BBC News: Yemen: First U.N. aid ship in four months reaches Aden
“A United Nations aid ship carrying food supplies has docked in Yemen’s southern city of Aden for the first time since fighting broke out there in March…” (7/21).

New York Times: Yemen: Ship Loaded With Food Aid Reaches Aden
“…It was the first vessel chartered by the [World Food Programme] to reach Aden since the Yemen conflict escalated nearly four months ago, when a Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign began against Yemen’s Houthi rebels…” (Gladstone, 7/21).

Reuters: U.N. ship brings food aid to Yemen’s Aden as fighting rages
“…The ship carried enough U.N. food aid to feed 180,000 people for a month, a small measure of relief for a city that has been severely damaged by the conflict between Houthi militiamen and forces loyal to deposed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi…” (Mukhashaf/Miles, 7/21).

U.N. News Centre: Yemen: first U.N. food aid arrives in Aden as intense fighting takes ‘serious toll’ on civilians
“…The number of food-insecure people in Yemen is close to 13 million, including more than six million people who cannot survive without external assistance, [WFP] said…” (7/21).

United Press International: First U.N. aid ship arrives in Aden, Yemen
“…Additional WFP ships are on standby near Aden — a city which serves as the organization’s gateway to Yemen’s southern regions that are mostly inaccessible due to armed conflict. Since April, 13 of Yemen’s governorates, including Aden, Hodeidah, Lahj, and others have been helped by WFP’s efforts…” (Monzon, 7/21).

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Agence France-Presse: Hunt for HIV cure bolstered by new research
“A cure for HIV remains elusive, but scientists say the hunt is more hopeful than ever, based on the prospects of new research described at the International AIDS Society conference this week…” (Jones, 7/21).

PBS NewsHour: How early treatment has changed the death sentence of AIDS
“…The three-decade-long fight against AIDS has seen a series of breakthroughs in recent weeks, showing momentum in the push for an HIV cure. [Monday], at the 2015 International AIDS Society Conference in Vancouver, researchers detailed some dramatic findings. They confirmed that, for people with HIV, starting treatments with antiretroviral drugs early did prevent AIDS-related illness and deaths…” (Ifill, 7/21).

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New York Times: Obama’s ‘Power Africa’ Project Is Off to a Sputtering Start
“…Power Africa, a $7 billion project coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development that is one of President Obama’s signature policies for Africa, is supposed to help [improve Africa’s electricity grid], with a goal of doubling electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years. … Two years [after its launch], as Mr. Obama prepares to visit Africa again, … [i]t has yet to deliver any electricity…” (Nixon, 7/21).

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BBC News: Nigeria Boko Haram areas ‘to get $2bn in World Bank aid’
“The World Bank has pledged $2.1bn (£1.4bn; €1.9bn) to help rebuild north-eastern parts of Nigeria, wracked by years of Boko Haram militancy, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says. Mr. Buhari was speaking in Washington after talks with World Bank officials. … Mr. Buhari also met representatives of the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss measures to tackle malaria and polio…” (7/21).

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The Guardian Nigeria: Cautious optimism as Nigeria marks one year without polio
“Notwithstanding warnings by experts and donor agencies that the country may not be certified until 2017, Nigeria [will Friday] be successfully marking one year without polio. However, President, Nigerian Academy of Science and Chairman Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization, Oyewale Tomori yesterday in an interview with The Guardian warned against complacency…” (Anuforo, 7/22).

VOA News: Nigeria Beats Polio
“Nigeria has hit a major milestone. It is the latest country to rid itself of the scourge of polio, and the last country in Africa to do so. … Ellyn Ogden has worked on polio eradication for the past 17 years at USAID. She said national pride is what motivated the Nigerian government to push to end the transmission of the virus…” (Pearson, 7/21).

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International Business Times: South Sudan: Cholera outbreak kills dozens as fears of epidemic spread in conflict-riven nation
“The death toll from South Sudan’s most recent cholera outbreak has increased to 39 with 1,212 recorded cases of the disease in the embattled African nation. … The transmission of the disease is being fueled by the vast numbers of displaced people living in camps near Juba, refugees from South Sudan’s bitter civil war…” (Paton, 7/21).

U.N. News Centre: U.N. relief chief heads to South Sudan to bolster humanitarian response as country’s challenges mount
“The top United Nations humanitarian official is heading to South Sudan where a new cholera outbreak has claimed nearly 40 lives, more than 2.2 million people have been uprooted from their homes by conflict, and nearly eight million others are expected to face food shortages during the rainy reason…” (7/21).

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Newsweek: Haiti’s Cervical Cancer Epidemic
“…By some counts, Haiti has the highest incidence of cervical cancer in the world. It kills nearly as many women there as all other cancers combined. Meanwhile, in North America it’s responsible for less than three percent of female cancer deaths…” (Wolford, 7/18).

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NPR: Female Genital Mutilation Is A U.S. Problem, Too
“Female genital mutilation seems like something that happens over there. Not in the United States. But in Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia. That’s not the case. More than half a million girls now living in the U.S. are considered at risk for female genital mutilation. … The developed world can learn from the efforts in Africa to eliminate female genital mutilation…” (Brink, 7/21).

