Morning Breakouts

WHO Convenes Lawmakers From Southeast Asia To Discuss Bolstering Of Health Systems In Region

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

This week the WHO brought together lawmakers from across Southeast Asia in Bangkok “to discuss how to bolster their health systems back home,” IRIN reports. Meeting participants were “called on to advocate the boosting of health spending, workforces and access to health care in their home countries in addition to drafting ‘healthy public policies,’ such as conducting health assessments before large infrastructural projects are undertaken,” the news service writes.

Researchers Unveil ‘Blueprint’ To Guide Next Steps In TB Vaccine Development

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

“On Tuesday, a global alliance of researchers and scientists — led by the Stop TB Partnership, an umbrella group of health groups — unveiled a ‘blueprint’ to develop a new vaccine [against tuberculosis (TB)] that aims to disrupt transmission in hard-hit countries and communities,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The blueprint calls for the groups to work together to test new vaccine candidates, and to coordinate fundraising for expansive and expensive human trials, representing the first comprehensive plan of the sort,” the news service writes (Wonacott, 3/20).

Global Fund Spotlights Contributions Of Public-Private Partnerships In Event On Capitol Hill

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

“At a public event [held Tuesday] on Capitol Hill, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria spotlighted the contributions of public-private partnerships to the Global Fund’s lifesaving work,” a joint press release (.pdf) reports. The event highlighted the “unique and essential roles” that partners like Chevron, the Coca-Cola Company, (RED) and PEPFAR play in improving lives around the globe, “[f]rom assistance in drug delivery, to supplying much-needed resources, to mobilizing consumer markets, to in-country partnerships,” according to the press release. “The partners highlighted at the Capitol Hill event have not only provided funding, but have also brought their individual expertise to the Global Fund, sharing their knowledge and building bridges between the public, private and health sectors,” the press release states (3/20).

Working Together To Fight TB

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post in USAID’s “IMPACTblog,” guest blogger Joanna Breitstein, director of communications for the TB Alliance, describes an event organized by the Critical Paths to TB Drug Regimens that took place on Monday, “heralding the launch of a new clinical trial that tests tuberculosis drugs in combination.” During the event, “Robert Clay, deputy assistant administrator in USAID’s Global Health Bureau, said that he wants researchers and those who oversee programs in countries to work more closely together,” she writes. A link to video of Clay’s comments is included in the blog (3/20).

Experts Discuss Significant Findings From CROI In Video Interview

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

This post in the AIDS.gov blog provides video of Ron Valdiserri, deputy assistant secretary of health for infectious diseases, interviewing Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, at the recent 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). According to the blog, “They discussed some of the significant findings from the conference including advances related to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the growing discussions of an AIDS-free generation” (Gomez, 3/20).

Clean Cookstoves Alliance Launches Initiative In Nigeria To Help Prevent Deaths

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves “launched a campaign in Nigeria on Tuesday aimed at preventing deaths due to toxic smoke from rudimentary cookstoves, one of the developing world’s worst public health threats,” Agence France-Presse reports. In Nigeria, “an estimated 95,000 people die each year due to such toxic smoke, the highest number of deaths on the continent,” the news service writes, adding the new Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves will aim to distribute “10 million clean cookstoves by 2020, beginning with half a million within the next 12 months.” According to AFP, “U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Terence McCulley said his government has committed up to $105 million over the next five years for the project” (3/20).

VOA News Examines Polio Eradication Efforts In Pakistan

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

VOA News examines polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan, where “authorities say national pride is now at stake for polio eradication and they are hoping to overcome years of setbacks from natural disasters, misinformation and war.” Though health workers hold eight nationwide vaccine campaigns each year, reaching each child is challenging because of fighting in some regions; migration; public mistrust of the vaccine; and inadequate clean water and sanitation, which allows the polio virus to thrive, according to VOA (Padden, 3/20).

Political Instability, Humanitarian Crises Reversing Maternal Health Gains In Africa, Health Experts Warn

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

“Political instability, civil strife and humanitarian crises in Africa have over the past decades reversed countless maternal health development gains on the continent, health experts warn,” Inter Press Service reports. “‘African countries with good maternal health statistics are generally those that have long-term political stability. This shows that stability is a fundamental basis for development. If it doesn’t exist, other priorities overtake,’ Lucien Kouakou, regional director of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) in Africa, told IPS,” the news service writes.

Prioritizing Health For Women, Girls Worldwide

March 21, 2012 Morning Briefing

“Africa has the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 48 percent of all global maternal deaths occurring in this region,” Jotham Musinguzi, regional director of the Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office in Kampala, Uganda, writes in an Independent opinion piece. But “[i]f we provide girls, women and their partners with family planning information and services we can empower them to decide the number, timing and spacing of their children — and whether they want to become pregnant at all,” he states, adding, “Intended pregnancies are safer and healthier pregnancies.”