KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report

In The News

U.K. Politicians Urge Creation Of 'G20 For Public Health'; 165 Global Leaders Call For G20 To Coordinate Global COVID-19 Response; Wellcome Launches Campaign To Raise $8B In Private Investment

Devex: U.K. politicians call for a ‘G20 for Public Health’
“U.K. politicians on Monday called for the creation of a ‘G20 for Public Health’ to help coordinate the response to global crises — but the plan was criticized by experts, who described it as a ‘dangerous and slippery slope’ toward the further exclusion of less wealthy countries and who questioned whether a new structure was really needed. … The influential Foreign Affairs Committee, the U.K. Parliament’s foreign policy watchdog, published the suggestion in a report exploring the role of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in tackling COVID-19…” (Worley, 4/7).

Financial Times: Wellcome seeks $8bn from business to fight coronavirus
“The Wellcome Trust is calling on businesses to donate $8bn for the scientific fight against coronavirus, saying it is the ‘world’s best exit strategy’ from the lockdowns that have shaken global economies. The global medical research foundation on Tuesday launched ‘Covid-zero,’ a campaign to convince large corporations that it is in their best interest to fund the hunt for a vaccine, treatments, and testing for coronavirus. The Trust is working with the World Economic Forum, industry networks and philanthropic partners to persuade chief executives of large multinationals to invest by the end of April…” (Kuchler, 4/6).

The Guardian: Global leaders urge G20 to tackle twin health and economic crises
“A group of 165 global leaders has called for immediate and coordinated international action to tackle the twin health and economic emergencies caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Past and present politicians — including three former U.K. prime ministers — joined academics and civil society representatives to warn the G20 that the virus will return unless urgent action is taken to bolster health systems in poor countries of Africa and Latin America…” (Elliot, 4/6).

Reuters: Global health fund calls for $8 billion to begin COVID-19 exit strategy
“…The COVID-19 disease pandemic has triggered a sharp downturn in an already slowing global economy and sparked a rout across financial markets, wiping about $15 trillion from stock markets alone. More than 1.32 million people have been reported infected by the novel coronavirus and [more than] 74,087 have died…” (Kelland, 4/7).

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U.N., Partners Call For Greater Investment In Nurses To Stem Global Shortfall, Recognize World Health Day Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

CNBC: WHO says there’s a global shortfall of 5.9 million nurses as world battles coronavirus pandemic
“The World Health Organization is urging countries to create at least 6 million new nursing jobs by 2030 to offset a projected ‘global shortfall’ as health-care workers across the world respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing is the largest occupational group in the health-care sector, accounting for roughly 59% of health professions, WHO says. There are just under 28 million nurses worldwide, about 5.9 million short of what the world needs to adequately care for the growing population, according to a new report published Monday from WHO, the International Council of Nurses, and Nursing Now…” (Lovelace, 4/6).

VOA: Globe Commemorates World Health Day Amidst Pandemic
“Tuesday is World Health Day, which is being commemorated as the world faces one of the biggest international health threats of the past century. The head of the World Health Organization, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a virtual news conference Monday in Geneva that the organization is paying tribute to the contribution of health care workers who have been at the forefront of treating patients with the coronavirus. … ‘One of the lessons I hope the world learns from COVID-19 is that we must invest in health workers — not only to protect lives, but also to protect livelihoods,’ Tedros said…” (4/6).

Additional coverage of World Health Day and the State of the World’s Nursing Report is available from DW, The Independent, IBT, Reuters, and Xinhua.

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Former U.S. Diplomats, European Leaders Call For Loosening Of Iran Sanctions; France Sees Worst Day Of Coronavirus Deaths So Far; New Zealand Pursues Elimination Strategy

AFRICA

PRI: What the U.S. can learn from West Africa to slow the spread of coronavirus (4/6).

Reuters: Lockdowns: Saving lives, but ruining livelihoods in Africa (Akwagyiram et al., 4/7).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Coronavirus: Africa braces for impact ‘like nothing we have seen’ (Bhalla/Goering, 4/6).

ASIA

New York Times: CIA Hunts for Authentic Virus Totals in China, Dismissing Government Tallies (Barnes, 4/2).

NPR: Japan’s Shinzo Abe Will Declare State Of Emergency As Coronavirus Cases Surge (Neuman/Kuhn, 4/6).

Washington Post: New Zealand isn’t just flattening the curve. It’s squashing it (Fifield, 4/7).

