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BHGI's approach to cancer treatment guidelines for low- and moderate-income countries

When the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet Oncology this week published six cancer treatment guideline papers aimed at the resource-diverse nations of Asia, it used as its model the economic template developed by the Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) based at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

31 Oct 2009

Public concern can undermine flu vaccination campaigns

The effectiveness of pandemic flu vaccination campaigns - like that now underway for H1N1 - could be undermined by the public incorrectly associating coincidental and unrelated health events with the vaccines.

31 Oct 2009

Advocates call for increased U.S. investment in global health

A report released Thursday (.pdf) by a group of global health advocates outlines ways the U.S. can work toward increasing access to health care throughout the world, Inter Press Service reports. They call "for doubling U.S. aid to global health projects from the current level of nearly eight billion dollars a year to 16 billion by 2011," followed by "annual increase[s] leading to a six-year total investment of 95 billion dollars."

30 Oct 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

"Action always leads to reaction, a fundamental law of nature," write the authors of an introduction appearing in a Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) supplemental issue that focuses on global health systems.

30 Oct 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

130 million children to be immunised against pneumonia

Marking the first international World Pneumonia Day on 2 November, the GAVI Alliance plans to immunise 130 million children in poor countries against pneumonia, the world's leading child killer.

30 Oct 2009

Mobile phones on the verge of becoming powerful tools

Computer scientists at the University of Washington have used Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to turn a cell phone into a versatile data-collection device. Organizations that want a fully customizable way to, say, snap pictures of a deforested area, add the location coordinates and instantly submit that information to a global environmental database now have a flexible and free way to do it.

30 Oct 2009

NIH awards $75 million to establish medical research consortium to combat health disparities

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $75 million to Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science and three other historically black institutions to establish a medical research consortium to combat health disparities in minority and underserved populations.

30 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health news: Sudan food aid; Congolese refugees; Ntds in U.S.

David Deng Athorbei, South Sudan's finance minister, "said he was trying to track down hundreds of millions of dollars worth of missing grain deliveries, at the heart of what could be a massive case of mismanagement or corruption," Reuters reports.

29 Oct 2009

Gates Foundation praises U.S. global health investments, calls for 15-year goal of cutting child deaths worldwide by nearly half

As part of a "major push to convince the United States to maintain government spending on worldwide health initiatives, despite the financial crisis and a soaring U.S. budget deficit," the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is urging U.S. policymakers to commit to cutting "the number of child deaths each year, from 9 million to 5 million" by 2025, CNN reports (Evans, 10/28).

28 Oct 2009

WHO identifies five major causes of premature death

Targeting the five major causes of premature death could increase global life expectancy by almost five years, the WHO said Tuesday, Reuters reports. According to a WHO's Global Health Risks report, which looked at 24 major health risks, "[p]oor childhood nutrition, unsafe sex, alcohol, bad sanitation and hygiene, and high blood pressure are to blame for around a quarter of the 60 million premature deaths around the world each year," the news service writes.

28 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Germany HIV/AIDS grant; Sumatra water situation; India's unlicensed doctors; land ownership, food security

The Organisation for the Coordination of the Struggle Against Epidemics in Central Africa (OCEAC) on Tuesday announced that the German government has granted $34 million to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in central Africa, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Oct 2009

Accenture Innovation Center for Health launched to tackle challenges facing the global health industry

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today launched the Accenture Innovation Center for Health in response to the growing global demand for insights into and strategies to confront the top health issues and challenges affecting citizens worldwide. The center serves as the focal point for Accenture’s thought capital and proven assets for tackling the most pressing challenges facing the global health industry.

28 Oct 2009

Culture-based treatment may be effective for reducing depression

A genetic tendency to depression is much less likely to be realized in a culture centered on collectivistic rather than individualistic values, according to a new Northwestern University study.

28 Oct 2009

Biomagnetics Diagnostics completes negotiations to acquire IBOS technology

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and malaria detection, today announced the Company has completed business negotiations with one of the U.S. Government's top national security research institutions regarding the acquisition of rights to the Integrated Optical Biosensor System (IBOS) technology developed by the laboratory personnel. Biomagnetics Diagnostics plans to utilize this technology to enter the significantly underserved market for handheld biosensors capable of detecting a broad range of disease-causing viruses, bacteria and fungi.

28 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health news: U.S. grant to Uganda; reproductive health in Philippines; counterfeit drugs

The U.S. Embassy in Uganda announced a grant of $246 million in new aid for improving the Uganda's agricultural and health systems, Reuters reports. "More than $170 million will be spent on health and education to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, fight tuberculosis, eradicate malaria, improve maternal and child health and increase access to family planning and reproductive health services," the news service writes (Biryabarema, 10/27).

27 Oct 2009

Global health promotion conference begins in Kenya, maternal mortality addressed

At the 7th Global Conference on Health Promotion, which kicked off in Kenya on Monday, participants discussed reducing maternal mortality and the related Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the Daily Nation reports. According to the newspaper, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki "said that globally, the number of maternal deaths had … risen to 536,000 per year, translating to one death per minute."

27 Oct 2009

Gateses to appeal for ongoing U.S. funding of global health

Bill and Melinda Gates are expected to ask Washington officials on Tuesday to "continue funding global health initiatives despite the recession and to commit to nearly halve the number of child deaths worldwide by 2025," the Washington Post reports.

27 Oct 2009

USAID and USP join to combat substandard and counterfeit medicines

With substandard and counterfeit versions of medicines intended to treat life-threatening diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis posing a growing threat throughout the developing world, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) will expand their joint efforts to combat this menace by launching a new program over the next five years.

27 Oct 2009

Hutchinson Center receives USAID grant to build a cancer clinic and medical-training facility in Africa

Building on the strengths of two institutions separated by nearly 9,000 miles over two continents - both renowned in their work in the fight against cancer - the United States Agency for International Development has awarded a $500,000 grant to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to aid in the construction of the first American cancer clinic and medical-training facility in Africa.

27 Oct 2009

Global Health News and Research

BHGI's approach to cancer treatment guidelines for low- and moderate-income countries

Public concern can undermine flu vaccination campaigns

Advocates call for increased U.S. investment in global health

Recent releases in Global Health

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

130 million children to be immunised against pneumonia

Mobile phones on the verge of becoming powerful tools

NIH awards $75 million to establish medical research consortium to combat health disparities

Also in Global Health news: Sudan food aid; Congolese refugees; Ntds in U.S.

Gates Foundation praises U.S. global health investments, calls for 15-year goal of cutting child deaths worldwide by nearly half

WHO identifies five major causes of premature death

Also in Global Health News: Germany HIV/AIDS grant; Sumatra water situation; India's unlicensed doctors; land ownership, food security

Accenture Innovation Center for Health launched to tackle challenges facing the global health industry

Culture-based treatment may be effective for reducing depression

Biomagnetics Diagnostics completes negotiations to acquire IBOS technology

Also in Global Health news: U.S. grant to Uganda; reproductive health in Philippines; counterfeit drugs

Global health promotion conference begins in Kenya, maternal mortality addressed

Gateses to appeal for ongoing U.S. funding of global health

USAID and USP join to combat substandard and counterfeit medicines

Hutchinson Center receives USAID grant to build a cancer clinic and medical-training facility in Africa

Achieving and maintaining ISO 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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