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Serious funding shortfalls jeopardize UNICEF's humanitarian operation in Pakistan

UNICEF warned today that serious funding shortfalls are jeopardizing its humanitarian operation in Pakistan. UNICEF is extremely concerned at the lack of funds for its water and sanitation operation, with millions of children at risk from water-borne diseases.

18 Aug 2010

World Bank to provide $900M in emergency funding for Pakistan floods, country's High Commissioner provides rough damage estimate

The World Bank on Monday "pledged to reroute money from other projects to provide $900 million in emergency funding to help Pakistan" with its flood recovery efforts, the New York Times reports (Ellick, 8/17).

18 Aug 2010

'Heart-wrenching' Pakistan floods need more aid from international community, U.N. Secretary-General says

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that the flooding in Pakistan is the worst natural disaster he has seen and called on the international community to expedite the aid effort, the Los Angeles Times reports. Ban traveled to flooded areas of the country and surveyed damage on Sunday (Rodriguez, 8/16).

17 Aug 2010

Floods: U.N. issues $459.7M appeal for Pakistan, China concerned about disease outbreaks after mudslides

The U.N. appealed for $459.7 million on Wednesday "to aid flood victims in Pakistan as the magnitude of the disaster widened, with about one-fifth of the country submerged and the annual monsoon season still potent," the New York Times reports (MacFarquhar, 8/11).

13 Aug 2010

Increased mortality rates in Bangladesh is associated with arsenic exposure, study finds

Between 33 and 77 million people in Bangladesh have been exposed to arsenic in the drinking water-a catastrophe that the World Health Organization has called "the largest mass poisoning in history." A new study published in the current issue of the medical journal The Lancet provides the most complete and detailed picture to date of the high mortality rates associated with this exposure, which began with the widespread installation of tube wells throughout the country 30 years ago-a measure intended to control water-bourne diseases.

24 Jun 2010

Anti-infectives could circumvent the problem of antibiotic resistance

For a successful infection, bacteria must outwit the immune system of the host. To this aim, they deliver so-called virulence factors through a transport channel located in the bacterial membrane.

14 Jun 2010

Breast-feeding may help lower risk of death from Shigella infection in developing countries: Study

Teaching parents about the importance of continued breast-feeding may help to lower the risk of death from brain disease (encephalopathy) related to Shigella infection in developing countries, reports a study in the May issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

4 May 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

Tetanus, hepatitis vaccination campaign launched in Chile amid fears of disease outbreaks

"Chile launched a hepatitis and tetanus vaccination campaign Friday and doctors warned of outbreaks of diarrhea and infection among thousands of people displaced by the earthquake and the tsunami that heavily damaged or destroyed 36 hospitals and made garbage dumps of coastal towns and cities," the Associated Press reports. So far, no dysentery outbreaks or other communicable diseases had been reported, Chile's health ministry said, adding that it believed it had adequate amounts of tetanus and hepatitis vaccinations.

9 Mar 2010

Senate Committee report addresses U.S. government response to Haiti

A Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, written by two Senate staffers, who just returned from Haiti where they assessed relief efforts, draws attention to "immediate shelter and sanitation concerns" and voices "concern about the coordination of Washington's U.S. government response to Haiti," Politico's Laura Rozen writes on her blog. A link to the text of the report appears on Politico's Web site.

24 Feb 2010

Haitian President says up to 300,000 people could have died in quake

The major earthquake in January in Haiti could have killed as many as 300,000 people, an estimate that includes bodies buried in the rubble, Haitian President Rene Preval said on Sunday at a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Mexico, Reuters reports.

23 Feb 2010

Twenty nations meet in Montreal to discuss Haiti recovery; Haitian officials increase Port-Au-Prince death toll estimate

Officials from 20 countries are meeting in Montreal, Canada, Monday "to discuss long-term reconstruction and arrangements for a donor conference to be held in March," the U.N. said, Bloomberg reports (Gaouette/Craze, 1/25). "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and others will examine eventual debt forgiveness and" a strategy for rebuilding Haiti at the one-day gathering, according to Reuters (Palmer, 1/25).

27 Jan 2010

Rescue, relief efforts continue in Haiti, 200,000 people estimated to have perished in quake

Rescue efforts continue in Haiti after a major earthquake hit the country last week, CNN reports (1/18). While teams still search for survivors under the rubble, the priority is shifting to relief for those who survived the quake, according to Nicholas Reader, spokesperson for the U.N. Offices for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, TIME reports (Newton-Small, 1/18).

20 Jan 2010

Fero Industries to complete acquisition of Pyro Pharmaceuticals by November 30, 2009

Fero Industries, Inc. is pleased to provide certain disclosures relating to the ten pending patent applications of Pyro Pharmaceuticals, Inc. As previously announced, the Company has initiated the process of acquiring Pyro Pharmaceuticals, Inc. through an exchange of Pyro’s capital stock for shares of the Company’s common stock, with Fero remaining as the parent entity and Pyro as a subsidiary. The acquisition of Pyro is expected to close by November 30, 2009.

27 Oct 2009

CNN, TIME examine increasing antibiotic resistance

CNN examines a recent report by researchers that warns of increasing antibiotic resistance and appeals for governments to take action to develop new antibiotics to avert a health crisis.

3 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: PNG, Nepal outbreaks; Taliban Oks polio vaccination; Technology helps in developing countries; Satellite images for malaria control

VOA News examines the ongoing struggle for Papua New Guinea's health system to treat thousands of people infected by the "simultaneous outbreaks of influenza, dysentery and cholera that have killed about 120 people." The article includes information about the difficulties heath officials are having in assessing the various outbreaks and concerns of medical workers that conditions may soon worsen (Mercer, 9/14).

16 Sep 2009

Also in Global Health news: PEPFAR in Swaziland; GSK HIV patent pool; Pediatric ARVs in Uganda; PNG declares health emergency; Israeli, ECOWAS agreement; Somali children

PEPFAR on Wednesday donated eight computers to Swaziland's Ministry of Health to aid in the country's ability to track the progress of the nation's HIV/AIDS programs, the Swazi Observer reports. According to the newspaper, the computers will be distributed to regional clinics across the country (Masilela, 9/10).

10 Sep 2009

Also in Global Health news: Flu, cholera in PNG; improving life awards; HIV/AIDS in Rwanda; men and maternal/child health; MDR-TB in India

"Twin outbreaks of a flu-like illness and dysentery in a remote region of Papua New Guinea have killed 47 people and infected another 2,000 villagers, a senior medical official said Monday," Agence France-Presse reports. According to provincial health adviser Doctor Theo Likei, the WHO has collected and is testing samples of the virus from the "stricken villages" (8/31). Additionally, the country is experiencing a cholera outbreak - "the first time the disease has officially been confirmed in the country," the BBC reports (Mercer, 8/31).

1 Sep 2009

Opinion: U.S. global health strategy; fighting drought

As the U.S. "works on a comprehensive global health strategy," we need to "expand our thinking to encompass holistic solutions that go into improving the health of the world’s poor," Bill Frist, former U.S. Senate Majority leader and current member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Board of Directors, writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

13 Aug 2009

USAID commits $1 million to help several African nations deal with natural disasters, disease spread

USAID announced on Thursday a $1 million commitment to a Red Cross project aimed at helping those "living along southern Africa's Zambezi River cope with worsening natural disasters because of climate change," the AP/Washington Post reports.

29 Jun 2009