Global Health Weekly News Round-Up

Politics and Policies:

• The Obama administration is about to issue standards for health insurance exchanges in the new healthcare law, where consumers and small businesses will be able to buy coverage from competing private plans (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/health/policy/obama-administration-to-set-health-care-exchange-rules.html).
• Lawmakers of Idaho, concerned with its high rate of skin cancer are considering legislation that would restrict tanning salon use among minors (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/us/melanoma-leads-idaho-to-consider-limit-on-tanning-salons.html ).
• A Cleveland Democrat has introduced Senate Bill 307 for the regulating men’s reproductive health (Source: http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/bill-introduced-to-regulate-mens-reproductive-health-1341547.html ).

Programs

• National and international representatives to collaborate on improving language and patient safety on April 30, 2012 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at 6^th Annual National Medical Interpreter Certification Open Forum . It is an effort to make every stakeholder to understand the importance of error-free communication to avoid negative health outcomes to vulnerable populations (Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-leaders-to-address-language-access-at-the-6th-annual-national-medical-interpreter-certification-open-forum-in-tulsa-oklahoma-142041633.html ).
• MSD announced the launch of their diabetes education for healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia. The British Medical Journal (BMJ) in collaboration with Leicester University with healthcare professionals will receive a five day training course from the panel of local and international members (Source: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093491497 ).
• Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) awards $2.3 million in funds to organizations that make a direct impact on children’s health and well-being (Source: http://rmhc.org/epk/media-materials/latest-news-stories/ ).
• Novartis launches a new drug in Ghana for the treatment of type 2 Diabetes and hypertension (Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201203071059.html ).
• Nigeria’s health minister has announced that country would immediately buy fifty five pounds of morphine for the nation’s hospitals and would form an alliance with a new nonprofit organization (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/health/policy/nigeria-to-import-morphine-in-pain-relief-initiative.html ).

Research

• A study published in the journal, Cell Reports, reveals how a clot-busting enzyme is switched on, which removes the disease-causing clots and clears up the damaged tissue (Source: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20121103-23200.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencealert-latestnews+(ScienceAlert-Latest+Stories) ).
• According to a study, females infected with sexually transmitted disease caused by Mycoplasma genitilium, are more likely to acquire HIV infection (Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/common-bacterial-std-more-than-doubles-hiv-risk-in-women/922420/ ).
• According to a study, one in two children in Australia is bullied (Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/120310/bully-bullying-cyberbullying-australia-shools-children-r-rated-films ).
• According to a study, elevated levels of C-reactive protein associated with inflammation and heart disease is also linked with a condition called pre-diabetes (Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120311/jsp/nation/story_15235883.jsp ).
• A research study shows BCG vaccine is effective in children in preventing tuberculosis irrespective of the sources/ manufactures of the vaccine (Source: http://www.biotechmashup.com/beta/Medicine/Comparative_Tuberculosis_TB_Prevention_Effectiveness_in_Children_of_Bacillus_Calmette_Gu_rin_BCG_Vaccines_from_Different_Sources_Kazakhstan ).
• According to a study computerized patient records may not cut health costs and may actually encourage doctors to order expensive tests more often (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/business/digital-records-may-not-cut-health-costs-study-cautions.html ).
• The researchers at Norwich Medical School, United Kingdom, show a relationship between main subclasses of flavonoids to determine the risk of ischemic, hemorrhagic and total stroke (Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-incredible-power-of-citrus-fruits-to-reduce-risk-of-stroke/254031/ ).
• A study published in the journal Health Affairs show that if the people are given option, they will go for the expensive healthcare (Source: http://www.nationaljournal.com/healthcare/people-like-expensive-health-care-study-finds-20120305 ).

Diseases & Disasters

• Deaths are reported in Northern Bangladesh due to the infection caused by Nipah virus (Source: http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/29154/zoonotic-disease-causes-concern-in-bangladesh ).
• Death of eighteen infants in a hospital in the Southern part of Sri Lanka has provoked public protests in the country (Source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsworld.php?id=651198 ).
• Dr. Osafo, President of the Ghana Kidney Foundation has indicated that over 3,000 Ghanaian’s develop chronic kidney disease every year, with majority between 20-50 years of age (Source: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/health/artikel.php?ID=231862 ).
• Temporary toilets in Haiti are probable health threats. The human excreta in the unlined pits are likely carrying pathogens http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106977 .
• The people of Otuzco province of the La Libertad region of Peru have contracted cutaneous anthrax (a bacterial infection) (Source: http://www.examiner.com/infectious-disease-in-national/anthrax-outbreak-peru ).
• First Hantavirus case of 2012 reported by Montana health officials (Source: http://www.examiner.com/infectious-disease-in-national/montana-health-officials-report-first-hantavirus-case-of-2012 ).

Global Health News Last Week

September 5 was Labor Day.