Washington Post: Japan opts for emergency but ‘no lockdown’ — keeping its eye on the economy (Denyer, 4/7).

EUROPE

The Hill: France reports its worst day of coronavirus deaths so far (Bowden, 4/6).

New York Times: Spain’s Coronavirus Crisis Accelerated as Warnings Went Unheeded (Minder, 4/7).

NPR: Moscow Has Most Of Russia’s COVID-19 Cases, But Work Stoppages Are Nationwide (Maynes, 4/6).

NPR: Irish Leader Returns To Medicine To Help Battle COVID-19 Pandemic (Romo, 4/6).

PRI: Emergency authoritarianism? Hungary’s Orbán uses coronavirus to seize more power (Barry, 4/6).

Reuters: Coronavirus pandemic is historical test for E.U., Merkel says (Rinke et al., 4/6).

LATIN AMERICA

AP: As coronavirus spreads, some Venezuelans opt to return home (Alvarez, 4/6).

The Guardian: Brazil coronavirus: medics fear official tally ignores ‘a mountain of deaths’ (Phillips, 4/4).

PRI: Bolsonaro is still downplaying coronavirus. Many worry about the impact on the most vulnerable (Fox, 4/6).

MIDDLE EAST

NPR: Social Distancing Is A Distant Dream In Pakistan’s Urban Slums (Hadid/Sattar, 4/6).

PRI: ‘I am lucky I survived’: Voices from Iran, one of the worst-hit COVID-19 countries (Jaafari, 4/6).

Reuters: Iran supreme leader approves tapping sovereign wealth fund to fight coronavirus (Dehghanpisheh, 4/6).

U.N. News: Syria: Warring parties failed to abide by international law over hospital attacks (4/6).

Washington Post: Former U.S. diplomats and European leaders call for easing sanctions against Iran (Morello, 4/6).

NORTH AMERICA

AP: 3M, U.S. reach agreement that allows mask exports to Canada (Gillies, 4/7).

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Trump Administration Faces COVID-19 Pandemic Without NSC Global Health Security Team; Pandemic Preparedness Faltered Across Four Administrations, Experts Say

Los Angeles Times: Trump administration is battling coronavirus without a war room
“…In the U.S., the pandemic preparedness team at the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) was tracking [the virus H7N9] daily, even as President Trump took office in those early days of 2017. The NSC team, called the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, had helmed the country’s preparations for months, coordinating health agencies, the State Department, and even the Pentagon to prepare for its spread to the U.S. … Less than three years later, its successor — the novel coronavirus — broke out. But by then the directorate had been dismantled by the Trump administration. … It is unclear how the outbreak would have played out if the group had still been intact. But without a team that was trained to handle just such a pandemic — drawing on their experiences from SARS in 2002; H1N1 in 2009; Ebola in 2014; Zika in 2016 — the United States was left without a vital rudder, experts and former NSC officials said…” (Baumgaertner, 4/6).

Roll Call: White House preparedness for pandemic threat has faltered across four presidencies
“…[A] variety of longtime experts in disaster response who spoke to CQ Roll Call warn that the country risks missing some of the lessons from what is the largest public health crisis in a century if opprobrium is heaped solely at Trump’s feet. Rather, they say, there is blame to be shared, going back decades through multiple presidencies and on both sides of the political aisle. Blind spots in the U.S. national security culture led to the earliest signs of the crisis being downplayed, exactly when an inter-agency process centered in the White House should have been shifting into high gear. To avoid such a bureaucratic failure again will mean permanently elevating disaster preparedness and response to a footing similar to that given to more traditional bastions of U.S. security such as diplomacy, intelligence collection, and the military, experts say…” (Oswald, 4/7).

Additional coverage of the White House and lawmakers’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic is available from Fox News, NPR, and USA TODAY.

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Trump Continues To Endorse Malaria Drug To Treat Novel Coronavirus, Dividing White House Task Force, Raising Questions Over Motives

The Atlantic: Why Does the President Keep Pushing a Malaria Drug?
“…While some very early evidence has shown that hydroxychloroquine may influence the course of COVID-19, Trump is overriding his top medical adviser and minimizing serious risks by encouraging Americans to try the drug right now. … Based on the limited evidence so far, giving hydroxychloroquine to people could very well be — as with most drugs that modulate the immune system — of some benefit in some circumstances. Some people will be made sicker by it, depending on underlying physiology, other medications they’re taking, timing, and dosing. Identifying who stands to benefit and why requires data, and several randomized controlled studies of hydroxychloroquine are under way. But Trump has plunged ahead…” (Hamblin, 4/6).

