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Dancing with mosquitoes: engaging children in the fight against malaria
Malaria Smart School | Barnabas Ahaisibwe, 7, turns to see which of his classmates raised their hands in response to the question “Who slept under a bed net last night?”. Photo Credit – Caitlin Christman USAID. Original public domain image from Flickr The success disease prevention strategies hinge on the wholehearted participation of the communities…
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Malaria-free Cabo Verde: a public health success!
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Prime Minister of Cabo Verde H.E. Ulisses Correia e Silva and Minister of Health of Cabo Verde Filomena Mendes Gonçalves at a ceremony on 12 January 2024 to certify the country’s elimination of malaria. From https://www.who.int/news/item/12-01-2024-who-certifies-cabo-verde-as-malaria-free–marking-a-historic-milestone-in-the-fight-against-malaria WHO / JacsSpoor An archipelago of volcanic islands off the coast of West…
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Schistosomiasis: A public health problem in need of a One Health reframing
One Health joint plan of action. FAO; UNEP; WHO; WOAH, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons An ancient, highly adaptable neglected tropical disease Electron micrograph of an adult male Schistosoma parasite worm. The bar (bottom left) represents a length of 500 μm. Credit: David Williams, Illinois State University. Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by…
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Training for Community Health Workers embraces the new normal
A Shasthya Kormis community health worker uses Dishari to share up-to-date information on COVID-19 with her community. Image Credit: Abdullah Al Kafi Community health workers (CHWs) regularly bring essential health services and education right to people’s doorsteps. Leveraging their lived experience and understanding of local realities, they are often the first point of care for…
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NTDs, poverty, and ecosystem destruction. Predicting disease risk and breaking the poverty trap
Operação de Fiscalização na Floresta Nacional do Jamanxim, no Pará Foto: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama Operação de Fiscalização na Floresta Nacional do Jamanxim, no Pará Foto: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama Last Saturday, 22 April 2023, was Earth Day, an international annual event to recognize, celebrate and advocate for the protection of the environmental and ecosystems. Perhaps due to the…
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Terrestrial pathogens and microplastics: Hitchhiker’s guide to the ocean
Left: Fquasie, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons. Right: hockadilly, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Since 1964, the global production of plastics has increased 20-fold. Every year, approximately 13 million tons of plastic waste contaminate our oceans, with at least 5.25 trillion individual plastic particles estimated to be circulating in the oceans…
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Contentious, contagious and concerning – the impact of recent measles outbreaks across the world
At this current time, countries are ploughing resources into developing a vaccine for COVID-19: a vaccine that is being anticipated by many to be the answer to fighting the disease. Conversely, measles cases are on the rise again, despite having an effective vaccine since the 1960’s and established vaccination programs in most countries. Outbreaks across…
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Free sugar intake and micronutrient dilution: Q&A with Dr Esther González-Padilla
Q1. There are many studies that look at the health risks associated with sugary snacks and beverages. Why did you decide to look at the impact on micronutrient status? Has it got something to do with dietary habits in the population studied? Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are considered diseases in their own right. However, the…
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Added sugar intake and micronutrient dilution: Q&A with Dr Esther González-Padilla
Q1. There are many studies that look at the health risks associated with sugary snacks and beverages. Why did you decide to look at the impact on micronutrient status? Has it got something to do with dietary habits in the population studied? Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are considered diseases in their own right. However, the…
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Mobilizing research to defeat Neglected Tropical Diseases: A World NTD Day special
World NTD Day was announced by the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum on 19 November. Since then, more than 280+ partners around the world have signed on to celebrate the Day https://worldntdday.org/ Today is World NTD Day. Committed Bugbitten followers will know that our blog posts are…