Morning Breakouts

Aid For Water, Sanitation Programs Must Benefit The Poor

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post in the ONE blog, Brooks Keene, policy adviser for CARE’s water team, “makes the argument that foreign aid should benefit the poor first and foremost,” noting, “As we approach World Water Day on March 22, CARE, [the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)] and WaterAid have published a report card [.pdf] on how well” the Water for the Poor Act, passed by Congress in 2005, “has been implemented seven years down the line.” She writes, “In the absence of a strategy, USAID has gone ahead with water, sanitation and hygiene programs, but much of the effort and dollars have not gone to benefit the poor.” She concludes by recommending several steps USAID could take “to spur concerted targeting” (2/9).

Censorship Of Public Health Websites By Russian Drug Agency An ‘Assault’ On HIV Prevention

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

“Amidst pro-democracy protests, the Russian authorities have taken what is an ongoing assault on HIV prevention to the next level by moving to silence public health advocates whose only infraction has been to spread lifesaving information online and to criticize the government for its own failures,” Eka Iakobishvili, a human rights analyst at Harm Reduction International, and Claudia Stoicescu, an analyst on Harm Reduction International’s public health research team, write in this Huffington Post opinion piece. “While Prime Minister Putin spoke glowingly of digital democracy” in a recent column praising the potential for “internet-based democracy,” “his anti-drugs agency is censoring websites for writing about WHO essential medicine,” the authors note.

Proposed Intellectual Property Agreement Between E.U., India Could Affect Generic Drug Exports, Advocacy Groups Say

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

The Independent examines how “[t]he cheap supply of antiretroviral drugs to people with AIDS across the world could be choked by an ‘intellectual property’ deal … being negotiated [on Friday] at the 12th E.U.-India summit in New Delhi between the President of the European Commission, Jos

Donor Fatigue, Funding Cutbacks Could Mean Another 50 Years Of AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Says

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

“With enough money spent in the right way, the world could soon reduce new HIV infections to zero, but global apathy and the financial crisis mean it might take another 50 years to stop the AIDS epidemic, a U.N. expert has said,” AlertNet reports. “At a time when HIV/AIDS efforts face an unprecedented decline in funding, Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS …, called on developing states to take more responsibility for tackling HIV in their own countries rather than relying on international assistance,” the news service notes.

Barbara Bush On Youth Involvement In Global Health

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

PSI’s “Healthy Lives” blog features an interview with Barbara Pierce Bush about her founding of and work with the Global Health Corps. PSI President and CEO Karl Hofmann speaks with Bush, who discusses how young people can make a difference in global health (2/9).

Examining Malaria Data Methodologies

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post in the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Global Health Policy” blog, Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Felix Lam, a malaria research analyst, examine the discrepancies between the WHO’s estimated number of malaria deaths worldwide and the data recently released by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). They ask, “Given the 1.2 billion dollars by donors to malaria in 2010, is it unreasonable to demand to know with more certainty, how many people are dying from malaria?” and go on to describe how each group analyzed data to get to their conclusions (2/9).

Recognizing Global Fund’s Integration Of Reproductive Health Into Focus On AIDS, TB, Malaria

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

Noting the successes of the first 10 years of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as the funding challenges it faces moving forward, Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, vice president of advocacy at Population Action International, writes in an opinion piece in GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog that the Fund “has always upheld the idea that their work contributes to achievement of all of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” and “always accepted and considered proposals that include reproductive, maternal, and child health interventions, when countries could demonstrate that they would have an impact on AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.”

Benin’s Government Fighting Malaria With Free Treatment, Cadre Of Community Health Workers

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

The Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog” examines how the government of Benin “is making headway in attempts to reduce deaths from malaria” by cracking down on counterfeit treatments, offering malaria treatment free-of-charge in public clinics and hospitals, and creating “an army of ordinary citizens in the battle against preventable diseases like malaria.” The article describes a UNICEF-supported program that trains and employs local residents as community health extension workers, who often serve as the front line in providing treatment for malaria or maternal and child health care (Smith, 2/10).

‘The Elders’ Promote ‘Girls Not Brides’ Initiative In India

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

“A group of prominent activists from around the world known as ‘The Elders’ arrived in India Thursday to take a stand against the practice of child marriage” and promote its global “Girls Not Brides” movement, VOA’s “Breaking News” blog reports (2/9). South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the group’s chair, said India’s gross domestic product growth would be much greater if “women are given their proper place,” Reuters notes. Experts say approximately 10 million girls under the age of 18 are married worldwide every year, often to an older man, without consent and before they are mentally and physically mature, according to the news service, which adds, “The practice is most prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, despite laws in most countries banning it.”

WHO Convening Meeting In One Week To Explore Opinions Surrounding H5N1 Bird Flu Research

February 10, 2012 Morning Briefing

NPR’s health blog “Shots” previews an upcoming WHO-convened meeting to discuss the recent news that two research teams have created H5N1 bird flu strains that are easily transmissible among ferrets, which are used as lab models for humans. Fears that terrorists possibly could use the information prompted the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity in December to request the scientists redact some information prior to publishing their study results and investigators in January to institute a 60-day moratorium on bird flu research, the blog notes.