London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Audio News - LSHTM Podcast

Carlton Evans of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine explains to Peter Goodwin how his research project, supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), has succeeded in reducing risk factors for TB in households living on less than a dollar a day in the Ventanilla district of Lima, Peru. A microfinance scheme—providing small loans to help people use their skills to earn a living—has resulted in big reductions of adverse factors associated with causing tuberculosis.

With a growing threat from tuberculosis around the world—made worse by the spread of HIV/AIDS—there is an urgent need for new diagnostic tests for TB which are more appropriate for use in communities and small clinics rather than big hospitals. Peter Goodwin interviewed Ruth McNerney of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, organiser of a symposium on “Point-of-Care” tests for TB, held in the city of Porto, Portugal during the annual meeting of the European Society of Mycobacteriology (July 5-8, 2009).

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Audio News: Consortium To Optimise World Use Of Artemisinin Combination Treatments For Malaria During the 5th Multilateral Initiative On Malaria Pan African Malaria Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, Bianca D'Souza, Manager of the "ACT Consortium", explained to Peter Goodwin how this newly formed international group of experts is working to help make sure the WHO-recommended artemisinin combination treatments (ACTs) for malaria are reaching the people who need them, and that problems associated with their distribution, quality and availability are addressed.

Ugandan Health Ministry Commissioner Dr Anthony Mbonye and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine scientist Professor David Schellenberg are just two of the multinational members of the recently-formed ACT consortium set up to pool the expertise of leading scientists and public health movers and shakers in both the developed and developing world to fight malaria with optimal use of the best drugs: artemisinin combination treatments, or ACTs. After a symposium devoted to the work of the new consortium—held at the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan African Malaria Conference held in Nairobi—they talked about their current programme and the goals in sight.

LSHTM Audio News Review A supplement to LSHTM Audio News reviewing this year's important medical developments. Seven-Day Low-Cost Tuberculosis Diagnosis A new test for TB (reported in the New England Journal of Medicine) has proved more powerful, faster and yet cheaper than any alternative. David Moore explains how the Microscopic-Observation Drug-Susceptibility (MODS) Assay is highly sensitive and specific, and also yields drug susceptibility data. Improved TB Detection in Women Improving on notoriously low TB detection rates in resource-limited parts of the world may be easily achieved, according to Mishal Khan. The effectiveness of screening can be strengthened by giving comprehensive instructions to women before they produce sputum for testing. Ultimate Eradication of Polio? A monovalent vaccine for type 1 polio has been tested in India where the virus persists, Nicholas Grassly explains why he thinks the vaccine will be much more effective than the trivalent vaccine. Pneumonia Treatment Guidelines Should Change! With pneumonia the leading cause of child mortality, treatment needs to be flawless. But recent research reveals that current WHO guidelines need to be revised, according to investigator, Lisa McNally.