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Sabin in the News October 2011 The Sabin Report | Volume 13 Issue 2 New York Times article featuring Dr. 's new study on increased Sabin Institute Establishes a Houston prevalence of NTDs in Europe. Office

Drs. Ciro de Quadros and In September 2011, the Zulfiqar Bhutta highlight the dire need for a dengue established offices in vaccine in an opinion Houston, Texas in the piece for GlobalPost. heart of the city's Texas Medical Center (TMC). The In an interview on Voice of new facilities will house the America Dr. Peter Hotez Sabin Vaccine Institute & focused on NTDs in Sub- Texas Children's Hospital Saharan Africa. Center for Vaccine Development, which will be An article by Dr. Neeraj operated in partnership Mistry was featured in a with Baylor College of special supplemental Medicine Department of section of the USA today, Pediatrics. Sabin Dr. Hotez and team at Sabin's new Houston facility titled "Neglected Diseases President, Dr. Peter J. in Developing Nations". Hotez will direct the new center. In an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle, Dr. The new space includes offices and laboratories through which the Peter Hotez writes about Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership (PDP) will the establishment of the advance and strengthen its collaborative work in the field of vaccine new School of Tropical biotechnology. The change is the result of a year-long plan to expand Medicine at Baylor College the scope and depth of the Sabin PDP's partnership and to enhance of Medicine. its ability to accelerate the development of new and provide effective global solutions for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

The Center for Vaccine Development was established in conjunction with the creation of the National School for Tropical Medicine at Recent scientific Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Hotez serves as the Dean of the National School for Tropical Medicine, and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, articles Baylor College of Medicine's Director for Product Development, serves as the Associate Dean. This collaborative effort between "Central Asia's Hidden Sabin Vaccine Institute, Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor Burden of Neglected College of Medicine reaffirms and solidifies the Sabin PDP's role as a Tropical Diseases," co- leader for innovative solutions to NTDs, while creating a new focal authored by Dr. Peter point in the field of tropical medicine education. Hotez was published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS) Neglected Tropical Sneak Peak: END7 Campaign Diseases in September.

Two papers co-authored This fall, the Global Network for by Dr. Ciro de Quadros appeared in the Strungmann Forum Report this September, Neglected Tropical Diseases (Global Network) is launching the END7 titled "Group Report: campaign to call attention to the importance of controlling and Assessing the Feasibility eliminating NTDs as a catalyst for improved health and economic of an Eradication outcomes in impoverished communities. Initiative" and "Measles and Rubella in the By harnessing the power of social media, celebrity endorsers (to be Americas." revealed after the campaign's launch), videos and an innovative infographic, the Global Network will soon build a new community "Europe's neglected passionate about putting an end to the seven most common NTDs. of poverty," co- authored by Dr. Hotez Starting next month, you can help rally support and drive awareness appeared in the by: International Journal of Infectious Diseases in July.  Visiting our new web site, END7.org  "Liking" the END7 campaign on Facebook "Unleashing 'Civilian  Following the END7 campaign on Twitter Power': A New American  Encouraging friends and family to donate. Just 50 cents can Diplomacy through treat and protect a child from NTDs for one year. Neglected Tropical Disease Control, We look forward to sharing all of our new materials once END7 Elimination, Research, launches later this fall. Together we can see end. and Development," by Dr. Hotez was published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS) Neglected Tropical Diseases in June.

An editorial by Dr. Hotez, Dr. Peter Hotez Wins a Major Award for "Neglected Tropical Diseases in the Catholic Excellence in Inter-American Public Health World," was published by the PLOS Neglected On Monday,September Tropical Diseases in 26, Sabin's president, Dr. April. Peter Hotez, was honored with the prestigious A perspective piece by Abraham Horwitz Award Dr. Hotez and Dr. Neeraj for Excellence in Inter- Mistry, "Integrating American Public Health. Neglected Tropical The annual award, Diseases into AIDS, presented jointly by the Tuberculosis, and Malaria Pan American Health and Control," appeared in the Education Foundation Dr. Hotez receives Abraham Horwitz Award New England Journal of (PAHEF) and the Pan Medicine in June. American Health Organization (PAHO), recognized the major public health contributions that Dr. Hotez has made to improve the lives of people living in the Americas.

