Author: LSHTM News

The School is delighted to announce that its new Director will be Professor Peter Piot. He will take over the role from Professor Sir Andy Haines in September.

The School is celebrating the first anniversary of the School’s success in winning the 2009 Gates Award for Global Health with an event in Geneva.

Scientists investigating ovale malaria, a form of the disease thought to be caused by a single species of parasite, have confirmed that the parasite is actually two similar but distinct species which do not reproduce with each other, according to research published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases this week.

The largest ever trial of fish oil supplements has found no evidence that they offer benefits for cognitive function in older people. The OPAL study investigated the effects of taking omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements over a two year period on the cognitive function of participants aged 70-80 years.

Pfizer Inc. and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) have entered into an agreement for the development, access and delivery of a fixed-dose combination treatment consisting of azithromycin dihydrate (AZ) and chloroquine phosphate (CQ) for the Intermittent Preventive Treatment of P. falciparum malaria in pregnancy (IPTp).

The ARITMO project will allow more informed decision making by clinicians when prescribing drugs. Drug-induced tachycardia and cardiac arrhythmia, potentially leading to sudden cardiac death, are serious side effects of some drugs.

A consortium of researchers in Cambridge and London has been awarded a £5 million grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to develop a way of diagnosing and preventing respiratory diseases in pigs.

The latest thinking on international development from leading academics will be shared online via podcasts and videos as part of a new initiative. The 15-month project, called the Bloomsbury Media Cloud, is led by The Bloomsbury Colleges – a consortium of six internationally-renowned institutions within the University of London.

Problems controlling common diseases like HIV, heart disease and diabetes in poor countries could be hindering efforts to meet the world's key child health and tuberculosis goals, a new study published in PLoS Medicine has warned.

Five three-year international development PhD scholarships are on offer thanks to a scheme backed by the School. The studentships are connected to research projects in a range of innovative and specialised areas, including using mobile phones to help monitor infectious disease, analysing sexual behaviour among young women in South Africa and exploring land and legal issues in post-conflict countries in Africa.

LSHTM and The University of Glasgow have received a £3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to further the treatment of sleeping sickness, otherwise known as Human African Trypanosomasis.

Research from the School has shown that almost 50% of children and young adults admitted to hospitals in Zimbabwe were HIV positive. The patients, aged between 10 and 18 years of age, had gone to hospital with various complaints unrelated to HIV and were tested as part of the study.

The School has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to trace its alumni. The project was created to identify current and emerging leaders in the health systems of low and middle income countries and to build an influential alumni network of global health practitioners.

How safe is circumcision? A systematic review, published in the open access journal BMC Urology has found that neonatal and infant circumcision by trained staff rarely results in problems.

The LSHTM are now participants in an online database comprising more than 140 distance learning courses which focus on international development. The resource has been launched by Distance Learning for Development (DL4D), a project of the London International Development Centre (LIDC).

Professor Anne Mills, Head of the Department of Public Health and Policy and Professor of Health Economics and Policy at the LSHTM has been named a recipient of the 2009 Prince Mahidol Award for outstanding contributions in the field of medicine.

20 mph traffic speed zones reduce casualties by 41.9% with the greatest reduction in child casualties, according to research published in the British Medical Journal.

The largest international clinical trial to date into a preventative HIV gel has found no evidence that the vaginal microbicide, PRO 2000, reduces the risk of HIV infection in women.

The School wishes to congratulate Claire Bertschinger, Director of Tropical Nursing Studies, who has been made a Dame in the New Year Honours List, for services to Nursing and to International Humanitarian Aid. She has provided nursing care in some of the harshest environments around the world and was the inspiration for Bob Geldof to organise the Band Aid charity and Live Aid.