KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report

In The News

U.N. Security Council Relatively Inactive In Coronavirus Response; U.N. Agencies Report Cases, Urge Nations To Uphold Human Rights

Foreign Policy: U.N. Security Council Paralyzed as Contagion Rages
“The United Nations Security Council is watching the greatest global health crisis in a century unfold from the sidelines, quarreling over the wisdom of working online, batting down proposals to help organize the response to the pandemic, and largely ignoring the U.N. secretary-general’s appeal for a global cease-fire. The paralysis comes at a time when the United States is pressing the 15-nation council to adopt a resolution that would largely blame China for unleashing the pathogen on the world. The initiative — which appears to be part of a broader U.S. strategy to deflect responsibility for its own sluggish response to the spread of the virus — is certain to be blocked by China, which wields veto power. The council’s inaction marks a stark contrast from the Security Council’s previous response to international threats, from al Qaeda’s 9/11 attack on the United States to the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa…” (Lynch, 3/27).

AP: The Latest: U.N. says 86 staffers around world reported cases (3/28).

U.N. News: COVID-19: U.N. donates 250,000 face masks to NYC health workers (3/29).

U.N. News: UNFPA advocates for women, girls suffering unseen impacts of COVID-19 pandemic (3/27).

U.N. News: Protect ‘healthcare heroes’ from COVID-19, urges U.N. rights expert (3/27).

Link to individual story

Nations Worldwide Act To Mitigate COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

AFRICA

AP: In Zimbabwe, ‘you win coronavirus or you win starvation’ (Mutsaka, 3/30).

AP: In Somalia, coronavirus goes from fairy tale to nightmare (Guled/Nor, 3/29).

Bloomberg: Africa Is Two to Three Weeks Away From Height of Virus Storm (Naidoo, 3/29).

ASIA

AP: City at center of China’s virus outbreak gradually revives (Guan/McDonald, 3/30).

AP: India marshals more resources to stop virus, but gaps remain (Saaliq/Schmall, 3/30).

Bloomberg: WHO Says It’s Working With Taiwan Experts After Video Goes Viral (Mulier, 3/29).

New York Times: India’s Coronavirus Lockdown Leaves Vast Numbers Stranded and Hungry (Abi-Habib/Yasir, 3/29).

Reuters: WHO says following Taiwan virus response closely, after complaints (Blanchard, 3/29).

Reuters: China defends against incoming second wave of coronavirus (Goh/Suen, 3/28).

Science: Can China return to normalcy while keeping the coronavirus in check? (Normile, 3/29).

EUROPE

Economic Times: Spain reports biggest spike in deaths, Italy toll crosses 10,000 (3/30).

Reuters: Special Report: Five days of worship that set a virus time bomb in France (Salaün et al., 3/30).

Reuters: Russia weighs nationwide coronavirus lockdown after Moscow acts (Rodionov/Balmforth, 3/30).

Reuters: U.K. epidemic is slowing and antibody test could be ready in days, top epidemiologist says (Faulconbridge, 3/30).

The Telegraph: Exercise Cygnus uncovered: the pandemic warnings buried by the government (Nuki/Gardner, 3/28).

LATIN AMERICA

AP: Guaido urges unity government backed by loans to fight virus (Goodman, 3/29).

Reuters: Bolivia, Uruguay confirm first coronavirus deaths (Werner/Ramos, 3/29).

Reuters: Migrants in Central American limbo as coronavirus relocation plans falter (Murillo, 3/28).

MIDDLE EAST

Reuters: Syria reports first coronavirus death as fears grow of major outbreak (Al-Khalidi et al., 3/29).

Reuters: Iran to use 20% of state budget to fight coronavirus (3/28).

Science: Iran confronts coronavirus amid a ‘battle between science and conspiracy theories’ (Stone, 3/29).

VOA: If Coronavirus Hits Libyan Detention Centers It Would be a ‘Massacre’ (Solomon, 3/30).

Washington Post: As coronavirus cases explode in Iran, U.S. sanctions hinder its access to drugs and medical equipment (Cunningham, 3/29).

