Global health briefs February 2011

Global health briefs February 2011

WHO releases eHealth atlas

WHO has released an atlas on the current status of eHealth, providing data on the 114 member countries that participated in its 2009 survey. Country profiles feature 50 key indicators of eHealth infrastructure development as well as progress on specific eHealth applications.

CSIS reports on global health

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has launched a report entitled,” Key Players in Global Health: How Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Are Influencing the Game.” This report represents the first step in an 18-month CSIS initiative focused on how the BRIC countries and South Africa are influencing activities, practices, and strategies in the area of global health diplomacy.

Data center at Guttmacher Institute

A new data center produced by the Guttmacher Institute is a resource on international reproductive health issues, including country and regional data on safe and unsafe abortion rates, intended and unintended pregnancy rates, maternal health care provision, contraceptive use and unmet demand for family planning and reproductive health indicators for adolescents.

Data should be shared widely

Research data should be made more widely available if researchers are to unlock its full potential and make progress in public health, according to a group of the world’s top health funders. NIH, CDC, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 13 other major funders issued a joint statement calling for cooperation to support timely and responsible data sharing.

A call to action on diabetes

The International Diabetes Federation has issued a call to action leading to the U.N. Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases in September. The four headline messages are: Diabetes is a major global threat to human security and prosperity; the global failure to invest in diabetes has led to the current crisis; the news is bad but we have the solutions; and diabetes affects everyone and requires a collective response.

Panel urges NIH to increase research training

A report by the National Research Council calls on NIH to maintain or even increase the number of graduates students and postdocs it supports through its National Research Service Award program, despite a grim employment and budget outlook. The report notes that the crunch has lingered for more than a decade, but the NIH program is vital to biomedical research.

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