Metrics to evaluate progress and success

We are in the midst of a major transition in the core U.S. goals for global health. As these goals change, so too do the methods for measuring progress: from a focus on inputs and process to a higher priority on ensuring that U.S. investments are leading to the greatest health impacts possible. Read this essay and tell us what you think.

Infectious Diseases

Worldwide, infectious diseases are the leading cause of death of children and adolescents, and one of the leading causes in adults.

Three of the top ten causes of death, or sixteen percent of all deaths each year, are from infectious diseases. Most of these deaths are in low- and middle-income countries and are attributable to preventable or treatable diseases such as diarrhea, lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. While significant advances have been made in interventions to prevent and treat most of these diseases, those interventions are often unavailable to the populations most in need. Read More >

Chronic diseases and their risk factors

Rates of non-communicable or chronic disease continue to increase dramatically in all countries (industrialized, middle income, low income), surpassing infections as a disease burden among adults. Many countries do not have the financial or human resources to effectively identify, manage or prevent either these diseases or the individual and social risk factors that are their underlying causes. Yet, most donors are not yet sufficiently focused on the large and growing burden of these diseases in developing countries. Read More >

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-transmitted parasitic disease that can be life-threatening. More than 200 million malaria infections are estimated to occur annually in over 100 countries. Of the nearly 900,000 malaria deaths estimated to occur annually, more than 90% are in African children less than 5 years old.

Plasmodium falciparum is the most threatening of the four malaria species that infect humans, because of its wide geographic range (covering most of sub-Saharan Africa) and its greater ability to cause severe or fatal disease. Read More >

Pandemic H1N1 Influenza

A “new” influenza A H1N1 virus that combines genetic material from swine, avian and human influenza viruses was initially reported in Mexico and in the southwestern United States in early April 2009. Subsequently, the new virus has continued to spread steadily around the globe.

Although this strain of influenza seems relatively mild, deaths are occurring, primarily among people with pre-existing illnesses. Within the United States, nearly 9,000 laboratory-confirmed H1N1 infections have been reported from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as of June 25, with 127 confirmed deaths. CDC has estimated that more than a million H1N1 infections have occurred in the United States. Read More >