NORTH AMERICA

BBC: Coronavirus: ‘Millions’ of Americans could be infected, expert warns (3/29).

POLITICO: Canada’s Nunavut: Socially distanced, it’s one of the last places on Earth without coronavirus (Blatchford, 3/27).

Link to individual story

U.S. Lawmakers, Development Advocates Consider Future Funding For COVID-19 Global Response; U.S. State Department Touts Efforts In 'Leading Humanitarian' Response

Devex: Aid advocates want future US COVID-19 funding to have global focus
“Now that the U.S. Congress has approved a largely domestic-focused $2 trillion supplemental appropriations package, development professionals are looking ahead to what future funding might mean for the global response to COVID-19. … Lawmakers realize that further bills will need to address the global response, and some are already thinking about what will happen in future legislation to address COVID-19, development advocates told Devex…” (Saldinger, 3/30).

Devex: Interactive: Who’s funding the COVID-19 response and what are the priorities?
“Since the beginning of 2020, more than $4.6 trillion has been pledged by governments, bilateral donors, multilateral institutions, philanthropic donors, NGOs, and the private sector in the fight against COVID-19. But this number just scratches the surface of the expenditure that will be required in the coming months. … This funding data is available through a new tableau interactive dashboard: Interact with global COVID-19 funding data. Explore where the funding is going, who’s supplying the money, and what funding is focusing on…” (Cornish, 3/30).

Washington Times: State Department: U.S. ‘leading the world’ in coronavirus fight while China takes credit
“The State Department is touting a nearly $300 million American aid package for dozens of countries battling coronavirus at a moment when China seeks to portray itself as the global leader in responding to the pandemic. A department fact sheet circulated in recent days asserted outright that the ‘U.S. Government is leading the world’s humanitarian and health assistance response to the COVID-19 pandemic’…” (Taylor, 3/29).

Link to individual story

Media Outlets Examine Science Of Coronavirus, Including U.S. Efforts To Authorize Treatments, Fund Vaccine Research

Bloomberg: How Top Scientists Are Racing to Beat the Coronavirus
“Developing a vaccine or a treatment for a newly discovered virus is a painstakingly slow and detailed endeavor. Finding a compound that works, testing it in animals, and then rolling it out to clinical trials in humans can take years. And even the top experts in virology and epidemiology typically toil in obscurity, spending long, lonely hours in the lab and garnering fleeting interest only when an unknown ailment sparks headlines. The novel coronavirus has changed all that…” (Baker et al., 3/30).

Forbes: The U.S. Just Signed A $450 Million Coronavirus Vaccine Contract With Johnson & Johnson
“The Trump administration is spending nearly half a billion dollars on one company in the race to find a coronavirus vaccine. That’s according to a $456 million order with Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceuticals arm Janssen, which specified a ‘new vaccine asset for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19),’ Forbes found. It’s the largest reported amount spent on a vaccine project to date, even though the pharma giant hasn’t yet started any clinical trials as other firms have…” (Brewster, 3/30).

NPR: WHO Reviews ‘Current’ Evidence On Coronavirus Transmission Through Air
“The World Health Organization says the virus that causes COVID-19 doesn’t seem to linger in the air or be capable of spreading through the air over distances of more than about 3 feet. But at least one expert in virus transmission said it’s way too soon to know that…” (Greenfieldboyce, 3/28).

POLITICO: FDA issues emergency authorization of anti-malaria drug for coronavirus care
“The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by President Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence…” (Diamond, 3/29).

Wired: The Science of This Pandemic Is Moving at Dangerous Speeds
“…The last few weeks have seen a blizzard of publications about Covid-19 — and, like the outbreak itself in this country, it’s just the beginning. Many of the papers have come from China, where researchers have had more time to study the infection than the rest of the world, but important papers have emerged from Italy, as well. All of these articles have at least one thing in common: They were written, and published, in great haste. And while desperate times may dissolve norms, speed remains the enemy of rigorous science…” (Marcus/Oransky, 3/28).