POLITICS AND POLICY

• The State Department has announced the official US Delegation to the UN High Level Meeting on NCDs, which will take place September 19-20.
• Access to affordable lifesaving medicines will be threatened where they are needed most—in parts of the developing world—if the U.S.insists on implementing restrictive intellectual property policies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, says Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders).
• Sarah Boseley shares the great news that Kenya has officially made female genital mutilation illegal.
• A federal appeals court in Virginia has dismissed two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
• United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon singled out sustainable development as the top issue facing the planet with the world’s seven billionth person expected to be born next month. Key to this was climate change, and he said time was running out with the population set to explode this century.
• Thousands of proposed cuts in the US Congress could lead to significant cuts to USAID.
• The Philippines reproductive health bill is still making its way through the senate.  Meanwhile, 7 villages in Bataan, the Philippines have banned “artificial contraception” amid national debate over the bill.
• A report co-authored by an Australian academic highlights the need for healthy ecosystems as the basis for sustainable water resources and stable food security for people around the world.

PROGRAMS

• Sometime this fall, the world’s population will reach 7 billion people. Experts now forecast that by 2050, the population could be 10 billion. Some say those numbers should force policy makers to focus more intently on making family planning much more widely available in the developing world.
• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers has put together a one day conference bringing together innovators and health workers to share ideas about ways to more easily deliver interventions.
• It has been commonly held that insecticide treated bed nets reduce the rate of malaria for people who use them. Now there is hard evidence to back up that assumption.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONS

• A new study shows that less than three doses of the vaccine against cervical cancer can effectively protect women in the developing world where 80% of global deaths due to cervical cancer take place.
• Only three African countries are on track to achieve MGD 5, according to an African Institute for Development Policy study.
• Most efforts in the Western world seeking to find solutions for developing world problems tend to think of inventing new technologies or, at least, using the tools we typically use to fix things — modern drugs for diseases, improved seeds for crops, a better mousetrap. Sometimes, all you need is a newly geared donkey. 
• Scientists may have developed a new TB vaccine after tests showed the elimination of TB from infected tissue in mice.
• A socially active lifestyle can dramatically speed up weight loss through the burning of fat in mice, a study shows. Researchers at Ohio State University in the US identified a link between the amount of social interaction in a mouse’s environment and its weight.
• An easy-to-use diagnostic chip for HIV could “give results in minutes” and be a game changer in the field of cheap diagnostics for remote regions, claim the researchers who developed it.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

• Having to contend with U.S.army drones and the crossfire between the Taliban and the Pakistani army, the residents of Pakistan’s tribal areas find access to treatment for HIV/AIDS harder than in most other parts of the world.
• Three-quarters of a million people are facing death by starvation in Somalia according the United Nations, who declared Monday that famine had spread to a sixth southern region of the beleaguered Horn of Africa state.  Meanwhile, an investigation has revealed that masses of food meant for famine victims in Somalia are being stolen. There have also been reports of rioting and killings during food distribution at camps for famine victims.
• A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck 100km southwest of the city of Medan, Sumatra and 110km beneath the earth’s crust.
• A New York Times editorial castigates the international community’s response to the cholera outbreak in Haiti.
• The CEO of insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk says the WHO should buy low cost diabetes drugs in bulk for the developing world.
• Messages of good health and positive self-esteem for girls aren’t hard to come by in kid lit, so what’s the deal with all the attention for a not-yet-published rhyming picture book about an obese, unhappy 14-year-old named Maggie?

INFOGRAPHICS AND OTHER MEDIA

• Interaction has published an online “Horn of Africa Aid Map” showing 98 aid and development projects working on immediate famine relief as well as long-term development in East Africa.
• There may not be any zombies, vampires or mutant monsters wreaking bloody havoc on innocent people, but the fact that “Contagion” has a premise that experts say is all too plausible may make it the scariest movie of the season.
• A new index from Save the Children establishes the safest – and most dangerous – places in the world for a child to fall sick, which correlate closely with their chances of getting to see a health worker.

Global Health News, Week of August 28-September 3

Global Fund round 11 is now open for proposals.

GREAT LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

A seven-part webinar series, called the “Outstanding Presentations Workshop,” began this Wednesday and is available for free to all who register. Each one-hour seminar will be streamed live over the next few weeks on Wednesday and will be recorded for later viewing.  Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to improve your presentations and spare your audiences death by PowerPoint. More information is available here, and the schedule can be accessed here.

POLITICS AND POLICY

• In Uganda, the landmark legal case of Jennifer Anguko, a mother who died while she was in labor for 12 hours in a government hospital, will begin in early September.
• Critics of the World Health Organization say it needs to redefine and reposition itself within the increasingly complex and convoluted field of global health. These experts suggest that the world will not suffer if the WHO cuts certain programs while narrowing its focus.
• In the United States, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are promoting the use of IUDs as the “most effective form of reversible contraception available and safe for most women.”
• The Global Fund may cut its contributions to China by half.
• USAID Admin Dr. Raj Shah announced that $23 million in new aid will be directed towards the Horn of Africa crisis.
• Anonymity is no longer a right of people seeking HIV/AIDS tests in China, and the change has lead to a significant drop in the number of tests being performed.
• The Asian Development Bank has called for Asia-Pacific countries to collaborate on combating HIV/AIDS at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.
• Tension between the United States and Pakistan will not prevent USAID from continuing to support health, energy and education systems says the USAID Pakistan Chief.
• The epidemics of diabetes, heart disease and cancers that have stricken the populaces of wealthy countries are spreading to the developing world, yet the United Nations lacks an agreement, let alone an overall goal, on how to limit the preventable illnesses and deaths arising from these so-called non-communicable diseases. The British Medical Journal reports many developed countries, including the U.S. and Canada, are resisting specific targets for reduction in fats, sugars and salt in processed foods.

