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CIGNA International to develop and offer individual PMI for customers around the globe

CIGNA International announced it will develop and offer individual Private Medical Insurance (PMI) to respond to the emerging needs of customers around the globe. CIGNA International – a world leader in global life, accident and health insurance and global expatriate benefits – will provide local PMI for citizens in countries outside the United States as well as to individual expatriates and high net worth individuals.

20 Jan 2010

Researchers measure medical students' attitudes and beliefs about CAM

In the largest national survey of its kind, researchers from UCLA and UC San Diego measured medical students' attitudes and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and found that three-quarters of them felt conventional Western medicine would benefit by integrating more CAM therapies and ideas.

20 Jan 2010

Boston University School of Public Health explores changing global health system for malaria research

This week PLoS Medicine publishes the third in a four-part series of policy papers examining the ways in which global health institutions and arrangements are changing and evolving.

20 Jan 2010

Fraunhofer USA CMB receives $60,000 gift from ProTecs to complete vaccine manufacturing plant

The Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, a not-for-profit, 501 (c3) research organization, announced today that it has received a $60,000 gift from ProTecs, Inc., to complete its new, state of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant in Newark, Delaware.

20 Jan 2010

Global health care errors, fraud costs $260b annually, report finds

A report released Monday finds $260 billion - or 5.59 percent of annual global health spending - is lost annually to health care errors and fraud, Reuters reports. For the study, the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network (EHFCN) and the Center for Counter Fraud Services (CCFS) at Britain's Portsmouth University, "reviewed 69 exercises in 33 organizations in six countries to measure healthcare fraud and error losses," the news service reports.

20 Jan 2010

Genetic map of Artemisia will accelerate breeding to address increased demand for malaria treatments

Plant scientists at the University of York have published the first genetic map of the medicinal herb Artemisia annua. The map is being used to accelerate plant breeding of Artemisia and rapidly develop the species into a high-yielding crop. This development is urgently needed to help meet escalating demand for effective malaria treatments.

19 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Anti-gay bill; Bush Institute TV show; funds for HIV programs in Kenya; EU aid commitments

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday publicly acknowledged the need to address the impact an anti-gay bill before the Ugandan parliament could have on foreign policy, Agence France-Presse reports (1/12).

18 Jan 2010

Study raises concerns about drug-resistant HIV

The emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV could one day threaten efforts to control the global HIV pandemic, according to a study published online Thursday in the journal Science, HealthDay News/U.S. News & World Report reports. The researchers based their findings on "a mathematical model that tracks the transmission of multiple strains of HIV" in San Francisco, the news service writes (1/14).

18 Jan 2010

Also in Global Health News: Family planning in Philippines; drug pricing in Africa

A government survey in the Philippines "found 73 percent of married women would use birth control if it were available, 22 percentage points higher than the 51 percent that did use such methods," Agence France-Presse reports.

17 Jan 2010

UNICEF program aimed at curbing deaths in West Africa falls short of goals, study finds

A $27 million UNICEF program that aims to decrease disease-related child deaths in West Africa did not meet its goal of reducing death rates by at least 25 percent at the conclusion of 2006, according to a Lancet study published on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

13 Jan 2010

Obama administration supports Cairo conference goals, Clinton says

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday "reiterated the Obama administration's support" for universal access to family planning, improving maternal health care and other goals outlined at the 1995 International Conference on Population and Development Action Plan held in Cairo, Egypt, All Headline News reports.

12 Jan 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet Comment examines the "grossly insufficient" progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing under-5 child mortality. "Accelerated progress can be achieved, even in the poorest environments, through: integrated, evidence-driven, and community-based programmes that focus on addressing the major causes of death, including pneumonia, diarrhoea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV, and undernutrition; reaching the unreached with a basic package of interventions at large scale and achieving coverage with equity; and using data for action and advocacy," the comment concludes (You et al., 1/9).

9 Jan 2010

Health and development groups applaud Clinton speech; call for action

A broad coalition of organizations representing millions of Americans applauded today's statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States unequivocally supports the worldwide consensus that achieving universal access to reproductive health is critical for individual health, family well-being, broader economic development and a healthy planet.

9 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

Economist examines innovative mechanisms for funding global health programs

The Economist examines the "dramatic" change in funding for projects aimed at fighting diseases in the developing world. "In 1990 more than two-thirds of the $5.6 billion spent on global health assistance came from governments.

9 Jan 2010

Chinese researchers become the world's fifth most prolific contributors to regenerative medicine

Chinese researchers have become the world's fifth most prolific contributors to peer-reviewed scientific literature on clock-reversing regenerative medicine even as a skeptical international research community condemns the practice of Chinese clinics administering unproven stem cell therapies to domestic and foreign patients.

8 Jan 2010

Development to be 'central pillar' of U.S. foreign policy, Clinton says

In a speech on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that it is time to "elevate development as a central pillar of all that we do in our foreign policy," United Press International reports (1/6). According to Reuters,

8 Jan 2010

UK-based Andromeda Capital invests 1.25 million in TheraSim

TheraSim, Inc., the leading simulation-training company dedicated to providing online tools and solutions to reduce performance errors in healthcare and clinical research, secured a $1.25 million round of investment from UK-based Andromeda Capital.

8 Jan 2010

Goosby outlines PEPFAR's strategy to strengthen health systems in Reuters interview

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby on Tuesday in an interview with Reuters discussed how as part of its new strategy PEPFAR will aim to "to transform healthcare in some of the world's poorest countries," the news agency writes.

7 Jan 2010

Developing countries reassess need for donated H1N1 vaccine

As the number of H1N1 (swine flu) cases in some regions of the world continues to fall, developing countries scheduled to receive donated H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines from the WHO are reassessing just how many vaccines their countries need, the Canadian Press reports.

6 Jan 2010

Global Health News and Research

CIGNA International to develop and offer individual PMI for customers around the globe

Researchers measure medical students' attitudes and beliefs about CAM

Boston University School of Public Health explores changing global health system for malaria research

Fraunhofer USA CMB receives $60,000 gift from ProTecs to complete vaccine manufacturing plant

Global health care errors, fraud costs $260b annually, report finds

Genetic map of Artemisia will accelerate breeding to address increased demand for malaria treatments

Also in global health news: Anti-gay bill; Bush Institute TV show; funds for HIV programs in Kenya; EU aid commitments

Study raises concerns about drug-resistant HIV

Also in Global Health News: Family planning in Philippines; drug pricing in Africa

UNICEF program aimed at curbing deaths in West Africa falls short of goals, study finds

Obama administration supports Cairo conference goals, Clinton says

Recent releases in Global Health

Health and development groups applaud Clinton speech; call for action

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

Economist examines innovative mechanisms for funding global health programs

Chinese researchers become the world's fifth most prolific contributors to regenerative medicine

Development to be 'central pillar' of U.S. foreign policy, Clinton says

UK-based Andromeda Capital invests 1.25 million in TheraSim

Goosby outlines PEPFAR's strategy to strengthen health systems in Reuters interview

Developing countries reassess need for donated H1N1 vaccine

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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