Recent News

By Category: Policy & Initiatives

HHS Boosts Global Ability to Respond to Pandemics

(GlobalBiodefense) To build a sustainable capacity to manufacture influenza vaccine in developing countries and help reduce the global threat of influenza pandemics, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) recently announced grants totaling $15 million to two international organizations and two U.S. universities.

October 29, 2013
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Few children and young adults with autoimmune diseases are receiving the HPV vaccination

(ScienceDaily) The number of children and young adults with autoimmune diseases receiving the HPV vaccination is profoundly low despite studies showing the vaccine to be safe and effective, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in San Diego. Given the increased incidence of HPV in people with autoimmune Read More »

October 28, 2013
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Policing the New Scientific Frontier of Synthetic Biology

(ForeignAffairs) Ongoing research and discoveries in the life sciences — the latest and most promising involving synthetic biology — have led to extraordinary advances that will benefit society. But criminals and terrorists could manipulate such advances to disrupt public safety and national security. Since its founding in 1923, Interpol has learned that the most effective Read More »

October 28, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Biosafety, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Polio Vaccination Campaign Launched in Eastern Equatoria

(VoiceofAmerica) Health officials in South Sudan have launched an emergency campaign to vaccinate 700,000 children under the age of 15 in Equatoria state against polio by the end of the week after a child in the state was diagnosed with the crippling and potentially deadly disease last month. The national Ministry of Health has also Read More »

October 24, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Frankenskeeters: Scientists Using Genetically Altered Mosquitoes to Battle Disease

(RYOT) They’ve been called “suicide mosquitoes,” dead-end bugs and even Frankenskeeters. They’re gene-altered mosquitoes, and Panama is among a growing list of countries that are testing to see whether they have a place in the public health arsenal in the war against mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever. Dengue, which isn’t well-known outside tropical regions, Read More »