KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report

In The News

Trump Late To G7 Gender Equality Breakfast, Pulls U.S. Support Of Group's Joint Statement

The Hill: Trump arrives late to G7 gender equality breakfast
“President Trump strolled in late on Saturday to a breakfast meeting on gender equality at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada. Other G7 leaders and the gender equality advisory council created by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had already kicked off the breakfast when Trump entered the room several minutes late…” (Greenwood, 6/9).

New York Times: Trump Shakes Up World Stage in Break With U.S. Allies
“…At the annual meeting on Friday of seven major economies known as the Group of 7, Mr. Trump was the odd man out as he quarreled with Europeans and Canadians over trade and pushed for the reinstatement of Russia four years after it was cast out. Seemingly reluctant to spend more time with longtime allies than necessary, he planned to leave early on Saturday to meet instead with a longtime adversary, North Korea…” (Baker, 6/8).

Washington Post: Trump removes U.S. from G7 joint statement over escalating feud with Canada’s Trudeau
“…Trump said Saturday evening that he had instructed U.S. officials to withdraw support for a joint statement with other member nations he had backed just hours earlier, saying the United States would not join after Trudeau publicly criticized Trump’s trade policy…” (Paletta/Gearan, 6/9).

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Friends Of The Global Fight's Mark Lagon Discusses U.S. HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria Efforts On VOA News Podcast

VOA News: The Global Fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
“On this edition of Press Conference USA, Mark Lagon, chief policy officer of the Friends of the Global Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, joins host Carol Castiel and guest co-host Carol Pearson to talk about the latest efforts by the U.S. to end three of the largest epidemics in the world…” (6/8).

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U.S. BARDA Announces New Funding Initiative For Development Of Health Care Products

Forbes: An Unlikely Biotech Investor: The Government
“…This year …, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), took the opportunity at BIO to make a major program announcement regarding a new funding initiative called DRIVe (Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures). … DRIVe’s mission will be to accelerate research, development, and availability of transformative countermeasures to protect Americans. Unlike the current funding mechanisms the government uses, it seems that DRIVe will act more like a strategic investor in private and public companies in addition to being a grant maker. … BARDA’s job isn’t as easy as funding research to make medical countermeasures materialize. It has to work with companies to come to the table and work on initiatives that aren’t necessarily on the radar screens of big pharma and biotech. … For the better part of a decade, BARDA has been working with pharmaceutical companies to enhance our ability to respond to threats like Ebola. … BARDA and Merck have been working in concert to take the fight to Ebola, developing a single-shot vaccine that is being [tested] to protect people who are at high risk of exposure to the virus…” (Brozak, 6/8).

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CHANGE President Serra Sippel Discusses New Report On Impacts Of Mexico City Policy In Elite Daily Interview

Elite Daily: The Impact Of Trump’s Global Gag Rule Expansion One Year Later Is Worrying
“…[A] report by the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) released Tuesday, June 5 reveals the impact that Trump’s ‘global gag rule’ expansion is having on critical health care services abroad. I spoke with Serra Sippel, president of CHANGE, about the impacts of Trump’s expansion…” (Golden, 6/8).

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WHO 'Cautiously Optimistic' About Ending DRC Ebola Outbreak Soon

Agence France-Presse: WHO predicts Ebola outbreak in DR Congo could end soon
“The director general of the World Health Organization said Sunday he believed a swift end could be put to the outbreak of Ebola in northwestern DR Congo, … which has left 27 people dead over the past month. ‘I am cautiously optimistic that we shall be able to bring it to an end soon,’ Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at Kinshasa airport…” (6/10).

U.N. News: WHO reports ‘very strong progress’ in battling DR Congo Ebola outbreak
“…Dr. Peter Salama of the World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists in Geneva that the first phase — protecting urban centers and towns — ‘has gone well, and we can be cautiously optimistic.’ There have been 62 Ebola cases in the DRC during this latest outbreak, with 38 confirmations and 27 deaths. The latest case, confirmed on Thursday, is in the remote Iboko health zone in the northwest: an indication that the outbreak is ongoing…” (6/8).

Additional reporting on the Ebola outbreak, including information on containment efforts and research into experimental vaccines and treatments, is available from the Associated Press, CIDRAP News, CNN, NPR, Reuters, STAT (2), and Washington Times. A WHO statement marking one month of the outbreak also is available.

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Discrimination, Lack Of Political Will Inhibit Efforts To Reach U.N. Goal Of Ending AIDS By 2030, Experts Say

Mic: “We’re nowhere close to the end”: Stigma and politics stand in way of U.N. goal to end AIDS
“In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly set an ambitious goal: End the global AIDS epidemic by 2030. … While eradicating AIDS … is a lofty and worthy goal … [t]here are still a number of challenges on the road to the post-AIDS world envisioned by the U.N. … Some of [the challenges] are longstanding — discrimination chief among them. … A lack of political will and global conflicts that result in refugees and drug resistance also complicate the effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS…” (Lutz, 6/8).

