KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report
In The News
- News Outlets Continue To Report On China's Family Planning Policies
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News outlets continue report on the announcement that China will drop its one-child policy and replace it with a two-child policy.
Huffington Post: The 5 Biggest Questions About China’s New Two-Child Policy (Sheehan, 10/29).
New York Times: In One-Child China, Second Children Often Live in Limbo (Buckley, 10/31).
New York Times: Chinese Lawyer Casts Skeptical Eye on Family-Planning Changes (Tatlow, 10/30).
Wall Street Journal: China’s New Two-Child Policy and the Fatal Conceit (Eberstadt, 10/29).
- Report Examines Military Intervention In West African Ebola Outbreak
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SciDev.Net: Foreign troops helped defeat Ebola outbreak
“Military intervention during the 2014 Ebola outbreak was helpful, but more research is needed to define how the armed forces can work with civilian organizations in future health crises, a report says…” (Willmer, 10/30).
- Russia To Double Domestic Spending On HIV Care, Prevention
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Associated Press/New York Times: Russia to Double Spending on HIV Care Next Year
“Russia will double its spending on HIV care and prevention next year in the face of a growing epidemic, the country’s health minister announced on Friday…” (10/30).
- Cholera Immunization Campaign Launched In Iraq To Combat Outbreak
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Agence France-Presse: Iraq combats cholera with massive vaccination campaign
“Iraq is carrying out a major vaccination campaign to combat a cholera outbreak that has infected more than 2,200 people, the health ministry said on Sunday. The campaign, focused on vaccinating people displaced by conflict including the war with the Islamic State group, began Saturday, health minister Adeela Hammoud Hussein said in a statement…” (11/1).Xinhua News: Vaccination against cholera carried out in Iraq
“…The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said it has mobilized 510,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to help control cholera outbreak among high-risk groups in Iraq…” (10/30).
- More Than 13M People In Need Of Aid, Protection In Syria, Says U.N.
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Associated Press/Huffington Post: 13.5 Million Syrians Need Aid, Extra Help As Winter Approaches: U.N.
“The United Nations said Tuesday the worsening conflict in Syria has left 13.5 million people in need of aid and some form of protection, including more than six million children…” (Lederer, 10/30).
- SciDev.Net Podcast Examines Potential Role Of Gene Editing In Malaria Efforts, Evolution Of Humanitarian Aid System, SDG 3
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SciDev.Net: Gene editing against malaria
“…In this month’s podcast, we investigate how [CRISPR, a gene editing technology] could play a decisive role in the battle against malaria. We then discover how the humanitarian system is changing to respond to new types of crises. … Finally, we learn how the third Sustainable Development Goal, aimed at ensuring healthy lives for all, could be hindered by corruption in public health and in the pharmaceutical sector…” (Del Bello, 11/1).
Editorials and Opinions
- 'Too Late To Reverse Damage' Of China's One-Child Policy
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Washington Post: China’s lifting of its one-child policy can’t undo the damage already done
Editorial Board“…Even if it had succeeded in fine-tuning China’s population growth according to some universally acknowledged criteria, the one-child policy would have been monstrous. The proof of that is the litany of forced abortions, harassed and jailed mothers, and female infanticide that the policy brought in its wake … In altering the one-child policy, the Chinese authorities bowed to reality without openly acknowledging their failure, either practical or moral. To the contrary, they continue to assert power over the Chinese people’s reproductive choices. Would-be parents will still face a two-child per couple limit, still enforced through a system of permits and fines. Given the high cost of child-rearing in China’s crowded cities, many will be deterred from having more than one child anyway. In short, it is too late to reverse the damage and China will suffer the consequences for generations to come” (10/31).
