The Guardian: U.S. stays away as world leaders agree action on Covid-19 vaccine
“Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a coronavirus vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines across the globe. But the United States did not take part in the World Health Organization initiative, in a sign of Donald Trump’s increasing isolation on the global stage. … [A]n ad hoc grouping of 20 world leaders and global health figures were on the call, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the American philanthropist Bill Gates. Britain will co-chair a joint coronavirus global response summit on 4 May aimed at raising funds for vaccine research, treatments, and tests. Macron told the meeting: ‘We will continue now to mobilize all G7 and G20 countries so they get behind this initiative. And I hope we will be able to reconcile around this joint initiative both China and the U.S., because this is about saying the fight against Covid-19 is a common human good and there should be no division in order to win this battle’…” (Wintour, 4/24).

Health Policy Watch: WHO & European Commission Announce Plan To Raise 7.5 Billion Euros To Ensure Equitable Access To COVID-19 Diagnostics, Drugs & Vaccines
“In the largest global collaboration to address the COVID-19 crisis so far, the World Health Organization, European Commission, and other partners including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), launched a new campaign to accelerate development of COVID-19 diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines — and just as critically ensure that they are affordable and accessible worldwide. The European Commission will be hosting a rolling pledging campaign, beginning 4 May, to raise the 7.5 billion Euros to bankroll the massive effort, said Ursula von der Leyen, E.C. President. In a striking display of multi-lateral unity, launch of the new ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools’ (ACT) Accelerator was made in a WHO public webcast … Strikingly absent were the United States and China, which have been locked in bitter dispute with each other over the management of the COVID-19 crisis…” (Ren, 4/24).

U.N. News: ‘Landmark collaboration’ to make COVID-19 testing and treatment available to all
“…Tedros described the ACT Accelerator as ‘a landmark collaboration’ as it brings together the combined power of several organizations. The global vaccine alliance, GAVI, is among key partners working to speed up development of COVID-19 tools. … The European Commission will on 4 May host a Global Pledging Effort and replenishing campaign to raise 7.5 billion Euros to support the ramping up of COVID-19 diagnostics and treatments. However, this is but the first step, as beating the virus will require sustained actions on many fronts, said Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission President…” (4/24).

Additional coverage of the ACT Accelerator announcement and research into novel coronavirus is available from Bloomberg, The Guardian, Reuters (2) (3), STAT, and The Telegraph.

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CNN: Major health groups and charities urge Trump to reverse World Health Organization funding decision
“More than 1,000 organizations and individuals including charities, medical experts, and healthcare companies from around the world have written to the White House arguing the Trump administration should reverse course and keep funding the World Health Organization (WHO). They make the case that the coronavirus pandemic can’t be brought under control without the WHO…” (Atwood, 4/24).

Washington Post: Trump expands battle with WHO far beyond aid suspension
“President Trump and his top aides are working behind the scenes to sideline the World Health Organization on several fronts as they seek to shift blame for the novel coronavirus pandemic to the world body, according to U.S. and foreign officials involved in the discussions. Last week, the president announced a 60-day hold on U.S. money to the WHO, but other steps by his top officials go beyond a temporary funding freeze, raising concerns about the permanent weakening of the organization amid a rapidly spreading crisis…” (Hudson et al., 4/25).

Health Policy Watch: U.S. Funding Suspension To WHO May Affect Other Essential Health Services (Ren, 4/22).

NPR: Speaker Pelosi: President Trump’s Effort To Sideline The WHO Is ‘Dangerous’ (Slotkin, 4/26).

Washington Post: The pandemic and the waning of American prestige (Tharoor, 4/27).

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The Hill: Trump adds Africa to growing list of areas U.S. sending ventilators
“President Trump committed this week to sending ventilators to various countries around the world, including in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, as nations seek to stem the health crisis from the coronavirus outbreak. Trump said in recent days that his administration would send ventilators to Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Indonesia. On Saturday, he announced the U.S. would also send devices to Ethiopia…” (Axelrod, 4/25).

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Devex: ‘Tough times are ahead’: Observers anticipate drop in U.K. aid budget
“The U.K.’s development community is concerned about the prospect of losing hundreds of millions of pounds from the aid budget as the country’s economy contracts, at the same time as humanitarian and development needs climb. The U.K. — the world’s third-largest bilateral donor — is one of the few countries to legally set its official development assistance budget at a minimum of 0.7% of gross national income, spending £15.2 billion ($18.7 billion) on aid in 2019. The government recently reiterated its commitment to maintaining that percentage, but with the coronavirus crisis halting much of the country’s economic activity, GNI is expected to decrease next year — and with it, the cash value of the 0.7%…” (Worley, 4/24).