PROGRAMS

• Overall, more newborn children are surviving, but slower progress in cutting death rates among babies in the first weeks of life is putting the global goal of reducing child deaths by two-thirds in jeopardy.
• One expert says as the question of aid effectiveness has moved to the centre of development debates. If donors want to make their aid more effective, then they need to engage strategically with the private sector.
• In the Washington Post, Michael Gerson makes the “pro-life” case for increased support for contraception and family planning worldwide.
• UNICEF and international NGOs are working to raise awareness and encourage West African communities to invest in the construction of more pit latrines. Pit latrines, say advocates, can drastically reduce the spread of diarrhea, cholera and worms.

RESEARCH

• A study published in Lancet finds that the workers who took part in the efforts to rescue people from the World Trade Center on 9/11 are at a high risk of suffering physical and mental illness.
• A study by the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation in Uganda and Zambia found high rates of syphilis and HIV co-infection among pregnant women, but showed that “integrating rapid syphilis screening and HIV testing for pregnant women was feasible, cost-effective, and helped to prevent transmission of syphilis and HIV from mother-to-child.”
• A genetically engineered virus may be the key to combating cancer, says a group of scientists.
• Believed to only help children under four, researchers have determined that the rotavirus vaccine also reduces deaths in children between the age of five and fourteen.
• Researchers who have tracked Haitian cell phone SIM cards relative to the cholera outbreak are optimistic that their findings will lead to future use of the same technology for other outbreaks.
• Scientists may have found a critical weakness in Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria. Researchers say the discovery provides a promising target for new malaria therapies.
• Engineers at Michigan State University are developing a low-cost mobile phone application that can detect certain types of cancer.
• Danish scientists say mosquito populations are dropping in many parts of Africa, even in parts where there are no human efforts such as insecticide spraying or bed net distributions underway.
• A study published in the British Medical Journal reports a 24% reduction in deaths in children who received vitamin A.
• A new approach to malaria vaccines grows the parasite inside mosquitoes and extracts vaccine components from the salivary gland.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

• A study published in Nature says that the last three waves of cholera can all be traced back to the Bay of Bengal.
• Despite a massive humanitarian effort after the 2010 earthquake, females in Haiti remain neglected, rights activists say, lacking access to care as they give birth to babies in squalid conditions, often as a result of sex in trade for food or other necessities.
• UN FAO warns that the bird flu is on the rise in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
• Reports from the Libyan capital Tripoli say a humanitarian crisis appears to be emerging following the ouster of long-time ruler Muammar Qaddafi. There is a shortage of medicine, fuel, food, water, and power supplies, and growing piles of uncollected garbage.
• Polio has been reported in China and Kenya.

Thanks to Tom Murphy and Mark Leon Goldberg, Tom Paulson, Isobel Hoskins, and UN Wire.

Global Health News Last Week

SECTION NEWS
Attention IH section members! We are still in need of moderators for the scientific sessions at this year’s annual meeting. According to our program committee, the following sessions are still available:

Monday, October 31
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: International Health Programs & Policy 1

2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Act Global, Think Local: Domestic applications of international health lessons; Child Survival & Child Health 1

Tuesday, November 1
8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.: Builidng Partnerships and Coalitions for better International Programs; Emerging, Re-emerging & Neglected Tropical Diseases

10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: International Health Communication/ Behavior Change Communication

12:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m.: HIV/AIDS 2

Wednesday, November 2
8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.: HIV/AIDS 3; Innovations in International Health 2

Please contact Omar Khan (ih.apha@gmail.com) for more information, or to volunteer!

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USAID celebrated its 50-year anniversary this week.

The benefits of breastfeeding are being showcased around the world
for Breast Feeding Week.

POLITICS AND POLICY

• US organizations will find it easier to deliver aid to parts of Somalia controlled by a pro-Al Qaeda group – the threat of prosecution if it ends up in the wrong hands has been reduced  after an announcement by the State Department.
• Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez was sworn in as the new Assistant Administrator for the Global Health Bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
• Although Congress resolved the debt ceiling debate, the way the budget package is being shaped — particularly by combining International Affairs with defense in a single “security” category, global poverty spending is getting severely handicapped.
• Blood tests for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis may be putting patients’ lives at risk through providing misleading results, and should not be used, according to a WHO policy statement.

PROGRAMS

• The inaugural charter of the Alliance for Oral Health Across Borders was signed at Temple University yesterday.
• Tom Paulson of Humanosphere breaks down the 2010 Gates Foundation annual report, with some interesting commentary.
• Jaclyn Schiff of UN Dispatch says we can look for more global health leadership coming from the city of Houston (my hometown!), as Dr. Peter Hotez, whom Schiff calls “an international health force of nature,” and an arm of the Sabin Vaccine Institute move there.
• The Measles Initiative today announced it has helped vaccinate one billion children in more than 60 developing countries since 2001, making significant gains in the global effort to stop measles.
• India’s health minister announced Tuesday a new initiative underway to boost the country’s rate of immunizing newborns by collecting mobile phone numbers of all pregnant mothers to monitor their babies’ vaccinations.

