“The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made remarkable progress in reducing malaria. Over the past two decades, the region’s cases have dropped by nearly 80%, and many countries are now transitioning from disease control to elimination.”

From Think Global Health.

“A newly published study has highlighted the transformative impact of Zipline’s drone delivery system on healthcare in Ghana…

The findings reveal a direct link between reliable medical supply availability and improved health system utilisation, leading to a 56.4% reduction in maternal deaths at facilities served by Zipline compared to facilities not served by Zipline. By ensuring consistent access to critical medicines and supplies, Zipline’s drone deliveries caused more expectant mothers to seek antenatal care and deliver in health facilities under skilled supervision…

The study also found that the availability of critical medications including blood products, oxytocin, and anti-snake venom improved significantly, reducing stockouts that previously led to unnecessary referrals and delays in emergency care.”

From Business Africa Online.

“The researchers started with a group of 103 people. The trial participants were among the 2 to 3 percent of cancer patients with tumors that should respond to immunotherapy, a drug that overcomes barriers that prevent the immune system from attacking cancers.

But in clinical trials, immunotherapy is not supposed to replace the standard treatments. The researchers, led by Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr. and Dr. Andrea Cercek, decided to give dostarlimab, an immunotherapy drug, on its own.

The result was stunning, and could bring hope to the limited cohort of patients contending with these cancers.

In 49 of the patients, who had rectal cancer, the tumors disappeared and, after five years, have not recurred. Cancers also vanished for 35 of 54 patients who had other cancers, including in the stomach, esophagus, liver, endometrium, urinary tract and prostate.

Out of all 103 patients, cancers recurred in only five. Three got additional doses of immunotherapy and one, whose tumor recurred in a lymph node, had the lymph node removed. Those four patients so far have no evidence of disease. The fifth patient had additional immunotherapy that made the tumor shrink.

The investigators reported their results Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research and in a paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine.”

From New York Times.

“The video is just under two and a half minutes long. A slim man with close-cropped hair walks into a room, pulls a long black mamba — whose venom can kill within an hour — from a crate and allows it to bite his left arm. Immediately after, he lets a taipan from Papua New Guinea bite his right arm. ‘Thanks for watching,’ he calmly tells the camera, his left arm bleeding, and then exits.

Over nearly 18 years, the man, Tim Friede, 57, injected himself with more than 650 carefully calibrated, escalating doses of venom to build his immunity to 16 deadly snake species. He also allowed the snakes — mostly one at a time, but sometimes two, as in the video — to sink their sharp fangs into him about 200 times.

This bit of daredevilry (one name for it) may now help to solve a dire global health problem. More than 600 species of venomous snakes roam the earth, biting as many as 2.7 million people, killing about 120,000 people and maiming 400,000 others — numbers thought to be vast underestimates.

In Mr. Friede’s blood, scientists say they have identified antibodies that are capable of neutralizing the venom of multiple snake species, a step toward creating a universal antivenom, they reported on Friday in the journal Cell.”

From New York Times.