Global Health Progress

Leprosy is under control in Democratic Republic of Congo where the number of cases being reported has fallen dramatically, health officials said.

People with tuberculosis that is resistant to most antibiotics may be treatable with more aggressive use of the medicines at hand, Harvard researchers said.

A professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s faculty of health sciences is beginning an intensive program in Ethiopia to eradicate the intestinal worms which affect as much as half of Africa’s population…Bentwich believes that intestinal worms can affect the immune system in such a profound way that it has a major impact on one’s susceptibility to HIV and tuberculosis, or in coping with these diseases when they are already there.

New research published in The Lancet finds that much higher proportions of children with severe pneumonia are treated correctly if they are allowed to be treated at local, first-level facilities instead of hospitals.

Penn State researchers will be part of an international team led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to help evaluate new vaccines that will have the best chances of stopping the global outbreaks of infectious diseases. The project has received a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Uganda on Thursday said it had begun a programme to more than double the number of people receiving Aids drugs to 300 000. The total number of patients currently receiving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) stands at 125 000, including 13 000 children below the age of 12.

A team of researchers is examining how different perceptions of masculinity can influence HIV prevention messages in Central America, the Columbia State reports.

Latest statistics show that HIV/AIDS infection rate had dropped to 5.8 per cent in 2007, down from 7.0 per cent in 2003. This was revealed recently by the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda.

The former Secretary for the United States Department of Health and Human services, Senator Tommy Thompson, has pledged to support Rwanda’s efforts in promoting the health welfare of Rwandans.

…However, despite the massive amounts of money driving current efforts, the global health agenda is still in its infancy. Finding the best way to fight poverty and diseases abroad is still a matter of debate. Ruth White, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Seattle University who runs an aid organisation, says that a narrow focus on disease has drawbacks.