In their single-minded pursuit of economic growth, China's leaders have long overlooked public health—which, by some measures, is now worse than under Mao.

The need to prepare for an influenza pandemic has not yet sunk in, partly because disaster has not yet struck. But that good news could turn into very bad news if it leads to slacking off on necessary preparations today: although no one can predict when or how, a pandemic will occur for sure, and it will have implications far beyond its toll on human health.

President Bush's AIDS initiative, reauthorized for another five years this summer, wins widespread praise even from those highly critical of other administration policies. Yet some health experts worry AIDS funding has grow disproportionately large compared with other U.S. development spending.

President Bush’s AIDS program in Africa is up for renewal. A number of health experts applaud some of its results but want to end the focus on abstinence.

Cholera in Iraq continues to spread, and experts can’t seem to get a handle on the unsanitary water responsible for making so many people sick. 

The response to virulent animal diseases is improving, but major outbreaks continue, costing the animal industry millions and increasing fears of a global pandemic.

As avian flu continues its global—and westward—spread, experts say the world remains unprepared for a possible pandemic.

Pope Benedict XVI has requested a report on the use of condoms in cases involving HIV. The issue divides church traditionalists and pragmatists, and could signify the first major crossroads of Benedict's papacy.

Twenty years ago, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which spread radioactivity over Europe, seemed to be the death knell of the industry. But a renaissance of interest in nuclear power is underway, driven by higher energy prices, global warming, new technologies, and, some argue, short memories.

The deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus has now crept well into Europe—infecting birds in Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, and Denmark—and now also threatens Africa. Experts are at a loss over how to best tackle what could be an imminent global pandemic.

Laurie Garrett reviews Peter Piot's No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses.

An e-newsletter from CFR's Global Health Program providing an update on the outbreak of the H1N1 virus.

Laurie A. Garrett discusses the origins and path of H1N1 swine influenza.

Thomas Bollyky, CFR's senior fellow for global health, economics, and development, leads a discussion on the rise of noncommunicable diseases in the developing world, attitudes towards them, and solutions for addressing them.

Experts discuss scalable and practical strategies developing countries can use to address the global health challenges of noncommunicable diseases.

This session is part two of the two session meeting, Noncommunicable Diseases and the New Global Health.

Thomas R. Frieden, director of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, discusses the challenges facing low- and middle-income countries in combating noncommunicable diseases.

This session is part one of the two session meeting, Noncommunicable Diseases and the New Global Health.

CFR's Senior Fellow for Global Health Laurie Garrett and Science correspondent Jon Cohen discuss the XIX International AIDS Conference, summarize the "good news" and the "bad news" coming out of the conference, and examine the challenges that still remain in the fight against AIDS.

Peter Piot and Michel Sidibé discuss Piot's new book, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and the state of the AIDS epidemic in the world today.