Health Hotline

Later this year, the Millennium Villages Project will launch a hotline for receiving health advice in Ghana. Most rural health workers have little training, and thus they are unable to efficiently address every problem they come across. With this service, health workers throughout the country will be able to contact a medical professional and ask for advice about various issues in regards to their patients. Similar programs are being used in Bangladesh, India, Mexico, and Pakistan. According to a survey, more than half of the people who use the hotline live below the poverty line. The program will ensure more effective medical treatment to those who really need it.
Source: Reuters AlertNet

Cheaper Malaria Treatment

A recent initiative launched by the UN will provide easier access to the new malaria drugs, artemisinin combination therapies. Older drugs that have been used in the past are no longer effective, as strains of malaria have developed resistance against them. However, they are still on the market, and people buy them because they are cheap. The UN wants to drive these ineffective drugs off the market, and instead make the newer ones more affordable.
Source: UN News Source

One for One

Throughout developing countries, many children do not have shoes to wear. Walking around barefoot, they get cuts and scrapes on their feet which often result in disease from parasites in the ground entering the wounded skin. In several cases, children cannot attend school where it is often a requirement to wear shoes. After seeing this problem with his own eyes during a trip to Argentina, Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes in an effort to make a difference. For every pair of shoes that they sell, the company provides a pair for a needy child in a developing country. Since they started in 2006, TOMS was able to provide 140,000 children with shoes. In the next year, they are hoping to give 300,000 more. Find out more about TOMS here.

Bill to Improve Maternal and Child Health

In March, the House of Representatives introduced the Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act of 2009. Newborn child mortality rates throughout developing countries are frightening. The lack of clean and safe conditions for childbearing result in many mothers and children contracting diseases, many of which are fatal. The new bill is aimed directly at this issue. Establishing an Interagency Task Force on Child Survival and Maternal Health, it would make delivery room conditions safer and focus on improving the health of mothers and children. Read more about the bill here, and remember to call your congressional leaders to voice your support!

New Tuberculosis Drug

XDR TB, an extremely drug resistant strain of TB, has a death rate as high at 100% because it is able to fight off the most commonly used medicines. However, a few weeks ago, scientists have finally discovered a cure for this deadly strain. Two FDA-approved drugs, Clavulanate and Meropenem, work together to overpower the enzyme that usually protects the TB bacteria from antibiotics and then kills the bacteria itself. In 13 different tests, the XDR TB bacteria was killed by the drugs in less than two weeks. Scientists are planning to take their testing beyond the lab, and run some trials on humans. Normally, it takes two years to treat someone with drug resistant TB, so if this process proves successful, it will save the lives of countless people around the world.
Source: Times of India

Healthcare to Improve in Mozambique

Mozambique recently received a $44.6 million credit towards improving healthcare from the World Bank. This money will fund the 2009-2014 Government of Mozambique's Health Service Delivery Project. The project will include the construction of 20 new healthcare centers, along with housing for health workers. Along with that, the project will establish community outreach programs educating people about disease prevention and healthy lifestyles. With the help of this new funding, Mozambique will be further on its way to acheiving the 4th and 5th Millennium Development Goals concerning child and maternal mortality, as well as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other disease prevention.
Source: World Bank

Obama's Donations to Charity

President Obama and his wife recently released their 2008 federal tax return, according to the New York Times. Out of their combined income, they gave nearly 6.5% to charities, totaling $172,050. Among the 37 different charities, the antipoverty group CARE received $25,000. It's encouraging to know that our President supports various charities, especially one that has done so much work to fight poverty.
Learn more about CARE here.
Source: New York Times