KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report

In The News

Global Fund Replenishment Conference Expected To Reach $14B Goal; Fund's Chief Of Staff Speaks With Devex About Key Issues

Associated Press: Global Fund seeks $14 billion to fight aids, TB, malaria
“Heads of states, CEOs, and global health leaders gathered Thursday in France to try to raise at least $14 billion to finance the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over the next three years…” (Corbet, 10/10).

Devex: Q&A: Key issues at the Global Fund replenishment
“…The final numbers are expected to be announced Thursday afternoon. … As delegates began filing into the many side events Wednesday morning in Lyon, Devex spoke with Marijke Wijnroks, the Global Fund’s chief of staff, to ask what she is watching for this week…” (Chadwick, 10/10).

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Trump Administration's Policies On Foreign Aid Disbursement Impacting Human Rights Programs, Organizations, Officials Say

Foreign Policy: Rights Groups Miss Out on Millions in Foreign Aid Due to U.S. Spending Restrictions
“Tens of millions of dollars for human rights programs run by the State Department are now in jeopardy after bureaucratic maneuvers by the Trump administration to pare down U.S. funding for foreign aid, officials and humanitarian organizations tell Foreign Policy…” (Gramer, 10/9).

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USAID To Reprogram Funds Originally Meant For Central America To Be Used Inside Venezuela

Devex: USAID reprograms Central America funds for use inside Venezuela
“Some U.S. Agency for International Development funds originally intended for Central America will be reprogrammed for use inside Venezuela instead. … [USAID Administrator Mark] Green said funds for the new agreement will amount to $98 million, some of which include the $52 million for use inside Venezuela he announced last month at the U.N. General Assembly, while $64 million is newly announced. In all, USAID said it will allocate $116 million for use inside the country, with $18 million of that being obligated outside the new agreement. … The new funds announced Monday for Venezuela bring the U.S. contribution to the crisis response to more than $632 million. Much of this money has been allocated to the regional response because humanitarian access inside Venezuela remains extremely challenging…” (Welsh, 10/10).

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More Than 60% Of Humanitarian Spending Goes To Only 10 Crises, Report Shows

New Humanitarian: Ten donors and 10 crises dominate humanitarian spending
“International money for emergency relief flattened off last year, even as appeals for donor funding rose to new highs. New data shows that funding in 2018 reached $28.9 billion, about the same as 2017, but the number of people needing help climbed to a record 206.4 million. The 2019 edition of the Global Humanitarian Assistance report, prepared by U.K.-based consultancy Development Initiatives, tells a familiar tale of the dominance of big donors and big crises: 10 severe crises consumed about 63 percent of the funding…” (Parker, 10/9).

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WHO Notes Decline In DRC Ebola Cases But Warns Trends Be Interpreted With Caution; Results Of WHO Emergency Committee's 5th Meeting Expected This Week

AFP: Ebola virus now squeezed into ‘corner’ of DR Congo: WHO
“Efforts to halt an Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo have made ‘significant progress,’ with the virus now contained to a far smaller and mainly rural area, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday. ‘We have put the virus in the corner,’ Michael Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, told reporters in Geneva…” (10/10).

CIDRAP News: Response resumes following security problems in DRC Ebola hot spot
“…The WHO said though the decline in cases is encouraging and gains have been made in the response, several challenges remain and that the current trends should be interpreted with caution. [Thursday] the WHO’s Ebola emergency committee will meet again for the fifth time to assess the current situation, and if conditions warrant continuation of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Health officials said they would announce the results of their deliberations at a media briefing afterwards…” (Schnirring, 10/9).

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DRC Records More Than 4K Deaths From Measles This Year, With Most Occurring In Children Under 5, UNICEF Says

CNN: More than 4,000 people have died from measles in Congo this year
“More than 4,000 people have died from a measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, said on Wednesday. There have been 203,179 cases of the preventable illness across the country, and nearly 90% of the 4,096 deaths were children under the age of 5. ‘The number of measles cases in DRC this year is more than triple the number recorded for all of 2018. The measles outbreak in DRC has become far deadlier than Ebola, which to date, has taken 2,143 lives,’ UNICEF said in a statement…” (Hunt, 10/9).

Additional coverage of the DRC measles outbreak is available from AP and The Hill.

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New Global Index Tracks Tobacco Industry's Influence In 33 Countries

The Telegraph: Tobacco industry has least influence on the U.K., watchdog ranking reveals
“The first-ever global index to track tobacco industry influence over public health policy has revealed that the U.K. is a world leader in efforts to curtail undue meddling. According to the report, published by the industry watchdog STOP (Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products), the U.K., Uganda, Iran, and Kenya are the most successful at ‘resisting industry interference’ in government. But Japan, Jordan, Egypt, and Bangladesh have ‘succumbed’ and have the highest levels of tobacco industry influence of the 33 countries tracked, the report claims…” (Newey, 10/10).

