In The News

U.N. SG Launches 'Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity' Report As U.N. GA Considers Rival Resolutions On COVID-19 Response

AP: U.N. General Assembly to decide on rival COVID-19 resolutions
“How should the U.N. General Assembly and its 193 member states respond to the coronavirus pandemic? Members have been sent two rival resolutions for consideration — and under new voting rules instituted because the global body isn’t holding meetings, if a single country objects a resolution is defeated. One resolution, which has more than 135 co-sponsors, calls for ‘intensified international cooperation to contain, mitigate, and defeat the pandemic, including by exchanging information, scientific knowledge, and best practices and by applying the relevant guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization.’ The other, sponsored by Russia with support from Central African Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, also recognizes the leading role of WHO in combating the pandemic, but it calls for abandoning trade wars and implementing protectionist measures, and not applying unilateral sanctions without U.N. Security Council approval…” (Lederer, 4/1).

AP: U.N. chief says COVID-19 is worst crisis since World War II
“U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned Tuesday that the world faces the most challenging crisis since World War II, confronting a pandemic threatening people in every country, one that will bring a recession ‘that probably has no parallel in the recent past.’ There is also a risk that the combination of the disease and its economic impact will contribute to ‘enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict,’ the U.N. chief said at the launch of a report on the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19. Guterres called for a much stronger and more effective global response to the coronavirus pandemic and to the social and economic devastation that COVID-19 is causing…” (3/31).

VOA: U.N. Creates COVID Trust Fund to Assist Poorer Countries
“The United Nations is establishing a trust fund to support low- and middle-income countries in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and recovering from its socio-economic shock. ‘It is a call to action,’ U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told journalists Tuesday during the virtual launch of the plan and his ‘Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity’ report…” (Besheer, 3/31).

Additional coverage of the U.N. and World Bank responses to the COVID-19 pandemic is available from PRI, Reuters, and U.N. News.

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Experts Warn COVID-19 Likely To Heavily Impact Developing World, Refugee Camps, Vaccine Campaigns

NPR: Refugee Camps Face COVID-19: ‘If We Do Nothing, The Harm Is Going To Be So Extreme’
“What will happen when COVID-19 hits refugee camps? That’s what Dr. Paul Spiegel and a team of researchers have been examining. … The researchers will use the findings to make recommendations to the United Nations and global aid groups on how to deliver medical care and check the spread of the coronavirus in similar refugee settings. Spiegel, a former senior official at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Humanitarian Health, explains why these camps are ripe for disease outbreaks — and what aid groups must do now to help…” (Gharib, 3/31).

The Telegraph: Measles and polio may come ‘roaring back’ as global vaccination programs shut down
“The coronavirus outbreak could lead to a resurgence of childhood diseases such as measles and polio, as the pandemic has shut down routine vaccination schedules and disrupted supply chains, experts have warned. While the unprecedented interventions introduced to stem the Covid-19 pandemic should prevent other disease outbreaks in the short term there is a real concern about a potential explosion of infectious, preventable illnesses when life returns to ‘normal’…” (Newey/Gulland, 3/31).

Washington Post: Public health experts: Coronavirus could overwhelm the developing world
“…[E]pidemiologists and other public health experts say the coronavirus is poised to spread dangerously south, engulfing developing nations already plagued by fraying health-care systems, fragile governments, and impoverished populations for whom social distancing can be practically impossible. They warned of an amplified global crisis in the coming weeks, striking nations that can least afford it at a time when wealthy countries are likely to be too preoccupied with outbreaks of their own to offer the kind of assistance they’ve extended during episodes of disease that were confined to the developing world. Add in the extreme population density and poor sanitary conditions in vast urban slums, and experts warn that the pain of the pandemic is about to tilt quickly from richer nations to poorer ones…” (Faiola et al., 4/1).

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WHO, PAHO Call On Asia-Pacific, Latin American Countries To Remain Vigilant, Implement COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies, As Disease Spreads Worldwide

AFRICA

AP: Ethiopia postpones major election because of coronavirus (Meseret, 3/31).

