Also In Global Health News: USAID Administrator; HIV Infection Rate In Zimbabwe; Plumpy’Nut In India

Prospective Candidates For USAID Administrator

“Sources in the development community and on the Hill say they are hearing” that the people being considered for the USAID administrator position are likely to be “safe,” it could be “someone already in place in the administration and possibly confirmed for something else,” Foreign Policy’s blog, “The Cable,” reports. The post lists a few names that “appear to be in the realm of speculation at this point,” the blog writes (Rozen, 8/24).

Zimbabwean Health Experts Skeptical Of Study Finding Drop In HIV Infection Rate

Zimbabwean health experts have raised doubts over a recent study that suggested “the country’s deep economic crisis helped reduce the HIV prevalence rate or the percentage of adults infected with the deadly virus,” VOA News reports. The study of more than 18,000 pregnant women, presented at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, revealed the HIV prevalence rate fell from 23 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in late 2008. However, as VOA News writes, some Zimbabweans feel the findings “understate the severity of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, adding that the sample may not have been representative” of the population (Nyaira, 8/24).

Globe And Mail Examines Plumpy’Nut Situation In India

The Globe and Mail examines India’s decision to stop using Plumpy’nut, which is used to treat “severe acute malnutrition” in children. India’s central government “says it never approved UNICEF’s import of Plumpy’nut, is not convinced it works and that UNICEF and others must use Indian-made products rather than imports in order to safeguard the country’s food security,” the newspaper writes. This dispute “is the latest twist in a story of bureaucratic ineptitude and corruption that has kept a nation with a booming economy from making any progress in lowering malnutrition over the past 15 years,” the Globe and Mail writes (Nolen, 8/25).

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