For the first time ever, scientists have released a detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Using data from past 65 years, the map pinpoints the locations where majority of these new diseases come from wildlife.

EID's such as HIV, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus and Ebola are indeed on the rise. The study has determined that zoonoses, diseases that originate in animals, are the current and most important threat in causing new diseases to emerge. The study analysed 335 incidents of previous disease emergence beginning in 1940 and concluded that most of these EID's originated in wildlife

Abu Dhabi's Department of Economics has stopped issuing licenses to new shisha cafes in an effort to curb smoking in the region. The ban on shisha smoking covers coffee shops.

Shisha smoking is extremely popular in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi has around 300 shisha cafes

The problem of overweight individuals and the health concerns that follow is something that is as big a threat as the climate change problem, according to the chairman of the International Obesity Task force.

At an annual meeting held in Boston, Professor Philip James of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that the obesity problem was in need of a global commitment, and that international collaboration was needed to fight off the threat

The United States joined the government of Tanzania, the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria by funding the distribution of 5.2 million mosquito nets to Tanzanians. The financial assistance was announced by U.S. President George Bush after he visited on Monday a bed net factory and a hospital with malaria patients.

Funding for the mosquito net project will come from a five-year $1.2 billion program initiated in 2005 to reduce by 50 percent malaria deaths in 15 African nations. Bush said vouchers were distributed for 5.2 million mosquito nets to be sold with hefty discounts, aimed at providing protection to pregnant Tanzanian women and their infants and young children

A study recently revealed that Canadian children living in poor neighborhoods tended to be fatter and gained more weight over a period of time, compared to those living in middle-class areas.

Scientists working for Statistics Canada drew their conclusions from an experiment involving 2,200 children who were tracked and weighed every two years, from two and three years old, and between ten and 11 years old. The entire observation period spanned 1994 to 2002