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Opinion pieces published in recognition of World Malaria Day

Wednesday is World Malaria Day, observed annually on April 25. This year's theme is "Invest in the future: defeat malaria." The following is a summary of opinion pieces published in recognition of the day.

26 Apr 2013

New research collaboration may help in developing TB vaccine for bovines and humans

Scientists at The University of Nottingham are studying whether harmful bacteria found in cattle could be harnessed to protect livestock from the devastating disease bovine tuberculosis (TB).

26 Apr 2013

Obama administration loss in anti-prostitution pledge Supreme Court case would be 'victory for health and human rights'

"No one denies that prostitution can be dangerous, demeaning work. But health experts long ago recognized that sanctions and stigma make it far more harmful," MSNBC.com health policy reporter Geoffrey Cowley writes in an MSNBC.com opinion piece."

26 Apr 2013

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB): an interview with Dr. Jennifer Cohn, Médecins Sans Frontières

MDR-TB is tuberculosis, a mycobacterial infection, that has developed resistance to two important and powerful first-line anti-TB drugs, INH and rifampin.

26 Apr 2013

U.S. CDC, FDA, armed forces taking action to fight malaria

Testifying before Congress this week, CDC Director Thomas Frieden "said the challenge in the fight against malaria, which in Africa alone kills one child every minute, is staying one step ahead of the malaria parasite" and "cited the need for better public health surveillance, and urged Congress to fund better detection tools".

26 Apr 2013

Kaiser Family Foundation, CSIS host panel discussion on IOM's PEPFAR evaluation

On Tuesday, April 30, from 2:00-3:30 p.m., the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center will host a panel discussion, titled "The Policy Implications of the Institute of Medicine's Evaluation of PEPFAR," at the CSIS conference center in Washington, D.C.

26 Apr 2013

GI nematode infections combat obesity and improve related metabolic disorders

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, have shown in a mouse model that infection with nematodes (also known as roundworms) can not only combat obesity but ameliorate related metabolic disorders.

26 Apr 2013

Nature editorial, opinion piece address H7N9 virus

The journal Nature published an editorial and opinion piece on the emergence of the H7N9 avian influenza strain.

26 Apr 2013

USAID blog highlights World Malaria Day

"Time and again, we see the same predictable cycle in public and private sector programs all over the world. Success turns the volume down on the alarm bells that drive the investments that produced that success in the first place, and when that happens, only failure raises the alarm again".

26 Apr 2013

Bill Gates seeks additional $1.5B in donations for polio eradication efforts

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "is seeking a further $1.5 billion in donations to wipe out polio by 2018 and make it the first infectious disease eradicated since smallpox was wiped from the planet in 1979".

26 Apr 2013

New strain of bird flu poses pandemic threat

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling the new strain of H7H9 influenza virus "lethal" and The University of Kansas Hospital is preparing now for any potential cases.

26 Apr 2013

Financial Times publishes special report on malaria

The Financial Times has published a special report (.pdf) on malaria featuring articles examining issues including prevention, treatment and research and development (R&D).

26 Apr 2013

Blog examines independent evaluation of PMI

While the giant PEPFAR program to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries gets a lot of attention in U.S. foreign policy discussions, a lesser known initiative to address malaria is achieving sustained, impressive results.

26 Apr 2013

Sustained funding for malaria efforts needed to maintain momentum

"When in the year 2000 African leaders first decided to put a Malaria Day on the calendar of the world, the ravages of malaria were barely visible to global decision-makers in prosperous countries," Fatoumata Nafo-Traor, executive director of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership and a former minister of health in Mali, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

25 Apr 2013

New York Times profiles Carter center's leader for guinea worm eradication

The New York Times on Monday profiled Donald Hopkins, who is leading the fight to eradicate Guinea worm in his role as "vice president for health programs at the Carter Center, the group founded by former President Jimmy Carter to advance human rights and fight disease."

25 Apr 2013

Microbial population in New York City subway system is nearly identical to that of ambient air on city streets

The microbial population in the air of the New York City subway system is nearly identical to that of ambient air on the city streets. This research, published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, establishes an important baseline, should it become necessary to monitor the subway's air for dispersal of potentially dangerous microbes.

25 Apr 2013

New antimicrobial agents do not rely on traditional antibiotics

In an advance toward coping with bacteria that shrug off existing antibiotics and sterilization methods, scientists are reporting development of a new family of selective antimicrobial agents that do not rely on traditional antibiotics.

25 Apr 2013

Childhood meningitis linked with lower educational achievement and economic self-sufficiency in adult life

In a study that included nearly 3,000 adults from Denmark, a diagnosis of meningococcal, pneumococcal, or Haemophilus influenzae meningitis in childhood was associated with lower educational achievement and economic self-sufficiency in adult life, according to a study in the April 24 issue of JAMA.

25 Apr 2013

New hope for patients with chronic HBV infection

Exciting new data presented today at the International Liver Congress- 2013 include rults from early in vitro and in vivo studies targeting covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), which may form the basis of a cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

25 Apr 2013

Research reveals deadly impact of alcohol and body weight on liver disease

Research announced today at the International Liver CongressTM 2013 has revealed the deadly impact that alcohol and body weight have on liver disease.

25 Apr 2013