News Outlets Report On U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Discuss Health-Related Issues Facing Africa

As the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, taking place in Washington, D.C., continues, news outlets report on the summit’s proceedings and discuss health-related issues facing Africa.

The Hill: Attacking ‘a hidden, deadly’ issue
“More than 250,000 women die each year in Africa from maternal complications, constituting 51 percent of the world’s maternal deaths. Preventing maternal and child deaths is one of the top issues for African leaders as they meet with U.S. officials this week to discuss pressing health issues in the continent…” (Hughbanks, 8/6).

The Hill: Reinforcing LGBT rights at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit
“This week’s summit in Washington of national leaders from across Africa offers an essential opportunity for the Obama administration to advance one of its stated foreign policy goals: to promote the safety, equality and dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people around the world. But it also presents a precarious balancing act between incentivizing progress without inducing a backlash that could worsen the situation for LGBT people in their home countries and impede international collaboration on other health, safety and development goals…” (Smith, 8/5).

Washington Post: Africa agricultural initiative gets $7 billion boost from private companies
“A group of African and U.S. firms on Tuesday … announce[d] an additional $7 billion in spending to promote agricultural development in Africa, nearly doubling an Obama administration initiative aimed at mobilizing private money to ease hunger and poverty on the continent. The commitments — which are being made as part of this week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and include a $5 billion pledge by ­Coca-Cola to source more of its products from Africa by the end of the decade — highlight how U.S. food aid policy has shifted under President Obama…” (Eilperin, 8/5).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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