Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report—Pneumonia & Flu

UNICEF Report Highlights Gains In Child Health, While 1B Still Lack Essential Services

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:50:56 GMT

A special edition of UNICEF's annual State of the World's Children report, released 20 years after the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, shows that "fewer youngsters are dying and more are going to school – but an estimated 1 billion still lack services essential to their survival and development," the Associated Press reports.

Evidence Does Not Connect H1N1 Vaccine To Patient Deaths, WHO Says

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:04 GMT

The deaths of 41 people from six countries who had received the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine were not directly linked to the vaccine, the WHO said Thursday, the Associated Press/MSNBC reports (11/19).

U.S. Health Officials Testify Before Senate Committee About H1N1 Vaccine Campaign

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:58:30 GMT

U.S. health officials defended their handling of the country's H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine campaign Tuesday "against criticism that their plan to protect Americans was confusing and over-optimistic," Reuters reports (Fox, 11/17).

China, WHO To Collaborate On Flu Research Center

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:36:37 GMT

Chinese and WHO officials last week agreed to open a flu research center in Beijing, Bloomberg reports. "The new collaborating center for reference and research on influenza will join a network of WHO-affiliated labs in Atlanta, London, Tokyo and Melbourne that monitor flu strains and make recommendations on vaccines to fight the virus," the news service writes.

Report Calls For Refocusing Health Spending In Developing Countries To Save Children's Lives

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:27:48 GMT

"More than 24,000 infants die daily from preventable diseases in developing countries," and child deaths have fallen in countries where governments "have shown a high level of political leadership on child health," World Vision International said in a new report (.pdf) released on Monday as part of a five-year campaign to reduce child deaths worldwide, the Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

H1N1 Continues To Spread, Despite Leveling Off In Some Regions, WHO Reports

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:11:47 GMT

Despite reports that the numbers of new H1N1 (swine flu) are leveling off in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the virus continues to spread, the WHO said Friday, Reuters reports. "In an update on the H1N1 swine flu virus, the WHO said parts of the southern and southeastern United States, as well as Iceland and Ireland, seemed to have weakening levels of disease after an unusually early start of the winter flu season," the news service writes.

Opinions: Health System Funding; Malnutrition Assistance; Social Dimension Of HIV

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:02:00 GMT

WHO Revises Clinical H1N1 Guidelines, Sends Antivirals To Some Hard-Hit Nations

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:32:00 GMT

On Thursday, the WHO issued revised guidance for the clinical management of H1N1 (swine) flu, the Associated Press reports. According to the AP, the WHO "says doctors shouldn't wait for lab confirmation before giving anti-viral drugs to pregnant women and other at-risk groups with suspected swine flu" (11/12).

CDC Expected To Revise Estimated Number Of U.S. H1N1 Deaths

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:23:35 GMT

Ahead of the anticipated CDC release of revised U.S. H1N1 (swine flu) death toll estimates, Reuters examines how the agency and WHO measure the impact of the virus, after both organizations "stopped trying to count actual cases months ago, once it became clear that H1N1 was a pandemic that would infect millions."

GSK To Donate 50M H1N1 Vaccine Doses To WHO In Coming Months

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:47:49 GMT

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline announced plans on Tuesday to donate 50 million doses of its H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine to the WHO for use in developing countries within the next few months, Reuters reports.

Also In Global Health News: Nutritionally-Enhanced Products; Health Care In India; Cell Phones As Microscopes; GSK Pneumonia Vaccine; Men Fighting HIV/AIDS

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:14:30 GMT

H1N1 Cases Increase In China, Japan; Afghanistan Attempts To Contain Virus

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:06:00 GMT

The WHO on Friday reported on a rising number of H1N1 (swine flu) cases in China and Japan, Reuters/Washington Post reports. "In China, after an earlier wave of mixed influenza activity (seasonal H3N2 and pandemic H1N1), pandemic H1N1 influenza activity now predominates and is increasing," the agency said. "Sharp increases in pandemic flu infections continue to be reported throughout Japan, particularly on the northern island," the news service writes (Nebehay, 11/6).

H1N1 Is Now Most Dominant Flu Strain Worldwide, WHO Says

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:16:00 GMT

The H1N1 (swine flu) virus is now the dominant flu strain worldwide, the WHO reported Thursday, with the virus accounting for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses sampled in some countries, the Associated Press reports. "We remain quite concerned about the patterns that we're seeing," Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's Special Adviser on Pandemic Influenza to the Director-General, said during a press briefing.

Health Officials Address U.S. H1N1 Vaccine Supply

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:52:00 GMT

U.S. health officials briefing Congress on Wednesday would not outline a timeframe for when enough H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines would be available to reach all high-risk populations in the country, the Washington Post reports.

News Outlets Examine International Efforts To Contain H1N1

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:42:47 GMT

A WHO official on Tuesday backed the Afghan government's decision to declare H1N1 (swine flu) a health emergency, forcing the closure of all schools in the country for three weeks in an effort to contain the virus, IRIN reports. H1N1 has reportedly infected over 300 people, resulting in two deaths.

News Outlets Examine First World Pneumonia Day

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:19:03 GMT

To mark the first World Pneumonia Day, Inter Press Service examines how vaccines and other strategies can be used to combat the disease, which kills more children under age 5 each year "than measles, malaria, and AIDS combined, according to the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia."

U.S. Clinical Trials Show Single Dose Of H1N1 Vaccine Protects Pregnant Women, Children Under 10 Need Two Doses

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:40 GMT

U.S. government data released on Monday confirmed that a single dose of the vaccine protects pregnant women from the virus, while children under the age of 10 years need two doses of the vaccine, the Washington Post reports. The findings came the same day that a team of experts tasked with monitoring the national H1N1 vaccine campaign for any adverse side effects met for the first time.

WHO, UNICEF Launch 6-Year $39B Plan To Prevent, Treat Pneumonia; World Pneumonia Day Coverage

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

To mark the first World Pneumonia Day on Monday, the WHO and UNICEF launched a $39 billion Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) aimed at preventing 5.3 million child deaths from the disease by 2015, the Associated Press reports (Cheng, 11/1).

Deaths From H1N1 Rise By 700 In One Week, WHO Reports

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:49:00 GMT

The number of deaths from H1N1 (swine flu) rose by 700 in a week, to top 5,700 since the virus was first identified in April, the WHO reported Friday, Agence France-Presse reports (10/30). "The biggest rise in the past week was recorded in the Americas, w[h]ere 636 more people were reported killed by swine flu, bringing the region's death toll to 4,175, the UN agency said, AFP reports in a second story. "Fatal cases in Europe also climbed to at least 281, while those in Asia-Pacific rose to 1,070" (10/31).

Recent Releases In Global Health

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:49:00 GMT