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Viewpoints: Judge Vinson's decision and Sarah Palin, Voting Rights Act; States' Medicaid 'burden;' Global fund controversy

With news coverage focused on Federal District Judge Roger Vinson's decision Monday to declare the health care reform law unconstitutional, it might be easy to miss this week's news from another federal courthouse: opponents of the Voting Rights Act have renewed their efforts to have that law declared unconstitutional, too.

5 Feb 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

"Africa should be one of the leading regions in shaping global food security policies and feeding the future instead of others shaping it for Africa. Developing practical, integrative and more small-scale solutions for agricultural inputs and outputs, farming, and for managing both land and water resources, will help Africa provide for future generations on the Continent and elsewhere," Robin Renee Sanders, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, writes in a Huffington Post blog post.

5 Feb 2011

Jungle Brolly launches new natural line of non alcoholic industrial hand sanitizers

Natural hand sanitizers prove a viable alternative to chemical-based hand sanitizers. In today's world, we are surrounded by a multitude of bacteria, germs, and viruses, as well as stories of new strains of those viruses, leading to serious illnesses and, in some cases, even death. In response, we seek convenient and more effective ways to protect ourselves.

4 Feb 2011

Opinions: Global Fund; Accountability for Haiti Aid

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson writes of the "breathless Associated Press story" about the uncovering of some corruption in grants given by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the subsequent reaction: "When scandals fit preexisting ideological narratives, they assume a life of their own. This particular narrative - the story of useless, wasted aid - is durable. It is also misleading and might be deadly."

4 Feb 2011

Report examines how health worker shortages could keep developing countries from achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment

A shortage of healthcare workers in developing countries may hold developing countries back from achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goal to achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2015, according to a report by the WHO/Global Health Workforce Alliance, IRIN/PlusNews writes.

4 Feb 2011

American Cancer Society report released on World Cancer Day

A new American Cancer Society report says cancers associated with lifestyles and behaviors related to economic development, including lung, breast, and colorectal cancers, will continue to rise in developing countries if preventive measures are not widely applied. The finding comes from the second edition of Global Cancer Facts & Figures and its academic publication, Global Cancer Statistics, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

4 Feb 2011

Research findings show high potential to save neonatal live births in remote settings

Training community birth attendants in rural Zambia in a simple newborn resuscitation protocol reduced neonatal deaths by nearly 50 percent - a finding that shows high potential to save lives in similar remote settings, a team of Boston University School of Public Health international health researchers is reporting.

4 Feb 2011

At Global Chiefs of Mission Conference, Sec. Clinton, Shah discuss QDDR

As part of a week-long meeting with U.S. diplomats from around the world taking place in Washington, D.C., this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday gathered with 300 U.S. diplomats from around the world to discuss "strategies to energize diplomacy and streamline development," the New York Times reports.

4 Feb 2011

Cell signaling hormone boosts immune response to clear HIV-like infection

Australian scientists have successfully cleared a HIV-like infection from mice by boosting the function of cells vital to the immune response.

4 Feb 2011

Politico looks at how proposed budget cuts could affect U.S. foreign aid, including global health funding

Politico examines how Republicans' proposed budget cuts could affect foreign aid funding. The House Republican majority has recommended combining President Barack Obama's "State and foreign aid requests with 'nonsecurity' domestic spending and to cut appropriations to 2008 levels."

3 Feb 2011

Bill Gates' annual letter calls for focus on eradicating polio, governments to sustain foreign aid

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "urged developed nations to help him wipe out polio 'once and for all' at an event to release his third annual letter [.pdf] Monday," Agence France-Presse reports.

2 Feb 2011

Daily Report Global Health Conversations: Reflections on Haiti's health system

January 12 marked one year since a major earthquake struck Haiti killing hundreds of thousands and significantly damaging its capital city, Port-au-Prince. To learn more about how the quake has affected health care in Haiti and get a sense of health priorities moving forward, Jaclyn Schiff of the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report spoke with Wesler Lambert, a Haitian-born physician who has worked with Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante since 1997.

2 Feb 2011

Bill Gates argues the case for polio eradication and expanded childhood immunization

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, argues the case for polio eradication and expanded childhood immunization in his third annual letter released today. The letter, a personal account of his priorities, also calls on governments to invest in foreign aid, even in the face of a tough economic climate.

1 Feb 2011

HighRes Biosolutions to build High-Throughput Laboratory Network for LANL-UCLA

A compact, self-contained, automated system for surveillance and screening of potential pandemic strains of influenza and other deadly infectious diseases is a step closer to reality, thanks to an agreement between Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health, and HighRes Biosolutions of Boston, Massachussets.

1 Feb 2011

Former health care company executive to lead GHI

A State Department spokesman confirmed Wednesday that Lois Quam, a "former UnitedHealth Group executive," will become executive director of President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative, the Associated Press/Star Tribune reports.

29 Jan 2011

BMJ News reports on calls for WHO to control, prevent spread of cholera

BMJ News examines the growing pressure on the WHO to control and prevent the spread of cholera following the ongoing outbreak of the disease in Haiti.

29 Jan 2011

UK government, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support efforts to stamp out polio

British Prime Minister David Cameron said today that the United Kingdom would double its current contribution to polio eradication.

29 Jan 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

Innovative Health Financing Can Benefit Global Health, Pharma: "The launch of pneumococcal vaccination in Nicaragua under AMC [advance market commitment] has shown that innovative approaches to health financing can benefit both global health and pharmaceutical companies," according to a Lancet Infectious Diseases editorial that describes how the roll-out of GAVI initiative is helping to provide developing countries with low-cost pneumococcal vaccines.

28 Jan 2011

Nordion and Sterigenics sign five year contract for Cobalt-60 supply

Nordion Inc., a leading provider of products and services to the global health science market, today announced it has signed a five-year contract with Sterigenics International, a global leader in contract sterilization and ionization services, for the supply of Cobalt-60. Under the terms of the agreement, this contract extends until October 31, 2015.

25 Jan 2011

Scientist receives grant for research on parasitic diseases through African biodiversity medicines

McGill University and McGill University scientist Dr. Timothy Geary received a $1-million grant today for landmark research into addressing parasitic diseases through medicines derived from African biodiversity.

25 Jan 2011

Global Health News and Research

Viewpoints: Judge Vinson's decision and Sarah Palin, Voting Rights Act; States' Medicaid 'burden;' Global fund controversy

Recent releases in Global Health

Jungle Brolly launches new natural line of non alcoholic industrial hand sanitizers

Opinions: Global Fund; Accountability for Haiti Aid

Report examines how health worker shortages could keep developing countries from achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment

American Cancer Society report released on World Cancer Day

Research findings show high potential to save neonatal live births in remote settings

At Global Chiefs of Mission Conference, Sec. Clinton, Shah discuss QDDR

Cell signaling hormone boosts immune response to clear HIV-like infection

Politico looks at how proposed budget cuts could affect U.S. foreign aid, including global health funding

Bill Gates' annual letter calls for focus on eradicating polio, governments to sustain foreign aid

Daily Report Global Health Conversations: Reflections on Haiti's health system

Bill Gates argues the case for polio eradication and expanded childhood immunization

HighRes Biosolutions to build High-Throughput Laboratory Network for LANL-UCLA

Former health care company executive to lead GHI

BMJ News reports on calls for WHO to control, prevent spread of cholera

UK government, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support efforts to stamp out polio

Recent releases in Global Health

Nordion and Sterigenics sign five year contract for Cobalt-60 supply

Scientist receives grant for research on parasitic diseases through African biodiversity medicines

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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