[Special Issue News] It's a wash: Hands-on hygiene in Peru
Washing hands with soap and water is easy, and it has a clear public health benefit. Studies suggest it could prevent up to two-fifths of diarrheal disease and one-fourth of pneumonia, the two biggest killers of children in poor countries. Yet few people in poor countries regularly wash their hands, only between 3% and 34%. In 2008, the Peruvian government launched a mass media and education campaign to encourage mothers and children to wash their hands at key times. It also distributed kits with soap and water to households. Surprisingly, the campaign had very little effect on behavior and none on disease.
Author: Kai Kup...
Source: Science: This Week - September 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Kai Kupferschmidt Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Hats off to Vietnam's helmet law
A stringent law passed in 2007 has made motorcycle helmets compulsory in Vietnam—and has proven that such laws, which require political will more than money, can have a big impact on public health. Thanks in part to hefty fines, helmet use jumped from less than 40% to close to 100% literally overnight when the law took effect. Research suggests that its passage saved more than 1500 lives the first year and reduced serious head injuries by almost 2500. Researchers at the Center for Global Development plan to include the Vietnam law in the next edition of Millions Saved, a book on proven successes in global health, in hope...
Source: Science: This Week - September 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Martin Enserink Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] A hard look at global health measures
Bed nets can prevent malaria, antiretroviral drugs extend life for HIV-infected people, and hand-washing reduces rates of diarrhea. Scientific studies have proven the worth of each of these. But there's a world of difference between what works in a tightly monitored small study and what works in the far messier real world. As global health budgets have surged, increasing scrutiny has come to programs designed to roll out health interventions to communities or even entire countries. Building on the randomized, controlled study design used in clinical trials of experimental medicines, a field known as impact evaluation has d...
Source: Science: This Week - September 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Jon Cohen Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] After the windfall
Investments in global health began growing in the 1990s then exploded after the turn of the century. Rich countries stepped up their donations, with much of the funding channeled through new public-private partnerships like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But since 2008, those countries have tightened their belts; developing countries—some of which enjoy robust economic growth—are expected to shoulder more of the cost. And, increasingly, people are asking for hard data about the return on investment. In this special news section, Science tracks the impact of the explosion in funding for global ...
Source: Science: This Week - September 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Martin Enserink Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Parenting: An experiment in zero parenting
A study of orphans carried out in Bucharest has been described as the best controlled—and most controversial—analysis of institutionalized child care. Led by Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Charles Nelson, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) tracks children who were raised for a time with essentially no parenting. BEIP intervened in 2000 to offer high-quality foster care to a randomly selected group of these Romanian orphans; it also tracked a group who lived in institutions. (This was controversial; some critics thought that it was improper to study any children in institutions.) The researchers, who...
Source: Science: This Week - August 15, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Eliot Marshall Tags: Parenting Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Parenting: The taste of things to come
Expectant mothers are barraged with advice from friends, family, and physicians about what to eat while pregnant and breast-feeding. Most of that advice is focused on nutrition, but in recent years scientists have begun to explore another important aspect of early food experience—flavor. Although some preferences, such as a love for sweetness and an aversion to bitterness, are genetically determined, a growing body of evidence suggests that the majority of our idiosyncratic inclinations for different flavors are not innate, but rather learned. Indeed, studies in human infants and animals suggest that we may start to lear...
Source: Science: This Week - August 15, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Emily Underwood Tags: Parenting Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Parenting: Nature's first functional food
The study of mother's milk is booming, thanks to new analytical techniques, a growing interest in milk-microbiome connections, and the resurgence of breast-feeding. Building upon a century-old study that first indicated that milk nourished certain bacteria in infants, the new work has characterized the complexity of breast milk carbohydrates called oligosaccharides, or HMOs, that particularly nourish one species of beneficial bacteria. That microbe in turn encourages the growth of other beneficial bacteria and promotes a healthy gut immune system. These HMOs also protect the gut against pathogens, as do peptides released f...
Source: Science: This Week - August 15, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Trisha Gura Tags: Parenting Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Parenting: Unsettled questions trail IVF's success
In vitro fertilization (IVF) and associated techniques are a medical success story, with more than 5 million apparently healthy babies born this way. The known risks of these technologies are relatively small: a slight increase in pregnancy complications, preterm birth, and low birth weight, and possibly an increased risk of birth defects. But as researchers learn more about the sensitivity of early embryos, they have begun to wonder if the manipulations of IVF may have additional subtle effects that appear as children grow. Animal studies hint that people conceived this way may be at higher risk of age-related disorders, ...
