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IHP news : Rising Zika anxiety

(11 March 2016)

The weekly International Health Policies (IHP) newsletter is an initiative of the Health Policy unit at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium.

Dear Colleagues,

We’re just ten days away from the deadline for the Vancouver symposium, including the EV4GH competition. So as a final reminder we recommend this week’s IHP Featured article by Shakira Choonara (EV 2014), and we hope EV applicants & other HSR twitterati will take part in next week’s Twitter chat #beanEV which aims to offer some tricks & tips for boosting your chances to be an EV2016 (Monday 14 March, 1 pm GMT).

Meanwhile in global health land, this was again a very busy week, with something for pretty much every community and faction. As you know, unlike the current crop of European leaders and BMJ editors, IHP tries to ‘leave no one behind’, whether it’s the UHC people, infectious diseases & other vertical (and diagonal) types, the NCD community, the health security crowd, access to medicines wonks, planetary health activists, …

Enjoy your (abundant) reading.

The editorial team

Featured Article

We are the Cool Cats of Health Systems Research! Join the Club and #BeAnEV!

Shakira Choonara (EV 2014) PhD Fellow Centre for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

If you’re a young health (systems) researcher, I’m sure you will identify with me when I talk about the challenges many of us face in the broader academic environment (including in the vastly cooler world of health systems research in which you from to time get to enjoy Lucy Gilson’s YMCA dance moves during serious meetings, or can talk Karen Daniels into meeting over a cup of coffee in Vancouver (which I will hold her to given the weakening South African rand). Now these difficulties may perhaps not sound evident on my side having been named ‘European Union Future Leader for

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Health’, but still, it’s hard for us young researchers to walk into a room with experienced researchers and voice our thoughts (unless if you’re pretty much asked to or given the platform to do so), let alone write a top notch academic article - and let’s not get into the murky world of journal rejection which feels ten times worse than One Direction’s break-up – but I do miss you, Zayn Malik! (By the way, if you don’t know One Direction, you probably don’t meet the EV (age) criteria) (just kidding, of course!).

Boosting one’s ability and confidence to become a bold researcher and advocate for health equity - either on stage in a room full of big shots, or in (peer reviewed & more casual) writing - is one of the key aims of the Emerging Voices programme. It is probably also needed now more than ever in the Global South! Earlier this week EV2010 Taufique Joarder (from Bangladesh) shared a similar view on the (first) EV venture in Montreux (on IHP):

“Every day, before the sessions, we used to have a debriefing session with the EV organizing team. I remember Wim Van Damme (founder of the EV programme and esteemed Professor) telling us, we were free to ask any intriguing or even provocative question, even to the point of causing embarrassment to the presenter in the conference”. As Joarder recalls, EVs duly obliged!

Going back to my own EV experience, the distance learning stage (which usually takes about 2-3 months) prepared us for the 10-day face-to-face training in Cape Town which essentially taught us how to present in an innovative way - in fact the more innovative the better! It was the first time I was encouraged and appreciated for doing so (and taking risks in this respect) and this is precisely the reason why I continue to push for the EV cause! Embracing one’s creativity and zest for life, together with a supportive environment is exactly what’s needed to shape the future and build capacity in the field of health systems research! The training programme culminated in a ‘pre-conference’ of EVs, a few days before the symposium itself.

And oh yes, the programme also afforded me the opportunity to attend the Third Global Health Symposium in Cape Town, an opportunity which might never have materialized without being generously funded through the EV programme. I probably don’t give away a secret if I say that a health systems researcher should try to go to these biannual symposia at all cost. It’s a bit like going to Mecca for us (but then every two years, at least if you manage to break the bank).

The connections and opportunities extend well beyond the EV programme which is exactly why I’m writing this blog, or working with other EVs on numerous ventures! I think fellow EV Erlyn Macarayan (EV2014) pretty much sums it up in a recent video in which she describes us as an EV family. I agree, Erlyn! The constant support, encouragement and critical insights from IPH Bangalore (the current EV secretariat), the ITM team and other EV alumni go a long way in supporting EVs to be change-makers in domestic settings and at the global level!

