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Cigarette packs are being stripped of advertising around the world. But not in the US.
This week, the World Health Organization called on countries everywhere to step up the war on tobacco advertising and promotion by introducing plain, or standardized, packaging of tobacco products. "Plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "It kills the glamour, which is appropriate for a product that kills people."
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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Cotton made in Africa funds Tanzania health outpost
A health outpost will be located in the Tanzanian town of Kasoli, which has about 16,000 inhabitants but whose current facility has just three beds for delivering babies, although there are more than 3,000 women of childbearing age in the town. With 52 births per month on average, neither the number of beds not the quality of care is adequate -- with four newborn babies dying every month on average.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Condom conundrum: Health workers refuse to distribute condoms named Asha
Embarrassed government health activists called Asha are refusing to door-to-door with condoms that now carry the name, jeopardising a nationwide mission.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Heart monitoring device wins top African prize
A portable heart diagnostic invention has won its developer — Cameroonian Arthur Zang — Africa prize for engineering innovation.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The ‘Avon ladies’ of Pakistan selling contraception door to door
From 8am to 4pm, 25-year-old Samina Khaskheli travels door-to-door in rural Pakistan handing out free samples of condoms, birth control pills, and intrauterine devices. “I was told ‘This is sinful’,” Samina says about the initial opposition to her selling birth control. She took the job warily.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Time for India to be innovator nation in bio-pharmaceuticals: Expert
India has a "strong potential" to become a hub for biopharmaceutical innovation and the time has come for it to emerge as an innovator nation in this sector, a top industry leader has said. Observing India's potential, Michael Rosenblatt, executive vice president of Merck & Co, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, said yesterday that India can play a "leading role" in collaborative research in biopharmaceutics.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- innovation
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Hepatitis C drugs remain unaffordable in many countries, says WHO study
In the latest effort to quantify the burden of expensive medicines, a new study found that the cost of two widely used hepatitis C treatments remains out of reach for people in many poor countries and poses a “financial and ethical dilemma” for payers and doctors. The study found that if a patient paid for treatment out of pocket, the cost of a full course of Sovaldi alone would equal one year or more of average earnings for people in 12 countries.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- public health
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5 Trends Accelerating the Acceptance of STEM Professionals in Sustainable Development
STEM innovation has led to many of the biggest social impacts in recent human history: chlorinated drinking water, oral re-hydration therapy, solar energy, and many more that we often overlook or underestimate. Fortunately, as STEM professionals forge their way in the social innovation space, there are five major trends accelerating their acceptance as sustainable development practitioners.
- Categories
- Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
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