Archives: Morning Breakouts

Authorities in China "have begun a national campaign to crack down on procedures used to determine a fetus' sex for anything other than medical purposes and abortions performed because a fetus is of a certain sex" in an effort to curb the country's growing gender ratio imbalance, China Daily reports (Juan, 8/17). During the campaign, which will run until March 2012, "efforts will be made to raise awareness of gender equality, to severely punish those involved in cases of non-medical sex determinations and sex-selective abortions, and to strengthen monitoring," according to Xinhua.

Referring to a Maternal Health Task Force infographic depicting maternal mortality worldwide, Jen Quraishi, editorial coordinator for Mother Jones, writes in a post on Mother Jones' "Blue Marble" blog that "there are lots of ways to juggle [maternal mortality] numbers, and ultimately I find the death rate per capita more useful than the total number of deaths

"Predictions by Pakistan's Meteorological Department of more rain in the days ahead have raised flood fears, especially in Sindh Province, as the monsoon season peaks," IRIN reports (8/17). "United Nations humanitarian agencies in Pakistan are on standby after sustained rains have reportedly affected up to 750,000 people in Punjab and Sindh provinces, killing up to 25 and displacing some 50,000 others," the U.N. News Centre reports. "The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) conducted informal assessments last week in some areas where there had been a significant loss of homes, and district authorities were already relocating families to shelters," the news agency writes.

"Spending on the global fight against AIDS fell significantly in 2010 for the first time since the U.S. and other governments began making major donations," according to an annual funding analysis released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS, the Wall Street Journal reports. "All told, governments donated about $6.9 billion in 2010, down 9.7 percent from about $7.6 billion in the prior year, the report said," the newspaper writes (McKay, 8/16).

The Washington Post looks at the history and future of disease-carrying mosquitoes, "the most deadly non-human animal on the planet." The newspaper describes several mosquito-control methods, and poses the question, "If scientists could find a way to wipe out all mosquitoes

In a New York Times essay, journalist Donald McNeil writes, "To a doctor, all epidemics are objectively different

The World Food Programme (WFP) does not plan "to reduce aid to Somalia following allegations that international food shipments there are being diverted," the Associated Press reports. WFP spokesperson Christiane Berthiaume "told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the WFP investigation so far has no evidence of a large-scale fraud scheme," the news agency writes (8/16). Noting it has "strong controls

"Outside of immediate crisis relief," such as the administration of measles vaccinations or oral rehydration therapy for children affected by diarrheal diseases, the U.S. government's "past investments clearly are paying off" in the fight against drought and famine the Horn of Africa, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. "U.S.-supported early-warning networks identified the famine threat a year ago," the government is working with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the U.N. to lessen the risk of corruption and looting of food aid, and "the multi-year, multi-agency Feed the Future program [is] stimulat[ing] research into making plants more nutritious and crops more drought-resistant," he notes.

Days after a federal appeals court overturned the measure's individual mandate, President Barack Obama said the Supreme Court will uphold the law if it follows legal precedents when considering it.

In response "to an urgent appeal from the WHO," Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said on Monday that the country's government is releasing $143 million "in frozen funds from Moammar Qaddafi's regime and sending the money to the World Health Organization to buy medicine for the Libyan population," according to Associated Press/Forbes. "Rosenthal said Monday he was able to free up the money only after [the] United Nations approved the plan, which will see medicines distributed to civilians in towns and cities held by both rebels and forces loyal to Qaddafi," the AP writes (8/15).

A shrinking Department of Defense (DOD) budget and a shift in the focus of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) to "more traditional military threats" to national security, such as "preventing terrorist safe havens on the continent," could affect the department's HIV prevention programs, Stars and Stripes reports. While officials say there currently is no intent to cut HIV prevention programming, "those initiatives will come under more scrutiny as AFRICOM operates in a tougher budget environment, according to command officials," the news service writes.