Archives: Morning Breakouts

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.

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).