USAID, Janssen Therapeutics Sign MOU To Support Efforts To Address MDR-TB December 16, 2014 News Summary IIP Digital: More Nations to Receive Tuberculosis-Fighting Drug “The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Janssen Therapeutics December 11 that aims to accelerate progress in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, specifically multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The intent of the MOU is for Janssen to…
USAID Using ‘Grand Challenges’ Approach To Find Innovative Solutions To Global Crises December 16, 2014 News Summary Devex: USAID’s grand challenges — a model for speeding up the pipeline in global crises “…The U.S. aid agency’s grand challenges approach represent[s] organizationwide and lately even governmentwide efforts to institutionalize innovation, part of what USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah called in a statement on Friday a ‘new model of development…
Global Humanitarian Aid Funding System Inadequate To Meet Current Global Needs, IRIN Reports December 16, 2014 News Summary IRIN: Time for re-think on humanitarian funding? “…[The U.N. World Food Programme], which is currently trying to support more than 80 million people in 75 countries worldwide, isn’t the only over-stretched U.N. agency. … [Recent WFP cuts in several nations] reveal not just the size and number of the emergencies…
Paul Farmer Discusses Health ‘Capacity Building,’ Funding In Devex Interview December 16, 2014 News Summary Devex: Paul Farmer: ‘We’ve met the enemy — and he is us’ “…Devex caught up with [Partners In Health co-founder Paul] Farmer last week at the U.S. Senate, where he offered his assessment of key lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to the Foreign Relations Committee. ……
Drug-Resistant Malaria Threatens Progress Against Disease In Myanmar, World December 16, 2014 News Summary Thomson Reuters Foundation: Drug-resistant malaria: the world’s next big health crisis? “…Experts say Myanmar, which has the largest malaria burden in the region, is the next frontier in the spread of resistance to artemisinin. … If the problem spreads beyond the region, history would repeat itself for a third time,…
Discovery Of Antibodies Effective Against All Dengue Strains Holds Vaccine Promise, Study Says December 16, 2014 News Summary Bloomberg News: Mosquito-Borne Dengue Targeted by Antibody With Hope for Vaccine “Scientists have discovered new antibodies that neutralize viruses that cause dengue, potentially putting a universal vaccine within reach for a mosquito-borne illness that strikes an estimated 400 million people a year. The antibodies are effective against all four dengue…
U.N. Report Presents Results Of Post-2015 Development Agenda Global Survey December 16, 2014 News Summary U.N. News Centre: ‘7 million voices’ weigh in on future development agenda in U.N. survey “…The ‘We the Peoples: Celebrating 7 Million Voices’ report presents the global results of MY World, the U.N. survey for a better world, which was developed in response to the Secretary-General’s call for ‘the most…
Lax Gun Laws Contribute To High Homicide Rates In Americas, PAHO Analysis Shows December 16, 2014 News Summary New York Times: Gun Proliferation Fuels Homicide Rates in the Americas “Poor and middle-income nations of Latin America and the Caribbean are the most homicide-prone countries in the world, according to [a Pan American Health Organization] analysis of a new United Nations report on violence. And because of lax gun laws,…
Conflict In Ukraine Impacting Human Rights, Threatening Lives Of Civilians, U.N. Official Warns December 16, 2014 News Summary U.N. News Centre: Amid ongoing hostilities, U.N. warns of ‘life-threatening’ conditions for Ukraine’s civilians “As the conflict in Eastern Ukraine heads into its tenth month, continued fighting and bitter cold temperatures are placing more than five million people at risk, the top United Nations human rights official warned today as…
Kaiser Family Foundation Report Examines NGO Engagement In U.S. Global Health Efforts December 16, 2014 News Summary Kaiser Family Foundation: NGO Engagement in U.S. Global Health Efforts: U.S.-Based NGOs Receiving USG Support Through USAID “A new Kaiser Family Foundation report finds 135 different U.S.-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) received U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding in 2013 to implement U.S. global health programs on the ground. The…