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Major breakthrough may help develop low toxicity drugs for sleeping sickness

Scientists from the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee - working together with partners at the University of York and the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto - have made a major breakthrough in identifying new treatments for a fatal disease which infects tens of thousands of Africans each year.

1 Apr 2010

Haiti's recovery: CARE calls for substantial, sustained commitment from international community

At this week's International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti (March 31, 2010), CARE will urge the international community to ensure all Haitians have a chance to rebuild their country anew. Women and girls, in particular, will be at the heart of CARE's policy recommendations to address Haiti's recovery, reconstruction and long-term development needs as donor countries, international organizations and other partners gather to pledge resources and commit to long-term efforts in Haiti following the devastating January earthquake.

31 Mar 2010

Opinions: Haiti relief and recovery; Tuberculosis control

Ahead of a U.N. donors conference focusing on Haiti tomorrow, several editorials and opinion pieces address the country's needs for relief and recovery.

31 Mar 2010

GSK offers free vaccines for low income adults without insurance coverage

GlaxoSmithKline today announced the launch of the GSK Vaccines Access Program, which will provide the company's adult vaccines free of charge to eligible, low income individuals who do not have insurance coverage for vaccines. The program will cover the company's FDA-approved vaccines for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis for eligible persons ages 19 and older.

29 Mar 2010

LeapFrog Investments surges past $100M target capitalization ahead of schedule

LeapFrog Investments, the world's first microinsurance fund, announced today that it has surged past its $100 million target capitalization, months ahead of schedule. The fund invests in high-growth, high-impact insurance and financial services companies in countries including India, the Philippines, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana.

29 Mar 2010

Africa not on track to halve poverty by 2015, Economic Commission for Africa head says

U.N. Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Abdoulie Janneh said the global economic downturn will keep Africa from meeting the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015, Reuters reports.

27 Mar 2010

Oral Health America announces support for dental care benefits in health care reform bill

The health care reform bill passed by Congress, and now signed into law by President Obama, includes many provisions that will improve the nation's oral health. Most significantly, the bill does guarantee oral health coverage for children and allows for resources to extend oral disease prevention measures in every state. Over time, the bill's provisions can help to increase access to care for all ages.

27 Mar 2010

Passage of health care reform signals the beginning of new era for nurse-led health care

When health care reform was signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday, it signaled the beginning of a new era for nurse-led health care. H.R. 3590 will capitalize on the ability of nurse practitioners to provide high-quality primary and preventive care by defining "nurse-managed health clinic" in the Public Health Service Act and creating a new $50 million grant program to support innovative safety net providers.

26 Mar 2010

Ontario nurses welcome 1.5% increase in hospital funding

Ontario nurses welcome the 1.5 per cent increase in hospital funding outlined in the Ontario budget, and say this means government and employers must now fast track the promised 9,000 additional nurses to ensure patients receive the quality care they need and deserve.

26 Mar 2010

World TB Day coverage: Lesotho, Armenia, drug resistance, HIV coinfection

"To mark World [Tuberculosis] Day on Wednesday, Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] drew attention to Lesotho, which has the world's third-highest prevalence of HIV ... and the fourth-highest prevalence of tuberculosis," the Associated Press reports

26 Mar 2010

Body lice and head lice have same origin

Body lice, which cause highly lethal epidemics (trench fever, typhus and relapsing fever Borrelia), originate from head lice. This has recently been shown by a team from the Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Unit (CNRS/IRD/Université de la Méditerranée), in collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Florida and Illinois (US).

26 Mar 2010

New legislation mirrors 2006 Massachusetts health care reform

On Tuesday, President Obama signed into law U.S. health care reform legislation, leaving many Americans wondering how it will affect them, their families, and businesses.

25 Mar 2010

Financial Times' opinions on World TB Day

"Governments and their international partners must recognise that health is an investment. The only successful exit strategy in the struggle against the TB, HIV and TB/HIV pandemics is to include them as part of broader development and poverty reduction strategies, and to strengthen health systems to respond more effectively to the needs of the most vulnerable populations.

25 Mar 2010

Sec. Clinton highlights water as diplomatic, development opportunity for U.S.

Marking World Water Day in a speech Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said tackling the world's water problems "represents one of the great diplomatic and development opportunities of our time," Inter Press Service reports. "It's not every day you find an issue where effective diplomacy and development will allow you to save millions of lives, feed the hungry, empower women, advance our national security interests, protect the environment, and demonstrate to billions of people that the United States cares," she said.

24 Mar 2010

Farmers, aid groups call attention to drought, food shortages in West Africa

A coalition of farmers from West Africa's Sahel region, known as Billital Maroobe, wrote an open letter to regional leaders Monday, appealing for help with drought and famine conditions that are affecting people and livestock, Agence France-Presse/IC Publications reports.

24 Mar 2010

Providence Service Corporation remarks on passage of health care reform bill

The Providence Service Corporation today commented on last night's historical congressional action. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the health care reform bill as well as a reconciliation bill making some modifications to the original Senate act, called the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. The bills make a number of sweeping changes to Medicaid and insurance coverage for America's poor, a mission Providence has embraced since its inception in 1997.

23 Mar 2010

Passage of health insurance reforms should spur action to ensure quality maternal care

Now that health insurance reform legislation has passed, President Obama and Congress must urgently turn their attention to ensuring quality maternal care for every American woman to reduce rising deaths and complications during pregnancy and childbirth, Amnesty International said today.

23 Mar 2010

World's slum population increased by 55M since 2000, despite exodus of 227M, report says

"Almost a quarter of a billion people moved out of slum conditions in the past decade," but the number of people living in shantytowns around the world "increased by 55 million to 827.6 million as population growth and migration from the countryside outstripped the effect of upward mobility in cities," according to a U.N. Habitat report, released Friday, in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the five-day World Urban Forum "on the state of the world's cities," Reuters reports (3/19).

23 Mar 2010

InterAction joins other NGOs to solve world's growing WASH crisis

InterAction joins other U.S.-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in calling for the United States government to commit available resources to solve the world's growing water, sanitation and hygiene crisis. World Water Day provides us with an opportunity to focus attention on the fact that millions of people in the developing world lack access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

22 Mar 2010

Tricking TB into suicidal self-poisoning

Scientists have identified a new class of drug target that tricks tuberculosis bacteria into suicidal self-poisoning. New therapies are urgently required to control the tuberculosis pandemic. Even in the UK cases are on the rise.

22 Mar 2010