Archives: Morning Breakouts

"An alliance of 200 U.S. aid groups has written to the head of the CIA to protest against its use of a doctor to help track Osama bin Laden, linking the agency's ploy to the polio crisis in Pakistan," the Guardian reports, noting Pakistan recorded the highest number of polio cases in the world last year. The CIA used a "fake vaccination scheme in the town of Abbottabad ... in order to gain entry to the house where it was suspected that the al-Qaida chief was living, and extract DNA samples from his family members," the newspaper writes. But the plan "provided seeming proof for a widely held belief in Pakistan, fuelled by religious extremists, that polio drops are a western conspiracy to sterilize the population," according to the Guardian.

"More than 170 [of Zimbabwe's] parliamentarians from across the political divide have resolved to undergo voluntary counseling and HIV testing in a bid to encourage the grassroots to follow suit," and "the 150 male members in the 175-member group have also resolved to be circumcised," a Herald editorial states. "Members of Parliament are regarded as role models whose power of influence in society is immense," the editorial writes, adding, "And as leaders, their message is readily received particularly if it is coupled by exemplary behavior in the communities they serve."

"Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), a former head of the House committees on science and the judiciary, and currently vice chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, last week sent a 'fact-finding letter' to White House science adviser John Holdren, asking pointed questions about how the U.S. government has handled the controversy" surrounding two studies that showed how H5N1 bird flu virus could be manipulated to become transmissible among ferrets, a model for humans, "and questioning whether it should have funded the two flu studies," ScienceInsider reports. "The [Obama] Administration's response has appeared ad hoc, delayed, and inadequate," Sensenbrenner writes, adding, "An ad hoc approach is inadequate to balance the priorities of public health and the free flow of academic ideas," according to the article, which includes the full text of the letter.

"Kenya's most recent male circumcision rapid results initiative failed to meet its target, and officials are stepping up efforts to identify and fix the problems that could foil the government's campaign to circumcise more than one million men by 2013," PlusNews reports. "Conducted between November and December 2011, the initiative aimed to circumcise 70,000 men over a 30-day period, but results released in February show that only 40,000 men were circumcised," the news service writes, adding, "This is the first time the annual initiative -- which began in 2008 -- has failed to reach its target."

"A year after the worst drought in 60 years sent 13.3 million people in the Horn of Africa into crisis, we are now facing a rising threat of crisis in the Sahel -- an arid belt that stretches from Senegal through Niger and Burkina Faso to Chad," Nancy Lindborg, head of democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance at USAID, writes in this post in Huffington Post's "The Blog." She notes, "Today, rising food prices, another failed rain, and conflict in Mali and Libya, means that between seven and 10 million people are at risk of sliding into crisis as we enter the lean season of the months ahead," and writes, "As we focus on the rising crisis in the Sahel, we are committed to responding immediately and acting on the most important lessons learned from the Horn response."

"Organizations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS will get greater government support," Yu Jingjin, director of the disease prevention and control bureau under China's Ministry of Health, said, China Daily reports. He said, "'The government will beef up investment and support for social groups' and cooperate with reliable ones," and added, "Each province this year will support three to five civil societies tackling HIV/AIDS and help them with operational costs and training," according to the news service. "Yu urged health authorities to work more with society in general to fight AIDS," China Daily writes, adding, "Cooperation in this sphere has not always worked fully to its potential, he said" (Shan, 3/2).