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Venezuela Records First Case Of Polio Nearly 30 Years After Eradicating Disease

Agence France-Presse: Polio makes comeback in Venezuela after decades
“Polio has been reported in Venezuela, a crisis-wracked country where the disease had been eradicated decades ago, the Pan-American Health Organization reports…” (6/9).

Daily Telegraph: Venezuela hit by first case of Polio since 1989 as country falls deeper into crisis
“In Delta Amacuro, where the case was discovered, vaccine coverage only reached 67 percent, according to a statement from a local watchdog group…” (Weddle, 6/10).

Newsweek: Polio Returns to Venezuela as Economic Crisis Cripples Health Care System
“… ‘The government is not approving the money for the vaccines,’ said Manuela Bolivar, a member of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly who is analyzing the increase in infections. ‘This situation is unfortunate but we saw it coming, because we’ve been denouncing for years that there are not enough vaccines’…” (Brennan, 6/11).

The Times: Venezuela may be suffering its first outbreak of polio in 30 years
“…The Venezuelan Society of Public Health, a non-governmental doctors’ association, said that three suspected cases were detected among an indigenous population in the remote northeastern state of Delta Amacuro, where the Orinoco River delta is located…” (Gibbs, 6/9).

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More News In Global Health

Business Insider: South Korea has the highest rate of deaths by suicide in the developed world — but a 2011 law helped decrease rates by 15% (Premack, 6/9).

CNN: Pro-life activists target rural Nepali women (Todras-Whitehill/Adhikari, 6/9).

Devex: Deal slashes drug price of 3 in 1 pill for people living with HIV (Ravelo, 6/8).

PRI: The ‘menstrual awakening’: Shattering the period stigma (Tong, 6/8).

Reuters: Elton John urges social media firms to help end HIV/AIDS stigma (Gumuchian, 6/8).

U.N. News: U.N. humanitarian coordinator condemns Central African Republic hospital attack as ‘inhuman and unworthy’ (6/9).

U.N. News: 250,000 people ‘may lose everything — even their lives’ in assault on key Yemeni port city: U.N. humanitarian coordinator (6/8).
Wall Street Journal: U.N. Pushes to Avert ‘Catastrophic’ U.A.E. Attack on Yemen Port (Nissenbaum, 6/10).

U.N. News: From drought to floods in Somalia; displacement and hunger worsen, says U.N. (6/8).
VOA News: Children at Risk of Death from Heavy Flooding in Somalia (Schlein, 6/9).

Xinhua News: South Sudan says on verge of guinea worm eradication (6/8).

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Editorials and Opinions

For Progress Against Global HIV/AIDS To Continue, U.S. Must Recommit To Fully Funding PEPFAR

CNN: Biden & Frist: Now is not the time to cut off AIDS funding
Joe Biden, former U.S. vice president and Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice professor at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania; and Bill Frist, former Republican Senate majority leader from Tennessee and chair of Hope Through Healing Hands

“…[T]oday, thanks to the generosity of the American people, there are millions of men, women, and children for whom an HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. … And yet, for all these successes, this is a precarious moment. … This is a moment for the United States to step up our investment in HIV/AIDS, rally other nations to join us and finish the work we started. … [W]e can’t allow ourselves to become complacent with what we’ve already accomplished. We have to recommit ourselves to fully funding PEPFAR, expanding access to treatment, and ensuring we don’t allow our progress to slip away from us. … We are passing more responsibility for the fight to our African partners every year, but we can’t let our progress toward defeating this disease serve as an excuse to take our foot off the gas. If we can tap into that big-hearted, bipartisan spirit we have shown in the past, we can reach the day where future generations lead full and productive lives, free from the threat of AIDS” (6/8).

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Protecting U.S. Citizens From Bioterrorism, Disease Epidemics Requires Global Health Investments

Forbes: Today’s Life-Saving Ebola Vaccine Was Spurred By The 2001 Anthrax And 2004 Ricin Attacks
Bill Frist, former Republican Senate majority leader from Tennessee and chair of Hope Through Healing Hands

“…Outbreaks of known and new diseases are, and will continue to be, an evolutionary certainty. It’s time for forward-thinking prevention. … [I]n our globalized society, we can no longer count on outbreaks being locally or regionally contained. As we saw with Ebola and later Zika, one nation’s challenge can quickly become a global problem. Investing in global health reduces the spread of diseases, improves our nation’s standing in the world, and serves as currency for peace. This small sliver of our federal budget … pays life-saving dividends as it funds the infrastructure and trains the health workers that are the backbone in responding to public health crises. We must protect our citizens from bioterrorism and dangerous disease epidemics … but we will fall short of this goal if we don’t look outward and invest in health beyond our borders” (6/10).

