Category: News

Politics & Policies

A review of US-funded Ebola recovery projects in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released this week found that, of $1.6 billion appropriated by Congress in 2014 for US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the hard-hit region, $411.6 million has been targeted to 131 specific projects.

Programs, Grants & Awards

Each year we commemorate World TB Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

Research

In most health systems, Community Health Workers (CHWs) identify and screen for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the community. This study aimed to investigate the potential of integrating SAM identification and treatment delivered by CHWs, in order to improve the coverage of SAM treatment services.

Researchers with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently made a breakthrough on the link between iron supplements and worsening malaria infections, as well as curious mutation in African populations.

States that have approved medical cannabis laws saw a dramatic reduction in opioid use, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia.

It seems the multi-billion dollar cannabis industry is having some problems with its employees showing up to work stoned. A recent study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine finds that a large percentage of those employed in the businesses of growing and selling weed are getting high either before work at some point during business hours — risking both their safety and that of their co-workers.

Diseases & Disasters

In West and Central Africa, nearly 170 young people are infected with HIV everyday and a disparity in funding has left the youth at risk.

Public Health England has reported a gonorrhea case resistant to the pair of antibiotics (ceftriaxone and azithromycin) that have been typically effective in treating gonorrhea.

For decades now, global health organizations and deep-pocketed philanthropies like the Gates Foundation have worked to eradicate wild poliovirus – and the achievement of that goal often seems tantalizingly close at hand.

The United Nations emergency food relief agency has airlifted over 80 metric tons of vital nutritional supplements to Papua New Guinea – enough to feed approximately 60,000 people in the earthquake-hit country.

Technology

Antibiotics were heralded as life-savers when they became widely available in the 1940s.  Today, they are fast becoming killers themselves. The more any given antibiotic is used, the greater the chances that bacteria will develop antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that renders the drug ineffective.

Environmental Health

The world is facing one of the largest food crises in more than 79 years, and climate change is only making it worse.  Between 2030 and 2050, climate change could kill an additional 250,000 people every year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.

Lebanon’s waste crisis began in 2015 when a huge landfill site closed and government authorities failed to implement a contingency plan in time to replace it; dumping and burning waste on the streets became widespread. The campaign group Human Rights Watch calls it “a national health crisis”.

New research reveals shortening of telomeres due to air pollution in newborn. The researchers analyzed telomeres in the umbilical cord blood of 255 newborns, half of whom were born prior to the coal plant closure and the other half were conceived and born after the plant closure in Tongliang, China.

Equity & Disparities

One of the biggest issues at the intersection of sanitation, poverty and global health, open defecation has also long been one of the hardest to represent visually.

While globally men report a 25% higher cancer incidence than women, a new study reveals the opposite trend in India with more women being diagnosed with cancer than men.

Women, Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

A United Nations employee who says she was sexually assaulted by a top UN official has spoken publicly for the first time, alleging she was offered a promotion if she accepted an apology from the man and claiming that the organization failed to take her complaint seriously.

An international health organization has suspended its partnership with the Heineken beer company because of the controversial use of so-called “beer girls” to promote its products.

Teenage pregnancy – the biggest killer of girls and women aged 15 to 19 in the world – is growing in the east Asia-Pacific region, the only place where the rate is climbing.

Human Rights

UN Security Council members condemned the killing of civilians in Gaza after a peaceful protest turned violent.

Politics & Policies

The goal of the  Resolve to Save Lives initiative is to save 100 million lives within 30 years. With $225 million in funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Gates Foundation, Resolve zeroed in on cardiovascular disease and epidemics as its twin priorities.

Friends of the Global Fight today released an updated, two-page edition of its policy brief, “The Case for U.S. Investment in the Global Fund and Global Health.” This short edition includes updated data and talking points to show how U.S. support for the Global Fund offers extraordinary return on investment.

Ahead of Secretary Tillerson’s budget testimony, humanitarian, development and global health organizations release new data showing the devastating human costs of proposed administration cuts to foreign assistance.

It could take several years before United States aid recipient countries such as Uganda and Nigeria feel the full impact of the expanded Mexico City Policy. But new analysis shows there are already clear signs that the policy is pushing these countries to limit their expansion of key health services, including for women’s health care.

Launching the TB Free India Campaign at ‘Delhi End TB Summit’, PM Narendra Modi said his government is implementing a national strategic plan to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2025.

Global health care efforts rely heavily on U.S. funding, but U.S. attitudes toward spending in this area are increasingly hostile.

Programs, Grants & Awards

Drs. Catherine Blish, Nathaniel Landau, and Sara Sawyer are recipients of the 2018 Avant-Garde Award for HIV/AIDS Research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The Gates Foundation concentrates on advocacy efforts that encourage political leaders to fund initiatives supporting the elimination of global inequalities.  Other notable efforts include initiatives centered around helping farmers in developing countries research and implement better agricultural practices. These include the production of rice and flour enriched with micronutrients.

