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Friday, May 17, 2013 — South Asia

Anti-diarrhoea vaccine: Why social innovation is the way ahead for Indian healthcare

Source: First Post India
After nearly 25 years of work involving multi-institution, multi-country collaboration, India yesterday announced its first locally developed anti-diarrhoea vaccine.
TAGS:health care, public health, social enterprise
Friday, May 17, 2013 — No Region Specified

How Drug Companies Keep Medicine Out of Reach

Source: The Atlantic
The promise of delinking research and development from the actual manufacture of drugs, and why the pharmaceutical industry rejects an idea that could turn neglected diseases into profit
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — North Africa and Near East

Global Leaders Unite to End Polio -- But Where Is the U.S.?

Source: Roll Call
Last month, the U.S. government stood on the sidelines as much of the world united for the final push to eradicate polio. Now, Congress has a chance to put us back on track.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

SARS-Like Virus Vaccine Unlikely, Experts Say

Source: ABC News
A virus similar to SARS has spread through hospitals in Europe and the Middle East, prompting fears of human-to-human transmission.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — South Asia

Dirty medicine

Source: CNN Money
The epic inside story of long-term criminal fraud at Ranbaxy, the Indian drug company that makes generic Lipitor for millions of Americans.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 — South Asia

Source code: PharmaSecure goes mobile in battle against fake drugs

Source: The Guardian
An initiative allowing the provenance of medicines to be verified using mobile technology is taking aim at the illegal drug trade.
TAGS:health care, public health, social enterprise
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 — No Region Specified

Canada gives $10 million to health innovations

Source: Sci Dev Net
More than 100 projects spanning the globe — including a number from South-East Asia — will share CAN$10.9 million (US$10.7 million) worth of funding from the Canadian government to pursue novel and cost-effective innovations in disease treatment.
TAGS:health care, impact investing, public health
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

New global surveillance tool detects, monitors public concerns about vaccines in real time

Source: Medical XPress
Scientists have developed a global media surveillance system that enables them to look for, and systematically monitor, up-to-the-minute public concerns and rumors about vaccines originating from 144 countries.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, May 13, 2013 — South Asia

World economy in a tizzy, but Indian pharma flying high

Source: The Hindu
Although global economic recovery still remains fragile and the road back to normalcy is a long and difficult one, the fortunes of India’s pharmaceutical industry remain upbeat.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, May 10, 2013 — No Region Specified

Cancer Vaccines Get a Price Cut in Poor Nations

Source: The New York Times
The two companies that make vaccines against cervical cancer announced Thursday that they would cut their prices to the world’s poorest countries below $5 per dose.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, May 09, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Preventing Drug Shortages With Cell Phones in Malawi

Source: PBS Newshour
Eighty percent of the 13 million Malawians live in rural areas, making delivering health services challenging, especially in remote parts with no roads.
TAGS:mobile phones, public health, social enterprise
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Pharmacovigilance Reporting Goes Digital in Kenya

Source: Management Sciences for Health
Monitoring and reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and poor-quality human medicines has gone digital in Kenya.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 — North Africa and Near East

Unhealthy Hospitals

Source: Time Magazine
The future of Afghanistan begins at the end of next year, after U.S. combat troops depart and Afghan forces take over for keeps.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Big Pharma in Africa: Weighing corporate citizenship and the bottom line

Source: African Arguments
In the early 2000s, pharmaceutical companies were high on activists’ hit lists. Today, the discourse seems merrier.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, May 06, 2013 — South Asia

Toxic waste sites detrimental to health in India: research

Source: Business Standard
Toxic waste sites in India with elevated levels of lead and chromium are causing disease, disability and even death, leading to loss of healthy years of life among people, according to a new research.
TAGS:public health
Monday, May 06, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

How one social enterprise is leading the fight against malaria

Source: The Guardian
Living Goods, a social enterprise based in San Francisco, has built a network of door-to-door salespeople in Uganda.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, May 02, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

How solar panels are leading the fight against malaria

Source: Business Green
Kenyan island aims to become free of the disease thanks to solar-powered, insecticide-free mosquito traps
TAGS:public health, solar, technology
Wednesday, May 01, 2013 — Asia Pacific

We're Not Prepared For China's Deadly Bird Flu

Source: Forbes
In Asia, more than 120 people have been sickened, and 23 are dead, from a potent strain of bird flu that has the frightening markings of a potential pandemic strain.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, May 01, 2013 — No Region Specified

6 Canadian game-changing ideas for global health care

Source: Global News Canada
A Ziploc bag filled with $5 worth of tools to save newborn babies’ lives in third world countries.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, May 01, 2013 — No Region Specified

Entrepreneurs say the FDA is killing medical innovation

Source: Venture Beat
Chandra Duggirala, maker of an experimental device for type two diabetes, is on the verge of giving up.
TAGS:health care, public health, social enterprise
Monday, April 29, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Malaria resistance - it's in the parasite's genes

