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The world is off track in its goal to eliminate malaria. Here’s why.
“We are not seeing the progress that had been achieved in the past being sustained,” Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO’s Global Malaria Program, told reporters in a telephone briefing last week. “Reductions in disease and death have ceased, and we are therefore not on track to meet the 2020 target.”
- Categories
- Health Care
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As malaria resists treatment, experts warn of a global crisis
Much of the region’s success in battling what was once a leading cause of death can be attributed to two-drug combination pills containing artemisinin, an inexpensive and effective drug invented in China decades ago.
But a new, drug-resistant strain of the disease, impervious to artemisinin and another popular drug with which it is frequently paired, piperaquine, threatens to upend years of worldwide eradication efforts — straining health care systems and raising the prospect that the death toll could increase again.- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Experts concerned that HIV, AIDS may be poised for a comeback
A team of experts now warns that the global HIV pandemic continues and is at risk of expanding, given the worrisome global rise of HIV resistance to antiretroviral (ART) medications.
- Categories
- Health Care
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World leaders rehearse for a pandemic that will come ‘sooner than we expect’
That scenario was part of a pandemic simulation held during the World Bank’s annual meeting in Washington this month. It’s not the kind of event that people would typically associate with the World Bank. But it’s the fourth such exercise the bank has helped organize in the past year, reflecting what experts say is the growing awareness outside the traditional global health sector of the increasing threat and economic disruption posed by a global pandemic.
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- Health Care
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What India can learn from Africa’s fight against Ebola, via a health summit in Sweden
While science and data must drive global health policies, making the messages relatable is equally vital.
India, which is facing its own communication challenges when dealing with both infectious and chronic health threats, needs lessons in cultural contextualization.- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Drug-resistant malaria is spreading, but experts clash over its global risk
The outspoken head of the Mahidol group, Nicholas White, has urged the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a designation reserved for the most serious outbreaks that pose a global threat.
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- Health Care
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More trees help water sanitation, reduce child deaths: study
The study examined the health of 300,000 children and the quality of watersheds across 35 countries including Bangladesh, Nigeria and Colombia, and found that having more trees upstream led to healthier children.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
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WHO launches bold plan to slash cholera deaths by 90 percent
The challenge is daunting. Three million people get cholera every year, in Asia, Africa and Haiti, and increasing urbanization and temperatures will put more people at risk. In Yemen, the biggest epidemic in modern times is now approaching 800,000 cases, and is growing. Emergency experts say a “catastrophic” outbreak looms in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
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- Health Care