Archives: Morning Breakouts

The Washington Post's "In the Loop" blog reports that USAID has released a draft form of a plan to create research and development (R&D) teams at colleges and universities across the country aimed at tackling problems of global development. "USAID characterized the plan ... as a way of tapping into the collective wisdom of academia," according to the blog, which notes, "They've suggested setting up an unnamed number of centers -- some at individual colleges and universities, some comprised of several such institutions." The blog adds, "They say no budget has been set, but an individual college might get a million or so, while a collaborative center made up of a few schools could get $4 million to $5 million" (Heil, 1/24).

This post in the U.N. Foundation's "Shot@Life" blog examines how Honduras, "one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere," has achieved "one of the highest vaccination coverage rates in the world, averaging close to 99 percent." The blog writes, "We wanted to see firsthand how Honduras has achieved such amazing results, so last week Shot@Life traveled there with a U.S. Congressional staff delegation to learn more about their extremely effective immunization programs" and details the vaccination efforts of the rural town La Ca

During a briefing on Tuesday, U.S. officials said famine conditions in Somalia have improved, but more than 13 million people in the Horn of Africa remain in need of emergency food, shelter or other aid, the Associated Press reports. "David Robinson, acting assistant secretary for population, refugees and migration, told reporters Tuesday the flow of refugees out of Somalia into neighboring countries has diminished, but thousands are still trying to get out and new camps are opening in Ethiopia and Kenya," the news agency writes (Birch, 1/24). Bruce Wharton, deputy assistant secretary for public diplomacy for the Bureau of African Affairs, noted the U.S. has provided about $870 million in humanitarian aid to the region, with about $205 million going specifically to Somalia, according to the briefing transcript (1/24).

Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, on Tuesday "urged the global community to take quick action to prevent millions of people in Africa's Sahel region from slipping into a full-scale food emergency, warning that drought, poor harvests and rising food prices have left the region on the brink of a humanitarian crisis," the U.N. News Centre reports. "The area currently affected by the crisis covers a vast swath of territory, including Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger but concerns have also been extended to other countries in the region such as Burking Faso and Senegal," according to the news service (1/24).

"As the World Economic Forum kicks off this week in Davos, Switzerland, the importance of global health -- and the health of the globe -- is getting special attention," Karl Hofmann, president and CEO of Population Services International (PSI), writes in this post in The Hill's "Congress Blog." He continues, "The world's still massive bottom of the economic pyramid -- some 2-3 billion people -- represents a potential $5 trillion in purchasing power," but without access to "quality health care and services, ... their global economic impact suffers. Imagine if by simple investments in health, we turned these struggling individuals and families into healthy, active consumers and producers."

"A year of Yemen's turmoil has exacerbated the number of malnourished children under the age of five to around 750,000, UNICEF said Tuesday, appealing to the government and the international community to help develop the country's infrastructure to tackle the problem," the Associated Press reports (Al-Haj/Batrawy, 1/24). "Conflict, poverty and drought, compounded by the unrest of the previous year, the high food and fuel prices, and the breakdown of social services, are putting children's health at great risks and threatening their very survival," UNICEF Regional Director Maria Calivis said today, concluding "a two-day visit to Yemen where she saw first-hand the impact of malnutrition on children's health," a UNICEF news note states (1/24).

"As the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] turns 10 on January 26, 2012, Nigerian families should join in the celebration of this innovative initiative that has saved the lives of millions here in Nigeria and across the globe," Bello Bissalla, project manager for private sector and government partnerships at Friends of the Global Fund Africa, writes in Nigeria's BusinessDay. "Much of the Global Fund's success could be attributed to its performance-based financing mechanism, which creates room for transparency in the purchase, distribution and administration of drugs for these three diseases," Bissalla continues, noting the grant review process "ensures that grant recipients show verified evidence of performance before receiving the next tranche of funding, thus ensuring transparency and implementation of the grant according to the plan."

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including coverage of last night's State of the Union address, and the speech's scant references to health policy.

Politico Pro reports that the Tuesday night speech will be full of political challenges for President Obama - not the least of which is health policy.

"The U.K. government has announced a fivefold increase in spending on combating neglected tropical diseases [NTDs] as part of an international effort to help rid the world of a group of infectious diseases that currently affect one billion people and kill more than half a million every year," BMJ reports (Moszynski, 1/23). "International Development Minister Stephen O'Brien said funding for [NTDs] is to increase from

The U.S. Army news service reports on a five-day Medical Civil Action Program, or MEDCAP, in Tanzania, during which "Tanzanian medical providers working in partnership with U.S. service members from Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa provided medical care to more than 2,100 Tanzanian women and children." According to the news service, "The program supported the Tanzanian Health Initiative, a program that seeks to provide a comprehensive approach to health for the Tanzanian people and parallels the U.S. government's Global Health Initiative."

"There would be more than 4.4 million more people in South Africa if it were not for the AIDS pandemic, according to a survey released on Monday" by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), SAPA/News 24 reports (1/23). Without AIDS-related deaths, the population would have been 55 million today, instead of 50.6 million, where it currently stands, and "[b]y 2040 the population would have reached 77.5 million -- a whopping 24 million people more than is currently projected," according to the study, GlobalPost notes (Conway-Smith, 1/23). "The survey is based on data sourced from the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the Institute for Futures Research," SAPA/News 24 writes (1/23).

As London prepares for more than five million visitors to attend Olympic events in the city this summer, IRIN examines how "mass gatherings -- from religious pilgrimages like the annual Haj to Saudi Arabia and India's huge Kumbh Mela, to major sporting events like the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup -- present important health challenges to organizers and participants alike." The news service writes that "a new public health specialty is developing around these major international events, allowing organizers to share their expertise, and exploit new technologies to manage risk and track disease outbreaks in real time."

In part one of a two-part blog post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," USAID Worldwide Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn Ogden reports on the "hard work and dedication of the Indian government at the national, state, district, block and panchaiyat levels" that was required for the country to have a year free of polio. "Over two million health workers, mobilizers, and volunteers have contributed to this success and deserve to be seen as heroes in their communities," she writes (1/20). In part two of the post, Ogden recaps polio vaccination efforts and challenges, discusses the last recorded case of polio, and writes that going forward, "Guarded optimism prevails" as the country "is still at risk of importations from countries that have not yet stopped polio transmission" (1/23).

The Results for Development Institute has launched a new website on universal health coverage, UHC Forward, "that features news, events, and publications related to the global UHC movement," an institute press release states (1/17). Visitors to the site can "stay informed of health coverage efforts in countries around the world, better understand how to translate available research into pragmatic action, apply an analytic eye to reform experiences, exchange ideas with others, and find links to additional resources," according to the website (1/24).