Archives: Morning Breakouts

This post on RH Reality Check examines a Ugandan court case "alleging that the Ugandan government failed to protect the ... constitutional rights to life and health [of several women] by allowing them to die in ill-equipped and poorly managed public hospitals, or failing to provide them with basic maternal care." According to the post, one in 35 Ugandan women die during pregnancy or childbirth, and "[o]ne of the key complaints in the petition is the government spends just one-quarter on maternal health of what it pledged to spend, per capita." The post goes on to describe efforts to improve maternal health in Uganda (Mack, 4/10).

The Associated Press/Huffington Post reports on how communications engineers are joining the fight against AIDS in Africa, highlighting a project in Mozambique that brings wireless printers equipped with cell phone technology to remote villages. "Getting AIDS test results from labs to remote villages once took weeks in Mozambique, with the information sent by courier along the impoverished country's terrible roads. The delay could mean death," the news agency writes, adding, "Now, communications engineers have adapted office printers and cell-phone technology to wirelessly and immediately relay test results."

The Families USA report tallied the state-by-state costs of the GOP budget plan. However, the analysis did not include the controversial Medicare overhaul that is included in the Republican fiscal blueprint.

Former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick said these categories, which include fraud and abuse as well as poor care coordination, offer opportunities for cost-cutting.

Although the health overhaul is touted by the Democrats as a means to control health care costs, a study by a Republican member of the board that oversees Medicare financing contends that it will add at least $340 billion to the federal deficit.

Recent polls generally indicate that last month's oral arguments changed public views about the health law, but it is not clear in which direction. There are also surveys and analysis about the law's under-26 coverage provision and whether people think seniors with higher incomes should pay more for Medicare.

The Guardian examines child malnutrition in Chad, where "[r]ising therapeutic feeding center admissions highlight the growing urgency of the situation in one of Sahel's driest, most remote areas." Chad's Kanem region "is one of the worst-hit regions in the current food crisis, which UNICEF estimates is affecting approximately 15 million people in the Sahel," the news service writes. "'The needs are many and varied in Chad, as we are facing multiple crises,' said Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, during a visit to Mao," according to the Guardian. The news service writes, "Chad has a cereal deficit of about 400,000 tons this year, and stocks of only about 40,000 tons" (Hicks, 4/10). "The United Nations has warned that at least one million children under the age of five across Africa's Sahel region are at risk of dying from severe famine and malnutrition due to drought," Press TV reports, adding, "UNICEF said it needs $120 million to tackle the looming crisis" (4/10).

In September 2010, "91 percent of Americans surveyed say they support the right for all women to have access to quality maternal and reproductive health care," PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog reports. The blog contains a Population Action International infographic depicting the data and writes, "While support is slightly stronger in some parties, the consensus is hard to ignore" (4/9).

The WHO "recently published a 'Programmatic Update' [.pdf] on the use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to treat pregnant women and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports. "According to the executive summary, the WHO has started a comprehensive revision of all ARV guidelines, to include ARVs for pregnant women, which it plans to release in early 2013," the blog notes (Mazzotta, 4/9).

In this post on the State Department's "DipNote" blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby provides an update on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, stating, "I am buoyed by the reform that is happening at the Fund under the leadership of new General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo." He adds, "When PEPFAR and the Fund coordinate, our investments against AIDS are expanded both geographically and programmatically. Simply put, a strong PEPFAR requires a strong Global Fund." Goosby concludes, "I am proud of the U.S. commitment to the Global Fund, in part because it is a commitment to the work of PEPFAR. We have a unique opportunity in a tight fiscal environment to support the Fund at this critical juncture" (4/9).