Global Malaria Programme Update

Featuring
Dr. Arata Kochi
World Health Organization

Tuesday, March 28, 2006
11 am-Noon
Global Health Council
1111 19th Street, NW, Suite 1120
Washington, D.C.

During the last century, the world successfully eradicated malaria from North America and Europe. Unfortunately, this campaign did not attain the same success in less developed parts of world, including Africa, Asia and Latin America. Today, it is estimated that 40 percent of the world's population live in malaria endemic areas. In these vast regions of the world, malaria is taking a devastating toll on children, their families and entire communities.

Under the new leadership of Dr. Arata Kochi, the work of the Global Malaria Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO) has significantly changed, including the launch of new malaria treatment guidelines - the first guidelines issued in nearly 20 years. More than 30 people joined us to hear Dr. Kochi discuss the WHO's strategy on addressing the global malaria crisis.

As one of the most senior public health experts at WHO, Dr. Kochi's work in the area of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV is widely recognized. Prior to his current role leading WHO's malaria efforts, Dr. Kochi served as the director for WHO's Stop TB initiative. During his tenure, the number of TB patients receiving WHO-recommended treatment for the disease rose from 2 to 60 percent. As director of WHO's HIV Department, Kochi spearheaded the delivery of AIDS treatment in the developing world, which eventually led to WHO's '3 by 5' initiative.

TOP UNIVERSITY FOR MS

1.	Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) (MD)	4.7
2.	Georgia Institute of Technology	4.6
	University of California–San Diego (Jacobs)	4.6
4.	University of Washington	4.5
5.	Duke University (NC)	4.3
6.	Boston University	4.2
	University of Pennsylvania	4.2
8.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	4.1
9.	Rice University (Brown) (TX)	4.0
10.	Case Western Reserve University (OH)	3.9
	University of Michigan–Ann Arbor	3.9
12.	Northwestern University (McCormick) (IL)	3.8
	Stanford University (CA)	3.8
	University of California–Berkeley †	3.8
	Washington University in St. Louis (Sever)	3.8
16.	University of Pittsburgh	3.6
	University of Virginia	3.6
18.	University of Texas–Austin	3.5
19.	Columbia University (Fu Foundation) (NY)	3.4
	University of Utah	3.4
21.	Vanderbilt University (TN)	3.3
22.	California Institute of Technology	3.2
	University of Wisconsin–Madison	3.2
24.	Carnegie Mellon University (PA)	3.1
	Cornell University (NY)	3.1
	Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN)	3.1
	University of California–Davis	3.1
	University of Minnesota–Twin Cities	3.1
29.	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY)	3.0
30.	Arizona State University (Fulton)	2.9
	Pennsylvania State University–University Park	2.9
	Texas A&M University–College Station (Look)	2.9
	University of Southern California (Viterbi)	2.9
34.	CUNY–City College (Grove)	2.8
	North Carolina State University	2.8
	University of Iowa	2.8
37.	Drexel University (PA)	2.7
	Harvard University (MA)	2.7
	Marquette University (WI)	2.7
	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick	2.7
	SUNY–Stony Brook	2.7
	University of Alabama–Birmingham	2.7
	University of California–Irvine (Samueli)	2.7
	University of Rochester (NY)	2.7
	Yale University (CT)	2.7
46.	Brown University (RI)	2.6
	Clemson University (SC)	2.6
	University of California–Los Angeles (Samueli)	2.6
49.	University of Arizona	2.5

BIOMEDICAL RANKING

Electricity Allows Paralysis Victims To Walk Again

Electricity Allows Paralysis Victims To Walk Again
4/24/2008

Have you ever watched a paraplegic stand up and walk around? Visit University of Alberta in Edmonton, and you just might see the unbelievable in action.

It's the groundbreaking work of Dr Richard Stein, a spinal cord researcher who has developed a device that delivers an electrical impulse to leg muscles, stimulating them to move. This tiny jolt of current would normally travel down the spinal column – but for people with damaged spines, the Bio-8 Stimulator delivers the impulse directly into the muscle, triggered by the shift in someone's balance associated with walking.

Dr. Stein has spent 45 years working with his colleagues to find ways of tackling spinal paralysis, and on April 2nd 2008, he was awarded the Barbara Turnbull Award For Spinal Cord Research for his efforts. The $50,000 prize money will go towards further research, focusing not just on better muscular control methods, but also on ways to trigger activity in the damaged spinal cord itself.

One of Dr. Stein's patients, 47-year-old Edgar Jackson, has one paralyzed leg, and has credited the doctor's innovative work with giving him "a new life."

"Dr. Stein has given me the greatest opportunity," he told The Edmonton Sun. "I'll be able to walk my two daughters down the aisle one day."
 

Bionic Eye Implant Can Help the Blind See Again

Millions of people are losing their vision – but some of them may be about to get a second shot at sight, thanks to a new bionic eye implant.  
 
The implant consists of a computer chip surgically implanted near the retina, the eye's light-gathering area, with an ultra-thin wire running from the chip to the optic nerve. After the implant installation, the user wears specially-designed sunglasses fitted with a compact camera and a transmitting device – not so stylish, perhaps, but very helpful. Images are transmitted to the bionic eye implant, then sent on to the brain via the wire in the user's optic nerve.        
 
The implant won't give anyone 20-20 vision, but at the very least, it will allow the severely vision-impaired to get a general sense of their surroundings. Once again, they'll be able to recognize familiar faces and even facial expressions, allowing them to interact more fully in social situations. Though the implant cannot help those who've been blind since birth, it should be effective for millions who've lost sight over time. 
 
"What level of achievement that would actually be is hard to know; but the idea is of not having to use the white cane - to walk around, find the sidewalk, avoiding a telephone pol," said John Wyatt, co-director of the Boston Retinal Implant Project. "Being able to navigate safely in an unfamiliar environment, that's the big topic." 
 
The bionic eye implant is scheduled to undergo testing this summer in animal subjects and, if successful, will move on to human trials. All going well, millions of people will finally have the chance to see their loved ones' faces again with the bionic eye implant – and a pair of clunky glasses seems a small price to pay for that privilege.