By the way, do join us for an upcoming twitter chat on Monday 14th March if you have any questions on the application process. Do not miss out and visit http://www.ev4gh.net/. We certainly hope to see you in Vancouver #HSR2016!

If I didn’t manage to convince you yet to try your luck, I’m pretty sure EV (2010) alumnus Asmat Malik (and member of the current EV governance team) will:

“Being an EV will give you access to the fountain of youth: it allows you to stay young at heart even with ‘emerging’ grey hair! I reckon it’s better than botox. ” (mind you, looks as if even the likes of Julio Frenk and David Sanders can still apply for the programme! (just kidding, guys – the EV age limit is 40… sorry!)

In short, if you want to be part of the cool cats (or fearless pitbulls, for the boys) of HSR, become an EV!

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Highlights of the week

Zika

As you can imagine, there’s again a Zika section in this newsletter (see below). Anxiety is rising, especially among (pregnant) women, and for good reason, it appears. Here you already find some of the key Zika related news from this week.

WHO - WHO statement on the 2nd meeting of IHR Emergency Committee on Zika

virus and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal

malformations

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2016/2nd-emergency-committee-zika/en/

The second meeting of the Emergency Committee (EC) convened by the Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) regarding clusters of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders in some areas affected by Zika virus took place on Tuesday 8 March. After listening to all the advice, the Director-General declared the continuation of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). (read the full statement to know why)

WHO - WHO Director-General addresses media after Zika Emergency Committee

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2016/zika-ec/en/

Margaret Chan’s statement. The keyword throughout all the news & new Zika-related info: “alarming”.

Rapidly accumulating evidence shows a stronger link between the virus and serious complications such as birth defects and neurologic problems, which in turn has led to stronger and more finely tuned recommendations. “The infection has now also been linked to fetal death, slow fetal growth and injury to nerves in the developing brain, as well as to a temporary paralysis in children and adults called Guillain-Barré syndrome. We can conclude that the virus is neurotropic,” meaning it targets nerve and brain cells. Also, sexual transmission is “more common than previously assumed”, but mosquitoes remain the main driver of transmission (see the Guardian ). Among others, WHO strengthened its advice to pregnant women, urging them not to travel to areas where the Zika virus is circulating.

For some excellent coverage on this emergency committee meeting (and the 3-day ‘R&D landscape’ expert meeting), see for example:

W.H.O. Advises Pregnant Women to Avoid Areas Where Zika Is Spreading (NYT) (recommended)

CIDRAP news: Growing Zika complication data color advice from WHO panel.

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WHO: Zika Virus Spreading, R&D Needs Financing, Sample Sharing Discussed (IP-Watch): this article also includes some more info on the WHO R&D Landscaping Meeting (7-9 March), a research and development meeting to do a landscaping of the potential vaccines, diagnostics, and other therapeutics.

UN: Efforts to fight Zika virus far ahead of Ebola (the Hill): “Nearly 70 companies and institutions worldwide are currently developing tools to fight the Zika virus — a hefty investment that WHO says is miles ahead of the research effort previously devoted to Ebola. While the pipeline of drugs and vaccines for Zika is still months, and possibly years, away, the United Nation’s health arm called it “a major advance” compared to the response to Ebola over the last two years. Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general for research at the WHO, said the response from researchers, health officials and companies has been far more coordinated, “largely thanks to the lessons learnt during the Ebola epidemic.” Vaccines are still a couple of years away, though. Most of the research and development currently underway is devoted to diagnostics.

NEJM – Partnerships, Not Parachutists, for Zika Research

David Heymann, Joanne Liu et al;

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1602278?query=featured_home

Must-read. Collaborative research is not a given, Heymann et al stress. There are still too many cases of ‘parachute research’. They conclude: “…To avoid having to make this argument again every time we face an outbreak with the potential for becoming a global crisis, we believe the global health community should develop and agree on a framework of principles for sharing data and biologic samples during any such public health emergency. It would be best if the researchers themselves developed such a framework, as the genomics community did in the Human Genome Project…”

For (much) more on Zika, see below.

