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Aeras, IDRI announce start of first ID93 + GLA-SE Phase I trial for tuberculosis

Aeras and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) announce today the start of the first clinical trial of IDRI's novel tuberculosis vaccine candidate, ID93 + GLA-SE.

23 Aug 2012

U.S. drought threatens global economy, food security, HSBC report warns

"America's worst drought for 25 years is threatening the global economy as it cripples the country's grain production and sends the price soaring," the International Business Times reports, adding, "According to a report by HSBC, bloated food prices loom over the global economy and present the temptation for governments to hoard produce."

22 Aug 2012

Given the chance, world's poor, underserved communities could end hunger, poverty

In this post in Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Eric Holt Gimenez, executive director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, reflects on the global implications of a drought in the U.S., writing, "If the 2008 and 2011 food price crises are any guide, the global effects of the U.S. drought are fairly predictable."

22 Aug 2012

International community observes World Humanitarian Day

On World Humanitarian Day, recognized August 19, "United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has highlighted the power of individual actions to spark global changes, and praised the work of humanitarian workers who provide assistance to vulnerable people around the world," the U.N. News Centre reports.

21 Aug 2012

World Mosquito Day marks 114 years of battle against malaria

"Each year on August 20, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) celebrates World Mosquito Day to honor the date in 1897 when British doctor Ronald Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between human beings," AlertNet reports.

21 Aug 2012

Links between disruptive life events, poverty and contraceptive use

The researchers, from the Guttmacher Institute in New York, base their findings on feedback data from almost 9,500 women who had an abortion in 2008 (Abortion Patient Survey), in the light of 11 "disruptive" events, and the links between these, poverty, and contraceptive use.

21 Aug 2012

USAID blog examines structural issues fueling HIV epidemic

"During the recent International XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, D.C., exciting breakthroughs in HIV prevention, treatment, and care -- even a possible cure -- took center stage," but, "despite recent advances, many men and women remain at risk of HIV as a result of structural issues that fuel and have an impact on the epidemic," Molly Fitzgerald, technical advisor for AIDSTAR-One, writes in this post in USAID's "Impact Blog."

18 Aug 2012

Poor families fear they are forgotten in Medicaid expansion debate

The Associated Press looks at the dilemma for many poor people who had expected to get health coverage under the 2010 federal law.

16 Aug 2012

Medicago, IDRI receive FDA approval to commence Phase 1 H5N1 vaccine trial

The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a Seattle-based non-profit research organization that is a leading developer of adjuvants used in vaccines combating infectious disease, and Medicago Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), announce that they have been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial for an H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine candidate.

16 Aug 2012

Roundup: Abortion-rights groups mostly silent on fetal pain laws; Conn. advocates worry over Medicaid cuts; Examining readmission penalties

When new limits on abortions are proposed, abortion-rights groups usually go all out to stop them. So why haven't they gone all out against state fetal-pain laws, enacted in nine states since early 2010? These laws ban abortion after 20 weeks, based on the controversial assertion that the fetus can then experience pain. They're handing victories to anti-abortion groups, and so far there's only one major challenge from an abortion-rights group: in Arizona, where the 9th Circuit Court early this month temporarily blocked the state law.

15 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney's gamble; The return of 'Mediscare;' Klein and Roy offer competing views on differences in Ryan, Obama plans

It doesn't take a political genius to see where the contest between President Obama and Mitt Romney is heading. With Rep. Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket, the campaign is looking at a full-throated debate over the future of Medicare. Are Romney and Ryan ready?

15 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 15, 2012

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports: "GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's choice of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as his running mate has brought renewed focus on Ryan's proposal to overhaul Medicare. But how would Ryan's plan to reduce federal spending, which has been approved twice by the GOP-controlled House, change Medicaid?"

15 Aug 2012

Editorial, opinion pieces, blogs address hunger summit held in London on Sunday

The following editorial, opinion pieces, and blog posts address a hunger summit hosted by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron at the conclusion of the Olympic Games in London on Sunday.

14 Aug 2012

Blogs address upcoming global hunger event in London

In this post in the Independent's opinion blog "Notebook," Ivan Lewis, member of Britain's parliament and shadow secretary of state for international development in the U.K., writes "the Global Hunger Event being hosted by David Cameron in London this weekend, which will seek to use the Olympic spirit to galvanize action on global hunger, ... is crucial in its potential to provide a new and much needed impetus in the mission to end undernutrition."

10 Aug 2012

BBC News examines malnutrition in India

BBC News reports on malnutrition in India, "an enduring problem Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a 'national shame.'" "[D]espite supposedly spending billions of rupees on poverty and food-relief programs -- and during a period of sustained economic growth -- the government has made only a dent in the problem," the news service writes.

10 Aug 2012

State roundup: Calif. officials near deal on workers' health costs

Hopes for a last-minute agreement to overhaul the state's $11-billion workers' compensation system are growing as the end of the 2012 legislative session approaches.

10 Aug 2012

GOP governors respond to CMS signs of flexibility regarding Medicaid expansion

CQ HealthBeat reports that some Republican state executives were not impressed with the decision by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials to allow states that proceed with expansion plans now to scale back their Medicaid programs later.

10 Aug 2012

Sustaining focus on global hunger critical to improving transparency, accountability in fight against malnutrition

"Malnutrition is easily neglected by parents, communities and governments," Lawrence Haddad, director of the Institute of Development Studies, writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog," adding, "The signs are not visible until very acute, the impacts are felt long after the food and infection cycle has played out -- and far beyond electoral cycles -- and the causes are often mistakenly attributed to something else."

10 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Dubious ad on Romney's role in cancer death; British health plan has problems of its own

He sits at a kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee, talking about what happened after Bain Capital closed down his steel plant in 2001. He lost his job; his family lost its health insurance. His wife felt lousy but didn't go to the doctor, to spare the family worry and expense. When she finally ended up in the hospital, the diagnosis was cancer. She had 22 days to live.

9 Aug 2012

Improve investment in agriculture to meet growing demands

Extreme weather is forcing grain and meat prices to rise, and food production will have to increase about 60 percent over the next 40 years to meet a growing world population, but "there are solutions to these daunting problems," Catherine Bertini, former director of the U.N. World Food Programme and the 2003 World Food Prize laureate, and Dan Glickman, former secretary of agriculture, write in a Politico opinion piece.

8 Aug 2012