Malnutrition Is Still a Major Contributor to Child Deaths (PDF: 376KB)

 Malnutrition continues to be one of the world's most serious development problems. Exacerbating the consequences of infectious disease, malnutrition contributes to about 6 million deaths annually of children under 5. But cost-effective interventions can reduce the global impacts of malnutrition. This policy brief examines the causes and effects of malnutrition (both underweight and overweight), and provides a set of short-term and long-term actions that can improve the nutritional status of the world over the next decade. (2007)

Lessons Learned From a Community-Based Health Care Project
Many of the health improvements in Jamkhed, India, since 1970 are credited to the work of the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), the vision of two Indian doctors trying to improve the lives of the rural poor. Their community-based health program that began in a handful of villages in 1970 now concentrates on 130 villages in western Maharashtra state. (July 2007)

Addressing the Physical and Mental Health of Women and Adolescents Trafficked in Europe
Women who have been subjected to trafficking and forced into service, including sex work, are more likely to suffer multiple physical and mental health problems than the general female population, according to a recent study. But once released from such situations, women can show vast improvement after only a month of professional care. (July 2007)

Egypt Bans Female Genital Cutting
The Egyptian Health Ministry issued a decree on June 28, 2007, that officially banned female circumcision. Although a similar order was already in place to prevent hospitals and medical doctors from carrying out the procedure, it is still widely performed by nonprofessionals in the community. (July 2007)

In Bhutan, Environment Drives Public Health Policies
Over the past 30 years, Bhutan has systematically reduced its high prevalence of respiratory disease and maternal mortality to become a health care success story in South Asia. (July 2007)

New Research Findings May Help Older People Make Better Decisions
The increasing size and longevity of the elderly population means that older people’s decisions on health care, risky investments, and other choices will become increasingly important to individuals and society. That is prompting researchers to take a new look at how older people make decisions. (June 2007)

The Brain Changes as it Ages, Sometimes in Surprising Ways
Researchers are producing an increasingly complex and nuanced portrait of the aging brain, a topic of keen interest as the number and share of elderly people grows rapidly in the United States and around the world. Research indicates that various mental skills decline at different rates as people age, and that trajectories of decline differ among people. Neuroimaging enables researchers to match changes in the brain’s physical structure to changes in mental performance over time. Other recent work shows that people without dementia can improve their brain function or slow its decline somewhat. (June 2007)

Population Aging Impact Differs Across Countries
The aging of the planet's population will play out differently in well-off developed nations and less-affluent developing ones. In developed countries, the increasing number of elderly people will be the trend to watch. In developing ones, though, there could be an important impact from a growing working-age population. (June 2007)

Global Health and Population Aging (PDF: 67KB)
This e-newsletter is the fourth in a series funded by the University of Michigan Demography Center. This issue, "Global Health and Population Aging," reviews research from scientists funded by the National Institute on Aging on the reasons for the increases in life expectancy and whether populations are living healthier. (June 2007)

Growing Older in America: What You Need to Know About the Health and Retirement Study
On June 12 in Washington D.C., the National Institute on Aging (NIA) convened a panel of speakers to address the significance of the Health & Retirement Study (HRS). This briefing was designed to introduce media, policymakers, benefits professionals, and others to the study's breadth and depth as a resource about our aging population. At the event, NIA introduced a new publication, Growing Older in America: The Health & Retirement Study, highlighting findings and trends from the study about the lives of older people.  (June 2007)