Malaria Deaths Grossly Underestimated
A new analysis of malaria mortality published in The Lancet this week suggests deaths to the parasitic disease worldwide have been grossly underestimated, especially in adults. If confirmed, the study has huge implications for how large amounts of charity money are spent in controlling the disease...

10 Neglected Tropical Diseases - Target For End Of Decade
The aim is to eliminate or at least control 10 neglected tropical diseases by 2020 - it is a public and private partnership, including 13 drug companies, the UK, US and United Arab Emirate Governments, the World Bank, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and some other worldwide organizations...

Survivors Of Hurricane Katrina Struggle With Mental Health Years Later, Study Says
Survivors of Hurricane Katrina have struggled with poor mental health for years after the storm, according to a new study of low-income mothers in the New Orleans area. The study's lead author, Christina Paxson of Princeton University, said that the results were a departure from other surveys both in the design and the results...

Improvements To Search-And-Rescue Robots Inspired By Snakes
Designing an all-terrain robot for search-and-rescue missions is an arduous task for scientists. The machine must be flexible enough to move over uneven surfaces, yet not so big that it's restricted from tight spaces. It might also be required to climb slopes of varying inclines...

Hajj Pilgrimage Management Example For Worldwide Health Security
As numbers of international large-scale events, such as music concerts, sports events, religious pilgrimage and state funerals increase in frequency and scale, they pose substantial risks to the general public...

Emotional News Framing Affects Public Response To Crises, MU Study Finds
When organizational crises occur, such as plane crashes or automobile recalls, public relations practitioners develop strategies for substantive action and effective communication. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that the way in which news coverage of a crisis is framed affects the public's emotional response toward the company involved...

Social Media Trumps Traditional Methods In Tracking Cholera In Haiti
Special section in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on disease in post-quake Haiti includes likely identity of first cholera case and Paul Farmer and Louise Ivers' expert perspective on why amid huge aid effort cholera 'exploded' Internet-based news and Twitter feeds were faster than traditional sources at detecting the onset and progression of the cho...

Smart Way Of Saving Lives In Natural Disasters
Software developed by computer scientists could help to quickly and accurately locate missing people, rapidly identify those suffering from malnutrition and effectively point people towards safe zones simply by checking their phones. It is hoped the smartphone technology could potentially not only help save lives but could also ease the financial and emotional burden on aid organisations...

Restoring Health Systems In Countries After Conflicts
Conclusions of a Policy Forum article in PLoS Medicine have shown that an analytical framework, called "house model", which focuses equally on health workers deployment, production and retention could assist in strengthening and developing health systems in post-conflict countries, including Afghanistan, Cambodia and the Democratic Republic of Congo...

FDA Issues Warning On Infant Tylenol / Paracetamol
It's always advisable to read the medication label thoroughly before taking any drug and doubly so when administering a dose to a young child. With that in mind the FDA has issued a warning in regards to liquid acetaminophen marketed for children...

Troubled Future In Development Assistance For Health As Deadline For Millennium Development Goals Nears
Developed countries and funding agencies are putting the brakes on growth in development assistance for health, raising the possibility that developing countries will have an even harder time meeting the Millennium Development Goal deadline looming in 2015, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington...

The Toll On Human Health Is Still Being Counted 10 Years After Attacks On World Trade Center
The World Trade Center disaster exposed nearly half a million people to hazardous chemicals, environmental toxins, and traumatic events. According to research published in the December 2011 issue of Elsevier-published journal Preventive Medicine, this has resulted in increased risk of developing physical and mental health conditions after 9/11...

New Study Shows Evacuation Plans Need To Incorporate Family Perspectives
A study sponsored by the National Science Foundation found that most respondents felt the evacuation of New Orleans residents to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina was a "failure" and this opinion has shaped their willingness to accept shelter if offered in an emergency evacuation...

Stress In Early Pregnancy Can Lead To Shorter Pregnancies, More Pre-term Births And Fewer Baby Boys
Stress in the second and third months of pregnancy can shorten pregnancies, increase the risk of pre-term births and may affect the ratio of boys to girls being born, leading to a decline in male babies. These are the conclusions of a study that investigated the effect on pregnant women of the stress caused by the 2005 Tarapaca earthquake in Chile...

World AIDS Day, December 1, "The End Is In Sight"
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, says that this coming AIDS day, December 1st, will be unique in that health care professionals, health authorities and scientists may be able to say with confidence that the end of AIDS really is in sight. Collective international actions have resulted in solid achievements in the fight against AIDS...