Government policies in Burma that restrict public health and humanitarian aid have enabled some of the world's deadly diseases to spread unchecked. According to a report by Johns Hopkins, AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria and bird flu (H5N1) are spreading at alarming rates.

The findings show that the spread of these infectious diseases, if left unchecked, could pose a serious health threat to other Southeast Asian nations and the world. Health professionals believe international cooperation and policies are needed to restore humanitarian assistance to the Burmese people, but warn that new government legislation imposed by the military junta are making those efforts increasingly difficult

Health officials are warning of a rise in antibiotic resistant tuberculosis worldwide.

The Associated Press reports the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 25 TB laboratories on six continents between 2000 and 2004

Bill Gates has contributed $600 million to a $56 billion fund to break the back of tuberculosis worldwide, health officials in Switzerland said.

The Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis, backed by more than 400 organizations worldwide, aims to treat 50 million people in the next 10 years as well as develop new treatments and a vaccine, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said in a release

The G7 summit meeting in London kicked off a project to subsidize production of a host of new vaccines to fight illnesses and viruses worldwide.

The target areas include some of the world's poorest regions

A U.N. report released Tuesday shows hunger and malnutrition kill nearly 6 million children a year, and more people are malnourished in sub-Saharan Africa this decade, than in the 1990s.

Many children die from treatable diseases, namely: diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, according to the report by the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization