Rift valley fever – IH CONNECT

Politics and Policies

The Department of Health and Human Services bolsters health care and public health disaster. It has awarded more than $971 million to continue improving preparedness and health outcomes for a wide range of public health threats within every state, eight U.S. territories, and four of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
India is completing a proposal to provide essential drugs free to patients in government-run hospitals and clinics at a cost of $5 billion over five years.
Rapid H.I.V. Home test wins federal approval.
Republican governor of Florida says state won’t expand Medicaid.

Programs

George W. Bush launches cancer project in Botswana. This $3 million initiative has been started to fight against cervical cancer. This project is funded by the Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and is supported by the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership.
A drug created at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has been deployed to fight malaria in India.
U.S. $124,276,000 assistance package is expected for Liberia. A new development agenda “An agenda for transformation” will focus on critical areas like education, economy, health etc.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is providing support to the treatment center in village of Wabaria, situated in Northern Mali after identification of the new cases of cholera in the village
La Madre de los Pobres charity reaches needy in nearly 20-plus countries.
New child health card and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is introduced in Zimbabwe to ensure good records of all preventive interventions like exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, calendar of immunizations and prevention of mother to child transmission.
International donors offer Afghanistan $16B.
Traditional Indian sweetener jaggery (gur) will be launched as complete health food for all age groups soon in India.

Research

New study maps hotspots of human-animal infectious diseases and emerging disease outbreaks like tuberculosis and Rift Valley fever.
Single dose radiation at the time of surgery helps women with early stage breast cancer forego 6-7 week radiation regimen.
Australian researchers from the Skin and Cancer Foundation have found a link between psoriasis and other diseases.
Research from Fourth Military Medical University yields new findings on Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota School Of Public Health have found new evidence that fast food intake increases risk of diabetes and heart disease in people.
Zebra fish provides insights into causes and treatment of human diseases. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh are using it to study the biological mechanisms underlying human disorders and identifying potential treatment approaches for an impressive array of organ and systematic diseases.
Caffeine may help to lower the risk of skin cancer. The results of the study conducted by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston suggest that it is the caffeine in coffee that is responsible for the decreased risk of basal cell carcinoma associated with increasing coffee consumption.
Amniotic fluid yields alternatives to embryonic stem cells. The scientists from Imperial College London and the UCL Institute of Child Health have succeeded in reprogramming amniotic fluid cells without having to introduce extra genes.
Organic tomatoes contain higher levels of antioxidants than conventional tomatoes. The researchers have shown that these tomatoes do not use not use nitrogenous fertilizers and thus they activate their own defense mechanisms resulting in increased production of all antioxidants.
A study conducted by a researcher at the University of Maryland has shown that the women infected with Toxoplasma gondii parasite which is spread through contact with cat feces or eating undercooked meat or unwashed vegetables, are at increased risk of attempting suicide.
A recent research has shown that deleting single gene results in autism-like behavior and immunosuppressant drug prevents autism symptoms. This gene is associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a rare genetic condition.
Using a mouse model of autism, researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have successfully treated an autism spectrum disorder characterized by severe cognitive impairment.
A team of researchers at the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen are closer to understanding the biology behind GHB, a transmitter substance in the brain, best known in its synthetic form as the illegal drug fantasy.

Diseases and Disasters

Monsoon rains cause havoc in Bangladesh.
The Philippines Department of Health has instructed the Bureau of Quarantine to be on alert, following an outbreak of a fatal respiratory disease in Cambodia.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, South Sudan faces worst health crisis.
According to a recent report released, Fukushima disaster was man-made.

