Morning Breakouts

Global Fund’s Restructuring Shows Organization’s Viability

April 16, 2012 Morning Briefing

This post by writer Cynthia Schweer in Foreign Policy Blogs Network describes the recent restructuring of the Secretariat at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with a focus on grant management. The reorganization is “important” because “[a]fter an age of largesse in global health funding, the financial crisis has caused funding increases to come to a screeching halt,” Schweer writes, saying, “Despite commitments that far outstretch current revenues, the Global Fund is still the most viable multilateral providing funding for global health.” She concludes, “Slowing down the pace of progress at this critical juncture will have implications that reverberate far beyond the realm of current programs” (4/13).

U.S. Nominee Jim Kim Likely To Emerge As World Bank President

April 16, 2012 Morning Briefing

“Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee, seems certain to become the next president of the World Bank after developing countries failed in an effort to unite behind a single candidate,” the Financial Times reports, noting, “Jose Antonio Ocampo, the former Colombian finance minister, withdrew from contention and endorsed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian finance minister, after she won wider support among a group of developing countries on Friday.” According to the newspaper, “The World Bank’s executive board met on Friday to discuss interviews given by the three candidates,” and “Kim, a health expert and president of Dartmouth College, is likely to emerge as the new president as early as Monday after the board takes a straw poll” (Harding/Fontanella-Khan/Leahy, 4/13).

U.S. Should Separate Diplomatic Pressures On N. Korea From Humanitarian Assistance, Provide Food Aid

April 16, 2012 Morning Briefing

A Seattle Times editorial says a “radical response” to North Korea’s rocket launch would be to “[k]eep diplomatic channels open with the 240,000 tons of food aid planned before” the launch. “Providing food aid is wholly apart from maintaining political and economic pressure on the country,” the editorial says, adding, “Sending food does not preclude international sanctions to deny North Korea access to electronic technology and military hardware.” The editorial suggests “[s]end[ing] the food aid with an insurance policy of sorts. Use the connections and credibility of nongovernmental organizations, including Mercy Corps and World Vision, to track the deliveries. … Get the United Nations involved as well.” The editorial concludes, “Keep diplomatic channels open. Move beyond the provocations and deliver basic food relief” to the more than one-quarter of North Koreans in need (4/15).

‘Starvation Protocol’ Guidelines Would Help India’s Hunger Problem

April 16, 2012 Morning Briefing

In the final article of a six-part series titled “Starving in India” in the Wall Street Journal’s “India Real Time” blog, series author Ashwin Parulkar of the Centre for Equity Studies writes that the research conducted for the articles shows “that India needs a new legal framework for dealing with chronic hunger and starvation.” He notes that “[t]he draft version of the National Food Security Bill that is being considered by India’s Parliament would guarantee discounted food-grains to 50 percent of the urban population and 75 percent of the rural population.” While “[m]uch of the debate on the measure has been over its cost and scope, … my biggest problem with the bill is the way it deals with starvation,” leaving it up to state governments to identify starving individuals and provide them with two meals a day for six months, Parulkar writes.

Obama, Romney Advisers Trade Barbs On Priorities

April 15, 2012 Morning Briefing

GOP consultant Ed Gillesie says job creation is needed while Democrat David Axelrod says Republican budget cuts will hit safety net programs such as Medicaid.

Nursing Aides Receive New Worker Protections

April 13, 2012 Morning Briefing

Nursing aides have the nation’s second highest rate of work-related injuries or illness. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to do something to make the job safer.

Politico Pro Examines Reaction To Melinda Gates’s TEDxChange Speech On Family Planning

April 13, 2012 Morning Briefing

Politico Pro examines the reaction to a speech delivered by Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at a TEDxChange conference in Berlin on April 5. “Gates’s speech was primarily focused on explaining why family planning is important in the developing world,” according to the news service. Gates said lack of access to modern contraceptives is “a life and death crisis” because with family planning, the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children could be saved annually, the news service notes. “But multiple global health experts heard her comments as an intentional effort to push back on the politicization of birth control in the United States following the Obama administration’s new contraception coverage policy, which they fear could spill over into global health policy,” the news service writes. However, “Gates Foundation spokesman Chris Williams said Gates was simply reiterating her long-standing support for family planning and that viewing these remarks in light of domestic politics would be ‘using the wrong lens,'” the article notes.