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

Listen to Mark R. Dybul, U.S. global AIDS coordinator at the U.S. Department of State, and Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of health for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, discuss whether male circumcision can play a role in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Watch Mark R. Dybul, U.S. global AIDS coordinator at the U.S. Department of State, and Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of health for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, discuss whether male circumcision can play a role in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

This study tested the association of multiple interventions with reduced disease transmission during the 1918 epidemic.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services document providing guidance in the event of an outbreak of pandemic influenza.

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.

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

The disease burden of a population, and how that burden is distributed, are important pieces of information for prioritizing and defining strategies to protect population health. To help provide a reliable source of information for policy-makers, WHO has developed methods to analyse the impacts of risks for health, and has estimated the impacts of 26 risk factors worldwide, including climate change

Laurie Garrett, CFR senior fellow for global health, says the world is in a better position to handle a potential avian flu pandemic than it was two years ago. But she warns that we still don't have "a toolkit that can stop this virus from circulating" if it evolves to allow easy human-to-human transmission.

An article in the British Medical Journal looks at whether influenza vaccination policy is consistent with the available evidence.

The UN General Assembly adopted this Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS on June 2, 2006.

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.