Politics and Policies:

The Japanese government has provided 6.8 million dollar grant to the government of Ghana- US $4.3 million for the multi-donor budget support (MDBS) and US $2.5 million for the health sector budget support- for the year 2012 (Source: http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201202/82266.php ).
A settlement that BP is hammering out with victims of the massive Gulf oil spill finally provides a system for monitoring health concerns and compensating people whose illnesses are found linked to disaster (Source: http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-04/news/31122122_1_massive-gulf-oil-spill-medical-claims-bp-settlement ).
A federal judge on Wednesday declared that a Food and Drug administration requirement – that tobacco companies should display predominantly graphic warning labels on cigarette packages- unconstitutional (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/business/us-judge-rejects-gruesome-cigarette-labels.html?_r=1&ref=policy ).
The Virginia Senate adopted a revised bill that still requires doctors to perform an ultrasound on women before they have an abortion, but also says that women cannot be forced to have an invasive vagina ultrasound (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/us/virginia-senate-passes-revised-ultrasound-bill.html?ref=policy ).
Federal health officials have issued safety alerts for statins (cholesterol reducing medicines) as they can be linked to the rare risks of memory loss, diabetes and muscle pain besides cognitive problems like forgetfulness and confusion (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/health/fda-warns-of-cholesterol-drugs-side-effects.html?ref=policy ).
The Senate upheld President Obama’s birth control policy, voting to kill a Republican effort to let employers and health insurance company deny coverage for contraceptives and other items they object to on religious or moral grounds (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/us/politics/senate-kills-gop-bill-opposing-contraception-policy.html?ref=policy ).

Programs:

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has pledged to continuously support Ghana in the areas of maternal and child health, women rights and commodities security and domestic violence (towards reducing maternal mortality and making family planning services accessible) (Source: http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201203/82468.php ).
The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, have announced the awardees of 15 new grants to do health impact assessments- to look at potential health impacts of policies and projects in the other sectors (Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/04/4311287/grants-awarded-to-help-build-health.html ).
The Emirate’s first guidelines on the use of PET/CT imaging in breast cancer management have been issued by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) (Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/292333.html ).
India’s Barefoot College, located in Rajasthan is involved in teaching the illiterate village women- treated as second class citizens- public health, dentistry, solar engineering and mechanics (Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hdt-pgr5qDXpzlWwxJO9SV532IUw?docId=CNG.4eab7fccfa232de095290e5fb370f3a9.491 ).

Research:

Dr. Peter Hotez of the National School of Medicine in his study reveals that the years of conflict and political struggle have caused massive human and animal migrants in the Middle East and North America leading to spread or re-emergence of a variety of tropical diseases- cutaneous leishmaniasis, dengue, rift valley fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever- some of which were previously eliminated or controlled (Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/Tropical-Infections-Rising-Amid-Turmoil-in-Mideast-North-Africa-141038033.html ).
Metal-on-metal hip replacement joints linked to cancer, poisoning and pain (Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9121861/Metal-hip-replacements-linked-to-cancer.html ).
According to the study published in the journal of the National Cancer Institute, low levels of diesel exhaust might have an increased risk of development of lung cancer (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-links-exposure-diesel-exhaust-increased-risk-lung-171900438.html ).
Company Metabolomx has developed a machine that sniffs cancer. The machine analyses the breath and its volatile organic compounds, among other things (Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/05/BUIO1NFAK7.DTL&type=tech ).
Human trials of Kala Azar (a lethal disease transmitted by the bite of a sand fly) vaccine has been jointly started by India and the United States (Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-03/india/31119358_1_kala-azar-visceral-leishmaniasis-candidate-vaccine ).
According to a study published in the journal The Lancet, “the wonder drug” for breast cancer in India- Exemestane, sold under the brand name, Aromasin, is found to decrease bone density (Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cancer-wonder-drug-affects-bone-density-report/234979-17.html ).
Japanese scientists suggest that Vitamin E may interfere with the process that keeps bone healthy (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17237569 ).

Diseases and Disasters:

Tornado storms roar across Midwest and South United States (Source: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/story/2012-03-02/severe-storms-tornadoes-south/53332072/1 ).
Deadly storms strike Mozambique. Heavy rains and high winds killed eight people over the weekend (Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/deadly-storms-strike-mozambique-dead-15847386 ).
Suicides among young females an epidemic in Kashmir, India (Source: http://www.globalissues.org/news/2012/03/02/12894 ).
According to the director of the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, “examination of the data for pancreatic cancer patients diagnosed in 2010 shows a doubling survival, a real breakthrough for this disease” (Source: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/interactive/news/survival-rates-for-leukaemia-and-pancreatic-cancer-improve-in-ni-id801309225-t116.html ).

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