No, not the French punk band, but dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro ethane. This time the WHO is recommending DDT to fight malaria.

Global efforts to eradicate malaria have long relied heavily on DDT, short for dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro ethane. But this powerful chemical was banned decades ago in the United States and many other countries in response to concerns about its overuse in agriculture, and its potential toxic effects on humans and wildlife. Renewed support from global health agencies is helping to put DDT back in the battle against malaria.

Most experts agree: DDT is the most effective weapon in the war against malaria. It is cheap, it repels and kills mosquitoes quickly, and it is long lasting.

But use of DDT was curtailed by a ban in the United States in 1972. More recently it was targeted for phase-out under the United Nations Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.

Some other news in global health issues ...

*How parking lot shade can help reduce global warming.

*Gareth Jenkins has relaunched a charity website called Count Me In Calendar with listings of (mostly) UK charity events, but also some international and UN events as well.

*Michael O'Connor, executive director of the Inter-agency Coalition on AIDS and Development in Ottawa and a member of the Global Treatment Access Group, calls for using aid to help build health care infrastructure around the world and stop the health care brain drain from countries that need their doctors most.

*Africa beyond aid and Bono ...

*Barbaric Russia, Still in Dark Ages, Declines Needle Exchange as AIDS Explodes ...

*Tune in to doctors without borders podcats, via NetSquared.