February 2018

It Takes a Mosquito to Fight a Mosquito

The New York Times highlighted two Combating Zika and Future Threats Grand Challenge innovators, Monash University's World Mosquito Program and Michigan State University, for their work with mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, a naturally-occurring bacteria that blocks or greatly reduces the transmission of diseases such as Zika and Dengue when introduced into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Through their work with USAID, the World Mosquito Program is releasing Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes for population replacement in Colombia, and Michigan State is piloting the release of Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes to suppress the wild mosquito population in Mexico. Read more.

Global Health Innovation Act Signed into Law

Last month, the Global Health Innovation Act was signed into law. This bipartisan bill aims to support USAID’s efforts to develop innovations that are affordable and appropriate for the most vulnerable populations in global health. Specifically, the bill directs USAID to report to Congress annually on the development and use of global health innovations in USAID programs, projects, and activities, including how USAID is leveraging US investments to achieve great health innovation and how innovation advances USAID’s commitments to reach global health goals.

Norad joins ATscale: Global Partnership for Assistive Technology

In January, NORAD became a member of ATscale, a global partnership for assistive technology (AT). ATscale aims to reach 500 million more people by 2030 with the life-changing assistive technology that they need through harnessing service delivery and market shaping approaches, creating partnerships with the private sector to build and serve markets, and encouraging an enabling environment and building political will. NORAD is the most recent partner to join ATscale, alongside USAID, DFID, CHAI, China Disabled Persons' Federation, International Disability Alliance, Global Disability Innovation Hub, Government of Kenya, Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Health, UNICEF, and the WHO.

Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health Leads National Meeting on Childhood Pneumonia

As a member of the Every Breath Counts (EBC) Coalition, USAID is supporting the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) to develop an integrated pneumonia control strategy and implementation plan for reducing the high burden of preventable mortality from pneumonia. This effort is in line with the FMoH's broader approach towards reducing newborn and child mortality. To kick-start the development of this implementation plan, the FMoH convened a national stakeholder meeting with 75 attendees, including representatives from the FMoH, various state ministries of health, professional/regulatory bodies, and EBCC partners on January 30th in Abuja. The outputs of the meeting will feed into the drafting of the strategy and implementation plan as part of next steps.

USAID Announces $12M for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer in sub-Saharan Africa

USAID, in partnership with the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), will dedicate $12 million to support the expansion of integrated programs to prevent cervical cancer and improve women's health in Malawi and Mozambique. Cervical Cancer has become one of the largest killers of women in the developing world, and Malawi and Mozambique have some of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world. This is the first time USAID has funded programs to prevent cervical cancer in the context of broader women's health. Learn more about the winners at the NASEM website. CII is excited to support this effort, including market shaping for new cervical cancer prevention, diagnostic, and treatment technologies.