New York Times: Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community
“…Mr. Trump may ultimately be right, and physicians report anecdotal evidence that has provided hope. But it remains far from certain, and the president’s assertiveness in pressing the case over the advice of advisers like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease specialist, has driven a wedge inside his coronavirus task force and has raised questions about his motives. If hydroxychloroquine becomes an accepted treatment, several pharmaceutical companies stand to profit, including shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president. Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine…” (Baker et al., 4/6).

Washington Post: ‘What do you have to lose?’: Inside Trump’s embrace of a risky drug against coronavirus
“…Trump’s swift embrace of hydroxychloroquine — as well as azithromycin, which he has hyped as ‘one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine’ — illustrates the degree to which the president prioritizes anecdote and feeling over science and fact. It also has provoked an ugly divide within a White House already besieged as it struggles to make up for lost time in slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The president has frequently clashed with or undercut scientists leading the effort against the virus, from equivocating on whether to wear masks in public to repeatedly pressing to reopen businesses sooner than advised by public health experts. Hydroxychloroquine is still being studied for its effectiveness in treating covid-19, the disease the virus causes, but the Food and Drug Administration already has approved it for malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. That means doctors can prescribe the drug for covid-19 or other ailments on an off-label basis. The agency also has authorized the emergency use of the drug from the Strategic National Stockpile for certain hospitalized patients…” (Rucker et al., 4/6).

Additional coverage of Trump’s endorsement of hydroxychloroquine is available from ABC (Australia), Axios, Bloomberg, The Guardian, IBT, Newsweek, POLITICO (2), Reuters, STAT, USA TODAY, and Washington Post.

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Trump, Biden Discuss U.S. Coronavirus Response In Phone Call

CNN: Biden and Trump speak by phone about coronavirus response
“Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Monday about the response to the coronavirus pandemic, two sources familiar with the call and a White House official tell CNN. The phone call is a rare moment of direct communication between the two political rivals…” (Saenz et al., 4/6).

New York Times: Biden and Trump Speak About Coronavirus
“…At the White House on Monday evening, Mr. Trump called it a ‘really wonderful, warm conversation.’ ‘We just had a very friendly conversation,’ Mr. Trump said. ‘Lasted probably 15 minutes. And it was really good, it was really good, really nice.’ The president added, ‘I appreciate his calling.’ Kate Bedingfield, a deputy campaign manager for Mr. Biden, also called it a ‘good call.’ Ms. Bedingfield said that Mr. Biden ‘shared several suggestions for actions the administration can take now to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and expressed his appreciation for the spirit of the American people in meeting the challenges facing the nation’…” (Goldmacher, 4/6).

Additional coverage of the phone call between Trump and Biden is available from CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, POLITICO, and Reuters.

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In Interviews With Media Outlets, Various Health Experts, Politicians Discuss U.S., Global Response To COVID-19 Pandemic

Devex: Q&A: U.N. Women envisions a more gender-equal post-pandemic society
“…[Anita Bhatia, deputy executive director at U.N. Women,] spoke with Devex about how U.N. Women has formed an immediate response plan to COVID-19 but is also looking ahead to longer-term challenges — and even some opportunities…” (Lieberman, 4/6).

The Hill: Coronavirus Report: The Hill’s Steve Clemons interviews Mark R. Dybul
“The Hill’s Steve Clemons interviews former U.S. global AIDS coordinator Mark Dybul, who is currently the co-director at Georgetown Center for Global Health Practice and Impact…” (4/6).

Vox: Elizabeth Warren has a plan for this, too
“In January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was the first presidential candidate to release a plan for combating coronavirus. In March, she released a second plan. Days later, with the scale of economic damage increasing, she released a third. Warren’s proposals track the spread of the virus: from a problem happening elsewhere and demanding a surge in global health resources and domestic preparation to a pandemic happening here, demanding not just a public health response but an all-out effort to save the US economy. … So I asked Warren to explain what the plan should be, given the grim reality we face…” (Klein, 4/6).

WIRED: Obama’s Ebola Czar on What Strong Federal Response Looks Like
“A couple of weeks ago, I asked Larry Brilliant, the renowned epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox, what is the one message he would bring to the daily press briefing if he were president. He answered without hesitation: ‘I would begin the press conference by saying “Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Ron Klain … Covid czar.”‘ In 2014, Barack Obama appointed Ron Klain as the White House Ebola response coordinator to fight what was then the world’s biggest health threat. … WIRED spoke to Klain by phone on April 3…” (Levy, 4/7).

