Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

Clinical trial reveals cholera vaccine is safe, offers protection for up to 2 years

A clinical trial of an Indian-made "modified killed-whole-cell" oral cholera vaccine "that meets WHO standards" has found that the vaccine is safe and effective in children living in parts of India where the disease is endemic, Reuters reports. The researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Lancet, hope to soon introduce the vaccine into other cholera endemic settings.

9 Oct 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet comment examines an Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm) program to help countries procure subsidized artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs).

9 Oct 2009

VOA News examines U.S. global health funding

VOA News examines how the recession will be a factor in U.S. funding decisions about PEPFAR and other global health initiatives. According to VOA, the Obama administration's proposed funding for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in 2010 is "higher than the current fiscal year. However, the proposed increase is lower than in some years past."

9 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Uganda malaria efforts; child mortality in Vietnam; refugee health; U.S. aid to Somalia; HIV in South Africa

The Guardian examines efforts to reduce malaria in Katine, Uganda, through the distribution of insecticide-treated nets to high-risk groups. Though the article details a reduction in the number of malaria cases in the region, additional nets are needed to cover the entire population. Also, health experts warn additional strategies, such as indoor residual spraying and increased access to drugs are needed to defeat malaria (Kavuma, 10/8).

9 Oct 2009

U.S. should provide more leadership in finding TB vaccine, opinion piece says

Tuberculosis deserves an effort as "substantial" as the one mounted against swine flu "to develop a new vaccine," David McMurray, a TB expert at Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, writes in a Houston Chronicle opinion piece.

9 Oct 2009

New research report outlines growth prospects of Biomagnetics Diagnostics

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and malaria detection, today announced the Company is the subject of a new research report issued by Emerging Growth Research, LLP.

8 Oct 2009

U.N. appeals for $74m to provide emergency assistance in the Philippines; health-effects of other natural disasters

The U.N. on Tuesday launched an appeal for $74 million "to provide emergency assistance to hundreds of thousands of victims of two catastrophic typhoons that have struck the Philippines in less than two weeks," VOA News reports (Schlein, 10/6).

8 Oct 2009

More than 2m infants, women die from childbirth annually, study says

Each year, more than 2 million infants and women around the world die from childbirth-related complications, according to a study released Tuesday at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics world congress in Cape Town, South Africa, the Associated Press reports.

8 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Carter promotes malaria eradication; India to educate tribal populations about HIV/AIDS; WFP feels impact of global recession

Former President Jimmy Carter is traveling to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in hopes of encouraging the country "leaders to forge a pact to rid the island of Hispaniola of malaria," the Associated Press/Los Angeles Times reports.

8 Oct 2009

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals establishes a new Anti-Viral Research Group

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has established a new Anti-Viral Research Group in its R&D organization.

7 Oct 2009

Research on malarial drugs for travelers

A new review of existing research finds that a combination drug and the common antibiotic doxycycline allow travelers to fend off malaria with the fewest side effects in areas where the parasite is resistant to a widely accepted preventive treatment.

7 Oct 2009

Reuters examines health effects of climate change in Africa

Reuters examines how floods, droughts and rising temperatures, thought to be caused by climate change, are compromising African farm lands and leading to health problems for already vulnerable populations - a topic discussed at the "first pan-African climate hearings."

7 Oct 2009

USAID grants over $10.5 million for fight against malaria

The U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced over $10.5 million in grants to seven organizations working in six countries in Africa to extend malaria prevention and control activities in communities most affected by the disease, particularly children under age 5 and pregnant women.

7 Oct 2009

Opinion piece responds to 'skeptics' of development aid

After a recent trip to Africa, "to see firsthand the region's fight against malaria," Tachi Yamada, the president of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in a CNN opinion piece that a visit to a pediatric hospital ward in Zanzibar that did not have "a single patient" was the "single most memorable image of the trip."

7 Oct 2009

Inviragen, SingVax merge their complementary vaccine pipelines

Inviragen and SingVax have merged their complementary vaccine pipelines and their international product development capabilities to create a company that is developing a wide range of vaccines for infectious diseases prevalent in emerging economies.

6 Oct 2009

More than 1 million babies worldwide born prematurely die in first month, Study says

Each year more than 1 million babies born prematurely - before 37 weeks of development in the womb or within the first month of life - the "March of Dimes said Sunday in the first comprehensive global report on premature births," CNN reports. Nearly 10 percent of total births worldwide, or 12.9 million infants, are preterm, the study found.

6 Oct 2009

$40B needed to 'dramatically' reduce millions of child deaths annually, report says

Two million infants die within 24 hours of birth each year and almost nine million children died before the age of 5 in 2008, according to a report by Save the Children, which says it would take $40 billion annually to "dramatically" cut these numbers, Agence France-Presse reports (Mohiuddin, 10/5).

5 Oct 2009

MSF calls on drug companies to pool HIV patents

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) recently launched an e-mail campaign calling on nine of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to "release their patents on specific HIV drugs into a collective pool that will increase access and affordability to treatment in developing countries," Inter Press Service reports (Borde, 10/1).

5 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health news: World Bank budget concerns; Ethiopia prepares for malaria surge; malnutrition in Yemen; malaria prevention in Africa

Before the start of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund World Bank on Friday, World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that the international lender expects to "face serious constraints" by the middle of next year unless developed nations provide the bank with more resources, the Associated Press reports.

5 Oct 2009

Genzyme named to the 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index

Genzyme Corporation announced today that it was included on both the 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and North American Index. This marks the fifth consecutive year Genzyme has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North American Index and the first year the company has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

5 Oct 2009