OpenForum – a blog by the Health and Human Rights community

[Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of posts covering topics related to drug resistance, including causes, effects, what is being done to fight drug resistance, and what needs to be done to limit the harm caused by drug-resistant pathogens.]

The discovery of penicillin in 1928 was one of the greatest medical discoveries to date, and since their introduction, penicillin and other antibiotics have saved an incredible number of lives. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the bacteria to fight back.

The discovery of penicillin-resistant bacteria within a year of the first clinical use of the antibiotic would serve as a sign of things to come. Today, there are few (if any) widely used antimicrobial drugs that have not been rendered less effective by the emergence of resistant pathogen strains. The fast replication cycles of bacteria and viruses and the mistakes made by their replication machinery give these pathogens the ability to respond to and overcome drug pressures. With penicillin, for example, replication errors allowed some formerly penicillin-sensitive bacteria strains to evolve so that the targeted bacterial proteins no longer interact with the antibiotic. Other bacterial strains acquired new genes that allow them to produce proteins that degrade penicillin, rendering it ineffective and allowing these bacteria to survive.

Drug resistance continues to be a major obstacle in reducing the prevalence of the “big three” infectious diseases: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. The recent emergence of malaria strains resistant to artemisinin, one of the most effective anti-malarial drugs and sometimes the only drug that can effectively kill the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, serves to highlight how troublesome — and downright frightening — drug resistance can be. Read more

“Airborne” Highlights MDR-, XDR- TB Cases

Airborne: A Journey into the Challenges and Solutions to Stopping MDR-TB and XDR-TB is a powerful new book written by John Donnelly that features interviews and images to put a human face on the TB epidemic across the world. In her foreword, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan wrote, “I urge you to read the personal stories collected in AIRBORNE. These are human tragedies that should never have happened. But these are also stories about the uplifting success possible when the right elements are in place.”

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Australian Abortion-Aid Ban Lifted

A thirteen-year ban in Australia on providing foreign aid for abortions has been lifted and Australia will provide  funding of up to $15 million for reproductive health activities to help reduce maternal deaths across the world.

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$50 Million US Contribution to UNFPA

President Obama has recently signed legislation to provide $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to improve the health of women and children and reduce poverty throughout the world.

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US Capital Blighted by HIV/AIDS

The U.S. Capital has an HIV/AIDS rate on par with or worse than some African nations the city’s health department reports.

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US Urged to Fix Iraqi Refugee ‘Mess’ It Created

As the Iraq war enters its 7th year, the United States is urged to provide aid to Iraqi refugees displaced by the fighting.

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Read more

I’ve been supporting Partners In Health’s project in Lesotho for more than two years – almost since it began. Lesotho is a world away – both literally & figuratively – from the FXB Center office in Boston where I work and where the Health and Human Rights editorial office is based. An independent country completely surrounded by South Africa, Lesotho is home to almost two million people, most of whom have never heard of human rights or the right to health care. However, they can certainly comprehend the injustice of suffering from treatable disease without access to treatment. Read more