Archives: Morning Breakouts

The Guardian examines the future of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as it enters its second decade, writing, "Despite its staggering successes -- including helping put 3.3 million people on AIDS treatment, 8.6 million on anti-tuberculosis treatment and providing 230 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria -- the fund's recent troubles had threatened to overshadow its accomplishments as it prepared to mark a decade as the world's main financier of programs to fight these three global epidemics." The news service highlights a $750 million pledge to the Fund by Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses recent managerial changes within the Fund, and quotes a number of experts about future challenges (Kelly, 2/2).

An Indian girl between the ages of one and five years old is 75 percent more likely to die than an Indian boy, giving the country the worst gender differential in child mortality in the world, according to new data released by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Times of India reports. The "data for 150 countries over 40 years show that India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s," the newspaper writes (Shrinivasan, 2/1). In India, for every 100 deaths among females one to five years old, 56 males of the same age group die, whereas the global average is 111 male child deaths to every 100 female children, India Today notes. "Higher mortality among girls is a powerful warning that differential treatment or access to resources is putting girls at a disadvantage," the report said, according to the news service (2/1).

Two state attorneys general will face off at the National Press Club on the constitutionality of the health overhaul. In other news, a Mississippi district court judge has agreed to hear a different legal challenge to the measure.

As part of a week-long series, titled "Generation Positive," looking at the HIV epidemic in the U.S. and Washington, D.C., WTOP's Thomas Warren examines the history of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. compared with Germany, where he traveled as a fellow with the RIAS Berlin Kommission. The article describes "the history of HIV in Germany, including the governmental policies aimed at handling the disease and how the virus is treated medically," according to the introduction (Warren, 2/1).

This report, published by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday and titled "The Private-Sector Role in Public Health," reflects on an evolution in the roles and responsibilities of business in global health over the recent decades. "Private-sector engagement was among the main issues addressed at the recent 4th High Level Forum for Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea," CSIS writes on its website, adding, "[A]s Lars Thunell, executive vice president and CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), observed, 'This could be the turning point where we recognize the mutually supportive roles of the private and public sectors in promoting development'" (Sturchio/Goel, 1/31).

Here's today's sampling of health policy haikus.