The Hill: Obama’s trade deal is in trouble
“…The reactions [to the recently released full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)] — from lukewarm support to outright hostility — have led many to believe the deal doesn’t have the votes to pass Congress. … Brand-name pharmaceutical companies are disappointed with patent protections in the deal, though the trade group PhRMA has yet to take a formal position on the TPP. … A separate provision in the TPP allows governments to impose controls meant to curb smoking and prevents tobacco companies from using the trade agreement’s dispute settlement system to sue for damages on their investments…” (Swanson/Cusack, 11/17).

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News outlets continue to discuss a survey, released Monday by the WHO at the beginning of the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week, showing widespread public misunderstanding of antimicrobial resistance.

Agence France-Presse: ‘Dangerously high’ antibiotic resistance levels worldwide: WHO (Larson, 11/16).

CIDRAP News: WHO survey shows antibiotic resistance myths common (Schnirring, 11/16).

Deutsche Welle: WHO: widespread confusion about antibiotic resistance and what causes it (11/16).

International Business Times: When Should You Take Antibiotics? Most People Have The Wrong Idea, Multicountry Survey Finds (Whitman, 11/16).

Reuters: Misunderstanding of antibiotics fuels superbug threat, WHO says (Kelland, 11/16).

Science Speaks: Antibiotic resistance posing little understood global health threat, WHO report says (Barton, 11/16).

U.N. News Centre: Widespread misunderstanding about antibiotic resistance threatens public health — U.N. health agency (11/16).

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The Guardian: El Niño: food shortages, floods, disease, and droughts set to put millions at risk
“The U.N. has warned of months of extreme weather in many of the world’s most vulnerable countries with intense storms, droughts, and floods triggered by one of the strongest El Niño weather events recorded in 50 years, which is expected to continue until spring 2016…” (Vidal/Carrington, 11/16).

U.N. News Centre: El Niño on track to be among worst ever, but world better prepared for fallout — U.N.
“…[T]he world is better prepared than ever to deal with the phenomenon, caused by the cyclical warming of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, even though global warming has added a wild card to forecasting the severity of its impact, U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told a news conference in Geneva [Monday]. … [T]he worst affected countries are already planning for the impact on agriculture, fisheries, water, and health, and implementing disaster management campaigns to save lives and minimize economic damage and disruption, he added…” (11/16).

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Reuters: Guinea says has no Ebola cases after last patient recovers
“A baby girl in Guinea, who was the last known Ebola patient in a two-year regional epidemic, has recovered from the disease but remained under surveillance at a medical facility in the capital Conakry on Tuesday, health officials said. The baby’s recovery means that Guinea, the last country still battling the virus, can begin its 42-day countdown to declaring an end to outbreak…” (Samb et al., 11/17).

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Kenya Broadcasting Company: First Lady: Invest in women, children to achieve SDGs
“First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has urged leaders to provide the necessary political goodwill for women and children to access equal opportunities. … The First Lady was speaking at Mount Kenya Safari Club, Nanyuki, during the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in support of [an] Every Woman Every Child learning event. … The First Lady said the facility has come at an opportune time for Kenya when the country is accelerating efforts aimed at improving maternal and child health outcomes…” (11/16).

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NPR: Why The World Is Falling Behind In The Campaign To Kill Measles
“…Data just released by the World Health Organization show that between 2000 and 2014, the number of measles-related deaths plummeted from 546,800 to 114,900. But progress has slowed recently. Report author Dr. Robert Perry, a vaccine specialist, explained what needs to happen to make measles history…” (Hallett, 11/16).

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Devex: Carlos Slim on how to scale what works in development
“…When asked what more billionaires can be doing to advance global development, [Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú] emphasized that the broader business community has a role to play. ‘Big business, medium business, and small businesses are very important because that is where jobs are really created,’ he said. ‘And where poverty is really combated.’ … In his interview with Devex, Slim emphasized the importance of going beyond giving and engaging in problem solving…” (Cheney, 11/16).

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The Guardian: Refugee crisis must not deflect us from our long-term development aims
Helen Clark, chair of the U.N. Development Group (UNDG) and U.N. Development Programme administrator; and Erik Solheim, chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)

“…Caring for refugees and asylum seekers in Europe should not weaken support for international development cooperation; on the contrary, it underlines the urgency for alleviating poverty. The crisis can never be resolved if international development cooperation erodes. … While the arrival of large numbers of refugees undoubtedly requires more funding to be allocated to meet their needs, the longstanding partnerships between traditional donors and developing countries, multilateral partners, and civil society must be nurtured if poverty eradication and sustainable development overall are to be achieved. Multilateral development and humanitarian actors and the donor community must continue to work closely together, and that work must be adequately resourced. We must aim to meet the collective promise of the Sustainable Development Goals: to leave no one behind” (11/16).

