In The News

Asean to Take Tough Joint Action

Bertha Henson April 30, 2003
SARS is taking its toll on Southeast Asian economies as travel advisories warn businessmen and tourists to steer clear of countries with high numbers of SARS cases. To combat further economic damage, ASEAN leaders convened in an emergency summit in Bangkok to agree on a unified strategy for containing the spread of SARS and reducing the panic that has been caused by it. In the proposal, people...

Betting the Nation on Globalization

SARS says we lose April 29, 2003
The rapid spread of SARS in several countries has historical precedence in the influenza epidemic of 1918. According to the author, 25% of Americans contracted the flu virus and 650,000 died from it. Worldwide, an estimated 70 million died from the flu. Just as the movement of men during World War I enabled the virus to spread internationally, the movement of individuals who have contracted...

Glaxo Will Further Cut Prices of AIDS Drugs to Poor Nations

Reed Abelson April 28, 2003
A serious hurdle in the global fight against AIDS has been the price of AIDS drugs, which is unattainably high for most of the disease's victims. Since AIDS disproportionately affects people in poor countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, the former price tag of US$1.70 a day for drugs was too high. GlaxoSmithKline is now promising to lower that price to 90 cents, in the hopes that...

SARS: Wake-Up Call for a Strong Global Health Policy

Ilona Kickbusch April 25, 2003
As the economic consequences of Sars become more and more apparent, countries are scrambling for solutions. However, argues Ilona Kickbusch, Professor of Global Health at Yale University's School of Public Health, individual nation-states are unequipped to manage something like Sars by themselves. In an interconnected world, we must acknowledge the truly global nature of public health, and...

SARS Scare in Toronto

April 25, 2003
Toronto is the Western city most affected by Sars, with 140 cases reported so far. The World Health Organization recently warned travelers to stay away from the city, infuriating Toronto officials, who say Sars in Toronto can be traced to one carrier and is under control. The Centers for Disease Control in the US have not warned against travel to Toronto, further complicating the situation. In...

Fight Against SARS: Government to Seek Exit Checks

April 24, 2003
The Public Health Ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are scheduled to meet in Malaysia to discuss specific proposals for regional cooperation to combat further spread of SARS. Thailand’s proposals include the screening of all departing passengers, the establishment of a regional website to share SARS related information, and the exchange of medical professionals...

Virus Proves Baffling, Turning Up in Only 40% of a Lab's Test Cases

Lawrence K. Altman April 24, 2003
Canada's main virology laboratory has found the SARS virus identified by WHO in only some of its probable and suspect cases.