"Polio will be history, like smallpox," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, believing total eradication is within sight.

And Ban credits the efforts of Chicago-based Rotary International and other United Nations partners in this effort

Children sired by teenage fathers are more at risk of encountering birth problems, such as pre-term delivery, low birth weight, and even dying, according to a study from the University of Ottawa.

University experts examined about 2.6 million births from 1995 to 2000 in the U.S., studying the collected data related to the research. The conclusions were gathered after comparing births with teenage fathers, to those with fathers aged 40 and over, who posed no threat to the newborns

A University of Rhode Island (URI) pharmacy professor developing compounds for treating cancers and AIDS is finalizing development of a topical cream that could be used by women during intercourse to prevent Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection.

Keykavous Parang, an associate professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in URI's College of Pharmacy, and his team are developing anti-HIV-1 microbicides with or without spermicidal activity by combining agents having different mechanisms of action

Continued democratic reforms, human rights and economic opportunities will take center stage when President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia on an official tour of Africa. The president last visited the continent in 2003, and will return to review U.S.-assisted economic development projects and programs to control and prevention of malaria and HIV/AIDS.

The president will meet with the leaders of the five countries during the one-week tour next month "to discuss how the United States can continue to partner with African countries to support continued democratic reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes and economic opportunity across the continent," the White House said Friday

The number of elderly worldwide will peak from 2020 to 2030 and then decelerate, according to a new study that has implications for policy makers regarding pensions and health care.

The slow down before the mid-century will then increase again, according to the study made at Stony Brook University and the World Population Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria