Tuberculosis – Page 4

Global Health Weekly News Round-Up

December 12, 2011August 13, 2015 by ihsection, posted in News

From December 4 to 10, the US Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) celebrated National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW). It was an effort to spread the message of the importance of continuing flu vaccination through the holiday season and beyond. (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/FightTheFlu/?s_cid=fb1293)

On December 10, 2011, Human Rights Day was observed . (Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/2011/index.shtml)

Politics and Policies

President Obama approved the decision to limit the morning after pill. His administration overruled the decision to make this pill available over the counter for the girls aged 17 years or younger. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/us/obama-backs-aides-stance-on-morning-after-pill.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=policy&adxnnlx=1323604933-CM1yLsRFtM9NYMVPd6JSJA)
Payroll tax package released by the Republicans would delay for the next two years , 27.4% payment cut for the doctors who accept / are paid via the Medicare plan. (Source: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/198389-house-gop-introduces-payroll-tax-package?page=2#comments and http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-kbpjjkZz4s9rbfbxxs2LOwTH-w?docId=46892985f4614d5399a9c6540c119fa0)

Programs

At the 16^th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and STIs, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced “Rapid Advice” document that presents a guidance on the diagnosis, prevention and management of cryptococcal disease in HIV-infected adults, adolescents and children, with a focus on settings with limited health systems capacity and resources, and a high burden of the disease. It will be officially launched in March 2012. (Source: http://www.panapress.com/WHO-gives-guidelines-on-cryptococcus-disease—15-809357-29-lang2-index.html)
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a new vaccine “MenAfriVac” for the elimination of a deadly group A meningitis strain. It will be introduced by Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad who are in “Meningitis belt.” (Source: http://www.afriquejet.com/meningitis-vaccine-nigeria-cameroon-chad-to-use-new-meningitis-vaccine-2011121029299.html)
The United Nations (UN) sanctioned $6 million fund to alleviate the sufferings of people from food shortages in Niger. (Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40645&Cr=+niger+&Cr1=)
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced funding of $14.5 million for school based clinics. (Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2011/December/09/hhs-school-grants.aspx)
A five day campaign against polio has been launched by Congolese Minister of Health and Population. (Source: http://www.afriquejet.com/campaign-polio-congo-2011120929262.html)

Research

Satellite images used to track diseases by the Princeton researchers. (Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-57340232-247/princeton-researchers-use-satellite-images-to-track-disease/)
Research by University of California, San Diego shows a link between high starch diet and the recurrence of breast cancer. (Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2072000/White-bread-pasta-rich-diet-increases-risk-breast-cancer-returning.html)
An inherited mutated gene from father can lead to the development of cancer of breast in women. (Source: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2011/12/10/dads-genes-can-speed-cancer.html)
Abortion not related to risk of development of mental illness. (Source: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/womenshealth/story/2011-12-09/Study-Abortion-doesnt-raise-mental-illness-risk/51762674/1)
A research study published in Journal of Sexual Medicine states that women may be able to smell men with sexually transmitted disease (STIs). (Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/men-stds-give-unpleasant-smell-women-study-found-gonorrhea-infected-men-putrid-article-1.989292)
Gene therapy is the new treatment of patients with various hematological disorders. It involves replacing the defective gene with the intact version. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/health/research/hemophilia-b-gene-therapy-breakthrough.html)
The MRI scans used to understand the brain damage caused by Cerebral Malaria by a researcher of Michigan State University. (Source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111209/MSU-researcher-uses-MRI-to-unlock-how-cerebral-malaria-damages-brain.aspx)

Diseases and Disasters

An earthquake of intensity 5.8 had hit Ryukyu Islands of Japan on Sunday December 11, 2011 at 10:22:44 AM. (Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc000753q.php#details)
Fire at the Advanced Medical Research Institute hospital in Kolkata, India lead to the death of 92 people. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/world/india-hospital-fire-kolkata-west-bengal.html)
The United Nation (UN) issued a child malnutrition warning for Africa’s Sahel region. (Source: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40687&Cr=sahel&Cr1=)
First West Nile Virus case confirmed in the Palm Beach County, Florida. Public asked to take precautions. (Source: http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=4364)
Brazil develops a new formula for the pediatric patients for Chagas disease treatment. (Source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111209/New-pediatric-formula-for-Chagas-disease-treatment-developed-in-Brazil.aspx)
In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced a new regimen for latent tuberculosis infection. It is an effective treatment which involves just one-third time of the current therapy. (Source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111209/Shorter-effective-treatment-for-latent-TB-infection.aspx)

These headlines were compiled by Vani Nanda, MPH Candidate at West Chester University PA.

