Tens of Millions of TB Patients Cured

The World Health Organization reports that over the past 15 years, the Stop TB Strategy has resulted in 36 million people being cured of tuberculosis and eight million lives saved.  Reductions in disease burden achieved to date follow fourteen years of intensive efforts at global, regional and country levels to implement the Stop TB Strategy [...]

EU announces new ’single patent’

The Council of the European Union (EU) has announced an agreement on long-awaited plans for a single EU Patent and a new European patent court.  The EU Patent will involve partnerships between European patent offices, which will bring about more rapid delivery of patents and increase speed of access to market for innovative products and [...]

UNAIDS report: 33.4 million worldwide have HIV, but infections slow

A newly released United Nations report on HIV  says that while the disease has killed 25 million people worldwide, the rate of new infections is slowing sharply.  The UNAIDS agency report says the number of newly infected grew by 2.7 million in 2008,  bringing the world total to 33.4 million.
In sub-Saharan Africa,  where the scourge [...]

Preventing disease through vaccination — a contrast between developed and developing countries

Nearly 12 million Africans deemed at highest risk from yellow fever will be vaccinated next week against the virus, which can cause explosive epidemics in cities.
Vaccination is the best way to prevent yellow fever, which is hard to diagnose in early stages and for which there is no specific treatment, according to the United Nations [...]

UN Report: 40% global increase in access to HIV treatment within the last year

Over 4 million people are now receiving treatment for HIV, marking a nearly 40 per cent jump from the previous year according to a new United Nations report.
The new study – produced jointly by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) – said [...]

Innovative vaccine venture offers hope to less-developed countries

Britain’s largest charity, the Wellcome Trust, and pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. have joined together to create a non-profit, £90-million (about $150 million) research center in India to facilitate the development of new vaccines, “including [those for] neglected diseases for which inadequate or no vaccines exist.”  According to Nature News, “the move marks the first [...]

U.S. and other countries make H1N1 vaccine available internationally through the WHO

The United States joins Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Britain in efforts to make the H1N1 vaccine available to less-developed countries.  The White House announced yesterday that they are prepared to make 10 percent of America’s H1N1 vaccine supply available to other countries through the World Health Organization.
The recent news that [...]

Latin American countries expected to increase access, spend more on medicines

Economic growth in developing Latin American countries is expected to foster greater spending on medicines to improve access, according to a new report.  Public drug expenditure in the region is expected to continue growing, as there is a considerable level of unfulfilled demand.  The report also notes that private pharmacy sales are also surging, [...]

Tiered Pricing Enables Health for All

PAHO must accept their share of the responsibility in ensuring health for all in the 21st century. Many Latin American countries are “rich” today compared to most African states and some of their sister “south” American nations. Middle income PAHO states cannot hold much of Africa or their own poorer member countries like Haiti hostage for the self-interests of their more powerful, richer rapidly developing countries.

PAHO’s vaccine system hampers African efforts

Efforts to make newer and more costly vaccines widely available to the poorest in Africa are being hampered by a long-standing system that makes vaccines affordable to middle-income Latin American countries, reports the Financial Times.
The Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) revolving fund, which began in 1979, negotiates substantial discounts with manufacturers on prices in richer [...]