Recommitting To Fight Against Malaria Despite progress over the past decade in the global fight against malaria, significant challenges remain, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, executive director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and former health minister of Senegal, writes in a Modern Ghana opinion piece ahead of World Malaria Day. “While countries…

A draft agreement that would ensure countries would share virus samples in exchange for access to affordable vaccines derived from such samples in the event of a pandemic is nearly complete, senior diplomats told Reuters on Thursday. “Consensus has been reached across all regions, including Indonesia which three years ago stopped sharing influenza samples with the World Health Organization (WHO), but the United States has yet to give formal approval, they said,” according to the news service.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Tuesday “raised the level of severity at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from 5 to 7 – the highest level on the international scale and equal to the Chernobyl accident,” ABC News reports. The decision by the agency came after an assessment revealed “the damaged reactors have been releasing large amounts of radioactive substances that pose a threat to humans and the environment in a much wider area” than initially suspected, according to the news service (Tangalo, 4/12).

Reuters Examines Growing HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Indonesia Reuters examines the growing number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia, where “widespread ignorance” about the disease and a government afraid of campaigning “effectively against it for fear of being accused by conservatives of promoting promiscuity” have helped fuel the epidemic. Currently, 300,000 Indonesians…

Indian Government Forms Committee To Explore NDM-1 Study Findings The Indian government “has formed a scientific committee” to examine the findings of a recent Lancet Infectious Diseases study, which found bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene were found in water supplies in New Dehli, CNN/IBN-Live reports. “The Health Ministry isn’t pleased…

U.N. officials on Thursday marked World Health Day with a warning that “the misuse and irrational use of antibiotics has undermined the global fight against tuberculosis and malaria, warning of a possible return to the days before the drugs were developed,” and called for urgent action to control the spread of drug resistance, Reuters reports. In addition to growing resistance to TB and malaria treatments, “treatment for gonorrhea was threatened by growing resistance to the last-line treatment, and the WHO said hospital-acquired superbugs, resistant to major antibiotics, were becoming increasing frequent,” the news service writes (Mogato, 4/7).

Japan Considering Reducing Foreign Aid By 20 Percent To Help Fund Disaster Relief Japanese media reported on Thursday that the country “is considering cutting foreign aid by 20 percent this fiscal year to help fund its extra budget for disaster relief after last month’s massive quake and tsunami,” Reuters reports.…

U.K.’s National Audit Office Warns DFID To Be On Guard Against Possible Corruption The U.K.’s National Audit Office (NAO) on Wednesday issued a report on the financial management of the Department for International Development (DFID) warning that “the UK had no clear picture of the ‘extent, nature and impact’ of…

BMJ News reports on South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s visit to the U.S. last week, where he spoke at a forum in Washington, D.C., on the efforts the government is making to promote HIV prevention and treatment and improve the country’s health system. The publication notes that the health ministry has set a goal of testing the HIV status of 15 million people in the country by the end of the year – “nearly a third of its population of 50 million.”

Radiation’s Effect On Health; Aid Distribution In Japan In light of the damage to nuclear reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the New York Times examines how increased radiation exposure affects human health. “Certain levels of radiation exposure are known to increase the risk of cancer, but scientists disagree about…