The Horwitz Award was established in 1975 to honor creative public Sabin Vaccine health leaders whose professional commitment to public health Institute stimulates excellence among their peers, staff and other public health professionals. Dr. Abraham Horwitz, a native of Chile, served as Announces the director of PAHO from 1958 to 1975 and as president of PAHEF from Election of Four 1975 to 2000. Among his many achievements, he laid the groundwork for the eradication of smallpox in the Americas and is New Members to known for organizing Chile's National Health Service. In Horwitz's Board of Trustees mold, winners of this prestigious award selflessly serve the public's health, champion change and manage risks, all for the enhancement The Sabin Vaccine of health beyond their own borders. Institute is pleased to announce the election of A select jury of public health professionals, along with the foundation four new members to the board, chose Dr. Hotez after reviewing a pool of highly qualified organization's Board of nominations. Dr. Hotez and other 2011 winners of PAHEF/PAHO Trustees. awards were honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on September 26. Guests included many distinguished individuals, Baroness Helene including ministers of health, ambassadors from Organization of Hayman (full bio) just American States (OAS) member countries, and private sector completed a five year representatives. term as Lord Speaker of the House of Lords, the For more information on this award, visit the Sabin website. upper chamber of the United Kingdom parliament, where she previously served as a Region Focus: Central Asia and the Hidden Government Minister of State. Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

Gary Rosenthal (full bio) Sabin President, Dr. Peter Hotez, along with Dr. Ken Alibek of is a Partner in The Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan recently published an Sterling Group, L.P., a article in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) highlighting the burden private equity group of NTDs in Central Asia. In the study, the two authors point out that headquartered in the region continues to suffer from a post-Soviet economic Houston, Texas and the breakdown that may have contributed to a re-emergence of several Chairman of the Board of NTDs in the area, especially among its most economically Trustees of Texas disadvantaged groups. Children's Hospital. Specifically, the five mostly landlocked Central Asian countries Marc Shapiro (full bio) created after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union - Kazakhstan, currently serves as Non- Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - became Executive Chairman of increasingly vulnerable to NTDs due to a deterioration of health care Chase Bank of Texas. He services and infrastructure. Among the prevalent diseases profiled in is also currently the article, the following was highlighted: Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Baylor  Many of the children had at least one soil-transmitted helminth College of Medicine . Developmental and cognitive delays have been associated in children with these infections, leading to Alisa Swidler (full bio) is decreased school attendance and low wages earned as one of the world's leading adults. These infections are also responsible for losses in activists and campaigners economic productivity. for funding and awareness across a host  In four of the Central Asian nations, cystic echinococcosis - a of aid and health related tapeworm infection spread by dogs and sheep-has increased issues in the developing at least four-fold and is thought to be vastly under-reported. world. There has also been an alarming increase in pediatric cases of this and other zoonotic helminth infections.

 Despite a considerable decrease in reported malaria cases as Sabin would like a result of indoor residual spraying and mass drug administration of anti-malaria drugs, a large portion of to welcome the Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan populations is still at risk for newest editions to Plasmodium vivax malaria. In Tajikistan, the malaria epidemic is fueled by human migrations from Afghanistan, thwarting our outstanding efforts to eliminate malaria in neighboring countries. staff! You can read the full PLoS article, "Central Asia's Hidden Burden of Amber Cashwell, Policy Neglected Tropical Diseases," here. Officer, Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases Coalition against Typhoid Hosts Symposium at Katarina Chiscop, Staff Accountant Cannes Conference

