Global health briefs April 2011

Planning for chronic disease session

Elevating chronic diseases onto the global stage requires planning for September’s U.N. High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases. A new report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies offers four proposals for ensuring success in lifting the world profile of NCDs.

• Download the full report, Getting the Politics Right for the September 2011 UN High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases , from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Gap in mental health workers

All low-income countries and 59 percent of middle-income countries surveyed by the World Health Organization were found to have far fewer professionals than they need to deliver core mental health care. The study used data from 58 countries and a hypothetical core service package to estimate how many psychiatrists, nurses and psychosocial care providers are needed.

• Read the article on the study, The mental health workforce gap in low- and middle-income countries: a needs-based approach , from the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Saving lives at birth

USAID launched a new partnership to reduce maternal and newborn deaths globally. The coalition, including the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and the World Bank, plans to invest at least $50 million over five years to find groundbreaking methods of saving the lives of pregnant women and newborn babies around the world.

• Learn more about Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development .

Investing in young improves health

Investing in young people now can help improve health and alleviate poverty, according to UNICEF’s annual State of the World’s Children report. Financial support for education and to alleviate health risks for the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents - 88 percent of whom live in the developing world - can save lives, reduce poverty and improve physical and mental health outcomes.

• Download the full report, The State of the World’s Children 2011: Adolescence – An Age of Opportunity , from UNICEF.

Totaling Trachoma’s Tide

An online global atlas is now available showing the distribution and prevalence of trachoma, the world’s leading cause of infectious blindness. The open-access Trachoma Atlas created by several partners and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation shows 49 country maps with population-based data on trachoma.

• Access the Trachoma Atlas .

Mobile finance and health equals better care

A new analysis of the linkage between mobile health and mobile financial services identified ways in which the mobile communications platform could be leveraged to strengthen financial inclusion and improve health outcomes in developing countries. The paper released by the mHealth Alliance and the World Economic Forum asserted that mobile payment options can better facilitate the provision of maternal health care and immunizations, among other services.

• Download the full report Amplifying the Impact: Examining the Intersection of Mobile Health and Mobile Finance from the World Economic Forum.

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