Malaria caught red-handed!

Want to see malaria breaking and entering?

From New Scientist:

“The video [below] captures the moment when a malaria parasite invades a human red blood cell – the first time the event has been caught in high resolution.

The Plasmodium parasite responsible for malaria is transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes, and is thought to kill almost 1 million people worldwide each year.”

Read the full story about this research here:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2011/01/malaria-caught-breaking-and-entering-red-blood-cell.html#more

A Wonderful Read

No need for an introduction for Bill Gates. Mr. Gates, a humanitarian who integrates many a way to better the world (business, investment, charity, sustainable solutions, etc.: just like Malaria No More), has launched a EduBlog that records his experiences with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The site is: www.thegatesnotes.com

I found it especially exciting to read over under the What I’m Learning tab in which Mr. Gates talks about the book SuperFreakonomics, KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program), the concept of open culture, etc- things I have been learning about this year! See what the kind man’s foundation is working on (most definitely the heartwrenching earthquake that hit Haiti last week.)  Prayers and prayers.

By the way, here’s a great interview on the plight of Haiti from a historical and geological perspective. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond (of Guns, Germs, and Steel fame) discusses the nature of the nation’s poverty situation and the state’s odd juxtaposition to a better faring Dominican Republic. The link:

http://www.openculture.com/2010/01/jared_diamond_explains_haitis_enduring_poverty.html

Malaria No More Stakeholder Report 2009 is Here!

I just received in the mail (good ‘ole paper package) the Malaria No More Stakeholder Report for 2009! For me, the report reinforces my bind to this cause and the indelible difference Malaria No More has made. The report speaks about its innovative ways to raise money- through the investment catalyst, private business sector, etc. Malaria No More approaches the fight in the way that inspires me (something I hope has been communicated through this blog.)

Here’s the link to view the report:

http://www.malarianomore.org/get_involved/stakeholder

Check this out

The newly launched website, Futurity.org, bridges all the current research and findings from different universities in one compatible place. (This sort of idea, of a compatible interface where thoughts, ideas, and plans of action can be put together in a update form was actually the whole point of this blog, Collective Solution.) There are so many websites now that open learning to all (with internet access, at least.) Anyway, I was scrolling through the home page, when I stumbled upon this gem about malaria nets.  Check this out:

http://futurity.org/health-medicine/low-cost-bed-nets-prove-priceless/

With all the current healthcare debate, the word preventive care seems to be everywhere.  It minimizes future costs, is an investment, but most of all:  it keeps people safe.  Bed nets are preventative care and frankly, they work.

Feasibility

Microvolunteering

School has started and everyone’s going to be honest: there isn’t time for much! So, while we dream and think about great ideas to cultivate happy lives for those in need, we feel disheartened.  We think: how much can we really do?  We have school, work, looking for work, extracurricular activities, home responsibilities, health responsibilities, SAT studying, etc etc etc! It’s hard to be a superhero saving the world (insert: one net at time) when we barely manage our time (if only we had Superman’s superspeed.)

This brings me to the latest TIME issue- its 3rd annual issue on service.  President Obama has long espoused national and community service and it has come into more of a public view with the sad passing of Senator Ted Kennedy whose Serve America Act brings a great spirit to areas that need help (e.g. at-risk areas with students who need to know they’re important.)

To tie in the lack of time and need for service, the TIME issue talked about “microservice:” the concept of helping out in short periods of time. Literally, you can help expand the availability of culture by tagging some Smithsonian pictures for 5 minutes.  How cool is that?!

Check these sites and the TIME article out:

BeExtra.org

IfWeRanTheWorld.com

AllforGood.org

The TIME article link: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1921165,00.html

(scroll down when you get to the page)

I really want to do something with mentoring at-risk students.  Who’s interested in something like this? We could put something together (in addition to our upcoming dodgeball tournament!!!)

