Archives: Morning Breakouts

In this post on the Foreign Policy Association's "Foreign Policy Blogs Network," writer Julia Robinson discusses a recent report showing "the rising profile of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- in health and development assistance and call[ing] upon the group to further their cooperation for better global health in the developing world." Robinson writes, "BRICS represents the enormous potential of emerging economies to change the current geopolitical landscape, especially in the realm of global health," adding, "It is accepted fact that BRICS will influence the global agenda going forward. It remains to be seen whether they will also commit to supporting developing countries in their own struggles for greater economic development and improved public health" (4/21).

The vote at the Utah Republican state convention meant that the long-time senator escaped the fate of former Sen. Robert Bennett.

In this post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," Heather Bergmann of John Snow Inc., who is the technical officer for USAID's AIDSTAR-One project, reports on the need to include youth in transition services for adolescents living with HIV. She writes, "Without proper support, many young people can become overwhelmed, a response that can challenge adherence to AIDS medicines and lead to negative health consequences. This is why it's imperative to create health services that are appropriate and accessible for youth living with HIV." She adds, "Achieving the goal set out by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year of reducing new HIV infections in children and achieving an AIDS-free generation requires addressing the needs of youth with services that are delivered in ways and in places that are accessible, welcoming, and supportive" (4/19).

In a statement published on the website of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Executive Director Radha Muthiah responds to an article published in the Washington Post on Monday, which highlighted the results of a recent MIT/Harvard study on the public health benefits of clean cookstoves. "[T]he Post article correctly identifies the scourge of cooking on open fires and rudimentary cookstoves as a global health problem that demands urgent attention, highlighting World Health Organization data that shows indoor air pollution kills two million people every year," she says. "Regrettably, the article seems to indicate that clean cookstoves do not deliver measurable health impacts and therefore concludes that 'we are not yet ready to distribute clean cookstoves worldwide.' Nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, the timing for clean cookstoves is right, and the time is now," she says in the statement (Gearity, 4/19).

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, the director of global health policy and a research fellow at the center, examines the connection between smallholder farming, agricultural productivity and nutrition. She writes, "For some time now, the food security movement has been stating that improving the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers improves nutritional status." Glassman cites a statement delivered by G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting Chairs after a meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, which states, "Donor and partner government investments in agricultural development have proven to be one of the most effective means to promote broad-based economic growth, especially when they are nutrition-sensitive and target smallholder farmers and women." She writes, "Are investments in agricultural development directed to small farmers 'proven' to improve nutritional status? I don't think so," and asks, "What is the G8 talking about?" (4/18).

"In newly independent South Sudan, deadly kala-azar disease is still raging in some of the most remote areas lacking basic health services," VOA News reports. "An infectious disease carried by a parasite and transmitted by the bite of a sand fly, kala-azar causes a fever that does not subside," the news service writes, noting that American physician Jill Seaman, who came to South Sudan in 1989, "said around 95 percent of kala-azar patients simply waste away or die after catching other infectious diseases" if the initial infection is left untreated.

Some prominent Democrats wish for a political do-over as they criticize the White House for focusing on the health law instead of the economy during President Barack Obama's first term.