Morning Breakouts

Congressional Appropriations Decisions Will Affect Women’s Health Worldwide

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

“[E]vidence shows that family planning prevents the needless deaths of women worldwide,” which should “be cause to sustain or even increase U.S. investments in these programs,” Chloe Cooney, director of global advocacy for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), writes in this RH Reality Check blog post. “Yet, once again, the House Appropriations Committee voted to let politics interfere with life-saving health care for women,” she continues, adding, “Last week, the House Appropriations Committee proposed to cut funding for international family planning programs and impose harmful restrictions on women’s access to essential health care.” Cooney notes that the Senate version of the bill “increases support for international family planning without attaching restrictions that would undercut these efforts.” She cites a recent U.N. report that “confirms that birth control and reproductive health services are essential to saving women’s lives,” and concludes, “The impact of the decisions made by this Congress will be felt in the lives of women and families around the world” (5/22).

Kaiser Family Foundation Survey Highlights Importance Of Communicating Aid Successes

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog, communications officer and blog editor Amie Newman reports on a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, released Monday, that examines Americans’ views on U.S. global health issues. Newman details a number of the survey’s findings, including that the poll found that “roughly half of Americans (52 percent) now say the news media spends too little time covering global health issues, up from 41 percent in 2010.” She writes, “It’s critical that our news media cover these issues in a way that touches people, and helps people to understand exactly what’s happening in the countries, cities, villages, towns, health centers and homes of people around the world.” She notes that both KFF President and CEO Drew Altman, in a column discussing the survey results, and Gates Foundation Director of Global Brand and Innovation Tom Scott, in a recent blog post, have stressed the importance of properly communicating successful aid stories and data (5/21).

IRIN Examines WHO Process Of Translating Research Results Into Policy Recommendations

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

IRIN examines the WHO’s regulatory approval process for making evidence-based recommendations, noting, “Governments will generally not implement an intervention without the WHO stamp of approval.” The news service writes, “No matter how compelling, medical research has historically not guaranteed swift regulatory approval, but researchers are finding ways to speed up translation of their conclusions into policy.” The news service cites the WHO’s recommendations regarding the use of insecticide-treated bednets in 2007 and the administration of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) in children in sub-Saharan Africa in 2012 as examples. “Similarly, scientists working on a malaria vaccine are optimistic that they will receive a WHO recommendation soon after trial results are reported in 2014,” IRIN notes (5/23).

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Approves FY13 State And Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs on Tuesday approved a $52.1 billion FY 2013 spending bill for state and foreign operations, The Hill’s “Global Affairs” blog reports (Pecquet, 5/22). The subcommittee also released a bill summary (5/22). “The bill includes funding for U.S. global health programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department comprising a significant portion of funding for the Global Health Initiative (GHI),” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s “Policy Tracker.”

Scientific American Examines Global Progress Toward Clean Drinking Water, Sanitation Goals

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

“U.N. Development Goals for better drinking water have already been reached, but a closer look shows that the measures fail to truly account for the lack of access to safe water,” Scientific American reports in a feature story. “[J]ust because water is pouring out of a spigot does not mean that it is safe to drink,” the article states, adding, “In poorer areas, where infrastructure and sanitation are often much worse, even sources of water that have been ‘improved’ are frequently at risk for contamination by human and animal feces, according to recent analyses.” The magazine details a number of studies on the issue and concludes, “[W]hether there are 800 million or 1.8 billion people who lack safe water, the scourge of preventable deadly diarrheal and other waterborne diseases will continue to plague too many” (Harmon, 5/21).

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Addresses World Medical Association In Geneva

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published on its website a transcript of a speech about women’s health, delivered by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to the World Medical Association in Geneva on Tuesday. “For too long, too many women and girls have had their lives marred by illness or disability, just because they didn’t have access to health services. When we deprive women of the care and support they need to stay healthy or get well, we’re also robbing them of hope for the future. … So under President Obama, we’re putting a new focus on women’s health — at home and abroad,” she said, according to the transcript (5/22).

Implementation Of Global Vaccine Action Plan Must Include All Stakeholders

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

“This week in Geneva, health ministers from governments around the world will meet at the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA) for their annual meeting to discuss health issues that affect everyone everywhere,” Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), writes in this post in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “Among the resolutions they will consider is one supporting the Global Vaccine Action Plan, a road map to ensure that by the end of this decade, every child, everywhere enjoys the full benefits of immunization,” he notes.

Ethiopian Government Collaborating With USAID, Partners To Improve Access To Family Planning

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this USAID “IMPACTblog” post, Abiy Shewarega of the USAID | Deliver Project, Ethiopia, describes the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s commitment to improving family planning through programs that, in the past six years, have “seen a rapid increase in contraceptive use and a decline in the average number of births per woman.” He discusses the importance of supply chain and logistics activities, concluding, “Availability of family planning commodities does more than simply support better health for women and their children. As a result of the continued commitment of the Ethiopian government and collaboration with USAID, women … are not only able to maintain good health for themselves and their families, but can also secure the family income, send their children to school, and improve the family’s potential for the future” (5/22).

State Department Working To Combat Counterfeit Drugs

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

“Counterfeit, falsified, and substandard drugs are a dangerous threat to people around the world, including Americans,” therefore “we have a vital interest in ensuring the safety of an ever more complex global drug supply chain,” Jennifer White, a foreign service officer in the Office of International Health and Biodefense in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, writes in a post in the State Department’s “DipNote” blog. She notes that the “Department of State engages in the fight against counterfeit medicines using a multi-faceted approach,” including training foreign drug regulators; funding consumer outreach to raise awareness of the problem; being active in international bodies that address counterfeiting, such as the WHO; and “work[ing] in partnership with other U.S. government agencies, the health care community, patients, civil society, and the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that patients receive safe medicines and that those who put patients’ lives at risk can be prosecuted” (5/22).

Experts, Advocates Urge Continued Funding For Research Into HIV, TB Vaccines

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

“[P]articipants at a symposium held last week by the U.K. Consortium on AIDS and International Development warned that [progress on HIV and tuberculosis (TB) vaccines] could be jeopardized by the recent downturn in global health funding,” BMJ reports. The journal summarizes comments made at the meeting by researchers and advocacy group representatives, who stressed that successful vaccines for HIV and TB would save millions in existing research investments and long-term treatment costs (Moszynski, 5/22).

Study Shows Prevalence Of Drug-Resistant HIV Strains In Uganda Rising, Among Highest In Sub-Saharan Africa

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

“The prevalence of drug-resistant HIV strains in Uganda has risen from 8.6 percent to 12 percent in the last five years, one of the highest rates in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a recent study,” PlusNews reports. “The PharmAccess African Studies to Evaluate Resistance (PASER) monitoring cohort study report for 2008-2012” — “which was based on results from the capital, Kampala, the western town of Fort Portal, and the eastern town of Mbale” — “found that the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance among people who have never taken life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication was substantially higher in Uganda” than in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the news service writes.

U.N. SG Ban Praises Commission On Life-Saving Commodities, Says More Effort Needed To Improve Maternal, Child Mortality Rates

May 23, 2012 Morning Briefing

At the opening of the U.N. Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the commission but “said that much remains to be done to save the lives of the 800 women and more than 20,000 children who die every day from preventable causes,” the U.N. News Centre reports (5/22). Devex notes that the commission “aims to increase access to lifesaving medicine and health supplies, … includ[ing] oxytocin, which helps stop bleeding among mothers after giving birth, and antibiotics such as amoxicillin, which treats pneumonia among newborns.” The commission finalized its recommendations on Tuesday, the news service notes (Ravelo, 5/23).