London (9-10 March ) – UN SG’s High-Level Panel on access to medicines: Hearing · Thought Leaders Forum · Global Dialogue

The United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines held closed-door consultations with a range of players on Wednesday and a public global dialogue on Thursday, in London. You find the agenda of the entire two days (which included a hearing, a Thought Leaders forum & thus the Global Dialogue) here . (“The aim of the Hearing was to review and discuss key contributions, and hear from a selection of experts working on issues relevant to the High-Level Panel’s enquiry. The aim of the Thought Leaders Forum, hosted in partnership with The Lancet, was to facilitate the sharing of perspectives on innovation and access to health technologies. And the Global dialogue, hosted in partnership with The Lancet and in collaboration with the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, was an interactive and inclusive conversation facilitated by Andrew Jack of the Financial Times. The Dialogue aimed to stimulate discussion between the diverse range of stakeholders involved in innovation and access. The Dialogue focused on potential solutions to strengthen the policy coherence between international human

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rights, trade rules and public health, in line with the aspirations of SDG 3 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “)

The full list of contributions (176) you find here. (find yourself a remote island with palm trees & a

gentle wind to fully enjoy them)

The Global public dialogue was webcast. See also Twitter - #LondonDialogue

In one week (17 March), it will be time for the Johannesburg dialogue.

IP-Watch – WHO Welcomes UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel, Offers

Suggestions

http://www.ip-watch.org/2016/03/10/who-welcomes-un-secretary-generals-high-level-panel-

offers-suggestions/

For the ones with less time, we suggest this short article, focusing more on WHO’s contribution to the hearing. “The World Health Organization has provided a list of suggestions to the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, highlighting WHO activities in this area and making suggestions on areas the WHO has not yet been able to complete. It also describes several new proposals by WHO, including a global “fair pricing forum,” a pooled health product R&D fund, and a global antibiotic research and development facility.” For the full WHO document, see here.

Read also the contribution by firebrand James Love & Judit Rius (Knowledge Ecology International). They call for a global R&D agreement.

As a reminder, you might also want to re-read the Open Letter ‘ Make Medicines for People not for profit’ - Towards an Agreement on Biomedical Research and Development for the Public Benefit: Academia's Urgent Call to Action (Nov 2015) (featuring the likes of Stiglitz et al)

UN Statistical Commission's 47th session (UNSC): 8-11 March: Better Data, Better Lives

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/47th-session/

“This week, the UN Statistical Commission convene[d] for its annual meeting in New York. At the top of its agenda: the latest report of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), which presents a final proposal for global indicators to monitor the SDGs.” Today (11 March) the meeting ends.

“Delegates to the the UN Statistical Commission's 47th session (UNSC) welcomed the set of global indicators for the SDGs proposed by the Inter-Agency Expert Group (IAEG-SDGs) as a preliminary framework and basis for future work. At the end of discussion on the IAEG's indicator proposal, and

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proposed plans for futher work, the UNSC Secretariat presented a draft resolution for members' consideration and action on 11 March 2016….”

You find all background docs for this 47th session here. (including of course the list of “final” SDG indicators - see Annex IV in this document http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/47th-session/documents/2016-2-SDGs-Rev1-E.pdf )

IISD - UN Statistical Commission Considers Proposed SDGs Indicators

http://sd.iisd.org/news/un-statistical-commission-considers-proposed-sdgs-indicators/

In this short (IISD) article, you find an overview of the opening of the 4-day meeting. Among others, Japan and the UK raised some concern on UHC indicator 3.8.2. (yes, the UK! – what a joke, as Rob Yates rightly pointed out on Twitter)

PS: the next iAEG-SDGs meeting will take place in Mexico (30 March-1 April)

Global Health Check – Last minute change to the UHC indicator for the SDGs is

raising alarm bells

M Kamal-Yanni; http://www.globalhealthcheck.org/?p=1854

Sets the scene well on the (by now notorious) last-minute UHC indicator change, and the campaign to try to do something about it.

