Zambia: USAID, Merck to Inject U.S$8 Million in Health Service Delivery

THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Merck, a global health care company, will each invest US$4 million in the newly launched Zambia Management and Leadership Academy (ZMLA). ZLMA will equip health care managers with knowledge and skills to enhance health care delivery in Zambia. Currently, over 360 health care managers are being trained and a further 900 others will be trained by 2014.

7 pharmaceutical companies join academic researchers to speed TB drug discovery

Seven pharmaceutical companies and four research institutions, working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have launched a groundbreaking partnership that aims to speed the discovery of essential new treatments for tuberculosis (TB). The partnership, known as the TB Drug Accelerator (TBDA), will target the discovery of new TB drugs by collaborating on early-stage research. The long-term goal of the TBDA is to create a TB drug regimen that cures patients in only one month.

The National Association of People with AIDS and OraSure Technologies launch eighth Mayor's Campaign against HIV for National HIV Testing Day on June 27

The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) and OraSure Technologies, Inc. announced today the launch of the eighth annual Mayors Campaign Against HIV™, a national campaign to encourage testing for HIV and promote the benefits of knowing one’s HIV status. The Campaign is part of the annual observance of National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) on Wednesday, June 27, 2012.

Alvos Biotecnologia, a company created by Biominas Brasil, had an effective participation in the development of a Brazilian vaccine against schistosomiasis

Brazil has created and will produce a vaccine against Schistosomiasis, a chronic illness caused by the Schistosoma parasite found in areas that lack basic sanitation. On June, 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) issued the results of clinical safety testing for the vaccine developed by the Experimental Schistosomiasis Laboratory of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz). Based on the antigen Sm14, developed and patented by the IOC, the vaccine puts Brazil at the forefront of knowledge in a field of high technological complexity.

Emergence Of Drug Resistance To ARVs Has Potential To 'Curb, And Even Reverse' Gains Against HIV

Noting that the "[r]oll-out of antiretroviral treatment for HIV in sub-Saharan Africa has been accompanied by rising rates of drug resistance," Raph Hamers, a global health research fellow at the Academic Medical Centre of the University of Amsterdam, and colleagues "call for improved patient management and the integration of population-based drug resistance surveillance into national treatment programs" in this BMJ analysis.

Case Studies Focus on Role of Multi-Sector Collaborations to Address Global Health Challenges

Online Collection Illustrates Efforts of Productive Partnerships

May 18, 2012 – Chicago, IL – Successful multi-sector global health programs engage partners and policymakers early, communicate openly and frequently with relevant stakeholders, and empower and involve communities, according to a website relaunched this week, Case Studies for Global Health, www.casestudiesforglobalhealth.org.

More than a third of anti-malarial drugs in SE Asia fake, finds study

Radio Australia
May 24, 2012

A new American study has found that fake malaria drugs are threatening the gains made in the fight against the deadly disease.

Researchers at the US National Institute of Health have found that more than one third of the anti-malarial drugs in Southeast Asia are fake and that a third of samples in sub-Saharan Africa don't contain the right ingredients.

Dr Margaret Chan appointed to a second term as Director-General

The World Health Assembly today appointed Dr Margaret Chan for a second five-year term as Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). In her acceptance speech to health ministers and representatives of WHO’s Member States, Dr Chan pledged her continued commitment to improve the health of the most vulnerable. In addition she said that the biggest challenge over the next five years will be to lead WHO in ways that will help maintain the unprecedented momentum for better health that marked the start of this century.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Launches 'Together on Diabetes' in Asia

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has announced a $15 million commitment to bring its Together on Diabetes initiative to China and India. According to the International Diabetes Foundation, more than 9 percent of the population in China and 8.3 percent of the Indian population suffers from type 2 diabetes, and IDF projects those numbers will rise significantly by 2030.

740,000 Lives Saved: Benefits of AIDS Relief Program

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the government's far-reaching health-care foreign aid program, has contributed to a significant decline in adult death rates from all causes in Africa, according to a new study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

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