The Guardian: Pandemic jeopardizes support for world’s poor as charities lose millions
“Charities are calling on the U.K. government for greater support as they report the loss of millions of pounds as a result of Covid-19. Oxfam said it is losing £5m a month from the closure of its shops alone, while Christian Aid last week said it expected a £6m drop in its funds this financial year. Others said they were still calculating the impact. Bond, the U.K. international development network, wants the government to establish a stabilization fund so organizations can survive and continue to deliver aid to people living in refugee camps or in extreme poverty…” (Lamble, 4/27).

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AFRICA

Global Press Journal: As Coronavirus Bears Down, Zimbabwe’s HIV Crisis Worsens (Masiyiwa, 4/26).

The Guardian: ‘It’s just beginning here’: Africa turns to testing as pandemic grips the continent (Burke, 4/26).

VOA: COVID-19 Frightens Malaria Patients in Cameroon (Kindzeka, 4/25).

VOA: As Militaries Enforce Coronavirus Quarantine, Experts Warn of Escalating Violence (Solomon, 4/24).

Xinhua: Roundup: Kenya urges world to step up fight against malaria amid COVID-19 outbreak (4/26).

ASIA

New York Times: Vanquish the Virus? Australia and New Zealand Aim to Show the Way (Cave, 2/24).

NPR: Praised For Curbing COVID-19, New Zealand’s Leader Eases Country’s Strict Lockdown (McCarthy, 4/25).

Quartz: Why India shouldn’t mimic the West in the fight against coronavirus (Khullar, 4/26).

Reuters: More than two million Australians download COVID-19 app, testing expands (Packham/Pandey, 4/26).

U.N. News: From bustling streets to lockdown: Bangladesh and the U.N. mobilize to fight COVID-19: a U.N. Resident Coordinator blog (4/26).

EUROPE

AP: Virus lockdown raises tensions in France’s poorest areas (Ganley/Garriga 4/26).

AP: As virus lockdown eases, Italy ponders what went wrong (Winfield, 4/26).

AP: Many failures combined to unleash death on Italy’s Lombardy (Winfield, 4/26).

The Guardian: How has the coronavirus transformed Spain? (Rao, 4/26).

POLITICO: Italy and Spain announce plans to ease coronavirus lockdowns further (Kayali, 4/26).

The Telegraph: U.K. coronavirus deaths reach 20,000 — 10 percent of global fatalities (Roberts et al., 4/25).

U.N. News: Greece: COVID-19 pandemic a further risk to refugee child education (4/27).

LATIN AMERICA

Reuters: Chile to push ahead with coronavirus ‘release certificates’ despite WHO warning (Sherwood, 4/26).

Reuters: Hungry Venezuela’s crops rot in fields for lack of fuel (Polanco et al., 4/24).

MIDDLE EAST

AP: Israeli court takes step to halt phone tracking amid virus (Zion, 4/26).

NORTH AMERICA

New York Times: Prescriptions Surged as Trump Praised Drugs in Coronavirus Fight (Gabler et al., 4/25).

Reuters: Health Canada cautions on use of malaria drugs to treat COVID-19 (Bhalla, 4/25).

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U.N. News: ‘No evidence’ that recovered COVID-19 patients cannot be reinfected, says WHO
“The U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that there is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection. In a scientific brief issued on Friday, the U.N. health agency said there was no proof that one-time infection could lead to immunity, and ‘laboratory tests that detect antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 [the virus that causes COVID-19] in people…need further validation to determine their accuracy and reliability’…” (4/25).

Additional coverage of the WHO brief and the likelihood of a novel coronavirus vaccine is available from AFP, Financial Times, and Reuters.

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AP: U.N. food chief: funding and access can avert starvation (Lederer, 4/27).

Reuters: Developing economies could see sharper recession in 2020, World Bank warns (Shalal/Lawder, 4/24).

Wall Street Journal: As Poorer Nations Ease Coronavirus Curbs, Risks of New Infections Grow (Shah et al., 4/27).

