Media Center

WHO statistics show narrowing health gap between countries with best and worst health status

The world has made dramatic progress in improving health in the poorest countries and narrowing the gaps between countries with the best and worst health status in the past two decades, according to the World Health Statistics 2013. The WHO annual statistics report highlights how efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have reduced health gaps between the most-advantaged and least-advantaged countries.

GlaxoSmithKline, Save The Children Form Partnership To Save Children’s Lives

“GlaxoSmithKline [GSK] is giving Save the Children $23 million and entering into a five-year partnership with the charity to try to save the lives of one million children,” the Associated Press/Bloomberg Businessweek reports. GSK “said the partnership would set a new standard for how companies and charities could work together,” according to BBC News.

Drugmakers, health groups bring poor girls vaccine

Two multinational drugmakers are teaming up with top global health groups to protect millions of girls in the world's poorest countries from deadly cervical cancer. Starting with pilot programs in eight Asian and African nations, the ambitious project ultimately is intended to inoculate more than 30 million girls in more than 40 countries by 2020. Given that most women killed by cervical cancer live in developing countries, the project could have a huge impact.

Sanofi launches large-scale production of artemisinin for malaria

On April 11, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi will launch the large-scale production of a partially synthetic version of artemisinin, a chemical critical to making today's front-line antimalaria drug, based on Keasling's discovery. The drug is the first triumph of the nascent field of synthetic biology and will be, Keasling hopes, a lifesaver for the hundreds of millions of people in developing countries who each year contract malaria and more than 650,000, most of them children, who die of the disease.

Japanese pharma companies to help medicine research in developing countries

Five Japan-based pharmaceutical companies are forming a public-private partnership with the Japanese government to help developing countries fight infectious diseases. Called the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT), the fund will be composed of Takeda, Astellas, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eisai and Shionogi plus the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Japanese government to develop medicine, vaccines and diagnostics for these countries.

Neglected Tropical Diseases - live Q&A with Eduardo Pisani

On May 7, 2013 at 9am EST (3pm CET), Global Health Progress will host a live Q&A focused on neglected tropical diseases with Eduardo Pisani, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). We encourage those interested to submit questions in advance (send a message to @GlobalHealth using #NTDsQA or comment on the FaceBook post).

Research-based pharmaceutical industry and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies join forces to prevent non-communicable diseases

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced today a partnership on NCD prevention. The two-year partnership involves support from both organizations to design a behavioral change-based toolkit that promotes healthy lifestyle choices at national and community levels. Through its volunteer network and community-based expertise, the IFRC will make the toolkit available to approximately 3 million people worldwide.

Africa: Saving Mothers - a New Initiative to Address Maternal Mortality

Pregnancy-related deaths remain an acute problem in many places, despite overall global declines in rates of maternal mortality. Every day, nearly 800 women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth, and 99 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries. Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) is a public-private partnership designed to reduce maternal mortality by up to 50 percent in selected districts in Zambia and Uganda this year. SMGL builds on U.S. investments through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Peace Corps, and the Department of Defense. The other SMGL partners include the governments of Norway, Zambia, and Uganda, the Merck for Mothers program, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Every Mother Counts.

With river blindness, 'you never sleep'

About 18 million people have river blindness worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, but more than 99% of cases of this disease are found in Africa. It goes by the technical name "onchocerciasis," and it spreads through small black flies that breed in fast-flowing, highly oxygenated waters. When an infected fly bites a person, it drops worm larvae in the skin, which can then grow and reproduce in the body.
There is no vaccine for river blindness, but there is a drug, called ivermectin that paralyzes and kills the offspring of adult worms, according to the Mayo Clinic. It may also slow the reproduction of adult female worms, so there are fewer of them in the skin, blood and eyes. The pharmaceutical company Merck has been donating the treatment, under the brand name Mectizan, since 1985.

New findings offer systemic solutions to address non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries

Today the Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise released a focused set of policy briefs that provide actionable recommendations for improving NCD policy, research and, ultimately, care. The study was commissioned by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA).

Pages