Source: The Guardian
Tracking malaria resistance is imperative if it is to be prevented, say scientists who have been genotyping the parasites.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 29, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Vaccines shunned by some as others struggle for access

Source: CNN
For parents in Somalia, giving their children immunizations is not a choice.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, April 26, 2013 — No Region Specified

The Power of One: An Anti-Malaria Campaign With Some Powerful Partners

Source: Fast CoExist
An all-star team--including Twitter, a former Apple marketing executive, the people who ran Obama’s online campaign, drug companies, and more--are coming together with Malaria No More to make a huge push to stop one of the most deadly diseases in the world.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Innovative finance and its promise for global health

Source: Devex
Few global health institutions focus as much on innovative finance as UNITAID.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Four Reasons Doctors Worry About Social Media

Source: Forbes
Continuous social media exposure to the imaginative and the extraordinary can also be a bit deceptive.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Superbug drug fight in danger with just four pharmaceutical firms left making antibiotics, report says

Source: The Star
The number of new antibiotics being developed is “alarmingly low,” according to a new report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 — South Asia

Making a clean sweep of a 'dirty' business in India

Source: MoneyControl.com
A new kind of "dirty" business is becoming the latest frontier in the bottom-of-the-pyramid market in India, with a number of start-ups seeing a huge opportunity in building and maintaining toilets as more than 600 million Indians still defecate in the open, according to the World Health Organization.
TAGS:public health, social enterprise
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 — Asia Pacific

Coming, ready or not

Source: The Economist
The threat of a global pandemic is rising again.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, April 19, 2013 — No Region Specified

Universal healthcare: 14 steps in the right direction

Source: The Guardian
From innovative financing to national income surveys, our expert panel offer some important lessons in developing affordable and sustainable universal health coverage
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, April 18, 2013 — No Region Specified

Shared value: USAID's new global health focus

Source: Devex
Dr. Pablos-Mendez joined the USAID leadership team with a vision to shape the Bureau for Global Health’s programmatic efforts to accomplish scalable, sustainable and measurable impact on the lives of people in developing countries as envisioned in President Obama’s Global Health Initiative.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 — No Region Specified

Medical Care, Aided by the Crowd

Source: The New York Times
Two years ago, Chase Adam, a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica, was riding a bus through a town called Watsi, when a woman got on board asking for money.
TAGS:health care, public health, social enterprise
Monday, April 15, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Sierra Leone: Using Technology to Save Lives

Source: All Africa
The telecommunications industry and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have teamed up to use mobile phone technology to save lives in Sierra Leone.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology
Friday, April 12, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: Poverty No Bar to Fighting Deadly Undernutrition

Source: All Africa
Some of the world’s poorest countries, including two in sub-Saharan Africa, are showing the greatest political commitment to tackling hunger and undernutrition.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, April 11, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa: People On Art Have Near Normal Life Expectancies

Source: All Africa
People living with HIV in South Africa, who access antiretroviral therapy (ART) before their immune systems are severely compromised, have life expectancies close to that of the general population, researchers have found.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, April 11, 2013 — No Region Specified

US races to make vaccine against new bird flu – just in case

Source: NBC News
Less than two weeks after Chinese officials released the genetic sequence of a new type of bird flu, U.S. vaccine experts are well on the way to making a vaccine to protect people against it.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 — South Asia

Coughing Dragon, Sneezing Elephant: China, India, and Global Health Governance

Source: Council on Foreign Relations
The recent H7N9 flu scare in China has shown once again that we live in “an epidemiologically interdependent world.”
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 09, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Zambia slowly winning HIV/AIDS fight

Source: Zambia Daily Mail
In Southern Africa, Zambia has one of the world’s most devastating HIV and AIDS pandemic. In 2009, nearly 76,000 adults were newly infected with HIV, representing about 200 new infections each day.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 09, 2013 — Asia Pacific

World experts debate case for new bird flu vaccine; China confident it can control outbreak

Source: Deccan Chronicle
Experts from around the world are in daily talks about the threat posed by a deadly new strain of bird flu in China, including discussions on if and when to start making a vaccine.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 09, 2013 — Asia Pacific

Product Development Partnerships Applaud Japan’s First Public-Private Partnership to Spearhead Innovation in Global Health

Source: TB Alliance
As Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of new global health tools, we applaud the official launch of the Global Health Innovation and Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), which was announced today in Tokyo, Japan.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 08, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Donors likely to cut down on HIV and Aids funds

Source: Standard Digital
Uncertainty looms over the future of donor funding of the fight against HIV and Aids, malaria, and tuberculosis.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 08, 2013 — No Region Specified

10 Impactful Innovations in Health Care

Source: MDNews.com
When the Cleveland Clinic speaks, people listen. And, well, they should.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, April 05, 2013 — No Region Specified

