Health

Experimental Novartis drug shows malaria promise

Friday, 03 September 2010 12:35

An experimental Novartis drug can clear malaria infection in mice with a single dose and scientists say it shows promise as a possible future treatment for one of the world's major killer diseases.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Malaria - NITD609 - Novartis - artemisinin combination therapy - Sanofi-Aventis - Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases - Wellcome Trust - Medicines for Malaria Venture - U.S. National Institutes of Health - Elizabeth Winzeler - Anthony Fauci - Glaxosmithkline - Mosquirix - Africa

Rwanda tackles top killer of children

Friday, 03 September 2010 11:58

Stainless Steel Needle Beside Glass Medicine Bottles

For more than a year now, Rwanda has been immunizing its children against pneumonia. Its goal is to save the lives of 6,000 kids every year. This week, health officials and others are checking on the program's progress.

Pneumonia is the leading killer of children under age five worldwide. Over one and a half million die every year from the disease, mostly in developing countries.

In April 2009, Rwanda, with help from the GAVI Alliance and other partners, started a vaccination program against pneumococcal disease.

(3 Votes)

Tags: GAVI Alliance - Alex Palacios - pneumonia - pneumococcal disease - diarrhea - rotavirus - bacterial meningitis - malaria - vaccine - immunize - Rwanda

US will give Mozambique $1 billion to fight HIV

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 13:21

The United States says it will provide $1 billion over the next five years to help fight AIDS in Mozambique, where some 1.5 million people are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

(1 Vote)

Tags: United States - PEPFAR - HIV - AIDS - HIV treatment - reducing infection - Mozambique

Tackling cancer among poor doesn't have to cost dear

Monday, 16 August 2010 13:24

The growing burden of cancer in developing countries could be reduced without expensive drugs and equipment, scientists said on Monday, but it requires a global effort similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Lancet - Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries - cancer - Africa

Antibiotics could vaccinate against malaria, says study

Friday, 06 August 2010 14:34

Malaria sufferers might be able to protect themselves against life-threatening bouts of the disease by taking a single course of antibiotics, research in mice has shown.

(2 Votes)

Tags: malaria - antibiotics - medicine - research - science - health - Africa

Mali to rear malaria-resistant GM mosquitoes

Thursday, 05 August 2010 12:36

A laboratory in Mali will soon be rearing Africa's first mosquitoes genetically modified to resist malaria. The laboratory, at the Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Bamako, was officially opened yesterday.

(2 Votes)

Tags: laboratory - test - genetically modified - Bamako - mosquitoes - malaria - Mali

$106 million to set up ten malaria research centres

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 14:50

Malaria control and elimination efforts have received a $106 million funding for ten new centres aimed at strengthening research and training capacity in endemic regions around the world.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Malaria - cure - elimination - health - ICEMR - Africa

Nigeria winning war against polio

Wednesday, 28 July 2010 13:49

After years of battling polio outbreaks, Nigeria is making impressive progress in eradicating the highly infectious disease, Microsoft chairperson Bill Gates said.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Bill Gates - Foundation - polio - infection - health - immunisation - Nigeria

PEPFAR to train thousands of African healthcare workers

Friday, 23 July 2010 07:46

The success of PEPFAR depends in large part on healthcare workers in African countries. But there's a shortage of those workers, as many leave for better opportunities elsewhere. As a result, PEPFAR has a new program to try to solve the problem. The issue was addressed at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna.

(1 Vote)

Tags: PEPFAR - 18th International AIDS Conference - Deborah von Zinkernagel - healthcare workers - Africa

One million South Africans voluntarily tested for HIV

Thursday, 22 July 2010 14:03

About one million South Africans have been voluntarily tested for HIV since the launch of the government's HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign earlier this year.

(1 Vote)

Tags: HIV Counselling and Testing campaign - Aaron Motsoaledi - Antiretroviral Treatment - Rights Here Right Now - 18th International AIDS Conference - South Africa

Study on HIV risk-reducing gel welcomed

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:34

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS have welcomed a study conducted on a vaginal gel which is said to reduce the risk of HIV infections in women if used before and after intercourse.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research - CAPRISA - WHO - UNAIDS - Michel Sidibe - HIV - Margaret Chan - Tenofovir - Microbicide gel - 18th International AIDS Conference - Vienna - South Africa

Glaxo, Pfizer JV opens HIV pipeline to generic companies

Monday, 19 July 2010 15:56

ViiV Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer's joint venture company for AIDS drugs, is opening its entire product line-up to generic drugmakers working in the world's poorest countries.