Carla Crooks, Contracts The work of the Coalition against Typhoid (CaT) was highlighted and Financial Manager, during a recent symposium at the 6th International Conference on Sabin Vaccine Vaccines for Enteric Diseases (VED) 2011 held in September in Development Cannes, France. As part of CaT's ongoing efforts to raise awareness of the global Johanna Harvey, typhoid disease burden, coalition members presented important new Communications Officer evidence revealing hyper-endemic typhoid in urban and peri-urban areas in Kenya and Nigeria.These results provide new evidence of Leah Harvey, Program an unrecognized burden of typhoid fever in sub-Saharan Africa and Coordinator, Coalition the threat of multi-drug resistant (MDR) typhoid, especially in rapidly against Typhoid growing urban informal settlements and slums. The findings will help accelerate regional control of typhoid, a disease that afflicts 21.6 Angela Oliver, Senior million people worldwide. Program Officer, Sabin Vaccine Development While outbreak and other case reports are common, regional estimates of typhoid burden and MDR typhoid have been limited by Laura Payne, Resource the absence of rigorous surveillance systems. In recognition of this Development need, CaT members recently launched an African surveillance Coordinator, Global network to document rates of laboratory confirmed typhoid, Network for Neglected paratyphoid, and non-typhoidal salmonellosis and to evaluate multi- Tropical Diseases drug resistance. This evidence will serve as the basis for developing a comprehensive and integrated typhoid prevention and control Kalin Petkov, strategy for the region. Administrative Coordinator, Global "Despite the availability of low cost typhoid vaccines, a WHO Network for Neglected recommendation for their use and successful vaccination programs in Tropical Diseases many countries, typhoid vaccines have not yet reached those most impacted by the disease, especially in Africa," said Christopher Mara Veraar, Nelson, PhD, MPH, Director of the CaT Secretariat at the Sabin Communications Officer Vaccine Institute. "CaT is committed to overcoming access barriers and ensuring the widespread use of these safe, affordable and life- saving typhoid vaccines."

An Inside Look at Burundi's National NTD Program

Burundi's national NTD program, which was launched with generous funding from the Legatum Foundation in 2007, was recently highlighted on the Global Network's End the Neglect blog. Film producer Jessica Stuart of Long Story Short Media, Burundi children receive MDA Treatment chronicled her trip in a four part series. The engaging blog posts tell real stories about how national NTD programs can make a tremendous difference at a personal, community and country-wide level.

Part 1:Beautiful Burundi "The country is filled with kind and curious people-people who want work and prosperity NOW. They want to put the Civil War and genocide that plagued Burundi for years behind them. It was only in 2008 that a peace agreement was made between internal warring factors. Burundi is beautiful. Everywhere we look there are tea plantations, coffee farms, rice fields, banana trees, and pineapples. This is a country that could prosper on its own. But something like neglected tropical diseases keeps the people down."

Part 2:The need for help "If people ever ask me why foreign aid is important, these are the moments I think about. If I was trying to take care of my son and had all of the odds stacked against me, I would be so incredibly grateful for some help. The odds are stacked against this village. And yet, there is a desire to thrive, a desire to work and bring prosperity and dignity to Burundi. And for less than a dollar a day - 50 cents, in fact - we can help overcome some of those barriers."

Part 3:Healthy children make happy moms and teachers "We spoke with a teacher and she enthusiastically told us that she sees more children coming to school because they are healthy and because their families are healthy. She has seen a difference of children paying attention in class and able to focus.The teacher was pregnant. She had miscarried the first time, possibly due to anemia from worms she carried, but is looking forward to the birth of her first baby next month. There are new possibilities and hope."

Part 4:Kindness packed in brown boxes "We spent the morning in Bujumbura visiting the country's drug distribution site. Although it's a warehouse full of boxes, it's an exciting place. We see drugs from the World Bank, from UNICEF, from pharma, lined up along walls waiting to be picked up and taken to communities that need them the most.We find rows and rows of Albendezole. This drug has already done great things across Burundi. The room is filled with kindness packed in brown boxes. It's the kind of place we would want to know is there for our children."

DVI Website Launched

In June, the Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI), launched its new website, www.denguevaccines.org. DVI is a consortium of organizations, including Sabin, working to lay the groundwork so that licensed governments will swiftly adopt the new dengue fever vaccines once they become available.

Dengeuvaccines.org will serve as a central source of information on dengue fever and dengue vaccines, including background papers, scientific articles, reports from DVI and more.It is part of a larger advocacy push over the past months, including the launch of the DVI Newsletter and email alerts, advocacy training presentations at the annual meetings of the Asia-Pacific and Americas Dengue Prevention Boards and op-ed placements in multiple international outlets.

