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New book on harnessing science and innovation to tackle challenges in poor countries

Science and Innovation for Development demonstrates how science and innovation can be harnessed to tackle today's biggest challenges in poor countries, including climate change, HIV/AIDS and illiteracy. Case studies are described, including the use of tissue culture to develop disease-resistant bananas in Kenya; the use of nanotechnology to develop cheaper and faster kits for diagnosing infectious diseases and the use of organic material to power a multi-purpose stove that can also function as a refrigerator and generator.

18 Jan 2010

PATH MVI announces collaboration in development of malaria TBV

The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) today announced a new collaboration to initiate development toward a vaccine that may eventually help eliminate and eradicate malaria. This collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) and the Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) marks MVI's first investment in transmission-blocking vaccines (TBVs). This vaccine approach aims to stop the malaria parasite from developing in the mosquito, effectively blocking transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans. Malaria kills nearly 900,000 people per year, most of them children younger than age five.

18 Jan 2010

U.S., World mount response to Haiti 7.0 earthquake

Rescue teams and aid groups headed to Haiti on Wednesday to offer help and "assess damage from a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake that crippled the island nation, severing communications with the outside world and crumbling countless buildings," the Miami Herald reports (Charles et al., 1/13). Tuesday's "earthquake was the worst in the region in more than 200 years and left the country in a shambles," according to the New York Times (Romero/Lacy, 1/13).

18 Jan 2010

Nevada governor considers dropping out of Medicaid

State governors and other lawmakers continue to worry that an expansion of Medicaid could put their budgets in crisis.

18 Jan 2010

NCB Capital Impact and MetLife team up to get more capital for community health centers

In an effort to preempt a potential decline in health care services for California’s most vulnerable communities due to the state budget crisis, NCB Capital Impact and MetLife have teamed up to get more capital to community health centers (CHCs) that need it most.

13 Jan 2010

Progress on MDG targets is 'key priority' in 2010 for U.N. Secretary-General

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called 2010 "the year of development" and said "he would make the drive to achieve" the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 "one of his key priorities this year," Agence France-Presse/My Sinchew reports.

13 Jan 2010

RWJF awards multi-year grants to 41 communities to reverse childhood obesity epidemic by 2015

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded multi-year grants to 41 communities across the country as part of a landmark national program to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

13 Jan 2010

NIH, D.C. Department of Health partner to decrease the rate of new HIV infections

Officials from the National Institutes of Health and the city of Washington, D.C. today announced the new D.C. Partnership for HIV/AIDS Progress, a collaborative research initiative between NIH and the D.C. Department of Health designed to decrease the rate of new HIV infections in the city, improve the health of district residents living with HIV infection, and strengthen the city's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

13 Jan 2010

Budget and cost issues continue to plague states

The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune News: In California, local programs will be hit hard under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to plug a $20 billion budget gap. "In-Home Supportive Services would be cut entirely. Medi-Cal would be limited and participants would be called upon to share more of the costs"

13 Jan 2010

UNAIDS chief calls for reduction in MTCT in Africa

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe on Monday during a five-day trip in Kenya, called for a drastic reduction in mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, Capital News reports. "In our continent we still have 400,000 babies born every year with HIV and we know if we are capable of making sure that testing will become available universally to all our pregnant women, (and) that pregnant women also have access to treatment, we will prevent the transmission," Sidibe said (Karong'o, 1/11).

13 Jan 2010

Detroit paper explores pain of facing breast cancer without insurance

A woman with a $7,000 annual income and $67 in the bank was diagnosed with breast cancer, leading to a week of phone calls from her surgeon to state, federal and hospital officials before a charitable agreement was struck with a medical center, the Detroit Free Press reports.

12 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Museveni on Uganda anti-gay bill; Zambia, India on collaboration; media examines water issues; Southern Sudan conflict

The Associated Press reports that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that the anti-gay bill to be considered late next month or early March by the country's parliament "is too harsh and [he] has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision. Several lawmakers have agreed and say they will push to remove the statute."