Source: Science: This Week - August 14, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Kelly Servick Tags: Parenting Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] The empty forest
Much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America suffers from overhunting. Lambir Hills National Park in western Borneo, one of the most diverse forests in the world, is a key case study in how the forest fares when it loses the herbivores that once thinned saplings and the fruit eaters that dispersed seeds. At Lambir, saplings became more crowded, raising the risk that the plants would get sick, and the number of species has fallen. Some officials and activists are trying to stop overhunting and illegal trade of wildlife. If hunting can be controlled in the parks, researchers hope, large animals may one day return.
Author: Erik St...
Source: Science: This Week - July 24, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Erik Stokstad Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Malaysia: Malaysia tries to follow Australia's path
Adeeba Kamarulzaman, a leading HIV/AIDS researcher who is the dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Malaya, studied in Australia from the time she was in high school, and, when she returned home to Malaysia, successfully lobbied the government to import harm reduction strategies that had worked there. Although many Malaysians are afraid to confront their government, Kamarulzaman has repeatedly pushed for evidence-based reforms, regardless of the political sensitivities. As transmission has shifted primarily from drug users sharing equipment to sexual transmission, she is now advocating for prevention and tr...
Source: Science: This Week - July 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine (mailto:soleditor at aaas.org) Tags: Malaysia Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Indonesia: A consummate insider pushes ideas from outside Indonesia
Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi's HIV prevention efforts have faced serious resistance from some influential Islamists in this Muslim-majority country. Her promotion of condoms has led to angry protests, and she also had to overcome loud objections to her advocating that the government adopt harm reduction strategies for people who inject drugs. In an interview with Science, Mboi explains how she won several battles over HIV prevention efforts, yet also frankly addresses the areas that still need far more attention from the government. In particular, the government has not squarely addressed the spread of HIV in men who have...
Source: Science: This Week - July 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine (mailto:soleditor at aaas.org) Tags: Indonesia Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] The circumcision conundrum
Large-scale studies have proven that medical circumcision, which removes the entire foreskin, reduces the risk of men becoming infected via heterosexual sex by about 60%. But researchers still debate the precise mechanisms that lead to this protection. Investigators are now studying traditional penile cutting in Papua New Guinea, which slits but doesn't remove the foreskin, for possible clues. Some evidence suggests that traditional cutting may offer some degree of protection, and by conducting experiments with HIV and different types of foreskin in the lab, researchers hope to clarify the factors in foreskins that deter o...
Source: Science: This Week - July 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine (mailto:soleditor at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Prevention, Papua New Guinea style
In the mountainous, remote Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, people gather in makeshift cinema houses to watch videos that feature people from their communities who became infected by HIV. The stars of the videos come to viewings, too, speaking with the audience about their experiences, as well as about measures they can take to protect themselves and the effective antiretroviral treatment available if they do become infected. Made by students at the University of Goroka, the videos are in the local pidgin and attract people who are not often reached by mass media campaigns that attempt to educate the public about HI...
Source: Science: This Week - July 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine (mailto:soleditor at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] Papua New Guinea: In PNG, the epidemic that wasn't
In several sub-Saharan African countries, HIV has spread widely via heterosexual sex, infecting 5% or more of adults. No Asian country has an epidemic that has made similar headway in heterosexuals, although the virus has spread widely in key affected populations like men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and sex workers. Papua New Guinea, however, is distinct from other Asian countries in many ways, and 10 years ago, it appeared that HIV was set to explode there in the heterosexual population. This sub-Saharan–like epidemic never came to be, and the country now is struggling to realign its response. The centr...
Source: Science: This Week - July 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine (mailto:soleditor at aaas.org) Tags: Papua New Guinea Source Type: research
[Special Issue News] The limits of success
To date, Australia has only had an estimated 35,000 total HIV infections, which per capita is about four times less than the United States—and is a testament to the country's early efforts to prevent spread in high-risk groups. But there's one troubling exception to this success story: Prevalence of HIV continues to rise among men who have sex with men; it jumped 10% in 2012 and it has steadily increased since 1999. Given that roughly 70% of HIV-infected people in Australia receive treatment and that 90% of them have undetectable levels of virus in their blood, these increases in prevalence raise questions about treatme...
Source: Science: This Week - July 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine (mailto:soleditor at aaas.org) Source Type: research
