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Health experts, mobile service providers discuss potential for mobile health in Africa at summit

"Some 80 health professionals and telecom operators [met last week for the mHealth Africa Summit] in the Ghanaian capital Accra to explore ways to use mobile phones for better healthcare delivery," IRIN reports in an article that details a variety of successful projects relaying health information through cell phones in Africa. The article describes how mobile phones are being used in Africa to educate populations about HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and improve maternal health, as well as to track medicines and other health supplies, including mosquito nets.

7 Dec 2010

Research highlighting treatment for pediatric SCD, malaria presented at ASH 2010

Red blood cells have the very important role of carrying oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body; therefore, disorders that affect RBCs can have a significant impact on quality of life. Sickle cell disease and malaria are two common RBC diseases that affect a significant portion of the U.S. and global populations. Sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that causes deformed and dysfunctional red blood cells, affects an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 Americans, while malaria affects approximately 1,500 Americans annually and 190 to 311 million people worldwide.

6 Dec 2010

UIC scientist focuses on potential targets to inhibit malaria transmission

University of Illinois at Chicago researcher Dr. John Quigley will describe a promising new approach to blocking malaria transmission during the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

6 Dec 2010

Health experts discuss how to prepare for future dengue immunization programs

AsiaOne examines how groups are working to prepare policy makers for the availability of a dengue vaccine in the future, following a three-day meeting on the virus held in Singapore this week (Chan, 12/3).

4 Dec 2010

MicroRNA linked to mosquito blood digestion and egg development identified

Each year, dengue fever infects as many as 100 million people while yellow fever is responsible for about 30,000 deaths worldwide. Both diseases are spread by infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which require vertebrate blood to produce eggs. The blood feeding and the egg development are tightly linked to how the mosquito transmits the disease-causing virus.

2 Dec 2010

PepTcell changes name to SEEK

PepTcell, a leading UK privately-owned drug-discovery group, today announced it is changing its name to SEEK.

1 Dec 2010

Opinions: Obama's Global Fund pledge; harm reduction in Iran; HIV prevention; African development

There are some encouraging signs in the epic battle against AIDS and HIV infections. But those bright spots dim considerably in the face of the fact that about 7,100 people a day become infected.

30 Nov 2010

Eisai signs statement of intent with WHO to supply medicine for treatment of lymphatic filariasis

Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President & CEO: Haruo Naito) announced today that it has signed a statement of intent with the World Health Organization to supply free of charge a primary medicine for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis.

19 Nov 2010

NPR reports on dengue vaccine progress

NPR's Shots blog examines progress in the search for a vaccine to protect against the dengue virus. WHO estimates that 2.5 billion people worldwide are at risk of getting dengue, and most of them are in Asia and Latin America, the blog writes.

16 Nov 2010

New insect control method can bring decline in malaria-bearing mosquitoes

Research carried out in Mali, West Africa, has demonstrated that a new, safe and uncomplicated insect control method, developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, can bring about a serious decline in malaria-bearing mosquitoes in afflicted regions in the world.

11 Nov 2010

Portugal research groups awarded Gates Foundation grants

Two research groups in Portugal are to receive Grand Challenges Exploration Grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One of these research teams is led by Miguel Prud-ncio, at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), and the other by Miguel Soares, at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia (IGC) together with Henrique Silveira, at the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT).

11 Nov 2010

Opinions: G20 development approach; defense of DDT for malaria control; U.S. foreign aid; human trafficking

Leaders have been debating how to 'rebalance' the global economy and reform financial institutions - all challenging subjects. But I also am reminding my colleagues that all these goals, however crucial, are insufficient, Lee Myung-bak, the president of the Republic of Korea, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

10 Nov 2010

Research demonstrates a safe method to control malaria in Africa

9 Nov 2010

UC researchers receive four-year grant to study mechanism of malarial parasite replication in RBCs

Today, about half the world's population lives in areas at risk of malaria transmission. The disease is transmitted to humans through bites from mosquitoes, and each year causes hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, with about 1,500 of these in the United States.

8 Nov 2010

Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine enters phase III trial in Australia

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis, on Thursday announced the company had begun testing its dengue fever vaccine in a Phase III clinical trial in Australia, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports.

8 Nov 2010

CR4354 antibody uses crosslinking mechanism to neutralize West Nile virus

Researchers have learned the structure that results when an antibody binds to the West Nile virus, neutralizing the virus by locking up its infection mechanism. The information could help scientists develop a vaccine against the mosquito-borne disease.

3 Nov 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

Global Fund Will Make 'Every Possible Effort' To Raise Additional Resources: Although pledges to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at its recent replenishment meeting did not meet "the lowest estimate of demand," the Fund "will make every possible effort to raise the additional resources that we expect countries to request in the years ahead" through new donor recruitment and "innovative financing approaches," writes Executive Director Michael Kazatchkine in a Lancet comment

30 Oct 2010