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The Telegraph: More than 13 million children globally missed out routine vaccinations — even before Covid-19 struck
“More than 13 million children did not receive any vaccinations in 2018, and millions more are in danger of missing life-saving vaccines this year due to disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, new analysis has found. Even before the coronavirus outbreak shut down vital immunization programs, more than 20 million children living in countries with weak health care systems went without measles, polio, and other vaccines every year, a UNICEF report has warned. But the figures reveal that it is not just the world’s poorest countries at risk of avoidable disease outbreaks…” (Kelly-Linden, 4/25).

U.N. News: Millions more children at risk with immunization services disrupted amid COVID-19 pandemic
“…Making its call at the start of the 2020 edition of World Immunization Week, UNICEF said on Saturday that millions of children are in danger of missing life-saving vaccines against measles, diphtheria and polio due to disruptions in immunization service as the world rushes to slow the spread of COVID-19. … As the world races to develop and test a new COVID-19 vaccine, UNICEF and partners in the Measles & Rubella Initiative and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance are calling on governments and donors to: Sustain immunization services while keeping health workers and communities safe; Start planning to ramp up vaccinations for every missed child when the pandemic ends; Fully replenish Gavi, as the alliance supports immunization programs in the future; and Ensure that when the COVID-19 vaccine is available, it reaches those most in need…” (4/26).

Additional coverage of the UNICEF report and disease prevention amid the COVID-19 pandemic is available from The Guardian, Health Policy Watch, New York Times, and VOA.

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Financial Times: Global coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported
“The death toll from coronavirus may be almost 60 percent higher than reported in official counts, according to an FT analysis of overall fatalities during the pandemic in 14 countries. Mortality statistics show 122,000 deaths in excess of normal levels across these locations, considerably higher than the 77,000 official Covid-19 deaths reported for the same places and time periods. If the same level of under-reporting observed in these countries was happening worldwide, the global Covid-19 death toll would rise from the current official total of 201,000 to as high as 318,000…” (Burn-Murdoch et al., 4/26).

NPR: Why The True Fatality Rate Of COVID-19 Is Hard To Estimate
“NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks with Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida, about the real fatality rates of COVID-19 — and why estimates vary…” (4/24).

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Financial Times: Gates Foundation to concentrate on coronavirus
“Bill Gates says his foundation, the world’s wealthiest charity, will give its ‘total attention’ to the Covid-19 pandemic — even at the risk that its other public health work will suffer. In a telephone interview from his Seattle base, Mr. Gates said the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has an endowment of more than $40bn, would focus its resources on a pandemic which he fears will cost the global economy ‘tens of trillions of dollars.’ … ‘We’ve taken an organization that was focused on HIV and malaria and polio eradication, and almost entirely shifted it to work on this,’ he said. ‘This has the foundation’s total attention. Even our non-health related work, like higher education and K-12 [schools], is completely switched around to look at how you facilitate online learning’…” (Cookson, 4/26).

Additional coverage of Bill Gates’s comments on the pandemic and the Gates Foundation’s work is available from Axios, CNN Business, and The Hill.

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STAT: Gilead sues U.S., claiming it ‘secretly’ obtained patents on HIV research that led to Truvada
“Gilead Sciences (GILD) has accused the U.S. government of breaching several contracts and ‘secretly’ obtaining patents stemming from research that led to the ground-breaking Truvada HIV-prevention pill. In a lawsuit filed late Friday, the drug maker claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the terms of a 15-year-old collaboration by failing to notify the company of patents that were later sought and awarded on the research…” (Silverman, 4/26).

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Borgen Magazine: Combatting Malnutrition in Cambodia (Cullen, 4/25).

Devex: Q&A: Philanthropy can take ‘unique risks’ to combat COVID-19, Rajiv Shah says (Lieberman, 4/27).

Devex: Should aid workers travel during the pandemic? (Root, 4/27).

New York Times: As Coronavirus Strikes Prisons, Hundreds of Thousands Are Released (Londoño et al., 4/26).

New York Times: Kashmir, Under Siege and Lockdown, Faces a Mental Health Crisis (Yasir/Kirmani, 4/26).

POLITICO: Ousting vaccine chief ‘is going to set us back,’ former FDA head says (O’Brien, 4/26).

Washington Post: The pandemic at sea (Helderman et al., 4/25).

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Bloomberg: Children May Be the Silent Victims of Coronavirus
Adam Minter, Bloomberg Opinion columnist (4/26).

