Global Health Progress

In recent years, public, private and philanthropic organizations worldwide have started to work together to discover and develop new medicines to treat neglected diseases. This month, we feature two people involved in these public–private partnerships.

Singapore’s Ministry of Health on Thursday reported that the number of anonymous HIV tests performed throughout the country increased by 46% to 8,251 last year, compared with 5,639 in 2005, Channel NewsAsia reports. In addition, 131 out of 423, or 30%, of HIV cases reported last year were detected through anonymous testing.

In another blow to Zimbabwe’s tottering health care sector, the opportunistic infections clinics at Parirenyatwa and Harare hospitals in the capital and Chitungwiza Hospitals in the nearby satellite dormitory town have been forced to close their doors after their doctors and nurses joined a widening strike by health professionals.

Studies in five African countries have shown that a new sweetened formulation of an antimalarial that can be dissolved in water is just as effective as the crushed standard tablet.
It is hoped that the new formulation will make children more likely to finish a course of antimalarials.

The two ministries responsible for health have come under the spotlight over the failure to account for Sh13 billion given by the Global Fund to fight Aids and malaria.

The World Health Organization on Monday in its updated Global Burden of Disease report reduced an earlier forecast of HIV/AIDS mortality rates, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. According to WHO, the number of HIV/AIDS-related deaths worldwide is expected to peak in the next five years — from 2.2 million in 2008 to a maximum of 2.4 million in 2012 — before declining to 1.2 million in 2030.

The current global financial crisis could harm HIV/AIDS funding and increase the factors that make people vulnerable to the disease, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said on Tuesday during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Don’t forget your pledges to help improve the lives of poor and marginalized people, and meet the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon reminded developed countries Monday.

The University of Queensland (UQ) announced that it has received a US$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Professor Mark Kendall, titled “Nanopatch Delivery of DNA-Based Malaria Vaccines to Skin: Precisely Targeting the Skin Immune System for Radically Improved Vaccines.”

As Canadian women, mothers, physicians, and global-health advocates, we would like to draw attention to a great opportunity for the advancement of health in our time: the global elimination of cervical cancer.