Global Health Progress

Officials in Ethiopia reported that an “acute watery diarrhea” epidemic has infected 5,000 people resulting in 34 fatalities in the past two weeks. Until the Ethiopian government can confirm that the outbreak is Cholera, it is being reported as an “acute watery diarrhea”.

The 59th Regional Committee Meeting of WHO-Africa opened today in Kigali.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has contracted H1N1. To date, Colombia has reported 621 confirmed cases of H1N1 — including Uribe’s — and 34 fatalities.

Many poor Filipinos, living on U.S. $1 per day, have sold their organs to foreigners for as little as U.S. $2,000.

An estimated 1.7 million women in Asia are currently living with HIV/AIDS. A recently released study by UNAIDS estimates that 90 percent of these women were infected by their long-time partners. In the Philippines, returning overseas contract workers have emerged as a major source of HIV infection.

For six years the Center for Treatment and Research on AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Other Epidemics (Trac Plus) has provided free antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to over 70,000 patients.

The Kenyan government has launched a national malaria campaign to emphasize the importance of the consistent use of treated mosquito bed nets during all seasons.

Brazil now has the highest number of swine flu fatalities in the world, according to figures released by its health ministry Wednesday.

The ‘United Against Malaria’ campaign, an effort to eliminate the threat of malaria by 2010, was announced by Ugandan Health Minister Dr. Steven Mallinga during the campaign’s official launch last Thursday in Kampala.

Dr. Glenn Geelhoed, professor of surgery, international medical education, and microbiology and tropical medicine at the George Washington University, writes about his first medical mission of 2009. The team rises to new challenges in the form of a blackout during their time in Far North Luzon General Hospital, where they performed 204 operations in four full days.