The Conversation: Coronavirus shows the urgency of ensuring that research gets into the public domain
Dorsamy (Gansen) Pillay, deputy chief executive officer (DCEO) responsible for leading the Research and Innovation Support and Advancement group; and Beverley Damonse, group executive of Science Engagement and Corporate Relations, both with the National Research Foundation of South Africa (4/22).

Dallas Morning News: America’s global response to AIDS can serve as a model for leading the world against coronavirus
Editorial Board (4/26).

Devex: Opinion: Without funding, there will be no COVID-19 vaccine
Friederike Röder, leader for government relations at Global Citizen (4/27).

Devex: Opinion: Post-pandemic opportunities to improve global development
Christine Sow, CEO at Humentum (4/27).

Foreign Policy: Don’t Bash Globalization — It Will Rescue Our Economies After the Pandemic
Salvatore Babones, adjunct scholar at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney and associate professor at the University of Sydney (4/25).

The Guardian: A rise in deaths from preventable diseases must not be part of Covid-19’s legacy
Edward Parker, research fellow at the Vaccine Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (4/27).

The Guardian: Africa’s Covid-19 research must be tailored to its realities — by its own scientists
Monique Wasunna, director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative’s Africa regional office (4/25).

The Hill: Avoiding a COVID-created global hunger crisis
Asma Lateef, director of Bread for the World Institute (4/25).

The Hill: Pandemics and politics: Lessons from the HIV/AIDS crisis
Thomas F. Sheridan, lobbyist and author (4/25).

The Hill: What can health care providers in poor countries do about COVID-19?
Stevan Weine, professor of psychiatry, director of global medicine, and director of the Center for Global Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, and Nayanjeet Chaudhury, senior global technical adviser to Medtronic Foundation and adviser to Ramaiah International Centre for Public Health Innovations (4/25).

The Lancet: Offline: Why President Trump is wrong about WHO
Richard Horton, editor in chief of the Lancet (4/25).

New York Times: We Need a New Kind of National Guard
Stefano Bertuzzi, chief executive, and Robin Patel, president, both at the American Society for Microbiology (4/27).

New York Times: Saudi Arabia Must Suspend the Hajj
Ebrahim Moosa, professor of Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame (4/27).

New York Times: Most Americans Who Carry the Coronavirus Don’t Know It
Shan Soe-Lin, managing director of Pharos Global Health Advisors and lecturer at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University, and Robert Hecht, professor of clinical epidemiology at Yale University and president of Pharos Global Health Advisors (4/26).

Project Syndicate: The International Order After COVID-19
Robert Malley, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group (4/24).

Project Syndicate: Impact Investment’s Pandemic Challenge
Tolullah Oni, clinical senior research associate in public health and epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, honorary associate professor at the University of Cape Town, 2015 Next Einstein Forum fellow, and WEF Young Global Leader; Gillian Marcelle, managing member of Resilience Capital Ventures LLC and affiliated with MIT; and Tau Tavengwa, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics LSE Cities, research fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and associate at the African Centre for Cities (4/24).

Scientific American: COVID-19 Will Hit the Elderly Even Harder in Developing Countries
Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, professor of social policy and international development at the University of East Anglia, and Karl Pillemer, director of the Cornell University Institute for Translational Research on Aging and professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine (4/24).

STAT: The success of a Covid-19 vaccine will hinge on its delivery
Lois Privor-Dumm, director of policy, advocacy, and communications and director of adult vaccines; Naor Bar-Zeev, deputy director and director of epidemiology; and Maria Deloria Knoll, associate director for science, all at the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (4/25).

Wall Street Journal: America Needs to Win the Coronavirus Vaccine Race
Scott Gottlieb, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, board member of Pfizer and Illumina, and partner at New Enterprise Associates (4/26).

Wall Street Journal: Do Lockdowns Save Many Lives? In Most Places, the Data Say No
T.J. Rodgers, founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp (4/26).

Washington Post: We’re deporting people to vulnerable countries — and sending the virus with them
Editorial Board (4/26).

Washington Post: We are nearing the end of the beginning of the covid-19 crisis. Bigger challenges lie ahead.
Editorial Board (4/25).

Washington Post: Lockdowns will starve people in low-income countries
Julian C. Jamison, professor of economics at the University of Exeter (4/20).

Washington Post: Letters to the Editor: Examining our pandemic priorities
Daniel Speckhard, president and chief executive of Lutheran World Relief and IMA World Health (4/26).

