Global health briefs - April 2019

Global health briefs - April 2019

NIH releases plan for women’s health

NIH has developed a strategic plan to advance science to improve women’s health with a framework to integrate sex and/or gender influences into research, provide disease prevention and treatment tailored to women’s individual needs, and ensure women in biomedical careers reach their full potential.

Supplement improves infant outcomes

For women in resource-poor settings, taking a certain daily nutritional supplement before conception or in early pregnancy may improve growth of the fetus, according to an NIH-funded study. The inexpensive supplement is fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, and provides protein and fatty acids often lacking in the women's diets.

The study was conducted by researchers in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research. The study also received support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

WHO publishes malaria control guidelines

For the first time, WHO has published a comprehensive set of evidence-based guidelines for malaria vector control. The resource consolidates more than 20 sets of WHO recommendations and good practice statements in one user-friendly format, and will be updated on an ongoing basis as new evidence is assessed.

WHO posts R&D spending by country

New analysis from the WHO Global Observatory on Health R&D shows that only 41% of 75 countries analyzed met their health R&D spending targets using the most recent data available. Some low-income countries allocated a higher percentage of their GDP and/or total R&D expenditures on health R&D than high-income countries.

NIH, FDA host treatment collaboration tool

To encourage information sharing of treatment practices for neglected diseases and emerging or drug-resistant infections, the NIH and FDA have built a tool called Collaborative Use Repurposing Engine (CURE). The aim is to capture and centralize the global experience of new uses of approved medical products - both positive and negative - so health care providers can learn from each other.

PAHO studies youth health in Americas

Half of all deaths of young people in the Americas are due to preventable causes such as homicide, traffic fatalities and suicide, according to a new report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The study examines various health aspects of the region’s 237 million young people and provides recommendations for improvement.

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