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Media Outlets Discuss Coronavirus-Related Scientific Developments, Including House Democrats' Letter Urging HHS To Lift Restrictions On Fetal Tissue Research For COVID-19

The Hill: House Democrats call on Trump administration to lift restrictions on fetal tissue for coronavirus research
“More than a dozen House Democrats on Monday called on the Trump administration to lift restrictions on research that uses human fetal tissue to allow for studies on potential treatment for COVID-19. The lawmakers argued in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar that such studies could lead to developing coronavirus treatments more quickly. … The Department of Health and Human Services last year moved to discontinue research conducted within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that used aborted fetal tissue. … At least one scientist at an NIH laboratory has been unable to pursue research for a potential coronavirus treatment due to the ban on fetal tissue, according to the Washington Post…” (Marcos, 4/6).

Additional coverage of scientific developments related to COVID-19 is available from Business Insider, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

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School Closures May Have Limited Effect On Containing COVID-19, Research Suggests; Stay-At-Home Orders Not Best Approach, Some Scholars Say

Reuters: School closures will have little impact on COVID-19 control, review finds
“School closures do not tend to help contain the spread of infections during outbreaks of disease such as COVID-19, but will have a big impact on how societies restart after lockdown, scientists said on Monday. Data on the effects of school closures on COVID-19 are limited as the pandemic is still under way, but researchers at University College London said evidence from flu epidemics and outbreaks caused by other coronaviruses suggests their impact on the spread of the disease will be small…” (Kelland, 4/6).

Washington Times: Public health scholars: Stay-at-home orders not best approach to pandemic
“A faction of public health scholars says there may be a better way to approach the coronavirus pandemic than the shelter-in-place rules that have brought the U.S. economy to a screeching halt. Their views are outside the current mainstream of the medical community. But their scientific take is anchored in two statistical threads that have held up in data collected from around the world over several weeks…” (Varney, 4/6).

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U.K. Faces Leadership Questions With Johnson In ICU With COVID-19, No Codified Order Of Succession; DFID To Announce COVID-19 Funding

Devex: Exclusive: DFID poised to announce COVID-19 funding through rapid response network
“After weeks of silence on how it would help NGOs tackle the COVID-19 pandemic internationally, the U.K.’s Department for International Development is set to announce a package of funding to support organizations’ work in low-income countries that are most at risk. On a call Friday, DFID told the heads of Britain’s biggest humanitarian NGOs to get ready for new COVID-19 funding to support their operations in a small group of countries, multiple sources told Devex…” (Edwards, 4/7).

New York Times: With Boris Johnson Ailing, U.K. Faces a Leadership Quandary
“The British government hurtled into uncharted territory on Tuesday, with its foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, taking up the day-to-day duties of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was being treated in an intensive care unit as he battled a worsening case of the coronavirus. Britain, with no written constitution, does not have a codified order of succession. That legal lacuna has prompted questions during prior episodes where prime ministers fell ill or underwent surgery, and now looms large at a time when Britain faces its greatest crisis since World War II…” (Landler/Castle, 4/7).

Additional coverage of Johnson’s hospitalization is available from CNN and USA TODAY.

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China Demands Explanation Of Tweet By Brazil's Education Minister Insinuating China Responsible For Coronavirus

AFP/The Guardian: China outraged after Brazil minister suggests Covid-19 is part of ‘plan for world domination’
“China has demanded an explanation from Brazil after the far-right government’s education minister linked the coronavirus pandemic to Beijing’s ‘plan for world domination,’ in a tweet imitating a Chinese accent. In the latest incident to strain ties between the two nations, minister Abraham Weintraub insinuated China was behind the global health crisis…” (4/6).

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Increased Contact Between Humans, Wild Animals Could Contribute To More Disease Outbreaks, Some Experts Say

Los Angeles Times: HIV, Ebola, SARS and now COVID-19: Why some scientists fear deadly outbreaks are on the rise
“The social upheaval and death caused by the new coronavirus has awoken many to what some infectious-disease experts have been warning about for more than a decade: Outbreaks of dangerous new diseases with the potential to become pandemics have been on the rise — from HIV to swine flu to SARS to Ebola. Many experts now believe that this surge in new infectious diseases is being driven in part by some of humanity’s most environmentally destructive practices, such as deforestation and poaching, leading to increased contact between highly mobile, urbanized human populations and wild animals…” (Smith, 4/7).