- Ugandan Supreme Court Ruling In Health Rights Case Could Lead To Improvement Of Maternal Health Services In Country
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The Guardian: Real justice could finally be delivered in Uganda by key ruling on maternal health
Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP“…The [Ugandan] supreme court’s ruling on 30 October was a unanimous decision to overturn the constitutional court’s dismissal of [a 2011 case in which the Ugandan government was sued over the deaths of two women during childbirth]. In their ruling, the justices concluded that the constitutional court had erred when it argued that it had no mandate to consider the health rights case, and that, according to the remarks of Chief Justice Katureebe, the constitutional court is required to determine whether the Ugandan government took all measures to provide maternal health services. Now the constitutional court must hear the case on its merits. … Depending on the outcome of the case, the constitutional court will have the opportunity to order the government to implement consequential, life saving remedies for poor Ugandan women and for a public health sector that has virtually collapsed due to neglect…” (11/2).
- Data On Women Critical For Achieving Hunger, Gender Equality SDGs
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Huffington Post: Emerging from the Field: Women and the Global Fight Against Hunger
Asma Lateef, director of the Bread for the World Institute“In attempting to understand the conditions in which women around the world live, we have come to realize that much of the information about women simply is not available. … This absence of a full picture of women gains special importance in light of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by world leaders last month. … It has become increasingly clear that if we truly want to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030, we need to focus on women’s empowerment and provide them with the tools they need to carry out their all-too-important work. … But with the information gaps about women worldwide, we run the risk of forgetting the critical intertwined nature of ending hunger and gender equality. Though those two SDGs goals are listed separately, we simply cannot address one without addressing the other. Ending hunger can only be achieved if women are pulled out of the shadows and are empowered. With the reality of poor women playing such a large role in agriculture, nutrition, and food security, any other approach misses the point entirely” (10/29).
- Transparent, Accessible Data Needed To Achieve Zero Hunger
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ONE/Thomson Reuters Foundation: Crunching data and sowing seeds of change to reach zero hunger
Eloise Todd, global policy director for The ONE Campaign“…Currently no resource exists for the global-citizen to track progress toward meeting Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2, zero hunger). Mapping needs, tracking resources to results, and analyzing policies is essential to reach zero hunger: and to do this requires data. ONE is working with partners to find the best way to monitor needs, resources, and policies for SDG2, and brought together experts in both agriculture and nutrition policy areas to discuss how to get to better accountability. … Making data accessible, clear, and open to citizens is crucial. … Community-led accountability should be a central aim of these efforts. Achieving this Gold Standard of accountability will require consistent, open and transparent data, and positive cooperation from every partner…” (11/2).
From the Global Health Policy Community
- UNAIDS Announces New Strategy To End AIDS Epidemic By 2030
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UNAIDS: UNAIDS Board adopts bold and ambitious strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030
In a press release, UNAIDS announces its new 2016-2021 Strategy and states that the strategy “is one of the first in the United Nations system to be aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals, which set the framework for global development policy over the next 15 years, including ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.” The release quotes UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, who notes the strategy “obliges us to address the critical linkages between health, injustice, inequality, poverty, and conflict” (10/30).
- Humanosphere Podcast Discusses Efforts To Find Effective HIV Vaccine, Other Development Issues
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Humanosphere: New optimism in the hunt for an AIDS vaccine
In this podcast, Gabe Spitzer of KPLU speaks to Larry Corey, virologist, former president and CEO at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and founder of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, about “why he’s optimistic these days about our chances of finding an effective HIV vaccine and about Seattle’s leading role in this endeavor.” Also during the podcast, Spitzer and Humanosphere founder Tom Paulson discuss WHO’s announcement that TB has surpassed HIV/AIDS as the world’s leading killer infectious disease, efforts to end slave labor in Mauritania, and an infographic on U.S. aid spending (10/30).
- IHME Studies Examine Child Mortality Rate, Life Expectancy In China
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Humanosphere: Visualizing health progress and disparities in China
Katie Leach-Kemon, policy translation specialist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Humanosphere contributor, uses maps and graphics to discuss two IHME studies published in The Lancet. The first study discusses the child mortality rate in China and the second study discusses life expectancy and causes of death in Chinese provinces (10/30).
- November 2015 Issue Of WHO Bulletin Available Online
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WHO: Bulletin of the World Health Organization
The November 2015 WHO Bulletin includes news, research, and policy articles on various topics, as well as an editorial on local innovations and country ownership for sustainable development and an editorial on gender, health, and the Sustainable Development Goals (November 2015).