World Malaria Day is on 25th April 2015.
World Malaria Day (WMD) is commemorated every year on 25 April and recognizes global efforts to control malaria. It sprung out of the efforts taking place across the African continent to commemorate Africa Malaria Day.
According to WHO :
198 million estimated cases of malaria in 2013.
584 000 estimated deaths caused by malaria in 2013.
On World Malaria Day 2015, WHO is calling on the global health community to address major gaps in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria, and is issuing updated malaria treatment guidelines. Despite dramatic declines in malaria cases and deaths since 2000, more than half a million lives are still lost to this preventable disease each year.
History of the World Malaria Day :
World Malaria Day was established in May 2007 by the 60th session of the World Health Assembly, WHO's decision-making body. The day was established to provide "education and understanding of malaria" and spread information on "year-long intensified implementation of national malaria-control strategies, including community-based activities for malaria prevention and treatment in endemic areas."
Each World Malaria Day focuses on a specific theme.
Current and past themes include the following:
World Malaria Day 2013-2014-2015 - "Invest in the future: defeat malaria"
World Malaria Day 2012 - "Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria"
World Malaria Day 2011 - "Achieving Progress and Impact"
World Malaria Day 2009-2010 - "Counting malaria out"
World Malaria Day 2008 - "Malaria: a disease without borders"
Source : WHO & Wikipedia
FIRST MALARIA VACCINE IS READY : Read more
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Baruch Samuel Blumberg: 28th July
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 – April 5, 2011) was an American doctor and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine .
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976 was awarded jointly to Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek "for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases"
Blumberg identified the Hepatitis B virus, and later developed its diagnostic test and vaccine.
His birthday is being observed as "World Hepatitis Day" (Read more)
Read the biography of Blumeberg
Read the obituary published in the "New Scientist" , after the death of this great scientist.
***
The life and times of a vaccine pioneer
15:49 - 6 April 2011
Roger Highfield, editor of New Scientist magazine
Baruch (Barry) Blumberg, the inventor of the world's first successful anticancer vaccine, has died aged 86.
His lifelong quest to fight the hepatitis B virus earned him a Nobel prize and the resulting vaccine prevented tens of millions of deaths from hepatitis and liver cancer.
I first met Barry in Oxford in the early 1990s, when he was the master of the university's Balliol College.
Late one night I had escorted his daughter Anne back to the college where I was greeted at the door by Barry, who was wearing only pyjamas and a mackintosh.
Typical of his warm and unpretentious demeanour, he immediately invited me in for a chat and a glass of whisky.
I would come to discover over the years that Barry was a truly extraordinary individual: an inspirational scientist, who had not only changed lives but saved them - tens of millions of them; a hard worker, who never retired; a person who was unceasingly curious about just about anything; and someone who was always fun to be with and enjoyed the support of a big, close, loving family.
Barry was born in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1920s, just before the economic depression in 1929. When his family moved to Queens he turned the basement of his parents' house into a laboratory.
At age 17, during the second world war, he was enlisted into the navy, which sent him to do a physics degree at Union College in upstate New York before he served as a deck officer on amphibious ships.
After the war Barry retrained as a doctor, working in Bellevue Hospital in lower New York ("Scenes on the wards were sometimes reminiscent of Hogarth's woodcuts of the public institutions of 18th-century London") before becoming interested in research.
Barry and his team discovered the hepatitis B virus. The team invented (and the Fox Chase Cancer Center patented) the vaccine in 1969, but it would take some time before they could interest a pharmaceutical company to help develop and produce it.
Where national hepatitis vaccination programmes have been introduced the impact has been dramatic. In China the prevalence fell from around 15 per cent to fewer than 1 per cent in less than a decade. In Taiwan, the incidence of the cancer fell by about two-thirds after vaccination was introduced in the early 1980s.
In 1976 Barry was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Since then he has written up his exploits in Hepatitis B: The hunt for a killer virus, was senior adviser to the president of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and president of the American Philosophical Society.
