SciDev.Net

Mobile phones can improve health services and provide help for displaced patients during political crises, say Richard Lester and Sarah Karanja.

Other countries could learn from Vietnam's progress on communicating science and risk, says Son Kim Phan.

Understanding how neglected tropical diseases affect chronic diseases can help inform health policies, say Peter Hotez and Abdallah Daar.

FDA priority review vouchers will not necessarily encourage research into tropical diseases, argues Aaron Kesselheim.

Many people suffer or die from foodborne disease each year — but how many? Arie Havelaar believes a WHO initiative will find out.

A change in political outlook is needed to improve health research and translate policies into action, says an editorial in The Lancet.

Rising temperatures, which promote algal blooms and the spread of pathogens, are setting a new agenda for microbiologists, says Bernard Dixon.

Developing biomedical research in China poses a massive challenge, says Zhu Chen.

A new WHO research agenda on climate change and health emphasises the importance of health issues in climate discussions, says The Lancet.

Funding agencies and donors hoping to tackle malaria must commit more to basic research, says Nature.

China's improved accessibility to HIV/AIDS statistics is a good start to the disease's control in the country, says an editorial in Nature.

African governments are ill-prepared to address the continent's growing cancer burden, warn Hany Besadaand and Vadim Ermakov.

China must confront changing diets, more sedentary lives, and a 'plump is prosperous' culture to halt obesity, say Rachel Huxley and Yangfeng Wu.

A meeting of African scientists and ministers on the environment's impact on health is welcome, if long overdue, says an editorial in The Lancet.

African countries must set money aside for malaria vaccines now, and hire business leaders to run control programmes, says Tom Egwang.

A Peruvian clinic's treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis is an example to the developing world, says Mario C. Raviglione.

Malaria control efforts should be joined with those of neglected tropical diseases to achieve eradication, say Peter J. Hotez and David H. Molyneux.

Cancer care in Africa faces the same challenges as general healthcare, but also needs local data and targeted solutions, says Twalib Ngoma.

To stem the spread of obesity, we must study the web of commercial interests and strategies driving it, says Jonathan Wells.

We need better global monitoring for chronic diseases before we can really tackle the risks factors and prevent illness, says Colin Mathers.