Auf Wiedersehen Rinderpest! Mark Leon Goldberg June 28, 2011 Today, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization will announce that the cattle-plague Rinderpest has been officially eradicated from planet earth. This is a huge, huge achievement for humanity.
The Annual Letter from Bill Gates Alanna Shaikh, MPH January 31, 2011 Bill Gates released his annual letter today. In it, he writes about polio eradication, vaccines in general, malaria, saving the lives of babies, the need for leadership on HIV, the promise of agriculture, excellence in teaching (in the US), and the Giving Pledge
Humanity’s Biggest Achievement This Week Mark Leon Goldberg October 15, 2010 The Food and Agriculture Organization is confident that a cattle plague that ruined the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across centuries has been eliminated from the face of the earth. Auf wiedersehen Rinderpest!
Polio Outbreak in Tajikistan Alanna Shaikh, MPH May 3, 2010 It looks like I am at ground zero of a polio outbreak. In Tajikistan, where I live, 171 cases of acute flaccid paralysis have been reported by the Ministry of Health since January. (Acute flaccid paralysis is what they call it before the tests confirm it’s polio.) 32 cases have been confirmed as polio. Twelve people have died.
Saudi Arabia v. Polio II Dan Carucci October 3, 2009 I was pleased to see Alanna Shaikh comment on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s generous gift, and critical commitment to help us move closer to global polio eradication. Ms. Shaikh noted in her commentary, there are Muslim populations which have been reluctant to take advantage of the polio vaccine, due to false rumors that it may lead to infertility or the spread of HIV. It is these misconceptions which make the efforts of Saudi Arabia to dispel myths and require vaccination for every Haj Pilgrim momentous.
Saudi Arabia vs Polio Alanna Shaikh, MPH September 30, 2009 We wrote about this last week, and The New York Times reported yesterday that Saudi Arabia is going to ask every haj pilgrim to Mecca to take the oral polio vaccine in front of Saudi health officials. This is excellent public health news, but it also illustrates the ways that health and human rights come together in strange ways.
Saudi to require polio vaccine for Hajj pilgrims Mark Leon Goldberg September 23, 2009 At the Clinton Global Initiative, The United Nations Foundation (which supports this blog) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced a $30 million program to eradicate polio.As it stands, polio is close to being wiped off the map. There were only some 1650 cases reported in 2008. About 90% of those cases originated from countries where polio remains endemic: India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The money will largely directed to polio eradication campaigns in those four countries.