Research

Human antibody CIS43 protected mice from infection with the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum, a new study shows.

Physical inactivity is an important cause of noncommunicable diseases.  Interventions can increase short-term physical activity (PA),  but health benefits require maintenance. Few interventions have evaluated PA objectively beyond 12 months. We followed up two pedometer interventions with positive 12-month effects to examine objective PA levels at 3–4 years.

In a paper in Public Health Research & Practice, published by the Sax Institute, we outline how collaboration between like-minded national governments can improve pre-migration health assessments (PMHAs) through information sharing, collaborative learning and increased capability in countries of origin.

Diseases & Disasters

Egypt has become the first country in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. This success comes after nearly 20 years of sustained prevention and control activities.

Whooping cough, caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, is no longer a familiar condition to most Americans. The United States began widespread vaccinations in the 1940s, which nearly eradicated the disease. But whooping-cough has been increasing here over the past two decades despite record rates of vaccination: in 2016, more than 15,000 people in the US came down with the disease, and 7 people died.

There has been an 80 percent decrease in the number of new cholera cases reported among a community of Congolese refugees in Uganda’s western Lake Albert region, the World Health Organization told Devex Friday. As recently as Feb. 28, health care workers were identifying roughly 100 new cases a day and as of March 12, that number is down to 20.

A huge and deadly outbreak of Listeria in South Africa could alter the country’s approach to food-borne disease and prompt improvements in food safety standards, a leading health official said on Friday.

Technology

UNICEF aims to scale up real-time monitoring systems in 110 countries by 2021 using the open source technology called RapidPro.

Researchers are developing low cost technology to improve water quality and to remove contaminants using magnetic nanoparticle based adsorption.

Profusa Inc has developed injectable body sensors that are capable of streaming data to mobile phones and to the cloud.

Environmental Health

After the latest study showed that more than 90% of bottled water brands contained tiny plastic particles, the World Health Organization has announced a review of potential risks of plastic contamination in drinking water.

New study shows that alleviating the effects of global warming with tougher climate policies could save 150 million lives.

New research led by IIASA researcher Narasimha Rao has shown how it might be possible to reduce micronutrient deficiencies in India in an affordable way whilst also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Equity & Disparities

Two members of the polio vaccination team were ambushed and killed in a remote tribal region in Pakistan.

Advances in mapping tools and the ability to create maps with extraordinary detail is helping efforts from vaccination to disaster relief.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

Even with futuristic advances in medicine and science, and increased access to food and other forms of nutrition, the oldest human health problem has remained stubborn—and, sometimes, seemingly impossible to fix: Young children and infants still die at epidemic rates in the poorest corners of the globe.

An international study of over 300,000 women from across 29 countries showed that pregnant women with anemia are twice as likely to die during or shortly after pregnancy.

Politics & Policies

In a world with no dearth of global challenges or domestic health issues to address, why should countries, in particular bilateral donor countries, care about preventing epidemic threats in other countries?  The moral argument is clear-cut: Epidemics cost lives—in some countries, much more than others.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday it will scrap Obama-era rules governing coal ash disposal. The changes would provide companies with annual compliance cost savings of up to $100 million, but environmentalists warn that doing away with the regulations risks poisoning clean drinking water for millions of Americans and pollute already-endangered ecosystems.

Programs, Grants & Awards

Malawi is the first country in Africa to use the newly approved typhoid vaccine. About 24,000 children are set to take part in the clinical trials to test efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the vaccine.

The 5th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research will be held in Liverpool, UK from October 8-12.

The Dartmouth Institute’s accelerated on-campus Master of Public Health program is designed to help you develop or advance your career while gaining a rigorous understanding of: Epidemiology and biostatistics, decision analysis, improvement and innovation in health systems, healthcare finance and payment systems and shared decision-making.

Research

More than half of gun owners do not safely store all their guns, according to a new survey of 1,444 U.S. gun owners conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In the present study we described the protein level of C1q production and its gene expression in the peripheral blood and skin biopsies in patients with ENL reaction and lepromatous leprosy (LL) patient controls before and after treatment.

Cholera remains a persistent health problem in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. Cholera can be controlled through appropriate water and sanitation, or by oral cholera vaccination, which provides transient (∼3 years) protection, although vaccine supplies remain scarce. We aimed to map cholera burden in sub-Saharan Africa and assess how geographical targeting could lead to more efficient interventions.

Crifasi, 34, is part of what she calls “the large moderate swath that is invisible”: those who believe the Second Amendment protects citizens’ right to have a firearm in their home, but also believe that right should be regulated by effective, evidence-based gun policy.