Link to individual story

News Outlets Profile Medical Experts Deborah Birx, Anthony Fauci, Members Of White House Coronavirus Task Force

AP: Virus coordinator Birx is Trump’s data-whisperer (Alonso-Zaldivar/Madhani, 3/28).

Los Angeles Times: AIDS crisis shaped Anthony Fauci, disease expert at front lines of coronavirus (3/29).

New York Times: Medical Expert Who Corrects Trump Is Now a Target of the Far Right (Alba/Frenkel, 3/28).

New York Times: For Dr. Deborah Birx, Urging Calm Has Come With Heavy Criticism (Weiland/Haberman, 3/27).

NPR: A Leading Voice On Coronavirus Task Force, Deborah Birx Draws Praise And Criticism (Beaubien, 3/27).

Link to individual story

Trump Extends Federal Guidelines On Coronavirus Through April 30; Nation's Cases, Deaths Surge

CNN: Trump extends federal social distancing guidelines to April 30
“President Donald Trump said Sunday he would extend nationwide social distancing guidelines for another 30 days, an abrupt back-down from his push to reopen the country as coronavirus continues to spread. The 15-day guidelines Trump announced two weeks ago were set to expire on Monday, and the President had suggested over the past week that he was looking to relax them, at least in some parts of the country. … ‘The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end,’ the President said Sunday at a White House news conference. He said he would be finalizing a new plan and strategy early this week and announcing the details on Tuesday…” (LeBlanc et al., 3/29).

The Hill: U.S. poised for hellish month as coronavirus surges
“…Officials across the country are bracing for the worst public health crisis in a century, a crisis that will become starkly severe this week. … Tens of thousands of Americans are likely to die from the coronavirus in the coming weeks, a consequence of American leaders failing to heed the lessons learned in other countries about the value and success of taking drastic steps…” (Wilson, 3/29).

New York Times: White House Airlifts Medical Supplies From China in Coronavirus Fight
“A commercial aircraft carrying 80 tons of gloves, masks, gowns and other medical supplies from Shanghai touched down in New York on Sunday, the first of 22 scheduled flights that White House officials say will funnel much-needed goods to the United States by early April as it battles the world’s largest coronavirus outbreak. … The shipment from China that arrived in New York on Sunday is the product of a public-private partnership — led by President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner — with major health care distributors like McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Owens & Minor, Medline, and Henry Schein, a White House spokesman said. Representatives from those companies attended a meeting at the White House with Mr. Trump on Sunday…” (Swanson, 3/29).

The Hill: Fauci says April 30 extension is ‘a wise and prudent decision’ (Folley, 3/29).

New York Times: The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the U.S. to Covid-19 (Shear, 3/28).

NPR: U.S. Sees Exponential Growth In Coronavirus Death Toll (Anderson, 3/29).

POLITICO: From distraction to disaster: How coronavirus crept up on Washington (Bertrand/Severns, 3/30).

Link to individual story

Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Says Ebola Experience Would Inform COVID-19 Leadership; Trump Campaign Targets Adviser Ron Klain

POLITICO: Trump camp targets Obama’s Ebola czar
“Joe Biden has had limited success with his live-from-Wilmington, Del., coronavirus briefings. His longtime adviser, Ron Klain, is a different story. The nation’s former Ebola czar recently cut a video for the Biden campaign making an animated case against Donald Trump’s handling of the contagion — a white board presentation that racked up 4.4 million views on Twitter alone. Now, the president’s reelection campaign is drawing a bead on Klain. Over the past week, the president’s allies have trained their fire on him, seeking to undermine his credibility and use Klain’s high-profile role as the face of Biden’s coronavirus response to bolster their own arguments about Biden’s own competence…” (Caputo, 3/29).

