In response to a 2010 World Health Organization report Working to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases, this week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the governments of the U.S., U.K. and U.A.E. and other global organizations committed to a new, coordinated effort to advance progress towards controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases by the end of the decade and improve the lives of the 1.4 billion affected by such diseases globally. Guiding this effort, the World Health Organization released targets and a strategy, Accelerating work to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases—A roadmap for implementation.

These neglected tropical diseases include:

• lymphatic filariasis
• blinding trachoma
• sleeping sickness
• leprosy
• soil-transmitted helminthes
• schistosomiasis
• river blindness
• Chagas disease
• visceral leishmaniasis
• guinea worm

Check out the related webcast and infographic

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. Globally, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in females and the most common cause of cancer deaths in women in the developing world, affecting over 500,000 women and killing more than 250,000 women each year. Fortunately, many are striving to improve these grim statistics.

For example, JHPIEGO is working to protect women and girls with strategies like HPV vaccination and improved screening.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, lead by Dr. Carrie Kovarik, are using innovative techniques like mobile phone based telemedicine to improve screening for cervical cancer in resource-challenged countries.

The Global Initiative against HPV and Cervical Cancer also has several programs to fight against cervical cancer including education, strengthening HPV vaccination programs and improving screening and treatment programs for cervical cancer.

What other innovative programs are you aware of to fight this deadly disease? What approaches do you think will be most successful at eradicating cervical cancer globally?

Did you know that cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide? Cervical cancer is newly diagnosed in 500,000 women and kills 250.000 women every year.  Last year, the World Health Organization endorsed an inexpensive procedure called, VIA/cryo,  to detect and treat precancerous lesions of the cervix.  This procedure was developed by specialists at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Maryland 20 years ago. VIA/cryo stands for visualization of the cervix with acetic acid (vinegar) and treatment with cryotherapy and it involves applying vinegar onto the cervix.  If any precancerous lesions are present, the vinegar causes them to turn white, making them easier to distinguish form the healthy parts of the cervix. Carbon dioxide is then used to freeze a metal probe, which is then applied to the lesion to freeze it off.

The Pap smear is the most widely known method of screening cervical cancer, but pathologists are needed to diagnose precancerous cells from the smear samples. Many low-income countries lack the resources to interpret the results of the smear and have to outsource this test, leading to delays in making a diagnosis.  These delays are problematic for women who must travel from distant areas to get screened.

This newly approved procedure avoids the delay found with Pap smears and uses supplies that are readily available.  Another added bonus is that it can be performed by trained nurses and it requires only one office visit.

The Global Pulse’s Fall Issue features one medical student’s experience in implementing a cervical cancer screening program in Haiti.  To read her account, click here.

Bill Gates and Rotarians make the “This Close” gesture on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on World Polio Day, October 24, 2011, to promote Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign and show how close the world community is to eradicating the scourge of polio

Learn more about World Polio Day and global efforts to eradicate this disease which has been decreased thus far by 99% thanks to efforts including vaccination campaigns.

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) recently launched a new Malaria Scorecard for Accountability and Action.  This tracking tool  allows African leaders, governments and global donors to be held accountable for progress against malaria, encouraging transparency in global health efforts. ALMA is an alliance of African Heads of States and Governments from 40 countries. The new scorecard tracks various stakeholder’s progress toward vital targets such as financing, devlivery of malaria commodities (mosquito nets, etc.), malaria policy, malaria mortality and maternal & child health indicators. The hope is that this new tool will support the achievement of the global goal of near zero malaria deaths by 2015, building on recent successes including the fact that 11 African nations have reduced malaria by more than 50%.

“Africa is pursuing ambitious targets against malaria and having timely, trusted data is critical to reaching our goals,” said Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary of ALMA. “Armed with this information, African leaders and partners can make policy decisions and demand action that will help countries rapidly improve their efforts against malaria.”