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More News In Global Health

Devex: As aid groups scramble to contain COVID-19, malnutrition set to increase (Green, 4/6).

The Guardian: Global health policy: can we manage the ever-increasing rise of diabetes? (Hillsdon, 4/6).

The Guardian: ‘There is no magic bullet’: the town that turned the tide against HIV (Burke, 4/7).

The Intercept: Misinformation Hampered Ebola Response. The Same Thing Could Happen With Coronavirus (Turse, 4/6).

Reuters: Experts Urge Smokers and Tobacco Firms to Quit for COVID-19 (Kelland, 4/6).

Reuters: Elton John launches fund for HIV/AIDS work amid coronavirus (Elks, 4/5).

U.N. News: U.N. backs global action to end violence against women and girls amid COVID-19 crisis (4/6).

Washington Post: Journalists threatened and detained as countries on multiple continents restrict coronavirus coverage (Loveluck et al., 4/5).

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Editorials and Opinions

Editorial, Opinion Pieces Discuss COVID-19 Pandemic, Response

Washington Post: Clarity is essential amid this pandemic, yet the Trump administration sends mixed messages
Editorial Board (4/6).

The Atlantic: The 9/11 Era Is Over
Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama (4/6).

Bloomberg: Coronavirus Is Killing Lopez Obrador’s Big Plans for Mexico
Shannon K. O’Neil, senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (4/6).

Defense One: National Security in the Age of Pandemics
Gregory D. Koblentz, associate professor and director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and member of the Scientists Working Group on Biological and Chemical Security at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Michael Hunzeker, assistant professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and associate director of the Center for Security Policy Studies (4/3).

Devex: Opinion: What is the role of innovation in COVID-19 response?
David Milestone, former acting director of USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (4/7).

Forbes: Can We Reimagine Global Health In The Post-Pandemic World?
Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair of epidemiology and global health, director of global health, and director of the McGill International Tuberculosis Centre at McGill University (4/6).

Foreign Affairs: The Pandemic Will Accelerate History Rather Than Reshape It
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (4/7).

Foreign Policy: The Coronavirus Will Cause New Crises in Latin America
Michael Albertus, associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago (4/6).

Foreign Policy: Could the Pandemic Ease U.S.-China Tensions?
Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute and managing director of the Washington office, and Daniel Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (4/6).

Globe and Mail: The only exit from this pandemic is through science. We must fund it
Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome (4/6).

The Guardian: World must combat looming debt meltdown in developing countries
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics, university professor at Columbia University, and chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute (4/7).

The Hill: As COVID-19 spreads, ending U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen is vital
Bonnie Kristian, fellow at Defense Priorities and contributing editor at The Week (4/6).

The Hill: China’s role in the coronavirus crisis
Rep. Ted S. Yoho (R-Fla.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Asia, the Pacific, and Non-Proliferation (4/6).

IPS: Diverse Voices Should Be Represented in Coronavirus Experts on TV
Esther Ngumbi, assistant professor in the Entomology Department and African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and senior food security fellow with the Aspen Institute (4/6).

New York Times: This Won’t End for Anyone Until It Ends for Everyone
Samantha Power, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (4/7).

NPR: Opinion: The Coronavirus Crisis Presents An Opportunity To End War In Ukraine
William B. Taylor, vice president of Strategic Stability and Security at the United States Institute of Peace; Steven Pifer, William Perry research fellow at Stanford University; and John Herbst, director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council (4/6).

Project Syndicate: A Letter to G20 Governments
Erik Berglöf, director of the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Gordon Brown, United Nations special envoy for Global Education, chair of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, and chair of the Advisory Board of the Catalyst Foundation; and Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome (4/6).

Project Syndicate: Now or Never for Global Leadership on COVID-19
Gordon Brown, United Nations special envoy for global education, chair of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, and chair of the Advisory Board of the Catalyst Foundation; Erik Berglöf, director of the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science; and Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome (4/7).

Project Syndicate: At War With a Virus
Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (4/6).

Project Syndicate: When Will the Pandemic Cure Be Worse Than the Disease?
Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University and founder of The Life You Can Save, and Michael Plant, post-doctoral research fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford and director of the Happier Lives Institute (4/6).

Scientific American: When Can We Lift the Coronavirus Pandemic Restrictions? Not Before Taking These Steps
Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (4/6).

