Efforts to halt the spread of polio are making progress thanks to better engagement with religious figures in Nigeria and a focused effort on reaching remote areas and migrant populations in India. The two are among the last countries battling to eradicate the disease, and despite the progress polio campaigners warn challenges remain to total eradication.
An intimate portrait of malaria
This photo essay on malaria from the Malaria Consortium looks to capture the practical and emotional aspects of the disease’s presence around the world. Malaria continues to result in more than a million deaths every year.
Guinea worm disease is on target for elimination
Health official believe that they can eradicate Guinea worm disease entirely by 2015 by changing water-sanitation habits and ensure access to clean water in sub-Saharan Africa — in particular in Sudan. Though the disease is not usually fatal, the debilitating pain it causes can interrupt work and life. The World Health Organization has identified polio as the next disease in line for the same sort of concerted effort that eliminated smallpox, but critics say that Guinea worm disease is a more deserving candidate, because of the low cost in eliminating it.
Deal paves way for cheaper vaccines
Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline signed a deal with the nonprofit GAVI Alliance to provide hundreds of millions of pneumonia and meningitis vaccines to developing countries at discounted rates. Supporters say the arrangement could save nearly 900,000 lives by 2015, but some experts maintain the discounted rates are still too high for poor countries to purchase vaccines in large amounts.