Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline To Invest $216M In Factories, R&D In Africa March 31, 2014 News Summary Reuters: Drugmaker GSK to invest $200 million in African factories, R&D “Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline plans to invest up to 130 million pounds ($216 million) in Africa over the next five years as chronic diseases become more common among the continent’s swelling urban middle classes…” (Hirschler, 3/31).
USAID Launches Water Innovation Prizes In Recognition Of World Water Day March 31, 2014 News Summary Writing in USAID’s “IMPACTblog” in recognition of World Water Day, USAID Global Water Coordinator and Deputy Assistant Christian Holmes discusses U.S. government efforts to invest in water. In particular, USAID is launching the Desal Prize, a prize “in partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and the Ministry of…
India Looks To Eliminate Measles Following Success With Polio March 31, 2014 News Summary NPR: After Ending Polio, India Turns To Stop Another Childhood Killer “…On Thursday, health officials declared India — and the entire Southeast Asia region — free of polio. … It also means that India, for the first time, has the tools and infrastructure to tackle other childhood diseases. At the…
Improved Pneumonia Vaccine, Health Monitoring Systems Could Reduce Child Deaths In Kenya March 31, 2014 News Summary IRIN: Pneumonia vaccine shows promise in Kenya “Better uptake of the new pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in children under five alongside more robust health monitoring systems at community level could help stem pneumonia related-deaths in children in Kenya: 20 percent of deaths in children under five are attributable to the…
Women’s Rights Advocates Seek International Help Over Women Giving Birth In Mexico’s Streets March 31, 2014 News Summary Associated Press/Huffington Post: Why Activists Say Mexican Women Are Forced To Give Birth In The Street “Women’s rights advocates sought international help Thursday in ending what they call a pattern of poor indigenous Mexican women being turned away from hospitals while in labor, forcing them to give birth on lawns,…
BBC News Explores Five Diseases Spread By Mosquitoes March 31, 2014 News Summary BBC News: Humanity’s global battle with mosquitoes “All over the world we cannot escape mosquito bites — and the diseases they carry. An epidemic of chikungunya — a viral disease carried by daytime-biting mosquitoes — is currently raging in the Caribbean. There are more than 5,900 suspected cases affecting almost…
6 African Countries Set To Benefit From New U.N.-Backed Food Security Fund March 31, 2014 News Summary U.N. News Centre: U.N. announces first countries set to benefit from African-led food security fund “A unique, Africa-led United Nations-backed fund designed to improve food security across the continent has become a reality for the first six countries slated to benefit from the initiative. The Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Malawi,…
Health Workers Say Water Shortages Contribute To Rotavirus Infections In Cameroon March 31, 2014 News Summary VOA News: Cameroon Medics Battle Rotavirus “In the past 12 months, thousands of children in Cameroon have died of severe diarrhea caused by rotavirus, with thousands more said to be hospitalized. Although the United Nations has come in to help with a vaccine, local medics say the situation is difficult,…
Stereotyping, Misinformation Perpetuates Cycle Of HIV Infections March 31, 2014 News Summary GlobalPost: When stereotypes get in the way of addressing HIV Tracy Jarrett, a GlobalPost-Kaiser Family Foundation global health reporting fellow “…[N]o one thought to test [my mom] for HIV, because she did not fit the stereotype [of a gay man in the early 1990s]. More than 30 years since the…
Scientific Evidence Should Translate To International Resolutions, Policies March 31, 2014 News Summary Huffington Post: We Have Consensus Houston Michel Kazatchkine, U.N. secretary general’s special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia “One of the unreported key events in the mainstream media at the recently concluded 57th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna was the coming together…