HIV Self-Testing: The Key To Controlling The Global Epidemic

Source: Red Orbit
A new international study has confirmed that self-testing for HIV is effective and could be the answer to controlling the global epidemic.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, April 04, 2013 — Asia Pacific

No sign of human transmission in new bird flu appearance-WHO

Source: Alert Net
The World Health Organization says no evidence has emerged to show that a type of bird flu which has killed two Chinese men can be transmitted between people.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, April 03, 2013 — No Region Specified

Kenya: Faith Healers Key to Fighting Mental Disorders

Source: All Africa
Traditional and faith healers are among informal players that are expected to aid the health sector in bridging the human resource gap in mental health service delivery.
TAGS:public health
Wednesday, April 03, 2013 — South Asia

The Novartis Decision: Is the Big Win for Indian Pharma Bad News for Investment?

Source: Time
In a decisive victory for India’s pharmaceutical industry, India’s Supreme Court rejected Novartis’ patent application for the cancer drug Glivec on Monday.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 02, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya: Major Price Cut for Rapid TB Test

Source: All Africa
The cost of a highly accurate, rapid diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) has been reduced by 40 percent under a new agreement between the US government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the health financing mechanism, UNITAID.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, April 02, 2013 — No Region Specified

Is the ‘glass half-empty’ drowning our efforts in Global Health?

Source: PLOS
In the 18 months since the 2011 UN High Level Meeting (HLM) on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), increasing discussion has surrounded this vast and growing epidemiological burden.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 01, 2013 — No Region Specified

Rethinking TB vaccines

Source: IRIN
As researchers consider who might benefit most from the next wave of tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, some argue that we're not doing enough with the vaccine we already have.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 01, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Clever Packaging: Essential Medicine Rides Coke’s Distribution Into Remote Villages

Source: Wired
Simon Berry is piggybacking on Coca-Cola’s distribution system to bring life-saving medicine to the places that need it most.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 01, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: HIV/Aids - New Investment in Point-of-Care Evaluation

Source: All Africa
International medicines financing mechanism UNITAID will invest more than US$140 million to evaluate point-of-care HIV diagnostic and monitoring technology in seven African countries.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, March 29, 2013 — No Region Specified

Accurate TB tests needed in the private sector

Source: The Sunday Guardian
More affordable tests should be introduced in the private sector as 70% of Indians seek private medical care for TB.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Gates explores Ghana’s health progress

Source: IOL News
The freckled man with the rectangular glasses instantly recognisable to much of the world stood in the West African heat, staring at data that had nothing to do with selling software.
TAGS:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, health care, public health
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 — No Region Specified

The New State Department Office of Global Health Diplomacy: A Second Chance to Get Things Right

Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in one of her final acts as secretary, created the Office of Global Health Diplomacy (OGHD) and appointed Dr. Eric Goosby to head the new office.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, March 25, 2013 — No Region Specified

A Plan to Chart Heart Risk in 1 Million Adults in Real Time

Source: The Wall Street Journal
Researchers are launching a major study that will marshal the power of smartphones and other personal technologies in an effort to develop new strategies for preventing and managing heart disease.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology
Thursday, March 21, 2013 — South Asia

Panel spikes government’s rural healthcare plan

Source: Deccan Herald
The government’s plan to create a new cadre of trained individuals to provide basic healthcare in villages has received a setback with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health rejecting the proposal.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, March 21, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Mozambique leads from the front in battle against Aids

Source: The Guardian
Mozambique is using new technology to improve diagnosis and treatment for people living with HIV.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 — South Asia

India's Primary Health Care Needs Quick Reform

Source: Forbes India
Primary health care delivery needs to reinvent itself. Only then can India aim for universal health coverage.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 — No Region Specified

Ban tells public health educators to get involved in post-2015 development agenda

Source: United Nations News Centre
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the global public health academic community to be active partners in the future development framework as the international community starts to set its post-2015 anti-poverty goals.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Connecting the dots between vaccines and hunger

Source: The Guardian
Comic Relief started as a response to the 1984 famine in Ethiopia. Any solution to the persisting problem of global hunger must factor in immunization.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, March 18, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Mozambique turns to technology in battle against tuberculosis

Source: The Guardian
New machine expected to cut TB diagnosis time dramatically, enabling speedier treatment in Maputo and beyond.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology
Monday, March 18, 2013 — No Region Specified

Immune Finding Aids Quest for Vaccines to Beat Tropical Infections

Source: Science Daily
Scientists are a step closer to developing vaccines for a range of diseases that affect 200 million people, mainly in tropical south-east Asia, Africa and Central America.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, March 15, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Philips highlights unmet healthcare needs of African women

Source: AfricaNews.com
Royal Philips Electronics released its Fabric of Africa Trends Report on healthcare services across Africa, focusing specifically on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), maternal and child health and the strengthening of healthcare systems.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa Moves to Revitalize Nursing

Source: All Africa
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has unveiled a national strategic plan aimed at rebuilding and revitalising the nursing profession in South Africa.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 — No Region Specified

Global Burden of Disease Estimates: Secret Recipes or Spoiled Ingredients?

