THE VRGH REPORT

GLOBAL OPINIONS on GLOBAL HEALTH

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IS NOW AVAILABLE !

>> http://s233420062.onlinehome.fr/FINAL+REPORT+15.12.08.pdf<<

THE VRGH REPORT 2008 is OPEN TO DISCUSSION !

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Global Health For A Globally Minded President

President-elect Barack Obama can build on historic initiatives championed by his predecessor in global AIDS and malaria. These should serve as the platform for a more comprehensive and evidence-based set of activities aimed at addressing the major causes of ill health and instability in low-income countries. Obama should launch a new Global Family Health Action Plan aimed at saving the lives of six million children and women annually in impoverished nations. Existing policies driven by U.S. domestic ideological battles, particularly those relating to sexual and reproductive health, should be revised and brought into line with solid science and evidence from the field.

[Health Affairs 28, no. 2 (2009): w199-w204 (published online 16 January 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.28.2.w199)]

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.2.w199/DC1

Report on Maternal & Newborn Health (UNICEF)

This report calls attention to the fact that women in the world’s least developed countries are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications than women in developed countries.

The health of these mothers is inextricably linked to the health of their babies, the new report points out. A child born in a developing country is almost 14 times more likely to die during the first month of life than a child born in a developed one.

http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/docs/SOWC09-FullReport-EN.pdf

WHO Addresses Financial Crisis' Global Health Impact

Impact of the global financial and economic crisis on health.

Statement by WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan
"We face a severe financial crisis of unprecedented dimensions in a world that has never before been so closely connected and interdependent. The consequences are global. The situation is volatile. The current financial crisis is rapidly becoming an economic crisis and threatens to become a social crisis in many countries.
The crisis comes at a time when commitment to global health has never been higher. It comes in the midst of the most ambitious drive in history to reduce poverty and distribute the benefits of our modern society, including those related to health, more evenly and fairly in this world - the Millennium Development Goals.

....(see):

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2008/s12/en/index.html

Young Voices on Global Health

The Lancet, together with the Geneva-based Global Forum for Health Research, have announced the winners of the 2008 essay competition entitled "Young Voices in Research for Health".

The 6 winners' essays are available at: http://www.thelancetglobalhealthnetwork.com/archives/487

VRGH in the WORLD MEDICAL JOURNAL

The World Medical Association has published in the last issue of its World Medical Journal (Vol.54, No.3, 2008) an article on the VRGH Initiative on pp. 83-84.

Link: http://www.wma.net/e/publications/index.htm

Europe reaffirms its supports for Global Health

The Belgian All Party Parliamentary Group on the MDGs in collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) organised an International High Level Conference on: “The Future of Parliamentary Involvement in Global Health and Development”.

As a key outcome of the Conference, Parliamentarians adopted a Declaration reaffirming that as the world’s largest donor, it is Europe’s responsibility to honor its commitments and highlighting the need for a continued, predictable and sustainable support for Global Health and Development.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/default_en.htm

Providing toilets, safe water is top route to improve Global Health : UN University

Simply installing toilets where needed throughout the world and ensuring safe water supplies would do more to end crippling poverty and improve world health than any other possible measure, according to an analysis released today by the United Nations University.

Diseases due to poor water, sanitation and hygiene account for an estimated 10% of the total global burden of illness.

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/10/19/providing.toilets.safe.water.top.route.reducing.world.poverty.un.university

ASIA: Countries lagging in flu pandemic plans, UN warns

Most Asia-Pacific nations are making progress on avian flu control, but are lagging in plans to tackle the social and economic fallout of a human flu pandemic, a senior UN influenza specialist, David Nabarr, has warned. He said: "I'm impressed with progress, but I am saying a lot more needs to be done, particularly on multi-sectoral pandemic preparedness."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80878

WHO agreed on a research agenda on global climate change and public health

A meeting of experts convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Madrid agreed to a research agenda to develop an evidence-based framework for action on the human health implications of climate change.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2008/pr36/en/index.html

Discoverers of AIDS and Cancer Viruses Win Nobel 2008

Two French scientists who discovered the AIDS virus and a German who found the virus that causes cervical cancer were awarded the 2008 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/07nobel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Global Health Is a Hot Field

Recently, Washington Post published an article about the current popularity of global health studies among college students.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091804145_pf.html

Report: Millennium Development Goals at midpoint

The European Union published a major report on the MDGs with recommendations to address slow progress and disparities.


http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/repository/2008%2008%2019%20MDG_Where%20do%20we%20stand_first_draft.pdf

UK DOH launched "Health is GLOBAL" Strategy

The UK Government launched a new strategy “Health is Global” which sets out the span of global health issues and the plan for tackling them across government and with other partners, including civil society organizations.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_072697

500,000 Women Die in Pregnancy, Childbirth

More than half a million women still die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, often bleeding to death because no emergency obstetrical care is available, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

Despite modest progress, particularly in Asia, the global maternal mortality toll remains stubbornly stable due to a lack of financial resources and political will, it said. More than 99 percent of the estimated 536,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 occurred in developing countries, half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LJ594303.htm

Declining Global Number of Child Mortality.

UNICEF released new figures that show the rate of deaths of children under five continued to decline in 2007.

The new estimates show a 27 per cent decline in the under-five mortality rate, from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990, to 68 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007. In industrialized countries there are, on average, just six deaths for every 1,000 live births.
According to this data, 12.7 million children under five died around the world in 1990, and in 2007 child deaths declined to about 9.2 million.

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_45607.html

Global fight against malaria could be helped by virus that infects mosquitoes!

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found a new virus that infects the world’s most dangerous mosquito. In theory, this means it can be modified to kill the mosquito or prevent it from transmitting malaria . However, the authors cautioned, that could take 5 to 15 years of work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/health/research/26glob.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Water and sanitation crisis still a global health issue

Michele Barry, MD and James M. Hughes, MD underlined in a recent article that " Global health issue have captured the attention of gouvernements, global funds, and foundations ...on diseases such as malaria, TB, and AIDS which kill a fraction of the number of people who die from water-related diseases." .

These two authors called for an urgent focus on dirty water and sanitation in a world where 1,1 billion people still lack access to clean water and 2,6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation.

Link to the article publish in New England Journal of Medicine : http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/8/784

US presidential candidates on Global health

In the run-up to the US presidential election, health care continues to dominate the debate. The Lancet reviewed Obama and McCain'pledges in the area of global-health issues.

Doc: http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/0140-6736/PIIS0140673608612167.pdf

Global High food prices put pressure on HIV programmes

Steadily increasing prices could lead to a lack of affordable and nourishing food, endangering the lives of people living with HIV in the developing world.

"As prices continue to rise, people will start to buy cheaper, less nutritious food and may begin to skip meals – in Lesotho we are already seeing people skipping meals because they can't afford food," said Alan Whiteside, an economist with South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Link: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79749