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Study finds proximal prayer may help another person's healing

Findings reported today from a new international study of healing prayer suggest that prayer for another person's healing just might help especially if the one praying is physically near the person being prayed for.Candy Gunther Brown, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, led the study of "proximal intercessory prayer" for healing. It is available online today and will be published in the September 2010 issue of the Southern Medical Journal.

5 Aug 2010

President Obama, Sec. of State discuss U.S. commitment to development, fighting disease in Africa with young African leaders

During a gathering of over 100 young African business and civil leaders at the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama "urged [them] to help spur economic development and fight corruption, disease and extremism on the continent," MSNBC's "First Read" blog reports.

5 Aug 2010

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, and company highlights.

5 Aug 2010

Scientists invent Global Focus microscope for tuberculosis diagnosis

A compact microscope invented at Rice University is proving its potential to impact global health. In a paper published online today in the journal PLoS ONE, Rice alumnus Andrew Miller and co-authors show that his portable, battery-operated fluorescence microscope, which costs $240, stacks up nicely against devices that retail for as much as $40,000 in diagnosing signs of tuberculosis.

5 Aug 2010

MOM Project increases access to maternal health care services for internally displaced woman

A community-based maternal health delivery strategy known as the MOM Project dramatically increased access to maternal health care services for internally displaced woman in eastern Burma, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Among the findings, the study showed a ten-fold increase in the proportion of women assisted at delivery by workers skilled in providing emergency obstetric care, including preventing and treating hemorrhage, injectable antibiotics and anticonvulsants, and community-based blood transfusion.

4 Aug 2010

Ties between global health, national security, jobs emphasized at recent meeting in Washington State

The message that U.S. investment in global health "helps advance longer term security and development goals" while also supporting a "small but growing industry with good paying jobs and world class research" was the focus of a recent meeting between officials from Washington, D.C. and Washington State, the Seattle Times' "Business of Giving" blog writes.

4 Aug 2010

Opinions: AIDS 2010; Clean water, sanitation; Russia's HIV/AIDS epidemic; Financial tax; Medical abortion in developing countries

A VOA News editorial by the U.S. government reflects on last month's International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, including key advancements such as the vaginal microbicide gel found to offer women some protection against HIV infection as well discussions about funding for the fight against HIV/AIDS and how the "criminalization of drug abuse and persecution of homosexuals" in the world is compromising efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

4 Aug 2010

Obama Administration releases U.S. MDGs strategy

Obama Administration officials on Friday unveiled the U.S. government's strategy to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by 2015 during a meeting at the U.N. Foundation "that was closed to the press," Washington Post's "Checkpoint Washington" blog reports.

3 Aug 2010

An overview of IntraHealth-UNC Summer Fellows Program

Four master's students and one doctoral candidate from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health shared their global health research and insights at the culmination of a 10-week joint fellowship with IntraHealth International this Wednesday during a poster exhibition and discussion with faculty and staff.

2 Aug 2010

Aetna offers two RHP plans for companies in need of health care cover

Companies operating across the Middle East now have a new choice in health benefits plans from Aetna Global Benefits (AGB), the international business segment of Aetna, that provides additional flexibility in cover and affordability. The organisation has expanded its Regional Healthcare Plan (RHP) for companies in need of health care cover for their expatriate employees living across the region.

2 Aug 2010

Sen. Appropriations Committee approves $54.1B FY2011 foreign ops spending bill, including $8.2B for global health programs

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $54.1 billion FY 2011 spending bill for the State Department and related agencies "that includes potentially controversial abortion language," CQ reports.

31 Jul 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Center for Global Development memo offers suggestions for the U.S. to improve its commitment to policies that benefit poor countries after it ranked 17th out of 22 wealthy in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index. Among a set of 20 recommendations, the authors suggest the U.S. "[i]ncrease foreign aid, especially through such vehicles as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which gives to relatively well-governed countries, or a global 'Cash on Delivery' fund that would pay countries after making confirmed progress toward agreed-upon outcomes, thereby reducing the proliferation of aid projects," the authors write(Prieto/Roodman).

