News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Opening the 65th annual World Health Assembly (WHA) today, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, said she sees a bright future for health development, despite financial crises that many countries are facing, which has shrunk support for many initiatives.

(CIDRAP News) – As polio eradication efforts lost ground in 2008, 15 African countries bore the brunt of the spread of the disease with multiple importations of wild poliovirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its global health partners reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – The international coalition of health agencies dedicated to ending polio yesterday declared a "final push" toward the long-delayed goal of eradicating the disease. But its members coupled the announcement with a plea for millions of dollars in donations to fill shortfalls, and with an admission that the 20-year-old campaign continues to face stubborn challenges.