Global Health News Last Week

October 24, 2011August 13, 2015 by ihsection, posted in News

Note: There will be no news round-up next week, as the IH section will be conducting its usual array of activities during APHA’s Annual Meeting. Please tune in for updates on section sessions and activites at the conference. Meanwhile, you can get your global health news fix from the DAWNS digest, Humanosphere, or the Healthy Dose.

October 16 was World Food Day.
October 17 was International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

POLITICS AND POLICY

Scientists are warning officials negotiating a global treaty on mercury that banning the deadly chemical completely would be dangerous for public health because of the chemical’s use in vaccines.
The Washington Post runs an editorial critical of the GOP presidential candidates’ hostility toward foreign aid.
An influential panel of MPs warned that changes in UK aid policies may make overseas aid more prone to corruption and misuse.
Attendees at the Asia Pacific Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights have called on countries in the region to introduce comprehensive sexuality education in schools.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a report which finds that global HIV/AIDS funding dropped by 10% in 2010.

PROGRAMS

HP Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with USAID to collaborate in the fight against global poverty through initiatives directed at issues such as public health.
GAVI CEO Seth Berkley pens an op-ed in Huffington Post on the economic value of childhood vaccines.
The Pan African Parliament has passed a resolution that urges African nations to prioritize maternal, newborn and child health programs.
USAID is initiating research to find out whether developing world families will adopt a new cooking technology and adapt their cooking methods to save their health.
At an event in Washington, the Aspen Institute’s Global Leaders Council called for increased accessed to contraception worldwide.
Microfinance initiatives to fund development could benefit from reinvigorating their aims and taking on new, integrated approaches, according to experts at the 2011 International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy in Montreal.

RESEARCH

A new study, by researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Gilead Sciences Inc. and universities in Belgium and Italy, suggests that a microbicide gel, which was originally developed to fight AIDS in Africa, could lower the incidence of herpes in many women.
RTS,S a malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, is showing great of promise in the early stages of its huge clinical trial. The American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Council Member and Science Director at the PATH Malaria Control Program, Rick Steketee, explores the impact of the new RTS,S clinical trial results and what this breakthrough means for science and neglected tropical disease research. On the other hand, Sarah Boseley wonders where the money will come from once the vaccine has passed its trials, and Karen Grepin is not as excited about the new GSK malaria trial results as many others.
Adults who have fallen behind on mortgage payments exhibited higher rates of depression and are skipping meals and medications because they cannot pay the bills, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health found.
Teenage drivers have fewer crashes after they’ve been driving for a while, but new research in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that a few months behind the wheel do not improve their driving skills much.
A recent study finds that the best way to fight TB in patients with HIV is to treat as early as possible.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

The famine in Somalia isn’t getting much public attention, but not because things are improving. Aid workers predict things will get worse before they get better. Much-needed rain is coming, but the rainfall could deepen the crisis for the four million people there who need help.
Numerous UN agencies are ready to be deployed if Southeast Asian nations ravaged by flooding request for assistance.
A report by Roll Back Malaria Partnership released at the start of the Gates Foundation’s Global Malaria Forum says that the world is making positive steps towards eradicating malaria. Specifically, 29 countries are on track to stop malaria within a decade.
Environmental hazards sicken or kill millions of people — soot or smog in the air, for example, or pollutants in drinking water. But the most dangerous stuff happens where the food is made — in peoples’ kitchens.
World Health Organization officials say the rapid and extensive globalization of food production has increased the incidence of food contamination worldwide.
Speculators in the agricultural commodities markets are forcing grocery prices to rise too quickly and erratically, according to some top economists marking World Food Day Sunday.
Climate change poses an immediate and serious threat to global health and stability, as floods and droughts destroy people’s homes and food supplies and increase mass migration, experts warn.
A survey of 87 countries showed more than half the countries reported more or much more awareness of mental illnesses in the past three years. Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot of new money behind that awareness.

Global Health News Last Week

October 17, 2011August 13, 2015 by ihsection, posted in News

October 10 was World Mental Health Day.
October 15 was Global Handwashing Day.

