The Huffington Post, May 2010
Joseph Treaster makes some interesting observations from his recent trip to Kenya. "Governments in many developing countries pay very little attention to clean drinking water and toilets and I could see from conversations in Kibera that there is little or no demand for improvement from many people living with iffy-water and unspeakable sanitary conditions." The need to reprioritize extends beyond donor governments and includes governments of developing countries.
ONE, May 2010
Tachi Yamada, President of the Gates Foundation's Global Health Program, outlines how the Foundation will focus its resources on providing vaccines that will prevent children like Emon from dying of major childhood killers like rotavirus.
The World Health Organization's global update on the MDGs shows that improving newborn care in the first month of life is essential for reducing child deaths in developing countries. It is also the first report to detail the major causes of death among newborns within the first month of life.
ONE, May 2010
Alejandro Cravioto of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) calls on readers to remember that the recent commitment by Bill Gates to a decade of vaccines is "not just ten years of vaccines, but ten years of vaccinations that we need . . . Rotavirus infection causes about 13,000 deaths in Bangladesh each year. A vaccine could save most of these lives."
Seattle Post Intelligencer, May 2010
Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, has become an unlikely leader in diarrheal disease control. Oral rehydration solution (ORS) was tested and developed in the late 60's and early 70's, and it was hailed by The Lancet as "potentially the most important medical discovery of the 20th century." This article explores how ORS is interwoven into the everyday lives of people in Bangladesh.
GAVI Alliance, April 2010
The government of Guyana introduced rotavirus vaccines into their national immunization programs this week. Guyana is the fourth GAVI-eligible country to introduce the vaccine and follows in the footsteps of Bolivia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
World Care Council, April 2010
Why is sanitation not receiving the funding and media attention it needs? Jamal Saghir of the World Bank frankly states that toilets, while necessary, are not a "sexy" issue, but if we overcome this barrier we can save millions of lives. He outlines the impact of a few sanitation projects in India.
WaterAid, April 2010
"Poor targeting of aid for sanitation and water is undermining all development efforts, leaving the poorest of the poor entrenched in poverty. The UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS), shows that just 42% of aid given to water and sanitation actually goes where it is needed - to low income countries."
Yahoo! News, April 2010
"In developing countries such as Peru, where zinc defiency is common, giving pregnant women zinc supplements may help curb diarrhea-related illness in their babies, research hints." This finding would extend the positive impact of zinc supplements, which has already been proven to decrease the duration and severity of diarrhea.
Voice of America, April 2010
The government of Kenya has launched new policy guidelines on diarrheal disease treatment and prevention and announced that it will redouble efforts to control diarrheal disease throughout the country. This article features an interview with PATH's Alfred Ochola, primary health coordinator for the Enhanced Diarrheal Disease Control Initiative in Kenya's Western Province.
