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.
September 10, 2008
In This Issue:
Policy Updates
1. Congress Returns
News and Reports
2. Google's Philanthropy Arm Leads Effort to Use Weather Data to Fight Disease
3. Virus That Infects Mosquitoes Could Lead to Weapon against Disease
4. In Pursuit of Better Weapons to Combat TB
5. University of Kentucky Testing Smallpox Vaccine
6. CDC Measles Expert Weighs in on Vaccinations, So Does Amanda Peet
7. Chickenpox Vaccine Slashes Virus by 90 Percent
Events
8. 2008 United States Conference on AIDS
9. Vaccine Day
Policy Updates
1. Congress Returns
Congress returned from recess yesterday, September 8.
News and Reports
2. Google’s Philanthropy Arm Leads Effort to Use Weather Data to Fight Disease
Google’s Philanthropy Arm Leads Effort to Use Weather Data to Fight Disease (New York Times, September 1, 2008)
Google is using technology innovation to fight disease. The company’s philanthropy arm is collaborating with African health, weather, insect, and climate experts in Nairobi to gather data for early prediction and prevention of disease outbreaks in Kenya.
To read the report, click here.
3. Virus That Infects Mosquitoes Could Lead to Weapon against Disease
Virus That Infects Mosquitoes Could Lead to Weapon against Disease (New York Times, August 25, 2008)
Found “in a complete accident,” a virus discovered by researchers at Johns Hopkins University that causes malaria may be used in future disease prevention.
To read the article, click here.
4. In Pursuit of Better Weapons to Combat TB
In Pursuit of Better Weapons to Combat TB (Scientific American, August 25, 2008)
“Tuberculosis remains a stubborn foe despite …the public and private sector’s efforts to deploy new antibiotics and diagnostic tools against a disease that thrives on poverty and ignorance.”
To read the article, click here.
Scientific American also reports directly from Russia as they fight on the forefront against multi-drug resistant TB.
To read “A Report from the Russian Front in the Global Fight Against Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis,” click here.
5. University of Kentucky Testing Smallpox Vaccine
UK Testing Smallpox Vaccine (Lexington Herald Leader, August 25, 2008)
“Researchers at the University of Kentucky are studying the safety of a new vaccine for smallpox.”
To read the article describing their work, click here.
6. CDC Measles Expert Weighs in on Vaccinations, So Does Amanda Peet
CDC Measles Expert Weighs in on Vaccinations, So Does Amanda Peet (Scientific American, August 25, 2008)
“The first outbreak of 2008 came via a 7-year old boy from San Diego, who traveled to Switzerland with his family. He had not been vaccinated…”
To read the article, click here.
7. Chickenpox Vaccine Slashes Virus by 90 Percent
Chickenpox Vaccine Slashes Virus by 90 Percent (ABC News, September 2, 2008)
Vaccines are the best known protections against infectious diseases. Although they have proven to protect children against diseases such as chickenpox and measles, “infectious disease experts remained concerned that too few parents take the disease [chickenpox] seriously enough to get their kids vaccinated.”
“ ‘It would be a virtual certainty that chickenpox would become widespread again if there were a reduction of the use of the varicella vaccine,” says Dr. James King, professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. ‘It just amazes me that vaccines are not valued as they have been one of the most successful advances in medicine.’ “
To read the article, click here.
[Return to Top]
8. 2008 United States Conference on AIDS
Date: September 18-21, 2008
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
For more information, click here.
9. Vaccine Day
Date: September 19, 2008
Location: Johns Hopkins University
Time: 12:30-5:30 PM
Keynote Speaker: David Heymann, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security and the Environment, and Representative of the Director-General for Polio Eradication
For more information, click here.
[Return to Top]
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.
Subscribe to The Global Health Pipeline and receive updates on news, policy, and developments in global health research.
The Global Health Pipeline is a bimonthly update of news, policy, and events related to global health research.
We welcome your submissions.
Please e-mail ckim@familiesusa.org.