Reuters: Sierra Leone has confirmed its first case of coronavirus, president says (Inveen/Jabkhiro, 3/31).

U.N. News: Coronavirus poses latest threat to battered health system in DR Congo (3/31).

U.N. News: U.N. appeals to all Somalis to ‘come together’ in fight against COVID-19 pandemic (3/31).

ASIA

60 Minutes Australia: Whistleblowers silenced by China could have stopped global coronavirus spread (3/29).

Al Jazeera: WHO calls on Asia-Pacific countries to stay vigilant in pandemic (3/31).

CNBC: Countries in lockdown should do what Singapore has done, says coronavirus expert (Cher, 3/31).

New York Times: Why Asia’s New Wave of Virus Cases Should Worry the World (Rich, 3/31).

NPR: Coronavirus Lockdown Sends Migrant Workers On A Long And Risky Trip Home (Frayer/Pathak, 3/31).

NPR: Turkmenistan Has Banned Use Of The Word ‘Coronavirus’ (Kakissis, 3/31).

Reuters: China to start reporting on asymptomatic coronavirus cases from April 1: health official (Tian/Daly, 3/31).

Science: 1.3 billion people. A 21-day lockdown. Can India curb the coronavirus? (Chandrashekhar, 3/31).

EUROPE

Devex: E.U. scrambles to fund global coronavirus response (Chadwick, 4/1).

New Humanitarian: The home front: How international aid workers are fighting COVID-19 in Italy (D’Ignoti, 3/31).

NPR: Spain’s Health Staff Are Catching The Coronavirus As Protective Gear Runs Short (Benavides, 3/31).

Reuters: Preliminary study finds U.K. lockdown is slowing spread of COVID-19 (Kelland, 4/1).

LATIN AMERICA

AP: Too little too late? Experts decry Mexico virus policy delay (Verza et al., 3/31).

Devex: Latin America still has time to prepare before worst of COVID-19, PAHO says (Welsh, 3/31).

Forbes: Exploring The Unique Impact Of Coronavirus On Small Island Developing States (Ewing-Chow, 3/31).

Reuters: Venezuela fuel shortages hinder food delivery amid coronavirus quarantine (Polanco et al., 3/31).

Reuters: With bird sacrifices and chants, Cuba’s Santeria seek protection from coronavirus (Marsh, 3/31).

Washington Post: Coronavirus on the border: Why Mexico has so few cases compared with the U.S. (Sheridan, 3/30).

MIDDLE EAST

The Hill: U.N. starts Gaza food drops in attempt to prevent coronavirus outbreak (Deese, 3/31).

U.N. News: ‘Defining moment’ in Afghanistan requires leaders to work together, top U.N. official tells Security Council (3/31).

NORTH AMERICA

Reuters: Canada coronavirus deaths jump by 35%, Quebec says equipment running low (Ljunggren et al., 3/31).

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U.S., Other Nations Scramble To Procure Medical Equipment, Including Masks, Ventilators

Devex: USAID issues ‘urgent request’ for COVID-19 medical equipment
“On Monday, the U.S. Agency for International Development issued an ‘urgent request’ to its implementing partner organizations for personal protective equipment and other medical supplies. ‘USAID has been asked to identify organizations that have personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies potentially available for use by the U.S. government in response to COVID-19,’ Matthew Johnson, communications director at USAID’s office of acquisition and assistance, wrote in the email, which Devex obtained. In response to multiple inquiries from Devex, the agency would not confirm whether those supplies are to be used in foreign countries where USAID operates or inside the U.S…” (Igoe, 3/31).

New York Times: Coronavirus Battle Creates a Global ‘Free-for-All’ to Find Masks
“…Global desperation to protect front-line medical workers battling the coronavirus epidemic has spurred a mad international scramble for masks and other protective gear. Governments, hospital chains, clinics, and entrepreneurs are scouring the world for personal protection equipment they can buy or sell — and a new type of trader has sprung up to make that happen…” (Bradsher/Yang, 4/1).