Diseases & Disasters

For a long time, researchers have found it difficult to explain exactly what the Obesity Paradox is, dumbfounded by the notion that putting on excess weight somehow adds extra years to one’s life. The answer? Easy. It’s simply not true.

Diabetes – or uncontrolled blood sugar levels – is normally split into type 1 and type 2.
But researchers in Sweden and Finland think the more complicated picture they have uncovered will usher in an era of personalized medicine for diabetes.

Brazil is suffering its worst outbreak of yellow fever in decades.  The virus, which kills 3 to 8 percent of those who are infected, is now circling the megacities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, threatening to become this country’s first-blown urban epidemic since 1942.

Technology

Not very far away, in Malawi, a drone must have taken off with a cargo of a blood sample for testing HIV infestation of an infant. Usually, it takes 23 days to get the diagnosis done and treatment rendered.  But the drone would make this possible in a few days.

Sub-Saharan Africa is leveraging emerging technologies to improve access to basic provisions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.

Environmental Health

Penguins preserve records of Antarctic environmental change.  The bird’s feathers and eggshells contain the chemical fingerprints of variations in diet, food web structure and even climate, researchers reported February 12 at the American Geophysical Union’s 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting.

Children as young as 4 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo work at cobalt mines, a critical component of lithium-ion batteries. Chronic exposure to cobalt  dust or fumes poses a serious threat to health and wellbeing.

Equity & Disparities

While both income inequality and prevalence of cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors rose in South Africa, the changes in district level GINI coefficients were not significantly associated with changes in CVD risk factors, a new study shows.

Guatemala has the world’s third highest rate of femicide due to domestic violence and health professionals in the country are taking a stand against domestic abuse.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

Highly detailed maps show that while there have been improvements in childhood malnutrition, many African nations are set to miss the 2030 SDG targets on malnutrition.

Taking a daily fish oil capsule during pregnancy and the first few months of breastfeeding may reduce a baby’s risk of food allergy, research suggests.

A lack of iodine in pregnancy and early childhood puts nearly 19 million babies around the world at risk of permanent but preventable brain damage every year, a new report has warned.

Ten years ago, a South Asian girl’s risk of getting married as a child was about 50%, but now that has fallen to about 30%.  A UNICEF release Tuesday attributed the progress in India to increasing rates of girls’ education, government investments and public messaging around the illegality of child marriage.

Politics & Policies

Last week, Bill and Melinda Gates released their 10th annual letter, focused on the 10 toughest questions they receive in their work. To mark the occasion, the heads of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s three global programmatic areas – Global Development, Global Growth & Opportunity, and Global Health – answer the toughest questions they are asked.

UHC (universal health coverage) is defined as a situation where “all people can obtain the health services they need, of good quality, without suffering financial hardship.” These broad definitions leave lots of room for specifying how decentralization and UHC governance might interact.

Programs, Grants & Awards

Seattle’s Center for Infectious Disease Research announced Tuesday that it has received a new,$17.2 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to fund its research into TB (tuberculosis), a persistent and deadly disease in many parts of the world.

A  multidisciplinary team of scientists from Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Utrecht University have been shortlisted for Cancer Research UK’s grand challenge award.

Research

Researchers have identified a new family of antibiotics, malacidins, by using gene sequencing to analyze more than 1,000 soil samples in the US.

Elderly study participants who had positive beliefs about aging were 44% less likely to develop dementia than those who held negative beliefs over the course of 4 years, a new study shows.

Diseases & Disasters

A drug commonly used to control high blood pressure may also help prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes in up to 60 percent of those at risk for the disease.

Monkeys in Brazil are being illegally killed for fear they might help spread yellow fever.

Defeating measles has long been a cherished dream in global health. Just in 2016, according to the World Health Organization, the disease infected more than 20 million people and killed almost 90,000 children.

The World Health Organization has sent a six-person team and 40 boxes of personal protective gear to help fight a major outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria.

More people have taken their own lives in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday agreement than were killed in political violence during the Troubles between 1969 and 1997, the latest regional figures on suicide reveal.

Technology

A new tissue paper based wearable sensor has been engineered to detect a pulse or a blink of an eye. The researchers say that these light, flexible, inexpensive sensors could be used for a variety of applications.

Environmental Health

A class of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) used in many industrial and consumer products may be associated with greater weight gain after dieting particularly among women, a new study shows.

Increased neighborhood walkability has been found to be significantly associated with lower blood pressure and decreased hypertension risk among residents.

Equity & Disparities

A new study has found that there is lower access to private health care in areas with high mobile phone ownership. Additionally mobile phones base health care seems to discriminate against poorer households.

Cash transfers through emergency food security program are helping rebuild livelihoods in Sierra Leone after the Ebola epidemic.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

An international charity warned on Monday that 4.7 million children across East Africa risk dropping out of school this year due to malnutrition arising from displacement sparked by drought and conflict.