Barry was the founding director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, which focused on study of the origin, distribution, evolution and future of life on Earth and in the cosmos. As he remarked, it was "no mean programme. It addressed the heavy questions."
Barry died suddenly yesterday in California, where he had travelled to be at a NASA meeting.
Read the obituary published in the "New Scientist" , after the death of this great scientist.
***
The life and times of a vaccine pioneer
15:49 - 6 April 2011
Roger Highfield, editor of New Scientist magazine
Baruch (Barry) Blumberg, the inventor of the world's first successful anticancer vaccine, has died aged 86.
His lifelong quest to fight the hepatitis B virus earned him a Nobel prize and the resulting vaccine prevented tens of millions of deaths from hepatitis and liver cancer.
I first met Barry in Oxford in the early 1990s, when he was the master of the university's Balliol College.
Late one night I had escorted his daughter Anne back to the college where I was greeted at the door by Barry, who was wearing only pyjamas and a mackintosh.
Typical of his warm and unpretentious demeanour, he immediately invited me in for a chat and a glass of whisky.
I would come to discover over the years that Barry was a truly extraordinary individual: an inspirational scientist, who had not only changed lives but saved them - tens of millions of them; a hard worker, who never retired; a person who was unceasingly curious about just about anything; and someone who was always fun to be with and enjoyed the support of a big, close, loving family.
Barry was born in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1920s, just before the economic depression in 1929. When his family moved to Queens he turned the basement of his parents' house into a laboratory.
At age 17, during the second world war, he was enlisted into the navy, which sent him to do a physics degree at Union College in upstate New York before he served as a deck officer on amphibious ships.
After the war Barry retrained as a doctor, working in Bellevue Hospital in lower New York ("Scenes on the wards were sometimes reminiscent of Hogarth's woodcuts of the public institutions of 18th-century London") before becoming interested in research.
Barry and his team discovered the hepatitis B virus. The team invented (and the Fox Chase Cancer Center patented) the vaccine in 1969, but it would take some time before they could interest a pharmaceutical company to help develop and produce it.
Where national hepatitis vaccination programmes have been introduced the impact has been dramatic. In China the prevalence fell from around 15 per cent to fewer than 1 per cent in less than a decade. In Taiwan, the incidence of the cancer fell by about two-thirds after vaccination was introduced in the early 1980s.
In 1976 Barry was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Since then he has written up his exploits in Hepatitis B: The hunt for a killer virus, was senior adviser to the president of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and president of the American Philosophical Society.
Barry was the founding director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, which focused on study of the origin, distribution, evolution and future of life on Earth and in the cosmos. As he remarked, it was "no mean programme. It addressed the heavy questions."
Barry died suddenly yesterday in California, where he had travelled to be at a NASA meeting.
World Hepatitis Day: 28 July 2012
Today, 28th July 2012, is being observed as "World Hepatitis Day".
“It’s closer than you think” is the theme of this year’s World Hepatitis Day.
The campaign focuses on raising awareness of the different forms of hepatitis: what they are and how they are transmitted; who is at risk; and the various methods of prevention and treatment.
The date, July 28 was chosen in honour of Nobel Laureate Prof. Baruch Samuel Blumberg, discoverer of the hepatitis B virus, who celebrates his birthday on that date.( The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1976 was awarded jointly to Baruch S. Blumberg and D. Carleton Gajdusek "for their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases")
READ MORE: (Source : WHO and Wikipedia)
World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis B and hepatitis C and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
“It’s closer than you think” is the theme of this year’s World Hepatitis Day, which takes place on 28 July 2012.
The campaign focuses on raising awareness of the different forms of hepatitis: what they are and how they are transmitted; who is at risk; and the various methods of prevention and treatment.
According to WHO,
Hepatitis A : 1.4 million estimated cases occur annually
Hepatitis B : 2 billion people (estimated) worldwide have been infected with the virus
Hepatitis C : 150 million people are chronically infected with the virus.
Approximately 500 million people worldwide are living with either hepatitis B or hepatitis C. This represents 1 in 12 people, and was the basis for the 2008 World Hepatitis Day Am I Number 12? Campaign.