POLITICS AND POLICY

The U.S. Army has proposed major cuts to its work on HIV, especially in the vaccine field. Leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and other biomedical research organizations oppose the cuts.
The WHO plans to recommend tighter nutritional standards in food aid for young children, a move activists say is necessary to improve donations from countries such as the United States.
The US Department of Defense is funding platforms that will completely rethink how malaria drugs are developed.
Former Bush Administration official Andrew Natsios argues the case for foreign aid: “Singling out foreign aid for disproportionate cuts—which is exactly what has happened—is a serious mistake the United States as a world leader will pay for in the future.”
A survey of 507 Americans at the end of September sought to capture what, exactly, Americans know about the foreign aid budget. Particpiants were asked four questions about their impressions of foreign aid and opinions on why it is important to American interests. Go here to read the full fact sheet that also includes more details about the study’s methods and see below to review the results in more detail.
The World Health Organization’s chief on Monday urged governments to unite against “big tobacco”, as she accused the industry of dirty tricks, bullying and immorality in its quest to keep people smoking.

PROGRAMS

Berk Ozler examines some recent reports about the challenges surrounding male circumcision. In the World Bank Development Impact blog, he offers two suggestions for how to improve the programs.
A partnership between Pampers and UNICEF to deliver neonatal tetanus vaccines is on track to eliminate the disease by 2015.
A $258 million initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at preventing AIDS in India appears to have paid off overall, researchers say, resulting in more than 100,000 fewer new HIV infections over five years. Many aren’t quite ready to judge this project, Avahan, a success, however. The project failed in three of the six Indian states where it was tested.
Are the Millennium Villages an intervention that can reach scale? Supporters say yes and detractors are skeptical. Madeline Bunting covers the debate in the Guardian Development.
A report on the MGDS by United Nations Development Program, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission says that social protection programs can have a wide positive impact.

RESEARCH

A cancer diagnosis can leave lasting psychological scars akin to those inflicted by war, according to a new survey. More than decade after being told they had the disease, nearly four out of 10 cancer survivors said they were still plagued by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Researchers have found that vitamin D can be used to activate the immune system’s response to TB.
The Paul G Allen Family Foundation is supporting the Infectious Disease Research Institute phase I TB vaccine trial with a two-year $300,000 grant.
We know that eating lots of fruits and vegetables is good for the heart, but can a healthy diet really overcome the effect of genes that boost your risk for heart problems?
Vitamin E supplements significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer in healthy men even after they stopped taking them, scientists reported Tuesday. Given the popularity of vitamin E for those 60 and over, the researchers wrote, “the implications of our observations are substantial.” Those studied took 400 international units (IUs) a day.
New studies find that young people diagnosed with HIV will now likely survive for close to 46 years thanks to improved antiretrovirals
A Norwegian study found that pregnant women who took folic acid supplements in the first two months of pregnancy were less likely to have children with severe language delays.
“Tobacco Control is Tuberculosis Control,” says a new study in the British Medical Journal.
The NIH has announced that it is providing University of California San Francisco $718,136 to support its anti-malaria research.
A study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, University of Hong Kong and the Public Health Foundation of India and published in the Lancet shows that an Indian program to focus HIV intervention projects in high risk groups has dramatically reduced infection rates.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

Primitive cooking stoves are used throughout half the world and kill more people per year — about two million — than malaria, researchers say. Three billion people worldwide cook indoors by burning solid fuels such as wood, charcoal or dung and are at high risk for lung diseases.
Over the past three years, 1.5 million children deaths from malaria were averted, said the chief of Roll Back Malaria, downgrading malaria from the leading cause of infant mortality in Africa to the third leading cause of child mortality.
The world has become more vulnerable to outbreaks of disease caused by contaminated food because of growing global trade and tracking them down is also difficult due to the global food supply chain, health officials said.
For the first time, tuberculosis rates are declining worldwide. World Health Organization officials reported case numbers have gone down and death rates have plummeted 40% from 1990 to 2010. China has seen death rates decline almost 80% from 1990 to 2010.
Mental illness drives a surprising amount of disability and death around the planet. The World Health Organization says investing just $3 to $4 per person to improve mental health in poor countries would significantly reduce the health and economic losses from mental illness.