Source: Center for Global Development
Although counting the sick and dead in a country can seem quite dull if not morbid, these facts are critical inputs to designing any national health policy, let alone global priorities in health. Yet 85% of the world’s population still lack systems that register births and deaths along with high-quality data on causes of death.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 — South Asia

Interview with Impact Investment Shujog and Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)

Source: Forbes
Robert Kraybill, Managing Director at IIX, and Magnus Young, Research Manager at Shujog, join us today to share their insights on the work they do at Shujog and IIX. They also provide their analyses on the trends in the impact investing space.
TAGS:public health, social enterprise
Monday, March 11, 2013 — No Region Specified

World Allergy Week 2013 Will Focus on the Rising Global Health Problem of Food Allergy: Heaviest Burden is on Children

Source: Digital Journal
The World Allergy Organization (WAO) will host its annual World Allergy Week from 8-14 April, 2013, together with its 93 national Member Societies, to address the topic of “Food Allergy – A Rising Global Health Problem,” and its growing burden on children.
TAGS:public health
Monday, March 11, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: Advance Market Commitments 'Promising Solutions' to Global Health Challenges

Source: All Africa
An evaluation of the design of the pilot Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal vaccines published today shines a light on the groundbreaking funding mechanism which has already helped vaccinate 13 million children against the world's biggest childhood killer.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, March 11, 2013 — No Region Specified

AIDS researchers and global health community ponder a reported cure

Source: The Washington Post
AIDS researchers, advocacy organizations and global health officials spent Monday trying to determine whether the report that a baby girl born in Mississippi was cured of the infection is a therapeutic breakthrough or a scientific curiosity.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, March 08, 2013 — No Region Specified

Trade-offs in FY14: A case for the Global Fund

Source: Devex
Amid an increasingly complex fiscal environment in Washington (i.e. the newly-triggered sequester and the soon-to-expire FY13 continuing resolution), I can’t help but think about the tough trade-offs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must be considering as they finalize the 2014 budget request to Congress, expected to be released in mid-March.
TAGS:health care, poverty alleviation, public health
Friday, March 08, 2013 — Latin America

From Andrew Square, taking on the UN for Haiti

Source: The Boston Globe
Fights against entrenched and powerful forces are sometimes waged from highly improbable places. As a case in point: Brian Concannon is taking on the United Nations from the sanctuary of a quiet former convent in Andrew Square.
TAGS:Poverty, public health
Thursday, March 07, 2013 — No Region Specified

Energy poverty deprives 1 billion of adequate healthcare, says report

Source: The Guardian
Neglect of energy undermines healthcare and education, leaving patients, teachers and children in the dark.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, March 06, 2013 — No Region Specified

With end of TRIPS, aid groups see access to cheap drugs closing

Source: Devex
Civil society groups are rallying efforts to extend a deal that is seen to give the world’s poorest countries access to cheap drugs.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, March 04, 2013 — No Region Specified

Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg: Our Plan to Eradicate Polio

Source: The Wall Street Journal
More than three decades ago, each of us started a technology company based on a big idea—and each company found success based on a culture of innovation and accountability.
TAGS:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, health care, public health
Friday, March 01, 2013 — South Asia

India Bends Curve on Child Health

Source: The Wall Street Journal
India is making positive strides in reducing child mortality through new policies and ambitious programs, but preventing the deaths of millions of children remains one of the country’s greatest challenges.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 28, 2013 — No Region Specified

GlaxoSmithKline unit joins patent pool for AIDS drugs

Source: Reuters
GlaxoSmithKline's HIV/AIDS drugs business is to share intellectual property rights on children's medicine in a patent pool designed to make treatments more widely available in poor countries.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 — No Region Specified

U.S. Cuts to Global Health Budget “Mass-scale Malpractice”

Source: Inter Press Service
Public health workers, activists and policymakers are stepping up a last-minute campaign to highlight the global health impact of historic, sweeping cuts to the U.S. federal budget due to go into effect Friday if Congress doesn’t act.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

What the NHS can learn from innovative healthcare practices abroad

Source: The Guardian
From clinical services to specialised care, there are many models of affordable healthcare.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 — No Region Specified

PEPFAR at 10: What’s next?