World Hepatitis Day has been led by the World Hepatitis Alliance since 2007 and on May 2010, it got global endorsement from the World Health Organization as one of only four mandated health awareness days, together with malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
In 2007 the World Hepatitis Alliance was formed to unite worldwide hepatitis B and hepatitis C patient groups and bring more public and political attention to the issue of viral hepatitis.
With input of its members (organizations from around the world working in the field of hepatitis), the newly titled World Hepatitis Day was switched to May 19, and launched with the campaign slogan 'Am I Number 12?' in 2008. ‘Am I Number 12?’ referred to the worldwide statistic that 1 in 12 people are living with viral hepatitis B or hepatitis C, and the slogan was translated into 40 different languages for use by patient organizations worldwide, and also displayed in banner form on several public landmarks.
'Am I number 12' was maintained as the theme for the 2009 World Hepatitis Day, with many alliance members also creating a hepatitis themed '12 asks of government'.
In 2010 the third annual World Hepatitis Day was held, with a new theme of 'This is hepatitis' given prominence. This is hepatitis gave a renewed focus to the human stories behind viral hepatitis. 'This is hepatitis' was retained as the theme for 2011.
In 2012 the ‘This is hepatitis’ theme has been evolved to ‘This is hepatitis… It’s closer than you think’. The new slogan encourages people to recognise how prevalent the condition is, that hepatitis is “closer to home” than many people may imagine, whilst continuing to break down the stigma associated with it.
Following the adoption of a viral hepatitis resolution during the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010, World Hepatitis Day was given global endorsement as the primary focus for national and international awareness-raising efforts and the date was changed to July 28 (in honour of Nobel Laureate Prof. Baruch Samuel Blumberg, discoverer of the hepatitis B virus, who celebrates his birthday on that date). The resolution resolves that:
"28 July shall be designated as World Hepatitis Day in order to provide an opportunity for education and greater understanding of viral hepatitis as a global public health problem, and to stimulate the strengthening of preventive and control measures of this disease in Member States;"
World Hepatitis Day dates, names, and themes: (Date-Name-Theme-Campaign message) :
1 October 2004-International Hepatitis C Awareness Day -"You have company" -If you have viral hepatitis, you are not alone
1 October 2005- World Hepatitis C Awareness Day -"Hepatitis C - A Priority Today" -Global prioritisation of hepatitis C awareness, treatment and vaccination
1 October 2006 -World Hepatitis Awareness Day-"Get tested" -If you think you may have been at risk of viral hepatitis, get tested and seek treatment.
1 October 2007 -World Hepatitis Awareness Day -"Get tested" -If you think you may have been at risk of viral hepatitis, get tested and seek treatment.
19 May 2008 -World Hepatitis Day "-Am I number 12?" -Hepatitis affects one in twelve people globally.
19 May 2009 -World Hepatitis Day -"Am I number 12?"- Hepatitis affects one in twelve people globally.
19 May 2010 -World Hepatitis Day -"This is hepatitis" Hepatitis: Get tested-Liver disease is long and complicated, getting tested is quick and simple
28 July 2011 -World Hepatitis Day -"This is hepatitis" -Hepatitis can affect anyone, anywhere. Know it. Confront it.
28 July 2012- World Hepatitis Day -“This is hepatitis… It’s closer than you think” -Hepatitis does not discriminate against age, race or gender. It can affect anyone, anywhere. Know it. Confront it. Get tested.
***
The Logo :
The World Hepatitis Day logo is the global symbol for encouraging better awareness, action, and support to prevent and treat viral hepatitis.
Source : Wikipedia
Important Links :
WHO on World Hepatitis Day
WHO Position paper on hepatitis B vaccines
WHO Position paper on hepatitis A vaccines
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Birth anniversary : Ricketts
February 9th : Birth anniversary of Howard Taylor Ricketts
(click on the image for larger view)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Birth anniversary : Shiga
February 7th : Birth Anniversary of Kiyoshi Shiga, famous for the discovery of Shigella dysenteriae.