STAT: The U.S. gets a D- in the coronavirus fight. That stands for ‘disorganization,’ and it’s fixable
Matthew Herper, senior writer for medicine at STAT (4/7).

Washington Post: Coronavirus presents a crisis for Africa. We have a duty to help
Michael Gerson, nationally syndicated columnist (4/6).

Washington Post: Bolsonaro may be the world’s coronavirus skeptic in chief
Ishaan Tharoor, foreign affairs reporter at the Washington Post (4/7).

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From the Global Health Policy Community

Global Health Community Addresses Various Topics Related To COVID-19

Brookings: Civil society: An essential ingredient of development
George Ingram, senior fellow for global economy and development at Brookings (4/6).

Center for Global Development: Flatten the Curve without Flattening the Economy: How to Stop COVID-19 from Causing Another Catastrophe for Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Lorcan Clarke, economist and independent consultant; and Kalipso Chalkidou, director of global health policy and senior fellow; and Francis Ruiz, senior policy analyst, both with CGD (4/6).

Chatham House: In Search of the American State
Leslie Vinjamuri, dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs and director of the Chatham House U.S. and the Americas Programme (4/6).

CEVR: The cost-effectiveness of outbreak responses: Considerations in the COVID-19 era
Daniel A. Ollendorf, director of value measurement and global health initiatives at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) at Tufts University Medical Center, and colleagues (April 2020).

Fred Hutch: COVID-19: What our scientists are saying
Natalie Myers, integrated content coordinator in communications and marketing at Fred Hutch (4/6).

Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: The Threat to Africa
Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund

Pew: Coronavirus Shows That Responses to Complex Public Health Challenges Require All Hands on Deck
Stacey Millett, project director of the Health Impact Project at Pew Charitable Trusts (4/6).

Science Speaks: COVID-19: Role of superinfections in novel coronavirus deaths highlights urgent need for sustainable development of new antibiotics
Neil J. Clancy, infectious diseases physician and researcher (4/6).

Science Speaks: COVID-19: The HIV research advocacy movement offers lessons
Stacey Hannah, director of Research Engagement at AVAC (4/6).

U.N. Dispatch: The Coronavirus Human Rights Crackdown
Mark Leon Goldberg, executive editor of U.N. Dispatch and host of the Global Dispatches Podcast (4/6).

UNAIDS: Supporting transgender people during the COVID-19 pandemic (4/6).

UNFPA: COVID-19 affects Ukraine health systems already compromised by conflict (4/6).

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Global Health Community Recognizes World Health Worker Week, World Health Day, Publishes Blog Posts, Statements, Reports On Health Workforce

Frontline Health Workers Coalition: World Health Worker Week: April 5-11, 2020 (April 2020).

Frontline Health Workers Coalition: Policy Recommendations for Safe & Sustainable Health Workforce Teams to Fight COVID-19 (April 2020).

International Confederation of Midwives: What We’re Doing At ICM To Mark World Health Worker Week (#WHWW) (4/3).

IntraHealth International’s “VITAL”: 6 Nurses and Midwives on What It Takes to Do the Job (4/6).

UNFPA: Protecting midwives to keep women and babies safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic (4/7).

WHO: WHO and partners call for urgent investment in nurses (4/7).

WHO: World Health Day 2020 (4/7).

WHO: State of the World’s Nursing Report — 2020 (4/6).

WHO: World Health Worker Week — April 5-11, 2020 (4/2).

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CFR Expert Examines Trump Administration's Africa Policy

Council on Foreign Relations: Trump’s Africa Policy Is Better Than It Looks
John Campbell, Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at CFR, examines the Trump administration’s approach to Africa. Campbell writes, “U.S. President Donald J. Trump shows little interest in Africa, yet his administration has carried on many of the constructive policies of its predecessors. This continuity is largely due to bipartisanship in Congress and the appointment of capable officials. Still, Washington would benefit from more vigorous planning for increasingly pressing issues on the continent, such as its population boom, insecurity, and the impacts of climate change…” (4/6).

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From the U.S. Government

President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members Of Coronavirus Task Force Provide Updates On U.S. Response To COVID-19 In Press Briefing

White House: Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
In this press briefing held Sunday afternoon, President Trump, Vice President Pence, and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force discuss developments regarding the U.S. response to COVID-19 (4/6).

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From KFF

KFF Resources Examine Global, Domestic Issues Related To COVID-19 Pandemic

KFF: COVID-19 Coronavirus Tracker — Updated as of April 7, 2020 (4/7).

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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