Archives: Morning Breakouts

The House is considering a bill that would ban abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Elsewhere, Missouri lawmakers consider allowing businesses to opt-out of a mandate to cover contraception in their health plans, and another Catholic university -- this one in Florida -- considers dumping its health plan instead of complying with the mandate.

The Health and Human Services secretary was invited in January to address graduates of the Public Policy Institute at the Jesuit institution.

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports on a potential public-private partnership that aims to bring tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trials to the gold mines of Southern Africa, where, "[f]or every 100,000 workers ..., 3,000 have tuberculosis, and many have often-fatal, drug-resistant strains of TB." The blog writes that mining company "Anglo American announced Tuesday at the GBCHealth Conference [in New York] that it has agreed in principle to make its mines available for TB vaccine trials organized by Aeras, a non-profit that has 12 TB vaccine candidates now in various stages of research," noting, "No formal agreement has been reached, but Anglo American's spokesman vowed to make it happen."

Newly released "estimates of maternal mortality from the United Nations' Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) are good news -- but not good enough," Peter Byass, professor of global health at Umea University in Sweden and director of the Umea Centre for Global Health Research, writes in this post in the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog. He briefly discusses the pros and cons of using "estimates" for maternal mortality data, and he concludes, "There is a risk involved for every woman who gets pregnant. But the global community has the knowledge and resources to manage those risks and minimize adverse consequences. Why can't we stop mothers dying?" (5/16).

ONE Blog interviews Ambassador Donald Steinberg, deputy administrator at USAID, about the upcoming G8 Summit. Steinberg discusses the importance of growth in the agricultural sector for food security, how the upcoming summit's food security and nutrition focus relates back to the commitments made at the 2009 G8 Summit in L'Aquila, and what it will take in the years ahead to advance food and nutrition security, according to the blog (5/16).

In her blog, "The Garrett Update," Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), provides a detailed overview of the key findings from the council's Policy Innovation Memorandum No. 21, a six-point policy recommendation for the G8/20 that she authored, titled "Ensuring the Safety and Integrity of the World's Drug, Vaccine, and Medicines Supply." She writes, "Overall we find that very little data regarding the scale and impact of the unsafe drugs, medicines, and vaccines problem is reliable," adding, "Caution is advised when using any commonly cited data regarding medicines safety or crime" (May 2012).

"On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee will vote on a State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS) appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2013, which will include funding levels for global health and other programs at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)," Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) writes in the coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog. "Overall, the subcommittee's bill had mixed results for global health and other programs at USAID: while some programs were sustained at FY 2012 levels, others saw significant budget cuts that will affect the agency's efforts worldwide," Bennett says, concluding, "As the House Appropriations Committee votes on the SFOPS bill on Thursday and the budget process continues, Congress will have to decide whether it should boldly support USAID's goal of developing new health tools -- tools that are projected to save millions of lives -- or withdraw this support and risk halting scientific advancement in its tracks" (5/16).

The Huffington Post is running "a series of blogs by leading NGOs to call attention to a range of issues that should be raised at the G8 summit at Camp David in rural Maryland from May 18-19," according to the news service. The following summarizes some of the posts published this week.

"The number of women dying of pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications has almost halved in 20 years, according to new estimates released [on Wednesday] by the United Nations, which stressed that greater progress is still needed in significantly reducing maternal deaths," the U.N. News Centre reports (5/16). "The report, 'Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2010,' shows that from 1990 to 2010, the annual number of maternal deaths dropped from more than 543,000 to 287,000 -- a decline of 47 percent," a UNFPA press release states (5/16). However, "[w]hile substantial progress has been achieved in almost all regions, many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, will fail to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal death by 75 percent through 2015," Inter Press Service writes (Deen, 5/16). "Countries in Eastern Asia have made [the] most progress on improving the health of expectant and new mothers, said the report," Agence France-Presse adds (5/16).

AIDS activists in Uganda are worried about a proposed reduction in the country's health budget, as Parliament begins "a months-long budgeting process for the ... next fiscal year," VOA News reports. "AIDS activists have expressed concern that Uganda's proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes a six percent cut in health funding to $307.5 million," which "is less than 10 percent of the country's overall budget," the news service writes. Joshua Wamboga of The AIDS Support Organization said a lack of financial commitment from the government could undermine efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the country, VOA notes, adding, "Government officials said the cut to the health budget reflects construction projects in that sector that have been completed and no longer require funding." According to VOA, "The budget is months away from being finalized and activists hope there is still time to increase funds" (Green, 5/15).

In this BMJ Groups Blog post, Amanda Glassman, director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development, writes about the challenges the WHO faces in "[s]etting priorities and fully funding those priorities." She defines the criteria by which the WHO could outline its priorities, including by identifying "global" and "shared" concerns and adequately funding and staffing priority areas. Glassman concludes, "There is tentative movement towards limiting the number of new resolutions based on 'an assessment of their strategic value, financial and administrative implications, and reporting requirements and timelines.' That sounds very good, and would inspire more confidence if the assessment were rigorous and transparent to member states and the public. Still, the reform seems to have punted on the WHO's priority-setting problem" (5/17).

A report released Thursday in Bangkok by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) says more research needs to be conducted to determine the extent to which transgender persons in Asia and the Pacific are affected by HIV, are socially ostracized, and lack fundamental rights, including access to basic health care, a UNDP press release reports. The report, released to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, is "a comprehensive review of material gathered from across the region over the past 12 years" and "emphasizes that inclusive research, designed and implemented in partnership with the transgender community, is critical to enable governments, community-based organizations and supporting organizations to enhance HIV and sexual health care services specific to the needs of transgender people, and foster action by governments to adopt more socially equitable policies and practices to protect their rights," according to the press release (5/17).