Morning Breakouts

Presidential Panel Reveals New Details Of 1940s Syphilis Experiments In Guatemala

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

“A presidential panel on Monday disclosed shocking new details of U.S. medical experiments done in Guatemala in the 1940s, including a decision to re-infect a dying woman in a syphilis study,” the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. The final report of the bioethics commission’s review, which was ordered by President Barack Obama, is due next month, the news agency reports.

Cost Of Second-Line ARVs A ‘Huge Barrier To Care’ In Resource-Poor Countries

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

In this U.N. Dispatch blog post, Mark Leon Goldberg, managing editor of the blog, examines the costs of second-line antiretroviral treatments (ARVs), which “are several orders of magnitude more expensive than traditional, first-line ARV treatments” and are a “huge barrier to providing care” for resource-poor countries. He writes of “a huge gap in the way governments and donors have historically approached people living with HIV,” adding that “as more people access first-line treatment, there will be more opportunities for people to develop resistance to that first line. Donors and governments in the developing world simply can’t afford that kind of outlay.”

Family Planning Can Improve Maternal And Child Health, Survival

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

Describing a maternal health program that promotes family planning in the rural village of Bweremana in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Michael Gerson writes in his Washington Post column that “[t]he very words ‘family planning’ light up the limbic centers of American politics.” But “in places such as Bweremana, family planning is undeniably pro-life,” Gerson says, noting that “[w]hen contraceptive prevalence is low, about 70 percent of all births involve serious risk. When prevalence is high, the figure is 35 percent.”

Erratic Weather Exacerbates Food Insecurity In Indonesia’s Eastern Province

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Erratic weather has exacerbated food insecurity in one of Indonesia’s driest regions,” including the districts of West Timor (TTS), Nusa Tengarra Timor (NTT), and North Central Timor (TTU), “leaving farmers and families hoping for the best as October’s planting season approaches,” IRIN reports. “The availability of food is a constant issue in … the mostly undeveloped eastern province where an estimated 30 percent live below the poverty line on an average income of US$280 a year” and “[m]ore than half of all children younger than five are underweight and stunted, according to the Nutrition Security and Food Security report [.pdf] on NTT in 2010,” the news service writes.

Scientists Using Molecular Epidemiology To Diagnose And Track Disease Outbreaks

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

The New York Times examines “[n]ew methods of quickly sequencing entire microbial genomes [that] are revolutionizing the field” of molecularly epidemiology and could help public health officials identify and track disease outbreaks.

Epilepsy ‘Treatment Gap’ In Sierra Leone A Result Of Stigma, Lack Of Resources, Experts Say

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

In Sierra Leone, “one of Africa’s poorest countries, … scarce health care resources and the stigma surrounding epilepsy add up to a ‘treatment gap’ of more than 90 percent — meaning that fewer than 10 percent of the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 Sierra Leoneans with epilepsy are getting the treatment they need,” the New York Times reports. “Epilepsy treatment gaps are driven largely by low income and rural location, making sub-Saharan Africa a treatment-gap hot spot. Treatment in Sierra Leone is not expensive,” but “[t]he costs of untreated epilepsy, on the other hand, are enormous, especially in lost productivity,” the newspaper writes.

Many Women Give Birth In Haiti’s Tent Camps Without Medical Services

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

In the refugee camps in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince nearly two years after a devastating earthquake, “health and human rights officials warn of another crisis: an explosion of tent babies,” the Miami Herald reports. “Haiti’s tent baby phenomenon comes as the country continues to struggle to rebuild, and as the nearly 600,000 Haitians still living in hundreds of squalid camps in quake-ravaged communities see the avalanche of medical assistance from foreign doctors and nongovernmental organizations disappear,” primarily because of a lack of funding, the newspaper writes.

Aid Floods Into Tripoli, Hospitals Reopen As Fighting Ends In Libya’s Capital City

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Tripoli’s hospitals have put the worst behind them after an end to the fighting in Libya’s capital opened the way to a flood of aid and enabled medical staff to get back to work, aid agencies said on Monday,” Reuters reports, adding, “Although the violence in Tripoli has not completely ended, the relative peace has reassured aid agencies that they can now get into the capital.”

IPS Examines DNDi Program To Develop Pediatric HIV Drugs

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

Inter Press Service profiles a program launched by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to develop antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) specifically designed for children living with HIV/AIDS. “The program will focus exclusively on developing child-adapted formulations for children under three, the most neglected segment in terms of availability of ARVs. The DNDi hopes to have new pediatric-specific medicines available between 2014 and 2016,” IPS writes. The article examines pediatric HIV treatment issues in India, Kenya and Brazil (Frayssinet et al., 8/29).

Chagas Parasite Infects 18M Worldwide, Often Without Detection

August 30, 2011 Morning Briefing

Chagas, which is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, affects 18 million people worldwide, but is particularly prevalent in Latin American countries, “where a bug called the vinchuga, sometimes known as the kissing bug (because it bites people on their faces while they sleep), transmits the disease,” the Atlantic reports. The parasite “remains dormant in peoples’ bodies for up to 30 years, until it kills them suddenly by stopping their hearts or rupturing their intestines,” the magazine writes.