Last week the annual World Hepatitis Day took place on July 28, 2011. Approximately 500 million people, or 1 in 12 people globally, are infected with chronic hepatitis B and/or C, making these viral illnesses one of the largest global chronic disease threats. There is urgent need to develop more effective therapies and deliver them to those struck around the world. This fourth annual World Hepatitis Day focuses on the theme: “This is hepatitis…Know it. Confront it. Hepatitis affects everyone, everywhere”.

World Hepatitis Day

Food Safety News recently published an article about the lessons learned from the E. coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany that began on May 1^st and is the deadliest in recorded history.  The culprit behind this outbreak is believed to be bean and seed sprouts.  This article discusses the need for closer surveillance on growing fruits and vegetables.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 2.4 million children die from vaccine-preventable disease yearly. On a domestic level, recent coverage of the largest US measles outbreak in the past fifteen years has been in the headlines with much discussion of voluntary refusal of immunization in the United States. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that from 1991 to 2004, the number of unvaccinated children more than doubled in states allowing philosophical exemptions. On the other hand, children in middle- and low-income nations often do not receive immunizations because of lack of access. According to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) 33% of all unvaccinated children under one-year-old live in China and India, and another 47% of unvaccinated children live in middle-income countries, with only 17% living in low-income countries.

Two studies from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health were recently published in Health Affairs‘ June issue on Strategies for the Decade of Vaccines. The studies examined the impact of expanding immunization against pneumococcal pneumonia; Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib);  bacterial meningitis; diphtheria; pertussis; tetanus; measles; rotavirus and malaria to cover 90% of children in 72 countries. They found that increasing vaccine development and delivery over the next 10 years in these 72 countries could prevent 6.4 million children from dying with an economic savings of $231 billion in the value of statistical lives saved and over $151 billion saved through reduced treatment costs and increased productivity. The issue brief audiocasts offer more insight into these and other contents of the June issue.

From the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website

While this looks promising, another study from the GAVI Alliance suggests that developing nations will be challenged to pay for expanded vaccine delivery without substantial outside support. In order to procure the projected benefits of increased immunization efforts, creative vaccine financing strategies will be needed. One such effort comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment over the current decade–the Decade of Vaccines–to promote childhood immunization in the developing world.

In the book Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World, Irwin Sherman describes how microbes have impacted populations, altered history, devastated populations, felled great thinkers and, in the process, transformed politics, public health, and economics. He discusses how smallpox, tuberculosis, syphilis, AIDS, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, yellow fever, hemophilia, porphyria, and the plant disease behind the Irish Potato Famine have altered history in an informing and entertaining manner.

US News and World Report interviewed Sherman about his book and about What Disease Mean in the Modern World. A related article from Nursing Degree.net’s blog entitled 10 Diseases That Totally Changed the World similarly discusses the ways in which diseases have impacted the course of history.

The results of a ten year study called the Prevent TB trial showed that a once weekly dose of rifapentine and isoniazid for 3 months was just as effective as the current standard treatment regimen consisting of daily doses of isoniazid taken for 9 months in individuals with latent TB infections who have an increased risk of progressing to active TB infection.   This shorter regimen required 12 doses over 3 months compared to the standard regimen of 270 doses over 9 months.  I am pretty sure this greatly contributed to the higher adherence rate of the new regimen, 82% compared to 69% of the standard therapy.  Since the results of this study are only applicable to countries that have low to medium TB incidence and one-third of the world’s total population are infected with TB, I am looking forward to see if this regimen will have a great impact in countries with high TB Incidence.

For more information:

Prevent TB Fact Sheet

TBTC Study 26: Weekly Rifapentine+INH for 3 mo. vs. Daily INH for 9 mo. for the Treatment of LTBI

http://www.internalmedicinenews.com/news/infectious-diseases/single-article/shorter-combo-therapy-effective-for-latent-tb/189d202222.html

An interview with Minnesota’s Public Radio medical analyst, Dr. Jon Hallberg, on the implications of the Prevent TB Trial