NPR: U.S. Buys Masks From China While Criticizing It For COVID-19
“While Secretary of State Pompeo denounces China for its handling of what he calls the ‘Wuhan virus,’ the U.S. is racing to acquire medical masks and other protective equipment from China…” (Northam, 4/1).

ProPublica: Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.
“Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tried to plug a crucial hole in its preparations for a global pandemic, signing a $13.8 million contract with a Pennsylvania manufacturer [– a subsidiary of the Dutch appliance and technology giant Royal Philips N.V. –] to create a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use ventilator that could be stockpiled for emergencies. This past September, with the design of the new Trilogy Evo Universal finally cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, HHS ordered 10,000 of the ventilators for the Strategic National Stockpile at a cost of $3,280 each. … An HHS spokeswoman told ProPublica that Philips had agreed to make the Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator ‘as soon as possible.’ However, a Philips spokesman said the company has no plan to even begin production anytime this year. Instead, Philips is negotiating with a White House team led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to build 43,000 more complex and expensive hospital ventilators for Americans stricken by the virus…” (Callahan et al., 3/30).

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Sen. Rick Scott Calls For Congressional Investigation Into WHO COVID-19 Response; Media Outlets Examine WHO's Global Role

POLITICO: Rick Scott calls for congressional inquiry into WHO’s coronavirus response
“Sen. Rick Scott on Tuesday called for a congressional investigation into the World Health Organization, suggesting the U.S. should cut off its funding for ‘helping Communist China cover up’ the full extent of the coronavirus pandemic. The Florida Republican, a noted China hawk, has long raised concerns about the WHO’s relationship with Beijing, which has undercounted the number of coronavirus cases in the country…” (Desiderio, 3/31).

PRI: How the WHO nudges nations to act in solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic (Gordon, 3/31).

Quartz: The World Health Organization makes a case for itself (Timsit, 3/31).

Rolling Stone: Why the World Health Organization’s Response to COVID-19 Is Crucial to the Future of Public Health (Bort, 3/31).

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White House Task Force Predicts Up To 240K U.S. Deaths In Best Case Scenario; Trump Warns Americans To Prepare For 'Very Painful 2 Weeks'

AP: White House projects 100K to 240K US deaths from virus
“President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Americans to brace for a ‘hell of a bad two weeks’ ahead as the White House projected there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained. Public health officials stressed that the number could be less if people across the country bear down on keeping their distance from one another…” (Madhani et al., 3/31).

The Hill: Trump tells Americans to brace for ‘very, very painful two weeks’
“… ‘I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,’ Trump said at a White House news briefing. ‘We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks, and then hopefully, as the experts are predicting … we’re going to start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel.’ ‘But this is going to be a very painful, a very, very painful two weeks,’ he added…” (Samuels, 3/31).

New York Times: Trump Confronts a New Reality Before an Expected Wave of Disease and Death
“…The grim-faced president who appeared in the White House briefing room for more than two hours on Tuesday evening beside charts showing death projections of hellacious proportions was coming to grips with a reality he had long refused to accept. At a minimum, the charts predicted that 100,000 to 240,000 Americans would die — and only if the nation abided by stringent social restrictions that would choke the economy and impoverish millions. A crisis that Mr. Trump had repeatedly asserted was ‘under control’ and hoped would ‘miraculously’ disappear has come to consume his presidency, presenting him with a challenge that he seems only now to be seeing more clearly…” (Baker, 4/1).

Washington Post: Trump projects up to 240,000 coronavirus deaths in U.S., even with mitigation efforts
“…Deborah Birx, a physician who is coordinating the White House coronavirus task force, delivered a slide show marking a stark difference in the spread of the virus in New York and New Jersey, where the number of cases has spiked, and in the other 48 states and the District. Birx said the federal government’s goal over the next month is to control the outbreak in New York and New Jersey while staving off outbreaks in other states and metropolitan areas. ‘If you had more New Yorks and New Jerseys — you know, Chicago, Detroit, L.A., Dallas, Houston, all of our major cities modeled like New York — that’s what gets us into trouble,’ she said. ‘There’s no magic bullet,’ Birx said. ‘There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors — each of our behaviors translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days’…” (Rucker/Wan, 3/31).

