The Hill: CDC rejects censorship reports: ‘There are absolutely no “banned” words’
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it ‘has not banned, prohibited, or forbidden’ the use of certain words in official documentation, the agency director says in response to concerns from Senate Democrats. … CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald told Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in a letter released Tuesday the HHS style guide does recommend avoiding the use of ‘vulnerable,’ ‘diversity,’ and ‘entitlement.’ … She said, ‘There are absolutely no “banned” words. These are merely suggestions of what terms to use and what often overused words should be avoided’…” (Weixel, 1/9).

Link to individual story

Forbes: Road Crashes Not Only Cost Lives, They Hurt Economic Growth, New Report Finds
“Cutting road traffic deaths and injuries by half could boost the economy and result in substantial long-term income gains in developing countries — potentially adding seven to 22 percent to GDP per capita over 24 years in some — as well as greatly improve social welfare benefits. Those are the main findings of a new report released on Tuesday by the World Bank and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies…” (Mohn, 1/9).

Link to individual story

Associated Press: Usage remains low for pill that can prevent HIV infection
“From gritty neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles to clinics in Kenya and Brazil, health workers are trying to popularize a pill that has proven highly effective in preventing HIV but which — in their view — remains woefully underused…” (Crary, 1/9).

Link to individual story

Malnutrition Deeply: Ranking Nutrition on the Global To-Do List
“…Progress on the several nutrition targets has stalled or is actually going in the wrong direction. Worried their efforts to get these targets back on track might be derailed, experts are pushing back and explaining why nutrition should be prioritized within the SDGs…” (Green, 1/10).

Malnutrition Deeply: Making Sure No One Is Left Behind When it Comes to Nutrition
“…[Jessica Fanzo], an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, who cochaired the production of the 2017 Global Nutrition Report, said the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a framework for integrating nutrition more systematically within the development agenda, but it’s still an uphill battle. She gave Malnutrition Deeply her thoughts on the issue…” (Byatnal, 1/9).

Link to individual story

IRIN: Donors lose appetite for North Korean food aid
“There’s a question mark hovering over the immediate future of aid delivery as food assistance — once a symbolic thread of engagement with North Korea — has become wrapped up in red tape and is starting to weigh heavily on weary donors. … [A] turbulent year filled with nuclear bluster may have exhausted any lingering goodwill among most international donors. Both donors and aid groups now face a mounting ethical debate — and a potential public relations catastrophe — when engaging with volatile North Korea…” (Loy, 1/9).

Link to individual story

Bloomberg Technology: 400 Deaths a Day Finally Prompt India to Target Road Safety (Sanjai, 1/9).

Business Insider: Bill Gates reveals how he decides where to spend his billions (Weller, 1/9).

Global Health NOW: Global Health Leadership: Barbara Bush and Krishna Rao (Simpson, 1/9).

Pulitzer Center: Tales from the Toilet: The Art of Disease Prevention in Western India (Castillo, 1/7).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Cholera threatens Congo’s capital as hundreds die from lack of treatment (Peyton, 1/9).

VOA News: WHO: Heavy Rains in DRC Worsening Cholera Epidemic (Schlein, 1/9).

Link to individual story

The Guardian: The world is in a perilous place. Here’s my wishlist for change in 2018
Elhadj As Sy, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

“Ours is a world overflowing with suffering. It is a world desperately in need of solutions. Many of its crises require political leadership and courage — something which in 2017 was often in short supply. So instead of suggesting that 2018 should be a year of solutions, my new year wishlist is for 12 months of change. My first wish is for more education. … The second wish is just as bold: 2018 should go down in history as the year the world seriously mobilized for health emergencies. … [M]y third wish for 2018: the world needs to invest much more in strengthening … grassroots action. … My hope for 2018 is that the tide begins to turn towards new thinking on humanitarian challenges. What we need are ‘glocal’ organizations — designed to put humanity at the center of all that they do, and to meet both global and local needs at the same time” (1/9).

Link to individual story

HuffPost: Global Pollution: A Silent Killer
Susan Blumenthal, public health editor of HuffPost, senior fellow in health policy at New America, and clinical professor at Tufts and Georgetown University Schools of Medicine; and Rachel Gardner, former health policy fellow at New America

“Pollution is now the leading killer of people worldwide, linked to an estimated nine million premature deaths in 2015. … Pollution affects the health of people in all nations, but 92 percent of deaths linked to this environmental killer occur in middle- and low-income countries. … Overall, pollution-related deaths and illnesses account for $4.6 trillion in annual losses, representing 6.2 percent of global economic output. … A recent Lancet report underscores that pollution endangers planetary health, destroys ecosystems, and is closely linked to global climate change. … Governments, foundations, international development organizations, businesses, health professionals, communities, and citizens must provide leadership to elevate pollution prevention and mitigation to the forefront of national and global policy agendas. … Failure to act swiftly and decisively to counter the effects of global pollution, a silent killer, will further imperil the health, economies, and future of people in America and around the world” (1/8).

Link to individual story

ONE Blog: Global aid at all-time high, but who is benefitting?
Pulling statistics from the Organisation for Economic Development — Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) and ONE’s 2017 DATA Report, Sara Harcourt, director of research and publications at ONE, and Kate Vang, data scientist at ONE, analyze trends on “how much aid is going where.” The authors examine overall aid levels, aid counted as in-donor refugee costs, and aid to least developed countries (1/10).

Link to individual story

Brookings Institution: Figures of the week: Monitoring sub-Saharan Africa’s progress toward universal health care coverage
Amy Copley, research analyst and project coordinator for the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, examines data from a recent joint World Bank and WHO report, “Tracking Universal Health Coverage: 2017 Global Monitoring Report,” which looks at “regional and national efforts to meet SDG 3 by ensuring universal health care coverage (UHC) and financial risk protection.” Copley focuses on the sub-Saharan Africa region, writing, “[W]eak service capacity and access is seriously undermining sub-Saharan Africa’s health systems and service coverage, compared to other regions” (1/5).

Link to individual story

Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program’s “New Security Beat”: The 30th Anniversary of the Safe Motherhood Initiative
Sarah Barnes, program associate with the Maternal Health Initiative at the Wilson Center, discusses a December 8 Wilson Center event to mark the anniversary of the Safe Motherhood Initiative. Participants highlighted successes in improving maternal health and survival, as well as ongoing challenges, including a shortage of highly trained midwives in sub-Saharan Africa and access to contraception (1/4).

Link to individual story

IDSA’s “Science Speaks”: Ebola study in Sierra Leone community finds a third of households with an infected member saw transmissions to others
Antigone Barton, senior editor and writer of “Science Speaks,” discusses a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases examining household spread of Ebola during the West African outbreak of 2014-2016. In Sierra Leone, the Ebola virus spread to other family members in one-third of households with an infected person, according to the study (1/9).

Link to individual story

Aidspan: Global Fund Observer
Aidspan, an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, published Issue 328 of the “Global Fund Observer.” The newsletter includes articles on various topics, including Nigeria’s malaria, TB, and HIV funding; the Global Fund Board’s approval of an additional $1.38 billion in grants for 2017-2019; and Zambia’s request for TB/HIV funding (1/10).

Link to individual story