RESEARCH

• A multi-resistant strain of Salmonella Kentucky could be spreading globally, suggests a study by Institut Pasteur. Case numbers have risen in Europe and the US, and infections have also been acquired in various parts of Africa and the Middle East. The strain has also been found in food animals in Africa.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturer iBio, Inc announced the successful animal testing of a malaria vaccine candidate in trials sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• A new study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene shows a relationship between a kind of river flow and cholera outbreaks.
• A new study in the Lancet shows that text messaging can be an effective tool in malaria treatment and prevention.
• PLoS Medicine published a new study on HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa. Among its key findings was the startling fact that sex between men (MSM) accounts for nearly one quarter of all new HIV infections across the region.
• According to a new study, children of depressed mothers in developing countries are 40 percent more likely to be underweight or stunted than those with mothers in good mental health.
• A cheap and portable blood test could provide a breakthrough for diagnosing infections in remote areas of the world, a scientific study says.
• Using WHO data, researchers found that children who experience abuse and develop mental health disorders are at increased risk for chronic physical problems later in life.
• A new study in the journal Nature Medicine finds that a credit card shaped device used for testing HIV, known as “Lab-on-a-Chip,” has had a successful trial run in Rwanda.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

• Mass treatment of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis with ivermectin has been hampered by severe reactions if the patient also has Loa loa. A new map developed by WHO’s African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control will help communities identify low risk areas for Loa loa and distribute ivermectin for lymphatic filariasis control safely.
• The CDC reports that the annual number of HIV infections in the USA is holding steady at about 50,000, and that African American MSM are at particular risk.
• AIDS remains a metaphor for inequality, argues Michel Sidibe in the LA Times. In the world’s wealthier nations, where access to medicine is widespread, AIDS is becoming a chronic disease rather than a death sentence. But in the eveloping world, 1.8 million people die of AIDS each year.
• Global cholera incidence has increased since 2000, with Haiti’s large outbreak tipping the largest burden away from Africa for the first time since 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday.
• Tens of thousands of Somalis have died and more than half-a-million children are on the brink of starvation. Western aid isn’t flowing to where the worst of the famine is — partly due to the “war on terror.”
• The head of World Food Program in Ethiopia says the country’s emergency food stocks are almost gone, the latest trouble caused by the drought in the Horn of Africa.

TOTALLY UNRELATED TO ANYTHING – Apparently Hollywood has discovered its next Greg Mortenson: Sam Childers, the “Machine Gun Preacher,” is the subject of much hubbub and an upcoming movie starring Gerard Butler.  This man claims to have been a gangbanger and drug dealer who found Jesus and then took up arms to rescue child soldiers from the LRA.  Global health blogger Brett Keller offers some commentary into Childers’ outlandish (and, frankly, dubious) story, while anonymous aid blogger “J” at Tales from the Hood has a few choice words.

Global Health News Last Week

SECTION NEWS

The IH Section hosted its third topic-focused conference call, on Current Developments in MCNH, took place on Monday, June 27, 2011 from 1:00 to 2:00 EST. We had several members of the IH section offer their commentary and expertise on current issues concerning maternal and child health.  Speakers included Laura Altobelli, Elvira Beracochea, Carol Dabbs, Miriam Labbock, and Mary Anne Mercer.  Read the summary here.

IH Section Communications Chair Jessica Keralis attended APHA’s Mid-Year Meeting on healthcare reform.  There were several interesting sessions on technology implications of reform, the public health workforce, advocacy, and others.  Read all about it on the IH Blog.

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POLITICS AND POLICY

• In the first part of a two-part series called “The great billion dollar drug scam,” investigative journalist Khadija Sharife questions the accuracy of figures given by the pharmaceutical industry to justify the high cost of drugs.
•  The American Chronicle reports how Brazil has been implementing numerous programs to reduce the rate of HIV infection within the country.

PROGRAMS

• Nearly six months after it began operations, UN Women appears to be struggling due to lack of donor funding.

RESEARCH

• At the 7th annual meeting of the World Conference of Science Journalists, several speakers said clinical research trials done in the developing world lack adequate patient protections as well as an ethical and legal framework.
•  Arizona State University Scientists have developed recombinant attenuated salmonella vaccines which they believe will make vaccines more effective.
•  A test for dengue through saliva has been developed by researchers from Singapore.
• Researchers believe that they have discovered the precise mechanism by which drugs attack and beat malaria. In doing so, they believe that they can gain a more precise understanding of how resistances are forming and develop better malaria medicines.
• A recently published report on research and development by the Malaria Research Initiative examines the current state of malaria research and offers six recommendations in going forward to improve R&D.
• A dramatic increase in support for malaria R&D since the mid-1990s puts the world well on the way to achieving global malaria control, treatment and elimination goals in the next five to six years.
• A study has found that AIDS patients who take nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitors experience premature aging.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

• The WHO has put together a series of graphs based on 2008 global health data to illustrate the 10 leading causes of death by broad income group. Heart disease, stroke and other cerebrovascular disease represent the top two killers in middle and high-income nations while they sit as number three and five respectively for low-income countries.
•  A report published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the CDC, has determined that UN peacekeepers from Nepal brought cholera to Haiti, which led to an outbreak last fall.
• More than 350,000 women die in childbirth every year and 8 million children will die of preventable diseases before their fifth birthday. A new report concludes that more trained midwives could help save prevent millions of such deaths.
• In a recently released report, UNICEF says as many as 70% of the world’s children are exposed to violence amounting to 1.5 billion children each year.
• The drug misoprostol is saving women’s lives around the world by preventing excessive bleeding after childbirth, the leading cause of maternal death in the developing world; it is also causing controversy, as the drug can also be used to induce abortion.
• Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is on the rise and hard to cure. Médecins Sans Frontières wants people with the disease to blog about it, to find out what they really need.
• A new study in The Lancet shows that over the past thirty years the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has doubled to 350 million.
• Ghana’s Food and Drugs Board (FDB) issued a statement to warn the public against the sale of counterfeit Artesunate tablets on the market, which it claims are from China; laboratory analysis had confirmed that contained no active anti-malaria ingredient.

