Morning Breakouts

Streamlining Clinical Trials Review Process To Speed Up Delivery Of Drugs To Those In Need

November 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

In this Atlantic opinion piece, Amanda Glassman, director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development (CGD), reports on how “lengthy, inefficient review processes” or “non-existent regulatory capacity” in some developing countries for drug and vaccine candidates waiting in the pipeline is keeping new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic techniques from reaching millions in need. Glassman highlights a number of trials that were delayed due to regulatory and ethical approval processes, writing, “Not only do these delays prevent access to effective treatments by a growing number of patients,” but “they can lead to unnecessary costs that eat away at already small budgets to find new cures for neglected diseases.”

International Diabetes Federation Report Estimates 1 In 10 Adults Will Have Diabetes By 2030

November 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

“One in 10 adults will have diabetes by 2030, posing a huge challenge to health care systems around the world, according to a report” released by the International Diabetes Federation to coincide with World Diabetes Day on Monday, Reuters reports. According to the report, the number of people living with diabetes worldwide will increase to 552 million by 2030 from 366 million in 2011 unless action is taken, Reuters notes (Hirschler, 11/14).

U.N.-Backed Polio Vaccination Campaign Moves Forward In South Sudan

November 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Up to 3.2 million South Sudanese children have received vaccinations against polio in a United Nations-backed campaign to ensure the new country remains free of the deadly disease, more than two years after the last case was reported,” the U.N. News Centre reports. The three-phase campaign, which is being coordinated by South Sudan’s health ministry and backed by UNICEF and the WHO, will continue with additional immunizations next month, according to the news service. “Polio … re-emerged in South Sudan in April 2008, but after an intensive vaccination campaign, no new cases have been reported since June 2009,” the U.N. News Centre writes (11/14).

Health Of Millions Of Children In East Asia, Pacific At Risk Due To Climate Change, UNICEF Report Says

November 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Climate change is expected to worsen the plight of millions of children in East Asia and the Pacific who already lack food and clean water and are vulnerable to disease, … UNICEF said Monday … in its report (.pdf) ‘Children’s vulnerabilities to climate change and disaster impacts in East Asia and the Pacific,'” AlertNet reports. “‘Higher temperatures have been linked to increased rates of malnutrition, cholera, diarrheal disease and vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria,’ putting children at far greater risk of contracting these diseases and succumbing to their complications, the report said,” the news service writes.

IAVI Policy Brief Examines HIV Vaccine Funding

November 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

Some Public Health Experts Raise Concerns Over Plans To Immunize Haitians Against Cholera, AP Reports

November 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

The Associated Press/Washington Times reports on a pilot project plan by Partners In Health (PIH) and GHESKIO to vaccinate Haitians against cholera, which “has set off a debate among some public health experts who question the wisdom of [the] program that will inoculate only one percent of the population and could deplete the world’s stock of available cholera vaccine, potentially putting people at risk in other vulnerable places.” The program will cost an estimated $870,000, money that some experts say would be better spent cleaning up contaminated waterways, according to the AP.

Researchers In Philippines Develop Machine To Quickly Detect Drug-Resistant TB

November 14, 2011 Morning Briefing

In this post in the Global Post’s “Global Pulse” blog, journalist John Donnelly reports on how a machine developed by researchers at the TB Laboratory at the Lung Center of the Philippines “that can detect multi-drug resistant [tuberculosis (MDR-TB)] in record time may revolutionize TB treatment.” According to the blog, the GeneXpert, dubbed by researchers as the “espresso maker,” grew out of a collaboration among partners put together by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics in Geneva and “can detect [MDR-TB] in two hours instead of the old way of growing cultures that took two months.”

Push For Experimental Smallpox Drug Contract By Obama Administration Raises Questions, L.A. Times Reports

November 14, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433 million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald Perelman, one of the world’s richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor,” including “replac[ed] the government’s lead negotiator for the deal” and “blocked other firms from competing,” the newspaper adds.

Experts Discuss Treatment As Prevention At USAID-, World Bank-Sponsored Debate

November 14, 2011 Morning Briefing

Increased Access To PMTCT Needed To End Pediatric AIDS, Build An ‘AIDS-Free Generation’

November 14, 2011 Morning Briefing

In this post in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog, Charles Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, responds to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech at the NIH last week in which she called for an “AIDS-free generation,” writing, “As Secretary Clinton pointed out, we’ve never before had as many tools to get ahead of the disease as we do now,” such as male circumcision and treatment as prevention, “[b]ut one of the cornerstones of her strategy to create an AIDS-free generation is a tool we’ve actually had in our arsenal for a long time: the ability to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.”

Problems In India’s Public Health Care System Lead To Growth Of Private Medicine

November 14, 2011 Morning Briefing

Toronto’s Star reports on how problems within India’s health care system — such as absent doctors and nurses, a lack of necessary equipment, corruption and one of the lowest health budgets in the world — has led to the mistrust of the public system and has paved the way for private medicine in the country. According to the newspaper, “In a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey in India, 79 percent said they opted for private doctors or traditional healers rather than government-run hospitals,” and that “they spent an average seven percent of their monthly income on health care.”