Politics & Policies
With a budget on the table that leaves science and lives around the world vulnerable, we’re reading about impacts and a better way.
Cutting the NIH budget is bad for health and business, says Kenneth C. Anderson, president of the American Society of Hematology and a hematologic oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Programs, Grants & Awards
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and 2U announced a partnership today to offer a suite of online graduate degrees for public health professionals across the country.
June 14th is World Blood Donor Day. This year’s theme stresses the importance of donating now before a disaster strikes. This requires good storage facilities (and strong systems) in countries where disasters may occur, which may not always be the case.
The Duke Medical Alumni Association announced recently that it will honor Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) director Michael Merson with the Distinguished Faculty Award during Medical Alumni Weekend in November.
To those of us who knew Babatunde Osotimehin, MD, he was simply “Prof.”
Yes, he had many distinguished titles in his career. At the time of his death, Babatunde was the 4th executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the under-secretary-general of the UN. He also co-chaired the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) Reference Group, alongside Christopher Elias of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Research
Following the launch of the The Lancet’s Health in Southeast Asia series in Bangkok on 25 January 2011, the series has now been launched in Malaysia. This Lancet series is the first to address the current and pressing health issues confronting the Southeast Asian region and the launch highlights the key health issues and findings for Malaysian stakeholders.
In a decision public health activists are calling both landmark and long overdue, the World Health Organization has placed snakebite envenoming on its list of top 20 priority neglected tropical diseases — giving it the highest possible ranking for diseases of its kind.
People with low levels of vitamin A who live with individuals who were sick with tuberculosis (TB) were 10 times more likely to develop the disease than people with high levels of the nutrient, according to research led by investigators at Harvard Medical School.
According to a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine, obesity rates have doubled in more than 70 countries and nearly 2 billion people are overweight or obese.
Diseases & Disasters
More than one in eight couples of childbearing age have difficulty conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Delegates at the 2017 AMA Annual Meeting voted in support of WHO’s designation of infertility as a disease.
Gun-related violence killed three people in the US every two hours in 2015, according to data collected by the Global Health Data Exchange. Despite a rather steady decline in gun deaths in the past decade, firearms remain a significant issue for the country.
Nearly a third of the world’s population is obese or overweight and an increasing number of people are dying of related health problems in a “disturbing global public health crisis,” a study said on Monday.
At least two people have died and nearly 750 people fell ill after a meal to break the Ramadan fast in a camp for Iraqis fleeing the Mosul conflict.
Technology
Researchers at Penn State have received a grant through the Grand Challenges Exploration for their project using high-throughput microfluidics screening to identify novel contraceptive agents.
For the past 14 years, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes) has leveraged its innovative technology-enabled model for healthcare education to address global disparities in healthcare access for complex chronic conditions such as hepatitis C, HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and opioid use disorder.
Environmental Health
The rise in multidrug-resistant bacteria is usually attributed to the overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and farming. A new study, published in the journal Infection, suggests that there is a third source: globalized drug manufacturing.
The first national assessment of Canada’s freshwater ecosystem shows that the country’s major watershed face multiple environmental threats. This is a cause for concern since Canada has jurisdiction over 20% of global water supply.
Examination of 740 production systems for more than 90 different types of food has revealed that global diets and farming practices must change in order to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment.
Equity & Disparities
Earlier this month the WHO published its 20th Model List of Essential Medicines (IPW, WHO, 6 June 2017). This essential list of medicines “have been successful in facilitating access to treatment and promoting affordable prices, particularly in low-resources countries,” the release says, adding that same results would be expected for diagnostic tests.
Researchers have developed a new reliable, validated and brief survey tool to measure resilience among adolescents displaced by the Syrian conflict.
Fifteen years after legalizing abortions in Nepal, researchers find that gaps in equity, quality and access still exist. Some of the gaps identified include small number of private pharmacies that distribute medical abortion medications, costs associated with the procedure, perceived stigma and diverse terrain.
Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health
The UK and the US are at the bottom third of the rankings for five of the six dimensions of child well being analyzed in a new UNICEF report. According to the report, 1 in 5 children live in poverty in rich countries.
Religious groups must get more involved in the campaign against HIV/AIDS and educate their followers on the need to have their children screened for the disease.
IH CONNECT 