Global Health News Last Week

October 14, 2011August 13, 2015 by ihsection, posted in News

SECTION NEWS
The Advocacy/Policy Committee would like to invite you to participate in our first Advocacy Day, led in partnership with the Global Health Council. The day, scheduled for Thursday, November 3rd, 2011, immediately following the annual meeting in Washington, D.C., will be an opportunity for us to voice support for a continued focus on international health to our elected officials. With the intense Congressional pressure to cut the budget, our voices can make a real difference. As a participant during this exciting day, you will be provided with training materials on effective advocacy techniques to ensure your message is clearly heard. Even if you do not have advocacy experience, you need not hesitate to sign up because you will be teamed with others. Please consider joining your fellow International Health Section members on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 on Capitol Hill to advocate for a healthy globe. Interested parties should register here. Please note that registration will close on October 14th. Any questions should be directed to Peter Freeman, Advocacy/Policy Committee Chair, at pffreeman@gmail.com or 773.318.4842.

POLITICS AND POLICY

An op-ed advocates for a new global health strategy based on a recent meeting at the United Nations aimed at incorporating chronic diseases into an agenda that had tended to emphasize infectious diseases.
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that zeroes out U.S. aid to the United Nations Population Fund, a women and children’s health program that works to reduce maternal mortality, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide contraception to the world’s most vulnerable populations.
For the second year in a row, U.S. President Barack Obama has waived a Congressionally-mandated ban on military aid for four countries that use child soldiers.
A decision was announced that the amount of money spent on HIV/AIDS by DfID will drop by 1/3 over the next 4 years.

PROGRAMS

Sanitation and hygiene are sensitive and unpopular subjects, but funding them is essential to fighting disease, ensuring basic rights and meeting millennium development goals.
The Gates Foundation’s European director Joe Cerrell comes to the defense of the beleaguered Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, arguing to improve on its “impressive record and ensure that millions more lives are saved and the progress against global disease is secured for generations to come.”
Almost four months into the Horn of Africa crisis, aid agencies are involved in much soul-searching as to whether they could have responded more quickly to the drought and famine.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

A Japanese company, the Sumitomo Chemical Company, unveiled a new kind of insecticide treated bed net at a product launch in Kenya.
Pregnant women who load up on fruits, veggies and whole grains have a reduced risk of having babies with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida or cleft lip, according to one of the first studies to look at the connection between diet and birth defects.
A study by Stanford researchers has determined that infant health can be improved when a mother has a low-fat high fiber diet up to a year prior to getting pregnant.
A study published in the British Medical Journal says that if current smoking trends continue until 2050, TB related deaths will jump by 40 million.
Though young, there is a lot of potential in what mHealth can offer in developing countries. Amanda Glassman shares some ways that it can be improved.
Researchers at the University of Washington have reported some highly problematic findings regarding a common method of birth control in eastern and southern Africa. They are problematic in that they indicate a popular injectable hormone, Depo-Provera, used by perhaps 140 million women worldwide (and often in poor settings) signficantly raises a woman’s risk of HIV infection.
Test subjects in a Spanish HIV vaccine trial have shown a 90 percent immune response.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

A cohort of American and British researchers say that by investing in AIDS treatments, money can be saved in the long term.
What should be the top priorities in global health? Infectious diseases? Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)? Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)? A research scientist wonders at the confusion amid this sea of bad acronyms.
Former US President Carter is leading the fight against guinea worm making a request that WHO members provide $93 million in funding to wipe out the disease. DfID has committed to support the push against guinea worm by announcing it will allocating £20 million to the effort.
The business news channel CNBC has published an extensive report on the lucrative and growing Dangerous World of Counterfeit Prescription Drugs.

Global Health News Last Week

August 23, 2011August 13, 2015 by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, News

SECTION NEWS

The following announcement, from Eric Williams, calls for any IH section members interested in assisting efforts to address federal global health and HIV/AIDS funding. Please see the text of the announcement below. Eric can be contacted by e-mail at ericwms@gmail.com.

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing to request assistance in a “grasstops” effort to address federal global health and HIV/AIDS funding. As you are likely well aware, there have been serious threats and concerns regarding global health funding over the last several years. There is a real need to mobilize influential members of our community in an effort to ensure that Congress does not backtrack on our global health commitments.

I am doing some consulting work with amfar and they want to identify experts, donors, high-profile individuals and/or organizations in select states who can reach out to key Senate leadership. We need these individuals/organizations to show and voice their support for continued and sustained commitments for global health.

States of focus include Nevada (Sen. Harry Reid), Iowa (Sen. Tom Harkin), and Washington (Sen. Patty Murray). We believe these senators are in key positions to influence appropriations decisions and sure up support for global health.