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Reauthorizing PAHPA Gives U.S. Legislators Opportunity To Address Antimicrobial Resistance, Strengthen U.S. Health Security

The Hill: Antimicrobial resistance threatens our health security — both domestically and globally
Barbara Murray, J. Ralph Meadows professor of medicine and director of the Infectious Diseases Division at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, and chair of the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s Antimicrobial Resistance Committee

“…[C]ongressional attention to reauthorizing the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) is timely. … [I]n the years since its enactment [in 2006], the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections, the greatest public health threat facing our country, has only gained momentum, with the diminishing arsenal of effective antibiotic medicines. The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a major threat not only to our ability to treat and prevent specific diseases, but to provide medical care across a range of emergency events. The reauthorization of PAHPA gives legislators an opportunity to strengthen our weakest link by providing pharmaceutical companies with a necessary incentive to fill an unmet need. … Antibiotic resistance puts our health security at risk, both within the U.S. and globally. … It is critical that PAHPA reauthorization addresses that threat” (6/8).

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Governments, Hospitals Should Invest In Limiting Nosocomial Transmission During Nipah, Other Disease Outbreaks

Foreign Policy: India Is Panicking About a Virus Passed by Bat Poop
Laurie Garrett, former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations

“…Nipah is not an airborne supercontagious agent like measles or influenza. … But since fear rarely bothers to rest on a foundation of fact, the Indian outbreak has spawned outsized fears of spread and contagion around the world (if not yet in the West). … The risk of Nipah, or any other dangerous bat-borne virus, cannot be ascribed simply to ‘poor countries’ or ‘bad hospitals.’ … Nipah will return — as will dozens, if not hundreds, of other bat viruses — in unpredictable times and places. Take heed, hospital administrators and those who control government purse strings: Preventing serious outbreaks means putting time and money every day into training and equipment that limit the risk of nosocomial spread. Waiting to take steps in an atmosphere of fear and hysteria — or, worse, feeding those fears — risks needless anxiety and grievous mistakes” (6/8).

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From the Global Health Policy Community

IntraHealth Interviews WHO's Jim Campbell On Global Shortage Of Health Workers, Achieving Gender Equality In Health Workforce

IntraHealth International’s “VITAL”: 5 Questions with WHO’s Jim Campbell
This blog post highlights an interview with Jim Campbell, director of the WHO Health Workforce Department, about the global shortage of health workers and the role of the #MeToo movement in achieving gender equality in the health workforce (6/8).

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Wilson Center Event Explores Challenges Of Scaling Up Health Care In Fragile Settings

Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program’s “New Security Beat”: Fragile Families: Scaling Up Health Care in Conflict Settings
This podcast features audio from an event at the Wilson Center on scaling up reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health interventions in fragile settings (6/8).

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Girls Not Brides Director Says Global Community Must Redouble Efforts To Reduce Child Marriage

Council on Foreign Relations’ “Women Around the World”: A Decrease in Child Marriage is Good for Everyone
In this post, a “Voices from the Field” feature, Lakshmi Sundaram, executive director of Girls Not Brides, discusses progress toward and challenges to reducing child marriage worldwide. Sundaram writes, “Tackling child marriage will require political will, financial and other resources, the provision of appropriate health, education and other services, and a deep understanding of the specific drivers of child marriage in different communities. … By redoubling our efforts, and working in partnership across sectors and continents, we can create a world free of child marriage where girls and boys are able to shape their own futures” (Volgelstein, 6/8).

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Smart Food Program Aims To Improve Kenyan Women, Children's Nutrition Through Education

Food Tank: Empowering Kenyan Women with Nutrition Education
Madelyn Vital, research and writing fellow at Food Tank, discusses the work of the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Smart Food initiative to address poor maternal and child nutrition in Kenya. Vital writes, “ICRISAT hopes the educational Smart Food cooking and nutrition programs will educate and empower rural communities, inspire healthier cooking, feeding, and farming practices, and thereby fight malnutrition and undernutrition” (6/11).

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FT Health Highlights WHO Reports On Mental Health, Features Interview With Supply Chain Business Executive

FT Health: An urgent need to invest in mental health
The latest issue of the Financial Times’ weekly global health newsletter highlights findings from two WHO reports: the Mental Health Atlas 2017 and a report on mental health, human rights, and standards of care. The newsletter also features an interview with Anup Akkihal, chief executive of Logistimo, winner of the health and wellness category of the 2018 FT/IFC Transformational Business Award, as well as provides a round-up of global health-related news stories (Dodd/Jack, 6/8).

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From the U.S. Government

CDC's MMWR Discusses Response To 2017 Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak In Central Uganda

CDC’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report”: Notes from the Field: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak — Central Uganda, August-September 2017
Susan Kizito, field epidemiology fellow at Makerere University School of Public Health, and colleagues discuss efforts to contain the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) outbreak in central Uganda, noting, “CCHF is the most widespread tickborne viral hemorrhagic fever in the world and represents a global health security threat; a single case of CCHF constitutes an outbreak. … The rapid and coordinated response to this outbreak demonstrated the significant progress made to enhance global health security in Uganda” (6/8).

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