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Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Discovery Of Novel Gene
Researchers in the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children"s Hospital Medical Center have discovered a novel gene responsible for heart muscle disease and chronic heart failure in some children and adults with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Swine Flu Update Issued On Monday 29 June 2009, Wales
-- 17 confirmed cases in Wales, with 0 new cases.
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HIV/AIDS Advocates React To Obama's Proposed Global Health Initiative
Some HIV/AIDS advocates have voiced disappointment with the level of HIV/AIDS funding in President Obama"s proposed $63 billion, six-year global health initiative, VOA News reports. According to VOA News, the advocates say that Obama has not met pledges he made as a presidential candidate, while other say that the "picture is more complicated." According to the Global AIDS Alliance, Obama previously pledged to dedicate $50 billion over five years to HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, but has instead proposed $51 billion over six years. GAA Executive Director Paul Zeitz said this proposal translates into significantly less annual funding for PEPFAR (Kilner, VOA News, 5/19). Zeitz said, "President Obama has a moral obligation to demonstrate global leadership on behalf of the poorest and most marginalized people of the world, especially in Africa," adding, "But by turning his back on those needs, the president is betraying the trust of tens of millions of people" (Pflanz, Daily Telegraph, 5/18). Advocates estimate that the funding shortfall could result in about one million people going without HIV/AIDS treatment and about 2.9 million women going without treatment to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. James Kamau, coordinator for the Kenya Treatment Action Movement, said that one effect of Obama"s proposal is that other donor countries could take similar actions, leading to additional cuts. "In Kenya here we say when the lead sheep limps then it does not get the others to the pastures," Kamau said, adding, "Now if [Obama] cuts back funding on the Global Fund, then the rest of the people will follow suit" (VOA News, 5/19). Some have welcomed Obama"s proposal, saying that it has expanded the focus of global health initiatives to include other health issues that can be treated at a low cost but have not received as much attention, VOA News reports. Obama"s proposal includes $12 billion for these additional areas of focus, including more emphasis on maternal health and health infrastructure, according to VOA News.According to VOA News, Obama"s proposal might be more than Congress is willing to allocate during the economic crisis. The current budget resolution under consideration by Congress would allocate $51 billion for foreign aid in FY 2010, almost $3 billion less than what Obama requested (VOA News, 5/18). African Government Spending on Health
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Wall Street Journal Examines Program To Spur Vaccine Development For Developing World Diseases

The Wall Street Journal examines a $1.5 billion program supported by Italy, the U.K., Canada, Russia, Norway and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that hopes "to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases common to poor countries," which is expected to be announced Friday "on the sidelines of a meeting of top finance officials from the Group of Eight major industrial powers." "Instead of buying existing drugs and giving them away, the donors will guarantee pharmaceutical companies a future market big enough to justify developing and manufacturing new vaccines needed in nations too impoverished to afford them on their own," the newspaper writes. The article explores why insufficient financial incentives tend to keep pharmaceutical companies from developing vaccines targeted to developing countries and how the program aims to overcome these barriers. The first focus of the program is a vaccine for pneumococcal disease, "which kills 1.6 million people in the world a year, the majority of them young children in the developing world," according to the Wall Street Journal, which adds, "The donors chose to go after pneumococcal disease rather than malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or other infectious illnesses in part because the prospects appear good that new vaccines could hit the market as early as next year." In collaboration with UNICEF, the World Bank and the GAVI Alliance, the Wall Street Journal writes, the donors "will promise to purchase new pneumococcus vaccines that meet specified criteria for safety, durability and effectiveness." According to the Wall Street Journal, "The U.S. waxed enthusiastic about the approach after Italy and Britain began championing it four years ago, but never came up with a contribution" (Phillips, Wall Street Journal, 6/12). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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