Water Borne Disease News and Research

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Sierra Leone cholera outbreak continues to spread

"Sierra Leone's health ministry said Thursday that deaths from a cholera outbreak had reached 220, affecting over 12,000 people in the west African nation, which is struggling to curb the disease," Agence France-Presse reports.

24 Aug 2012

Stanford Woods Institute awards five new EVP grants for interdisciplinary research

The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has awarded five new Environmental Venture Projects (EVP) grants for interdisciplinary research aimed at finding practical solutions to major environmental and sustainability challenges.

23 Jun 2012

Praziquantel drug can safely cure snail fever in infants

Thousands of pre-school children in Africa could benefit from access to treatment for an endemic disease, after tests showed infants to be at high risk of infection.

23 Apr 2012

Water-associated disease outbreaks more likely to occur in high population density areas

Water-associated infectious disease outbreaks are more likely to occur in areas where a region's population density is growing, according to a new global analysis of economic and environmental conditions that influence the risk for these outbreaks.

15 Feb 2012

UNICEF distributing hygiene, sanitation items in flood-affected Thailand to help prevent disease spread

"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is distributing more than 300,000 hygiene and sanitation items to flood-affected families in Thailand, in an effort to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in the Asian country," Bernama reports.

11 Nov 2011

Philippines health officials warn of disease risk following Typhoon Nesat

"Philippines authorities are warning of possible water-borne disease outbreaks following Typhoon Nesat," which ripped through the country on Tuesday causing widespread damage including power outages, flooding and landslides, IRIN reports (9/28). According to Reuters, at least 21 people have been killed by the storm and its consequences (Mogato, 9/28).

29 Sep 2011

Measles epidemic grips Kenya and Ethiopia

The UNICEF announced Friday that children in Kenya and Ethiopia are at risk of a measles epidemic. Ethiopia has had more than 17,584 cases of measles in 2011, with 114 deaths. The WHO urges measles vaccination of young children to combat the situation.

18 Jul 2011

WHO will assist Indian officials in exploring threat of NDM-1 in water supply

The WHO has said it will assist government officials evaluating whether the presence of bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene in the water supply in New Delhi poses health risks, Agence France-Presse reports. The announcement comes after the Lancet last week published a report that bacteria carrying NDM-1, a gene that enables resistance to a variety of antibiotics, "was found in 51 out of 171 New Delhi samples taken from water pools and two out of 50 tap water samples," the news service writes.

16 Apr 2011

World Water Day focuses on impact of rapid urban population growth on water security

Tuesday marks World Water Day 2011, which this year focuses "on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems," the Daily Times reports.

23 Mar 2011

Bangladesh cholera vaccine trial

Bangladesh will conduct the world’s largest clinical trial of an affordable cholera vaccine which could save tens of thousands of lives. The study began Thursday and involves nearly 250,000 people near the capital, Dhaka.

20 Feb 2011

Opinions: Global Fund; Accountability for Haiti Aid

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson writes of the "breathless Associated Press story" about the uncovering of some corruption in grants given by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the subsequent reaction: "When scandals fit preexisting ideological narratives, they assume a life of their own. This particular narrative - the story of useless, wasted aid - is durable. It is also misleading and might be deadly."

4 Feb 2011

West, Central African floods kill 377; situation in Benin especially worrying, U.N. says

Floods in west and central Africa have killed 377 people and affected almost 1.5 million people since the start of the rainy season in June, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

21 Oct 2010

V.P. Biden pledges to 'sustain long-term' aid for Pakistan; U.S. concerned about aid branding

Vice President Joe Biden and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently said the U.S. and Britain would provide "'sustained long-term' support to Pakistani flood victims," Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Sep 2010

Objective of WHO and health partners in Pakistan is to reduce avoidable death and illness

In a massive health relief effort underway in the flood-affected parts of Pakistan, nearly six million people have been treated for health conditions since the floods began in late July; but there are urgent needs to prevent further health crises or food insecurity caused by large-scale damage to crops and agricultural land.

24 Sep 2010

Islamic Relief USA provides $20 million medical aid to Pakistan

Islamic Relief USA (IR USA), a non-profit relief and development organization based in metro-D.C., announced today that it has delivered a $20 million aid shipment of medicine to Pakistan.

22 Sep 2010

Inter Press Service examines World Water Week's focus on 'dirty water'

Inter Press Service reports on the ongoing talks at World Water Week over "the widespread devastation caused to humans by polluted water."The article offers statistics on the health problems faced by the "more than 900 million" people without access to safe drinking water and the "estimated 2.6 billion" without access to basic sanitation.

10 Sep 2010

IBM announces computing projects to produce clean, safe water

IBM's World Community Grid, a worldwide network of PC owners helping scientists solve humanitarian challenges, today announced several computing projects aimed at developing techniques to produce cleaner and safer water, an increasingly scarce commodity eluding at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.

7 Sep 2010

Also in Global Health News: China's first HIV discrimination case; Congo mass rape; S. Sudan flooding; Kenya's population growth; Family planning in the Philippines

"A municipal court in central China has accepted the country's first lawsuit alleging work discrimination because of HIV status, state media reported Tuesday," the Associated Press reports (8/31). "The lawsuit alleges city officials denied the plaintiff, a recent college graduate, a teaching job after a medical screening revealed he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," Agence-France-Presse reports (8/31).

2 Sep 2010

Part of U.S. aid package for Pakistan will be redirected to fund flood rebuilding, USAID Administrator says

Part of the previously planned $7.5 billion U.S. aid package for Pakistan will be redirected to flood rebuilding projects, said USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, the Associated Press reports. Shah also "warned that other nations would only contribute money if Islamabad could ensure it would be well spent."

26 Aug 2010

As flood waters spread, international aid for Pakistan tops $800M, foreign minister says

International donors have pledged more than $800 million to help Pakistan deal with severe flooding after the U.N. appealed for $460 million in aid, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the country's foreign minister, said on Sunday, the Associated Press reports.

24 Aug 2010