News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A dramatic 78% drop in measles deaths since the start of the decade has global health officials eyeing eradicating the disease, but two major setbacks— resurgence of the disease in Africa and shrinking disease-fighting funds —threaten the efforts, experts said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Delegates at the World Health Organization's (WHO's) World Health Assembly (WHA) wrapped up their 5-day meeting on May 21, taking aim at diseases such as childhood pneumonia and measles and addressing difficult issues involving equitable access to vaccines and medicines.

(CIDRAP News) – In the history of infectious diseases, coincidence plays an extraordinary role. In 1706, Cotton Mather purchased a slave named Onesimus who happened to come from a tribe that practiced variolation, and so smallpox prevention was introduced to North America.