Source: Devex
A leading global AIDS program lacks a clear long-term strategy to help countries build the capacity to tackle the epidemic themselves, an independent report prepared for U.S. Congress suggests.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 — No Region Specified

Rising vaccine prices mean fewer children immunized

Source: Fierce Vaccines
Adding more children's vaccines to the recommended package should--in theory--save more lives. But rising prices may actually mean fewer children are vaccinated.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 — No Region Specified

Big Data, Better Global Health

Source: Council on Foreign Relations
Bill Gates, Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and other experts and leaders gathered this month in Geneva for a very important meeting on a very unimportant-sounding subject: global disease estimates.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Rwanda's Historic Health Recovery: What the U.S. Might Learn

Source: The Atlantic
Over the last decade in Rwanda, deaths from HIV, TB, and malaria dropped by 80 percent, maternal mortality dropped by 60 percent, life expectancy doubled -- all at an average health care cost of $55 per person per year.
TAGS:health care, public health
Friday, February 22, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: Closing the Gap - Meet Aims to End Extreme Poverty

Source: All Africa
When 17-year-old Sona Traore represented the Child Protection Network of Liberia at a civil society event organized in conjunction with a three-day United Nations meeting in this capital city earlier this month, she knew she was not speaking for Liberian children alone.
TAGS:health care, poverty alleviation, public health
Thursday, February 21, 2013 — Asia Pacific

Q&A: Inovio CEO on DNA Vaccines

Source: The Wall Street Journal
One area of biotechnology that has drawn a lot of attention in recent years is DNA vaccines.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 21, 2013 — No Region Specified

Here’s how many fewer AIDS patients would be treated after sequestration

Source: The Washington Post
Members of Congress have left Washington without having made a deal to avoid the deep across-the-board spending cuts to federal agencies slated to begin March 1, and agency heads are already lamenting the potential damage to both foreign and domestic programs.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 21, 2013 — No Region Specified

6 Innovations that will change health care

Source: CIO
When economists, data scientists and medical professionals team up, the result is often remarkable innovation.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 — No Region Specified

Global Health Needs More Statistics

Source: Science Magazine
What is the best way to estimate how many people suffer from tuberculosis, from the forests of Central Africa to the highlands of Peru?
TAGS:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, public health
Monday, February 18, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Vaccinator killings set back Nigerian polio eradication drive

Source: IRIN
Unknown gunmen on mopeds shot dead 10 polio vaccinators last week in separate attacks on two polio clinics in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, capital of a polio-endemic region where concerted global efforts are being made to stamp out the virus by the end of 2013.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, February 18, 2013 — Asia Pacific

Global Health Threat Seen in Overuse of Antibiotics on Chinese Pig Farms

Source: The New York Times
As Europe continues to recoil at the “horseburger” scandal, focusing minds on the risks in long food-production chains, a new study has found that high use of antibiotics in Chinese pig farms is producing antibiotic-resistant genes that pose “a potential worldwide human health risk.”
TAGS:public health, sanitation
Thursday, February 14, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Doctors Struggling to Fight 'Totally Drug-Resistant' Tuberculosis in South Africa

Source: U.S. News
In a patient's fight against tuberculosis—the bacterial lung disease that kills more people annually than any infectious disease besides HIV— doctors have more than 10 drugs from which to choose. Most of those didn't work for Uvistra Naidoo, a South African doctor who contracted the disease in his clinic. For those who contract the disease now, maybe none of them will.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 14, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Decentralise malaria diagnosis and treatment in Africa

Source: The Guardian
The most effective way to overcome the key challenge of access is to focus on community health workers – if people can't come to a health facility, take the health facility to people
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 14, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

An Optimistic Era for Global Infectious Disease Control

Source: The Atlantic
The world has an "historic opportunity" to contain and end three of humanity's deadliest scourges by focusing on their "hot zones," according to Mark Dybul, the newly appointed director of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 — No Region Specified

Researchers Work on Developing New HIV Vaccines

Source: Azonano
Studying infectious diseases has long been primarily the domain of biologists. However, as part of the Ragon Institute, MIT engineers and physical scientists are joining immunologists and physicians in the battle against HIV, which currently infects 34 million people worldwide.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 — No Region Specified

UNDP chief calls for 'permanent' focus on NCDs

Source: Devex
The way U.N. Development Program Administrator Helen Clark sees the future, the fight against noncommunicable diseases can only be won by making sure it is on everyone’s agenda.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, February 11, 2013 — No Region Specified

Whooping cough may be becoming resistant to vaccines

Source: USA Today
For the first time, American researchers have found evidence that the bacteria that cause whooping cough are becoming resistant to vaccines, a new study shows.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 07, 2013 — South Asia

India's new child survival plan

Source: Devex
The Indian government plans to engage the private sector and aid community more as part of a strategic approach to reduce child mortality launched today at a national summit on child survival in Chennai.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, February 07, 2013 — No Region Specified

Global Health Funding Slows as Nations Cut Back on Donations

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek
Global health funding barely grew last year as the U.S. and other nations cut their donations to programs in developing nations, a study found.
TAGS:Aid agencies, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, health care, public health
Thursday, February 07, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

‘Tsunami’ of Diseases Waiting to Hit

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency
A tsunami is looming on the horizon and the world is unprepared for it. This one won’t be a massive wall of water but a tidal wave of non-communicable disease – cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, among others – and experts say the international community needs to act fast to keep it from crashing.
TAGS:Aid agencies, health care, public health
Wednesday, February 06, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

