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U.S. announces non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition, including food, medical supplies

"The U.S. unveiled a package of non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition, as the U.K. was expected to provide combat gear, in a new Western effort to support the fight against President Bashar al-Assad that Syrian rebels immediately blasted as insufficient," the Wall Street Journal reports.

2 Mar 2013

Haiti launches $2.2B, 10-year plan to eradicate cholera

"The Haitian government's $2.2 billion, 10-year plan to eradicate cholera was launched on Wednesday against the backdrop of the U.N.'s rejection of a legal claim from more than 5,000 victims" that sought compensation for the cholera epidemic, which "has killed more than 8,000 people and infected nearly 648,000" and is thought to have been started by a U.N. peacekeeping mission, the Guardian reports.

1 Mar 2013

Poor sanitation in Africa causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, WaterAid report says

"Poor sanitation is causing hundreds of thousands of deaths a year in Africa, where 600 million people -- about 70 percent of the population -- do not have a safe toilet," and that number is up from 210 million in 1990 and continues to increase as the population grows and people move into poor urban areas, according to a report from WaterAid, titled "Keeping promises: why African leaders need now to deliver on their past water and sanitation commitments," the Guardian reports.

1 Mar 2013

U.N. claims 'legal immunity' in case seeking compensation for Haiti cholera outbreak; Ban reiterates commitment to eliminating the disease

"The U.N. has taken the rare step of invoking its legal immunity to rebuff claims for compensation from 5,000 victims of the Haiti cholera epidemic, the worst outbreak of the disease in modern times and widely believed to have been caused by U.N. peacekeepers importing the infection into the country," the Guardian reports.

23 Feb 2013

Disruption of water, sanitation services threaten health in Syria; Conflict causes surge in number of Syrian refugees

"The severe disruption of water and sanitation services and a lack of access to basic hygiene in Syria have increased the risk of waterborne diseases among children, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Friday, following a nationwide assessment," the U.N. News Centre reports.

12 Feb 2013

High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda wraps up second meeting

The U.N. Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda wrapped up its second meeting on Friday in Monrovia, Liberia, with British Prime Minister David Cameron, a co-chair of the panel, "saying it is possible to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide within our generation," Liberia's The Inquirer reports.

6 Feb 2013

India's success in fighting polio shows what country is capable of with proper funding, accountability

"India's successful war on polio shows what can happen when its government sets clear policy goals backed with proper funding and real accountability," journalist and author Dan Morrison writes in an opinion piece in the New York Times' "Latitude" blog.

5 Feb 2013

Research to encourage more effective and efficient management of water resources

Born and raised in a rural village in Northern Ghana, Dr. Braimah Apambire knows the value of resources in a critically deprived country.

30 Jan 2013

Focus water, sanitation investments on cholera risk zones, aid groups say

"Aid groups are urging donors to invest in water and sanitation in areas known as hotbeds for cholera," saying "while such projects might directly affect a relatively small population, the indirect impact in terms of cholera reduction could be immense," IRIN reports.

29 Jan 2013

Viewpoints: GOP's hope to end deficits in 10 years will mean 'dramatic cuts' in entitlements; Mass. health overhaul brings need for more taxes

Ryan has a daunting new assignment that may make that message even more difficult to sell. He's been charged by House Speaker John A. Boehner with drawing up a new budget that will erase the federal deficit within 10 years (the first Ryan budget, written in 2011, needed 30 years) solely through spending cuts

25 Jan 2013

Farmworkers more likely to develop illnesses because of inadequate food facilities in camps

Farmworkers are at potential risk from food and waterborne illnesses because of the condition of cooking and eating facilities available to them, according to a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

18 Jan 2013

Lancet commentary cautiously optimistic about public health system in Haiti

In this Lancet commentary, John Vertefeuille, Scott Dowell, Jean Domercant and Jordan Tappero of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examine the state of the public health system in Haiti three years after a 7.0 earthquake struck the country, writing, "Haiti is starting to show that its health services have expanded far beyond those in place before the earthquake occurred."

17 Jan 2013

Haiti cholera: less than 50% vaccination needed to halt spread

Researchers have used a mathematical model to show that a surprisingly low level of vaccination coverage would stem the spread of cholera in Haiti that has followed the 2010 earthquake.

14 Jan 2013

True solution to cholera is improving access to safe water, sanitation

"Even when it is not covered in the news or noticed by the public, cholera occurs regularly in the developing world, and the annual number of cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) has increased over the past few years to more than half a million cases and 7,816 related deaths reported from all regions in 2011," Ronald Waldman of George Washington University, Eric Mintz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Heather Papowitz of the U.N. Children's Fund write in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece.

11 Jan 2013

Cholera could be contained in Haiti by vaccinating less than half the population

Cholera could be contained in Haiti by vaccinating less than half the population, University of Florida researchers suggest in a paper to be published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

11 Jan 2013

H. pylori may protect against stroke and some cancers

A new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers reveals that an especially virulent strain of the gut bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) isn't implicated in the overall death rate of the U.S. population, and may even protect against stroke and some cancers.

10 Jan 2013

New research shows rise in number of HIV infections in Russia, Al Jazeera reports

"New research has revealed an alarming spike in the number of HIV infections in Russia, with 200 people being diagnosed with the condition every day," Al Jazeera reports.

7 Jan 2013

3 years after devastating earthquake, Haiti remains in fragile state

"On the eve of the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010, the country remains in a fragile state," a New York Times editorial states.

3 Jan 2013

WaterAid report urges integration of menstrual hygiene issues into aid policies

"Menstrual hygiene issues should be integrated into programs and policies across sectors, including water, sanitation and hygiene, reproductive health, emergency management, and education, notes a new report" by WaterAid, IRIN reports.

20 Dec 2012

WASH improvements necessary to fight NTDs, and vice versa

"We know that in addition to drugs to treat and control [neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)], improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) can help prevent re-infection and contribute to lasting health, education and economic improvements," Anupama Tantri, a senior program officer with the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, writes in the group's "End the Neglect" blog.

19 Dec 2012