CNN: U.S. foreign aid cuts could be a ‘death sentence’ to women in Malawi
“…The rate of maternal deaths in Malawi is among the highest globally and illegal abortions are a significant reason. Now public health officials, aid professionals, and doctors in Malawi fear it could get even worse. The impoverished East African nation could be one of the hardest hit in Africa by proposed cuts to U.S. foreign aid. … ‘There is a lot at stake. The U.S. is the largest provider of family planning in the world and has been a real leader in providing support for many low- and middle-income countries,’ said Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV/AIDS [policy] at the Kaiser Family Foundation…” (McKenzie/Swails, 7/27).

The Guardian: ‘Women will die’: Trump leaves Ugandan women in jeopardy
“Hundreds of thousands of women in Uganda face losing vital reproductive health care and advice under Donald Trump’s looming crackdown on international family planning. The services of Uganda’s largest providers of family planning, cancer screening, and antenatal care are under threat after the U.S. president reintroduced the Mexico City policy, otherwise known as the ‘global gag rule,’ in his first week in office…” (Ford, 7/27).

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The Guardian: Families, fertility, and feminism: landmarks in women’s rights
“Women have fought long and hard to secure access to family planning and abortion, and reduce maternal mortality. A modern timeline of that struggle tells a story full of highs and lows…” (Ford, 7/27).

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Associated Press: U.N. Says 80 Percent of Yemeni Children Need Humanitarian Aid
“Three U.N agencies say nearly 80 percent of Yemeni children need immediate humanitarian assistance amid the collapse of the country’s health system in the face of the two-year-long civil war. The heads of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and World Food Programme said in a joint statement on Wednesday that two million Yemeni children are malnourished, making them vulnerable to cholera…” (7/27).

CIDRAP News: Yemen cholera outbreak tops 400,000, draws high-level U.N. visit
“Suspected cholera illnesses in Yemen’s outbreak have now topped 400,000 cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said [Wednesday], as leaders from three United Nations (U.N.) agencies wrapped up a visit to the country, which is torn by conflict and famine…” (Schnirring, 7/26).

U.N. News Centre: Malnutrition and cholera ‘a vicious combination’ in war-torn Yemen — U.N. agency chiefs
“In Yemen, the world’s worst cholera outbreak is unfolding amid the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, crippling health, water, and sanitation facilities in the country, and creating ideal conditions for diseases to spread, according to the heads of three United Nations agencies…” (7/26).

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Devex: HIV treatment: Strategies to reach the next 10 million patients
“The last time the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science met [in Paris] in 2003, fewer than two million people globally were on HIV treatment. As the event returned to Paris this week, UNAIDS reported 19.5 million people are now taking antiretroviral therapy, or ART. The numbers put the world on track to reach 30 million people on treatment by 2030 — a critical benchmark to actually end the AIDS epidemic. … Yet campaigners know that reaching the next 10 million people with treatment will be harder in some ways. These patients are among the most difficult to reach: People living in conflict areas, stigmatized and criminalized populations … and young people…” (Green, 7/27).

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Miami Herald: Anger and angst in Haiti as cholera victims wait for U.N. compensation
“…The United Nations, which after years of denial finally acknowledged its role in the outbreak in August, has pledged $400 million to treat cholera victims and improve sanitation and water infrastructure in Haiti, while also providing ‘material assistance and support’ to those most severely affected. But it’s unclear how long Haitians will have to wait, and if compensation is offered, what it might involve…” (Charles, 7/27).

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Thomson Reuters Foundation: Philippines trials anti-HIV drug as cases hit record high
“The Philippines has kicked off a pilot project offering anti-HIV drugs to gays and transgender women as new infection rates in the country buck global trends and hit a record high. Under the project, 200 HIV-negative gay men and transgender women will be given a daily pill known as PrEP that is designed to protect the body pre-exposure…” (Yi, 7/26).

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NPR: Dengue Fever Cases Top 100,000 In Sri Lanka’s Outbreak
“Sri Lanka celebrated its eradication of malaria last year. But now the country faces another mosquito-borne illness: dengue fever. … A dengue outbreak has left some Sri Lankan hospitals so full that they’re turning away patients, says Gerhard Tauscher, an operations manager with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies…” (Columbus, 7/26).

