Politics & Policies
An affordable hepatitis C treatment has been shown to be safe and effective, with very high cure rates for patients including hard-to-treat cases, in interim clinical trial results that offer hope to the 71 million people living with the disease worldwide.
The Trump administration is releasing the first of its kind interagency review of US overseas involvement that creates a framework for how the State Department, US Agency for International Development, and Department of Defense can coordinate efforts to streamline diplomacy, aid, and military operations around the world and maximize resources and results.
Programs, Grants & Awards
As part of its efforts to improve maternal healthcare in the country, Serene Health will kick off a campaign dubbed “Dollar4life”.
Four Duke doctoral students have been selected to join the Global Health Doctoral Scholars program at the Duke Health Institute (DGHI), bringing the current cohort total to 13 scholars.
Research
Evolve BioSystems, Inc. and the icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) today announced their collaboration, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to study the use of Evivo® in infants to aid in recovery from severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
A far-reaching study conducted by scientists at Cincinnati Children’s reports that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)—best known for causing mononucleosis—also increases the risks for some people of developing seven other major diseases.
A natural variation of the gene KLF14 causes some women to store fat on their bellies and hips and outs them at significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes, new research reveals.
Falls are a leading cause of injury and death among older adults. In 2014, about 1 in 3 adults aged 65 and older reported falling, and falls were linked to 33,000 deaths.
Diseases & Disasters
The first known epidemic of extensively drug-resistant typhoid is spreading through Pakistan, infecting at least 850 people in 14 districts since 2016, according to the National Institute of Health Islamabad.
There have been recent spikes in Buruli ulcer cases in Australia, a chronic infection that leads to erosion of flesh. This condition once considered rare, is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans.
Technology
A group of scientists from VCU Massey Cancer Center and UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed new, high-speed microscopy platform that can measure a cancer cell’s resistance to drugs up to 10 times faster than existing technology, potentially informing more effective treatment selection for cancer patients. The technology is being presented in abstract form today at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Annual Meeting in Chicago.
A new e-health system designed to be a whole-home sensor aims to allow the elderly to live in their own homes with a higher degree of independence.
Environmental Health
A University of Montana researcher and her collaborators have published a new study that reveals increased risks for Alzheimer’s and suicide among children and young adults living in polluted megacities.
According to the World Poverty Clock, more than 73,000 people have escaped poverty – today. The flip side of that coin is that more than 15,000 people have, today, fallen into poverty. The sum total of people living in extreme poverty as of March 23, 2018, is about 619,800 people. By the time you read this, many more people will make the escape.
Two of the most elite waste treatment systems available today on farms do not fully remove antibiotics from manure, research finds.
Equity & Disparities
In two suburbs of the American city of St. Louis, separated by fewer than 30 miles, the odds of living a long and healthy life could not be more different. If you reside in the mostly white, wealthy suburb of Wildwood, your life expectancy is 91.4 years. But if you live in the mostly black, poorer suburb of Kinloch, your life expectancy is only 55.9 years.
One in five older adults is socially isolated from family or friends, increasing their risks for poor mental and physical health, as well as higher rates of mortality, a new study shows.
Nearly nine months after Myanmar’s military was accused of widespread sexual violence in a crackdown against Rohingya communities, aid groups in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps are scrambling to identify women and girls now pregnant by rape.
Women, Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health
Taking painkillers during pregnancy could affect the fertility of the unborn child in later life, research suggests.
Maternal anemia is an important global health problem that affects about 500 million women of reproductive age. Much is known about the consequences of anemia during pregnancy, including the increased risks of low birth weight, preterm birth, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality.
Many moms-to-be know that their health even before they become pregnant- known as pre-conception health – can affect the health of their babies. Now, research is continuing to show that the pre-conception health of fathers also can influence a pregnancy and the baby.
Infants in some of the world’s poorest regions are vulnerable to a common worm parasite infection and their treatment should become a priority, according to a study.
Despite a global decline in childhood infectious diseases, the prevalence of mental illness among youth has remained the same. That makes mental disorders one of the main origins of illness in children aged 4-15 years around the world, according to a new study published in the journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.
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