Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Child Cancer Patients From Ukraine Arrive For US Treatment
AP: U.S. Hospital Welcomes First Ukraine Child Cancer Patients
Four Ukrainian children with cancer and their families arrived Tuesday at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, marking the first hospital in the U.S. to receive patients from Ukraine, officials announced. According to St. Jude, the families travelled aboard a U.S. government medical transport aircraft from Krakow, Poland. Some of the children held white unicorn stuffed animals and Ukrainian flags as they walked into the hospital, according to video provided by St. Jude. (Kruesi, 3/22)
CBS News: Ukrainians Cope With Devastation As Government Says 10 Hospitals Have Been Completely Destroyed In Invasion
Ukraine's government said 10 hospitals have been completely destroyed in Russia's invasion, including one that was decimated by a Russian missile strike on Monday. "I want to cry, because we had a connection between Ukraine and Russia," doctor Anatoli Pavlov said. "Russian cruelty is so brutal." he U.S. has evidence that Russia is deliberately and intentionally targeting civilians, including hospitals and places of shelter, a senior Defense Department official told CBS News. The U.S. said it has seen clear evidence the Russians are committing war crimes as civilians are killed in their homes and on the street. (Williams, 3/22)
The Wall Street Journal: Ukraine War’s Spillover Swamps Poor Countries Still Reeling From Covid-19
Over the past 120 years, a Beirut bakery has survived civil war, Lebanon’s financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Fighting in Ukraine, disrupting food and energy supplies world-wide, may soon put it out of business. Zouhair Khafiyeh’s storefront is empty of the pastries and meat-stuffed pies he has sold for years, which helped put his children through college. The cost of a bag of flour on the black market has gone up more than 1000% since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. Mr. Khafiyeh has raised his prices by 50%, he said, and now bakes only when customers order and pay up front. “We cannot continue like this,” said Mr. Khafiyeh, 54 years old. He fears he may have to close his bakery within a month. (Shah, Osseiran and Bariyo, 3/22)
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Politico: Get Ready For ‘Hell,’ UN Food Chief Warns Amid Ukraine Shockwaves
The head of the world’s biggest food aid agency has a stark warning for European leaders: Pay more now to stave off global hunger or suffer a migration crisis later. Russia's war in Ukraine has sent a shockwave through international food markets, worsening the already dire problem of global hunger by disrupting supply and inflating prices. That risks tipping the poorest, most famine-ravaged regions of the planet into political chaos and creating an unprecedented migration crisis, according to David Beasley, the World Food Programme’s executive director. In an interview with POLITICO, Beasley warned that Europe must donate more funding urgently or it will bear the brunt of the fallout. (Wax, 3/22)
The Washington Post: Forest Fires Near Russian-Held Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Raise Radiation Fears, Ukraine Says
Forest fires have broken out around the Chernobyl nuclear site, Ukraine’s parliament said Monday, raising fears that radiation could spread from the defunct facility. At least seven fires within the closed-down plant’s exclusion zone were observed on satellite imagery from the European Space Agency, the parliament said in a statement. The lawmakers blamed the blazes on Russian forces that captured the site in February. (Suliman, Stern and Mufson, 3/22)
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Rethinks Uranium Supply For Nuclear Plants After Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shaken the global market for uranium, a critical fuel for nuclear-power plants, prompting some in the U.S. to propose reviving domestic production. Russia enriches more uranium for use in nuclear plants than any other country in the world. Its increasing economic isolation following its attack on Ukraine—and talk of potential added sanctions on Russian uranium—have exposed the fragility of global nuclear-fuel supplies, which are controlled by a handful of countries. (Hiller, 3/22)
