Archives: Morning Breakouts

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).

Researchers from the Universities of Warwick and Liverpool in a report published on Thursday in the British Medical Journal called for the U.N. to "make reducing salt intake a global health priority," stating that "a 15 percent cut in consumption could save 8.5 million lives around the world over the next decade," BBC News reports. "The researchers say there is a 'consistent, direct relation between salt intake and blood pressure,'" which "in turn is linked to heart disease, stroke and kidney problems," and "[t]hey point to the U.S., where cutting salt intake by a third would save tens of thousands of lives and save up to $24 billion annually in health care costs," the news agency reports.

"The number of cholera fatalities in Haiti has risen to just short of 6,000, the health ministry said Sunday," Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports. "By 31 July, 5,968 had died with 10 more people succumbing every day, the ministry said," and "[m]ore than 420,000 people have been infected since the outbreak started in October and another 600 cases are registered daily," the news agency notes.

Bachmann is reiterating her message that the health law should be repealed.

The news from the Horn of Africa is "mixed," NPR's "All Things Considered" reports, adding, "More food is getting through and security has improved for now, but tens of thousands of children have already died and many more are at risk." According to NPR, "Aid groups were pleased last week when al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, pulled out of the capital, Mogadishu. That made a dangerous country a little bit less so for aid workers" (Keleman, 8/10).