LA Times—Malaria vaccine may be available in 2012
A malaria vaccine under testing has cut illnesses by more than half in field trials and could be safely given with other childhood inoculations, two studies have reported. The vaccine, which will begin a third and final phase of clinical trials early next year, could become the first to protect children from malaria, which kills nearly 1 million people worldwide every year. The studies, published online Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, were reported at a New Orleans meeting of tropical-medicine researchers and were hailed as a significant breakthrough in the fight against one of the most intractable and deadly infectious diseases.

Christian Science Monitor: Bigger US role battling genocide?
A new genocide prevention task force made up of former Clinton administration foreign-policy heavyweights Madeleine Albright and William Cohen says that an Obama presidency will place a higher priority on battling genocide and will focus on diplomacy and international action to prevent the kind of mass killings that have ravaged Sudan’s Darfur and the Congo. One reason for their conclusion is the naming of Susan Rice as US ambassador to the United Nations, an experienced diplomat who has advocated swift action against genocide since her experience with Rwanda in the 1990s.

New York Times—Gates Foundation Gives Millions for PBS Coverage of World Health
The Gates Foundation recently gave a grant of $3.5 million to “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” to help its correspondents produce 40 to 50 reports over three years on malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, measles, neglected diseases and other global health issues. The grant came with “no strings,” said Patti Parson, managing producer of “NewsHour,” which is seen on 315 PBS stations. This is the Gates Foundation’s most overt financing of health journalism, but not the first as it has given to other news organizations and journalism schools.

-Steve Wilson