Additional coverage of the Trump administration’s COVID-19 projections and mitigation recommendations is available from the AP, The Hill (2), NBC, POLITICO, STAT, and Wall Street Journal.

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Media Outlets Discuss Roles Of U.S. VP Pence, Secretary Of State Pompeo In Response To Coronavirus

ABC: Despite calls for global cooperation, U.S. and China fight over leading coronavirus response
“The U.S. and Chinese governments have increasingly turned the novel coronavirus pandemic into a contest over their primacy as the world’s leading humanitarian force, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo highlighting U.S. contributions to global aid agencies Tuesday and pushing back on Chinese propaganda about its overseas assistance. But as the pandemic spreads to the developing world and kills more people in nearly every region, experts say a lack of global coordination has cost the world time, money, and lives, with some saying U.S. leadership has been missing…” (Finnegan, 3/31).

Front Page Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone Left out of America’s Financial Aid to Fight Coronavirus
“The United States government is dishing out an initial aid of US$274 million to lead the world’s fight against the novel coronavirus. At least 14 African countries and European countries are benefitting but America’s oldest African ally and its neighbor, Sierra Leone were left out…” (Dodoo, 4/1).

The Hill: Pompeo: Countries must ‘step up,’ provide ‘transparent’ coronavirus information to save lives
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been critical of China’s reporting of coronavirus cases, is calling on nations to ‘step up’ efforts to share ‘accurate, transparent information’ to help the world fight the pandemic…” (Concha, 3/31).

POLITICO: Pence task force freezes coronavirus aid amid backlash
“…[Several] incidents have spurred the Pence-led coronavirus task force to scrutinize all of USAID’s deliveries to countries requesting personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to fight the outbreak, according to people directly involved in the discussions, causing tensions between aid officials and task-force members. The administration has also placed a moratorium on overseas shipments of USAID’s stockpiles of protective gear and is asking that the equipment be sent to the U.S. instead, other officials said…” (Bertrand et al., 3/31).

POLITICO: Mike Pompeo suddenly finds his voice on the virus
“After keeping a low profile for weeks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suddenly can’t stop talking about the coronavirus. America’s top diplomat has been hitting the phones to chat with a slew of foreign counterparts about the virus. … Pompeo’s increased visibility over the past week follows intense criticism of his performance throughout the coronavirus crisis…” (Toosi, 3/31).

Reuters: U.S. could rethink Iran sanctions in light of coronavirus: Pompeo
“U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held out the possibility on Tuesday that the United States may consider easing sanctions on Iran and other nations to help fight the coronavirus epidemic but gave no concrete sign it plans to do so…” (Mohammed/Pamuk, 3/31).

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Media Outlets Profile Deborah Birx, Anthony Fauci, Work Within Trump Administration On COVID-19 Pandemic

Fox News: Dr. Deborah Birx’s life is the ‘epitome’ of the American story: Tammy Bruce (London, 3/31).

Slate: How Drs. Fauci and Birx Negotiate With Trump (Heffernan, 3/31).

Washington Post: Dr. Fauci symbolizes everything about the Trump-era media climate (Sullivan, 3/31).

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U.S. Coronavirus Patients With Underlying Health Conditions More Likely To Have Severe Disease Outcomes, CDC MMWR Report Shows

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Coronavirus Patients With Other Conditions Hospitalized at Higher Rates
“Patients in the U.S. with underlying health conditions are likely to be at higher risk of severe disease from the new coronavirus, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention, which aligns with findings in countries such as Italy and China. A CDC report published Tuesday found that higher proportions of U.S. patients with underlying conditions including diabetes, chronic lung disease, and cardiovascular disease were hospitalized compared with those without additional afflictions. But a small proportion of people without other reported health conditions still had severe-enough coronavirus infections to require intensive care, the report found. The report is preliminary, and the agency cautioned that the analysis has several limitations, including small numbers, missing patient information, a lack of long-term follow-up and a likely bias toward more serious outcomes, because testing in the U.S. has been limited to those with more severe infections…” (Abbott, 3/31).

