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Bill Gates reflects on Global Vaccine Summit in foundation blog

"This week I'm going to Abu Dhabi to attend the Global Vaccine Summit to celebrate the tremendous progress the world has made in ending polio and immunizing children," Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

24 Apr 2013

Experts call for better vaccine supply, logistics systems ahead of World Immunization Week

In recognition of World Immunization Week, which began April 21, the WHO "is calling on nations to help immunize more children against preventable diseases so more lives can be saved," VOA News reports, noting the U.N. health agency "estimates immunization saves the lives of two to three million children every year."

23 Apr 2013

National Foundation for Infectious Diseases to host 16th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases will host the 16th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research, April 22-24, 2013, at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD.

22 Apr 2013

Vaccine development expensive but worthy of investment from Congress

During the last three decades, the biopharmaceutical industry has invested significantly in new and improved vaccines, and the collaborative efforts of the [CDC], [the WHO], national governments and industry have led to major progress in addressing global immunization goals and reducing illness and death due to vaccine-preventable diseases.

22 Apr 2013

Indian drug supplier cuts price of 5-in-1 childhood vaccine for GAVI Alliance; Groups highlight World Immunization Week

"The cost of immunizing children in developing countries with a five-in-one vaccine is set to fall after a deal by an Indian supplier to slash the price it charges the GAVI global vaccines group," Reuters reports.

19 Apr 2013

Global experts highlight strategies to immunize more children

In advance of World Immunization Week, global experts are highlighting strategies to further advance progress on the Global Vaccine Action Plan that was endorsed by the World Health Assembly, 2012.

19 Apr 2013

Blog interviews head of Ghana's immunization program

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog features an interview with K.O. Antwi-Agyei, a physician who "manages the Expanded Programme on Immunization in Ghana, where he oversees the day-to-day work to ensure vaccines reach children across the country."

18 Apr 2013

Focus on early childhood critical to new development framework

"UNICEF's latest report [.pdf] on child nutrition, launched at the Dublin Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, Climate Justice hosted by the Mary Robinson Foundation and Irish Government, revealed that every year 2.3 million children under the age of five still die of malnutrition and 165 million children are stunted as a result of not receiving enough nutritious food within the first 1,000 days of life," British Member of Parliament Ivan Lewis, the shadow secretary of state for international development, writes in a Huffington Post U.K. "Politics" opinion piece.

17 Apr 2013

Reports of H7N9 cases, deaths continue from across China

"Two more people have died in China from a new strain of bird flu, raising the death toll from the virus to 13, state media reported Sunday," the Associated Press reports.

16 Apr 2013

Lessons learned from India's polio response could help country combat other diseases

"More than 400 signatories to [a scientific declaration urging the world to eradicate polio], hailing from 80 countries, believe polio eradication is achievable in large part because of the great gains India has made against the disease," T. Jacob John, a retired professor of clinical virology at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, writes in the Wall Street Journal's "India Real Time" blog.

16 Apr 2013

Pneumococcal vaccine: an interview with Graham Clarke, CEO ImmBio

The pathogen that we are talking about is called streptococcus pneumoniae. That is a fairly common bacteria and if you did a nasal swab you would find that quite a lot of people have this bacterium living in their nasal passages.

16 Apr 2013

Global commitment needed for polio eradication

"I have spent my career seeking to understand and tackling deadly viruses, from ebola to HIV. But polio stands out because, unlike these diseases, we already hold the key to its eradication: effective vaccines," Peter Piot, director and professor of global health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, writes in The Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog.

15 Apr 2013

400 scientists from 80 countries sign Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication

"Around 400 scientists from 80 countries have come together to declare that polio could be wiped off the face of the Earth in five years if plans to eliminate both wild and vaccine-derived polioviruses are implemented," SciDev.Net reports (Malhotra, 4/11).

15 Apr 2013

Experts launch new strategy to eradicate polio by 2018

Hundreds of scientists, doctors and other experts from around the world launched the Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication today, declaring that an end to the paralyzing disease is achievable and endorsing a comprehensive new strategy to secure a lasting polio-free world by 2018.

12 Apr 2013

Quest PharmaTech to develop, market anti-PSA IgE technology for cancer treatment

Quest PharmaTech Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products for the treatment of cancer, announces that it has recently signed an exclusive license agreement with University of California at Los Angeles to develop and market anti-PSA IgE technology for the treatment of cancer.

9 Apr 2013

UNICEF running out of money for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees

"The United Nations Children's Fund [on Friday] warned that it may be forced to stop humanitarian assistance to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan due to insufficient funds," the U.N. News Centre reports.

9 Apr 2013

Editorials discuss GPEI polio eradication plan

he Global Polio Eradication Initiative on Tuesday launched its Global Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan in Washington, D.C.

5 Apr 2013

IRIN examines British plan to improve health care services in DRC

IRIN examines Britain's new $270 million plan to improve health care services in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

2 Apr 2013

Bill Gates recounts tour of Ghana's health systems

Writing in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, foundation co-chair Bill Gates recounts his recent trip to Ghana, where he "got to watch an effective health system in action -- from the decision makers at the national level to nurses who live and work in the villages."

2 Apr 2013

New study shows varicella vaccine neutralizes chicken pox

Chicken pox, the childhood affliction of earlier generations, has been largely neutralized by the varicella vaccine, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, which appears in the current online issue of Pediatrics.

1 Apr 2013