SciDev.Net

The UN is inhibiting innovation through over-regulation of new biotechnologies, argues Henry I. Miller.

More research is needed to see whether the success of the WHO's tuberculosis programme is at risk, say G. E. Davies and S. B. Squire.

Revised HIV/AIDS figures are a sign of better data, not that the epidemic is slowing. There is still much to be done, says Kevin De Cock.

Medical graduates from poor nations should be free to leave for jobs abroad — and return with new skills, argue Zarmeneh Aly and Fawad Taj.

D. J. Murphy calls for Islamic cultures to rekindle their rich tradition of innovative science and technology from earlier centuries.

Strong international policies are needed to stop the biofuel revolution threatening food security for the poor, says Siwa Msangi.

New technologies are making it possible for developing countries to develop biobanks, say S. K. Sgaier and colleagues.

Ethics committees overseeing clinical trials in poor countries need reforming to protect participants, argue J. Karbwang and F. Crawley.

Dredging India's Sethusamundram ship channel poses environmental risks, and could even magnify future tsunami damage, says C.P. Rajendran.

Muslim countries should harness the talents of their huge diaspora and support collaboration between their expatriate and local scientists, says Munir Nayfeh.

The Muslim world need not lag behind in science and technology. Abdalla Alnajjar looks at an initiative that is charting a new approach.

Muslim countries need good quality institutions to motivate researchers, argues Athar Osama.

Science and innovation in the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference are woefully inadequate, but the tide can be turned, says Mohamed H.A. Hassan.

The UN agencies UNICEF and the WHO have broken with protocol and recklessly used data for their own ends, says an editorial in The Lancet.

Peter Singer and colleagues provide a model for implementing novel biotechnologies such as vaccines and diagnostics in developing countries.

Aid donors should re-think their self-appointed role as saviours of the poor, and try more modest and realistic approaches, argues William Easterly.

Good quality tropical diseases research exists, but the mechanisms surrounding it need reform, say a series of Nature articles.

Denise DeRoeck and colleagues want to see research into typhoid fever placed firmly back on the international agenda.

National drug safety monitoring systems feeding into a global database are needed to protect patients in the developing world, say Munir Pirmohamed and colleagues.

With global diversity increasingly at risk, a mechanism like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is required, argues Michel Loreau.