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Study finds overall increase in developing country domestic health spending, some countries have reduced health budgets as donor funding increases

Researchers on Friday released a study in the Lancet that found while "[m]ost countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East doubled their health budgets," countries in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have trimmed their health spending as donors have boosted their health aid, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

12 Apr 2010

IHME researchers advocate greater transparency in financial reporting

The commitment to health by country governments in the developing world has grown dramatically over the last two decades, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and Harvard Medical School.

12 Apr 2010

Inovio Biomedical receives $2.8M grant to develop DNA vaccine for HCV

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that the company and its collaborators from Drexel University, Cheyney University, and the University of Pennsylvania have received a $2.8 million grant to develop a DNA vaccine to treat hepatitis C virus.

9 Apr 2010

Diabetic Connect moved onto Alliance Health Networks' new social networking platform

Alliance Health Networks has moved Diabetic Connect onto its new advanced social networking platform where Alliance Health's newer properties like Sleep Connect, Health Exchange, Arthritis Connect and several other health-focused social networking sites now operate.

8 Apr 2010

USAID: World Health Day 2010 focuses on world's growing urban population

This year the focus of World Health Day is on the world's growing urban population. The theme, "1000 cities, 1000 lives" provides an opportunity to highlight the work that is being done to improve health in urban settings. The unprecedented rate of urban growth has far outstripped the ability of these cities to provide infrastructure for new residents.

8 Apr 2010

Dubai conference calls for more coordinated approach to global health

Marking the conclusion of the three-day Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development (DIHAD) conference Tuesday, conference attendees called for humanitarians to adopt a more coordinated approach to tackling global health needs, the National reports. "Speakers, including health professionals and officials from international organisations, stressed the need to share medical knowledge and innovations during a crisis, citing the recent Haiti earthquake," the newspaper writes.

8 Apr 2010

Cities, leaders worldwide mark World Health Day

Cities throughout the world are marking World Health Day today by promoting urban health, as part of the WHO's "1,000 cities, 1,000 lives" campaign, CNN reports (Shaikh, 4/7).

8 Apr 2010

UCSF, SEEK Development launch international partnership to improve global health

UCSF and SEEK Development, a global health and development consulting group based in Berlin, Germany, have launched an international partnership that aims to improve global health by helping to turn scientific evidence into policy and action. The Evidence-to-Policy Initiative, or E2Pi, officially launches this week in San Francisco and Berlin, Germany.

7 Apr 2010

NNIT selects Verizon Business to manage global communications infrastructure for Novo Nordisk

NNIT, a leading Danish IT consultancy, has chosen Verizon Business to deploy and manage a global communications infrastructure for Novo Nordisk, the global health care company. A fully managed Verizon Private IP solution will provide secure, scalable and flexible connectivity for 75 of Novo Nordisk's locations around the world, helping the company to streamline its global operations, while also realizing cost and management efficiencies.

7 Apr 2010

Crucell, GSK sign agreement to develop 'second generation malaria vaccine'

Crucell, the Dutch biotechnology company, "said on Tuesday it had agreed with Britain's GlaxoSmithKline to jointly develop a malaria vaccine candidate, without disclosing financial details," Reuters reports (Gray-Block, 4/6).

7 Apr 2010

Next phase of health reform in the U.S. to focus on individualized care: PwC

The next phase of health reform in the United States will reflect a concerted effort to keep people well, out of the hospital and more actively engaged in managing their own health, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

6 Apr 2010

Achievements of AFC, Abbott to be highlighted at AFC's 25th Anniversary Gala

Two events occurred in 1985 that proved pivotal in the local and national fight against AIDS: the founding of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the development of the first-ever diagnostic test licensed to identify HIV in the blood by Abbott.

6 Apr 2010

International experts recommend individualized treatment for type 2 diabetic patients

Patients with type 2 diabetes are generally treated similarly despite the fact that they may have underlying differences that could affect their therapeutic response.

6 Apr 2010

Individualized therapies for treating type 2 diabetes recommended

Chevy Chase, MD-Patients with type 2 diabetes are generally treated similarly despite the fact that they may have underlying differences that could affect their therapeutic response. Seeking to address this critical health issue, an international multidisciplinary group of experts just issued recommendations for individualized treatment in a consensus statement to be published in the April 2010 issue of the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

5 Apr 2010

GHRI announces $3.5M funding to strengthen health systems in sub-Saharan Africa

The Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI) announced today $3.5 million in funding to support ten African-led research teams who will look for innovative ways to strengthen health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The teams will be led jointly by an African researcher and an African decision-maker and will involve several Canadian researchers.

3 Apr 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

"Achieving the [Millennium Development Goal] MDG 4 target of reducing newborn and child mortality will require concerted efforts to scale up evidence-based interventions, especially community-based preventive and therapeutic strategies in primary care," according to a Lancet comment that reflects on the challenges associated with developing "the appropriate mix of strategies" to improve maternal health.

3 Apr 2010

2010 Internal Medicine conference at Toronto Convention Center

More than 5,000 internists (adult medicine specialists), subspecialists, medical students, and allied health professionals will meet in Toronto, Canada, for Internal Medicine 2010, the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP), April 22 - 24 (Thursday - Saturday), at the Toronto Convention Center.

2 Apr 2010

Global Health Partner gains over 600 new shareholders through spreading of ownership

With a view to increasing the spread of Global Health Partner's shares in connection with one of the company's major shareholders wishing to reduce its shareholding, Avanza Bank was given the assignment of offering 950,000 shares to its depot customers, with a subscription period from 24-30 March 2010.

2 Apr 2010

Opinion: Job development for Haiti; NTDs in Africa; U.S. investment in TB

"Even before the earthquake, the Haitian economy was already on shaky ground. There is 70 to 80 percent unemployment in the formal economy. ... U.S. policy helped build this disastrous economy," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker writes in a Miami Herald opinion piece. Baker says previous employment efforts in Haiti resulted in "stop-gap jobs," which do not provide "employment stability or social protections."

2 Apr 2010

Mtb fine-tunes behaviour to escape detection and causes TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses extraordinary survival ability by masking itself from the host immune system and persisting for decades inside the host. Speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh today, Dr Kristine Arnvig provides further insight into how the bacterium causes tuberculosis (TB) by fine-tuning its behaviour in response to its surroundings to escape detection.

1 Apr 2010