USAID-Backed Program Facilitates Male Circumcisions In Zimbabwe The Canadian Press reports on how a USAID-backed program operating in Zimbabwe is helping provide male circumcision services. Despite what the article describes as tension between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the U.S., the “program, begun in May 2009, has carried out 12,000 circumcisions. The U.S.…
Media outlets continued to track the major developments in HIV/AIDS this week, including: prevention research using an antiretroviral; new UNAIDS estimates of HIV/AIDS around the world; and Pope Benedict XVI’s stance on condoms for HIV prevention.
Lancet Infectious Diseases Examines Funding In Relation To Disease Burden: In response to two recent papers on neglected tropical diseases, Nicola Dmitri of the University of Siena in a Lancet Infectious Diseases Reflection addresses “how research funds could be guided by [the global burden of disease] GBD.” The results show, for example,…
Later this month, “[f]our former heads of State and other high-level African leaders who are the champions for a HIV/AIDS-free generation project” will travel to Zambia at the request of Zambian President Rupiah Banda for a meeting to discuss ways to strengthen the HIV/AIDS response in Africa, Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com reports.
Death Toll Rises From Two Disasters In Indonesia; Minister Says Aid Not Needed Yet The death toll from two recent disasters in Indonesia – a tsunami and volcano eruption – “rose to more than 340 Thursday” and hundreds were reportedly missing, the Associated Press reports. According to an official, “a warning system installed…
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Friday in Iowa “described the Obama administration’s international agricultural development effort, Feed the Future, as a flagship effort for” his agency and “a key plank in the administration’s global development strategy, but said it can’t succeed without more support,” CongressDaily reports (Hagstrom, 10/18).
Women’s eNews Examines Global Moms Act Women’s eNews examines the Global Moms Act, which among other efforts, “seeks to make C-sections more available to women in the developing world.” Officially called the “Global Maternal and Newborn Health Outcomes While Maximizing Successes Act” and introduced in the House by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), it “would require…
Global Fund Will Make ‘Every Possible Effort’ To Raise Additional Resources: Although pledges to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at its recent replenishment meeting did not meet “the lowest estimate of demand,” the Fund “will make every possible effort to raise the additional resources that we…
Agriculture production worlwide need to increase 70 percent by 2050 to meet global food demands, yet “billions of dollars in additional annual investment” are required to meet this goal and reduce the negative effects on the environment, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report (.pdf) on Thursday, Reuters reports.
Farming techniques must adapt to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure global food security, Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark Saturday’s World Food Day, Agence France-Presse reports.
