KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report

In The News

Global Hunger Index, State Of Food And Agriculture Report Highlight Challenges To Improving Nutrition, Hunger Worldwide

Fast Company: The people who are going to be starved by climate change didn’t cause it
“Globally, the number of countries suffering from severe hunger has decreased dramatically over the last two decades. But that achievement hides more dire news: We’re not making progress on global hunger fast enough to keep pace with climate change. … That finding comes from the 2019 Global Hunger Index, an annual report card developed by international humanitarian group Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, a global food-aid group based in Germany…” (Paynter, 10/15).

The Guardian: Higher temperatures driving ‘alarming’ levels of hunger — report
“…The annual report, a ranking of 117 countries measuring hunger rates and trends, shows progress since 2000 but warns that the world still has a long way to go to reach the zero hunger target agreed by world leaders by 2030. The report is published as a series of Committee on World Food Security meetings take place in Rome in the run-up to World Food Day on 16 October…” (Lamble, 10/14).

U.N. News: Stop the waste: U.N. food agencies call for action to reduce global hunger
“With one-third of food produced for human consumption lost or wasted, and millions still going hungry, the U.N.’s food-related agencies are shining a spotlight on the issue: on Monday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published its annual State of Food and Agriculture report with findings that could lead to a reduction in food loss and waste, and, earlier in October, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched its awareness-raising #StopTheWaste campaign…” (10/14).

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One-Third Of World's Children Under 5 Undernourished Or Overweight, UNICEF Report Says

Al Jazeera: One in three young children undernourished or overweight: UNICEF
“A third of the world’s nearly 700 million under five year olds are undernourished or overweight and face lifelong health problems as a consequence, according to a grim United Nations assessment of childhood nutrition released on Tuesday. ‘If children eat poorly, they live poorly,’ said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, as she unveiled the Fund’s first State of the World’s Children report since 1999 to focus on food and nutrition…” (10/15).

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Borgen Magazine Examines USAID's Nutrition Strategy

Borgen Magazine: USAID’s Nutrition Strategy
“…Recently, USAID’s nutrition strategy has made important breakthroughs in the area of malnutrition, a problem that has otherwise eluded solutions. … USAID has made strides to reduce malnutrition by implementing programs with proven track records of success and by taking on new, potentially game-changing projects. For the most part, these efforts have been centered around the systematic issues that generate malnutrition…” (Delegal, 10/12).

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New York Times Profiles Outcomes Of USAID-Supported Research To Predict Ebola Outbreaks

New York Times: You’re Swabbing a Dead Gorilla for Ebola. Then It Gets Worse.
“…Scientists [who] were trying to predict human Ebola outbreaks by detecting them first in apes and other forest animals … recently published a study in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B detailing 12 years of this work in the Republic of Congo. … The work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development’s $200 million Predict program, a ten-year effort to find animal diseases that could jump to humans. Other funders included the Fish and Wildlife Service, the German government, and several private foundations…” (McNeil, 10/14).

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DRC Officials Plan November Launch Of 2nd Experimental Ebola Vaccine In North Kivu, Other Provinces

AFP: Second Ebola vaccine to be used in DR Congo next month
“Doctors will use a second Ebola vaccine from November in three eastern provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight the deadly virus, medical officials said Sunday…” (10/13).

CIDRAP News: As Ebola cases climb, launch of 2nd vaccine in works
“…In its Oct. 12 daily update, the [DRC’s Ebola technical committee (CMRE)] said the first batch of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which will include 500,000 doses, will arrive in the DRC on Oct. 18 and vaccination will begin in November in two parts of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The campaign will eventually extend to other provinces…” (Schnirring, 10/14).

Additional coverage of the DRC Ebola outbreak and plans to use the J&J experimental vaccine is available from Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, CIDRAP News, DW, and Reuters.

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Uganda Presidential Spokesperson Denies Plans To Reintroduce Bill That Would Impose Death Penalty For Gay Sex

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Uganda denies plans to impose death penalty for gay sex amid global concern
“Uganda will not impose the death penalty for gay sex, a presidential spokesman said on Monday, after major aid donors said they were monitoring a plan by the African nation to reintroduce a bill colloquially known as ‘Kill the Gays.’ … It was not possible to confirm any link between the donors’ concerns and the government spokesman’s statement on Saturday…” (Bhalla, 10/15).

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MIT, Harvard Researchers Receive Nobel Economics Prize For Work In Reducing Poverty

New York Times: Nobel Economics Prize Goes to Pioneers in Reducing Poverty
“Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of M.I.T. and Michael Kremer of Harvard have devoted more than 20 years of economic research to developing new ways to study — and help — the world’s poor. On Monday, their experimental approach to alleviating poverty won them the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences…” (Smialek, 10/14).

Washington Post: 3 share Nobel Prize in economics for ‘experimental approach’ to solving poverty
“…In Monday’s announcement from Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences credited the three researchers for breaking down large questions about poverty to focus on “smaller, more manageable questions,” such as the best interventions for improving child health, and using field experiments to solve them…” (Stein, 10/14).

Additional coverage of the Nobel Prize in economics is available from Bloomberg, Science, and Wall Street Journal.

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More News In Global Health

Borgen Magazine: Leaders Addressing Global Poverty in Five Ways (Blakeney, 10/12).

CBS News: Doctors Without Borders presses Johnson & Johnson to slash price of tuberculosis drug (Cerullo, 10/14).

Devex: What could Canada’s Conservatives mean for foreign aid? (Halais, 10/15).

Devex: Private sector on a ‘journey’ to engagement with the SDGs (Saldinger, 10/14).

