Archives: Morning Breakouts

"Health officials in southern China are proposing new legislation to require real-name registration for HIV testing, a move aimed at lowering infection rates that has sparked controversy over personal privacy," the Wall Street Journal's "China Real Time Report" blog reports. It notes that China's Xinhua News Agency recently reported that the legislation, proposed in China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, also would mandate people testing positive for HIV must inform their spouses and partners.

"With 60 percent of the world's population, Asia has one of the largest concentrations globally of aging persons, creating a host of potential challenges, experts warn," including a lack of income and a rise in health problems among the population, IRIN reports. "One in four people in Asia will be 60 or older by the year 2050, rising from one in 10 in 2010, according to the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific," with more than 65 percent of that population being women, IRIN notes. The article includes quotes from experts on how the region will address concerns over social security and pension schemes and an increase in chronic and mental illnesses among the aging population (2/14).

The Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program (NTD Control Program), funded by USAID and managed by Research Triangle Institute International (RTI International), has released an updated version of its NTD Funding Gap Analysis Tool (NTD-FGAT), which "helps users accurately estimate the costs and funding gaps of public health programs" and "is intended as a supplementary instrument to improve resource and strategic planning in an already existing national NTD plan," according to the Global Network for NTDs' "End the Neglect" blog (2/13).