As for the indicator 3.8.2 this alliance would like to see back again, see here. (WHO)

Global Policy Watch – UN Statistical Commission takes up Global Indicators for the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Sarah Dayringer ; https://www.globalpolicywatch.org/blog/2016/03/10/un-statistical-commission-takes-up-global-indicators-for-the-2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development/

(must-read!!!) “… Following the opening remarks, more than 80 Member States raised concerns. There’s an overall sense among most developing countries, notably from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), African Group, Land-locked Developing Countries (LLDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDSs) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) that complex targets are being translated into simple indicators which focus on developing countries and leave out the responsibility of developed countries. However, the USA urged the Commission to adopt the IAEG-SDGs global indicator framework, with the recommendation that the IAEG-SDGs “ensure full coverage of the scope of each target and evaluation of the functioning of the initial indicator set.”

Check out the list of concerns: …

“…A decision by the UN Statistical Commission concerning the proposed indicator framework is anticipated on 11 March 2016 (i.e. today). There is also strong pressure to address the need for

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capacity building of NSOs along with concerns about the process through which revised indicators might be agreed. As the G-77 stated, “the adoption of the report of the IAEG-SGDs by the Statistical Commission at the end of this week is not and will not be the end.”

Social Watch – SDG targets risk missing the mark on inequality

Kate Donald; http://www.socialwatch.org/node/17159

“…In the run-up to the Commission, various civil society groups have expressed their concern about particular indicators or missing indicators, as well as the opaque decision-making process. The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) is particularly concerned that SDG 10 (‘Reduce inequality within and between countries’) does not include a robust measure of economic inequality, and as such this indicator set is woefully incomplete. …. …. CESR and others proposed a specific indicator that would have captured these concerns and measured the full distributive impacts of fiscal policy: the Palma ratio measured pre-tax and post-social transfers. Unfortunately, although a similar indicator did feature in previous IAEG proposals, neither this eminently measurable indicator nor the more widely-used Gini coefficient were included in the final draft. This leaves Goal 10 without a badly-needed economic inequality indicator and failing to address a crucial aspect of Target 10.4 ‘Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality’. These shortfalls make it more likely this target will be overlooked by policy-makers.”

Official Launch of Health Data Collaborative in NYC

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/47th-session/side-events/20160309-2L-launch-of-the-health-

data-collaborative.pdf

On a more positive note, at a side event (on Wednesday), the Health Data Collaborative was officially launched, an initiative that aims to strengthen national capacity to monitor the health related SDGs. “The launch event provided an overview of the Health Data Collaborative’s work to support country-led health data systems, build national statistical capacity, improve the quality of health data & track progress towards the health SDGs. It’s a joint effort by countries, development partners, civil society and academia to help countries improve the quality of their health data to track progress toward and help achieve the health-related SDGs and is about improving collective action to maximise the impact of our respective investments in country health information systems.”

WHO – More than numbers: how better data is changing health systems

http://www.who.int/features/2016/health-data-collaborative/en/

The press statement from WHO: “The Health Data Collaborative, launched by WHO and partner development agencies, countries, donors and academics, will strengthen countries' capacity to collect, analyse and use reliable health data, thereby reducing administrative burden. A list of 100 core health indicators has been produced, and 60 low income and lower-middle income countries, and their supporting donors, will be using common investment plans to strengthen their health information systems by 2024….”

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For some more info on the Health Data Collaborative, see also for example here.

One of the first products was, as mentioned in the WHO statement, the Global Reference list of 100 core health indicators.

In related news, James Chau, CCTV anchor (and well known among expats in China) was appointed WHO Ambassador for the health SDG.

International Women’s day – 8 March

WHO – International Women's Day

http://www.who.int/life-course/news/events/international-womens-day-2016/en/

The 2016 theme for International Women’s Day was “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”.

See also UN News, On International Women’s Day, UN officials call to ‘Step It Up’ for gender equality. “Senior United Nations officials from around the world are marking International Women’s Day with calls to “Step It Up” with more resources and greater political action to achieve gender equality by 2030. “I remain outraged by the denial of rights to women and girls – but I take heart from the people everywhere who act on the secure knowledge that women’s empowerment leads to society’s advancement,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day. …”

UN News – New UN initiative aims to protect millions of girls from child marriage

UN News

“The United Nations announced a new initiative [ today ] to advance efforts to end child marriage by 2030 and protect the rights of millions of the most vulnerable girls around the world. The initiative by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), announced on International Women’s Day, is part of a global effort to prevent girls from marrying too young and to support those already married as girls in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East where child marriage rates are high.” See here for the joint press release on the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage.