The aim of this effort is to:

identify grasstop individuals/organizations and

plan, coordinate, and carry out outreach efforts to Senate leadership in a variety of ways, including state-level meetings, Hill visits, op-eds, sign-on letters, and so forth.

If you are interested or able to provide assistance in helping to identify and/or reach out to the above stakeholders, I would be very interested in speaking. If there is strong support for this I would be happy to facilitate a conference call to discuss in full.

August 19 was World Humanitarian Day.

POLITICS AND POLICY

The CDC has made updates to its flu vaccination recommendations aimed at children and people with egg allergies.
The United Nations has released a list of 248 organizations from 48 nations that are accredited to attend the UN High Level Meeting (HLM) on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) during September 19-20, 2011. Meanwhile, as has been widely reported (including here and here), negotiations have stalled over an “outcomes document” that is to be approved at the meeting.
The World Health Organization is calling for a ban on a common blood test for TB, saying the test is unreliable.
Twenty-two children in Kancheepuram, Indiawho were not allowed to go to school because they are HIV positive have been ordered to return to school after a court ruled in favor of the students.
International funding for HIV fell by 10 percent in 2010 from the previous year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS; activists worry that a continued reduction will undermine progress in global HIV prevention and treatment efforts.

PROGRAMS

A study from Senegal published in the Lancet at the beginning of this month raises doubts over Gates’ plant to beat malaria, blaming mosquitoes’ growing resistance to insecticide and decreased immunity to malaria among the local population.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have announced a strategic partnership to ensure continued progress in the fight against polio, including an innovative financing agreement to support polio-eradication efforts in Pakistan.
USAID announced the expansion of its Indoor Residual Spraying program. The $189 million, there-year contract awarded by USAID to Abt. Associates will cover the implementation of IRS activities in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
WHO has released Psychological First Aid: Guide for Fieldworkers, a guide intended to provide field workers the tools to provide psycho-social support to themselves and those affected by a disaster or humanitarian crisis.
The first comprehensive etiology study of childhood pneumonia in 3 decades has been launched. Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) will be a collaboration between sites in Africa, Asia and the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

RESEARCH

USAID has announced a partnership with the Infectious Disease Research Institute that will provide support for the research of a malaria vaccine at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
UNDNJ researchers have discovered a link between TB and parasitic worms which act to thwart the body’s natural defenses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
A Canadian study has found that a pregnant woman suffering from depression can lead to brain changes in their children.
Researchers have identified 17 new antibodies with broad activity against HIV; some of which are 10 times more potent than previously discovered antibodies.
The recent news about hiding vegetables by puréeing them and then adding them to recipes may make meals healthier, but if children don’t know they are eating vegetables, they won’t know to seek out those foods and eat them in future, says Isobel Hoskins on the CABI Global Health blog.
Microcalorimeters may be the key to achieving TB diagnosis in a quicker and cheaper manner, say researchers in a recently published article in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.
According to a recent UN study, 9 million lives can be saved over the next 10 years if average global salt consumption levels dropped by 15%.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

The WHO Says Libya is facing a medical supply crisis.
The United Nations food agency called on Thursday for long-term aid for farmers in the Horn of Africa, saying constant crises in the region should shame the world.
A report by the National Institute of Malaria research in Delhi has found that climate change will enable malaria to move to new areas.
New research finds that radiation from the nuclear plant accident in Japanin March reached Californiawithin days, showing how quickly air pollution can travel, but scientists say the radiation will not hurt people.
According to an article published in Science, 19 August, cases of Chagas disease are rising outside Latin America, because large numbers of people who are already infected are migrating fromLatin America.
Len Rubenstein comments on the attacks on healthcare personnel inBahrain and the recent progress made to protect healthcare workers in conflict zones.

INFOGRAPHICS AND OTHER INTERESTING VISUALS

Sarah Arnquist at the Global Health Hub has put together an open source timeline of global health milestones from the past century.
The GAVI Alliance has released this infographic on the importance of childhood vaccines.
This infographic on maternal mortality from Maternal Health Taskforce has caught the attention of Jen Quraishi at Mother Jones for the choice of data used to fill it out. She argues that comparing total maternal deaths rather than per capita rates makes it hard to assess nations side by side.

Thanks to Tom Murphy and Mark Leon Goldberg, Larry Johnson (filling in for Tom Paulson), Isobel Hoskins, and Jeff Meer.

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