TB vaccine trial disappoints

Source: Relief Web
The first tuberculosis (TB) vaccine to be tested for efficacy in infants in more than 40 years has proved ineffective as a TB booster shot, but it may have laid the groundwork for the next phase in TB vaccine research. The world has relied on the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine against TB for over 90 years, despite recent controversy over its efficacy. In clinical trials, effectiveness estimates have ranged from 80 percent protection to none at all; the reasons for these differences are not yet understood.
TAGS:health care, public health
Wednesday, February 06, 2013 — South Asia

Diaspora-driven development: how to turn wealth to health in Bangladesh

Source: The Guardian
A large number of Bangladeshi expatriates are unskilled labourers so cash transfers will still dominate the way they contribute to development back home. However, due to high tax on remittances and high money transfer fees, many chose to use informal channels. The Daily Star, a Bangladesh English language broadsheet reported that up to 24% of remittances are brought into the country through informal channels. Reducing tax, as well as transfer fees by organisations such as Western Union could encourage more people to use formal channels and hence increasing government revenues
TAGS:health care, poverty alleviation, public health
Tuesday, February 05, 2013 — No Region Specified

World's Biggest Health Care System Goes Under the Knife

Source: Science
Ambitious reforms of the Chinese medical system aim to expand infrastructure, cover the poor, and combat chronic diseases.
TAGS:governance, health care, public health
Tuesday, February 05, 2013 — No Region Specified

Aid for vaccines is subsidising Big Pharma, doctors claim

Source: The Guardian
Médecins sans Frontières is concerned that immunization schemes in poor countries are unsustainable, and often unsuitable for hot climates.
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health, vaccinations
Tuesday, February 05, 2013 — No Region Specified

New action plan could be a turning point in global mental health

Source: Global Post
The World Health Organization is attempting to improve the astounding statistics that surround mental healthcare around the world.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, February 05, 2013 — No Region Specified

Cancer and the Global Equity Divide: A Call for Action

Source: PLOS.org
Caused by an inequity in health, health care and resulting disease, the disparities across the cancer care continuum found between rich and poor countries remain largely unaddressed.
TAGS:health care, public health, research
Thursday, January 31, 2013 — No Region Specified

A novel pathway for a mucosal TB vaccine

Source: UB News Center
A new pathway for improving vaccines against tuberculosis has been discovered by microbiologists at the University at Buffalo in collaboration with researchers at other universities, according to a paper in the journal Mucosal Immunology, published by the Nature group.
TAGS:health care, public health, research, tuberculosis, vaccinations
Thursday, January 31, 2013 — No Region Specified

FAO warns of bird flu and other viral global health threats

Source: Examiner.com
The world is at risk of major animal disease outbreaks like that seen in the 2006 avian influenza outbreaks unless surveillance and control of these diseases are enhanced, warns the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
TAGS:agribusiness, health care, public health
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 — No Region Specified

Micro-Needles Could Allow Painless DNA Vaccines

Source: Live Science
Patches covered in microscopic needles could tattoo vaccines into the skin to boost a patient’s defense against disease, researchers say.
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health, vaccinations
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 — No Region Specified

Glaxo Starts India Venture to Develop Emerging Market Vaccines

Source: Bloomberg.com
GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) agreed to form a joint venture in India to produce a six-in-one vaccine that will immunize children in developing countries against infectious diseases including polio.
TAGS:health care, multinational corporation, pharmaceutical industry, public health, vaccinations
Monday, January 28, 2013 — No Region Specified

Better Design, Better Health: Bringing Telemedicine to Rural India

Source: Good
Twenty-six year-old Rinku has been bleeding for days. So she did what many village women in rural India do when health problems reach a certain level of severity; she made the multi-hour trip to a private hospital for high-quality, if expensive, healthcare.
TAGS:health care, public health, rural healthcare delivery, telemedicine
Monday, January 28, 2013 — No Region Specified

Antibiotic 'apocalypse' warning

Source: BBC
The rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the threat of global warming, according to the chief medical officer for England.
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health, tuberculosis
Monday, January 28, 2013 — No Region Specified

Davos divided on tackling the scourge of obesity

Source: Reuters
Obesity, a major factor in diabetes and heart disease, imposes costs on both public and private sectors and is a drag on economic growth, but business leaders meeting in Davos can't agree on what they can or should do to address it.
TAGS:conferences, health care, nutrition, public health
Monday, January 28, 2013 — Latin America

Killer quinoa? Time to debunk these urban food myths

Source: The Globe and Mail
Twenty years ago, quinoa was pretty much unknown. Now, it’s in everyone’s cafeteria. Its price is going through the roof. And that, in the confused minds of Western foodies, is somehow a bad thing.
TAGS:agribusiness, nutrition, public health, rural development
Thursday, January 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Africa: Global Fund Executive Director Calls for Focused Action to Fight Infectious Disease

