Global Health Progress

China launched a national organ donation system Tuesday in an effort to reduce its dependence on organs harvested from executed prisoners, who currently make up the majority of the nation’s organ donors.

A critical water shortage in Ethiopia’s Somali region is forcing those living in this area to use abandoned ponds and wells for drinking water, which may increase this population’s risk of water-borne diseases. The water shortage is expected to last until the area’s next rainy season, in mid-October.

Rwanda is on track to achieve universal access to HIV treatment, prevention and care, UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, announced in advance of his visit to the country Thursday. In 2003, UNAIDS estimated that at least 250,000 people were living with HIV in Rwanda. Today, more than 70 percent of people in need of antiretrovirals in Rwanda are receiving them.

Conditions such as helminth, hookworm and protozoan infections, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis are part of a group of diseases calledneglected tropical diseases (NTDs), affect the poorest 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

In an analysis published today, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases that an estimated 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are suffering from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) with 85% attributed to Helminth infections. The number of people infected with NTDs is equivalent to twice the number of TB infections and half the number of Malaria infections.

The Lancet in collaboration with academic centers in South Africa, released a six part series that includes public health response to HIV and TB epidemics, reducing maternal and child mortality, and the emerging strain of chronic infectious and non-communicable diseases in the challenges that face the South Africa’s leadership in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The series was launched in Johannesburg, South Africa on Aug 24, 2009.

Less than a tenth of Malawi’s urban population has access to proper sewers systems, according to an International Institute for Environment and Development study. It also reveals dependence on water kiosks with limited accessibility and are susceptible to supply interruptions, forcing many people to rely on shallow wells and rivers that potentially increase the spread of cholera and diarrhea.

Magdaline Ntikinca runs the Phelophepa [health train], which brings health care to South Africa’s rural poor. Ntikinca told Guardian correspondent David Beresford what life is like on the train, and how she became involved in the program.

The Epidemiological Unit of the Health Ministry of Sri Lanka, last week, announced 240 people have died from Dengue this year. There have been 24,001 Dengue cases already reported this year, a sharp increase from the total 4,156 cases from 2008. The World Health Organization estimated that 50 million people will be infected every year as two fifths of the world’s population is at risk of the infection.

August 24-26, 2009
Dublin, Ireland
As the landmark event of the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit in Dublin, Ireland on August 24-26, 2009, will make the case for acting urgently to address the global cancer burden and introduce new commitments to cancer control by bringing together world leaders, corporations, non-governmental organizations and advocates [...]