Additional coverage of the study is available from The Hill, NPR, and Washington Post.

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Coronavirus Vaccine Research Speeds Along But Some Scientists Warn 18 Month Timetable Presents Challenges

CNN: The timetable for a coronavirus vaccine is 18 months. Experts say that’s risky (Kuznia, 3/31).

Financial Times: BAT joins race to develop Covid-19 vaccine (Nilsson/Cookson, 4/1).

Reuters: British American Tobacco working on COVID-19 vaccine using tobacco leaves (Cavale, 4/1).

Science: With record-setting speed, vaccinemakers take their first shots at the new coronavirus (Cohen, 3/31).

Science: The $1 billion bet: Pharma giant and U.S. government team up in all-out coronavirus vaccine push (Cohen, 3/31).

Science: Speed coronavirus vaccine testing by deliberately infecting volunteers? Not so fast, some scientists warn (Cohen, 3/31).

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News Outlets Report On COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact On People Living With HIV

France 24: Could high HIV rates worsen the coronavirus crisis in South Africa? (Bradpiece, 3/31).

POLITICO: HIV patients left vulnerable amid pandemic, experts say (Ollstein, 3/31).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Are people living with HIV more at risk from coronavirus? (Greenhalgh/Lopez, 3/31).

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Almost Half Of Women In 50 Countries Unable To Make Decisions Over Own Bodies, UNFPA Report Says

The Guardian: ‘A big wake-up call’: survey shows work still to be done on women’s sexual rights
“Almost half of women and girls living in more than 50 countries around the world are not able to make their own decisions about their reproductive rights, with up to a quarter saying they are unable to say no to sex, a new survey has found. The findings, published by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday, have been described as a ‘big wake-up call’ in global efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030. Only 55% of women and girls in the 57 countries surveyed said they could make autonomous decisions about accessing healthcare, whether to use contraceptives and whether to have sex…” (Ford, 4/1).

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Health Care Weaknesses Exacerbate Global Disparities In Childhood Cancer Outcomes, Lancet Study Says

U.S. News & World Report: Millions of Children May Needlessly Die From Cancer, Study Warns
“Unless additional investments are made in health care, an estimated 11.1 million children will die of cancer over the next three decades, the vast majority of them in lower-income countries, new estimates show. … There have long been major disparities in childhood cancer outcomes between wealthier and poorer nations, driven largely by unprecedented gains in diagnosis, treatment, and supportive care that are largely inaccessible for children in lower-income countries. The new study, published on Monday in The Lancet Oncology, measures how current health care weaknesses exacerbate the disparities in childhood cancer outcomes — and how those gaps might be bridged with targeted investments in poorer countries…” (Galvin, 3/31).

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More News In Global Health

Devex: Germany plans sweeping changes to aid (Green, 4/1).

Devex: Watch: Mark Dybul calls for global task force on COVID-19 (Kumar, 4/1).

Devex: ‘There’s only so much you put up with’: DFID staff survey details collapsing morale (Worley, 4/1).

Devex: 5 myths preventing progress in nutrition (Root, 3/31).

New Yorker: Imagine a Justice-Based Health System (Chotiner, 3/31).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Health experts call virus pandemic a window into future climate threats (Goering, 3/31).

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Editorials and Opinions

Editorials, Opinion Pieces Examine Various Aspects Of COVID-19 Pandemic

New York Times: The Wall That Didn’t Stop the Coronavirus
Editorial Board

“…Rounding up undocumented immigrants and shutting down the border is something President Trump has yearned to do since long before the coronavirus began its fateful spread. And his animosity toward undocumented immigrants is affecting the efforts to contain the coronavirus far beyond the border. … These immigrants are particularly at the mercy of the pandemic. They often live in crowded conditions, have little money and no paid sick leave, and so lack the ability to self-quarantine. And according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 23 percent of noncitizens lawfully in the country and 45 percent of those who are undocumented lack health insurance. … The coronavirus does not care which passport its human hosts may carry or tongue they speak. Nor does it serve global public health for only American citizens to wash their hands and practice social distancing. Those are best practices that should transcend borders and walls and help us acknowledge our common plight, and humanity” (3/31).