Many thanks, as usual, to the Toms – Tom Murphy and Tom Paulson.

Waiting for Handouts

by Ibrahim Kargbo E-mail LinkedIn Twitter

On a recent trip to Haiti to conduct program monitoring and evaluation, I was taken aback by the statement of a woman who was forced to relocate due to the 2010 earthquake. When asked why she continues to attend HIV/AIDS education programs, her response was “…because I was promised a house and money”. Upon further interaction with the woman, I learned that she was told by a responding aid organization that she would be given a house and money to help her recover. Hearing her comment, I was left to question whether or not the responsibility of post-disaster recovery is made clear and rightly shared.

I very much support the massive global response to environmental disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the recent 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. As a global community, we share the tremendous responsibility of assisting each other with disaster recovery efforts. Regardless of the disaster, we donate money, time, technical assistance, and other resources to countries in need, either because we are expected to do so or because we are emotionally impelled to assist; whichever is the case, we manage to step up to the plate to provide recovery assistance.

But at what point should disaster recovery become more of the effected country’s responsibility than that of assisting countries? As we overwhelmingly respond to disasters, we forget to remind countries that emergency assistance they receive is only temporary and as citizens, it is they and their governments who are ultimately responsible for recovery efforts and long-term reconstruction. Donors and disaster response agencies should refrain from promising and or providing long-term resources for disaster recovery, doing so may potentially create an environment which citizens and country governments do not take initiative and responsibility for long-term recovery efforts, further handicapping the people’s ability to recover from future disasters.

In a perfect world, country citizens and their governments do not wait for handouts from donors and other countries, but instead, respond to disasters with pride for their country and support of one another. We all should work towards a perfect world.

Ibrahim Kargbo is a Master of Public Health student at George Mason University.

Disasters Emergency Committee Video: Urban Disasters – Lessons from Haiti

Global Health News Last Week

POLICY

• Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Water for the World Act of 2011, a bill in the Senate which will make providing safe and clean drinking water around the world a priority for US foreign aid.
• More than 60 world nutrition experts met at WHO headquarters last week to revise guidelines and to identify solutions to tackle the growing problems of both malnutrition and obesity around the world.
• Ministers of health and other high-level health officials from throughout the Americas called for a series of actions to reduce the toll of chronic noncommunicable diseases, in a declaration issued last week in Mexico City.
• The Global Fund announced that former President of Botswana Festus Mogae and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt have agreed to lead a high-level panel of experts that will conduct an independent and thorough review of the Global Fund’s financial safeguards.
• UN agencies are concerned that reduced donor funding due to the recession, combined with free trade agreements, will reduce the availability of low-cost HIV medications in developing countries.
• The United Nations General Assembly will convene a high-level meeting in September this year to discuss the financial burden caused by non-communicable diseases (NCD) on countries.

RESEARCH

• A study done is Malawi by the World Bank attracted attention (and criticism) from Businessweek. Young women were given to stay in school and deter them from accepting money and gifts from “sugar daddies” in exchange for sex. The study found that HIV infection rates were 60% among schoolgirls who received cash compared to those who received nothing.
• A recent review of malaria treatment clinical trial results, published in the Chochrane Library, shows that artesunate was more effective that quinine at treating severe malaria.
• A personalized text messaging reminder service significantly boosted antiretroviral (ARV) adherence over a six-week period compared with a standard beeper reminder system, according to a study published in the March issue of AIDS Patient Care and STDs.
• About 600 people gathered at the Global Health Metrics and Evaluation conference in Seattle to discuss issues surrounding the evaluation of effectiveness of health programs.

PROGRAMS

• Global health blogger Alanna Shaikh discusses how micro-credit and the Green Revolution, two of international development’s biggest successes, are being re-evaluated.
• The Nepalese government is planning launch a large vaccination campaign against elephantiasis in 40 high-risk districts.
• Dubai’s Ministry of Health introduced Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine PCV13, a vaccine that protects young children from the worst effects of illnesses including pneumonia, blood infections and meningitis.
• The National Influenza Center of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has been designated as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, making China the first developing country to house such an institution.

