Malaria News and Research

Latest Malaria News and Research

Vietnam publishes report documenting Millennium Development Goal progress

Vietnam recently published a report tracking its progress towards the U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, which outlines the health ministry's work with other government and international agencies, Vietnam News reports.

3 Jun 2009

British researchers call for WHO to 'condemn homeopathy' for serious diseases

British researchers on Monday requested the WHO "publicly condemn homeopathy as a treatment for serious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria," amid growing concern that some patients are dying as a result of choosing homeopathy over effective medicines, the Mail & Guardian reports. "The WHO works with national organisations that promote homeopathy and other alternative medicines in their public health programmes," according to the Mail & Guardian.

2 Jun 2009

Universal access to malaria drugs, prevention by 2013 will lead to eradication, Nigerian Government says

The Nigerian government believes that by 2013 malaria will cease to be a major public health problem in the country because families will have universal access to prevention and treatment, which will ultimately lead to malaria eradication in Nigeria, according to a document prepared by the National Malaria Control Program of the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, Nigeria, Xinhua reports.

2 Jun 2009

Global Health Council names Jeffrey Sturchio as next leader

Jeffrey L. Sturchio, a longtime leader at Merck & Co. whose quiet diplomacy helped build programs treating more than 100,000 AIDS patients in Botswana as well as protecting millions of Africans from river blindness, has been named President and CEO of the Global Health Council, the Council's board of directors announced today.

26 May 2009

Former President Clinton, U.N. advisor Douste-Blazy announce voluntary airline ticket donation

Former President Clinton has joined efforts to raise money for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from travelers purchasing electronic airline tickets, the New York Times reports.

22 May 2009

United States should increase its commitment to improving the health of developing nations, IOM report says

To fulfill America's humanitarian obligations as a member of the international community and to invest in the nation's long-term health, economic interests, and national security, the United States should reaffirm and increase its commitment to improving the health of developing nations, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

20 May 2009

Methylene blue in combo with new malaria drugs curbs the spread of malaria parasites

New combinations of agents based on the oldest synthetic malaria drug, the methylene blue stain, can curb the spread of malaria parasites and make a significant contribution to the long-term eradication called for by the international "Roll Back Malaria Initiative."

20 May 2009

HIV/AIDS advocates react to Obama's proposed global health initiative

Some HIV/AIDS advocates have voiced disappointment with the level of HIV/AIDS funding in President Obama's proposed $63 billion, six-year global health initiative, VOA News reports. According to VOA News, the advocates say that Obama has not met pledges he made as a presidential candidate, while other say that the "picture is more complicated."

20 May 2009

GIS used to map past and predicted malaria outbreak hotspots

A Geographic Information System (GIS)-driven digital map of past and predicted malaria outbreak hotspots has been used in India as part of a national control program.

19 May 2009

Research may lead to improved TB vaccines

A team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators has cracked one of clinical medicine's enduring mysteries - what happened to the tuberculosis vaccine. The once-effective vaccine no longer prevents the bacterial lung infection that kills more than 1.7 million people worldwide each year.

19 May 2009

Gene transfer technology may lead to an HIV vaccine

A research team may have broken the stubborn impasse that has frustrated the invention of an effective HIV vaccine, by using an approach that bypasses the usual path followed by vaccine developers.

17 May 2009

Variation of natural compound cures malaria in mice

Approximately 350 million to 500 million cases of malaria are diagnosed each year mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. While medications to prevent and treat malaria do exist, the demand for new treatments is on the rise, in part, because malaria parasites have developed a resistance to existing medications.

15 May 2009

PIH founder Farmer discussing possible appointment to coordinate U.S. global health initiatives, Boston Globe reports

Paul Farmer -- founder of Partners in Health and vice chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School -- said he is in discussions with the State Department about a possible Obama administration appointment to coordinate U.S. global health initiatives, the Boston Globe reports. Farmer made the announcement Monday during a meeting with HMS faculty.

15 May 2009

Canada 'leading contributor' to global HIV/AIDS efforts, Canadian official says

A recent column in the Victoria Times on Canada's response to HIV/AIDS, written by Times columnist Kate Heartfield, "overlook[ed] the real story here -- that Canada is dedicated to getting results" in treating and preventing HIV/AIDS in Canada and worldwide, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda writes in an Ottawa Citizen opinion piece.

13 May 2009

International Nurses Day chance to improve conditions for health workers in developing countries, opinion piece says

International Nurses Day, which took place on Tuesday, was "an appropriate day ... to consider the challenges faced by health care personnel in developing countries," including those related to HIV/AIDS, Gary Cohen, board director of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the CDC Foundation, writes in a NorthJersey.com opinion piece.

13 May 2009

IRIN/Plus News examines HIV/AIDS services in Zimbabwe following economic crisis

IRIN/Plus News on Monday examined services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe following an economic crisis in the country.

12 May 2009

Money from Bill and Melinda Gates will help beat Dengue fever in Australia

The University of Queensland (UQ) has won a grant of $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases.

11 May 2009

Australian scientists win funds for new research

One bold idea - that's all it takes - such is the creed of a bold initiative fostered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and once again Bill Gates is putting his hand in his pocket for the good of mankind.

11 May 2009

Africa prepares for possible H1N1 flu outbreak amid concerns about HIV/AIDS, other diseases

African countries are preparing for the possibility that the H1N1 flu virus could expand in the continent, which already is experiencing epidemics of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

7 May 2009

New research nets the true economic costs of dengue fever

Researchers at Brandeis, in collaboration with several other institutions worldwide, have pinpointed for the first time the multi-country economic costs of dengue fever, the endemic and epidemic mosquito-borne illness that is a rapidly growing public health problem in tropical and sub-tropical countries.

7 May 2009