Wall Street Journal: Joe Biden Points to Ebola Experience in Pitching Coronavirus Plan
“A virus declared by the World Health Organization to be an outbreak threatened to proliferate across the globe, bringing with it stock market turbulence and international panic. The 2014 Ebola outbreak differed from the novel coronavirus in key respects, health experts say, but former Vice President Joe Biden says his work on that crisis shows how he would combat and contain a lethal and highly infectious disease if elected president. Mr. Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, is looking to leverage that experience against President Trump, casting himself as someone who would be a steady leader in a crisis that has overtaken campaigning for the November election…” (Siddiqui/Strobel, 3/29).

Link to individual story

USAID Suspends Humanitarian Aid To Parts Of Yemen As COVID-19 Pandemic Risks Increase

AP: Curfews Extended as USAID Declares Aid Suspension in Yemen
“As countries across the Middle East tighten restrictions on movement to curb the spread of the coronavirus, a spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development said Thursday that it would suspend humanitarian aid to parts of Yemen over restrictions by the Houthi rebels that predate the pandemic…” (El Deeb/Michael, 3/27).

New York Times: U.S. Cuts Health Care Aid to Yemen Despite Worries About Coronavirus
“…American officials said the move was a necessary response to longstanding interference by Houthi rebels who control the northern part of Yemen. … But as a pandemic looms, the American decision created major funding gaps for dozens of programs run by the United Nations and private aid groups, including efforts to supply the Yemenis with hand soap and medicine and to staff clinics with health care workers, humanitarian officials said…” (LaForgia, 3/27).

Link to individual story

Borgen Magazine Examines Potential Impacts Of Trump Administration's FY21 Proposed International Affairs Budget

Borgen Magazine: Trump’s Proposed 2021 International Affairs Budget
“President Trump recently released his budget requests for the 2021 Fiscal Year. It proposes [a] cut to the International Affairs Budget, which would reduce finances to international organizations like the United Nations. This article shows the effects of Trump’s proposed 2021 International Affairs Budget…” (Oomen, 3/28).

Link to individual story

More News In Global Health

CBS: Transcript: Dr. David Heymann discusses coronavirus on “Face the Nation,” March 29, 2020 (3/29).

CNN: Yes, we long have referred to disease outbreaks by geographic places. Here’s why we shouldn’t anymore (Kaur, 3/28).

CNN: Her husband died. Then his family shaved her head and made her strip beside his grave (Adebayo, 3/27).

Devex: How do you say ‘social distancing’ in Swahili? (Worley, 3/30).

Devex: The trials and tribulations of the world’s first malaria vaccine (Edwards, 3/27).

Guardian: Tackle climate crisis and poverty with zeal of Covid-19 fight, scientists urge (Harvey, 3/28).

The Hill: Coronavirus response reveals deep fractures in global partnerships (Samuels, 3/28).

Reuters: FEATURE — Isolation and HIV memories hit LGBT+ elderly hard in lockdowns (Savage/Lopez, 3/30).

STAT: Two new road maps lay out possible paths to end coronavirus lockdowns (Branswell, 3/29).

VOA: How U.S. Presidents Have Handled Public Health Crises (Widakuswara, 3/30).

Washington Post: Coronavirus modelers factor in new public health risk: Accusations their work is a hoax (Wan/Blake, 3/27).

Xinhua: Spotlight: Politicians, experts call for global cooperation against coronavirus pandemic (Pan et al., 3/29).

Link to individual story

Editorials and Opinions

Editorials, Opinion Pieces Examine Various Aspects Of COVID-19 Pandemic

Wall Street Journal: The Real Cure for Coronavirus
Editorial Board

“Governments are frantically trying to contain and combat the coronavirus, and those efforts are important, but the world’s best hope is private innovation. Cutting-edge diagnostic tests and treatments are advancing, and government should encourage the trend. President Trump recently ordered the Food and Drug Administration to ‘slash red tape like nobody’s ever done before’ to make medicines approved for other illnesses available for coronavirus patients. The FDA is famously cautious, and safety is important. But drug regulators need to be more nimble during a pandemic with millions of lives at risk. … The nearer-term hope is that expanded testing can slow the spread while experimental treatments relieve the symptoms and reduce the demand for scarce ventilators and ICU beds. If even some therapies now in testing help, governments may feel better about easing economic and travel restrictions. Global commerce has allowed the coronavirus to spread faster and further. But healthy competition among drugmakers and scientists around the world is also accelerating innovation to stop the virus” (3/29).

