Archives: Morning Breakouts

Al Jazeera examines maternal mortality in Afghanistan, which "remains one of the worst places to be a mother," 10 years after the beginning of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and "[d]espite billions of dollars in aid and considerable progress." In an accompanying video, the news service reports, "One in five children born in Afghanistan dies by the age of five, and the statistics for mothers aren't good either."

"Western and central Africa are facing one of the biggest cholera epidemics in their history, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said last month, in reporting that more than 85,000 cases of cholera have been registered since the beginning of the year, with nearly 2,500 deaths," according to Le Monde/Guardian. The newspaper writes, "UNICEF has identified three main cholera epidemic outbreaks in the Lake Chad basin, the West Congo basin and Lake Tanganyika," and "[f]ive countries -- Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC) and Chad -- account for 90 percent of the reported cases and fatalities."

High-level officials from UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) this week warned that "[r]outine immunization of children has dropped by 40 percent in some areas of Yemen, leading to outbreaks of polio and measles and reflecting a growing collapse of public services in a country that is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster," IRIN reports. Earlier this month, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos cited "conflict, poverty, drought, soaring food prices and collapsing state services" as reasons for widespread suffering of millions of people in the country, according to IRIN.

The Ministry of Health of South Sudan and UNFPA, working through the Capacity Placement of International United Nations Volunteer Midwives Project, has deployed 18 midwives throughout South Sudan since December 2010, when the program began, the Sudan Tribune reports. South Sudan, where 2,054 per 100,000 women die during labor, according to figures from the health ministry, has fewer than 100 midwives for a population of more than eight million people, Minister of Health Michael Milli Hussein said, the newspaper notes. Midwives and others involved in the project are meeting in Juba this week to discuss progress and goals, the Tribune writes (10/25).

Immunizations can be a cost-effective means of disease prevention, but "[t]o reach the fully realized stage of cost-effectiveness, ... it is vital to acknowledge -- and more importantly, address -- the barriers that often prevent them from either being as cheap or as widely used as needed," Forbes contributor Sarika Bansal writes in a Forbes opinion piece. She cites costs associated with vaccines, such as shipping and refrigeration; time and monetary commitments from potential vaccine recipients; a lack of medical professionals in rural areas; and the implementation of public awareness campaigns as barriers to successful immunization campaigns.

As Congress considers legislation that sets fees for medical device makers, venture capitalists are taking a position on what they see as regulatory roadblocks.

NPR's Tell Me More host Michel Martin on Monday spoke with Christine Ivers of Partners In Health (PIH) in Haiti and journalist Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald about the ongoing cholera outbreak in Haiti. The guests discuss the origins of the epidemic, ongoing public education campaigns, and PIH's plans to rollout a cholera vaccine (10/24).

Federal court's injunction affects new N.C. law which takes effect today. In addition, the New York Times examines state "personhood" amendments.

Some Democrats have concerns that defense budget cuts are no longer being considered by the super committee. If this is true, it would force deep cuts to health programs and other discretionary spending.