An international team of tropical disease control experts has urged the global health and development community, and particularly the G8 leaders, to establish a new financing mechanism to combat the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) of poverty.

Leading academics from across the world will be coming together at Cardiff University later this month for a unique global health event.

A unique collaboration between scientists, public health workers and police has led to the arrest by the Chinese authorities of alleged traders of fake anti-malarial drugs in southern China and the seizure of a large quantity of drugs.

The Chinese government will continue to support the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) and try to make active contributions to the health cause of mankind, a senior Chinese diplomat said in Geneva on Monday.

A wide income gap between the most affluent and the worst off in society is closely associated with higher death rates worldwide, especially for younger adults, finds a study published on bmj.com today as part of a global theme issue on poverty and human development.

Exercise is strongly promoted for the maintenance of good health – particularly as regards people on lower incomes, who are generally less physically active. However, new research published in PLoS Medicine suggests that one barrier to physical activity in low-income areas may be that people do not consider their environment safe enough to allow them to walk, cycle or take other forms of outdoor exercise.

For PLoS Medicine's special issue on poverty and health, the journal asked thirty commentators, including some of the world's most respected global health experts, to name the one intervention that would improve the health of those living on less than $1 a day.

The first comprehensive examination of the ethical, social and cultural (ESC) challenges faced by major science programs in developing countries has identified a complex assortment of issues with the potential to slow critical global health research if left unaddressed.

Tests confirmed that hundreds of turkeys in Eastern Czech Republic died of the H5N1 bird flu virus. It was the first time the virus was detected among poultry in the Czech Republic, said Zbynek Semerad, a spokesman for the Czech veterinary authority.

U.S. health officials have quarantined an airline passenger who may have exposed others to a potentially dangerous form of tuberculosis. The unusual decision was made after the passenger took flights from the U.S. to Europe, then to Montreal, Canada before reentering the United States.

Disadvantaged populations in tropical regions of the globe suffer proportionally in much greater numbers from seven debilitating groups of afflictions that cause problems ranging from blindness and internal bleeding to malnutrition and skin disease.

In an opening address to the 60th World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan promised to vigorously work to improve health for Africans and for women. In a wide-ranging review of global health issues, Dr. Chan also reaffirmed her commitment to address the threat of an avian flu pandemic.