Archives: Morning Breakouts

Inter Press Service examines HIV in the Caribbean, where "the HIV burden varies considerably among and within countries" in the region. "'I think the prevention programs in many countries are not reaching the right people,' Michel de Groulards, regional program adviser of the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team, told IPS," the news service writes, adding, "One factor, de Groulards believed, may be that after 25 years of providing treatment, some countries have reached a plateau. In other cases, people considered at risk, including [men who have sex with men], are not targeted." IPS writes that "even as Caribbean politicians, scientists, researchers, academics and other stakeholders continue to examine ways of dealing with the virus, 30 years after the first case was recorded in the region, there is growing recognition that cuts in overseas funding could seriously hamper future success" (Richards, 11/21).

IRIN profiles the establishment of a "'fistula hotline,' a free phone number for women who suffer from this debilitating condition that is seldom spoken about," at the Aberdeen Women's Centre, a clinic in Freetown, Sierra Leone. "The fistula hotline, which is run by the center, is the result of a public-private partnership between the Gloag Foundation, USAID, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and telecommunications company Airtel," IRIN notes.

Late Monday afternoon, the co-chairmen of the congressional super committee announced that their talks had ended in stalemate.

UNAIDS on Monday released its World AIDS Day Report 2011 (.pdf), "which shows more people than ever living with HIV, but deaths and new infections steadily dropping," the Guardian reports (Boseley, 11/21). The number of AIDS-related deaths in 2010 was 21 percent lower than its peak in 2005, and the number of new HIV infections in 2010 also was down 21 percent from its peak in 1997, according to the report, BBC News notes (11/21). The report credits more widespread treatment, behavior change and male circumcision for significant drops in the number of new cases, according to the Guardian (11/21). "Of the 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low- and middle-income countries, around 6.6 million, or 47 percent, are now receiving it, UNAIDS said, and 11 poor- and mid-income countries now have universal access to HIV treatment, with coverage of 80 percent or more," Reuters notes, adding, "This compares with 36 percent of the 15 million people needing treatment in 2009 who got AIDS drugs" (Kelland, 11/21).

More than one million Zimbabweans will need food aid between now and March 2012 because of poor harvests and food prices out of reach for vulnerable families, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday, the Associated Press reports (11/21). The agency "said it was facing a $42 million funding shortfall for food aid it planned to provide to vulnerable households in Zimbabwe's hardest-hit areas until the start of the harvest season in March," Reuters writes (11/21). According to a recent survey, "12 percent of the rural population will not have the means to feed themselves adequately during the lean season," a WFP press release notes, adding, "Most at risk are low-income families hit by failed harvests, and households with orphans and vulnerable children" (11/21).

"The United Nations independent expert on access to water and sanitation as a human right [on Saturday] urged States to allocate more resources to improving sanitation and promote efficient use of existing hygiene facilities, stressing that people are entitled to decent toilets," the U.N. News Centre reports. "'Lack of sanitation implies the loss of millions of school and work days as well as enormous health costs,' said Catarina de Albuquerque, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, in a statement to mark the World Toilet Day, which is observed on 19 November each year," the news service writes (11/19).

The Wall Street Journal last week held its CEO Council, "assembl[ing] nearly 100 chief executives of large companies for a day and a half to discuss the policy choices facing business and government, and the effects those choices may have on the global economy." The CEOs formed five task forces to discuss priority areas, including global health, according to the newspaper (11/21). The Wall Street Journal summarizes the top four recommended priorities from the task-force discussion on global health, which include fighting non-communicable diseases, encouraging the global use of health technologies, targeting vaccine-preventable diseases, and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS (Landro, 11/21).