KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report
In The News
- Curbing Climate Change Will Positively Impact Public Health, Global Health, Development Experts Say At COP21
-
The Guardian: World leaders urged to cut air pollution to save lives in poor countries
“World governments have been urged to tackle air pollution in poorer countries by greening cities, reducing traffic, and adopting better diets, and told that this will also rein in climate change, which global health specialists estimate will cause at least 250,000 additional deaths a year by 2030…” (Vidal, 12/3).Thomson Reuters Foundation: Paris climate deal to start green development charge: UNDP
“A U.N. deal on climate change in Paris should fire the starting gun for a global push on sustainable development in 2016, with no time to lose in shifting to greener, more resilient economies, the head of the U.N. development agency said…” (Rowling, 12/3).Yahoo! Health: Amid Paris Climate Talks, U.S. Experts Detail What’s at Stake for Public Health
“…The Paris talks, which began on Monday (Nov. 30), will go on until Dec. 11, and a World Health Organization-led event addressing climate change’s impact on health will take place on Dec. 8. The WHO has been pushing the importance of health as part of the climate change agenda for over a decade, and the event is designed to promote the message that a strong and effective international climate treaty is critical to public health…” (Iyer, 12/3).
- News Outlets Continue To Report On WHO's Global Estimates Of Foodborne Illnesses, Deaths
-
News outlets continue to highlight findings from the WHO’s first-ever global estimates of foodborne illnesses, which found nearly one-third of the 420,000 annual deaths from such infections occur among children.
Agence France-Presse: 420,000 die from tainted food annually, a third young children (12/3).
CIDRAP News: WHO says kids bear heavy foodborne illness burden (Schnirring, 12/3).
TIME: 30% of Foodborne Illness Deaths Happen In Children Under Age Five (Sifferlin, 12/3).
U.N. News Centre: Children under five account for one third of deaths from foodborne diseases — new U.N. report (12/3).
U.S. News & World Report: How Food Poisoning Affects Regions Around the World (Leonard, 12/3).
- Pakistan City Working To Reduce Foodborne Illness Risk In Eating Establishments
-
Washington Post: These Pakistani inspectors are fighting terror, one restaurant at a time
“Here in [Lahore,] the ‘food capital of Pakistan,’ restaurant owners have started referring to Aysha Mumtaz as the toughest lady in town. But sometimes even Mumtaz, the head of the city’s newly empowered food inspection office, can only laugh over how gross her job really is. Escorted around Pakistan’s second-largest city with an armed guard, Mumtaz is on the front line of the country’s latest war: trying to clean up restaurants that can be rife with stomach-churning viruses and bacteria…” (Craig, 12/3).
- The Guardian Examines Separation Between Humanitarian, Development Funding
-
The Guardian: Is it time to rethink the divide between humanitarian and development funding?
“‘So much of what is wrong in the sector stems from the perverse incentives around money,’ says Simon Levine [a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute specializing in livelihoods]. We are discussing why development and humanitarian work is funded separately when most crises have gone on for so long, they can hardly be classed as emergencies at all. … The need for radical change seems clear. And yet, with the exception of Levine, everyone I spoke to still argues for the continued separation of development and humanitarian assistance…” (Anyangwe, 12/4).
- U.S. Quarantines For Returning Ebola Workers Unnecessary, ACLU/Yale Joint Report Says
-
NBC News: Ebola Quarantines Were Stupid and Wrong, Report Says
“Fear-mongering and ignorance drove states to force health workers into quarantine when they returned from fighting Ebola in West Africa, and the restrictions were probably unconstitutional, a new report says. What’s more, no one has kept statistics on how many people were put into quarantine across the United States in the last year, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Yale Global Health Justice Partnership said in a joint report issued Tuesday…” (Fox, 12/3).
- Tobacco Companies Increasingly Marketing In Low-Income Nations, Often To Young People, WHO Study Shows
-
Christian Science Monitor: As sales slide in wealthy nations, tobacco ads target poor countries
“…A study of 16 nations published Tuesday in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization found 81 percent more tobacco ads in these lower-income countries than in high-income ones such as Canada, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. As the 20th-century battles against tobacco marketing in the U.S. have shown, these ads — even if implicitly — often target children…” (Shekhtman, 12/3).