Health Policy Watch: Bringing Health Innovations To Market Is Key In The Global Fight Against HIV/AIDS, Malaria And Tuberculosis (Zarocostas, 10/11).

New York Times: Air Pollution Is Linked to Miscarriages in China, Study Finds (Qin/Mou, 10/14).

NPR: Why Are Health-Care Providers Slapping And Yelling At Mothers During Childbirth? (Brink, 10/14).

Reuters: ‘Alarming upsurge’ in measles has devastating impact, WHO warns (Kelland, 10/11).

Wall Street Journal: Dose of Speed: African Nations Use High-Tech Methods to Move New Vaccines (Wexler, 10/12).

Xinhua: Uganda hails China for medical aid in improving health care (10/15).

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Editorials and Opinions

Countries Must Invest In Collecting Data On Gender-Related Disparities To Achieve SDGs, U.N. Agency Regional Directors Write

Thomson Reuters Foundation: OPINION: Gender counts: Why investing in data on girls means transforming the future
Karin Hulshof, UNICEF regional director for East Asia and the Pacific, and Bjorn Andersson, UNFPA regional director for Asia and the Pacific

“…While the challenge of gender inequality isn’t new, there has been little data globally regarding its particular impact on children and adolescents. This lack of data has limited our understanding of the problem and our ability to develop effective policies and programs to address it. … If there’s little information available about access to contraception for unmarried girls, for example, how can health services and comprehensive sexuality education best meet their needs? … It’s important to acknowledge we cannot possibly understand the situation and needs of girls without reliable data, especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized. … Countries must invest in, and strengthen, data on gender-related disparities if they are serious about achieving the cross-cutting Sustainable Development Goals that underpin the 2030 Agenda — converting inequality into equality, and making ‘gender counts’ take on a whole new meaning altogether” (10/11).

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Opinion Piece Urges Global Fund To Ensure Mental Health Addressed In TB, HIV Funding Proposals

Medium: “I was very depressed,” said Tanwa. “I was in denial for a very long time.”
David Bryden, TB advocacy officer at RESULTS

“…Isn’t it time we recognize the impact of tuberculosis on mental health? The world is facing an epidemic of TB-associated depression. … Yet, while the mental health impact of the disease has been known for years, the response is still appallingly weak. … Countries made a clear commitment to expand access to integrated care at the U.N. High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis in 2018. … External funding should be available to help countries meet this commitment. United for Global Mental Health has issued an urgent appeal to the Global Fund, now celebrating a successful replenishment, to issue clear guidance to countries applying for TB and HIV resources to include mental health in their proposals. This call to action has been joined by a number of other groups, including TB Proof, International Union Against TB & Lung Disease, RESULTS UK, TB People, and Socios En Salud (Partners In Health — Peru)…” (10/10).

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From the Global Health Policy Community

Brookings, U.N. Foundation Event Highlights American Leadership On SDGs

Brookings Institution: American leadership on the Sustainable Development Goals
Anthony F. Pipa, senior fellow in global economy and development at Brookings, and Kaysie Brown, senior adviser and head of policy planning at the U.N. Foundation, discuss several key takeaways from an event co-hosted by the Brookings Institution and U.N. Foundation during the U.N. General Assembly that examined “diverse forms of leadership [on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)] by different segments of American society, exploring their role in advancing progress domestically and worldwide” (10/14).

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UNAIDS Notes Increasing HIV Incidence In Latin America; Gay Men, Other MSM Disproportionately Impacted

UNAIDS: New HIV infections rising in Latin America — key populations particularly affected
“Although several countries in Latin America have shown impressive declines in HIV incidence, the number of new HIV infections in the region increased by 7% between 2010 and 2018, with 100,000 people contracting HIV in 2018. … Forty percent of new HIV infections in Latin America in 2018 occurred among gay men and other men who have sex with men — key populations and their sexual partners account for the majority of new infections in the region…” (10/14).

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DRC Becomes 47th Nation Since 1999 To Eliminate Maternal, Neonatal Tetanus

UNICEF USA: The Democratic Republic of the Congo Eliminates MNT
In this post, Seva Tsivgas, global cause partnerships intern at UNICEF USA, writes, “The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has officially become the 47th country since 1999 to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT). This milestone was achieved despite ongoing insecurity and conflict in the DRC, including attacks on health workers battling Ebola and measles outbreaks…” (10/14).

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WHO EMRO Expresses Concern Over Humanitarian Health Situation In Northeastern Syria

WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean: WHO gravely concerned about humanitarian situation in northeast Syria
“WHO is gravely concerned about the humanitarian health situation in northeast Syria, where up to 200,000 people have been displaced as a result of increased military operations since 9 October, and almost 1.5 million people are in need of health aid. Many of those affected by the recent hostilities have already experienced immense physical and mental stress as a result of years of conflict and repeated displacement…” (10/13).

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From the U.S. Government

FDA Authorizes Marketing Of Rapid Diagnostic Test For Ebola

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: FDA allows marketing of first rapid diagnostic test for detecting Ebola virus antigens
“[Thursday,] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed marketing of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) to detect Ebola virus antigens (proteins) in human blood from certain living individuals and samples from certain recently deceased individuals suspected to have died from Ebola (cadaveric oral fluid). The OraQuick Ebola Rapid Antigen Test is the first rapid diagnostic test the FDA has allowed to be marketed in the U.S. for the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The test provides a rapid, presumptive diagnosis that must be confirmed…” (10/10).

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From KFF

KFF Updates Fact Sheet On U.S. Government, Global Polio Efforts

Kaiser Family Foundation: The U.S. Government and Global Polio Efforts
This updated fact sheet provides a snapshot of global polio eradication efforts and examines the U.S. government’s role in addressing polio worldwide (10/11).

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