Health | WPN World People News

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is calling attention to the need for a greater response to the Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people in West Africa.

WHO convened a meeting with high-ranking government representatives from Ebola-affected countries and development partners, civil society, regulatory agencies, vaccine manufacturers and funding agencies to discuss and agree on how to fast track testing and deployment of vaccines in sufficient numbers to impact the Ebola epidemic.

Murry’s Inc., a Lebanon, Pa. establishment, is recalling approximately 31,689 pounds of gluten free breaded chicken products that may be contaminated with Staphylococcal enterotoxin, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed an interagency agreement to provide new behavioral healthcare capabilities to communities across the nation.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell today announced an initiative that will fund successful applicants who work directly with medical providers to rethink and redesign their practices, moving from systems driven by quantity of care to ones focused on patients’ health outcomes, and coordinated health care systems. These applicants could include group practices, health care systems, medical provider associations and others. This effort will help clinicians develop strategies to share, adapt and further improve the quality of care they provide, while holding down costs.

Recent intensive efforts to improve collection and reporting of data on tuberculosis (TB) are shedding new light on the epidemic, revealing that there are almost half a million more cases of the disease than previously estimated. WHO’s "Global Tuberculosis Report 2014", shows that 9 million people developed TB in 2013, and 1.5 million died, including 360 000 people who were HIV positive.

As early as 2003, researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health knew what made the Ebola virus tick, and animal experiments of candidate vaccines showed promise.

Clinical trials of this candidate Ebola vaccine will take place in the US, Germany, Gabon and Kenya.