Current Global Health Issues

— Epicentre Scientific Day, Paris

   (Wednesday, 30 May 2012 10:00)

Médecins Sans Frontières’ epidemiological arm, Epicentre, co-host of our 2011 International Symposium on Reducing Child Mortality (held in Melbourne), will hold its 22nd Scientific Day in Paris. The day features presentations by internal and external experts on improving diagnosis and detection, the results of recent studies and surveys, and new research themes, all focused on better outcomes for Médecins Sans Frontières’ field operations and its patients.

Médecins Sans Frontières’ epidemiological arm, Epicentre, co-host of our 2011 International Symposium on Reducing Child Mortality (held in Melbourne), will hold its 22nd Scientific Day in Paris. The day features presentations by...

— Livestream of Scientific Day in London

   (Friday, 25 May 2012 04:30)

Join our sister office in the UK for their annual Scientific Day to hear experts present original research from humanitarian projects in the field, with sessions dedicated to topics including HIV and TB; digital humanitarianism; and finding and treating hidden and neglected populations. The livestream starts 09:30 London time (08:30 GMT/18:30 Australian Eastern Standard Time).

Join our sister office in the UK for their annual Scientific Day to hear experts present original research from humanitarian projects in the field, with sessions dedicated to topics including HIV and TB; digital humanitarianism; and finding and treating hidden and neglected populations. The

— Médecins Sans Frontières surgical team enters Syria, finds wounded and medics under attack

   (Tuesday, 15 May 2012 02:04)

In late March, a Médecins Sans Frontières team crossed the Turkish border into Syria in an effort to provide medical aid in the Idlib region. The two-person team was composed of a surgeon and an anaesthesiologist. To evaluate needs, they also sought to observe the treatment that wounded patients were receiving.

Their first observation was that medical workers were so terrorised that they would offer only first aid in cases of extreme emergency. To treat broken bones, for example, they would simply use makeshift splints. In dealing with haemorrhage, they applied compression...

— Syria: Safety of wounded and medical workers must be prioritised

   (Tuesday, 15 May 2012 01:19)

• Wounded people and medical workers remain targeted and threatened, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières said today, following visits to parts of Syria. • Médecins Sans Frontières insists that all parties to the conflict must fully respect the physical integrity of wounded people, doctors and healthcare facilities. • Médecins Sans Frontières calls for increased political and diplomatic efforts to ensure the safety of patients and medical workers, without the use of force.

Médecins Sans Frontières has been seeking official authorisation for several months to work with medical personnel in the Syrian governorates most affected by violence. To date, none of...

— Sahel: the fate of 160,000 Malian refugees hanging in the balance

   (Monday, 14 May 2012 00:33)

In camps in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger, the international aid remains insufficient.

Since late January, nearly 160,000 Malians have fled their country for camps in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger. While instability persists in Mali, leaving little hope that the refugees can return to their country soon, another imminent threat is looming - the rainy season, which will further complicate the deployment of aid.

According to the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, which is assisting Malian refugees in camps in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger, the international aid provided to these...

— Lawmakers Discuss UNFPA In China At Hearing On Activist Chen Guangcheng

   (Wednesday, 16 May 2012 11:27)

At a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Human Rights hearing "on blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng and his campaign against Chinese human-rights abuses," "Republican and Democratic lawmakers clashed Tuesday over the effects of" the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) on China's so-called "one-child policy," The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports. "Chen's escape from house arrest last month is drawing renewed attention to the [UNFPA], which a Republican-controlled House panel voted last week to defund in their annual spending bill for foreign aid," the blog writes. "Democrats say the U.N. Population Fund enables millions of women around the world to have access...

— WHO Releases World Health Statistics 2012 With First-Time Data On Blood Pressure, Diabetes

   (Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:53)

The WHO on Wednesday released its World Health Statistics 2012 report, which "for the first time includes a look at blood pressure and glucose levels, two of the risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease," according to the Associated Press/Washington Post (5/16). The "data showed one in three adults worldwide has raised blood pressure -- the cause of around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease -- and the condition affects almost half the adult population in some countries in Africa," Reuters writes (Kelland, 5/16). "One in 10 people are estimated to have diabetes, rising to up to...

— CEWG Recommends WHA Adopt International Convention On R&D

   (Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:50)

The chairs of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development (CEWG), John-Arne Rottingen and Claudia Chamas, in this week's PLoS Medicine "recommen[d] the May 2012 World Health Assembly adopt an international convention on research and development (R&D) that will bind member states to action and catalyze new knowledge for diseases that primarily affect the global poor but for which patents provide insufficient market incentives," a PLoS press release states. They write, "We recommend a role for WHO in the stronger coordination of R&D and suggest pooling of financial investments to secure efficient allocations to where demands and opportunities...

— Driving Food, Nutrition Security To Top Of Global Agenda

   (Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:48)

In a guest post in the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' "Global Food for Thought" blog, Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), examines global efforts to promote food security, noting, "WFP is deploying game-changing initiatives to build capacity, reduce hunger, and eliminate malnutrition through our groundbreaking partnerships with national governments, U.N. agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector." She writes, "Thanks to tireless studies and technological advancements, our toolbox to solve hunger is large, life-changing, and cost-effective." She concludes, "The world's nearly one billion people who woke up hungry this morning have not seen the...

— Estimated 740,000 Deaths In Africa Averted Between 2004-2008 In Association With PEPFAR, Study Shows

   (Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:46)

"The lives of more than 740,000 people in nine African countries were saved between 2004 and 2008 by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR]," according to a study conducted by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Wednesday, HealthDay News reports (3/15). "The study is the first to show a decline in all-cause mortality related to the program," a Stanford press release notes, adding, "To measure the impact of the program, [Eran Bendavid, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford,] and his colleagues analyzed health and survival...