DISEASES AND DISASTERS

• Europe is concerned by the growing incidence of drug-resistant TB, particularly in children.
• The world continues to follow the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, including the unfolding situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The WHO has assured that there is no danger to individuals being exposed to radiation in nearby nations (e.g. China).
• As if Haiti needed any more bad news, a study published in the Lancet says that the UN estimate of 400,000 cholera cases in Haiti this year is nearly half of what the real projection should be for the recovering nation. Meanwhile, health officials in Lagos have called on residents to observe high standards of personal and environmental hygiene and have designated emergency numbers to call in case of suspected cases; the Ghana Health Service has set up cholera centers in Accra to deal with the outbreak there; and the interim federal government of Somalia on Tuesday denied reports of an outbreak of cholera in the country, responding to an Associated Press story over the weekend that Somali doctors had reported that more than 20 people had died from the disease.
• In the February 2011 issue of PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease Journal, contributing editor Serap Aksoy discussed the triumphs behind the control of human African trypanosomiasis, or African Sleeping Sickness.
• Although women get diagnosed for tuberculosis (TB) later than men, treatment outcomes among women are better than men with higher TB treatment success rate and lower default (drop-out) rate in the female patients. The finding was announced at a meeting on TB and women in New Delhi, India.
• While the total number of newly reported HIV positive people and AIDS patients are still low in Japan compared with other countries, the number of newly HIV-infected people in Japan has doubled in the past decade due to public complacency and lower awareness.

Global Health News Last Week (plus interest in a new working group!)

Attention IH Section Members: Dr. Kaja Abbas, MPH student at the University of Rochester, is gauging interest in forming a working group focused on using system science to improve global health, similar to the intitiaves being promoted by NIH. Her interests are in conducting system science research on global health policy by modeling population and disease dynamics and economic evaluation of public health interventions and systems, with a focus on HIV and TB. Dr. Malcolm Bryant, our section chair, has encouraged the expansion of our section’s activities in areas of technical expertise, and Dr. Abbas is enthusiastic about a working group within the section that promotes system science methodologies for global health solutions. She welcomes your thoughts and suggestions at kaja [dot] abbas [at] gmail [dot] com.

Global Health Delivery online’s HIV prevention community is hosting a “virtual expert panel” March 7-11 to continue the dialogue around PrEP as a novel approach to prevention. Panelists from Uganda, South Africa and the United States will lead the online discussion, highlighting various barriers and opportunities to implementing PrEP in clinical settings; how to encourage long-term adherence; and what additional research questions need to be answered. Panelists include (1) Douglas Krakower, MD, a fellow in Infectious Diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, (2)Andrew Mujugira, MBChB, MSc, the East Africa regional medical director for the Partners PrEP study, and (3) Vivek Naranbhai, PhD, who was involved in CAPRISA microbicide gel study. All GHDonline members can participate in this online discussion. You can sign up here if you are not currently a member.

POLICY

• Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people in the Eastern Province of Zambia has urged his subjects to get circumcised in order to reduce the chances of spreading HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases in his land.
• Britain is threatening to pull out of the Food and Agriculture Organization due to “patchy” performance.
• Due to uncertainty in past estimates, the Indian government has formed a 16-member expert group to determine the annual death rate caused by malaria in the country each year.
• The breakdown of the air conditioning in the plenary hall of the Philippines’ House of Representatives stalled the heated debate of a controversial reproductive health bill. The bill is vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church and pro-life groups and has caused a stir in the largely Catholic country.
• A massive demonstration rally was held in New Delhi to protest a free trade agreement between India and Europe, which many fear may threaten the production of low-cost generic drugs, particularly HIV medicines.

RESEARCH

• US researchers believe that half of men in the general population may be infected with human papillomavirus or HPV, the human wart virus that causes cervical and other cancers, strengthening the case for vaccinating boys against HPV.
• A recent study published in the WHO bulletin argues for the need to implement gender-specific tobacco control activites to curb the growing tobacco epidemic.
• The World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, announced the launch of the Global Health Data Charter, a project designed to improve global health by leveraging the collection and management of data.
• A new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that the poorest in Thailand have significantly more difficulty accessing diabetes care than the general population.
• A research trial found that a microbicide gel with the ARV tenofovir, initially designed for vaginal use, may also be effective in stopping HIV transmission during anal sex.
• A report released by UNICEF, “The State of the World’s Children 2011,” highlighted India’s poor child and maternal health conditions.

PROGRAMS

• Dr. Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative, discusses why it is so difficult to eradicate polio. Meanwhile, former US President Jimmy Carter is leading his own campaign to make guinea worm the second disease (after smallpox) to be eradicated.
• Amanda Glassman writes about Bangladesh’s success story in drastically lowering its maternal mortality rate.
• The International HIV/AIDS Alliance is expanding its project (which is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development) to reduce HIV-related maternal mortality in South Sudan.
• Prompted by Burma’s (Myanmar’s) transition to “civilian rule” after last November’s elections, the Global Fund has returned and is providing grants for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB programs.

DISEASES

• The WHO has declared Nepal polio-free after no infections were reported during a six-month period, while a new outbreak is spiking in the DRC.
• The massive flow of refugees fleeing violence in Libya has created a humanitarian crisis, as organizations struggle to provide for the basic needs of nearly 175,000 people who have crossed the border into Tunisia, Egypt, and Niger.
• After losing 4,500 lives to the cholera epidemic that raged through Haiti after the January 2009 earthquake, doctors in Port-au-Prince say they are bringing the disease under control. Unfortunately, health experts fear that the rainy season will cause a fresh outbreak in Nigeria.

