Traveling abroad? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is offering those embarking on overseas adventures an interactive tool that can help keep them healthy--and aware.

Travelers can access the interactive map here. Select a travel destination and find out if there are any travel notices in effect for that region. You'll also get safety and security guidelines and information about vaccinations that might be useful in that part of the world. The CDC site also offers travel and health tips, plus a list of diseases common to the area you select.

The ASTMH website also offers a clinical directory of physicians who specialize in tropical medicine, medical parasitology and travelers' health. Visit the ASTMH clinical directory here.

Actor George Clooney recently answered questions from readers of The New York Times on malaria and global health. Read the entire Q&A at reporter Nicholas Kristof's blog here.

ASTMH has an archive of great interviews with several leaders in the fields of tropical medicine and hygiene and global health. First up is Dr. Karl F. Meyer, who spoke in 1970 about his efforts to combat equine encephalitis.

The American Committee on Arthropod-Borne Viruses (ACAV), a subgroup of the ASTMH, began the Kelly Labell Student Travel Award fund. The award is given to a student (or students) each year to help them defray the costs associated with attending the Annual Meeting. It was created by the Rick Labell family of New Hampshire in memory of their daughter Kelly, a student who died of equine encephalitis in 2005. Read more about the Award and about other ASTMH awards and scholarships.

And be sure to visit ASTMH's YouTube channel regularly to see the latest updates from the Society's video vault!

ASTMH website editor Jonathan Mayer, PhD, conducted this interview with Carolina Barillas-Mury, MD, PhD, who was a co-winner of the 2010 Bailey Ashford Award for distinguished work in tropical medicine. Find out what ASTMH has meant to her career, how she got to be an expert on Plasmodium parasites and why the mosquito is her favorite vector. Barillas-Mury also tells us what's on her reading list and why she loves to visit Brazil.

On March 2 the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed H.R. 528, the Neglected Infections of Impoverished Americans Act of 2011. The bill was first introduced in the 111th Congress by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who reintroduced it early in the 112th Congress.

If passed, the bill would require a report to congress on the state of several parasitic infections that impact mostly poor Americans, such as Chagas disease, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, trichomoniasis and the soil-transmitted helminthes.

ASTMH sent a letter of support to Rep. Johnson when the bill was introduced in February. Stay tuned for more updates from ASTMH as H.R. 528 moves through the legislative process.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 1 about how to address U.S. foreign policy priorities in a tough economic environment. Although the hearing was focused on foreign policy more generally, there were a few notable mentions of global health.

Secretary Clinton noted that the largest investment being made in foreign policy is in the area of global health, especially the well-established programs that were initiated under the Bush Administration. According to Secretary Clinton, "These programs stabilize entire societies that have been and are being devastated by HIV, malaria and other diseases."

Secretary Clinton went on to address her concerns that the House-passed 2011 budget cuts about $1 billion in funding for global health. To put that number in real-life terms, she said the budget cuts would mean that "five million children and family members will be denied treatment or preventive intervention on malaria. ... More than 16 million people will be denied treatments for debilitating tropical diseases. More than 40,000 children and family members will be denied treatment for tuberculosis."

These are strong statemenets made by Secretary Clinton about the serious impact that cuts to global health will have on the lives of people around the world. To hear more of Secretary Clinton's testimony, visit the committee website.

ASTMH continues to advocate for adequate funding for global health research and development, and we encourage you to be active advocates for the programs that are important to the work you do and to the health of the people we are working to help.

The Kaiser Family Foundation announced that a new Webcast with Lois Quam, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Global Health Initiative, is now available.

In this town-hall forum, Quam heard from members of the global health community about the progress of the initiative to date and discussed the future of United States global health policy.

The Global Health Initiative, launched by the Obama administration in May 2009, was an effort by the U.S. government to coordinate most of its global health activities under one umbrella.