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Fifty more deaths in Angola from cholera

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) another 50 people have died from cholera in Angola in the last week.

14 May 2006

14 million Americans are visually impaired

A National Eye Institute (NEI) study has found that although 94 percent of Americans aged 12 and older have good vision, the remaining six percent, or 14 million, are visually impaired.

12 May 2006

Exposure to cocaine before birth not linked to bad behavior in kids

Toddlers exposed to cocaine before birth exhibit no more behavioral problems than other children their age, despite early predictions that "crack babies" would grow up to be delinquents, University of Florida researchers say.

3 May 2006

Chernobyl: 20 years later

Chernobyl, the most significant accident in nuclear history, took place on 26 April 1986. Even 20 years later, the accident has left the world with many unanswered questions about its impact on human health, the environment, and the socio-economic sector.

19 Apr 2006

WHO report says rich must stop poaching medical staff from poor

A critical shortage of doctors and nurses is causing unnecessary disease and death across much of the developing world as rich nations poach health-care workers.

10 Apr 2006

Clear evidence that elephantiasis can be eliminated

Clear evidence that Lymphatic Filariasis (LF, commonly known as elephantiasis) can be eliminated is reported in The Lancet. LF is one of the world's most disfiguring and disabling parasitic diseases, and the target of one of the largest global public health programs using mass drug administration (MDA).

28 Mar 2006

Poor children at greater risk for exposure to toxic pollutants

Poor and ethnic minority children in the United States have a significantly greater risk for exposure to toxic pollutants that can affect their cognitive development and other health indicators than higher income and non-minority peers, and current local, state and federal policies appear to be failing to address these inequities.

23 Mar 2006

Ethnicity the most important personal characteristic in predicting complementary medicine use

A survey of older adults in rural North Carolina shows that they widely use complementary medicine therapies, but tend to focus on folk or home remedies, such as taking a daily "tonic" of vinegar or using Epsom salts.

1 Mar 2006

Doctors fail to recommend colon cancer tests for low-income patients

Fewer than nine out of 10 low-income, medically underserved minority patients at risk for colorectal cancer receive a recommendation for colorectal cancer screening by physicians at government-supported community health centers

24 Feb 2006

World's poor at huge risk from bird flu

ActionAid International, one of the UK's charity largest development charities which works with over five million of the world's poorest people, has warned that when it comes to the fight against bird flu, in the developing world, making plans is not enough.

22 Feb 2006

Socioeconomic factors predominantly explain racial and ethnic disparities in prostate cancer outcomes

Socioeconomic factors predominantly explain racial and ethnic disparities in prostate cancer outcomes, according to a new study.

19 Feb 2006

Hospitalization of a spouse can harm the wellbeing of his or her partner

In the largest study ever to quantify caregiver burden and the widower effect, researchers found that for people aged 65 and older, hospitalization of a spouse can harm the wellbeing of his or her partner and significantly contribute to that partner's death.

17 Feb 2006

Science is bypassing poor people

Applying science and technology to build a Pluto-bound spacecraft that travels more than 10 times faster -- 47,000 miles per hour -- than a speeding bullet is a great achievement. But can we apply technology to feed the 800 million hungry people in the world whose plight isn't improving in a modern world?

17 Feb 2006

Advancing knowledge of diet-gene interactions

Josi Ordovas, PhD, director of the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University joined more than eighty other leading researchers in the fields of nutrition and genetics to co-author a report outlining their strategy for maximizing the impact of nutrigenomics research on global poverty and health.

16 Feb 2006

Poverty early in life may set into motion a consistent pattern of antisocial behaviours

Children in low-income families start off with higher levels of antisocial behaviour than children from more advantaged households. And if the home remains poor as the children grow up, antisocial behaviour becomes much worse over time compared to children living in households that are never poor or later move out of poverty, says new University of Alberta research.

7 Feb 2006

Babies fully breastfed for six months less likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses

Babies fully breastfed for six months are less likely to suffer from respiratory illnesses in their first two years than babies fully breastfed for only four months, according to research conducted by investigators at UC Davis Children's Hospital, the University of Rochester and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Center for Child Health Research.

7 Feb 2006

8 million children born every year with serious birth defects

According to a new report, every year an estimated 8 million children are born with a serious birth defect of genetic or partially genetic origin.

31 Jan 2006

UNICEF seeks $805 million for humanitarian efforts

UNICEF appealed to donors today to provide $805 million to assist children and women in 29 humanitarian emergencies.

23 Jan 2006

Falling asleep with baby on the sofa can be fatal

Despite the fact that the number of cases of babies dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has fallen dramatically over the last two decades, it seems that the number of deaths in children while sleeping with a parent on a sofa have risen 400 percent.

18 Jan 2006

New combination treatment that could dramatically shorten the length of tuberculosis treatment

The clinical results of a new combination treatment that could dramatically shorten the length of tuberculosis treatment were presented at a recent scientific conference in the USA. This virulent disease of the lungs still infects millions every year, with a notable resurgence in Europe, especially in the East.

10 Jan 2006