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New report shows 6.6 million children under 5 died in 2012

In 2012, approximately 6.6 million children worldwide - 18 000 children per day - died before reaching their fifth birthday, according to a new report released today by UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division. This is roughly half the number of under-fives who died in 1990, when more than 12 million children died.

13 Sep 2013

Brown, University of Cape Town partner to create next generation of HIV social science in South Africa

The public health schools at Brown University and the University of Cape Town have launched a new research and training partnership to create "the next generation of HIV social science in South Africa." The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is funding the collaboration with a new $1.9 million, five-year grant.

10 Sep 2013

Vanderbilt's telemedicine initiative conducts follow-up hearing tests on newborns in rural areas

A telemedicine initiative in Vanderbilt's Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences is working to make follow-up hearing tests for newborns more accessible in rural areas of Tennessee, while teaching young pediatric audiology and pediatric speech language pathology students to treat patients remotely.

6 Sep 2013

UCSF to receive grant to study gene sequencing aimed at detecting disorders in newborns

UC San Francisco will receive $4.5 million over the next five years for a pilot project to assess whether large-scale gene sequencing aimed at detecting disorders and conditions can and should become a routine part of newborn testing.

6 Sep 2013

UNC study to explore technology use in screening newborns for genetic conditions

As the clinical use of genomic testing expands, the practical and ethical considerations of using the technology to screen newborns for genetic conditions will be the focus of a new study undertaken at the University of North Carolina.

5 Sep 2013

Medicaid pays for nearly 50% of 3.8 million births in US

Medicaid paid for nearly half of the 3.8 million births in the United States in 2010—an amount that has been rising over time, according to a report out today.

4 Sep 2013

Physicians and health professionals need to be on alert for caregiver-fabricated illness in children

While it's rare for a parent to fabricate an illness in their child, a McMaster University researcher says physicians and other health professionals need to be on the alert for this form of child abuse.

27 Aug 2013

Health professionals need to be alert for fabricated illness in child, says researcher

26 Aug 2013

Children with high BPA levels have higher odds of obesity and abnormal waist circumference

Children who have higher levels of Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical previously used in many products for kids, like baby bottle and plastic toys, had a higher odds of obesity and adverse levels of body fat, according to a new study from University of Michigan researchers.

20 Aug 2013

Health concern for children varies based on racial and ethnic backgrounds

Adults across the U.S. rate childhood obesity as the top health concern for children in 2013, but priorities vary based on racial and ethnic backgrounds, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

20 Aug 2013

Autistic children demonstrate superior math skills compared with normal children in same IQ range

Children with autism and average IQs consistently demonstrated superior math skills compared with nonautistic children in the same IQ range, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

17 Aug 2013

Preterm babies are at high risk for lower academic achievement, says researchers

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have received a five-year, $3 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

16 Aug 2013

New collaboration to play key role in improving lives of patients with long-term conditions

PATIENTS with long-term conditions such as mental health disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and stroke are set to benefit from a major multi-million pound partnership between the region’s NHS organisations, leading universities, local government, industry, charities, patients and the public.

9 Aug 2013

Mother's perceived social status predicts child's brain development, stress indicators

A mother's perceived social status predicts her child's brain development and stress indicators, finds a study at Boston Children's Hospital. While previous studies going back to the 1950s have linked objective socioeconomic factors—such as parental income or education—to child health, achievement and brain function, the new study is the first to link brain function to maternal self-perception.

9 Aug 2013

GSTS Pathology celebrate success of Innovation Academy event

GSTS Pathology recently hosted their first Innovation Academy event in London (28 June 2013). This inaugural scientific symposium welcomed over 100 attendees, offering participants great networking opportunities and the chance to hear presentations from a group of GSTS experts. Discussions were focused into four tracks: Child Health, Keeping People Healthy, Infectious Diseases, and Next Generation Diagnostics. On show was the innovative approach to laboratory medicine that can be found throughout the GSTS Pathology organisation.

6 Aug 2013

Women who feel less attached to their fetus are going to smoke more

A small new study suggests that pregnant smokers with low scores on a scale that rates emotional attachment to their fetuses may be inclined to smoke more than pregnant smokers who feel more attached to their future babies.

6 Aug 2013

WHO aims to increase global rate of breastfeeding for six months to 50% by 2025

Only 37 countries, or 19% of those reporting, have passed laws reflecting all the recommendations of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report published during World Breastfeeding Week. The week is celebrated in more than 170 countries from 1 to 7 August.

30 Jul 2013

Disabled children in developing countries are more likely to experience harsh punishment

Children with disabilities who live in developing countries are more likely to experience harsh punishment than children without disabilities in those countries. That's the conclusion of a new study that looked at data from nationally representative samples of about 46,000 parents and other caregivers of 2- to 9-year-olds in 17 low- and middle-income countries; most prior research on children with disabilities has been done in developed countries.

30 Jul 2013

GW professor receives $747,000 grant to research causes of severe intellectual disability and autism

As part of a national focus to better understand child health and development, Chiara Manzini, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, was awarded a $747,000 grant to research the causes of severe intellectual disability and autism.

25 Jul 2013

Child cancer survival: an interview with Prof Kathy Pritchard-Jones, University College London

Back in the early 1960s, just before chemotherapy really started to be used, only about 30% of children survived cancer. That was mainly because they had cancers that were amenable to surgery.

24 Jul 2013