(click on the image for larger view)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Birth Anniversary of Theodar Escherich
Theodor Escherich (29 November 1857 – 15 February 1911) was a German-Austrian pediatrician and a professor at universities in Graz, and Vienna. He discovered the bacterium Escherichia coli, which was named after him in 1919, and determined its properties.
Please see a poster created by Dr. Amarender Reddy, Dy. Director of IPM. (Click on the photo for larger view)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Raymond Sabouraud
24th November : Birth anniversary of Raymond Sabouraud. In rememberance of Saboraud, the following poster was prepared by Dr. Amarender Reddy , Dy. Director, IPM, Hyderabad. (Please click on the picture for enlarged view).
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, May 28, 2010
Robert Koch
Centennial Death Ceremony of the great scientist, Robert Koch was observed on 27th May, 2010.
In this connection, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati conducted a memorial meeting to pay tributes to his great scientist and biologist, the man who is now the partly forgotten captain of an obscure heroic age (as mentioned by Paul deKruif, Microbe Hunters).
The programme started around 11 AM. Dr. B.Vengamma, DM (Neuro), Director, SVIMS unveiled the photograph of Robert Koch.
(A replica of the photograph of Robert Koch, in thinking posture is presented here)
Candles were lit and 2-minute silence was observed by all. After the introductory remarks by Dr. Gururaj Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SVIMS, the Memorial Speech for the day was given by Dr. Vengamma.
Later Dr. Abhijit Chowdhary, Additional Professor of Microiology, SVIMS, spoke on "Koch, Cholera and Calcutta". He vividly gone through the events that led to the discovery of cholera bacillus or the 'comma' bacillus.
Dr. Usha Kalawat, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS, spoke on the "Contributions of Robert Koch" and mentioned how amazingly Koch pioneered and standardized several bacteriological techniques being used today.
Dr. K.K.Sharma, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS discussed the "Influence of Koch on Pasteur".
Finally, Dr. Alladi Mohan, Professor of Medicine, SVIMS, author of the book "Tuberculosis" and several resesarch papers, described the scientific ardour, meticulousness and hard work of Robert Koch in identifying the tuberculous bacillus and several other infectious agents as well as the inspiration Koch generated in his desciples.
During the programme, there was a slide show on Robert Koch, created by Surender, a PhD scholor, SVIMS.
The programme ended with the concluding remarks of Dr Gururaj Kumar.
In this connection, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati conducted a memorial meeting to pay tributes to his great scientist and biologist, the man who is now the partly forgotten captain of an obscure heroic age (as mentioned by Paul deKruif, Microbe Hunters).
The programme started around 11 AM. Dr. B.Vengamma, DM (Neuro), Director, SVIMS unveiled the photograph of Robert Koch.
(A replica of the photograph of Robert Koch, in thinking posture is presented here)
Candles were lit and 2-minute silence was observed by all. After the introductory remarks by Dr. Gururaj Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SVIMS, the Memorial Speech for the day was given by Dr. Vengamma.
Later Dr. Abhijit Chowdhary, Additional Professor of Microiology, SVIMS, spoke on "Koch, Cholera and Calcutta". He vividly gone through the events that led to the discovery of cholera bacillus or the 'comma' bacillus.
Dr. Usha Kalawat, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS, spoke on the "Contributions of Robert Koch" and mentioned how amazingly Koch pioneered and standardized several bacteriological techniques being used today.
Dr. K.K.Sharma, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS discussed the "Influence of Koch on Pasteur".
Finally, Dr. Alladi Mohan, Professor of Medicine, SVIMS, author of the book "Tuberculosis" and several resesarch papers, described the scientific ardour, meticulousness and hard work of Robert Koch in identifying the tuberculous bacillus and several other infectious agents as well as the inspiration Koch generated in his desciples.
During the programme, there was a slide show on Robert Koch, created by Surender, a PhD scholor, SVIMS.
The programme ended with the concluding remarks of Dr Gururaj Kumar.
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