Archives: Morning Breakouts

The New York Times examines the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program, which gave a total of $450 million to 43 research projects over five years. "On drawing attention to ways that lives might be saved through scientific advances, I'd give us an A," Bill Gates, co-founder of the foundation, said of the program in an interview with the newspaper. "But I thought some would be saving lives by now, and it'll be more like in 10 years from now," Gates said.

Nature News explores how a report published last week by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) documents the growing commitment of several developing countries to R&D (Casassus, 12/20).

"Inadequate sanitation cost India about 6.4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the equivalent of $53.8 billion (Rs.2.4 trillion today) in 2006, according to a new report (.pdf) from the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), a global partnership administered by the World Bank," Livemint reports (Ghost, 12/21).

A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released on Tuesday, found that "Asia-Pacific countries have seen steady gains in key health indicators since 1970, but developing nations there are still far behind standards in the industrialised world," Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports. OECD looked at "[h]ealth systems for 27 Asia-Pacific economies," according to the news service (12/21).

The Citizen/allAfrica.com examines the potential impact a free-trade agreement between the EU and India currently under negotiation could have on patients living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

Policy developments are creating challenges to the sweeping health law.

Some Republicans are facing criticism for opposing the Sept. 11 responders bill. Meanwhile, legislators are poised to pass an overhaul to the nation's food safety system.

In choosing surgery over what used to be called "watchful waiting," Wyden took a path that many men take when faced with a prostate cancer diagnosis.

The Associated Press reports on how, despite some major legislative accomplishments, including the health overhaul, the year of 2010 has not been as positive an experience for President Obama as he had hoped.

Meanwhile, the Veterans Administration takes steps to ease the claims process related to disaiblity and illness caused by contaminated water detected at Camp Lejeune, N.C., from the 1950s to the 1980s.

"Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010

The Haitian health ministry on Sunday said there had been 2,535 cholera deaths since the outbreak hit in mid-October, "dashing hopes the fatality rate might be beginning to taper off," Agence France-Presse reports.