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Brookings: Funding the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines: The need for global collective action
Marco Schäferhoff, managing director with Open Consultants; Gavin Yamey, director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health and professor of global health at the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University; and Kaci Kennedy McDade, policy associate with the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at the Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University (4/24).

Brookings: COVID-19 will prolong conflict in the Middle East
Ranj Alaaldin, visiting fellow with the Brookings Doha Center (4/24).

Center for Global Development: Pandemic Policies in Poor Places
Martin Ravallion, non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development (4/24).

European Union: Coronavirus Global Response (April 2020).

Global Health Council: Global Health Community Urges Trump Administration to Continue Funding World Health Organization (4/24).

Think Global Health: Funding Pandemic Preparedness: A Global Public Good
Hayley Stutzman, data analyst on the resource tracking team; Angela E. Micah, assistant professor; and Joseph L. Dieleman, associate professor, all with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington (4/23).

Wellcome: Developing a vaccine for COVID-19: what can we learn from past outbreaks?
Charlie Weller, head of the Vaccines Programme at Wellcome (4/24).

World Health Organization: “Immunity passports” in the context of COVID-19 (4/24).

World Health Organization: Global collaboration to accelerate new COVID-19 health technologies (4/24).

World Health Organization: Commitment and call to action: Global collaboration to accelerate new COVID-19 health technologies (4/24).

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WHO: Vaccines work at all ages, everywhere
Zsuzsanna Jakab, deputy director-general at the WHO discusses the role and importance of vaccines, writing, “As we set new priorities for 2021 and beyond with the vaccine community, we also need to ensure we have sound investment in immunization. … Let’s continue to scale-up, not scale-down, our immunization services through primary health care and universal health coverage so that everyone, everywhere has access to life-saving vaccines by 2030” (4/23).

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Aidspan: Global Fund Observer
Aidspan, an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has published Issue 378 of the ‘Global Fund Observer,’ which contains a tribute to former editor of the Global Fund Observer, David Garmaise, who recently passed away (4/24).

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White House: 4/24/20: Members of the Coronavirus Task Force Hold a Press Briefing
In this press briefing held Friday, President Trump, Vice President Pence, and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force discuss developments regarding the U.S. response to COVID-19 (4/24).

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CDC’s “CDC Around the World”: World Malaria Day 2020
The latest issue of CDC’s “Around the World” newsletter recognizes World Malaria Day, which takes place annually on April 25 (April 2020).

President’s Malaria Initiative: 2020 PMI Fourteenth Annual Report
“The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative’s (PMI’s) Fourteenth Annual Report to Congress describes the U.S. Government’s leadership and technical and financial contributions to the fight against malaria in FY 2019…” (April 2020).

President’s Malaria Initiative: Dr. Ken Staley’s Quarterly Message
Ken Staley, U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator, recognizes World Malaria Day, and discusses the importance of continuing malaria efforts during COVID-19, as well as how PMI is responding to the pandemic (4/24).

USAID: Statement from USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa on World Malaria Day
In a statement recognizing World Malaria Day, USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa said, “On this World Malaria Day, the pandemic of COVID-19 poses a new threat to global progress against malaria. … I commend PMI and the global malaria community for their dedication and progress, I urge malaria-control programs to persevere amidst the challenge of COVID-19, and I reaffirm the commitment of the United States to ending both these diseases” (4/24).

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KFF: COVID-19 Coronavirus Tracker — Updated as of April 27, 2020 (4/27).

KFF: Preparing for COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Leveraging U.S. Global Health Assets
This data note updates an earlier analysis that examined where the U.S. government already had existing global health assets that could be mobilized to address COVID-19. It includes the latest case numbers, expands beyond health to identify countries where the U.S. also provides (non-health) development assistance, and identifies the most recent list of countries receiving COVID-19 assistance from the U.S. In addition, it indicates the level of COVID-19 preparedness in each country, based on the World Health Organization’s country preparedness and readiness assessment index (Kates/Moss/Oum, 4/24).

KFF: Donor Funding for the Global Novel Coronavirus Response
This updated data note provides an accounting of publicly available information on donor funding to date for the global coronavirus response. The vast majority (85%) was provided by donor governments (including the U.S.), the World Bank, and other multilateral organizations (Moss, 4/23).

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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KFF: The President’s Malaria Initiative and Other U.S. Government Global Malaria Efforts
This fact sheet provides a snapshot of global malaria efforts and examines the U.S. government’s role in addressing malaria worldwide, including current programs, funding, and key issues (4/24).

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