Morning Breakouts

Study Investigates Concept Of ‘Additionality’ In Domestic Health Spending Amid Foreign Donations

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this study published in Health Affairs this month, researchers investigated the concept known as “additionality,” where donor nations and philanthropic organizations “require that funds provided for a specific health priority such as HIV should supplement domestic spending on that priority.” Using data from Honduras, Rwanda, and Thailand, the authors found that “the three countries increased funding for HIV in response to increased donor funding” and “suggest that it would be preferable for donors and countries to agree on how best to use available domestic and external funds to improve population health, and to develop better means of tracking outcomes, than to try to develop more sophisticated methods to track additionality” (February 2012).

Malawi Faces Cholera Outbreak After Floods Lead To Declining Sanitary Conditions

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

Inter Press Service reports on a cholera outbreak in Malawi’s Nsanje and Chikhwawa districts, located on the southern border with Mozambique, noting that government officials have attributed the outbreak to declining sanitation conditions as a result of flooding in late January. According to IPS, “up to 550 pit latrines were washed away in Nsanje alone, a district hardest hit by the floods,” and “[s]ewage from the latrines has contaminated water sources in the district, including boreholes and dug-out wells, thereby escalating the cholera incidents, according to the assistant Disaster Management Officer for Nsanje, Humphrey Magalasi.”

Health Status Of Indigenous Populations Across Asia Unknown, Putting Them At Risk, Experts Say

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

“The health of millions of indigenous people across Asia is at risk, experts say, as lack of recognition of their legal status hinders data collection, making their medical problems invisible in most national health surveys,” IRIN reports. “Indigenous peoples — defined by the U.N. as people with ancestral ties to a geographical region who retain ‘distinct characteristics’ from other parts of the population — rank disproportionately high in most indicators of poor health, according to the U.N. Secretariat Department of Economic and Social Affairs,” the news service adds.

Capsules: Some Physicians Not Always Honest With Patients

February 8, 2012 Morning Briefing

According to a new survey, 11 percent of doctors acknowledge they lied to patients in the previous year. Jessica Marcy has the story.

Capsules: HHS Seeks To Cut Preterm Births

February 8, 2012 Morning Briefing

Phil Galewitz reports that the Obama administration launched a $40 million effort to reduce premature births, but it has no plans to stop Medicaid from paying for elective deliveries before 39 weeks.

USAID-Supported Programs Fighting TB, HIV In Brazil

February 8, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post in USAID’s “IMPACTblog,” Ed Scholl, AIDSTAR-One project director, writes about HIV and tuberculosis (TB) care in Brazil, where “USAID has partnered with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to improve early TB detection, increase HIV counseling and testing, and provide medical treatment for both infections.” He continues, “AIDSTAR-One, a USAID-funded project, is also conducting outreach in Brazilian prisons, which are often at high risk of TB and HIV epidemics.” He concludes, “Through partnerships like USAID and AIDSTAR-One, we can effectively fight TB and HIV across Brazil and Latin America, to improve the health of countless people and ultimately save lives” (2/7).

Examining Debate Over Bird Flu Research

February 8, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post on KPLU’s “Humanosphere” blog, journalist Tom Paulson describes “five reasons why you should not panic” about the recent news that two research teams have created bird flu strains that are easily transmissible among ferrets, which are used as a lab model for humans. Fears that terrorists possibly could use the information prompted the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity to request the scientists redact some information prior to publishing their study results and investigators worldwide to institute a 60-day moratorium on bird flu research, he notes. Paulson writes “that the scientific research community is already well on its way to improving our knowledge of H5N1,” and concludes, “Even if these two papers are censored, the traditional approach of unfettered and open exploration appears likely to continue” (2/7).