Global Health News and Research

RSS

Opinions: Sanitation and women, child health; GM in Global Food Security bill; U.S. malaria strategy; GHI on NTDs; Haiti recovery

"If Stephen Harper is serious about maternal health and child health [as suggested by his plans for the upcoming G8 and G20 summits], he needs to recognize that healthy mothers come from healthy communities," Maude Barlow and Meera Karunananthan of the Council of Canadians write in a Chronicle Herald opinion piece that examines the connections between the health of women and children and access to drinking water and sanitation.

30 Apr 2010

Newsweek examines advocates' views of PEPFAR under Obama

Newsweek examines HIV/AIDS advocates' concerns that the Obama administration's focus on the six-year, $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI) is compromising PEPFAR's reach.

30 Apr 2010

WellTek reports 115% increase in gross profit for fiscal year 2009

WellTek Incorporated, a global health, fitness and wellness company, is pleased to announce that the Company reported $2.54 million in revenue for the 2009 fiscal year ended December 31, 2009, representing a 15% increase over $2.20 million in revenue posted for 2008. The increase is primarily attributable to international sales by the Company's subsidiary, MedX Limited.

30 Apr 2010

NGOs outraged at developments of current meeting of Global Fund Board to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

NGOs are outraged at developments of the current Board meeting of the Global Fund Board to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland. Many donor governments are promoting the establishment of a ceiling on the next round of disease fight grants to developing countries.

29 Apr 2010

Eliminating inherent drug resistance in tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a global health problem, in part due to the exceptional drug resistance displayed by the TB-causing agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Beyond even acquired drug resistance, these bacteria are also inherently resistant to many other common antibiotics, which limits the available options in finding alternative treatments to resistant TB strains.

29 Apr 2010

Injection drug use contributes to transmission of syphilis

A binational team of researchers led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that active syphilis infections are significantly greater in female sex workers who inject drugs and share needles than those who don't. The findings suggest that injection drug use may play as big a role as risky sexual behavior in the transmission of syphilis. It may also exacerbate the spread of both HIV and syphilis, as syphilis is frequently a co-factor for HIV infection.

29 Apr 2010

Cambodia closes 64.9 percent of illegal pharmacies

In a major crackdown, Cambodia has forced nearly 65 percent of illegal pharmacies operating in the country to close within the past five months. Led by an Inter-Ministerial Committee to Fight against Counterfeit & Substandard Medicines (IMC), the shops were targeted because of evidence that they were among the primary sources of substandard and counterfeit medicines in the country.

29 Apr 2010

New study reinforces urgent need for life-saving vaccines in Africa

A new study released this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases finds that African children who contract pneumococcus - a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis - are 36 times as likely to have sickle-cell disease, a blood disorder prevalent in African children that increases the risk for infectious diseases and early death.

29 Apr 2010

Report looks at AIDS funding in developing countries

"A global pullback on commitments to fund and fight AIDS is resulting in restrictions on the number of people being enrolled into treatment programmes, more frequent drug shortages, and reduced national AIDS budgets," according to a report released Monday by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, BMJ News reports.

28 Apr 2010

Wall Street Journal examines changes to polio eradication strategy

The Wall Street Journal examines upcoming changes to the global strategy to eradicate polio with a focus on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's role in fighting the disease. "[O]rganizations behind the polio fight," which include the WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the CDC, "plan to announce a major revamp of their strategy to address shortcomings exposed by" the increasing number of polio outbreaks in "countries believed to have stopped the disease." The plan is expected to be announced next week.

27 Apr 2010

Global Health Partner reports 12% increase in revenues for first-quarter 2010

The strong growth within our Service Line Bariatrics continues, above all at our oldest clinic Bariatric Center Stockholm. Our arrhythmia clinic Arrhythmia Center Stockholm has also had good capacity utilization during the quarter and continues to generate better than expected results.

26 Apr 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

"What is still needed [to fight malaria] is the only tool that has ever truly conquered any infectious disease: an effective and affordable vaccine. And here, the global malaria community has been too complacent," a Lancet editorial asserts in an article highlighting achievements and drawbacks in attempting to provide universal access to malaria prevention and treatment.

24 Apr 2010

PMI releases 6-year malaria strategy

The U.S. government Thursday released a six-year strategy to address malaria globally, Reuters reports (Fox, 4/22). The plan was issued through the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in conjunction with World Malaria Day, April 25, and is a "core component of President [Barack] Obama's Global Health Initiative," according to a USAID press release (4/22).

24 Apr 2010

First annual U.S.-African Union high level bilateral meetings start in Washington

Representatives of the African Union (AU) on Wednesday began meeting with members of the Obama administration in Washington, as part of the first Annual U.S.-African Union High Level Bilateral Meetings, United Press International reports (4/21).

23 Apr 2010

World's smallest and lightest microscope for telemedicine applications

Aydogan Ozcan, whose invention of a novel lensless imaging technology for use in telemedicine could radically transform global health care, has now taken his work a step further ― or tinier: The UCLA engineer has created a miniature microscope, the world's smallest and lightest for telemedicine applications.

23 Apr 2010

New USG strategy to combat malaria globally

In conjunction with World Malaria Day, and in accordance with the requirements of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Lantos-Hyde), the U.S. Government, through the President's Malaria Initiative, today released a comprehensive strategy to combat malaria globally.

23 Apr 2010

Lipocine announced receipt of $2M development milestone payment from Abbott

Lipocine Inc. announced today the receipt of a $2 million development milestone payment from Abbott under the terms of its Licensing Agreement to develop and commercialize an oral testosterone product for hypogonadism, also known as low testosterone.

21 Apr 2010

Four-year dual degree program to address public health workforce shortage

To address the forecasted public health workforce shortage, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have created a four-year Doctor of Medicine /Master of Public Health program.

20 Apr 2010

House markup of supplemental spending bill that includes Haiti relief delayed one week

A supplemental spending bill that is expected to include earthquake relief aid for Haiti will be considered by the full House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee during the week of April 26 and will not be written this week as several aides and members had anticipated, C.W. Bill Young, the committee's ranking Republican from Florida, said, CQ Today reports.

20 Apr 2010

Opinions: PEPFAR; Private-civil society partnerships in Africa; Global maternal mortality; SA HIV testing campaign

"The Obama administration's new Global Health Initiative, designed to broaden and better integrate health programming overseas, deserves wide support. But stalling on global AIDS threatens to undermine the worthy goals of the initiative," Chris Collins, vice president and director of public polity for the Foundation for AIDS Research, writes in a Boston Globe letter to the editor calling for sustained support for PEPFAR.

20 Apr 2010