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Opinion: U.S. should double global maternal, child health spending; Ban, Chan want 'global solidarity'; resources for diabetes, HIV/AIDS

Although "child survival is improving - albeit way too slowly - in most regions of the world," sub-Saharan Africa "continues to have the world's highest child-mortality rates," former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who serves as the chairman of Save the Children's Survive to 5 campaign, writes in a Washington Times opinion piece. Frist asserts, "We cannot continue to allow one of every seven African children to die when it is so readily within our reach to prevent those deaths."

17 Jun 2009

Preventing spread of infectious diseases is everyone’s responsibility – and everyone’s job

According to a report published today, we must all share responsibility for preventing the spread of diseases such as swine flu, SARS, avian influenza, diarrhoeal and skin diseases, and even the common cold.

16 Jun 2009

Farmed fish and mad cow disease – researchers air new concerns

University of Louisville neurologist Robert P. Friedland, M.D., questions the safety of eating farmed fish in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, adding a new worry to concerns about the nation's food supply.

16 Jun 2009

Distributed drug discovery for neglected diseases

Researchers from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have developed Distributed Drug Discovery (D3), a new low-cost strategy to accelerate the discovery of drugs to treat neglected diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy, leshmaniasis, dengue fever, and Chagas disease.

16 Jun 2009

Agencies and health departments prepare for swine flu

Governments and drug companies are struggling with efforts to prepare for a possible resurgence of swine flu in the fall as well as questioning who should receive swine flu vaccines as they ramp up production.

15 Jun 2009

South African AIDS advocate who created radio diaries dies of drug-resistant tuberculosis

South African AIDS activist Thembi Ngubane recently died of drug-resistant tuberculosis at the age of 24, the AP/Washington Post reports (Nullis, AP/Washington Post, 6/14).

15 Jun 2009

Reuters examines WHO efforts to fight H1N1 in developing countries

Reuters examines the WHO's battle against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus in "[d]eveloping countries, where medical care systems are weak and supplies of antivirals insufficient." In addition to "supplying countries with diagnostic kits, medicines and masks and gloves to protect health care workers and minimize the further spread of the new virus," the WHO is continuing to distribute doses of the antiviral Tamiflu, which has been "shown to be effective so far against H1N1," according to Reuters.

15 Jun 2009

Boston Globe examines the U.S. strategy towards global health

The Boston Globe examines the U.S. strategy towards global health aid. "President George W. Bush scored major advances in his administration's worldwide campaign against AIDS," and "[t]he Obama administration believes it can leverage Bush's successes into an assault against a much broader array of diseases that afflict poor countries," writes the Globe.

15 Jun 2009

Obama pledges $73 million to Zimbabwe

Following talks with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the White House Friday, President Obama pledged $73 million in aid to the country, AFP/Google.com reports (Carmichael, AFP/Google.com, 6/13).

15 Jun 2009

International AIDS conference could return to U.S. if ban on HIV-positive visitors is reversed

The International AIDS Society (IAS) announced Thursday it is considering Washington, D.C., as the location for the 2012 biannual International AIDS Conference, Science Magazine's blog, the ScienceInsider reports. "But before it holds the conference anywhere in the U.S., the federal government must change a law that bans HIV-infected people from entering the country," according to Science Insider.

15 Jun 2009

High-tech approach to combat sepsis

When Jason Martin gives a talk about his research, he begins with the dramatic story of Mariana Bridi da Costa: The young Brazilian supermodel died from severe sepsis in January after amputation of both her hands and feet failed to stop its spread.

15 Jun 2009

Rhinosinusitis may be a factor in toxic shock syndrome in children

Rhinosinusitis (infection and inflammation in the sinus passages surrounding the nose) appears to be a primary factor in about one-fifth of toxic shock syndrome cases in children, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

15 Jun 2009

FDA releases fraudulent H1N1 flu virus product list

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is enforcing the laws that protect consumers from illegal products marketed through the Internet that claim to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure the 2009 H1N1 flu virus.

