IHSJ Reader, August 26, 2011

IHSJ Reader     August 2011     Issue 7         

Note: Triple asterisk (***) indicates subscription-only sources.

HAITI

Not Doing Enough: Unnecessary Sickness and Death from Cholera in Haiti
(Jake Johnston and Keane Bhatt, Center for Economic and Policy Research, August 2011)
A new report from CEPR examines how cholera treatment and prevention efforts in Haiti have not kept pace with the expansion of the epidemic. Since its appearance in Haiti in October 2010, this preventable and easily curable disease has killed more than 6,000 people, making it “the most catastrophic epidemic the hemisphere has seen in decades”. The $175 million UN cholera funding appeal remains underfunded, and resources for building water and sanitation infrastructure, expanding cholera treatment centers, and scaling up antibiotic, Zinc supplement, and vaccination efforts remain insufficient. This paper argues that the international community should redouble efforts to combat cholera.

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Stop Making Excuses: Accountability for Maternal Health Care in South Africa
(Human Rights Watch, August 8, 2011)
Human Rights Watch recently released a report exposing that the maternal mortality rate has more than quadrupled in South Africa over the past decade. The analysis examines health system failures, including patient abuse, administrative and financial mismanagement, and a lack of accountability for these failures, and calls for the government of South Africa to uphold the right to health for all patients. The report concludes that South Africa is unlikely to meet its Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal deaths by 75 percent by 2015 unless the government focuses attention and resources on the systemic problems that give rise to poor care.

HIV/AIDS

Financing the Response to AIDS in Low- and Middle- Income Countries: International Assistance from Donor Governments in 2010
(Jennifer Kates, Adam Wexler, Eric Lief, Carlos Avila, Benjamin Gobet, UNAIDS and Kaiser Family Foundation, August 2011)
This report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that funding for international AIDS assistance from donor governments declined by more than 10 percent over the 2009-2010 time period. Though access to treatment has increased dramatically and new infections have fallen by nearly 25% in the past ten years, recent budget decisions have not prioritized  eliminating the estimated $6 billion resource gap necessary for scaling up HIV treatment, prevention and care.  

 AIDS Divides the Globe
(Michael Sidibé, LA Times, August 3, 2011)
Michael Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, penned a call to action to address the inequality in HIV treatment that persists throughout the world. Sidibé writes that we must overcome the forces that limit access to treatment in poor countries by moving forward on five key fronts. “If we want to turn scientific successes into progress for the poor... We have to scale up, even as some donors are scaling back, and we have to use innovation to overcome social division and inequity.”

ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL MEDICINES/TUBERCULOSIS

Shortage of Drug-Resistant TB Treatment Looms
(PlusNews, August 16, 2011)
With one of the biggest advances in TB science in decades, scientists have finally identified an effective and accurate diagnostic kit called GeneXpert that will make rapid detection of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) possible. However, the South African National Department of Health worries that faster diagnosis will result in more patients without access to treatment. Though treating DR-TB has been a global health priority for nearly a decade, medications remain prohibitively expensive. High drug prices are attributed to a variety of market failures, from countries inaccurately forecasting increased demand to pharmaceutical companies experiencing limited access to quality ingredients.

DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope
(Medecines Sans Frontieres, March 2011)
This MSF report, which has just been translated into Russian, examines two barriers to treatment scale-up for patients suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB): (1) limited availability, and (2) high cost of quality-assured second-line drugs. Not only are drug supplies limited and unreliable, but prices have actually increased in recent years, with MDR-TB treatment costing nearly 475 times more than treatment for standard TB. Over the last decade, less than 1% of the roughly five million people who developed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) had access to appropriate treatment, and 1.5 million died.

Compulsory Licensing of Generic Drugs Remains Mired in Quagmires
(Goldis Chami and Samuel Wasswa-Kintu, Canadian Medical Association Journal, August 9, 2011)
Nearly a decade after the Doha Declaration determined that countries facing public health emergencies have the right to import generic drugs from developed countries, there has only been one instance in which a drug was successfully delivered to a developing country. Though several countries have enacted compulsory licensing legislation, the complicated application process deters low- and middle-income countries from turning to the EU or Canada to access cheaper treatment. Meanwhile, India, which has long served as the “pharmacy to the developing world,” is being forced to comply with international trade law by halting the production of generics patented after 1995.

GLOBAL HEALTH FUNDING

How Will Global Health Programs Fare Post Debt Ceiling Deal?
(Meredith Mazzotta and Christine Lubinski, Science Speaks Blog: Center for Global Health Policy, August 5, 2011)
The debt ceiling legislation passed in early August will result in dramatic cuts to discretionary spending over the next decade. In the agreement, foreign assistance (including global health funding) was grouped under “security”. Exactly what this means for development funding for the next 2 fiscal years is unclear.  Mazzotta and Lubinski offer interesting and concerning predictions.

FOOD SECURITY

Does Global Battle Against Hunger Have a New Hero?
(Associated Press, August 10, 2011)
The recently elected leader of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that eradicating hunger is his first priority. Previously, Jose Graziano da Silva was Brazil’s food security minister where he helped create the nation’s “Zero Hunger” social programs. In just six years, these programs have had a dramatic impact by transferring money directly to poor households. Graziano plans to use Brazil’s widely admired system as a model in his work with the FAO.

MULTIMEDIA/ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Global Health Portal
(TheLancet.com, August, 2011)
The Lancet announced the launch of the Global Health Portal last week. This resource offers free global health content to all users, from World Reports and Perspectives articles, to The Lancet Global Health Series and Regional Reports and Commissions, providing in-depth views for those seeking disease- or region-specific information.