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Devex: Nigeria’s polio-free gift to Africa
Ado Jimada Gana Muhammad, executive director and CEO of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency

“…It is … expected that all stakeholders sustain — and where need be, increase — their support for the polio eradication program in Nigeria. Government at all levels should continue to provide the necessary leadership, oversight, and funding. To achieve eradication in the next two years, surveillance requires further improvements to make it more sensitive. The quality of the polio campaign must be maintained, by sustaining and scaling up innovative strategies … The program therefore needs sustained funding and the commitment of all personnel, especially the frontline health workers, as well as the support and understanding of all Nigerians as it heads towards eradication in 2017…” (11/16).

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New York Times: In Bangladesh, a Half-Century of Saving Lives With Data
Amy Yee, journalist

“…Matlab is not just the name of a region. It is synonymous with the rural research site of the [International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b),] whose headquarters is 34 miles away in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. … Ideas that germinated at Matlab have saved countless lives in Bangladesh and beyond. … Data was essential to these advances. That work in Matlab began in 1966, when researchers began tracking demographic and health data from about 28,000 people. The research center now collects data from about 220,000 people in Matlab, and has become the longest-running health surveillance system in the developing world. This trove of nearly 50 years of data has changed the way health research in developing countries can be monitored and evaluated…” (11/17).

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The Guardian: When will the world wake up to the potential of poo power?
John Vidal, Guardian’s environment editor

“…In Europe and the U.S. human waste is seen as a major health risk, but to generations of Chinese and Vietnamese farmers accustomed to handling organic manures ‘night soil’ — as it is known — is a safe, desirable, organic fertilizer high in phosphorous, nitrogen, and nutrients. Treated properly, it’s safe, commands premium prices, and restores goodness to overworked fields. … The environmental benefits of producing both biogas and a rich fertilizer from human waste are well-documented. Apart from hygienically disposing of the excreta, which is a serious health problem in India and parts of Africa where people defecate in the open, it also saves cutting down forests and burning fossil fuels to generate the electricity needed to make modern phosphorous-based fertilizers. When linked to a generator the poo can produce electricity. Not just win-win. But win, win, win, win…” (11/16).

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White House: FACT SHEET: The U.S. Commitment to the Global Health Security Agenda
On Monday, “during the G-20 Leaders’ Summit in Antalya, Turkey, President Obama announced that the United States and 30 countries, listed below, have made a commitment to work together to achieve the targets of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). … The 30 partner countries of the United States are: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, and Vietnam. In addition, we plan to partner with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to strengthen regional capacity…” (11/16).

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CDC’s “Our Global Voices”: Antimicrobial Resistance — A Global Imperative
Benjamin J. Park, chief of the CDC’s International Infection Control Program, discusses how “[t]he rise of super-resistant organisms threatens the successes of modern medicine, including our ability to treat common infections, and poses a significant economic and public health challenge.” He examines global and domestic actions to stem antimicrobial resistance and calls for “[m]ore and better data … to discover the full impact of antibiotic resistance…” (11/16).

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Center for Strategic & International Studies’ “Global Health Policy Center”: After the Ebola Catastrophe
J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, discusses the global response to Ebola and highlights two recommendations made by the Independent Panel on the Global Response to Ebola, on which he served, about how the world can move forward post-Ebola. Morrison writes, “First, now is the time to act — at a high level — if the opportunity to effect real change in how the world prepares for infectious outbreaks is not to slip away. … Second, fixing WHO needs to be the top priority…” (11/16).

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Center for Strategic & International Studies: Food Insecurity, Conflict, and Stability
In this report, Kimberly Flowers, director of the CSIS Global Food Security Project, discusses how “[t]he food-price crisis of 2007-2008 caused dozens of protests across the globe, serving as a wakeup call to the international community and the United States that investments in sustainable agricultural development are critical to political stability and national security” (11/16).

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Center for Global Development’s “Global Health Policy Blog”: Family Planning Commitments: Much Achieved, But Short of Goal
Amanda Glassman, vice president for programs, director of global health policy, and senior fellow at CGD, discusses the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) report and outlines “some key issues [that] need to be assessed going forward.” She continues, “The good news is that now is the right time for a fresh look at family planning efforts: 2016 is the midpoint of the FP2020 initiative and revisits of performance projections, funding requirements, allocation practices, and incentives for alignment of effort could have an impact…” (11/16).

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Council on Foreign Relations’ “Women Around the World”: From Vision to Action: Gender Equality as a Framework for SDG Implementation
Daniela Ligiero, vice president of Girls and Women Strategy at the United Nations Foundation, discusses the value in approaching implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a gender equality lens, writing, “[O]ne important component of achieving gender equality … is a focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Going beyond this goal, there’s evidence that voluntary family planning, which is central to SRHR, can affect a number of different SDG goals…” (11/16).

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