Guardian - Rise in use of contraception offers hope for containing global

population

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/08/rise-use-contraception-global-

population-growth-family-planning

“The number of women using contraceptives in developing countries has soared to record levels in recent years, such that projections for global population growth could be cut by as much as 1 billion over the next 15 years. The latest figures by the UN show more women than ever now use family planning, with some poorer regions recording the fastest pace of growth since 2000. …”

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See also a great interactive tool Contraception and family planning around the world – interactive (Guardian).

#iLeadGH Campaign

http://twibbon.com/support/ileadgh/twitter

The #iLeadGH campaign is a social media campaign (primarily on Twitter) to showcase gender, age, and ethnic diversity of global health leadership. Launched this week, on International Women’s day.

Some other reads you might want to look into, related to International Women’s Day:

*What Is the World Bank Doing to Improve the Lives of Women and Girls? (CGD blog – by Charles Kenny et al)

* From a while ago: Ten top issues for women's health (by Flaviao Bustreo (WHO) (Commentary))

* Family Health Days – An Inspiration for International Women’s Day (WB ‘investing in health’ blog)

(on family health days in developing countries – by Q Wodon)

* Celebrities urge leaders to put girls at heart of anti-poverty drive (Thomson Reuters – “Chat show queen Oprah Winfrey, actress Meryl Streep and singer Elton John called on Monday for world leaders to put girls at the heart of anti-poverty efforts as a new index revealed Niger was the toughest country to be a girl. In an open letter, published on the eve of International Women's Day, a host of prominent figures urged leaders to improve girls' and women's access to education, justice and technology and help them fight HIV and malnutrition….”

* Low wages, unsafe conditions and harassment: fashion must do more to protect female workers (Guardian: leading brands should vow to do more to protect the women making our clothes)

ODI (report) – Women’s work: mothers, children and the global childcare crisis

E Samman et al; http://www.odi.org/global-childcare-crisis

From late last week. “The world is facing a hidden crisis in childcare. That crisis is leaving millions of children without the support they need, with damaging consequences for their future. It is also having severe impacts on three generations of women – on mothers, grandmothers and daughters. There is an urgent need to solve the global care crisis to improve the lives of both women and children and to grow economies. … “ “…This report and summary explores the current childcare policy failures across a range of case-study countries, including Viet Nam, Gaza, Mexico, India and Ethiopia, and highlights examples of progress in countries which are successfully responding to these challenges. Based on these findings the authors make six key policy recommendations to extend and improve care-related labour market policies; promote more integrated approaches to social protection; and to invest in better data.”

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EU refugee crisis & global humanitarian crisis

Over to the mess formerly known as the ‘European Union’…

You probably heard all about the ‘one in, one out’ deal from this week by now. A ‘quick fix’, and a dirty one, according to for example UN high commissioner for refugees F Grandi. Meanwhile, some geopolitical strategists are saying the EU is becoming more ‘adult’. That is a sick joke. When you betray everything you purportedly stand for, you might as well close the entire shop. As some observers already point out, “We are all Orban now”.

Some related reads:

New Internationalist –The EU-Turkey summit exposes our inhumanity to refugees

Nick Dearden (Global Justice Now); http://newint.org/blog/2016/03/08/european-union-turkey-

summit-on-refugees/

Must-read. “It is impossible to stop immigration, but it is also undesirable and immoral. In a world where people who hold the right passports can pretty much travel and live wherever they want, it’s time to accept the racism inherent in the hypocrisy about immigration. A world in which people’s destiny is determined by where they are born is not a progressive vision.”

Racist, that is the word. As everybody in North Africa & the Middle East now rightly perceives Europe.