Global Health News Last Week

POLICY

• Amanda Glassman discusses the debate surrounding a new proposal by the United Network for Organ Sharing to prioritize younger, healthier donors for kidney transplants instead of their current “first come, first served” approach.
• The highly-anticipated new UN agency, UN Women was launched on Thursday. It will be headed by former Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet. Women’s rights advocates argue that domestic violence should be the agency’s top priority.

RESEARCH

• A paper published in Science by a research group at the University of Maryland demonstrates that a fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, can be used to combat the malarial parasite inside the mosquito. Another promising study suggests that a compound produced by a seaweed in Fiji could be used to combat malaria.
• A new study has shown that that Internet kiosks providing information on prenatal and postnatal care have helped reduce infant, child, and maternal mortality rates in rural India.
• A study published by the Harvard School of Public Health last year found that the poorest third of the world’s population account for only 4% of surgeries worldwide, and that over two million people in low-income countries have no access to life-saving surgery.
• The first phase trials of the HIV vaccine developed in India were completed with no side effects reported. Meanwhile, a three-year research trial on a vaginal anti-HIV gel has been launched in Rwanda.
• The Trachoma Atlas, an open-access resource on the geographical distribution of trachoma, was launched by a team of collaborators from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the International Trachoma Initiative at The Task Force for Global Health, and the Carter Center. It is funded by a generous donation from (you guessed it!) the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• The European Solutions Enterprise for Neglected Diseases (euSEND), a new initiative, based in the Netherlands, was launched to aid in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. The organization’s goal is to “take the role of matchmaker” to facilitate partnerships in research for NTD treatments and vaccines.

PROGRAMS

• Swaziland has a large-scale circumcision drive in an attempt to lower HIV rates.
• Cash-transfer programs as a means of assisting the poor are beginning to gain attention and popularity from development and economic professionals. Mexico’s and Brazil’s have captured particular attention and are credited with poverty reduction and GDP growth.
• The first methadone maintenance program in sub-Saharan Africa recently opened in a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Heroin use is a growing problem in port cities, where the drug passes through en route from Afghanistan to Europe.

DISEASES

• WHO Director-General Margaret Chan and IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano published a joint editorial on the growing burden of cancer on the world’s poor and disadvantaged populations.
• H5N1, colloquially known as bird flu, is making a comeback: a report of a Cambodian mother and her infant dying after eating meat from a contaminated chicken is the latest in a series of cases in Indonesia, South Korea, and India.
• here has been an increase in reported cholera cases in three regions in Ghana, where 34 deaths have occurred over the last five months. In Haiti, the WHO has warned of a high risk of cholera during Carnival in the absence of strict hygiene measures.

Global Health News Last Week

The IH Newsletter is up! The Winter 2011 edition features several articles written by section members on various topics, a social media corner, fellowships and internships, and member publications. Check it out, and please consider contributing to the Spring edition!

On Tuesday, USAID administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah gave the 2011 David E. Barmes Global Health Lecture at NIH. His speech, titled “Addressing Grand Challenges:The Role of Science in Global Health Development,” can be viewed here. The transcript can also be downloaded, or you can read it on USAID’s website here. Also, you can check out commentary by Amanda Glassman, Sarah Arnquist, and K4Health.

Cholera, as usual, remains in the news: experts say the outbreak in Haiti has plateaued, while the one in Papua New Guinea rages on, and it is just getting started in Ghana. Meanwhile, health officials in Bangladesh prepare to launch the world’s largest cholera vaccine trial near Dhaka, the capital.

Scientists from Edinburgh University claim that the malarial parasite is particularly deadly because it competes with other strains of the infection by focusing on producing quickly-replicating cells, thus “duking it out” in the bloodstream. On a more positive note, Kenyan scientists believe that a spider that is attracted to the smell of human sweat may aid in the fight against the disease.

UN experts maintain that the laws in many Asian countries obstruct access to HIV/AIDS care and services. Nineteen countries in the region outlaw same-sex relations, and 29 criminalize prostitution. The remarks were made just before the Global Commission of HIV and the Law took place in Bangkok, where experts from around the world gathered to discuss HIV-related legal and human rights issues. Also, China has declared its intention to bring the spread of AIDS under control by 2020.

According to the WHO, Moldova has emerged as the world leader in per-capita alcohol consumption.

Experts have been sounding the alarm about rising food prices, and many analysts have linked the crisis to the recent riots in north Africa and the Middle East.

Obama and the Republicans continue to battle over the budget, as the president requests a modest increase in global health funds while Congressional Republicans try to slash spending.

Global Health News Last Week

December 9 was Anti-Corruption Day.
December 10 was Human Rights Day.

A recently published research study reveals that aspirin can prevent cancer – to very little acclaim.

There is a new rapid diagnostic test for TB, though some argue that it may not be the best idea for developing countries.

There is a polio outbreak in the Congo, and cholera rages on in Haiti and the Dominican Repubic.

Global Health News This Week

November 22 was Public Health Thank-You Day, and November 25 marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

UNAIDS released a report that said that we are finally making significant progress against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. In related news, an international trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that daily prophylaxis can prevent HIV infection in MSM.

The Bread for the World Institute released its 2011 Hunger Report, which says that global hunger is increasing as the global food crisis gets worse.

A study published in the Lancet found that the malaria death toll in India may be as much as 13 times higher than WHO estimates.

