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More from the 2011 PAHO/PAHEF Awards for Excellence in Inter-American Public Health

October 3rd, 2011

On the first day of the 51st Directing Council meeting of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) last week, the 2011 PAHO/PAHEF Awards for Excellence in Inter-American Public Health were announced. During the ceremony, major change-makers in public health were honored for their tireless work in improving the human condition. Among the winners include Sabin Vaccine Institute President Dr. Peter Hotez.

The video below captures the award ceremony which took place in Washington DC, take a look:

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Still barking

July 19th, 2011

By: Alanna Shaikh

Speaking of neglected tropical diseases that are better controlled in the wealthy world, let’s talk about rabies.

In the last 100 years, we’ve seen rabies deaths in the US go from about a hundred a year to 1-2 a year. This is especially impressive when you consider that the US has two lengthy land borders; it cannot physically isolate itself from foreign animals. Bats, in particular, carry rabies and cross borders at will by air.

It’s an interesting example because rabies control has been primarily a governance effort in the US, not a medical effort. Better rabies treatment is not the reason for the reduced number of rabies deaths. We know this because the number of cases of rabies has gone down, not just the number of deaths from rabies infection. This has happened even as rates of rabies in wild animals have gone up.

There are two components of the US rabies reduction effort: regulation of pets and control of stray animals. Firstly, every house pet in the US is required by law to be vaccinated for rabies. Laws vary state by state, but they all require rabies vaccination for household pets. Secondly, stray domestic animals are captured and either adopted out as pets or put to sleep. US municipal governments began to take these efforts seriously in the 1940s, after World War II, and you can see the rabies infection rates in humans in the US began to fall at that point. » Read more: Still barking

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The Business of Giving

July 14th, 2011

Check out this comprehensive infographic on giving and how companies are making an impact on philanthropies. Graphic was originally posted on the Future of Work blog:

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XIX Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group

July 13th, 2011

The XIX Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) was held from July 6-8, 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Experts from the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) gathered to acknowledge great strides made in vaccine development and distribution, along with discussing next steps for future success. Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Chair of the PAHO/WHO Technical Advisory Group of Vaccine-preventable diseases, and Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute was presented an award from the Argentina Ministry of Health. The award presented by Argentinean Minister of Health Juan Manzur was to recognize Dr. de Quadros’ long commitment to global health and his work in the field of vaccines.

Minister of Health of Argentina, Dr. Manzur delivers thanks to Dr. Ciro de Quadros

“[The Americas] is the first region in the world to eradicate smallpox and eliminate polio, rubella, congenital rubella, and measles,” states Dr. de Quadros, “ and it is also the leader in introducing the rotavirus, pneumonia, and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.”

Click here to read the full press release in Spanish. Streaming video of the XIX TAG meeting can also be found here.

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Posted in Global Health, Public Health

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