Wall Street Journal: A Week of Coronavirus Pain and Progress
Editorial Board

“As the number of Americans infected with the coronavirus surges, and hospitals are besieged, it can appear that America is losing the pandemic war. But in important ways the U.S. is better off at the end of March than it was a week ago, and it’s worth tracking the progress as well as the pain. The most important good news this week is the ebbing panic in financial markets. … There has also been progress against the direct assault of the virus … More broadly, the scope of what we still need to learn to develop a sustainable anti-virus strategy is coming into focus. … The good news here is that the public seems to be ignoring the trivial politics and focusing on what matters. … Most Americans are looking past it for real news about help on the economy, the availability of medical equipment, and the potential of anti-viral therapies. Damage from the virus will continue for months, but America is now mobilizing against it. Don’t bet against success” (3/27).

Washington Post: The coronavirus gives Russia and China another opportunity to spread their disinformation
Editorial Board

“As fast as the coronavirus has raced around the globe, it has been outpaced by a blinding avalanche of social media sorcery and propaganda related to the pathogen, much of it apparently originating in Russia. As always when it comes to its relations with the West, Moscow’s main currency is disinformation, and it spends lavishly. A European Union document, obtained by Reuters, finds that Russia’s state-controlled media has used the public health crisis to undertake an ambitious disinformation campaign in the West whose goal is to sow the seeds of panic and distrust. … Unfortunately, Russia’s meddling in 2016 proved that America is fertile ground for such information wars. To Moscow and other adversaries of the United States, it makes little apparent difference whether an election or a pandemic provides the leverage it seeks to subvert trust, institutions, and cohesion. The point is to make a muddle of the truth, to cast suspicion on everything, and to weaken the American body politic with doubt and despair. As a means of attack, that can be as debilitating as a virus” (3/29).

Washington Post: Trump needs to put commanders in charge of this war
Editorial Board

“…The most important thing [President Trump] can do now is to manage the pandemic as if in wartime: put it in the hands of commanders who know how to fight it. The president needs to draw from the country’s rich and talented pool of seasoned experts. He should immediately put someone in charge of the ongoing first wave, which may yet last for many weeks, and he should name a second person to begin planning for the transition period that follows, an immensely complex task. … The nation and the world need leadership. The enormity of the pandemic emergency is too great to be resolved separately by 50 governors and 3,142 counties. … Please, put commanders in charge of this war — a war we did not ask for but cannot afford to lose” (3/28).

The Atlantic: Trump’s Break With China Has Deadly Consequences
Peter Beinart, professor of journalism at the City University of New York (3/28).

The Atlantic: The Thing That Determines a Country’s Resistance to the Coronavirus
Francis Fukuyama, writer at the Atlantic (3/30).

The Atlantic: America Should Build an International Coalition Now
Brett McGurk, former special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (3/29).

BBC: Coronavirus: What the world can learn from Ebola fight
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female president and Nobel Peace laureate (3/30).

Bloomberg: Calling It the ‘Chinese Virus’ Only Boosts China
Pankaj Mishra, Bloomberg opinion columnist (3/28).

Euractiv: After the pandemic: COVID-19 exposes threat of biological warfare
Ellen Laipson, former vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council and director of the international security program at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University (3/30).

Foreign Affairs: Plagues Tell Us Who We Are
Thomas J. Bollyky, director of the Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations and author (3/28).

Foreign Affairs: Ebola Should Have Immunized the United States to the Coronavirus
Christopher Kirchhoff, member of the White House Ebola Task Force in 2015 and lead for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Operation United Assistance (3/28).

Foreign Policy: Amid Coronavirus Spread, Host Countries Ignore Refugee Health at Their Own Peril
Sanjana Ravi, senior research associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (3/27).

