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.
January 27, 2009
In This Issue:
Policy Updates
1. A Call to Action: More Funding for NIH
News and Reports
2. Why the U.S. Must Lead on Global HIV and TB Treatment
3. CDC Global Health e-Brief
4. To Defeat Global TB, Doctors Should Get Back to Basics
5. Mosquito Mating Song: Dengue Fever Duet
6. $630 Million Donated Toward Polio Eradication Efforts
7. Bites of Innovation in Malaria Testing
8. Physician Leads Efforts to Rid World of Malaria
Events
9. Keystone Symposia: Tuberculosis—Biology, Pathology and Therapy
10. Health Action 2009
Policy Updates
1. A Call to Action: More Funding for NIH
The House released a stimulus package that included $2 billion for NIH last week. Unfortunately, the NIH provision was removed from the latest version of the stimulus bill that was approved by the House Energy and Commerce and House Ways and Means Committees on January 22nd. It is unlikely that the NIH funding would be successfully added back into the bill as an amendment when the House stimulus bill goes to the floor for a voice vote. The best bet to ensuring that NIH gets the funds it needs is to ask your Senators to include funding for NIH in the Senate version of the stimulus package. Then, when the House and Senate settle the differences between their bills, it is possible that the additional NIH funding will remain in the final legislation.
Analysis conducted by Families USA shows that funding for NIH boosts local economies. To view Families USA's analysis, click here.
Contact your Senators and tell them that NIH funding helps local economies grow and is vital to U.S. economic interests. NIH funding must be included in the economic stimulus package and should also be substantially increased in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
News and Reports
2. Why the U.S. Must Lead on Global HIV and TB Treatment
Why the U.S. Must Lead on Global HIV and TB Treatment (San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 2009)
“As we consider the mission of the next secretary of state, we must remember that U.S. diplomacy and global security also require strong leadership to advance the causes of global health. In fact, the U.S. Institute of Medicine has urged, in a report released last month, that global health should be a key component of U.S. foreign policy.”
To read the report, click here.
3. CDC Global Health e-Brief
CDC Global Health e-Brief (CDC, January 12, 2009)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is committed to keeping America healthy while partnering with other country governments to help them meet their own health priorities. This last quarter e-brief focuses on CDC’s presence around the globe in supporting global health efforts.
To read the e-brief, click here.
4. To Defeat Global TB, Doctors Should Get Back to Basics
To Defeat Global TB, Doctors Should Get Back to Basics (NJ Voices, January 12, 2009)
“When it comes to global health, it is usually the most sensational cases—such as West Nile Virus or SARS disease—that grab the public's attention. But our focus on the scariest outbreaks also can blind us from seeing the root of the problem.”
To read the article, click here.
5. Mosquito Mating Song: Dengue Fever Duet
Mosquito Mating Song: Dengue Fever Duet (Time, January 9, 2009)
“Most duets are blood-chillingly bad (‘A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll’ by Donny and Marie Osmond springs to mind), and doubtless the mosquito's mating song ranks high among such perturbations. But the identification of a particular love ballad performed by Aedes aegypti, the mosquito responsible for spreading dengue and yellow fevers, has one group of Cornell University scientists whistling happily along.”
To read the article, click here.
6. $630 Million Donated Toward Polio Eradication Efforts
$630 Million Donated Toward Polio Eradication Efforts (New York Times, January 21, 2009)
“Twenty years after the world set out to eradicate polio, the crippling disease is still stubbornly endemic in four countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.” How much will it take to eradicate polio from these places?
To read the article, click here.
7. Bites of Innovation in Malaria Testing
Bites of Innovation in Malaria Testing (Seattle Times, January 9, 2009)
“Researchers are calling it the ‘astronaut food approach’—aa malaria test on a disposable card small enough to fit into a wallet, with its chemical contents dehydrated so they last for months without refrigeration.”
To read the article, click here.
8. Physician Leads Efforts to Rid World of Malaria
Physician Leads Efforts to Rid World of Malaria (RedandBlack.com, January 22, 2009)
“Dr. Stephen L. Hoffman is knocking on the door of a preeminent group of scientists. A physician who has dedicated much of his life to understanding and fighting tropical diseases, Hoffman is also the founder and CEO of Sanaria, Inc., a company that is extremely close to marketing a vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of malaria-causing parasites.”
To read the article, click here.
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9. Keystone Symposia: Tuberculosis—Biology, Pathology, and Therapy
Date: January 25-30, 2009
Place: Keystone, CO
For more information, click here.
10. Families USA’s Health Action 2009
Date: January 29-31, 2009
Place: Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Join us for a global health reception on Thursday, January 29 at 6pm.
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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