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The Hill: What Congress needs to know about the Addis Ababa conference
Diana Ohlbaum, independent consultant, co-chair of the Accountability Working Group of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), and a principal of Turner4D

“…[T]he high-level [Third International Conference on Financing for Development] was one of major significance, with three key messages for Congress: 1. Talk is cheap, but progress has costs. … This conference was a recognition that before making commitments to achieve major development gains, the world must figure out a way to pay for them. … 2. It’s not all about aid. … What figured most prominently on the Addis agenda was the need for developing countries to raise more of their own domestic resources and invest them in the well-being of their people. … 3. Everyone has a role to play. … Developing countries agreed to ‘strengthen our domestic enabling environments, including the rule of law, and combat corruption at all levels and in all its forms.’ … [The conference’s outcome] doesn’t give Congress a pass on increasing the quantity and quality of development assistance, but it does provide reassurance that others will join us in stepping up to the plate” (7/21).

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Devex: Innovation in development
Rachel Vogelstein, director and senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations

“…Launched in April 2014, the Global Development Lab is USAID’s newest entity, designed to fund breakthrough innovations to ‘accelerate development impact faster, cheaper, and more sustainably.’ … While these out-of-the-box ideas have the potential to accelerate development gains, one of the lab’s greatest challenges is how to measure impact — particularly in areas such as democracy, human rights, and governance. The lab is piloting sensors and mobile surveys in an attempt to obtain timely and gender-disaggregated data, but more work is certainly needed. Though the lab is still a work in progress, its approach to innovation in development is a model to consider incorporating into the next stage of development funding” (7/22).

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Edmonton Journal: Tuesday’s Editorial: End of AIDS is within reach
Editorial Board

“…The worldwide death toll from HIV/AIDS has been dropping since 2006, but the disease rages on in sub-Saharan Africa. Of the two million new cases estimated last year, 70 percent were in that region. … Efforts to eradicate [AIDS] by 2030 — the United Nations’ stated goal — must be centered on those hardest-hit regions of Africa. … Much of the funding that will avail treatment to all will surely have to emanate from western nations like Canada and the United States, countries with far lower HIV/AIDS mortality rates and corresponding levels of public awareness and urgency. It will take uncommon will to direct the necessary billions of dollars to some countries seen as unstable, even unimportant politically. But science and social responsibility make it a must” (7/21).

Globe and Mail: We can end AIDS, so let’s do it
James Orbinski, co-founder of Dignitas International and CIGI research chair and professor in global health at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and Heather Johnston, president and CEO of Dignitas International

“…We must seize this opportunity to rapidly scale up HIV treatment programs and address the glaring inequities in access to health care between the global North and South. … Canada has touted its $3.5 billion pledge to improve the health of mothers, newborns, and children around the world, but tackling HIV and AIDS are seemingly absent from this promise. … The scientific and medical experts meeting [at the 2015 International AIDS Society conference] in Vancouver have done their part in showing us how to achieve what might be the most significant public health victory of our generation. We now call on the Canadian government to do its part and commit to funding the solutions that will bring this dark chapter in the world’s history to a close” (7/21).

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The Guardian: Are pharma giants living up to big promises on development?
Damiano de Felice, strategic adviser to the CEO of the Access to Medicine Foundation, and Jayasree K. Iyer, the foundation’s chief scientific officer

“…The [Access to Medicine] Foundation’s latest report maps how the [pharmaceutical] companies it tracks are responding to global calls for action on MDG5, which sets targets for reducing deaths during pregnancy and childbirth and for increasing access to contraception and safe abortion. … The report maps the landscape of company activity, making a number of interesting findings. … [B]roadly, the report shows that pharmaceutical companies can respond proactively to global targets and priorities — and the areas it covers can act as a baseline for monitoring whether companies are working to improve access to maternal and reproductive health. … As we head into the era of the SDGs, rigorous monitoring and benchmarking of pharmaceutical companies will be crucial for identifying what works in the long-term and what needs to be adapted” (7/22).

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Kaiser Family Foundation: The Role of NGOs in the U.S. Global Health Response
This data note helps shed light on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the U.S. global health response. Using updated data and building on earlier Kaiser Family Foundation reports, Kellie Moss, senior policy analyst with the global health policy team at the foundation, and Jen Kates, vice president and director of global health & HIV policy at the foundation, provide a fuller picture of the role of these key implementers of U.S. global health programs and discuss key policy questions going forward (7/21).

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ONE Campaign: Using data to save lives
Erin Hohlfelder, ONE’s policy director for global health, and Joe Kraus, ONE’s senior policy manager for transparency and accountability, discuss the importance of aid transparency and describe how “a recent event to launch Publish What You Fund’s 2015 U.S. Aid Transparency Review — a mid-year assessment of U.S. agencies’ performance on aid transparency — provided an opportunity to hear about the progress various U.S. agencies are making to track their foreign assistance dollars” (7/20).

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ONE Campaign: Beyond Aid: What should the next U.S. President do to bolster global development?
David Kortava, ONE’s U.S. press coordinator, discusses a recent panel discussion at the Center for Global Development, where “thought leaders in development policy discussed a range of tools beyond monetary assistance — in areas like trade, investment, and migration — that the next presidential administration could employ to further global prosperity.” He notes the panelists especially “stressed the importance of engaging the private sector” (7/21).

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Christine Lubinski, executive director of the Center for Global Health Policy, and Antigone Barton, senior editor and writer of “Science Speaks,” continue their reporting from the IAS 2015 conference taking place this week in Vancouver, Canada.

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2015: Confronting community realities together will beat AIDS, Amb. Birx says (Lubinski, 7/21).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2015: HPTN 068 and CAPRISA 007 cash incentive studies show value of school, financial support, but also show more is needed to protect young people from HIV (Lubinski, 7/21).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2015: UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal is useful if it helps programs focus, get out of the bedroom, treat those most affected as part solution (Barton, 7/21).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2015: As HPTN 052 ends, Dr. Cohen confirms findings with new insights (Barton, 7/21).

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