Archives: Morning Breakouts

"Investigators gave more details about the positive results of the Partners PrEP Study Tuesday at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports. "The study of 4,700 HIV discordant couples (where one partner is HIV-infected and the other is not) looked at the potential of two different antiretrovirals for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV-1 prevention versus a placebo among heterosexual men and women in rural and urban Kenya and Uganda," the blog notes. So far, results show 75 percent protection in the arm using two antiretrovirals and 67 percent protection in the one-antiretroviral arm, when compared with the placebo, the blog notes, adding that the "drug arms of the study are ongoing and will wrap up at the end of this year" (Mazzotta, 3/6).

The Ugandan government is creating a "wide-ranging response plan" to "nodding disease, a mysterious ailment characterized by seizures, nodding of the head, mental retardation and stunting, which affects thousands of children in [northern Uganda]," IRIN reports. The WHO has recorded 3,097 cases of the disease and at least 170 deaths, often caused by starvation "because the condition makes it impossible to eat," the news service writes.

"Data presented from the FEM-PrEP trial by Dr. Lut Van Damme Tuesday [at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle] highlighted the challenge that adherence plays in successfully deploying effective Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) interventions," HIV Medicine Association Executive Director Andrea Weddle writes in this guest post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog. "The FEM-PrEP study was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of a daily oral dose of emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumerate (FTC/TDF) among African women, but was halted early, in April 2011," because of "interim data analysis showing similar rates of new HIV infections among women taking daily FTC/TDF and the placebo arm," Weddle notes. Van Damme said blood monitoring did not show levels of the drug consistent with self-reported adherence rates, according to Weddle (3/6).

"New research supported by Sightsavers and the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) shows that yes, onchocerciasis really can be eliminated when treatment is distributed in an area for a sustained period" and "found that the disease may already be eliminated in one Nigerian state, marking a significant milestone for onchocerciasis control programs," the Global Network for Neglected Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog writes (Alabaster, 3/6). "I think ... the lesson here [is that] results don't happen over night, but when the programs are given time to achieve them and the right systems are in place to monitor and measure them, great things can happen," Karen Grepin writes of the study in her "Global Health Blog" (3/6).

The speaker of the Massachusetts House said Tuesday that the commonwealth should try to cut the growth of health care costs to 3.7 percent a year from the current 6.7 percent to 8 percent, but he offered few details on how to do it.

The New York Times reports that the costs of drugs used by older Americans rose nearly 26 percent.

"Global health programs now teeter on the edge of disaster," Foreign Affairs writes in this feature article, adding, "The world economic crisis and the politics of debt reduction are threatening everything from malaria control and AIDS treatment to well-baby programs and health care worker training efforts." The article provides a historical overview of global health programming and funding. "Like it or not, the burden of reducing suffering and increasing the health of the world's poor now falls largely on the backs of the two Washingtons," Foreign Affairs writes, referring to politicians in Washington and the Washington state-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The article concludes, "It would be a catastrophe were the 'age of generosity' to end so soon after it began, leaving millions without life-sparing medicines and tools they have come to rely upon" (Garrett, 5/6).

Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), the first African American elected to Congress from New Jersey, died of complications from colon cancer on Tuesday at age 77, VOA News reports (Simkins, 3/6). "Payne, the highest ranked Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights, worked to protect human rights and provide humanitarian aid to developing countries, particularly in Africa," United Press International writes (3/6). "He was ... a founder of the Malaria Caucus in Congress and helped secure billions of dollars in foreign aid for treating HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," the New York Times notes (Hernandez, 3/6).

In this Huffington Post "Global Motherhood" opinion piece, Kate Roberts, vice president of corporate marketing, communications and advocacy at Population Services International, marks International Women's Day, to be recognized on March 8, and its 2012 theme, "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures." She says "the story of Facebook exemplifies precisely why the global community needs to invest in young minds and young leaders -- especially girls," and speculates what might have happened if Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg "had been born a girl in Rwanda." Roberts outlines what could happen to Rwandan girls growing up, including dying because of malaria or diarrhea before age five; missing out on educational opportunities; dying in childbirth at a young age; or contracting HIV.

"U.S. envoys said there was progress in talks Wednesday on arrangements for the first U.S. government food aid shipment to impoverished North Korea in three years, part of an agreement aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs," the Associated Press reports. Negotiators reached an agreement last week to provide 240,000 tons of U.S. food aid "in exchange for North Korea agreeing to freeze nuclear activities and allow the return of U.N. nuclear inspectors," the news agency continues. Special envoy Robert King "and senior aid official Jon Brause said the talks are intended to ensure proper procedures and safeguards are in place to make sure that nutritional aid for about one million North Koreans gets to those who need it most," including children, pregnant women, nursing mothers and the elderly, according to the AP. Officials are expected to meet again Thursday, the AP notes (3/6).

UNICEF's West and Central Africa Regional Office "on Tuesday appealed to western African governments to prevent a new cholera outbreak, after the disease claimed nearly 3,000 lives there last year," Agence France-Presse reports. The "bureau said that 'at least 105,248 cases of cholera were registered in 17 countries in 2011, and 2,898 people died' in what was one of the most severe outbreaks of the disease in years," the news agency writes. Though the number of cases is close to zero in most countries now, "governments should be prepared 'to minimize risks for the next season which, in West and Central Africa, is projected to start in April 2012,'" the agency said, and noted it was concerned the disease could spread to the Sahel region, where people already are weakened by malnutrition, according to AFP (3/6).