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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

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center receives a $500,000 grant to construct cancer clinic in Africa

27 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Ghana, Nigeria Global Fund grants; CDC Director on global health role; African Peacekeepers and HIV/AIDS

Stabroek News reports on the recent news that Guyana received a $10 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The "six-year programme aims at strengthening critical areas in the system such as Mental Health; the Nursing Programme; Management and Development Programme; Surveillance and Monitoring Programme and Management and Information systems," the newspaper writes (10/23).

26 Oct 2009

Wildlife Conservation Society to monitor diseases for preventing global pandemic

The Wildlife Conservation Society will play a key role in a new international effort to monitor diseases that move between animals and people in order to prevent the next global pandemic.

24 Oct 2009

Curriculum to increase science literacy and generate enthusiasm for life sciences among high school students

A new curriculum called The Great Diseases will bring real-world biomedical research to students in three Boston high schools. The result of a collaboration between scientists from Tufts University School of Medicine and teachers from the Boston Public Schools, the curriculum presents current threats to global health through laboratory learning, multimedia, and case-based studies

24 Oct 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

"The spread of dengue virus throughout the tropics represents a major, rapidly growing public health problem with an estimated 2.5 billion people at risk of dengue fever and the life-threatening disease, severe dengue," write the authors of a Lancet Infectious Diseases review that examines what is known about the virus and progress in the development of a dengue vaccine (Webster et. al, 11/09).

24 Oct 2009

Melinda Gates shares thoughts on U.S. global health efforts

During a recent interview with The Hill's "Blog Briefing Room," Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, praised former President George W. Bush for the enactment of PEPFAR and commended the Obama administration's commitment to global health issues and for "being very open minded [and] saying we don't have to go back and reinvent the wheel."

24 Oct 2009

Vaccine Vial Monitors to monitor potential heat damage of H1N1 vaccines donated to WHO

Temptime Corporation announced today that it will donate its Vaccine Vial Monitors (VVMs) to the World Health Organization (WHO) to monitor potential heat damage of H1N1 vaccines to be distributed by WHO to developing countries most in need.

23 Oct 2009

Also in global health news: Somali IDPS; MDR-TB elimination; Chagas; Zimbabwe disease, hunger

At the conclusion of a week-long visit to the region, Walter Kalin, a top U.N. human-rights official "says the international community is failing in its duty to internally displaced persons in Somalia. More than 1.5 million people in Somalia are believed to be IDPs," VOA News reports (Boswell, 10/21).

23 Oct 2009

Grand Challenges Explorations grant for Seventh Sense Biosystems

Seventh Sense Biosystems announced today that it has received a Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Dr. Howard Bernstein, titled “On-skin and Intra-dermal Malaria Diagnostics with Unprecedented Simplicity of Use Based on Bio-Responsive Particles and Interstitial Fluid Analysis.”

22 Oct 2009

Gates Foundation awards Vanderbilt University $100,000 for developing a malaria diagnostic test

Vanderbilt University announced Oct. 21 that it has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Associate Professor of Chemistry David Wright and Professor of Biomedical Engineering Rick Haselton, titled "Coffee Ring Stain Diagnostics for Malaria."

22 Oct 2009

Global Health News and Research

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

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center receives a $500,000 grant to construct cancer clinic in Africa

Also in Global Health News: Ghana, Nigeria Global Fund grants; CDC Director on global health role; African Peacekeepers and HIV/AIDS

Wildlife Conservation Society to monitor diseases for preventing global pandemic

Curriculum to increase science literacy and generate enthusiasm for life sciences among high school students

Recent releases in Global Health

Melinda Gates shares thoughts on U.S. global health efforts

Vaccine Vial Monitors to monitor potential heat damage of H1N1 vaccines donated to WHO

Also in global health news: Somali IDPS; MDR-TB elimination; Chagas; Zimbabwe disease, hunger

Grand Challenges Explorations grant for Seventh Sense Biosystems

Gates Foundation awards Vanderbilt University $100,000 for developing a malaria diagnostic test

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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