Washington Post: Let health workers have the medical gear. But we should all start covering our faces.
Editorial Board

“Early in the coronavirus crisis, many public health officials insisted that masks could not protect the public from covid-19. But that thinking is increasingly in question. People should be encouraged to cover their faces — responsibly. … Until we get a therapy or vaccine for covid-19, the best strategy is to reduce risk. As long as people do not hoard medical supplies or slack off on social distancing, having everyone cover their faces would probably depress risk at least a little bit, and at little cost. It is worth trying” (3/31).

The Atlantic: Protect Dr. Fauci
Peter M. Shane, Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II chair in law at the Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law (4/1).

Bloomberg: China’s Global Influence Operation Goes Way Beyond the WHO
Hal Brands, Bloomberg opinion columnist, Henry Kissinger distinguished professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (3/31).

Bloomberg: Food Supply Is the Next Virus Headache
Clara Ferreira Marques, Bloomberg opinion columnist (3/31).

The Conversation: Can mosquitoes spread coronavirus?
Cameron Webb, clinical associate professor and principal hospital scientist at the University of Sydney (3/31).

Daily Star: Covid-19 and the Rohingya refugee crisis
Athena Rayburn, humanitarian advocacy manager at Save the Children (3/31).

Devex: For the global development community, COVID-19 poses big questions
Raj Kumar, founding president and editor-in-chief at Devex (4/1).

Foreign Affairs: When the Pandemic Hits the Most Vulnerable
Robert Malley, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, and Richard Malley, infectious diseases physician at Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (3/31).

New Humanitarian: A strange new world? Not really
Ken Arnold, Abbie Doran, and Danielle Olsen, all members of the International Cultural Initiatives team at Wellcome (3/31).

New York Times: With the Coronavirus, It’s Again Trump vs. Mother Nature
Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times foreign affairs columnist (3/31).

New York Times: How South Korea Solved Its Face Mask Shortage
E. Tammy Kim, contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, author, and editor (4/1).

New York Times: Testing is Just the Beginning in the Battle Against Covid-19
Joshua M. Sharfstein, medical doctor and professor of the practice in health policy and management, and Melissa A. Marx, epidemiologist and assistant professor, both at the Bloomberg School for Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (3/30).

Project Syndicate: Why America Is Losing to COVID-19
William A. Haseltine, scientist, biotech entrepreneur, infectious disease expert, and chair and president of ACCESS Health International (3/31).

Project Syndicate: Ensuring Food Security in the Era of COVID-19
Thanawat Tiensin, chair of the Committee on World Food Security; Agnes Kalibata, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit; and Martin Cole, chair of the Committee on World Food Security High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (4/1).

STAT: Create a cadre of community health workers to fight Covid-19 in the U.S.
Eric Perakslis, Rubenstein fellow at Duke University (3/31).

STAT: We shouldn’t rush to use an unproven malaria drug to treat the coronavirus
Ed Silverman, Pharmalot columnist and senior writer at STAT (3/31).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Opinion: Power in a pandemic — why energy access matters during coronavirus
Damilola Ogunbiyi, chief executive officer and special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) (3/31).

Vanity Fair: Hostage Survival Tips for Drs. Fauci and Birx
Frank Figliuzzi, NBC News national security analyst and former FBI assistant director (3/30).

Washington Post: Amid the coronavirus threat, where’s the call to service?
John M. Bridgeland, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the George W. Bush administration, assistant to the president leading the national service and volunteering effort after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and vice chair of Unite, and Timothy P. Shriver, chair of the Special Olympics and Unite (3/31).

Washington Post: Even Andrew Jackson showed more leadership than Donald Trump in a pandemic
Joyce E. Chaplin, James Duncan Phillips professor of early American history at Harvard University (4/1).