9 Jan 2010

Nelson calls for expansion of Nebraska Medicaid deal to all states

"Sen. Ben Nelson said Thursday he has asked Democratic leadership to extend to all states the extra Medicaid funding promised to Nebraska in the health care reform bill," The Associated Press reports. "The Democrat wouldn't say who he has spoken to regarding the so-called 'Cornhusker Kickback' but that he would see to it that Nebraska doesn't get a special deal." Nelson said if he can't get similar treatment for every state, "he wants states to be freed from paying the cost of Medicaid expansion. That could mean eliminating the provision, finding another way to pay for it or allowing states to opt out" (Ross, 1/7).

9 Jan 2010

Nelson wants to open Nebraska's Medicaid deal to all states

Sen. Ben Nelson said today that he's fighting hard to extend to all states the same Medicaid deal that Nebraska gets under the Senate health care bill. ... While other states have to start footing the bill for expanding of Medicaid in 2017, the bill would have the federal government covering Nebraska's share forever.

8 Jan 2010

Health care reform bill could penalize married couples

Various news organizations are detailing how specific provisions of the pending health overhaul bills could impact the budgets of states as well as some married individuals while also may be tweaked to make health coverage more affordable for the lowest earners.

8 Jan 2010

Opinions: Uganda anti-gay bill; Clinton's foreign policy speech; PEPFAR

A Washington Post editorial calles anti-gay legislation currently under consideration in Uganda "an atrocity." The authors of the editorial write that under the legislation, "anyone convicted of 'aggravated homosexuality,' which could mean someone who is HIV-positive and is intimate with another person of the same sex, could 'suffer death.'"

7 Jan 2010

Calorie content information reported by restaurants and packaged food companies may be inaccurate

(January 6, 2010) As a growing number of fast food and chain restaurants display the calorie content of their dishes on websites and menus, a study suggests some of this information may be unreliable.

7 Jan 2010

Media examines efforts to treat patients, train doctors in Afghanistan, fight malnutrition

The Los Angeles Times examines the International Medical Corps' work in Afghanistan. "Although less well known than the Nobel-winning Doctors Without Borders, the [International Medical Corps] shares a reputation with its gutsy counterpart for working in places where no one else will go. ... In parts of Afghanistan where government forces have little control, staffers say, they are protected by traditional village councils, known as shuras.

7 Jan 2010

Public option, affordability issues central to health bill negotiations

Dow Jones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal reports that House Democrats who favor a government-run public insurance plan on Tuesday signaled "they are willing to agree to a final health overhaul bill without a government-run health insurance option if other parts of the bill would fulfill the same goals."

7 Jan 2010

Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to higher risk of death among African-Americans compared to whites

Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to a higher number of heart and stroke-related deaths among black Americans compared to whites, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study.

6 Jan 2010

Poverty News and Research

New book on harnessing science and innovation to tackle challenges in poor countries

PATH MVI announces collaboration in development of malaria TBV

U.S., World mount response to Haiti 7.0 earthquake

Nevada governor considers dropping out of Medicaid

NCB Capital Impact and MetLife team up to get more capital for community health centers

Progress on MDG targets is 'key priority' in 2010 for U.N. Secretary-General

RWJF awards multi-year grants to 41 communities to reverse childhood obesity epidemic by 2015

NIH, D.C. Department of Health partner to decrease the rate of new HIV infections

Budget and cost issues continue to plague states

UNAIDS chief calls for reduction in MTCT in Africa

Detroit paper explores pain of facing breast cancer without insurance

Also in global health news: Museveni on Uganda anti-gay bill; Zambia, India on collaboration; media examines water issues; Southern Sudan conflict

Nelson calls for expansion of Nebraska Medicaid deal to all states

Nelson wants to open Nebraska's Medicaid deal to all states

Health care reform bill could penalize married couples

Opinions: Uganda anti-gay bill; Clinton's foreign policy speech; PEPFAR

Calorie content information reported by restaurants and packaged food companies may be inaccurate

Media examines efforts to treat patients, train doctors in Afghanistan, fight malnutrition

Public option, affordability issues central to health bill negotiations

Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to higher risk of death among African-Americans compared to whites

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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