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.
June 3, 2008
In This Issue:
Policy
1. Senate Approves $400 million for NIH in Supplemental Spending Bill
2. WHO Adopts New Plan to Promote Essential Health Research for Global Health
News and Reports
3. U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million from Institute
4. New Repellents without DEET Show Promise in Tests on Humans
5. WHO Promotes New Strategies to Combat Threats to Global Public Health
6. Conditions Ripe for Disease in Myanmar Delta
Events
7. 2008 Annual Conference on Microbial Resistance
8. U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program’s 43rd Annual Tuberculosis and Leprosy Conference
9. Committee on the U.S. Commitment to Global Health
Policy
1. Senate Approves $400 million for NIH in Supplemental Spending Bill
On May 22, 2008, the Senate approved (by a wide margin of 75-22) a supplemental appropriations bill that includes $400 million for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $400 million could potentially move forward an additional 700 research grants in 2008, bringing us a step closer to understanding disease and developing new treatments. Thank you for letting your Senators know that medical research is important!
The bill will now move to the floor of the House of Representatives. Please continue to let your elected officials know that you care about medical research. For information on how, visit our Action Center.
2. WHO Adopts New Plan to Promote Essential Health Research for Global Health
At this year's 61st World Health Assembly, a two-year WHO working group on innovation and intellectual property in global health concluded its work with a resolution aimed at promoting innovation and research on diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries. The new plan underscores the need to address market failures in order to accelerate the development of medicines for millions of people around the world. It also warns that this incentive alone does not meet the need for the development of new products designed to fight diseases where the potential paying market is small or uncertain. Other important elements of the strategy include increased government-funded research and improving research capacity in developing countries.
Learn more about the role government must take when the paying market is small and how the U.S. can improve research capacity in developing countries.
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News and Reports
3. U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million from Institute
U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million from Institute (Washington Post, May 27, 2008) We know that medical research saves lives, but scientific research in America has been threatened by the flat-funding of NIH. Read about the latest initiative by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to ensure medical advances for the future.
4. New Repellents without DEET Show Promise in Tests on Humans
New Repellents without DEET Show Promise in Tests on Humans (New York Times, May 27, 2008) discusses new developments in insect repellents to fight mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.
5. WHO Promotes New Strategies to Combat Threats to Global Public Health
WHO Promotes New Strategies to Combat Threats to Global Public Health (Voice of America, May 28, 2008) “Little research is done to create drugs against parasites and tropical diseases that kill and disable millions of poor people each year because there's little money to be made from this,” says the author. Last week, the world’s health leaders reached a “breakthrough” agreement and endorsed public health strategies to improve access to medicines and drug research.
6. Conditions Ripe for Disease in Myanmar Delta
Conditions Ripe for Disease in Myanmar Delta (ABC News, May 27, 2008) explains that malaria and dengue fever outbreaks will be a major concern in the coming weeks after mosquitoes have time to breed in the stagnant water that flooded the delta
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7. 2008 Annual Conference on Microbial Resistance
June 23-25, 2008
Hyatt Regency Bethesda
Bethesda, Maryland
Click here for more information.
8. US-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program's 43rd Annual Tuberculosis and Leprosy Conference
Conference: July 8-10, 2008
Diagnostics Workshop: Development and Regulatory Issues: July 11, 2008
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland
Local Host: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Click here for more information.
9. Committee on the U.S. Commitment to Global Health
This will be the second public committee meeting of the Committee on the U.S. Commitment to Global Health at the Keck Center of the National Academies
Date: July 21, 2008
Leading up to the July meeting, the committee working groups will hold three public meetings:
1. June 10: Working group meeting on human resources for health in low- and middle-income countries
2. June 26: Working group meeting on U.S. engagement in global health governance
3. July 7: Working group meeting on gaps and priorities in U.S. contributions to global disease challenges
For more information and to RSVP, please 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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