KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report

In The News

IRIN Examines Efforts To Reform U.S. Food For Peace Program

IRIN: U.S. Food Aid: Charity Begins At Home
“More than 60 years after the U.S. Food for Peace program was launched, vested interests continue to hinder reforms to allow for more local sourcing of food aid. … The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which manages American aid programs, supports reform, but has not yet managed to push through all the changes that would free it to deliver its assistance more effectively…” (Leigh, 7/30).

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Experimental Ebola Vaccine Trial's Initial Results 'Promising,' WHO's Chan Says Ahead Of Data Publication

Agence France-Presse: Ebola vaccine shows ‘promising’ results: WHO
“Preliminary results of tests on an Ebola vaccine to be published in British science magazine The Lancet later Friday have shown ‘promising’ results, World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan said…” (7/31).

Reuters: WHO’s Chan says initial results from Ebola vaccine trial ‘promising’
“… ‘If proven effective, this is going to be a game changer, and it will change the management of the current Ebola outbreak and future outbreaks,’ Chan told reporters at a news conference. Data from a trial of an Ebola vaccine known as VSV-EBOV developed by Merck and NewLink Genetics are expected to be published later on Friday” (Miles/Kelland, 7/31).

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More Than 70K Births In Liberia Unrecorded During Ebola Outbreak, Leaving Children Vulnerable To Trafficking, Denial Of Services, UNICEF Warns

New York Times: Liberia: Ebola Stalls Birth Registrations
“The births of more than 70,000 children in Liberia during the Ebola crisis were never recorded, leaving them vulnerable to marginalization as noncitizens, denial of government services, trafficking, and illegal adoption, UNICEF reported Thursday…” (Gladstone, 7/30).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Ebola disrupts Liberia birth records, poses trafficking threat — U.N.
“…Before the Ebola outbreak in December 2013, birth registration rates in Liberia increased to 25 percent in 2013 from four percent in 2007, then the world’s second lowest rate, according to the country’s demographic and health surveys. But the number of birth registrations fell to 48,000 in 2014 from 79,000 in 2013, before the onset of the virus, and only 700 children had their births registered between January and May this year, UNICEF said…” (Guilbert, 7/31).

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500 People Under Quarantine In Sierra Leone Village Previously Ebola-Free After Man Dies Of Disease

Associated Press: Sierra Leone faces Ebola setback; 500 under quarantine
“Authorities in Sierra Leone said Thursday they had quarantined 500 people after a man died from Ebola in an area where the deadly virus had been gone for months, in another setback for the fight against the disease…” (Roy-Macaulay, 7/30).

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Yemen Humanitarian Operations Threatened By Air Strikes Targeting HCWs, Hospitals, MSF Warns; U.N. Food Aid Distribution Begins In Aden

The Guardian: Civilians and hospitals targeted in Yemen air strikes, warns medical charity
“The ongoing air strikes and deliberate targeting of civilians and health workers in Yemen are jeopardizing humanitarian operations in the country, denying thousands of people basic medical care, the head of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned…” (Jones, 7/30).

U.N. News Centre: Yemen: U.N. begins food aid distribution in war-torn districts of Aden
“The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distribution of food to around 340,000 people in eight of the worst-affected areas of the southern Yemeni port city of Aden…” (7/30).

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Survey Examines HIV Status, Knowledge Among Heterosexual South African Couples In High-Risk Township

Reuters Health: HIV status, knowledge low among heterosexual South African couples
“Less than half of men in a high-risk South African township knew whether their partners had ever been tested for HIV, and women weren’t much more informed, according to a survey of heterosexual couples. This should encourage efforts to improve HIV testing among women and HIV disclosure among women in heterosexual partnerships, the authors conclude…” (Doyle, 7/30).

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Malawi Can Serve As Role Model In Africa For Evidence-Based Efforts To Improve Abortion Access, Advocates Say

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Malawi a model for Africa in liberalizing abortion, activists say
“Malawi’s use of evidence-based research to build support for a more liberal stance on abortion can make it a role model for Africa, campaigners said, following publication of a bill to liberalize the country’s 164-year-old abortion law. Abortion is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in jail in Malawi, unless it is required to save a woman’s life…” (Migiro, 7/30).

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BBC News Profiles Couple That Represents 'Public Face Of HIV/AIDS In Bhutan'

BBC News: We told the king we had HIV
“For the last few years, Wangda Dorje and Tshering Choden have been the public face of HIV/AIDS in Bhutan. They were among a group of five who were the first in the country to come out as HIV-positive — in front of the King, and then on national television…” (Beveridge, 7/31).

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Editorials and Opinions

Eradicating Hunger, Extreme Poverty Requires Collective Action

Inter Press Service: Opinion: Hungry for Change, Achieving Food Security and Nutrition for All
Paloma Durán, director of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG-F) at the U.N. Development Programme

“…To eradicate hunger and extreme poverty will require an additional 267 billion dollars annually over the next 15 years. … Going forward, this goal requires more than words, it requires collective actions, including efforts to double global food production, reduce waste, and experiment with food alternatives. … Food security and nutrition must be everyone’s concern especially if we are to eradicate hunger and combat food insecurity across all its dimensions. Feeding the world’s growing population must therefore be a joint effort and unlikely to be achieved by governments and international organizations alone…” (7/30).

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White House's Updated National HIV/AIDS Strategy Aims To Connect All Americans With HIV To Care

Huffington Post: 2020 Vision: Our Updated National HIV/AIDS Strategy
Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the president and chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls

“[Thursday], the Obama Administration [released] the National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020 (‘Updated Strategy’). … With the release of our Updated Strategy, let’s all commit to double down on our efforts, and focus our HIV outreach on the right people, in the right places, with the right practices, right now. … The Updated Strategy will enable our nation to become a place where new HIV infections are rare, and where every affected person will have access to life-extending care, regardless of their circumstances and live free from stigma and discrimination” (7/30).

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From the Global Health Policy Community

Blog Post Examines PEPFAR's Commitment To Data Transparency

Center for Global Development’s “Global Health Policy”: PEPFAR Takes a Lead on Data Transparency — Could Open Contracting Be Next?
Charles Kenny, senior fellow, and Rachel Silverman, senior policy analyst at CGD, discuss PEPFAR’s commitment to and leadership on data transparency, writing, “[T]his most recent move [to release more data and be more transparent] … might also suggest openness to an even more radical form of transparency: full contract publication under open contracting data standards” (7/29).

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Feed The Future's 2015 Progress Report Data Should Be Interpreted 'Cautiously'

Center for Global Development’s “Rethinking U.S. Development Policy”: 2015 Feed the Future Progress Report Leaves Food for Thought
Casey Dunning, senior policy analyst, and Janeen Madan, research assistant at CGD, discuss Feed the Future’s 2015 progress report and write, “While there are areas of real progress, the results [of the report] are fragmentary, almost entirely based on outputs, and suffer from attribution challenges. … The bottom line: interpret the data very cautiously” (7/30).

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White House Fact Sheet Describes Updated National HIV/AIDS Strategy

White House: FACT SHEET: The National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020
This fact sheet describes the updated National HIV/AIDS Strategy, describing priority areas and “detailing principles and priorities to guide our collective national work to address HIV in the United States over the next five years”(7/30).

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Progress Being Made To Prevent, Diagnose, Treat Cervical Cancer Among African Women

Humanosphere: Visualizing cervical cancer: Leading killer of African women
Amy VanderZanden, communications data specialist at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), examines efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is the leading cause of cancer death for women in 40 of the region’s countries (7/30).

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