Pipeline April 28 2009

Families USA's Global Health Initiative advocates for U.S. policies that advance global health research, with the goal of developing medical technologies to improve global health.

April 28, 2009

In This Issue:

This is the last issue of the Families USA Global Health Initiative's Global Health Pipeline. We've appreciated your support of and interest in global health research and Families USA's initiative. Past issues of the Pipeline, as well as all of the Global Health Initiative's reports and Fact Sheets will remain available on our Web site at http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/global-health. We hope you'll continue to use these materials in your continued advocacy for global health research funding.

News and Reports
1. Global Health Initiative Fact Sheets: Neglected Infectious Tropical Diseases
2. 50 State Fact Sheets: Global Health and Your State
3. Fogarty International Center Newsletter: Global Health Matters
4. The U.S. Government’s Global Health Policy Architecture: Structure, Programs, and Funding
5. New Understanding of Dengue Virus Points Way to Possible Therapies for Dengue Fever

Events
6. The Capitol Hill Conference: Future Directions in the Fight against HIV/AIDS
7. The Global Health Council’s 36th Annual Conference: New Technologies + Proven Strategies = Healthy Communities

News and Reports

1. Global Health Initiative Fact Sheets: Neglected Infectious Tropical Diseases

Chagas, leishmaniasis, Buruli ulcer . . . for most Americans, those names don’t mean a lot. But for many, these are the names of dreaded diseases. They are among a group of diseases classified as “neglected infectious diseases”—diseases that affect more than a billion people worldwide but are neglected in terms of research and disease control. They are most common in the poorest regions of the globe.

For many of these diseases, there are few and often inadequate medical options to prevent infection and the spread of the disease, and for people who are affected. More research is needed.

These fact sheets profile eight neglected infectious diseases—what they are, who gets them, what treatments are available, and what the U.S. government spends on research for each. We do not have a fact sheet for every neglected infectious disease. However, we selected diseases that have inadequate medical options and are in desperate need for more research.

Check out the fact sheets, and make Chagas, leishmaniasis, and Buruli ulcer more than unfamiliar names.

To view the disease fact sheets, click here.

2. 50 State Fact Sheets: Global Health and Your State

Families USA’s Global Health Initiative has been working on a series of state fact sheets to show how investing in global health makes a difference to each state's economy, businesses, and health.

All 50 state fact sheets are now complete and posted on our Web site for your use. As you’re talking about the importance of global health—whether that be with journalists, members of Congress, state officials, or other advocates—you can use these fact sheets to show how global health matters in every state. From creating research jobs in Maine to affecting the workforce of businesses in states from Michigan to Oregon, across the country, global health makes a difference. Take a look, and see how global health can make a difference in your state.

To view the state fact sheets, click here.

3. Fogarty International Center Newsletter: Global Health Matters
Global Health Matters (Fogarty International Center, March-April, 2009)

Read the most recent issue of the Fogarty Center’s Global Health Matters Newsletter.

Highlights in this issue include:

Gates grant launches nutrition study
Recovery Act boosts global health
Fogarty role cited in Haiti
Fogarty scholar does more than research—she runs a charity
Guest Opinion: Gordon Brown
Sustainability key to malaria fight

To read the newsletter, click here.

4. The U.S. Government’s Global Health Policy Architecture: Structure, Programs, and Funding
The U.S. Government’s Global Health Policy Architecture: Structure, Programs, and Funding (Kaiser Family Foundation, April 21, 2009)

“This report provides the first comprehensive look at the U.S. government agencies and programs involved in the nation’s global health response, including their funding and their approaches. Federal funding for such initiatives reached $9.6 billion in fiscal year 2008, more than double the amount just four years earlier.

The report also provides overviews of the large-scale global health initiatives of the U.S. government, information on which countries receive support from the U.S., and a review of the key laws governing U.S. global health policy and relevant Congressional committees.”

To read the report, click here.

5. New Understanding of Dengue Virus Points Way to Possible Therapies for Dengue Fever
New Understanding of Dengue Virus Points Way to Possible Therapies for Dengue Fever (NIH News, April 22, 2009)

“Doctors have no specific drugs to treat dengue fever, a viral illness spread by mosquitoes that sickens 50 million to 100 million people worldwide each year. Instead, the only treatments they can recommend for this painful and sometimes fatal illness (20,000 deaths globally each year) are fluids, rest and non-aspirin pain and fever reducers.

Now, researchers have identified cellular components in mosquitoes and in humans that dengue virus uses to multiply inside these hosts after infecting them. Their findings could lead to the development of anti-dengue drugs that would inhibit one or more of these host factors, thus curtailing infection and the development of disease.

To read the press release, click here.

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Events

6. The Capitol Hill Conference: Future Directions in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Date: May 13, 2009
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Place: Cannon House Office Building, Caucus Room 345, Washington, DC
By The Foundation for AIDS Research and Research!America
For more information, click here.

7. The Global Health Council’s 36th Annual Conference: New Technologies + Proven Strategies = Healthy Communities
Date: May 26 - 30, 2009
Place: Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
For more information, click here.

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Tell us YOUR global health story!
Have you lived or worked in a developing country? Have you witnessed the hardships and struggles of communities living with illness and without treatment? Or perhaps you fell ill while abroad? Whatever your global health story is, we want to know it. Click here to tell us your story.

Visit Families USA's Global Health Initiative for more information.

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Please e-mail ckim@familiesusa.org.