15 Jun 2009

To flu experts, 'pandemic' confirms the obvious

"It came as no surprise on Thursday when the World Health Organization declared that the swine flu outbreak had become a pandemic," The New York Times reports.

13 Jun 2009

Recent releases: HIV prevention; clinical trials debate; definition of global health; drug resistant tuberculosis

In a Journal of the American Medical Association commentary piece, Anthony Fauci and Carl Dieffenbach of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases explore results from a WHO mathematical model study that found universal, voluntary, annual HIV testing followed up with immediate treatment for those testing positive -- the "test and treat model" -- could "reduce HIV incidence" and "end the [HIV] pandemic within 50 years."

13 Jun 2009

Global Post articles examine Malaria worldwide

Global Post examines the quest for an effective vaccine to fight malaria. According to Global Post, "epidemiologists are pinning their hopes on a malaria vaccine" because "[k]illing mosquitoes, or avoiding bites, is an imprecise solution to malaria."

13 Jun 2009

International scientists' network to map drug-resistant malaria

PTI/Hindu reports on the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) – an "international network of malaria scientists," which will be "established to map the emergence of resistance" to malaria drugs and "guide global efforts to control and eradicate the disease."

13 Jun 2009

Wall Street Journal examines program to spur vaccine development for developing world diseases

The Wall Street Journal examines a $1.5 billion program supported by Italy, the U.K., Canada, Russia, Norway and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that hopes "to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases common to poor countries," which is expected to be announced Friday "on the sidelines of a meeting of top finance officials from the Group of Eight major industrial powers."

13 Jun 2009

Progress seen in some African HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment programs, U.N. Special Envoy says at World Economic Forum on Africa

Several African countries have successfully scaled up their HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs, U.N. Special Envoy for HIV and AIDS in Africa Elizabeth Mataka said during a media briefing at the World Economic Forum on Africa being held in Cape Town, South Africa, the ZANIS/Lusaka Times reports. Zambia and Botswana were among some of the countries that have made significant progress in southern Africa, according to Mataka.

13 Jun 2009

Recipients of HIV/AIDS programs aid expected to feel crunch of global economic crisis

At the 2009 HIV Implementers' Meeting in Namibia Thursday, Paul DeLay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, said the global economic crisis will impact countries who receive international aid for HIV/AIDS programs, so recipients of such aid should identify priorities for their programs, the China Post reports (China Post, 6/12).

13 Jun 2009

Disease/Infection News

Opinion: U.S. should double global maternal, child health spending; Ban, Chan want 'global solidarity'; resources for diabetes, HIV/AIDS

Preventing spread of infectious diseases is everyone’s responsibility – and everyone’s job

Farmed fish and mad cow disease – researchers air new concerns

Distributed drug discovery for neglected diseases

Agencies and health departments prepare for swine flu

South African AIDS advocate who created radio diaries dies of drug-resistant tuberculosis

Reuters examines WHO efforts to fight H1N1 in developing countries

Boston Globe examines the U.S. strategy towards global health

Obama pledges $73 million to Zimbabwe

International AIDS conference could return to U.S. if ban on HIV-positive visitors is reversed

High-tech approach to combat sepsis

Rhinosinusitis may be a factor in toxic shock syndrome in children

FDA releases fraudulent H1N1 flu virus product list

To flu experts, 'pandemic' confirms the obvious

Recent releases: HIV prevention; clinical trials debate; definition of global health; drug resistant tuberculosis

Global Post articles examine Malaria worldwide

International scientists' network to map drug-resistant malaria

Wall Street Journal examines program to spur vaccine development for developing world diseases

Progress seen in some African HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment programs, U.N. Special Envoy says at World Economic Forum on Africa

Recipients of HIV/AIDS programs aid expected to feel crunch of global economic crisis

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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