31 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010 follow-up coverage: Global HIV/AIDS funding; HIV/AIDS studies, releases

Media outlets continued to reflect on news from the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010, which attracted over 19,000 participants from 197 countries to Vienna last week, according to the conference blog.

30 Jul 2010

New paradigm in TB research may lead to improved vaccination, treatment

Often causing no symptoms in carriers of the disease, worldwide tuberculosis (TB) infects eight to ten million people every year, kills two million, and it is highly contagious as it is spread through coughing and sneezing. "It's a global health disaster waiting to happen, even here in Canada, but this new paradigm in TB research may offer an immediate opportunity to improve vaccination and treatment initiatives," explains Dr. Maziar Divangahi of McGill University and of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

30 Jul 2010

Mapping NTDs is critical for controlling, treating diseases

Mapping neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is vital for efforts to control and treat diseases, write the authors of an editorial published Tuesday in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, ANI/Sindh Today reports (7/28).

29 Jul 2010

Antigenics announces positive results of AG-707 genital herpes vaccine

Antigenics announced positive results with AG-707, an investigational therapeutic vaccine being developed to treat herpes simplex virus-2,the virus that causes genital herpes, in infected patients. Developed by Antigenics, the vaccine triggers a cellular immune response, stimulating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

28 Jul 2010

Life-saving interventions can save 11 million African women, children over next five years: Countdown report

In the next five years, 11 million African women and children could be saved by creating near-universal availability of key life-saving interventions, according to The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and the Countdown to 2015 Decade Report (2000-2010).

27 Jul 2010

Global Fund director calls on emerging countries to invest more in programs to reduce HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria at AIDS 2010

On the final day of the International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 Friday, Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria called upon "China, India and other fast-growing economies" to chip in to help close the funding gap in efforts to battle HIV/AIDS, Agence France-Presse reports. "Until now, these countries have been recipients of AIDS funds, not donors," the news service writes.

27 Jul 2010

AU leaders summit kicks off, focus on maternal and child health

Heads of state from the African Union (AU) started a three-day meeting in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday as part of the 15th AU Summit, People's Daily Online reports. Leaders will focus on maternal and child health and will discuss several other issues, including agricultural development, food security, infrastructure development and economic integration (7/26).

27 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010 opinions: U.S. funding for global HIV/AIDS programs; Empowering women, girls in fight against HIV/AIDS

The first letter, Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, addresses an opinion piece by Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and honorary chairman of the Global AIDS Alliance. Goosby writes, "The United States has been and continues to be the global leader on HIV/AIDS. The best metric of our success is lives saved." Goosby cites an increased number of people on antiretrovirals financed by the United States and a commitment to treat 4 million more as part of the Global Health Initiative.

27 Jul 2010

Global Health News and Research

Study finds proximal prayer may help another person's healing

President Obama, Sec. of State discuss U.S. commitment to development, fighting disease in Africa with young African leaders

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

Scientists invent Global Focus microscope for tuberculosis diagnosis

MOM Project increases access to maternal health care services for internally displaced woman

Ties between global health, national security, jobs emphasized at recent meeting in Washington State

Opinions: AIDS 2010; Clean water, sanitation; Russia's HIV/AIDS epidemic; Financial tax; Medical abortion in developing countries

Obama Administration releases U.S. MDGs strategy

An overview of IntraHealth-UNC Summer Fellows Program

Aetna offers two RHP plans for companies in need of health care cover

Sen. Appropriations Committee approves $54.1B FY2011 foreign ops spending bill, including $8.2B for global health programs

Recent releases in Global Health

AIDS 2010 follow-up coverage: Global HIV/AIDS funding; HIV/AIDS studies, releases

New paradigm in TB research may lead to improved vaccination, treatment

Mapping NTDs is critical for controlling, treating diseases

Antigenics announces positive results of AG-707 genital herpes vaccine

Life-saving interventions can save 11 million African women, children over next five years: Countdown report

Global Fund director calls on emerging countries to invest more in programs to reduce HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria at AIDS 2010

AU leaders summit kicks off, focus on maternal and child health

AIDS 2010 opinions: U.S. funding for global HIV/AIDS programs; Empowering women, girls in fight against HIV/AIDS

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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