Archives: Morning Breakouts

Former President George W. Bush will travel next month with former first lady Laura Bush and officials with the George W. Bush Institute to Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia "where they'll visit clinics and meet with governmental and health care leaders ... to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer, an effort he calls a 'natural extension' of" the PEPFAR program launched during his presidency, the Associated Press reports. "The new program, called the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative, seeks to expand the availability of cervical cancer screening and treatment and breast care education in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America," the news service notes.

Nigeria has reported 43 cases of polio so far this year, up from 11 cases in 2010, and the disease has spread to Niger, Mali, and Cote d'Ivoire, according to a WHO official, BBC News reports. "Polio was affecting eight northern Nigerian states -- two more than a few months ago, the head of Nigeria's National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA), Dr. Ado Muhammad, told the BBC."

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).