The Guardian: This is not the time for blame: we need to get ahead of the pandemic
David Nabarro, co-director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation at the Imperial College London, strategic director of 4SD, and one of six special envoys on COVID-19 to the WHO director general (3/29).

The Hill: COVID-19: Now is the time to create the future we want
Mark Dybul and Deus Bazira, co-directors at the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact at Georgetown University Medical Center (3/26).

The Hill: Anticipating the next waves of COVID-19
R. David Harden, managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group, and Louise C. Ivers, executive director of Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health, associate professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, and practicing infectious diseases physician (3/29).

The Hill: Africa knows how to fight viruses — they simply need the resources, fast
K. Riva Levinson, president and CEO of KRL International LLC and author (3/29).

Newsweek: Here Is What Working The Ebola Frontline Taught Us About Fighting The Coronavirus Pandemic | Opinion
Mesfin Teklu Tessema, head of the health unit at the International Rescue Committee and IRC’s senior leader in health (3/27).

New York Times: The Politics of a Pandemic
Charles M. Blow, opinion columnist at the New York Times (3/29).

New York Times: We Can Safely Restart the Economy in June. Here’s How
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost of global initiatives and professor at the University of Pennsylvania (3/28).

New York Times: Covid-19 Brings Out All the Usual Zombies
Paul Krugman, opinion columnist at the New York Times and distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center (3/28).

New York Times: Germany Has Relatively Few Deaths From Coronavirus. Why?
Anna Sauerbrey, contributing opinion writer at the New York Times and editor and writer at Der Tagesspiegel (3/28).

Project Syndicate: Four Priorities for a Global Pandemic Strategy
Josep Borrell, E.U. high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission (3/30).

Project Syndicate: A Gender Lens for COVID-19
Susan Papp, managing director of policy and advocacy at Women Deliver, and Marcy Hersh, senior manager for humanitarian advocacy at Women Deliver (3/27).

Scientific American: Why Some People Resist Advice on How to Behave in the Pandemic
Troy Campbell, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Oregon (3/28).

Scientific American: COVID-19 Policy Must Take All Impacts into Account
Charles F. Manski, Board of Trustees professor in economics and fellow of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University and member of the National Academy of Science (3/28).

STAT: Community health workers will be the main defense in rural Uganda against coronavirus
James O’Donovan, physician and researcher in global health at the University of Oxford and Omni Med (3/28).

USA TODAY: Coronavirus signals we must shift from terrorism to new bipartisan intelligence priorities
John D. Negroponte, James R. Schlesinger distinguished professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, and Edward M. Wittenstein, deputy director for Leadership Programs at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and executive director of Yale’s Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy (3/30).

Wall Street Journal: An Update on the Coronavirus Treatment
Jeff Colyer, practicing physician (3/29).

Washington Post: Pompeo’s pandemic performance ensures his place among the worst secretaries of state ever
Jackson Diehl, deputy editorial page editor and columnist at the Washington Post (3/29).

Washington Post: The most counterintuitive prediction about world politics and the coronavirus
Daniel W. Drezner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (3/30).

Washington Post: Russia claims it has covid-19 under control. The facade is cracking
Garry Kasparov, chair of the Renew Democracy Initiative (3/29).

Washington Post: Bolsonaro is endangering Brazil. He must be impeached
Rosana Pinheiro-Machado, anthropologist at the University of Bath (3/29).

Washington Post: Republicans were more concerned about Ebola than they’ve been about coronavirus. Here’s why
Michael Tesler, TMC editor, associate professor of political science at the University of California at Irvine, and author (3/27).

Washington Post: No one will win the U.S. and China’s coronavirus contest
Ishaan Tharoor, writer at the Washington Post (3/30).

Xinhua: Commentary: Better global governance for public health needed to defeat pandemics
Shi Xiaomeng, Xinhua writer (3/30).

Link to individual story

From the Global Health Policy Community

Global Health Community Addresses Various Aspects Of COVID-19

Brookings Institution: COVID-19 | Does India have enough doctors? An analysis of growing COVID-19 patients and existing medical capacity
Prachi Singh, associate fellow with Brookings India, and colleagues (3/27).

