China Begins Swine Flu Vaccinations, Denies Restricting Pork Imports

by Mike Smith

Published September 25, 2009 @ 08:05AM PT

At the start of the week China began vaccinating its population against swine flu, hoping to inoculate 65 million by the year's end — prioritizing border guards, transit workers, the military and police. Funny that similarly strategies in the U.K. and U.S. demand that healthcare professionals would be the first to give the vaccination. China have also denied reports that they're restricting imports of pork from Europe.

Manufacturers explain that they can only make 3 billion doses of swine flu vaccines each year, less than 5 billion previously reported. But before the U.S. population gets the jabs, there are some other things that can be done which will sound really good as you prepare for the weekend. banning conferences and meeting can help address the pandemic. It's also explained in the New York Daily News that the prison system — with inmates going back an forth to courts — is a breeding ground for H1N1.

[Photo credit: nperiksson]

AIDS Vaccine's Partial Success Encourages Scientists

by Mike Smith

Published September 24, 2009 @ 03:26PM PT

An AIDS vaccine has been tested, and it simply can't be called an unqualified success, nor even a breakthrough. But the progress is encouraging. A Thai trial is delighting and puzzling scientists. One of the backers explained, “if you have a product that’s even a little bit protective, you want to look at the blood samples and figure out what particular response was effective and direct research from there.” The vaccine lowered the rate of infection by 31.2% — too little to be considered for licensing. Scientists have a right to be pleased, even if there is much more still to be done.

Education helps too, in Thailand HIV cases numbered 19,000 in 2003, down from 143,000 in 1991 due to an education campaign spearheaded by a certain "Mr Condom."

[Photo credit: Cyril Plapied]

U.S To Finally End HIV Immigration Ban

by Mike Smith

Published September 23, 2009 @ 11:12AM PT

An official memo explains that immigration officials in the U.S will soon no longer be able to deny HIV positive immigrants "if the only ground of inadmissability is that the applicant has been diagnosed with HIV infection." Testing for HIV will be allowed to continue, but applicants will be able — and encouraged — to apply for a waiver. The policy was overturned last year with the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 but the Bush administration did not choose to change the rules at that time.

View the memo here.

[Photo credit: CDC]

Genius Grants Winners Tackle Infectious Diseases, Child Health

by Mike Smith

Published September 22, 2009 @ 01:14PM PT

Given five years and half a million dollars, how would you effect a change to global health? It's not all about the money of course, but wow — it can certainly help. The MacArthur Genius Grants have been announced for the year: 24 people who will each receive half a million dollars with no strings attached. There's a couple of winners working in the global health space that are worth highlighting.

Esther Duflo has a very interesting and broad career working as an economist whose field-work combines with rigorous empirical analysis to conclude things like "pension transfers to grandmothers, rather than grandfathers, brought about the greatest improvement in the health of girls." She has also used a cross-disciplinary approach to understand the effect of pollution from traditional, solid-fuel cooking stoves. See her speaking at a recent New Yorker event.

Jill Seaman works on delivering and improving treatments for infectious diseases. She works extensively in Southern Sudan, fighting an epidemic of visceral leishmaniasis for almost a decade. She stayed on in Sudan after Doctors Without Borders left in order to set up her own organization. The MacArthur foundation explain that she "serves as a pioneering authority on how to provide life-saving medical care in all but impossible conditions." See her explaining her work in this video.

Both present innovative, on-the-ground answers and solutions, and it will be interesting to see how the work of this collection of extraordinary people is helped by a big injection of cash.

[Photo credit: Pathology of infectious diseases]

Egypt's Swine Flu Fear and Pig Slaughter Proves Costly

by Mike Smith

Published September 21, 2009 @ 12:32PM PT

Egypt's completely unnecessary cull of hundreds of thousands of pigs in reaction to swine flu (they thought it came from pigs) has come back to bite them, causing a health problem of another kind. Egyptian leaders may not have appreciated the importance of pigs to waste disposal, but it's being reporting that Cairo is now becoming overwhelmed with trash as there are no pigs to consuming organic matter that's now left to rot.

Egyptian leaders took the decision with little concern for on-the-ground knowledge. The previous system sounds perfect, employing a community of Chrisians who "collected the trash, sold the recyclables and fed the organic waste to their pigs — which they then slaughtered and ate." Egyptian schools are closed until Oct 5 due to further flu fears. Someone at the top is making some really bad, ill-informed decisions.

[Photo credit: Y-Not?]

Doctors Demand Climate Action To Prevent Biggest Global Health Threat

by Mike Smith

Published September 20, 2009 @ 11:38AM PT

Doctors are repeating calls that climate change is likely to represent "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century" in the run up to a big UN conference in Copenhagen in December. Leaders will be hoping draw up a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Treaty.

In a letter appearing in the The Lancet and the British Medical Journal doctors from around the world, representing 18 medical associations, are "calling on medical practitioners everywhere to put pressure on politicians in advance of the meeting" reports the Independent. And of course, as we are told time and time again, it's the world's poor who are going to feel the effect of climate change the most — rising sea levels, drought, and huge food security issues. The issues may begin to sound trivial after hearing about them so many times, so let's repeat: Climate change will represent "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century."

[Photo credit: bk59]

Airline Tax To Fund Global Health Projects

by Mike Smith

Published September 18, 2009 @ 09:01AM PT

A tax on airline tickets will soon help fight HIV/Aids, malaria, and tuberculosis in Africa. We initially heard about the scheme earlier this year when Bill Clinton put his weight behind the plan. Now the scheme that'll ask for a voluntary contribution of $2 is all go, those behind it hope it will make up the expected shortfall in governmental aid.

Time report that Bill Clinton and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are backing the scheme which will be launched by British prime minister Gordon Brown and the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, on Sept 23 as an aside to the U.N. General Assembly. It's hoped the money will help further reduce child mortality, which as we heard last week is heading in the right direction, but needs more resources in order to meet the Millenium goal of reducing it by two thirds.

There's no word of whether making people feel better about flying around the world, contributing few million tonnes of carbon to atmosphere, is a thing to encourage; but the millions it'll raise is certainly good news for the short term.

[Photo credit: rockcohen]