The Guardian – Wars are being fought as in 'barbarian times', warns MSF chief

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/wars-are-being-fought-as-in-barbarian-times-

warns-medecins-san-frontieres-chief

“…Attacks against civilians in war zones across the world have grown more indiscriminate due to a myopic focus by the major global powers on fighting terrorism, the head of the international charity Médecins Sans Frontières has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Joanne Liu, the Canadian physician and president of MSF, issued a broad indictment of how modern warfare is conducted, declaring that world powers have failed in their duty to uphold the rules of conflict, threatening a return to “barbarian times”. “We are in a completely different way of rules of engagement in conflicts,” she said during a visit to Beirut. “I still believe that what the Geneva convention and international humanitarian law brought to conflict was to mitigate war on civilians, and by not respecting that we are going backwards a hundred years. It’s barbarian times. I don’t think in the 21st century we should allow ourselves to drift there. “If the rules are to be changed, we want to be told,” she said.”

See also a recent Amnesty International report on airstrikes on health facilities.

Meanwhile, five countries in the UN Security Council are working on a new draft resolution demanding a halt to attacks on hospitals and medical facilities in Syria, Yemen and other war zones. “Egypt, Japan, Spain, New Zealand and Uruguay are working on the measure which would

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reaffirm that such attacks violate international law and would call for perpetrators to be held accountable. All five are non-permanent members of the Security Council.”

Lancet (World Report) –Syria's health crisis: 5 years on

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00690-5/fulltext

“A pathway to peace in Syria seems more of a possibility this year than ever before. But the health needs of the population and refugees remain huge and largely unmet. Sharmila Devi reports.”

UHC 2030 Alliance update

The roadmap to a healthy future – Bringing HSS into action: 2nd Technical

Consultation of the ‘Healthy Systems – Healthy Lives’ Initiative, 20 January 2

http://health.bmz.de/what_we_do/hss/Publications/The_roadmap_to_a_healthy_future_____Bring

ing_HSS_into_action/index.html

Already from a while ago, but worth checking (especially the three ppts – see at the bottom of the page). “Global health leaders met in Geneva on 20 January 2016 for a second technical consultation on the ‘Healthy Systems – Healthy Lives Initiative’. Discussions centered on consolidating the priority areas for health systems strengthening (HSS) in the post 2015 agenda. … Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny (WHO, Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation) opened the meeting with a presentation on health issues central to the SDGs and relevant objectives like UHC, global health security and resilience. She pointed out that the mobilisation of country resources is key to success. Dr. Agnes Soucat (WHO, Director for Systems Governance and Financing) presented gaps in health systems strengthening at national level and how external resources can help to overcome them in a country specific way: through policy dialogue, capacity building and technical assistance. … Before the thematic discussions started, Heiko Warnken (Germany/BMZ, Head of Health, Population Policy and Social Protection) presented the latest details on the Roadmap “Healthy Systems – Healthy Lives” with its six priority areas…”

Meanwhile, if you really can’t wait, you can probably just get a (provisional) concept note (including a provisional timeline) of the UHC 2030 Alliance, by sending a mail to schleimannf@who.int ( but don’t spam him!!!) It all looks very exciting!

The Lancet Kidney Campaign

http://www.thelancet.com/campaigns/kidney

“Chronic kidney disease affects 10% of the population worldwide and that number is growing. Acute kidney injury, which affects 30 million people globally, can cause death or lead to chronic kidney disease. Only 10% of those who need renal replacement have access to treatment. But kidney disease is under-recognised by doctors, patients, and health-care decision makers, and it is preventable and

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treatable. The Lancet Kidney Campaign builds on the International Society of Nephrology’s initiative, called ‘0by25’, to eliminate preventable deaths from acute kidney injury by 2025, bringing together the best science for better lives.”

See the Lancet Editorial, Campaiging for kidney health. March 10, 2016—World Kidney Day—marked the launch of The Lancet Kidney Campaign. (World Kidney Day is an annual global event sponsored by the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF). The theme this year, “Averting the legacy of kidney disease—focus on childhood”, highlights how much adult kidney disease arises in childhood and in the developing fetus.)