- Saudi-Led Military Coalition Knew Coordinates Of MSF Clinic Bombed On Wednesday, Group Says
-
New York Times: Doctors Without Borders Says Clinic Hit in Yemen Was Known to Coalition
“A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that bombed a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Yemen on Wednesday had regularly been provided with the coordinates of the clinic, the medical charity said in a statement on Thursday. The airstrikes on the clinic, in the war-torn southern city of Taiz, wounded nine people, including two Doctors Without Borders staff members, the organization said…” (Fahim, 12/3).
- Political Will, Frontline Health Workers Help Make Ethiopia Model Country For TB Treatment, Control, The Lancet Reports
-
The Lancet: Ethiopia could be a model country for tuberculosis control
“Ethiopia’s political commitment, along with an army of thousands of health extension workers, is helping it to successfully tackle tuberculosis…” (Burki, 12/5).
- 3 Tanzanian Universities To Offer Health Worker Training On Treating FGM Victims
-
Thomson Reuters Foundation: Tanzania universities add course in female genital mutilation to fight the practice
“Three Tanzanian universities are offering a new course on female genital mutilation (FGM) to train health care professionals how to deal with victims of the harmful practice that is still widespread although illegal. The course, to be taught at the University of Dodoma, Muhimbili University of Heath and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), makes Tanzania the second country in Africa to offer such training after Ghana…” (Makoye, 12/3).
- PrEP Becoming More Widely Accepted As HIV Prevention Strategy, Financial Times Reports
-
Financial Times: Pre-exposure drug is new HIV front line
“…A growing body of evidence shows that large numbers of people at risk of contracting the virus should be on medication as a preventive measure. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a strategy where patients take a once-a-day pill to reduce their risk of acquiring the virus…” (Crow, 12/3).
Editorials and Opinions
- Development Success Driven By Inclusive, Accountable Governments, Local Ownership, Adaptive Systems
-
Devex: The coming revolution in development
Alex Thier, assistant administrator for the Policy, Planning, and Learning Bureau at USAID“…As I leave an amazing five and a half years at USAID, … [m]y biggest conclusion, from the meta-picture of development experience, is that what separates countries that are succeeding from those that are failing is capable, inclusive, and accountable governance. … [T]he path to ending extreme poverty and creating resilient, democratic societies is built upon a foundation of inclusive economic growth and effective, accountable institutions which are designed, led, and primarily financed by local actors and resources. … Maintaining a system of free, fair, open economies, and peaceful societies is at the core of U.S. national interest in a multipolar world. … To be more effective, we need to significantly increase our investment and capabilities in institution-building. … Another fundamental change we must make is to institutionalize adaptive management as our core operating model. … And we need flexibility, and an approach that embraces risk and transparency in partnership with the Hill…” (12/3).
- COP21 Agenda Must Include Health Considerations
-
Huffington Post: Health: The Glaring Omission at COP21
Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi“…It should be self-evident that health needs to be a key consideration when developing climate policy … An increase in average global temperatures could mean the expansion of regions conducive to the spread of diseases … Climate change also has serious consequences on sanitation … The entire health community needs to be mobilized urgently. We need to engage both public and private stakeholders, starting with life sciences companies, who are responsible for contributing to the advancement of health. If we act now, we can mitigate the consequences of climate change on the health of the world’s population. Health must not be excluded from the [U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP21)] agenda” (12/3).
- World Bank Framework Provides Resource For Policymakers To Accelerate Progress On SDGs
-
Huffington Post: Trajectories for the Sustainable Development Goals
Mahmoud Mohieldin, corporate secretary and president’s special envoy at the World Bank Group“…[A recent World Bank Group publication uses a] framework to analyze the likely progress on [the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)] and their determinants and to discuss country policy and financing options to accelerate progress. It looks at 10 country examples that are geographically dispersed and include low-income, middle-income, landlocked, natural resource-rich, and small island countries. … The framework aims to be of value and serve as a useful resource for policymakers as well as development practitioners. In addition, the lessons learned could be applied to other countries and further improve policymakers’ ability to identify and address opportunities and challenges for the achievement of the SDGs. The framework also serves as a commencement point for quantitative analysis to better understand the policy and financial efforts needed to attain the SDGs” (12/3).
