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USAID strengthens fight against avian influenza globally

The U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a one- year, $19 million project to provide critical commodities to fight avian influenza.

2 Apr 2007

New international Task Force to tackle the global shortage of health workers

With a shortfall of 4.3 million health workers worldwide, including more than 1 million in Africa alone, there is an urgent need to increase the number of doctors, nurses, health managers and other health care workers needed to face immediate health crises.

13 Mar 2007

Bold proposal to restructure drug development patents

Weill Cornell Medical College scientist Dr. Carl Nathan has issued a bold call for reforming the pharmaceutical development and patent systems in order to increase the number of vaccines and drugs available to combat neglected diseases that are ravaging the world's poor.

8 Mar 2007

University of Bristol to create new medical research centre

The University of Bristol has been awarded £2.7 million by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to create a new research centre which will apply knowledge from genetic analyses to large-scale studies of the health of the population. These investigations will aim to find the factors that are causing disease, which can then be influenced to reduce risk.

4 Mar 2007

Health-care workers should undergo preventive drug treatment if exposed to HIV on the job

Doctors, nurses and other health-care providers have worried about HIV exposure since the AIDS epidemic first began in the early 1980s. Since the virus that causes AIDS is transmitted through blood, a simple needle stick could infect anyone treating a patient.

1 Mar 2007

Researchers conducting clinical trials of diaphragm as HIV prevention method

Researchers at the Women's Global Health Imperative program at the University of California-San Francisco's Medical Center are conducting a large-scale clinical trial among 4,500 women in Zimbabwe and South Africa to test the effectiveness of diaphragms in preventing the spread of HIV, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

28 Feb 2007

Stanford student is visionary behind global fight againts blindness

Six years ago, as a 19-year-old college sophomore, Jennifer Staple decided to battle preventable blindness so she started the nonprofit "Unite for Sight" with a staff of one: herself.

27 Feb 2007

GAVI Alliance contributes US$139 million to UN Foundation to tackle measles

The United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation) announced today that it has received a US$139 million contribution from the GAVI Alliance to support the worldwide effort by the Measles Initiative to reduce measles deaths by 90 percent by 2010.

26 Feb 2007

Global partnership to launch $10 million initiative that aims to bolster HIV/AIDS care in 10 African countries using cell phones

A new public-private partnership on Tuesday at the 2007 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, announced the launch of a new $10 million campaign that will use cell phones to bolster HIV/AIDS care and treatment in 10 African countries, Reuters reports.

19 Feb 2007

U.K. should increase efforts to support health systems in developing countries

The United Kingdom should do more to help train and support health workers in developing countries in an effort to strengthen their health care infrastructures, Lord Nigel Crisp, former chief of the U.K. National Health Service, said in a report released on Tuesday, BBC News reports.

19 Feb 2007

Faith-based organizations play a major role in HIV/AIDS care in Zambia and Lesotho

According to an important study released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, efforts are needed to encourage greater collaboration between public health agencies and faith-based organizations (FBOs), if progress is to be made towards the goal of universal access towards HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.

8 Feb 2007

HIV prevention and education initiatives are not reaching girls in Africa

According to Bruce, young African girls often have low school attendance and few friends, making them hard to reach. Impoverished girls are more likely to engage in commercial sex work, which increases their risk of contracting HIV, Bruce said.

28 Jan 2007

GAVI Alliance brings immunisation rates to record highs in poor countries

New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the GAVI Alliance, a groundbreaking global initiative to increase access to children's vaccines, has brought immunisation rates to record highs in poor countries.

28 Jan 2007

More aid required for chronic conditions in developed world

In an article published in the January 18, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Gerard Anderson, PhD, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, highlights the need for more international assistance to address chronic non-communicable conditions affecting people living in low and middle income countries.

18 Jan 2007

Emory University announces new health institute

Emory University announced today a new Global Health Institute that will help address the most pressing health challenges around the world, particularly in poorer nations.

10 Jan 2007

Margaret Chan takes office as WHO Director General

Margaret Chan, a former health director from Hong Kong, on Thursday took office as the World Health Organization's director general, saying she would focus primarily on improving the health of Africans and women worldwide, the New York Times reports.

7 Jan 2007

DNA vaccine for H5N1 avian influenza enters human trial

The first human trial of a DNA vaccine designed to prevent H5N1 avian influenza infection began on December 21, 2006, when the vaccine was administered to the first volunteer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.

3 Jan 2007

Reproductive health agendas hampered by global focus on HIV/AIDS programs, controversies over abortion, other issues

The global focus on HIV/AIDS initiatives and "ideological controversies" surrounding issues such as abortion have "marginalized" reproductive and sexual health in the global health agenda, according to a panel of public health experts said on Friday at a news conference on Friday, CQ HealthBeat reports.

23 Nov 2006

U.S. law banning HIV-positive foreigners from entering country harming testing efforts

A provision of U.S. law that bans HIV-positive foreigners from entering the country is harming testing efforts and excluding eligible candidates for citizenship, according to members of a panel held by the Global Health Council on Nov. 15, CQ HealthBeat reports.

23 Nov 2006

Global AIDS epidemic continues to grow

The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow and there is concerning evidence that some countries are seeing a resurgence in new HIV infection rates which were previously stable or declining. However, declines in infection rates are also being observed in some countries, as well as positive trends in young people's sexual behaviours.

21 Nov 2006