Archives: Morning Breakouts

In this Reuters opinion piece, New York-based writer Peter Christian Hall responds to "the U.S. government's move to restrict publication of vital research into H5N1 avian flu," writing, "This unprecedented interference in the field of biology could hinder research and hamper responsiveness in distant lands plagued by H5N1," yet "no one seems to be challenging a key assumption -- that H5N1 could make a useful weapon. It wouldn't."

A selection of stories about health care from Kentucky, California and Massachusetts.

Last week in a Huffington Post "Impact" blog post, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, asked readers to submit questions about her recent trip to Bangladesh. In this post in New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's "On the Ground" blog, Kristof and Gates answer readers' questions about development issues in the region. Questions address ways in which those with limited resources can help women around the world, how to factor in unintended consequences -- such as rapid population growth -- of global health programs, and investing in health versus other sectors (1/9).

"Internet-based news and Twitter feeds were faster than traditional sources at detecting the onset and progression of the cholera epidemic in post-earthquake Haiti ..., according to a new study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH)," an AJTMH press release states. "The study is the first to demonstrate the use of data from 'informal' media sources in monitoring an outbreak of a neglected tropical disease in a resource-limited setting, and shows that these sources can yield reliable decision-making data during deadly disease outbreaks almost in real-time, often far earlier than traditional surveillance methods that include surveys of hospitals and health clinics," the press release adds (1/9).

"A mentally ill man who bathed in and drank from a contaminated river most likely was the first person to be infected" with cholera in the outbreak that began in Haiti in October 2010, researchers from Partners in Health said in a study published Monday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (1/9). "'This patient's case is the first in the community's collective memory to have had symptoms that are recognizable, in retrospect, to be those of cholera,' according to the study," CNN's "The Chart" notes, adding, "There is no lab method to confirm that this was the first patient to start the epidemic, wrote the authors" (Park, 1/9).

In this article in the online journal Global Health Governance, David Fidler, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, writes about the Republican presidential candidates' positions on global health, saying, "I doubt whether many votes in subsequent GOP primaries will be cast because of global health considerations." However, "thinking about American conservatism and global health serves as a reminder of the political significance of the nature of U.S. participation as a factor in the vibrancy of global health governance," Fidler writes, concluding that the positions of the candidates are "interesting to ponder because what President Bush wrought [in creating PEPFAR] forces conservatives to confront global health more seriously than this American tradition of political thought has done before" (1/9).

If India does not record a new polio case through January 13, "produc[ing] 12 straight months of polio-free surveillance data, it will be removed from the list of countries where polio is considered endemic, leaving only the other three," Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, Scientific American reports (Branswell, 1/9). "Asking other countries to draw inspiration from India in their polio eradication drive, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said the country not reporting a single polio case over the last year is a major milestone in the global health sector," the Economic Times writes (1/10).

Rwanda is expanding its medical male circumcision program this year, "as the country attempts to reach its goal of medically circumcising 50 percent of men by June 2013 as part of HIV prevention efforts," PlusNews reports. "The free male circumcision program began in October 2011, and officials at the Ministry of Health say demand is growing," according to the news service. However, with only 15 percent of men circumcised and a shortage of qualified health care workers, "the goal is unlikely to be met unless lower cadre health workers are involved in the campaign," PlusNews writes.

Al Jazeera examines how "[a] series of public-health campaigns, including more aggressive screening, have been credited with a drop in tuberculosis [TB] cases in Kenya" in this video report. "The screening and treatment program, regarded as one of the best in the developing world, is credited with taking the rate of TB infections in the East African country from a high of 116,000 in 2006 to 106,000 last year," but not without "an economic and political price," the news service reports. "For TB screening and treatment programs to be effective, supply chains for drugs and equipment and proper training for staff and administrative back-up must be in place," Al Jazeera reports (Greste, 1/9).

"The World Health Organization says Somalia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world," VOA News reports, adding, "In southern Somalia, the situation is grave, and the recent famine has made the health crisis for mothers and infants even worse." The news service says challenges facing the health care system include a lack of medical supplies and neonatal facilities, poor retention of health care workers in local hospitals, and "the Somali custom rooted in Islam that requires a man's consent to treat female patients."

In this post in the Department of State's "DipNote" blog, Ertharin Cousin, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome, examines how improved nutrition and agricultural development are helping to bring Hondurans out of poverty and hunger. Reflecting on a recent trip to the country with "five journalists from Central and South America to see the work the United States and the U.N. Food and Agriculture agencies are doing in the field," Cousin highlights a number of projects "improving the lives of poor and hungry rural families in the region" and concludes, "All the projects we saw are making a difference. Now we must scale them up, so more people can participate and benefit, and ultimately break free of assistance" (1/6).

"While the U.S. military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating U.S. attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as 'catastrophic' levels of birth defects and abnormalities," Al Jazeera reports. Samira Alani, a pediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, "told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009," the news service notes, adding, "Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699."