Source: All Africa
Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said today that concentrated action will achieve significantly greater impact on infectious diseases that threaten maternal and child health.
TAGS:health care, HIV/AIDS, malaria, public health, tuberculosis
Thursday, January 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

U.S. Budget Battle Preview: How it May Affect Foreign Aid

Source: Devex
Four scenarios of how things might unfold over the next two months, and their respective impact on the U.S. International Affairs Budget
TAGS:Aid agencies, governance, public health
Thursday, January 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Mobile health: donors should follow, not lead

Source: The Guardian
No more preempting local demand with substandard products, the mHealth sector needs donors willing to learn from local actors and invest in sustainable business models.
TAGS:health care, healthcare technology, mobile applications, mobile phones, public health, telecommunications
Thursday, January 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Billionaire Horse Breeder’s Polio Shot to Undercut Glaxo

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek
Indian billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of the world’s biggest maker of vaccines, will slash the price of polio immunization and introduce shots for diarrhea and pneumonia, undercutting Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline.
TAGS:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health, vaccinations
Thursday, January 24, 2013 — No Region Specified

Ugandan HIV campaign targets "cheaters"

Source: Plus News
A new Ugandan HIV-prevention campaign that frankly addresses sexual infidelity is generating heated debate over the direction the country's HIV strategy should take.
TAGS:health care, HIV/AIDS, public health
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 — No Region Specified

The dirty little secret for making better vaccines

Source: Futurity
A menu of 61 new strains of genetically engineered bacteria may mean better vaccines for diseases like flu, whooping cough, cholera, and HPV.
TAGS:health care, healthcare technology, public health, research, vaccinations
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 — Latin America

The unpalatable truth about quinoa

Source: The Guardian
Ethical consumers should be aware poor Bolivians can no longer afford their staple grain, due to western demand raising prices.
TAGS:farmers, nutrition, public health
Monday, January 21, 2013 — No Region Specified

Sierra Leone's free health-care initiative: work in progress

Source: The Lancet
More than 2 years have passed since Sierra Leone granted pregnant women, new mothers, and young children free health care, but their needs often remain unmet.
TAGS:health care, medical supply chains, public health, rural healthcare delivery
Monday, January 21, 2013 — Asia Pacific

China, UK unveil joint global health program

Source: China Daily
The Chinese and British governments are cooperating on a program to improve global health policy for developing countries, with the launch in Beijing on Jan. 16 of a new UK-China partnership.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, January 17, 2013 — South Asia

What Two Years Without Polio Mean for India

Source: India Real Time
On Jan. 13, 2011, doctors confirmed Rukhsaar Khatoon, a two year-old from the state of West Bengal, had polio. Since baby Rukhsaar was diagnosed, exactly two years ago, no cases of polio have been confirmed in India.
TAGS:health care, public health, vaccinations
Thursday, January 17, 2013 — No Region Specified

Success in the Fight against Neglected Diseases

Source: Devex
It’s been a year since the World Health Organization released a road map to stop the spread of neglected tropical diseases by 2020. Based on a newly released report, there’s reason to be optimistic.
TAGS:Aid agencies, health care, public health
Thursday, January 17, 2013 — No Region Specified

Looking Ahead at Global Health in 2013

Source: Chatham House
Four experts comment on what they consider to be the challenges and opportunities for global health over the next 12 months.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, January 14, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Rwanda: Telemedicine Project On Track Year After Plan Was Hatched

Source: AllAfrica.com
A year after a plan to connect Rwandan hospitals through telemedicine was announced, the government says the project is set to start soon in some district hospitals.
TAGS:health care, infrastructure, public health, rural healthcare delivery, telemedicine
Monday, January 14, 2013 — No Region Specified

UT Arlington receives Grand Challenges Explorations grant for research in global health

Source: Phys.org
A new research grant could lead to new ways to cool vaccines and medicine that must be shipped to remote parts of the world without ready access to electricity.
TAGS:academia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health, rural healthcare delivery, vaccinations
Wednesday, January 09, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Liberia: Ellen Launches Reports On Women's Health, World Malaria 2012

Source: All Africa
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has called on all health partners to identify ways in which, working together, Africa can continue to ensure that the progress made is maintained and enhanced regarding women's health and in combating malaria in the African region.
TAGS:malaria, public health, Women
Friday, January 04, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Disease burden links ecology to economic growth

Source: The Guardian Nigeria
A NEW study in the open access journal PLOS Biology, finds that vector-borne and parasitic diseases have substantial effects on economic development across the globe, and are major drivers of differences in income between tropical and temperate countries.
TAGS:public health, sanitation
Wednesday, January 02, 2013 — Asia Pacific

Getting at the Heart of China’s Public Health Crisis

Source: Council on Foreign Relations Blog
Trying to wrap one’s arms around China today is a significant challenge. It is a global power with a growing economy, rising military, and expanding diplomatic reach.
TAGS:public health
Thursday, December 13, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Saving Tanzania’s Poorest Children