- Investment In Disability Data Crucial To Achieving SDGs
-
The Guardian: Poor people living with disabilities are counting on better data for better lives
Harpinder Collacott, executive director at Development Initiatives, and Tim Wainwright, chief executive officer of ADD International“…At ADD International and at Development Initiatives we have four key recommendations for ensuring people with disabilities are not left behind as the world works to achieve the [Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)]. First, the forthcoming SDG indicator framework must deliver on the political commitment to disaggregate data by disability, as set out in SDG target 17.18. … Second, national governments will have a crucial role to play in improving disability data, and must invest in statistical systems and administrative data. … Third, civil society has a crucial role to play in strengthening, and if necessary supplementing, official statistics on disability. … Last, … [p]oliticians and civil servants need the right tools to analyze large volumes of data at speed, and civil society needs the necessary information to hold governments to account for the decisions they make…” (11/3).
From the Global Health Policy Community
- USDA Report Examines Impacts Of Climate Change On Global Food Security
-
U.S. Department of Agriculture: USDA Report Warns Climate Change Likely to Impede Progress on Global Food Security
“Climate change is likely to impede progress on reducing undernourishment around the world in the decades ahead, according to a major scientific assessment released [Wednesday] by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on global food security and its implications for the United States. The report … identifies the risks that climate change poses to global food security and the challenges facing farmers and consumers in adapting to changing climate conditions…” (12/2).
- CSIS Task Force To Provide Vision For U.S. Global Leadership On Women's, Family Health
-
CSIS Task Force on Women’s & Family Health: Charting a Vision for U.S. Global Leadership
In a letter on its new website, the CSIS Task Force co-chairs Helene Gayle, CEO of McKinsey Social Initiative, and John Hammergren, chairman, president, and CEO of McKesson Corporation, write, “…As the Obama administration approaches the ends of its tenure, it will be critically important to preserve bipartisan support for continued U.S. investments in [the sectors that drive progress in women’s and family health: family planning and reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; nutrition; and immunizations.] … The CSIS Task Force on Women’s and Family Health will seize this moment to put forward a bold vision of what the United States can do to advance the health of women and families around the world…” (12/4).
- CSIS Report Examines Impact Of U.S. Investments In Family Planning, Women's Health In Kenya
-
Center for Strategic & International Studies: Family Planning and Women’s Health in Kenya
In this CSIS report, Janet Fleischman, senior associate, and Katherine Peck, program manager and research associate, both at CSIS’ Global Health Policy Center, examine “U.S. support for family planning in Kenya … As a regional leader in family planning and a priority country for U.S. family planning and maternal-child health assistance, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Kenya provides a lens through which to assess the opportunities and challenges in expanding access and transitioning to greater sustainability…” (12/3).
- New Funding Facility Will Release Disaster-Related Funds To Build Resiliency Before Crises Occur
-
World Food Programme: Releasing Disaster Funds Before Crises Would Transform Humanitarian Response
“As the world negotiates a new climate deal, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), together with [the] German Red Cross (GRC), unveiled a forecast-based approach which would transform the humanitarian system. This new approach[, called the Food Security Climate Resilience Facility (FoodSECuRE),] will release funds for disaster preparedness and response before the crisis occurs while providing the necessary funds for resilience-building activities…” (12/2).
- 'Science Speaks' Provides Coverage Of Union World Conference On Lung Health
-
The Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” highlights the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, taking place this week in Cape Town, South Africa. Rabita Aziz, policy research coordinator at the center, reports on issues discussed at the meeting, including increased investments for TB research and treatment, better therapies for children and drug-resistant TB, and TB care in Romania.
Science Speaks: Union World Conference on Lung Health: World leaders call for immediate investments to end TB (Aziz, 12/2).
Science Speaks: Union World Conference on Lung Health: Better medicines to treat TB in children arrive (Aziz, 12/2).
Science Speaks: Union World Conference on Lung Health: Study shows shorter treatment for MDR-TB as effective, more successful than standard regimen (Aziz, 12/3).
Science Speaks: Union World Conference on Lung Health: Romania’s poor relegated to antiquated tuberculosis care (Aziz, 12/3).