The New England Journal of Medicine: Preserving the Fogarty International Center — Benefits for Americans and the World

By Paul K. Drain, Ramnath Subbaraman, and Douglas C. Heimburger

The FIC [Fogarty International Center] has been instrumental in extending the frontiers of health research around the globe and ensuring that advances in science are implemented to reduce the burden of disease, promote health, and extend longevity for all people.

Common Dreams: Global Study Shows Americans Dying from Preventable Causes at Shocking Rates

By Nika Knight

Americans are dying at a shockingly high rate from preventable causes, found a first-of-its-kind global health study published late Thursday.

The new research demonstrates that despite the fact that the U.S. has the largest economy in the world, healthcare for many of its residents is woefully inadequate. The U.S. was tied with Estonia and Montenegro, far below other wealthy nations such as Norway, Canada, and Australia, in the study's ranking of 195 countries.

Science Daily: Cardiovascular Disease Causes One-third of Deaths Worldwide

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) - including heart diseases and stroke - account for one-third of deaths throughout the world, posing an alarming threat to global health, according to a new study. 

Countries with the greatest number of cardiovascular deaths, after accounting for population size, are found throughout Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania, researchers said. 

...

Read the full article

The New York Times: The Mystery of the Wasting House-Cats

By Emily Anthes

Most days, the back room of the Animal Endocrine Clinic in Manhattan is home to half a dozen cats convalescing in feline luxury. They lounge in their own individual “condos,” each equipped with a plush bed, a raised perch and a cozy box for hiding. Classical music plinks softly from speakers overhead. A television plays cat-friendly videos — birds chirping, squirrels scampering. Patients can also tune in to the live version: A seed-stuffed bird feeder hangs directly outside each window.

The Seattle Times: Americans Lose When Funds for Global Health Research are Cut

By Jennifer Slyker

We in the global health community are greatly encouraged by the work of Congress to increase funding to the National Institutes of Health and continue the Fogarty International Center’s mission to improve health around the world, as well as grow our next generation of researchers.

While the 2017 Fiscal Appropriations preserved the Fogarty International Center through the end of September, Congress will soon begin debating funding for 2018. And Fogarty may be on the chopping block again.

The Conversation: Social Media Helps Officials Spot Public Health Threats -- But Only for the Rich?

By Elaine Nsoesie

Think of the last time you had food poisoning. Did you tweet about it? Did you Google your symptoms? Or did you write an angry review on Yelp?

Every day, people use the internet to seek and share health information. This opens up exciting new ways for scientists to study the health of a population, an approach known as digital epidemiology.

Alaska Dispatch News: Alaska Sees the Most Dramatic Increases in Life Expectancy in the Nation, New Study Says

By Michelle Theriault Boots

Over the past 35 years, life expectancy increased more in some remote regions of Alaska than almost anywhere else in the United States, according to detailed new research published this week in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

The numbers are striking: In 1980, the average life expectancy of a person born in the North Slope Borough was just 65, on par with places like Sudan and Iraq today.

The Conversation: What Africa Still Needs to Do to Eliminate Malaria

By Willis Simon Akhwale, Country Director for I-TECH Kenya

Malaria is one of the oldest and deadliest infectious diseases affecting man. It is an ancient and modern disease – descriptions of illnesses similar to malaria are found in ancient texts from China, India, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Malaria parasites have co-evolved – which involves genetic changes and adaptation – with people as their hosts over a period of four thousand years.

Pages