Archives: Morning Breakouts

Mitt Romney is saying that overturning the health law is the "right thing" to do, but Politico explores whether he might lose a key rallying point for conservative voters if that were to happen.

GlobalPost on Monday launched a new special reporting series called "AIDS: A Turning Point," according to an email alert from the new service. "In the lead up to July's International AIDS Conference in Washington -- the first such conference on U.S. soil in 22 years -- the world news site GlobalPost presents a deep look at both the global struggle to reduce HIV infection rates as well as some surprising lessons on the effective approaches that Southern Africa has to teach America," the email alert reports (6/11).

Agence France-Presse reports on human African trypanosomiasis, "commonly known as sleeping sickness, which is transmitted by tsetse flies found in 36 sub-Saharan African countries," writing, "Without treatment in four months to a year, 'the parasite penetrates into the brain, causing serious neurological symptoms, until death,' said Doctor Benedict Blaynay, head of neglected tropical diseases at French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi." The news service highlights efforts to control the disease in Chad, noting, "For the people living in Chad's rural communities, the strange symptoms of sleeping sickness have long been shrouded in superstition about witchcraft and demonic possession. But the World Health Organization says it is not a losing battle."

"International health experts say the global campaign to eradicate polio has reached a critical stage, with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria the only countries where the crippling and potentially deadly virus is still prevalent," VOA News reports. "Health officials in Pakistan say they are redoubling efforts to vaccinate every child against polio after 198 new cases were reported in the country last year, the largest number anywhere in the world," the news service notes. It goes on to highlight several challenges to the efforts, including "an ongoing insurgency and the influx of millions of Pakistani and Afghan refugees" and public opposition to the vaccinations resulting from misperceptions and concerns about safety (Padden, 6/9).

"In order to break the vicious cycle that leaves tropical diseases neglected, existing programs that diagnose and treat patients need to be expanded and medical research to develop simpler, more effective tools needs to be supported, according to a new report, Fighting Neglect [.pdf], released [Monday] by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)," the organization reports on its webpage. "Charting the organization's 25 years of experience in diagnosing and treating Chagas disease, sleeping sickness, and kala azar in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Caucasus, the report examines past, present, and future management of the diseases and notes that access to quality life-saving treatment requires much greater political will among major international donors and national governments of endemic countries," MSF writes (6/11).

"Journalists, policy experts, bloggers (including myself) and World Food Programme staff joined in a robust discussion last week about the current hunger situation in Africa's Sahel region, including its causes and what can be done moving forward," Jennifer James, founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good, writes in this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, noting, "In the Google+ hangout, streamed on YouTube, Denise Brown, the World Food Programme's country director for Niger, logged on from the capital, Niamey, to report precisely what is happening in the region and how people are faring in the wake of no rains, failed crops, and increased food prices." She continues, "One of the primary points that Brown emphasized was about early warning systems and data propelled early intervention," and concludes, "The state of the hunger crisis in the Sahel dictates that aid must happen now. But those who are working in the region, like Brown, understand that to prevent another food shortage next year ideas to combat another hunger season have to be employed" (6/8).

The following are summaries of several opinion pieces published in anticipation of the Child Survival Call to Action event to be held on June 14-15 in Washington, D.C. Convened by the governments of the United States, Ethiopia and India, and organized in close collaboration with UNICEF, the event will focus on ending preventable child death through the survival of newborns, children and mothers and will convene 700 prominent leaders from government, the private sector, faith-based organizations and civil society to kick off a long-term, focused effort to save children's lives.

"Scientists on Sunday said they had found a key piece in the puzzle as to why a tiny minority of individuals infected with HIV have a natural ability to fight off the deadly AIDS virus," Agence France-Presse reports. "In a study they said holds promise for an HIV vaccine, researchers from four countries reported the secret lies not in the number of infection-killing cells a person has, but in how well they work," AFP writes. "Only about one person in 300 has the ability to control the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without drugs" the news service notes (6/10).