Changes in global child mortality and the MDGs

A very interesting video on global child mortality and the Millennium Development Goals by Dr. Hans Rosling (in collaboration with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation).

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 [...]

Poor nutrition stunting growth

A third of deaths in children under five in those countries are linked to poor diet, a report by UNICEF suggests. It also reveals 195m children – one in three – have stunted growth, even though rates have fallen since 1990.  UNICEF said the number of underweight children also remained high, with many countries struggling [...]

30 million mosquito nets for Nigeria

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in its largest-ever malaria initiative, will provide 30 million long-lasting treated mosquito nets to Nigeria.  This initiative will provide the African nation with half the nets needed to cover its entire population.
The Global Fund’s “unprecedented commitment to Nigeria, which bears one quarter of the global malaria [...]

UN Report: reducing 5 key health risks could boost global life expectancy by 5 years

Addressing five critical risk factors – underweight childhood, unsafe sex, alcohol use, lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and high blood pressure – could add almost five years to global life expectancy, according to a new United Nations report.
These five factors are responsible for one quarter of the 60 million deaths estimated to occur [...]

Google Flu Trends tracks real-time spread of influenza

Google Flu Trends, a flu-tracking Web tool, has expanded to cover Canada and 16 other countries.  First launched in the United States last November, Mexico was added in April and in Australia & New Zealand in June.
Google Flu Trends gathers data from the company’s search engine and analyzes it to create a near real-time picture [...]

Generic medicines are cheap, but are they safe?

The June issue of SELF Magazine featured an interesting article on generic medicines.  While generics are certainly an important part of the healthcare industry, the article raises some important issues.
Bad bargain
All of us want cheaper medicine—but not if it costs us our health. Troubling reactions and a series of recalls are making some doctors wonder, [...]

Global cooperation crucial to achieving MDGs, nations tell UN

Meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight ambitious anti-poverty targets agreed on by world leaders, by their 2015 deadline will require concert global cooperation, nations have told the General Assembly’s high-level annual debate.
Norway pointed out that the financial crisis has pushed millions into poverty. “Loss of income is placing public policies at perilous risk, potentially [...]

HIV vaccine trial cuts infection by 31.2%

A Phase III clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand has demonstrated that an investigational HIV vaccine regimen was safe and modestly effective in preventing HIV infection. According to final results released by the trial sponsor (the U.S. Army Surgeon General), the prime boost combination of Sanofi Pasteur’s ALVAC vaccine and AIDSVAX, [...]

UN report: Public health experts credit immunizations and other health interventions for decrease in deaths of children under 5

Newly released data compiled by demographers and health experts from UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the UN Population Division shows a 28 per cent decline in the under-five mortality rate, from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990, to 65 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008.
Public health experts [...]