More babies are dying each year in West and Central Africa even as child health improves overall, aid agencies said on Tuesday, calling the region’s newborn death rate a “hidden tragedy.

Politics & Policies

The notion of a shared responsibility to prevent global public health emergencies caused by disease epidemics is hardly new.  The history goes back to the 1851 International Sanitary Conference in Paris that followed the cholera epidemics in Europe between 1830 and 1847.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) dwindling pot of money aimed at fighting infectious-disease epidemics like Ebola will run out this year, and the agency doesn’t anticipate new dedicated funds. So the CDC is scaling back epidemic prevention work in 39 countries, and this has experts, including a United Nations Dispatch on Friday, saying “you should be freaking out.”

It has now been a little more than a year since President Donald Trump, on his first full day in office, reinstated the Mexico City Policy, also known as the “Global Gag Rule,” and a picture of its impact is beginning to emerge.

It was a financial investment in a tobacco company that helped lead to the downfall of Brenda Fitzgerald, who until Wednesday was the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The draft 13th General Program of Work cut across discussions at last week’s 142nd executive board session of the World Health Organization.  But while some stakeholders perceived progress on the current draft, questions remain, including the nagging question on how WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus would be able to finance his vision for the organization.

International health campaigners and alcohol concern groups called on a major global HIV and malaria fund on Thursday to end immediately a partnership it had signed with the Dutch brewer Heineken.

Programs, Grants & Awards

US Alumni Global Health Workshop brought together 22 alumni from US government exchange programs from African nations to share best practices for public health communication.

Paul Farmer, co-founder and chief strategist of Partners in Health, will receive the National Academy of Sciences most prestigious Public Welfare Medal this year.

Research

Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have identified a gene associated with lower asthma risk and its role in the disease’s progression — findings that open a new potential pathway for treatment.

Daily use of marijuana as well as past month rates rose for both men and women aged 26 and older in states with medical marijuana laws in effect.  Marijuana use among those younger than 26 years old was generally unaffected by changes in the law.

The results from the largest ever study of septic shock (a life threatening illness that occurs when the body’s response to infection leads to low blood pressure that reduces blood flow to vital organs and tissues such as the heart, brain, kidney and liver) could improve treatment for critically ill patients and save health systems worldwide hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Diseases & Disasters

Every single year, a group larger than the entire population of Seattle die from heart disease.  While these 846,000 annual fatalities are only half of what they were in 1980, cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the United States.

Urgent action must be taken to stop the spread of drug-resistant malaria in south-east Asia and potentially beyond, according to scientists. The outbreak in Cambodia, then Thailand, Laos and most recently Vietnam, of malaria that is untreatable with the newest and best drugs we have has alarmed experts. There have been calls for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern, as it did with Ebola in west Africa and Zika virus in Brazil.

Due to fears over Dengue vaccine, parents in the Philippines are refusing to vaccinate their children for tetanus, chicken pox and polio.

There have been 22 deaths and about 2000 cholera cases in seven African countries since the beginning of 2018. The increasing numbers of cholera cases are being blamed on poor sanitation and hygiene.

Technology

What if reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on access to health for all depended on the willingness of all actors to see beyond outdated dichotomies. The concept may seem obvious, but is easier described than done. In an effort to break silos, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) brought together stakeholders of all sides last week to discuss how to harness political and economic will to achieve innovation leading to new medicines that are available and affordable for all in need.

In an effort to stop diabetes patients from progressing to dialysis phase, doctors and researchers in Japan have launched a large-scale clinical study to examine whether internet connected medical devices and a smartphone app could help maintain blood sugar levels.

Environmental Health

Hundreds of tonnes of colistin, the strongest “last resort” antibiotic known to medicine, are being shipped to India to be used on chickens that may not even require the drugs.

Hyperthermophilic composting may have the potential to reduce the abundance of antibiotic-resistance carrying bacteria from composting end products.

Equity & Disparities

Equity in health is the notion that everyone should have a fair opportunity to reach his or her full health potential.  A focus on equity can strengthen the link between health and other development sectors by focusing attention on the most vulnerable populations. If certain populations are continually underserved by their health systems and experience a disproportionate impact, it endangers the well-being of societies at-large and can even hold back health progress for the most advantaged.

A new study has found that blacks, Hispanics and low-income students are at most likely to be exposed to air pollution. The study reveals that in 5 of the 10 worst polluted school counties, over 20% of the population is non-white.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

In a new study of childhood mortality rates between 1961 and 2010 in the United States and 19 economically similar countries, researchers report that while there’s been overall improvement among all the countries, the U.S. has been slowest to improve. Infants in the U.S. were 76 percent more likely to die.

Recent studies indicate that infants born prematurely have a higher risk of developing heart disease later in life.  Now, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle have shown that, in preterm animal models, inflammation due to infection can disrupt the activity of genes crucial for normal heart development.