ODI: The G20’s coronavirus action plan must help the poorest countries
Dirk Willem te Velde, director of programme at the International Economic Development Group (3/27).

ONE: 5 major health organizations taking action against COVID-19 globally
Robyn Detoro, senior digital coordinator at ONE (3/27).

Oxfam International: Health spending in poor countries must double immediately to prevent millions of deaths (3/27).

Refugees International: COVID-19 and the Displaced: Address the Threat of the Novel Coronavirus in Humanitarian Emergencies (3/30).

SRHM: COVID-19: What Implications for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (3/27).

UNDP: UNDP support for coronavirus-affected countries goes beyond health
Asako Okai, assistant secretary general and director of the UNDP Crisis Bureau (3/28).

UNDP: COVID-19: Looming crisis in developing countries threatens to devastate economies and ramp up inequality (3/30).

World Economic Forum: As coronavirus spreads to poorer countries, here’s how the world can help
Chema Vera, interim executive director of Oxfam International (3/30).

World Economic Forum: Why Sub-Saharan Africa needs a unique response to COVID-19
Neema Kaseje, founder of the Surgical Systems Research Group (3/30).

Link to individual story

Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Discusses Role, Importance Of Global Health Security Agenda

Brookings Institution’s “Order from Chaos”: Now is the time to revisit the Global Health Security Agenda
Bonnie Jenkins, nonresident senior fellow for foreign policy at Brookings, discusses the importance of revisiting the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), writing, “When new crises hit, there is often a knee-jerk reaction to reinvent the wheel in response. But the global public health capacity embodied in the GHSA provides a strong foundation for addressing the pandemic we face today” (3/27).

Link to individual story

UNAIDS Welcomes Decision To Hold 23rd International AIDS Conference Virtually

UNAIDS: UNAIDS supports decision to hold the 23rd International AIDS Conference virtually, hopes that HIV2020 can be held in some form
“UNAIDS welcomes the decision by the International AIDS Society to hold the 23rd International AIDS Conference in July as a virtual gathering and hopes that the key population networks organizing the HIV2020 conference can find an alternative solution to hold their conference. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, AIDS 2020: Virtual, organized by the International AIDS Society, will enable the participants to access and engage with the latest HIV science, advocacy, and knowledge, and to do so safely. … AIDS 2020: Virtual will allow the participants to engage in virtual sessions, satellites, exhibitions, podcasts, and interactive community networking from anywhere in the world. It is hoped that HIV2020 will be held in a similar way…” (3/27).

Link to individual story

From the U.S. Government

President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members Of Coronavirus Task Force Provide Updates On U.S. Response To COVID-19 At Press Briefing

White House: Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
In this press briefing held Sunday, President Trump, Vice President Pence, and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force discuss developments regarding the U.S. response to COVID-19 (3/30).

Link to individual story

State Department Releases PEPFAR FAQ, Humanitarian Assistance Fact Sheet Amid COVID-19

U.S. Department of State: FAQs on PEPFAR’s HIV Response in the Context of COVID-19
This FAQ provides information on PEPFAR’s HIV response amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This post also links to technical guidance for PEPFAR’s country and regional teams (3/27).

U.S. Department of State: The United States Is Leading the Humanitarian and Health Assistance Response to COVID-19
This fact sheet outlines the U.S. government’s emergency health and humanitarian assistance to help countries respond to COVID-19 (3/27).

Link to individual story

From KFF

KFF Resources Examine Global, Domestic Issues Related To COVID-19 Pandemic

KFF: COVID-19 Coronavirus Tracker — Updated as of March 30, 2020 (3/30).

KFF: Preparing for COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Leveraging U.S. Global Health Assets (Kates/Moss/Oum, 3/20).

Additional KFF COVID-19 resources, including those focused on the response and impact within the U.S., are available here. KFF’s new blog series “Coronavirus Policy Watch” is available here.

Link to individual story

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.