(2 Votes)

Tags: ViiV Healthcare - GlaxoSmithKline - Pfizer - HIV - AIDS - AIDS conference - Dominique Limet - Shionogi - novel integrase inhibitor - Africa

Antibiotics could help control malaria: study

Friday, 16 July 2010 11:57

People at high risk of malaria may benefit from taking a cocktail of antibiotics as a preventative step, according to the results of a study in mice.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Antibiotics - Malaria - Steffen Borrmann - Kenya Medical Research Institute - Mosquirix - GlaxoSmithKline - Malaria vaccine - Mali - BUrkina Faso - Kenya

HIV vaccine hope for Africans

Thursday, 15 July 2010 15:32

HIV/Aids organisations in Africa are hopeful that the latest discovery of a protein that can protect against all HIV strains will lead to a vaccine against the epidemic plaguing the continent.

(1 Vote)

Tags: HIV/Aids - antibodies - HIV-1 - Gary Nabel - US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Ayaaz Moosa - Mpilwende HIV/Aids Organisation - OLga Gathuya - Gregory Olawale - South Africa - Kenya - Nigeria

Safer sex by young in Africa drives HIV rates down

Tuesday, 13 July 2010 13:22

Young people in Africa are leading a "revolution" in HIV prevention and driving down rates of the disease by having safer sex and fewer sexual partners, the United Nations AIDS programme said on Tuesday.

(1 Vote)

Tags: HIV/AIDS - HIV prevention - UNAIDS - safer sex - condom use - young people - Cameroon - Tanzania - Uganda - Burundi - Lesotho - Rwanda - Swaziland - Botswana - Ivory Coast - Ethiopia - Kenya - Malawi - Namibia - Zimbabwe - Africa

Namibia lifts HIV travel ban

Friday, 09 July 2010 11:09

Namibia has lifted its long-standing travel ban for people living with HIV. Namibian officials say even though there's no record of enforcement of the ban, it did not reflect Namibia's commitment to democracy and human rights.

(1 Vote)

Tags: HIV travel ban - UNAIDS - HIV AIDS - Henk Van Renterghem - Michel Sidibe - 18th International AIDS Conference - IDS 2010 - Rights Here - Right Now - Namibia

SA first with HIV kidney transplant

Thursday, 08 July 2010 11:50

Cape Town doctor Elmi Muller and her team have pioneered a technique to transplant kidneys between HIV-positive donors and recipients.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Elmi Muller - HIV/AIDS - University of Cape Town - Groote Schuur hospital - June Fabian - Witwatersrand University - kidney transplant - South Africa

Highly nutritious green cakes could save lives

Thursday, 01 July 2010 14:34

Donors hope spirulina, a blue-green, protein-packed algae, will deliver on its promise by the time a US$1.7 million cultivation project in Chad, funded by the European Union (EU), ends in December 2010.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Spirulina - European Union - UNFAO - Allesandro Manini - Chad

Campaign aims to eliminate neonatal tetanus globally

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:24

The U.N. Children's Fund is launching a campaign in partnership with the global volunteer network, Kiwanis International, to eliminate neonatal tetanus in women and children around the world. UNICEF says this preventable disease kills around 60,000 newborns each year.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Maternal and Neonatal tetanus - UNICEF - Eliminate Project - Jeremy Hartley - immunization - Africa

African researchers to use latest genetic tools for health and history

Wednesday, 23 June 2010 13:52

Research into the health of Africans takes a big step forward with the launch of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Project.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Human Heredity and Health in Africa - US National Institutes of Health - Wellcome Trust - African Society for Human Genetics - Charles Rotimi - cancer - cardiovascular disease - Nigeria - Africa

Musician uses power of music to help Senegal fight malaria

Monday, 21 June 2010 13:57

Senegalese musician Youssou Ndour has brought his own version of the talent show "American Idol" to the capital Dakar. But this contest is helping to fight one of the country's biggest killers - malaria.