Archives: Morning Breakouts

Cassandra Clifford, founder and executive director of Bridge to Freedom Foundation, calls for safer birth practices in Timor-Leste in this Aid Netherlands blog post. Clifford says that unsafe traditional birth practices, "the country's history and lack of infrastructure, especially regarding healthcare," and "a lack of education and understanding on maternal health, safe birth practices, and family planning" are contributing to a high maternal mortality rate and health complications among newborns. She says birth spacing, the "training of midwives, [and] training [in] hygiene methods for at-home deliveries is a must to bridge the gaps to safer birth practices" (8/15).

Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, U.S. representative to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome, writes about her recent visit to the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya in the State Department's "DipNote" blog. "There is something remarkable about seeing how U.S. contributions

"A shortage of health facilities and health workers, frequent drug shortages and a weak government policy mean HIV-positive pregnant women in Burundi often give birth without taking any precautions to prevent transmission of the virus to their children," PlusNews reports.

"Even now, eight years after our civil war ended, Liberia faces a huge uphill battle," Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf writes in a Washington Post opinion piece, adding that "[w]ith support from the United States, we have been able to make progress.

In the wake of the agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling, and "[w]ith 20 percent cuts already on the table, the international affairs budget is in for a tough fight throughout the fall," Richard Parker, director of communications for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, writes in a post on Devex's "Obama's Foreign Aid Reform" blog, stating, "It is more critical than ever for the development community to demonstrate how strategic and effective its programs are for U.S. national security, for our own economy, and as a demonstration of our leadership in the world."

The East African profiles Seth Berkley, the new CEO of the GAVI Alliance and founder and former CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. "'In my time at GAVI, I would like to see the vision of polio eradication and measles elimination come to pass. We want all the existing childhood immunizations and new generation vaccines, including those for malaria, TB and HIV, to be available to all children that need them,' Dr. Berkley said," the newspaper writes (Mwangi, 8/14).

It was a hot topic when Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. It's also been a hot topic in town hall meetings and congressional campaigns.

"Outbreaks of measles and cholera are striking down Somali children already weakened by hunger, resulting in dozens of new fatalities," the Guardian reports (Rice, 8/13). According to the WHO, "181 people have died from suspected cholera cases in a single hospital in Mogadishu, and there have been several other confirmed cholera outbreaks across the country," the New York Times writes (Gettleman, 8/12). UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado "said Friday that tens of thousands of children have died and countless more are particularly at risk of cholera and other diseases because of drought and violence in East Africa," the Associated Press/NPR notes (8/12).

Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) write in a USA Today opinion piece about their visit last week to the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, stating, "Amid the devastation, we saw the impact of [U.S. and international] aid. We saw inexpensive oral rehydration packs bring listless babies back to life. We saw children getting vitamins and vaccines that will stop the spread of deadly diseases throughout the camps."

The South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) on Saturday endorsed a new National Health Council policy to expand the country's AIDS program "to allow people living with HIV to start antiretroviral [ARV] treatment earlier" by raising the CD4 count necessary to access treatment from 200 to 350, Agence France-Presse reports (8/14). Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi "said the plan would be integrated into the proposed National Health Insurance system," SAPA/News24 writes (8/13).