Source: Inter Press Service
DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 13 2012 (IPS) - Half asleep, Anuary lies exhausted on his bed in Amana Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital. His mother, Mariam Saidi, sits on the edge of his mattress, staring blankly out of the window. Every now and then, she turns to wipe her 18-month-old son’s forehead.
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry, public health, vaccinations
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 — Latin America

Ban joins Hispaniola effort against cholera

Source: Devex
Ban Ki-moon has announced a new initiative that will support a 10-year effort against cholera in Haiti. This comes amid mounting calls for the United Nations to take responsibility over the spread of the disease in the country.
TAGS:public health, sanitation, water
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria: Global Fund Happy With HIV, TB Treatment in Nigeria

Source: All Africa
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on Tuesday expressed delight at the level of care and treatment given to persons infected with HIV and tuberculosis in Nigeria.
TAGS:health care, HIV/AIDS, pharmaceutical industry, public health, tuberculosis
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Tanzania free of tetanus in mothers and babies

Source: Saudi Gazette
Dar Essalam —The Tanzanian government yesterday celebrated the introduction of two vaccines to protect children against pneumonia and diarrhea and announced that it has been declared free of maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), one of the world’s major causes of deaths in mothers and newborns.
TAGS:pharmaceutical industry, public health
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

The Machine that Will Help End TB

Source: MIT Technology Review
Nearly 1.5 million people die from tuberculosis every year, even though most cases can be cured with routine antibiotic treatments. One country’s fight to get the ancient scourge under control has an unlikely hero: a simple diagnostic test.
TAGS:health care, public health, technology, tuberculosis
Monday, December 10, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

In Africa’s malaria fight, a $3.6B funding gap

Source: Devex
A global public-private partnership is exploring a number of options to fill a multibillion-dollar funding gap in efforts to fight malaria in Africa.
TAGS:health care, impact investing, malaria, public health
Wednesday, December 05, 2012 — South Asia

Bartering vegetables for sanitary pads

Source: The Hindu Business Line
Women in rural areas are being convinced of the hygiene benefits of using sanitary pads, now to the extent that “they even barter onions or tomatoes for low-priced pads”, declared A. Muruganantham at the recently concluded TiECon – Chennai 2012.
TAGS:consumer products, public health, sanitation
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Buy More and Better Bednets for the Money, Says New Report

Source: The Guardian
On World Malaria Day, a new report analysis the anti-malarial bednet market and concludes that we could get better value, more innovation and even more nets from the same amount of funds.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, public health
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Tackling the Challenges of Urban Sanitation: A Social Enterprise Model

Source: The Guardian
A micro franchise initiative founded by SC Johnson in Nairobi aims to improve levels of sanitation in low-income communities.
TAGS:public health, sanitation, social enterprise, urban
Monday, April 09, 2012 — South Asia

Micro-health Insurance Scheme for Poor on Test

Source: bdnews24.com
A microfinance institution has started piloting a micro-health insurance scheme as an 'alternative' mode of health financing for the Bangladeshi poor to help them overcome the cruel cycle of poverty and illness.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, health care, public health
Friday, March 16, 2012 — No Region Specified

Need Blind: Vision Spring and Warby Parker Shake Up Eyewear With Impact

Source: GOOD
Social enterprises Warby Parker and VisionSpring are finding innovative ways to bring glasses to people who can’t afford huge markups. VisionSpring, a nonprofit social enterprise, focuses on selling low-cost glasses to people earning between $1 and $4 per day. Warby Parker, a for-profit B-Corp, sells affordable eyewear in the domestic market while donating a pair of frames to VisionSpring for each pair it sells.
TAGS:consumer products, public health, social enterprise, social impact
Friday, March 02, 2012 — No Region Specified

Now for some good news: Two books argue that the future is brighter than we think

Source: The Economist
The lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a small device with a huge potential. It can run dozens of diagnostic tests on human DNA in a few minutes. Give the device a gob of spit or a drop of blood and it will tell you whether or not you are sick without any need to send your DNA to a laboratory. In poor countries LOCs could offer diagnostics to millions who lack access to expensive laboratories. In the rich world they may curb rising medical costs.
TAGS:public health, social impact, technology
Monday, February 13, 2012 — No Region Specified

The Future of mHealth: Mobile Phones Improve Care in Developing World

Source: Forbes
People in developing nations depend on mobile phones to access health services and prevent disease, as mobile technology creates a platform for improving healthcare in remote, underserved areas.
TAGS:mobile applications, public health
Friday, February 10, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Benin Makes Headway in Attempt to Reduce Deaths from Malaria

Source: The Guardian
Last year Benin announced free treatment for malaria, and has now followed up by cracking down on fake drugs and recruiting an army of outreach health workers
TAGS:health care, malaria, pharmaceutical industry, public health

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