SciDev, By Rachel Bundy; Having enough suitable living space is a key determinant of health outcomes around the world, a review of studies on housing improvements for health has found. Initiatives targeting housing improvements at the most impoverished people and those in the poorest health were more effective than generic …

March 2013, By Deborah Gleeson: The decision by Australia’s High Court to uphold the constitutionality of the country’s ground-breaking tobacco plain packaging laws1 has been heralded as a victory for national sovereignty over vested interests.2 However, the ability of governments worldwide to introduce and implement public health policies and laws …

March 2013,PLOS Medicine: The use of mobile electronic devices to support medical or public health practice, or m-health, is currently a hot topic. It has been predicted that by 2017 there will be “more mobile phones than people” on the planet [1], and currently three-quarters of the world’s population have …

March 2013, by Tom Paulson; It’s a new dawn for global health data borne of necessity, mind-numbing numbers, Netflix and a desire to avoid insanity. “For our own sanity, we needed to create a new way to look at this stuff,” said Peter Speyer. Speyer, head of data development at …

March 2013, by Emily Badger: Five hundred years ago, the spread of disease was largely constrained by the main mode of transportation of the time: people traveling on foot. An outbreak in one town would slowly ripple outward with a pattern similar to what occurs when a rock drops onto …

March 2013, CDC: Antiretroviral medications can reduce rates of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to less than 5% (1). However, in 2011, only 57% of HIV-infected pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries received a World Health Organization (WHO)–recommended regimen for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and an …

Feb 2013. International Health Policies; It is nice to be part of discussions about the destiny of humanity, so it was with great interest that I read the draft report “Health in the post-2015 development agenda’. The task all of us face is one of extraordinary importance and responsibility when …

  Feb 2013. International Health Policies; The draft report  ‘Health in the post-2015 development agenda’ draws our attention to the fact that  MDGs played a key role in keeping countries focused on achieving specific goals. We share this view and hope the post-MDG health goals will do the same.  The  …

Feb 2013. By Trevor Neilson: A little noticed piece of news emerged in the world of philanthropy this week. A dozen new billionaires signed onto the Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge. The Pledge, established in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, encourages the world’s wealthiest individuals to give at least half …

Feb 2013. IOM Washington, DC — No country acting alone can protect its citizens against the health risks posed by illegitimate medications, and reducing this problem requires international cooperation, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.  The report calls for global agreement on an international code of practice …