Another study published in the journal Vaccine estimated that global polio eradication could save the world $50 billion.

The strain responsible for the cholera outbreak in Haiti has been identified as one originating from southeast Asia, which has led many Haitians to blame the Nepalese UN peacekeepers and has sparked riots against the UN.

Cholera Lifts the Painted Veil over Haiti (and elsewhere)

Imagine yourself in the day-to-day in a crowded, dirty tent camp as a refugee somewhere. You have to stand in line for bottles of clean water, your health care comes from a medical charity with a trailer, and you never know whether your next meal will come from UN trucks or your own resourcefulness to scrounge something that your neighbors have not already found. You do the best you can, though, and you look forward to the good days when you can turn a nice big bag of beans or something into a meal to divide with your family in a tent that is inevitably too small for you. On bad days, though, your water might be tainted with Vibrio cholerae, a nasty little bug with a very short incubation time. You might not feel so good a few hours after that meal – and by the same time the next day, you could be dead.

Cholera is an aggressive water-borne disease that is currently running rampant through the world, the news, and the global health blogosphere. An outbreak reared its ugly head in Haiti last week when five cases were detected in Port-au-Prince. The disease has since spread through the population: 284 people have died so far, and over 3,600 people have been infected. Despite so many people living in high-density refugee camps with little to no sanitation, many are still surprised: it is the first time the island has seen cholera in 100 years, and after nine months I guess people were beginning to entertain the optimistic notion that the earthquake-ravaged nation might be able to avoid it. The debate over whether or not the outbreak (which some are already calling an epidemic) is contained rages on. Meanwhile, a much larger epidemic is running rampant through Nigeria  (though I suppose having eleven times as many cases and five times as many deaths will still not make you more noteworthy than Haiti – after all, Nigeria sees cholera every year). It has already appeared in flood-affected areas of Pakistan and in the aftermath of the mostly-ignored floods in West Africa. Basically, where there are floods, natural disasters, and/or refugee camps, there is cholera.

This year’s floods are the worst Benin has seen since 1964. Photo taken by Salako Valentin/AP.

The extremely rapid spread of the disease through disaster areas underscores the extreme importance of prevention planning and education. In Haiti, for example, you would think that a nine-month lag would have allowed for ample time to have systems in place to deal with this kind of outbreak, but that unfortunately does not appear to be the case: Melinda Miles, director of Let Haiti Live, told UN Dispatch last week that “it is absolutely stunning that so little was in place to prepare for [the outbreak]…It is certain that many unnecessary deaths will be the result of poor planning and slow response.” On the other hand, Care has held hygiene awareness sessions for more than 10,000 people affected by the flooding in Benin. Even if cholera never appears, preparations for it are never in vain: having clean water, proper sanitation, and stocks of oral rehydration salts are always a good idea.

Obama’s Global Health Initiative: How does the world view America’s good intentions?

Ever since it was announced in May of last year, President Obama’s Global Health Initiative has been the buzz of the international development community.  In a press release, the president announced that he would ask Congress to allocate $8.6 billion for the 2010 fiscal year, and $63 billion over six years, for a new, comprehensive global health strategy.  $51 billion of these funds would be targeted toward AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, with the remaining $12 billion to address other issues such as neglected tropical diseases and family planning.  The strategy is intended to go beyond targeting specific conditions and to focus on strengthening health systems and improving maternal and child health, though 70% of the funding will continue to go to PEPFAR.

This new strategy has been enthusiastically received by international health and development voices.  The initiative has been praised for its emphasis on maternal and child health  and for its recognition that “our greatest plagues — HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant mortality, and poor sexual and reproductive health — are all interconnected, and they are all preventable.”¹  Secretary of State Clinton has said that the initiative will become a crucial component of America’s foreign policy.²  It has not, however, been well received by everyone: PEPFAR advocates in particular have pointed out that the president has not lived up to his campaign promises to allocate funds for the program, choosing to provide his pledged $50 billion over six years, rather than five.³  An article published in the journal AIDS last week argues that PEPFAR and support for HIV/AIDS care supports the health sector in general and that cutting support for AIDS damages health systems.⁴  The authors maintain that funding maternal and child health initiatives at the expense of PEPFAR puts these two health priorities in competition with one another, which “lacks not only ethical legitimacy but also scientific merit.” 

Inevitably, any global health policy (and policy in general) will invite comments from supporters and detractors.  However, a blog entry by Bruce Nussbaum on humanitarian design caught the eye of several people in the international development community.  In several design conferences, he noted that professionals from developing nations often resented the fact that Westerners were trying to come in and solve their problems for them, particularly when they had their own ideas that they felt were more culturally appropriate.  Nussbaum, surprised, began to wonder if humanitarian design was being viewed as a new form of imperialism.  The stalled reconstruction in Haiti is another example of misdirected foreign intervention: ActionAid, a UK-based humanitarian NGO, argued last week that Haitians aren’t being included in reconstruction efforts, and that the current plan is more reflective of donor country interests. These observations raise the broader question of how the global health efforts of the U.S. are viewed by the world, and whether they are as altruistic as they present themselves to be, particularly when funds are pulled or frozen because domestic interests take precedence.  How the U.S. global aid policy is perceived is just as important as it its effectiveness.