Morning Breakouts

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.

Capsules: Attorneys General Debate The Health Law

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

Now on KHN’s blog, the Mass. and Va. attorneys general brought their opposing cases to the National Press Club in Washington today.

Capsules: Mass. Nurse-Midwives No Longer Need Physician OK To Practice

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

Also on the blog, Bay State nurse-midwives will no longer need a doctor to oversee their decisions.

Quantifying The Quality Of Health Aid

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

In this post on the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Global Health Policy” blog, Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at CGD, and Denizhan Duran, a research assistant in global health policy at CGD, describe a paper they wrote in which they try to determine “[w]hich donor provides the ‘best’ health aid, and why [this is] a relevant question.” They write, “To be honest, one working paper later, we still do not have a definite answer to either question,” but “we do know … that health aid is relevant: effective health aid has saved lives, and technologies like oral rehydration salts and vaccination are among the most efficient development interventions money can buy.” The authors say they “rank donors across four dimensions of aid effectiveness: maximizing efficiency, fostering institutions, reducing burden and transparency and learning,” and invite readers to explore their data.

Komen’s Brinker Apologizes For ‘How We Mishandled This Situation’

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

In a letter to Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn, the founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure writes, “I made some mistakes.”

WFP, FAO Warn Food Security Worsening For Millions In South Sudan, Call For Action

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

The U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) “warned [Wednesday] that millions of people in South Sudan are facing worsening hunger and called for urgent action to improve food security through adequate food aid and projects to boost agricultural production,” the U.N. News Centre reports (2/8). “[C]onflict, population displacement and high food prices” are threatening food security for 4.7 million in the new nation this year, up from 3.3 million in 2011, according to a report (.pdf) from the agencies, Reuters notes. “Of those, about one million people are severely food insecure, and that number could double if fighting continues and prices keep rising, the report said,” the news agency writes (2/8).

Water And Sanitation Sector Must Speak Up To Be Included In NTD Eradication Efforts

February 9, 2012 Morning Briefing

Applauding the signing of the so-called “London Declaration on NTDs” by a consortium of public and private partners last week, Ned Breslin, CEO of Water For People, writes in this Huffington Post “Impact” opinion piece, “I am saddened by the emphasis on vaccines and medicines as the seemingly only vehicles to eradicate NTDs by London Declaration signatories. And I wonder where water, sanitation and hygiene are in this mix, as by all accounts it is not anywhere to be seen in the NTD eradication initiative.”