Haiti is at the forefront of one of the most important developments in global health. On Saturday, this beautiful country – devastated by earthquake and hurricane – will become the 14th GAVI-supported country to introduce lifesaving rotavirus vaccines into its national immunization program joining four other GAVI countries in the Americas region: Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua. The introduction of rotavirus vaccine is a tangible symbol of Haiti’s effort to rebuild and protect its children. It is a remarkable achievement just three years after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake demolished the Ministry of Health, destroyed or seriously damaged 30 hospitals, and took the lives of 230,000 people, including some 300 health workers.

Katri Kemppainen-Bertram discusses the co-epidemic of TB/HIV and how combatting them together could be the solution to the epidemic. What do you see when you visualize an organization called The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria? Possibly sex (as HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex), possibly drugs (anti-malaria pills during travels where

Today marks yet another moment in the “holidays without greeting cards” series: World Tuberculosis Day. Each year, there are 9 million new cases of TB and close to 2 million people die from the disease. An estimated 10 percent of people with TB also are co-infected with HIV, further compounding the diseases’ burden. Dr. Paul

This month, we’ll be featuring blog posts that help illustrate how the Global Fund affects programs that fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. In this article, Dr. Joia Mukherjee of Partners in Health (PIH), who participated in our ONE Haiti conference call in January, highlights the partnership between the Fund and PIH. It

Photo credit: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation We’ve dedicated a lot of space on this blog to rotavirus — a disease that is the most common form of childhood diarrhea. Diarrhea is something we often think of as gross or annoying, but it’s easy to forget that diarrhea is deadly, causing nearly 500,000 deaths each

We must do better against malaria, says President – Following this week’s African Union summit, Tanzanian President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, asserts that leaders must do more to eliminate all preventable malaria deaths, starting with the goal of reaching universal mosquito-net coverage by the end of this year. (The Guardian) New TB test must reach more

Check out these great videos from the WHO that movingly display the need to move to 100% polio eradication, and the plan that was launched to do just that:

Last week, senior health officials from 193 Member States of the WHO gathered in Geneva to participate in the 63rd World Health Assembly. There—as in every other year—they reviewed the WHO’s work, set new goals, and assigned new tasks. Highlights and topics from the week included: Opening remarks from WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan She

The WHO just released its 2010 report on multidrug and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB) surveillance and response, providing the latest information on the status of this global epidemic. The alarming news from this report is that in some areas of the world, one in four people who were infected with tuberculosis became ill with a

This is a little older, but worth the read. VOA News has a piece featuring the Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan and her take on the progress being made tackling some of Africa’s worst health problems. You can read the full piece here. Margaret Chan has made Africa one of her top

The 2009 WHO Global Tuberculosis Update was launched earlier this month, providing the latest information on the state of the epidemic around the world. The report shows that in the last 15 years, 36 million people have been cured of tuberculosis, and eight million cases have been prevented. This progress attests to the effectiveness of

Rotary International is teaming up with violin virtuoso and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman and the world-renowned New York Philharmonic to present the Concert to End Polio, a benefit performance supporting the global effort to eradicate this disabling and sometimes fatal childhood disease. Polio eradication resonates strongly with Mr. Perlman, who contracted the disease at age

Today is World Pneumonia Day and you can watch the Global Pneumonia Summit live right now. Child advocates from around the world are gathering in New York City to hear the latest on how we can raise the profile of child pneumonia and get policymakers everywhere to act. Speakers include: Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of

UNICEF, the WHO and the World Bank came together today to announce that while more children are being vaccinated than ever before, nearly 24 million of the world’s most at-risk children are still not receiving life-saving vaccinations. Reaching these children will require an estimated $1 billion each year. The announcement came today after new data

The World Health Organization’s expert advisory panel on immunizations announced today that all children should receive a vaccine that can prevent a severe type of diarrhea and vomiting caused by the rotavirus. Every year, 600,000 children die from severe diarrhea caused by rotavirus around the world.  Although most of these deaths occur in developing countries,