“To commemorate World TB Day 2013, the Lancet Infectious Diseases publishes a series of papers on tuberculosis, a disease that has long plagued human beings and was declared a global emergency in 1993 by WHO,” the series homepage states. “Without concerted action from political leaders, health policymakers, funders, and others, health…

“South Africa will expand its rollout of GeneXpert tuberculosis (TB) testing machines, which can diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB within 90 minutes, but concerns remain about the capacity to back up this commitment with supplies and treatment,” IRIN reports. “At the opening of the TB Vaccines Third Global Forum in…

The WHO’s Stop TB Department released data on Thursday at the 40th Union World Conference on Lung Health indicating that the number of new active TB cases worldwide rose from 9.27 million in 2007 to 9.4 million in 2008, Reuters reports. Experts gathered for the conference in Cancun, Mexico “called for more research funding to develop better diagnostic tests, vaccines and drugs for tuberculosis, which killed 1.8 million people around the world last year,” according to the news service.

During Surprise Stop In Yemen, Sec. Clinton To Highlight U.S. Commitment To Country’s Development U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Yemen Tuesday “on a diplomatically sensitive mission to broaden America’s relationship with this impoverished Arab country, a haven for Al Qaeda that has nurtured several recent terror…

On the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday, the General Assembly of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) gathered to discuss the continent’s progress against HIV/AIDS, Walta Info reports.

“A rise in global funding for research into neglected diseases needs to be matched by a continued focus on delivering practical new ways to curb sickness in the developing world,” according to the third annual report by the Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (G-FINDER) released on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

IRIN/PlusNews Examines Efforts To Integrate HIV/AIDS Treatment And Maternal, Child Health Care IRIN/PlusNews examines Kenya’s efforts to integrate maternal and child health care and HIV/AIDS services as a way to ensure more pregnant women and mothers living with HIV/AIDS receive the treatment they need. The article describes the success of…

The following is a sampling of blog posts published this week marking International Women’s Day : PEPFAR’s Gender Challenge Fund:  At the Intersection of Gender and HIV (Goosby, 3/11). A Conversation in Afghanistan: Perspectives on International Women’s Day (Ehsaas, 3/9). The Best Investment in Global Women’s Health (Sturchio/Barnes, 3/8). Why…

U.N. Food Agencies Issue Warning About Food Shortages In N. Korea “North Korea’s government food distribution system will run dry in May and put one-quarter of the country’s 24 million residents at risk of starvation,” the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said in a report “sent to diplomats in donor…

Science Magazine reports on the recent push to make preventing and treating cancer a global priority, particularly in developing countries, where it’s estimated “less than 5% of the world’s cancer resources are [currently] spent.”