Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

Trade officials at WIPO fail to make progress on proposals to improve access to generic medicines

Trade officials met last week at the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization "to make progress on a proposal that would allow poor countries to provide inexpensive generic versions of lifesaving medications, rather than rely a single version of the same drugs under expensive patent monopolies," but the U.S. "remained steadfast in rejecting proposals aimed at lowering the prices of existing medicines in poor countries," the Huffington Post reports.

31 May 2012

'Silo' effect of western health aid to Africa damaging continent's future

In a two-part series in his Slate blog "The Reckoning," author Michael Moran examines the "silo" effect of Western aid to improve health in Africa, writing in the first part, "Charities know that raising money for exotic disease eradication in the West is a good deal easier than, say, funding upgrades to substandard cardiac facilities.

30 May 2012

Al Jazeera business program examines fight against malaria

Al Jazeera's "Counting the Cost" program on Saturday focused on the fight against malaria and the "business behind its treatment and prevention." According to the program, progress against malaria "is being threatened in these tough economic times. There is a $3 billion shortfall in funding for malaria treatment and prevention."

30 May 2012

Controlling TB in geographic hotspots could reduce citywide transmission

Reducing tuberculosis transmission in geographic "hotspots" where infections are highest could significantly reduce TB transmission on a broader scale, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An analysis of data from Rio de Janeiro showed that a reduction in TB infections within three high-transmission hotspots could reduce citywide transmission by 9.8 percent over 5 years, and as much as 29 percent over 50 years. The study was published May 28 by the journal PNAS.

29 May 2012

Bioengineers develop first structure to grow small human blood vessels

Mice and monkeys don't develop diseases in the same way that humans do. Nevertheless, after medical researchers have studied human cells in a Petri dish, they have little choice but to move on to study mice and primates. University of Washington bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant.

29 May 2012

World Health Assembly endorses Global Vaccine Action Plan

Ministers of Health from 194 countries at the Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly today endorsed a landmark Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), a roadmap to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through more equitable access to existing vaccines for people in all communities.

28 May 2012

PSI interviews Gates Foundation official about child health

In this post in PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog, "PSI's Nutrition Research Adviser Dr. Abel Irena talks with Saul Morris, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, about progress that has been made in child health."

25 May 2012

ITM in Antwerp receives Gates Foundation grant for malaria research

The Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine has received a $3m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for malaria research. They will use it to attack malaria mosquitoes from a new angle.

25 May 2012

IRIN examines WHO process of translating research results into policy recommendations

IRIN examines the WHO's regulatory approval process for making evidence-based recommendations, noting, "Governments will generally not implement an intervention without the WHO stamp of approval."

24 May 2012

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee approves FY13 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs on Tuesday approved a $52.1 billion FY 2013 spending bill for state and foreign operations, The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports.

24 May 2012

Scientists may be step closer to developing new therapy for AML

Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center may be one step closer to developing a new therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after discovering that the targeted agents obatoclax and sorafenib kill leukemia cells much more effectively when combined than when the drugs are administered individually.

23 May 2012

Few new chemicals are in development for malaria vector control

"This issue has been building for some time. It is really no surprise as insects have become resistant to nearly all insecticides given time and selection pressure. Few new chemicals are in development for malaria vector control, because there is little profit to be made by the poorest of the world's poor — who feel the brunt of the malaria burden.

23 May 2012

Fake, substandard malaria drugs threatening gains made in fight against disease, NIH study warns

"Low-quality and fake anti-malarial drugs flooding into markets in Asia and Africa are driving drug resistance and threatening gains made in the fight against the disease in the past decade, according to a study" conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, Reuters reports.

23 May 2012

Globe and Mail examines resurgence of malaria in Congo

The Globe and Mail reports on "a massive resurgence of malaria [in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] that has baffled scientists and raised doubts about the global fight against the deadly scourge."

22 May 2012

New knowledge related to host-parasite interaction in severe malaria

Researchers from Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Edinburgh have uncovered new knowledge related to host-parasite interaction in severe malaria, concerning how malaria parasites are able to bind to cells in the brain and cause cerebral malaria - the most lethal form of the disease.

22 May 2012

Afghanistan breaks ground on $30M hospital for treatment of TB, AIDS, malaria

"Afghanistan has begun work on a $30 million hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis [TB], a disease that health officials say kills more than 10,000 Afghans every year," VOA's "Breaking News" blog reports.

19 May 2012

The Millennium Village Project: a correction

Paul Pronyk, lead author of the Millennium Village paper, releases the following statement about the paper, Pronyk PM, Muniz M, Nemser B, et al, for the Millennium Villages Study Group. The effect of an integrated multisector model for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and improving child survival in rural sub-Saharan Africa: a non-randomised controlled assessment. Lancet 2012; published online May 8. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60207-4.

18 May 2012

Inovio SynCon avian influenza vaccine demonstrates broad coverage

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that its SynCon avian influenza vaccine generated protective HAI titers against six different unmatched strains of H5N1 in a phase I clinical trial - a distinct clinical achievement on Inovio's path to develop universal influenza vaccines.

17 May 2012

Insecticide resistance threatens malaria control efforts, WHO warns

"Malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa and India are becoming resistant to insecticides, putting millions of lives at greater risk and threatening eradication efforts, health experts said on Tuesday," Reuters report.

17 May 2012

MDG Health Alliance introduced at GBCHealth Conference

The MDG Health Alliance, an innovative new private sector organization created and led by eminent business leaders to tackle urgent global health problems, was introduced today in the United States at the GBCHealth Conference.

17 May 2012