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Suicide Represents 2nd Leading Cause Of Death Among Young People Ages 15-29, WHO Notes On World Mental Health Day

U.N. News: World Mental Health Day sheds light on worrying rates of youth suicide
“Worldwide, 800,000 people die by suicide each year — one every 40 seconds — making it the second leading cause of death among young people (aged 15 to 29), the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, spotlighting suicide prevention as the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day…” (10/9).

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More News In Global Health

Bloomberg: Africa May Have 90% of the World’s Poor in Next 10 Years, World Bank Says (Naidoo, 10/9).

CIDRAP News: U.K. report cites lack of progress on AMR Review steps (Dall, 10/9).

Devex: Redacted FOI request raises questions on Australian aid’s transparency (Cornish, 10/10).

Devex: IDC chair Stephen Twigg warns of wide-ranging risks to U.K. aid (Edwards, 10/10).

Fast Company: Bill Gates thinks these 3 factors will drive global health (Paynter, 10/9).

Homeland Preparedness News: University analysis finds healthcare market neglects new antibiotics for drug-resistance (Galford, 10/10).

NPR: Zika: Researchers Are Learning More About The Long-Term Consequences For Children (Huang, 10/9).

Science: One billion people, many in poor countries, have major vision problems that could be fixed (Brainard, 10/9).

Xinhua: WHO Western Pacific steps up efforts to fight antimicrobial resistance (10/10).

Xinhua: UNAIDS lauds Kenya’s progress in fight against HIV (10/9).

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Editorials and Opinions

Opinion Piece Outlines Steps To Ensure Children's Needs Included In Global Development Agenda

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Children must not fall off the 2030 Development Agenda
Kailash Satyarthi, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation and winner of Nobel Peace Prize

“…[W]hile in the last decades the world has made progress on many fronts, millions of children are still far from freedom, safety, and education. Last fortnight, when the world leaders gathered for a high-level U.N. summit in New York, they did not even mention them. … So, what exactly needs to be done? Firstly, enhancing financing for children is the need of the hour. U.N. estimates the cost of achieving the SDGs in trillions of dollars. Likewise, clear and adequate budget for achieving children-related goals should be chalked and implemented at national and global levels. … Secondly, a holistic approach in dealing with all children-related development goals is key for achieving the SDGs. … Thirdly, the world badly needs children rights champions at regional, national, and international levels. … Fourthly, denial of children’s rights, and violence perpetuated on children are crimes for which there are laws both at national and international levels, which should be enforced in letter and spirit. … Last but not the least, the world needs to realize that even one child trapped in slavery and violence is one too many…” (10/10).

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From the Global Health Policy Community

MFAN Post Discusses USAID Restructuring, Related Issues Organization Will Monitor As Reforms Implemented

Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network: Transformation — What is MFAN Watching Now?
This MFAN post discusses USAID’s restructuring plan and outlines key issues the organization will be monitoring now that implementation has begun (10/9).

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PHR Report Details Violence, Persecution Experienced By U.S. Asylum Seekers In Mexico, Central America

Physicians for Human Rights: The Scars Match the Stories: Asylum Seekers’ Medical Evaluations Corroborate Violence and Persecution
A new report from Physicians for Human Rights details the findings from an investigation examining the violence and persecution experienced by U.S. asylum seekers in Mexico and Central America. According to a press release accompanying the report, “PHR’s report makes a number of detailed policy recommendations to the U.S. government, U.S. Congress, United Nations member states, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the governments of El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua” (Nelson/Habbach, 10/9).

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LSE Researcher, Professor Examine World Bank's Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility

The BMJ: Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility: struggling to deliver on its innovative promise
In this analysis, Bangin Brim, researcher, and Clare Wenham, assistant professor of global health policy, both with the London School of Economics and Political Science, examine the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility and argue that the “pandemic financing scheme serves private sector interests at the cost of global health security” (10/9).

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Experts Highlight Critical Roles Nurses, Midwives Play On Path To Achieving UHC

Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program’s “New Security Beat”: To Achieve Universal Health Care, Invest in Nurses and Midwives
Sydnee Logan, social media and digital content coordinator at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and Ann LoLordo, senior director of global engagement and communications at Jhpiego, discuss the roles of nurses and midwives in achieving universal health coverage, as well as a September 23 event titled “Power on the Path to UHC2030: Nurses and Midwives as Navigators, Innovators and Accelerators,” held in conjunction with the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September. The authors write, “Because of their central role in delivering health care, nurses and midwives are identifying ways to improve services with innovations that can be low-cost or revolutionary. … Midwives and nurses also are critical to ensuring reproductive rights are not left behind in the journey to universal health coverage” (10/10).

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