Archives: Morning Breakouts

In the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Prosperity Wonkcast," Lawrence MacDonald this week interviews Amanda Glassman, a CGD research fellow and director of the center's global health policy program. Glassman "offers four recommendations for how major health donors -- mainly the GAVI Alliance and the Global Fund -- could better-target aid to poor people," including "dropping country-income thresholds as the main criteria for allocating global health funding"; "setting up regional pooled procurement or pricing mechanisms"; "building evidence-based priority-setting institutions"; and "establishing increased accountability mechanisms," according to the blog (1/23).

"The astounding thing about the global abortion debate is not that some people have deeply held views about what a pregnancy is and when a human existence begins" but that "policymakers continue to ignore carefully amassed information about the actual outcome of programs and laws related to sexuality and reproduction," Marianne M

PBS NewsHour on Monday aired the second installment in its "Food for 9 Billion" series, in which "Sam Eaton of Homelands Productions goes to the fishing village of Humay-Humay" in the Philippines and "speaks with families about their concerns that future generations won't enjoy the same access to fish as a food staple and way of life," the PBS NewsHour blog "The Rundown" reports. The video report looks at how "one organization is making birth control more readily accessible to those wishing to keep their families small," according to the blog.

In this Washington Post "Davos Diary" blog entry, Kate Roberts, vice president of corporate marketing, communications and advocacy at PSI, writes about what to expect at the World Economic Forum, beginning on January 25 in Davos, Switzerland. Noting that poor health and access to health care can prevent a growing middle-class population from reaching its "full economic potential," Roberts writes, "The key to changing this scenario will be finding ways to encourage this emerging class of consumers to adopt healthier behaviors, and giving them the means to do so." She says public-private partnerships are critical to solving these issues.

"Thirty years after AIDS made its deadly debut, a future without the disease is finally within reach," a Boston Globe editorial states, adding, "But just as science is on the verge of winning the battle, financial resources and political will are flagging." The editorial details reductions in HIV spending, a Congressional stipulation that U.S. funds cannot be spent on needle-exchange programs, and new science showing how HIV treatment can help people living with the disease live longer and reduce the risk of them spreading the virus.

As part of their election-year strategy, some anti-abortion groups plan to force President Obama and congressional Democrats into a corner on an abortion-related issue.

The justices, who are scheduled to hear more than five hours of arguments challenging the health law, turned down the request without comment. Kagan did not participate in the decision.

The justices turned down the request without comment and Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the decision. KHN tracked the related news coverage.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) International HIV/AIDS Alliance has released a new report in response to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's announcement in November that "no new grants would be approved until 2014," VOA News reports. According to the news service, the report, titled "Don't Stop Now," "examines the potential effects of the funding shortfall in five countries."

This post in the Foreign Policy Association blog discusses reports from earlier this month of "an emerging strain of 'totally drug-resistant' tuberculosis (TDR-TB)" in India, which the Indian government last week denied, "arguing that the 12 cases were in fact extensively drug resistant (XDR)." The blog states, "Whether or not it's fair to use the TDR moniker, drug resistance is a serious, emerging issue that may very well define the next stage of global health," concluding, "We are reaching a turning point, one at which some drug resistant pathogens are on the cusp of shifting from a handful of cases, an endemic, to a bigger, epidemic or even pandemic problem. Now is the time to initiate discussions on what the global community will do to stem drug resistance" (Robinson, 1/21).