Genetically modified insects provide a new method for controlling insect-borne diseases and agricultural insect pests.

Nutritional interventions can improve health, save lives and boost economic growth but only if implemented before the age of two.

Traditional knowledge can inform strategies for improving nutrition and help vulnerable populations cope with environmental change.

Reducing the global burden of HIV/AIDS relies on increased funding, more research and targeted prevention strategies.

Policies to combat malaria are needed regardless of climate change, which has a far smaller impact on the disease than human activity.

Enhancing disease surveillance and response and improving environmental conditions can help reduce negative health impacts of climate change.

Building local research capacity can lead to more effective decision-making based on scientific findings in mother and newborn health.

Recommendations for governments, civil society and international partners on addressing food and nutrition concerns in the context of HIV.

An assessment of national tuberculosis policies in select countries emphasises the need for more public engagement.

The challenge of setting policy priorities for infectious diseases in Myanmar's current political climate.

Recommendations on how policymakers can decrease the joint burden of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Despite the urgent need for a malaria vaccine, progress in developing one has been slow and scientists do not always agree on the best way forward. This policy brief outlines the current status of malaria vaccine research.

An outline of the opportunities and challenges in large-scale use of artemisinin combination therapies to treat malaria.

Insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria

Sudden epidemics of malaria need to be tackled quickly to stop them spiralling out of control; an early warning system could help predict outbreaks to mobilise a fast response.

Traditional medicine can seem to be at odds with a modern healthcare system. But, as many countries with well-established — and much used — systems of indigenous medicine are now realising, the integration of traditional medicine into the modern health infrastructure can be a way to get the best of both worlds. Sibongile Pefile discusses the efforts of the South African government in creating legislation for — and therefore making more formal — the country's traditional medicine.

With much of the developing world reliant on traditional medicine, and its increasing acceptance in the developed world, the need for universal standards for indigenous medicines is greater than ever. Darshan Shankar and Padma Venkatasubramanian investigate the standards that currently exist, and suggest methods for developing standards in the future that are sensitive to the cultures from which the medicines originated.

The past decade has seen the development and, in some cases, adoption of national legislation to protect indigenous knowledge (IK) in certain countries and regions. Manuel Ruiz identifies and analyses the issues raised by the best-known IK protection laws and policies.

Recent years have seen rising interest in the commercial exploitation of indigenous knowledge. But there are serious concerns over who benefits from this knowledge. Anju Sharma puts this debate into context by describing how the issue is being played out at the global level.

A growing number of critics of 'bioprospecting' complain that companies often fail to adequately compensate holders of traditional knowledge, and that patents on products developed in this way are actually a form of intellectual piracy.