Child Health News and Research

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Low-cost, simple interventions could save 2.5 million child lives a year: World Vision

Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal and newborn care, leading aid agency World Vision said today. Currently, 8.8 million children a year die before age five, most of preventable causes.

16 Nov 2009

CHF commends the passage of health reform bill; disapproves move to eliminate CHIP

Children's Health Fund (CHF), a national organization that advocates for and provides clinical care to disadvantaged and medically underserved children, today issued a Report Card that graded the child health provisions in the Congressional Health Reform bill that was passed in the House of Representatives on November 7.

11 Nov 2009

Children with autism have slower pupil responses to light change: Study

Autism affects 1 in 150 children today, making it more common than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined. Despite its widespread effect, autism is not well understood and there are no objective medical tests to diagnose it. Recently, University of Missouri researchers have developed a pupil response test that is 92.5 percent accurate in separating children with autism from those with typical development. In the study, MU scientists found that children with autism have slower pupil responses to light change.

11 Nov 2009

Affordable health care can save millions of women, newborns, and children in sub-Saharan Africa

The lives of almost 4 million women, newborns, and children in sub-Saharan Africa could be saved every year if well-established, affordable health care interventions reached 90 percent of families, according to a joint report by the national science academies of seven African countries.

10 Nov 2009

UC San Diego to launch new multidisciplinary program on health and migration

The University of California, San Diego will lead a new Center of Expertise on Migration and Health as one of three multi-campus initiatives launched by the University of California system under the auspices of the new UC Global Health Institute.

10 Nov 2009

WHO report calls for improved health care for women, girls

A new WHO report, released Monday, said women tend to "receive poorer quality care throughout their lives, particularly as teenagers and elderly people" even though they live six to eight years longer than men, Reuters reports. The WHO said women worldwide are "'denied a chance to develop their full human potential' because many of their critical medical needs are ignored" (MacInnis, 11/9).

10 Nov 2009

NIH awards UAB School of Public Health $11.5M to research new methods of identifying youth with HIV

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health has been awarded a total of $11.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to explore new ways to identify adolescents and young adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and link them to medical care.

7 Nov 2009

Physical education plays a key role for low-income communities in curbing obesity and improving fitness

School-based physical education plays a key role in curbing obesity and improving fitness among adolescents from low-income communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley.

6 Nov 2009

Exposure to higher levels of air pollution increases infants' risk for bronchiolitis

Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study.

6 Nov 2009

MSF calls for sustained commitment to global HIV/AIDS funding

During a press conference on Thursday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned that the "global economic crisis and calls to commit funds to other health crises" threatened to undermine recent gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Associated Press reports. MSF "says money for other health issues should be given in addition to money for [HIV/]AIDS" (11/5).

5 Nov 2009

Study examines campaign to increase use of zinc to prevent childhood diarrhea

Scientific American reports on a multiyear PLoS Medicine study, published on Monday, which "followed a nationwide public health campaign to increase zinc use for childhood diarrhea in Bangladesh."

5 Nov 2009

Half of American children including 90% black children will use food stamps, says study

Nearly half of American children - including 90 percent of black children and 90 percent of children who spend their childhoods in single-parent households - will eat meals paid for by food stamps at some point during childhood, reports a Cornell researcher.

3 Nov 2009

No evidence found to link decreased physical activity and spike in obesity rates among U.S. adolescents

Decreased physical activity may have little to do with the recent spike in obesity rates among U.S. adolescents, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

3 Nov 2009

Phase 1 study of STX107 for Fragile X syndrome begins

NIH-supported scientists at Seaside Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass., are beginning a clinical trial of a potential medication designed to correct a central neurochemical defect underlying Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability. There has to date been no medication that could alter the disorder's neurologic abnormalities. The study will evaluate safety, tolerability, and optimal dosage in healthy volunteers.

3 Nov 2009

Washington Post examines role of USAID's Richard Greene

As part of its ongoing "Federal Player of the Week" series with the Partnership for Public Service, the Washington Post examines the role of Richard Greene, the head of USAID's Office of Health, Infectious Diseases, and Nutrition in the Bureau of Global Health.

2 Nov 2009

New York Times examines debate over U.S. global health spending priorities

The New York Times examines the "debate over whether the United States and other rich nations spend too much on AIDS, which requires lifelong medications, compared with diarrhea and the other leading killer of children, pneumonia, both of which can be treated inexpensively."

30 Oct 2009

Patients on immunosuppressant medication can receive H1N1 vaccine in the form of shots

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have classified all children, 6-months to 24-years, one of the high risk groups for contracting the H1N1 (swine) flu, and recommend this population receive the H1N1 vaccine for immunity against the disease.

30 Oct 2009

Child Health News and Research

Low-cost, simple interventions could save 2.5 million child lives a year: World Vision

CHF commends the passage of health reform bill; disapproves move to eliminate CHIP

Children with autism have slower pupil responses to light change: Study

Affordable health care can save millions of women, newborns, and children in sub-Saharan Africa

UC San Diego to launch new multidisciplinary program on health and migration

WHO report calls for improved health care for women, girls

NIH awards UAB School of Public Health $11.5M to research new methods of identifying youth with HIV

Physical education plays a key role for low-income communities in curbing obesity and improving fitness

Exposure to higher levels of air pollution increases infants' risk for bronchiolitis

MSF calls for sustained commitment to global HIV/AIDS funding

Study examines campaign to increase use of zinc to prevent childhood diarrhea

Half of American children including 90% black children will use food stamps, says study

No evidence found to link decreased physical activity and spike in obesity rates among U.S. adolescents

Phase 1 study of STX107 for Fragile X syndrome begins

Washington Post examines role of USAID's Richard Greene

New York Times examines debate over U.S. global health spending priorities

Patients on immunosuppressant medication can receive H1N1 vaccine in the form of shots

Combination of psychiatric medication and depression linked to preterm delivery

Initiative to help families face the challenges of parental depression and early childhood developmental delays

Iron-folic acid supplements during pregnancy can reduce offspring’s mortality rate

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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