Washington Post: Bill Gates: Here’s how to make up for lost time on covid-19
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (3/31).

Washington Post: The U.S. needs to know what went wrong
David Ignatius, columnist at the Washington Post (3/31).

Washington Post: The pandemic is about to devastate the developing world
Brian Klaas, assistant professor of global politics at University College London and author (3/31).

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More Opinions In Global Health

Devex: Opinion: It’s time to stop guessing how much donors spend on gender equality
Tessie San Martin and Nora O’Connell, board members of Friends of Publish What You Fund (3/31).

IPS: Neglected Diseases Kill More People than COVID-19 — It’s Time to Address Them
Adaeze Oreh, senior health policy adviser with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and fellow with the West African College of Physicians, and Ifeanyi M. Nsofor, CEO of EpiAFRIC and director of policy and advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch (3/30).

Ms.: The Latest Government Report on the Global Gag Rule Confirms What We Already Know
Monica Kerrigan, incoming executive director of Planned Parenthood Global (3/30).

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From the Global Health Policy Community

Global Health Community Addresses Various Aspects Of COVID-19 Pandemic

Center for Global Development: Health Systems in Low-Income Countries Will Struggle to Protect Health Workers from COVID-19
Anna Gage, PhD student in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Sebastian Bauhoff, visiting fellow at CGD (3/31).

Center for Global Development: Urgent Call for an Exit Plan: The Economic and Social Consequences of Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic
Richard Sullivan, director of the Institute of Cancer Policy and co-director of the Conflict and Health Research Group at King’s College London, and Kalipso Chalkidou, director of global health policy and senior fellow at CGD (3/31).

Do Better by Esade: Responding to global systemic shocks: applying lessons from previous crises to Covid-19
Ana Revenga, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Jorge Galindo, director of economic policy and data visualisation at EsadeEcPol (3/30).

World Economic Forum: How data can help fight a health crisis like the coronavirus
Rositsa Zaimova, founding member and senior project manager at Dalberg Data Insights, Belgium (3/31).

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New UNFPA Report Examines Women's Decision-Making Over Their Bodies

UNFPA: Staggering numbers of women unable to exercise decision-making over their own bodies, new UNFPA report shows
“A new report by UNFPA offers, for the first time, a global view of women’s decision-making power over their own bodies. The findings are dismaying. Based on data from 57 countries, a quarter of women are not able to make their own decisions about accessing health care. A quarter of women in these countries are not empowered to say no to sex with their husband or partner. And nearly 1 in 10 women is not able to make her own choices about using contraception. Only 55 percent of women are able to make their own decisions over all three areas…” (4/1).

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From the U.S. Government

U.S. Department Of State Fact Sheet Provides Overview Of U.S. Support For ASEAN Countries To Address COVID-19

U.S. Department of State: U.S. Support for ASEAN in Fighting COVID-19
This fact sheet provides an overview of U.S. support and funding for ASEAN countries in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic (3/31).

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USAID Releases Fact Sheet On HIV Strategy In Central Asia

USAID: HIV Central Asia
USAID released a new fact sheet on its HIV strategy in Central Asia (4/1).

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From KFF

KFF Experts Discuss COVID-19 At Virtual Briefing; KFF Resources Examine Global, Domestic Issues Related To Pandemic

KFF: Jen Kates and Josh Michaud Featured Speakers in Virtual Briefing About the Coronavirus Pandemic
On Monday evening, KFF’s Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy, and Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy, were the featured guests in the Commonwealth Club of California’s continuing virtual series on the coronavirus outbreak. Audio is available here (3/31).

KFF: COVID-19 Coronavirus Tracker — Updated as of April 1, 2020 (4/1).

KFF: Put to the Test: Can the U.S. Get to the Next Phase of the COVID-19 Response? (Kates/Michaud, 4/1).

Additional KFF COVID-19 resources, including those focused on the response and impact within the U.S., are available here. KFF’s new blog series “Coronavirus Policy Watch” is available here.

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