Archives: Morning Breakouts

NPR reports on a study that raises questions about the Food and Drug Administration's position.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog published several posts in response to the TEDxChange: "The Big Picture" presentation delivered by Melinda Gates, co-chair of the foundation, in Berlin on Thursday.

"The advancement of women's health and their rights is one of the core principles of President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative," a VOA editorial states, adding, "And so it is that the United States has rolled out a new initiative that will tackle one of the greatest threats to women's health, HIV/AIDS, by attacking another scourge: gender-based violence [GBV]." According to the editorial, "Physical violence or the threat of physical violence and coercion are all associated with HIV transmission for women of all ages," which is why "[i]n mid-March, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby announced an initiative to provide $4.65 million in small grants to grassroots organizations to address gender-based violence issues."

"Teenage pregnancies are on the rise in Guatemala, along with the drop-out rate in schools, family breakdown and many other related social ills," Inter Press Service reports, adding that the "impoverished Central American country of 14 million people has an adolescent (under-20) birth rate of 114 per 1,000 women in rural areas, according to the National Mother and Child Health Survey for 2008-2009." The article discusses efforts by the government and non-profit organizations to prevent unwanted pregnancies, including laws allowing for basic maternity services and sex education classes.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "[a] long list of development experts, government officials and news organizations around the world have mounted a rebellion of sorts" in response to the nomination of Jim Yong Kim, a global health expert and Dartmouth College president, to head the World Bank, as "[m]any of them say the two other candidates, Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo, are better qualified for the post." According to the newspaper, "The race marks the first time the selection of a World Bank president has been contested," but "[d]espite the controversy" surrounding the nomination, Kim "is still virtually certain to secure the post because of his support from the U.S., the bank's largest shareholder."

The WHO on April 7 celebrated the founding of the organization in 1948 and World Health Day, "by focusing on aging, including a host of events, research and information under the theme, 'Good health adds life to years,'" CNN reports (4/7). "Contrary to common perceptions, the WHO reports by 2050, 80 percent of the world's older people will be living in low-and middle-income countries -- not in the wealthier nations," and "a new analysis shows the key reasons for ill health in older people are from non-communicable diseases," VOA News writes (Schlein, 4/7).

Democrats are pointing to the health law (including its contraceptive coverage) while Republicans are playing up their solutions to fix the economy.

In this Washington Post opinion piece, columnist Michael Gerson examines anti-malaria efforts in Zambia, writing, "Zambia has been the main test case for anti-malaria efforts during the last several years -- a focus of funding by the U.S. government, the [Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation] and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria." He continues, "Now the Anglican Church, international aid groups and philanthropists ... are attempting to fill remaining gaps in bednet coverage in remote border areas."

"Trade deals are threatening generic drugs -- we need new ways to incentivize affordable drug development," Daniele Dionisio, head of the research project Geopolitics, Public Health and Access to Medicines (GESPAM) and a member of the European Parliament Working Group on Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty-Related Diseases, writes in this SciDev.Net opinion piece. "Just under three billion people live on less than $2 per day, in resource-limited countries where key medicines protected by patents are unaffordable," he writes, adding, "Free-trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and governments adopting intellectual property (IP) policies that favor the brand pharmaceutical sector are also threatening the trade of legitimate generic medicines."