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.
December 23, 2008
In This Issue:
Families USA’s Global Health Initiative wishes you happy holidays and a great new year! The Global Health Pipeline will return in 2009.
News and Reports
1. New Report from Families USA: The World Can’t Wait: More Funding Needed for Research on Neglected Infectious Diseases
2. The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the New Administration
3. Berkeley Center for Neglected Diseases Receives $7 million Pledge
4. Towards a Research Agenda for Global Malaria Elimination
5. A Killer without Borders
6. Next NIH Director Faces Budget Issues
7. Grounds for Discovery: Students Examine Soil Samples to Find New Treatment for Tuberculosis
8. Bay Area Residents See Global Health Research as Driver for Area Jobs, Salaries
9. New Technology Helps Protect U.S. Troops from Infectious Diseases
10. Defeat Malaria? Yes We Can.
Events
11. Policy Series Partners Forum: Challenges and Opportunities in Implementing New HIV Prevention Methods
12. Keystone Symposia: Tuberculosis—Biology, Pathology, and Therapy
13. Health Action 2009
News and Reports
1. New Report from Families USA's Global Health Initiative: The World Can't Wait: More Funding Needed for Research on Neglected Infectious Diseases
The World Can’t Wait: More Funding Needed for Research on Neglected Infectious Diseases (Families USA, December 17, 2008)
This new report from Families USA’s Global Health Initiative evaluates the U.S. government's commitment to research on eight neglected infectious diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, focusing on funding for the four major agencies that are engaged in this research (CDC, DOD, NIH, and USAID). The report includes several tables that break down this funding by disease, by agency, and by research category.
To read the report, click here.
2. The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the New Administration
The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the New Administration (The National Academies Press, December 15, 2008)
“Over the last decade, the U.S. government has spent record amounts on global health. By building on these commitments and deploying the full complement of U.S. assets to achieve global health, the United States can improve the lives of millions around the world, while reflecting America’s values and protecting and promoting the nation’s interests.
The Institute of Medicine—with the support of four U.S. government agencies and five private foundations—formed an independent committee to examine the United States’ commitment to global health and to articulate a vision for future U.S. investments and activities in this area. The report recommends that the new administration highlight health as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy and provides specific recommendations as to how the incoming leadership can demonstrate its commitment to global health.”
To read the article, click here.
3. Berkeley Center for Neglected Diseases Receives $7 million Pledge
Berkeley Center for Neglected Diseases Receives $7 million Pledge (Berkeley Alliance for Global Health, December 11, 2008)
“The University of California Berkeley announced a $7 million pledge from philanthropist Henry Wheeler to establish the Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases (CEND). The new program seeks to advance scientific discovery for disabling diseases—like drug-resistant tuberculosis, trypanosomiasis, and dengue fever—that primarily impact people in developing countries.”
To read the press release, click here.
4. Towards a Research Agenda for Global Malaria Elimination
Towards a Research Agenda for Global Malaria Elimination (Malaria Journal, December 2008)
“Malaria Journal is now in its seventh year of existence and it has become a major journal in the discipline, reporting on all aspects of malaria, 'from the bench, to the bedside and to the bush'. There will no doubt be many papers published on malaria elimination in the future, but it is fitting that Malaria Journal should be the first journal to publish a series of review articles looking at the many aspects of the research agenda for malaria elimination on a global scale.”
To read the editorial, click here.
To read the articles, click here.
5. A Killer without Borders
A Killer without Borders (New York Times, December 6, 2008)
“Americans don’t think much about TB, just as we didn’t think much of AIDS in the 1980s. But drug-resistant TB is spreading—half a million cases a year already—and in a world connected by jet planes and constant flows of migrants and tourists, the risk is that our myopia will catch up with us.”
To read the article, click here.
6. Next NIH Director Faces Budget Issues
Next NIH Director Faces Budget Issues (Washington Post, December 13, 2008)
"We are a knowledge economy, we are not a manufacturing economy," said Elias A. Zerhouni, who stepped down in October after six years as NIH director. "NIH provides an enormous opportunity for sustaining economic activity. I am hoping the new administration will focus on this issue."
To read the article, click here.
7. Grounds for Discovery: Students Examine Soil Samples to Find New Treatment for Tuberculosis
Grounds for Discovery: Students Examine Soil Samples to Find New Treatment for Tuberculosis (Daily News Tribune, December 16, 2008)
“Could a local soil sample be the key to finding an alternative treatment for tuberculosis? Well, maybe, say students at Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School.”
To read the article, click here.
8. Bay Area Residents See Global Health Research as Driver for Area Jobs, Salaries
Bay Area Residents See Global Health Research as Driver for Area Jobs, Salaries (School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, December 8, 2008)
“Fully 84% of Bay area residents say that Americans will be better off if the U.S. government invests in research to improve health around the world, according to a new public opinion poll.”
To read the article, click here.
9. New Technology Helps Protect U.S. Troops from Infectious Diseases
New Technology Helps Protect U.S. Troops from Infectious Diseases (Science Daily, December 12, 2008)
“Representatives from NASA convened in New Orleans December 11 to report at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting the results from a NASA-enhanced computerized system to assess environmental and health concerns for deployed U.S. forces. The Global Situational Awareness Tool (GSAT), developed and operated by the Air Force Special Operations Command, is a computerized set of linkable databases that characterizes and predicts health risks and other dangers to U.S. troops and multi-national forces in Afghanistan and other areas.”
To read the article, click here.
10. Defeat Malaria? Yes We Can.
Defeat Malaria? Yes We Can. (Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2008)
“Why would a company like ours [GlaxoSmithKline] devote 25 years of research and more than $300 million of shareholders' capital to develop a malaria vaccine? After all, there has never been a vaccine against any parasitic disease. Moreover, this vaccine is only relevant in some of the world's poorest countries, leaving little opportunity for profit.”
To read the article, click here.
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11. Policy Series Partners Forum: Challenges and Opportunities in Implementing New HIV Prevention Methods
Date: January 9, 2009
Location: Global Health Council, Washington, DC
For more information, click here.
12. Keystone Symposia: Tuberculosis—Biology, Pathology, and Therapy
Date: January 25-30, 2009
Location: Keystone, CO
For more information, click here.
13. Families USA’s Health Action 2009
Date: January 29-31, 2009
Location: Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC
For more information, click here.
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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.
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