Monday, September 07, 2009

Four articles from SciDev.Net

Rhetoric and instability stunt Latin American science
A new study from RICYT indicates that the scientific capacity of Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile have been growing nicely, but that the rest of Latin America is not catching up.
Sweden slashes research aid budget
This is really too bad. The Swedish foreign aid program, like that of Canada, has played an important role in funding research and building scientific capacity in developing nations.
Pan-African University could launch early next year
South Africa will have the first center of excellence in scientific research, with four more to come next year. Good news!
Figures reveal extent of Africa's neglected diseases
Over the last decade, they say, a wealth of new information has been generated through geographic information systems and remote sensing — shedding new light on the true burden of neglected tropical diseases.

"We can no longer talk about the 'big three' diseases ... there is a fourth leg to this table that must be dealt with," Peter Hotez, co-author of the analysis and president of the US-based Sabin Vaccine Institute, told SciDev.Net.

As a result of their findings, the authors are calling for neglected diseases to be given a status equivalent to that commanded by these three — TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS.

The seven most common neglected tropical diseases in the region are hookworm, ascariasis, trichiuriasis, schistosomiasis (snail fever), lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness) and trachoma.

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