UPDATE: We are using IfWeRanTheWorld.com for Dodge Malaria! numero dos!

www.IfWeRanTheWorld.com/we_would/dodgemalaria

Global Health in a Novel Form

So, I admit, the title has a pun.  On my bedstand is Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World. Quite a lofty (and lengthy) title for quite a lofty (and not that lengthy) novel!  The novel (rather memoir/account/inspiring story) is written by Tracy Kidder and the back of my book says it best (credit Random House):

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need the most.  Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease. Profound and powerful, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people’s minds through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”

Now I JUST started it, but it’s been on my reading list for close to a year and a half.  Tolstoy just HAD to write long books so it will probably take me a long time to read this whilst reading Anna Karenina.  But, I’m working on it!  And I forgot a huge by the way, the book is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize. You could have gotten that from the book cover (above.) 

What drew me to this book was the intermingling of the economies, social systems, culture, etc (basically all aspects of life) to solve a global health issue or several as Kidder attests.  I hope to post some passages that might be inspiring in our specialized quest to eradicate malaria and to also solidify our awareness and our potential to help “cure the world.”  Tune in.   Also, India Part 2 is coming tomorrow!  

 

 

 

Malaria Vaccine!!

My cousin, Ritee, forwarded me an e-mail about the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (hereafter SBRI.)  In it contained a newsletter about the institute’s workings (which has a full emphasis on the global health- and also hosts a BioQuest Academy for high schoolers who have an interest in global health careers).   And lo  behold, the main entry on the letter was the success of a malaria vaccine! 

This is tremendously exciting.  To outline, the vaccine has had a 100% effectiveness rate against malaria infested mice. As of now, the trials are now ready for humans.  Stefan Kappe, Ph. D of the University of Washington, has spearheaded the discovery.  I can only imagine that if this vaccine were to work (hopefully, when this vaccine is ready), biomedical firms and global health advocacy groups (including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which donated more than a billion dollars towards the malaria fight) can work to make the vaccine economical and therefore available for use soon to treat those afflicted with  malaria.  With bed nets and these vaccines, malaria will be gone forever! 

Here are the links: 

The Seattle Times Story-

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009505275_malaria21m.html

If you’re interested in the science behind it all, here’s Kappe’s abstract (published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences):

http://www.sbri.org/research/kappe.asp

Thanks, TED

        

I really like this website called TED.  It’s relatively popular and it hosts globally available talks from all spectra of life.  I was searching for some cool videos on malaria when I read the profile of Jacqueline Novogratz.  If you click the link below, you can read the profile, but I’ll provide my own synopsis and why I think what she talks about relates to the malaria fight and the overall fight against poverty which challenges the core of philanthropy- something that I’ve been interested in from the onset. 

My belief that business rules the world (and no, not in the profit-maximizing, number crunching way- but in its manipulative nature in absolutely everything, including, mesmerizingly, lifestyles) extends to philanthropy.  This is why I decided to write that fun persuasive paper on a social issue in English on microfinance (just a by the way).  I like the economics and, to an extent, yes the numbers behind tackling social welfare and economic restoration.  Investing instead of donating is different from what we are conditioned to think of as ‘aid’. This sort of thinking (these, as the site’s profile says, “bottom-up solutions” rather than “top-down” trickling) is what is so provocative about business to me.  It can truly find a way, using current trends, psychology, marketing, etc to change something worth changing.  Why else would I be interested in reading a book by an economist about ending poverty?  Well, sure, the fact that it outlines how to end poverty, but that’s besides the point!

And how does all this blabber relate to Jacqueline Novogratz?  She does mention malaria bed nets, but she talks about the bigger picture- an ideology of philanthropy that ignites a passion with backing and a refreshingly different understanding behind ‘aid’ which can help us all really understand what we’re doing to help.  I think I may have found my life calling.  Yikes.

I tried to upload the video here, but TED’s site was under maintenance.  So, here’s the link to her profile and her three talks (the one that mentions malaria is the 2007 video, I think) :

http://www.ted.com/speakers/jacqueline_novogratz.html

And another by the way, TED’s talks are really entertaining and enlightening.  I LOVE the Sarah Jones one (it’s not exactly relevant to malaria, but I’m already on a tangent anyway).  Search for it- it’s mind-blowing and hilarious!