The theme for this year's Dengue Prevention Board meetings was "Planning for the Introduction of Dengue Vaccines," an important topic in light of recent progress in the development of a dengue vaccine. The need for a vaccine is becoming ever clearer, with outbreaks now occurring in Pakistan, Kenya and the Bahamas.

Read the press release announcing the launch of DVI. SIF Strengthens Relationships with Southeast Asian Nations at the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly

Last month, Sabin's Devendra Gnawali represented the Sustainable Immunization Financing Program (SIF) at the annual ASEAN Inter- Parliamentary Assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The forum, which was held September 19-24, was an opportunity for SIF to build relationships with the parliamentarians of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to inform them of the issues surrounding immunization financing.

During the trip, Gnawali spoke with members of parliament from throughout Southeast Asia about immunization financing mechanisms and explained how Sabin is already working in the area to help build successful immunization programs. The forum also provided a platform for high-level Cambodian stakeholders to report where Cambodia stands with respect to declarations made at the Sabin Global Colloquium on Immunization Financing, held in March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Cambodian delegates also have attended three SIF-organized sub-national briefings in Asia during the past two years.

As in the other 14 countries participating in the SIF program, advocacy at the sub-national level seems to be paying off in Cambodia. The members of parliament are glad to learn more about the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) - how it works, who pays for it, and how to address policy and capacity gaps. This is a necessary step before they can take legislative action to increase the national immunization budget.

Other SIF countries engaging in provincial-level advocacy activities include Cameroon, Liberia, Nepal, Uganda and DR Congo.

Drs. Douglas R. Lowy and John T. Schiller Awarded 2011 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award

The 2011 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award was presented to Douglas R. Lowy M.D. and John T. Schiller at an awards ceremony on May 18. Drs. Lowy and Schiller made several watershed discoveries that advanced the development of vaccines against human papillomavirus From left: Drs. Douglas R. Lowy M.D. and John T. Schiller, (HPV) - the cause Ph.D. in Washington, DC for 2011 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal of virtually all award ceremony. cases of cervical cancer.

"The Sabin Vaccine Institute is honored to bestow Drs. Lowy and Schiller with the 2011 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award for their pioneering work in the fields of vaccinology and oncology," said Dr. Peter Hotez. "Millions of lives will be improved by Lowy and Schiller's dedication in developing the world's first vaccines against cervical cancer. We applaud their efforts to rid the world of this silent killer." Awarded annually since 1994, the Gold Medal Award commemorates the legacy of Dr. Sabin, who developed the oral live virus that is widely heralded with contributing to the near elimination of polio worldwide.

More information about the Gold Medal Award can be found here.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Continues their Support for Sabin's Human Development

In June, the Sabin Vaccine Institute received a two-year, $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue development of a vaccine to prevent human . The grant will fund multiple Phase 1 clinical trials and further the product development of candidate human hookworm vaccines.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have provided donor support to Sabin for the development of a hookworm vaccine sinceJanuary 2000.

The new funding coincided with the expansion of Sabin's vaccine development efforts, which now include a partnership with Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, and support from the Dutch government.

A press announcement with more information can be found here.

Sabin Achieves Status as a Non-Governmental Organization in Official Relations with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

On September 30, Sabin achieved official status as a Non- Governmental Organization in Official Relations with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Over the past eight years, Sabin has collaborated with PAHO on numerous successful international public health initiatives. Our new status with PAHO allows Sabin to participate in relevant PAHO meetings and submit memorandums that may be placed on PAHO meeting agenda.

In 2003, we began collaborating with PAHO to help inform policymakers and health officials internationally about the impact of rotavirus and the issues surrounding the implementation of rotavirus vaccines into national immunization programs.Since then, new initiatives have focused on other vaccine-preventable diseases as well as on mapping and treating NTDs.

The agreement includes a plan to implement several important new initiatives over the next four years, with continued collaboration on actions to fight NTDs and advocate for implementation of existing vaccines in developing countries, disease-mapping, educational programs for international health care workers and journalists, and other global public-health initiatives.