NPR: Trump Takes Office At A Pivotal Moment For Foreign Aid
“…The world’s wealthy countries have, since 2000, been part of a historic partnership with poor countries to eliminate poverty and roll back diseases. … Will Donald Trump commit his administration to being part of this global effort? … The stakes are high because the U.S. role in dealing with these health and development issues has been ‘outsized,’ says Raj Kumar, president and editor-in-chief of Devex … But it’s more than that. U.S officials are also vigorously involved in setting the agenda on global health and development. … ‘Global health really became part of what the U.S. government did in development,’ says Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. And while spending on global health has not gone up considerably under Obama, says Kates, the fact that ‘it’s been protected at a pretty constant level’ in the midst of all the budget battles between Obama and Republican leaders of Congress speaks volumes…” (Aizenman, 11/16).

Link to individual story

Devex: Following Trump win, Silicon Valley prepares to step up its global development work
“…It remains to be seen what the unexpected Donald J. Trump presidency will mean for the U.S. approach to global development. But Devex spoke with Silicon Valley leaders about the way they view their own role as the next administration takes shape. They said that with concerns mounting over what the future scale of U.S. foreign aid will look like, the role of the technology and innovation sector will become all the more critical…” (Cheney, 11/16).

Link to individual story

Scientific American: NIH Director Looks at Presidential Transition
In this short podcast, “National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins talks about the future of the NIH in light of the election” (Mirsky, 11/6).

Link to individual story

Financial Times: Special Report: Maternal and Child Health
“The problem of how to reduce the number of maternal and child deaths around the world remains a confounding one. Despite the existence of simple innovations that have been proven to save lives, governments and development workers have struggled to implement change.” The report includes 16 articles and opinion pieces on maternal and child health in various countries worldwide (Multiple authors, 11/16).

Link to individual story

STAT: Is Zika still a public health emergency?
“On Nov. 20, 2015, the World Health Organization warned the spread of Zika virus in Brazil might be responsible for a surge in the birth of babies born with tiny heads and underdeveloped brains. On Friday, almost a year to the day from that first warning, experts who advise the U.N.’s global health agency on Zika will grapple with the question of whether this most unusual of outbreaks still constitutes a crisis…” (Branswell, 11/17).

Link to individual story

NPR: The Rainy Season Strategy To Stop Malaria
“In Western and Central Africa a new technique to combat malaria is rapidly gaining traction across the Sahel. Health officials in 11 countries are now giving children antimalarial drugs during the rainy season in this semi-arid region and seeing a dramatic drop in the number of malaria cases. The technique is called Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention…” (Beaubien, 11/16).

Link to individual story

Xinhua News: Rwanda announces major campaign to eradicate malaria
“…Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Rwanda Minister of Health Dr. Diane Gashumba said the country is facing increasing cases of malaria infections, and the campaign marks renewed efforts aimed at preventing and controlling malaria, so that it ceases to be major public health problem in the small central Africa country…” (11/16).

Link to individual story

New York Times: With Fertility Rate in China Low, Some Press to Legalize Births Outside Marriage
“…Last week, three civil society groups in the southern city of Guangzhou issued a report calling for greater reproductive freedom for single women to counter the country’s low fertility rate. The issue also affects lesbians, the groups said, because same-sex marriage is not permitted. … Chinese law states that citizens have the right to give birth, [Mary Chin, a law student who provided legal analysis for the report,] said. But they can only exercise that right within a complex system of national and local family planning regulations. Many provinces impose fines on people who have children outside marriage…” (Tatlow, 11/17).

Link to individual story

Devex: Opinion: Trickle-down health care
Patrick Fine, chief executive officer of FHI 360

“Do investments in private hospitals and clinics catering to the wealthy strengthen primary health care systems in poor countries? … The vision is for private capital to fill the gap left by the public sector’s inability to meet demand for high-quality tertiary care and, in so doing, provide the foundation for a self-sustaining system. That stronger ecosystem can propagate skills, standards, and systems throughout health care delivery. In other words, trickle-down health care. … My problem is representing services for those who are most well off as ‘social impact’ investments that will benefit the poor. The argument that investing in expensive, curative tertiary care benefits the poor is too far of a stretch for me. Of more concern is whether those investments are being subsidized by governments or donors and are exacerbating the growing problem of inequality. … We need to keep the focus on preventive and primary care and not allow expensive curative systems from consuming the lion’s share of public health budgets for the benefit of a small minority of the population” (11/16).

Link to individual story

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: ASTMH 2016: HIV cure trials can meet challenges in Africa, researcher says
Christine Lubinski, executive director of the Center for Global Health Policy, reports on a presentation on HIV treatment and cure clinical trials in Africa, presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 65th Annual Meeting in Atlanta (11/16).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: ASTMH 2016: Online resource offers platform for clinicians and researchers working on drug-resistant tuberculosis
Lubinski discusses “[a]n interactive online portal [that] allows clinicians and researchers across five countries heavily affected by drug-resistant tuberculosis to exchange and analyze information [such as] X-rays, scans, genomic information, and clinical data … The portal … contains data from Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, and Azerbaijan…” (11/16).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: ASTMH 2016: Fungal infections still kill too many people with HIV
Lubinski highlights an ASTMH 2016 presentation by Greg Greene of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who talked about the detection and control of fungal infections among people diagnosed with HIV (11/15).

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: ASTMH 2016: Infectious disease elimination is a long road
Lubinski recaps a symposium at ASTMH 2016 “that cataloged challenges and triumphs in campaigns to eliminate Guinea worm, polio, malaria, and Chagas disease” (11/14).

Link to individual story