; five other outbreaks have been reported in hospital settings since 1995.

6 Oct 2012

RMHC, UTHealth School of Dentistry partner to bring oral and mobile pediatric care in the Houston area

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Dentistry and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Houston/Galveston, Inc.(RMHC) have joined forces to bring oral, mobile pediatric care to the Houston area.

5 Oct 2012

NYU Langone announces 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics Visiting Lectureship Program

NYU Langone Medical Center is pleased to announce the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Visiting Lectureship Program on October 3, 2012.

4 Oct 2012

Hygiene News and Research

Access to malaria drugs transformed by new global subsidy

EU Tobacco Products Directive further delayed

Allergies and hygiene: an interview with Sally Bloomfield

GW SMHS to host health expo for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Differing opinions about AMFm 'unlikely to be resolved' after Global Fund decision on program's future

Simple approach results in low rates of MRSA infections

Feedback intervention improves hand hygiene compliance in modern hospitals

Microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs

Peace Corps, USAID, Coca-Cola Company announce WASH training initiative

Public-private partnership will promote handwashing to help reduce child mortality in Africa

Hepatitis C rapid and point of care tests highly accurate and reliable

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Hospital superbugs can float on air currents and contaminate surfaces

Poor sleep shows cardiovascular links in adolescents

U.K. announces $56M to assist Yemen with nutrition

Best-practices protocol significantly reduces ventilator-associated pneumonia

High levels of chronic and acute illnesses in Palestinian refugees

Study demonstrates efficacy of genotyping technology in identifying source of clinic infection outbreak

RMHC, UTHealth School of Dentistry partner to bring oral and mobile pediatric care in the Houston area

NYU Langone announces 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics Visiting Lectureship Program

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Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

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