March 2013, IPS; Patients, doctors and international aid groups are calling on donors and governments to support measures that would make treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis more effective and accessible. The demands are being made amidst the recent or imminent approval of two new drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid. Advocates say the …

March 2013, SHOPS Project;  In Kenya, a stored-value electronic savings card offered by a local business—Changamka—allows families to save for prenatal visits, deliveries, and postnatal care. The purpose of the savings product is to enable women to meet the relatively large costs associated with maternity care by saving over the …

March 2013,SHOPS Project; Given [Tanzania’s] history and [the] legacy of tension between the public and private sectors, it is very encouraging to see Tanzania emerge as a leader in the advancement of public-private partnerships. Tanzania is moving forward in this regard and can provide a regional example in the promotion …

March 2013, The Star; There are some issues in society that will never die off and as much as we try to turn our backs, the debate on abortion can never go away. It is a silent ‘problem’ that many women, oblivious or ignorant of the consequences, continue to procure …

March 2013,Online Library;Impressive reductions of up to 29% in maternal deaths may be expected from satisfying unmet need for contraception, as shown in a recent analysis covering 172 countries (Ahmed et al. 2012). Despite the cost-effectiveness of family planning (Prata et al. 2010), investments remain low (Osotimehin 2012), a concern declared under …

March 2013,The Lancet; In The Lancet, Leontine Alkema and colleagues1 illustrate the usefulness of rigorous modelling to provide convincing estimates of health indicators when empirical data are patchy or non-existent. Their report presents by far the most complete country-specific information about trends between 1990 and 2010, with projections to 2015, …

March 2013, The Lancet; The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2010 made a major contribution to population health by igniting a debate about how best to reduce human suffering and premature death. The timing was impeccable. As governments, health agencies, and civil society go into conclave to elect a …

March 2013, The Guardian: Energy poverty has left more than 1 billion people in developing countries without access to adequate healthcare, with staff forced to treat emergency patients in the dark, and health centres lacking the power they need to store vaccines or sterilise medical supplies, according to a report. …

March 2013, The Guardian: For the first time in half a century drugs that could cure DR-TB are being tested, but the global health community needs to act fast. “The side effects were intolerable,” said MSF patient and blogger Mariam Davtyan, “I called the doctor and was crying. I felt …

March 2013, Lancet; Effective and accessible surgical care is needed to tackle the changing global burden of disease (Dec 15, p 2095).1 As the post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era approaches, one continued priority must be to address the substantial unmet need for surgical care in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). …