Archives: Morning Breakouts

"More than 400 Kenyan AIDS activists have demonstrated in the capital, Nairobi, demanding that the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief release some $500 million for HIV programs in Kenya that is stuck in the pipeline," PlusNews reports. "The U.S. government recently revealed that close to $1.5 billion has been in the global PEPFAR pipeline for more than 18 months," the news service notes, adding that the allocation to Kenya is the largest. According to the news service, "The protestors presented a memorandum listing their demands to U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration, head of PEPFAR-Kenya Katherine Perry, Kenya's Director of Public Health Shahnaz Sharif, and other senior Ministry of Health officials."

"Southern African governments could use public spending in their battle against the extremely high rates of HIV/AIDS in their countries and still achieve a positive economic impact, argues a new paper [.pdf] from the African Development Bank (AfDB)," an AfDB press release states. The paper, titled "The Role of Fiscal Policy in Tackling the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Southern Africa," examines the cases of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland, which have the highest adult HIV prevalence in the world, and says these countries could increase productivity and gross domestic product (GDP) through "[g]overnment fiscal action on HIV/AIDS treatment," according to the press release. "Acting optimally, the debt burden of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland could be alleviated by five percent, one percent and 13 percent of GDP respectively, says the report," the press release states (4/25).

The Guardian, in association with Malaria Consortium, hosted a roundtable discussion on World Malaria Day, during which participants heard about progress in the fight against the disease in certain countries and discussed how "the burden of malaria is still high and spending on the disease is inadequate," the Guardian reports. "The discussion was held under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported anonymously to encourage frank and free debate," and included 14 participants with representatives from the U.K. government, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the School of Oriental and African Studies, the Zambia High Commission, GlaxoSmithKline, Accenture Development Partnerships, Oxfam, the Overseas Development Institute, Re-Define, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Guardian, and Malaria Consortium. A summary of the discussion is available online (Robson, 4/25).

"[S]tarting this week, Ghana will vaccinate the first babies in a new campaign against rotavirus -- a cause of severe diarrhea -- and pneumococcal disease, which causes pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis," Reuters reports. The GAVI Alliance is supporting Ghana's Expanded Programme on Immunisation in launching the campaign, the news service notes, adding, "While the immediate benefits of vaccinating children against these killers are clear in terms of saving lives and reducing disease, Ghana is also looking at long-term pay-back."

"[T]he controversy over the research into the genetic modification of the H5N1 flu virus, finally approved for publication, should offer a reminder of the importance of debate" over dual-use technology, a Nature editorial states. "[D]ual-use basic research is a special case because its implications, for good and bad, are often viewed with the greatest clarity by only a small minority of people," and often only "[t]he scientists involved (and they are increasingly specialists in very small fields) ... can fully understand the risks posed by a line of research," according to the editorial. "There are disadvantages to leaving it up to outsiders to initiate debate about risks, benefits and ethics," the editorials states, noting three disadvantages, including the risk of misconceptions and a lack of knowledge about how to handle some research.

"A new report from the Results for Development Institute," released to coincide with World Malaria Day on Wednesday, "suggests there are ways to save and reinvest badly needed funds, by getting better value for money out of the bednets distributed in endemic areas," Guardian Health Editor Sarah Boseley reports in her "Global Health Blog." "Over the next five years, say author Kanika Bahl and colleagues, smarter purchasing strategies could save ... $630 million," the blog writes, adding, "It could be used to buy 150 million more bednets, protecting 300 million people from the mosquitoes that spread the disease."

Nature Outlook examines the fight against malaria in Uganda. "Uganda's tragic failure to abate malaria has numerous political, geographic, economic and social factors -- and illustrates the reality that it takes more than scientific breakthroughs and cheap drugs to solve this persistent menace," according to the article. Nature describes how a primarily rural population, "[f]unding bottlenecks, inefficient procurement processes, transportation problems," drug stock-outs, and a lack of health care workers affects access to care and treatment for malaria, as well as how aid from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the President's Malaria Initiative, and other donors is supporting programs to build sustainable solutions to fighting the disease (Newmen, 4/25).

The measure, more than a year old, was initially put forth by Gov. Deval Patrick, but a panel's chair predicted "a significant redraft" before it reaches the Senate floor.

Modern Healthcare reports that a U.S. district court judge denied an effort by some trade groups to stop the Express Scripts acquisition of Medco until a review of their pending lawsuit is reviewed.

The Associated Press reports that people with HIV/AIDS have a lot at stake regarding the health law's future -- specifically, its Medicaid expansion and ban on pre-existing condition exclusions. In a second story, though, AP reports on why the small business group, the NFIB, hopes to see the law overturned. Meanwhile, MarketWatch reports that some wealthy Americans would save big money if the high court rejects the overhaul.

Also in the news, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich announced Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign.