In The News

On AIDS, Avoid Acting Too Late

Solomon Sacco December 1, 2004
This World AIDS Day brings with it greatly advanced knowledge about combating the deadly illness, but also concerns for regions where the risk is silently increasing. Many observers fear that, much like sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s, Middle East and North African nations will not confront the threat of AIDS until it is too late. Although infection rates in the Middle East are much lower than in...

Surgeries, Side Trips for "Medical Tourists"

John Lancaster October 21, 2004
As health care costs skyrocket, patients in the developed world are looking overseas for medical treatment. India is capitalizing on its low costs and highly trained doctors to appeal to these "medical tourists." Even with airfare, the cost of going to India for surgery can be markedly cheaper, and the quality of services is often better than that found in the United States and UK....

Scientists Herald Malaria Breakthrough

Sarah Boseley October 15, 2004
Each year, according to estimates from the World Health Organization, 300 to 500 million cases of malaria occur, and more than one million people die of the disease. Recent clinical trials in Mozambique indicate that a vaccine for malaria may be on the horizon. Human trials have shown that the vaccine protected some infants from the disease altogether and reduced the severity of malaria in...

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Paul Kennedy August 6, 2004
One of the worst blows to the fragile system of international law happened recently, writes Yale professor and international security expert Paul Kennedy, and it made no headlines. On June 2, Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan murdered five members of the Nobel Prize winning organization, Doctors Without Borders. The atrocity prompted the withdrawal of remaining volunteers, ending 24 years of aid...

Retro-Virals: Major Pact for Cheap Drugs

Arthit Khwankhom July 14, 2004
Thailand, Brazil, China, the Russian Federation, Nigeria and the Ukraine have signed a pact at the 15th International Aids Conference in Bangkok to cooperate in the production of generic drugs, lend mutual support in the improvement of respective health sectors, and pursue further research and development on HIV/AIDS drugs. This group of countries, all of whom have large populations of AIDS...

In Africa, an Exodus of Nurses

Celia W. Dugger July 12, 2004
Thousands of African nurses have migrated in recent years due to a combination of low pay and difficult working conditions in Africa and increased demand in developed countries with aging populations. Unfortunately, the exodus of African nurses has further deteriorated the already low quality of African health care systems that are strapped by insufficient funding and an AIDS epidemic. African...

International AIDS Conference: Prime Minister Heckled at Opening

Phermsak Lilakul July 12, 2004
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was accused of being a liar when he pledged equal medical access for AIDS patients at the 15th International Aids Conference in Thailand. Controversy at the opening ceremonies centered around the Prime minister’s three-month-long, all-out war on drugs last year that resulted in the questionable deaths of more than 2,500 people. In Thailand, intravenous...