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NPR: New Report Shows 64 Of 195 Countries Aren’t Meeting A Basic Vaccination Target
“Vaccine progress is stalling. That’s the message from a new report issued by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The report focuses on the [diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP)] vaccine … We spoke with Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, director of immunization, vaccines, and biologicals at the World Health Organization, and Robin Nandy, chief of immunizations at UNICEF, to understand the roadblocks to better coverage — and encouraging signs for progress in the future…” (Shaikh-Lesko, 7/25).

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National Geographic: Nearly a Billion People Still Defecate Outdoors. Here’s Why.
“…Today open defecation is on the decline worldwide, but nearly 950 million people still routinely practice it. Some 569 million of them live in India. … In 2015 the United Nations called for an end to open defecation by 2030. … Achieving the global milestone, number six on the U.N.’s list of Sustainable Development Goals, would radically improve public health: Diseases caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water kill more children, some 1.4 million per year, than measles, malaria, and AIDS combined. It also would help alleviate poverty and hunger and improve education…” (Royte, August 2017).

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Foreign Policy: The Next AIDS Pandemic
Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations

“Thousands of HIV/AIDS experts are gathered in Paris this week for their biennial world conference, and leaders are exhorting every one of them to fight for global financing and expand access to treatment, especially in Africa. But the world cannot treat its way out of AIDS, and without a revolutionary breakthrough in either vaccines or the entire model of HIV control, a massive second global wave of AIDS will come, perhaps within the next 10 years. … Without an effective, affordable vaccine, the toolkit for slowing a second HIV pandemic is limited to the same marginally effective one that brought us millions of infections in the 1990s: condoms, sexual abstinence, sterile needles, safe blood transfusions, and a constant deluge of warnings to the youthful public. If the world isn’t willing and able to not merely stay the course, but expand support for treatment and R&D, it is hard to imagine any way out of the grim pandemic scenario…” (7/26).

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Health Affairs: What U.S. Budget Cuts To Global Health Could Mean For Future Funding
Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF); Nafis Sadat, researcher on the Financial Resources for Health team at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME); Adam Wexler, associate director of global health and HIV policy at KFF; and Joseph Dieleman, assistant professor at IHME, assess the potential impact of U.S. funding cuts to global health, writing, “We found that a one-year cut in the U.S. global health budget of the magnitude proposed by the president for 2018 would result in significantly less [development assistance for health (DAH)] over the next 10 years. … We also found that the U.S. rank as a donor to global health, as measured by DAH as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), would fall from No. 5 (in 2016) to No. 10 under the administration’s proposed cut” (7/26).

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Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2017: Knocking down barriers between services and populations facing highest risks, lowest access, takes time, gathers momentum
Antigone Barton, senior editor and writer of “Science Speaks,” discusses a session at the IAS 2017 conference addressing progress toward breaking down barriers to health care access for key populations (7/26).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2017: Protests take the stage
Christine Lubinski, executive director of the Center for Global Health Policy, highlights protests that took place during the IAS 2017 conference (7/26).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2017: A new $90-$90-$90 — that means affordable treatments for leading disease killers
Barton discusses a presentation made by Dzintars Gotham on drug cost estimates for infectious diseases (7/27).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: IAS 2017: Expanded treatment guidelines expand access to many without harms to those already in care in Zambia
Lubinski discusses a presentation made by Aaloke Mody of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) on the impacts of Zambia’s April 2014 expansion of HIV treatment eligibility (7/27).

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U.S. Department of State’s “DipNote”: Advancing Disability Rights Advocacy: Building Global Coalitions Through People-to-People Diplomacy
Kristin Fleschner, a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, discusses her experience losing her sight in her twenties and advocating for disability rights in the U.S. She highlights her recent meeting with Guyanese radio host and disability advocate Leroy Phillips, who lost his vision at age 6 and “who was visiting the United States from Guyana to give a presentation at the World Bank on disability-inclusive development” (7/25).

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