See also a Lancet Comment, the Lancet Kidney Campaign: an opportunity for partnerships

The Washington Post (Monkey Cage) – What the HIV/AIDS epidemic can tell us about how to fight Zika

Mark Daku; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/07/does-

democracy-protect-you-against-epidemics-like-zika/

(recommended) “Are some countries — and some political systems — more at risk for bad health and epidemics than others? Economist Amartya Sen has famously argued that democracies don’t have famines. Here’s his reasoning: Famines result not from failed crops but from failures to distribute food. In functioning democracies, governments are accountable to the public — and therefore have more incentive to prevent catastrophic failures, such as famines, from occurring. Is the same true for epidemics? … “ Not exactly, it turns out: “…Epidemics aren’t famines. Sometimes democracies can fail at public health while autocratic regimes succeed. Sometimes having access to resources will put populations at higher risk. Instead of assuming that some political or economic realities are better or worse than others, we need to recognize that political context and history matter in shaping policies and influencing public reaction to those policies. In other words, political and economic factors interact with viruses and vectors in unpredictable ways to spread — or prevent — disease.”

Development

The Guardian - Development needs business but we must be free to criticise

Jonathan Glennie; http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/09/development-

needs-business-but-we-must-be-free-to-criticise

Must-read. Great comparison, by the way.

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Guardian – Does the west really care about development?

Jason Hickel; http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-

network/2016/mar/05/does-west-care-development

Again, a must-read. You probably already know the answer.

Guardian Global Development - Development finance in 2016: eight steps forward

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-

network/2016/mar/07/development-finance-in-2016-eight-steps-forward

Eight months on from the Addis Ababa Action Agenda being signed, what’s next for development finance, according to a panel of experts?

Project Syndicate – Empty promises and dead children

Kevin Watkins (ODI) Project Syndicate;

Poignant piece. “Buried among the 169 targets contained in the SDGs adopted by the United Nations last September amid a blaze of glitzy events, celebrity endorsements, and back-slapping by world leaders, aid donors, and non-governmental organizations – was the vital pledge to eliminate “preventable child deaths” by 2030. It is a cause for our generation – but one that will take a lot more than UN communiqués to advance. …” Watkins gives a number of suggestions to jumpstart progress.

The Lancet Global Health –Rethinking maternal health

F Knaul et al; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(16)00044-

9/fulltext?rss=yes

“The maternal and NCD agendas and movements can and should be synergistic. The Sustainable Development Goal for health (SDG 3), which includes maternal and child health as well as premature mortality from NCDs, presents an opportunity to implement an integrated approach for women of all ages. … An either-or view of women's health is neither effective nor just. Global health must be inclusive and integrated with a focus on people rather than ailments, by replacing the disease-centred focus with a person-centred approach to priority setting. While retaining the focus on the equity imperative of the unfinished agenda of preventable mortality associated with pregnancy and childbirth, it is essential to address the expanding disease and injury burden that threatens girls and women throughout their life cycle as children, adolescents, mothers, grandmothers, and producers of health and economic, social, and human development. The maternal health agenda must encompass a life course, women-centred approach, including those who have children and those who do not. … The challenge is to continue to push maternal health well beyond pregnancy and

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childbirth to enable all women to realise their full potential in all facets of their lives. It is time to rethink what is maternal about maternal health.”

BMJ (Feature) – The global push for institutional childbirths—in unhygienic facilities

http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i1473

“Healthcare facilities offer professional assistance to women giving birth, writes Jocalyn Clark, but many in developing countries are filthy, lacking clean water and sanitation. “

International Business Times – HIV, Hepatitis C News: More Than 2 Million People Infected With Both Viruses, Study Finds

International Business times;

From last week: “More than 2.3 million people internationally are infected with both HIV and hepatitis C, according to estimates from a study released Tuesday at the University of Bristol and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The study, which was the first to look at the simultaneous infection of HIV and hepatitis C, was published in the online journal "The Lancet Infectious Diseases" and sponsored by the World Health Organization.”

Lancet (Comment) – A breakthrough urine-based diagnostic test for HIV-associated tuberculosis

A Kerkhoff et al ; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00146-

X/fulltext

Related to a new Lancet study. “A low cost, easy to use, urine test to diagnose TB among patients with HIV could help reduce the TB death rate of HIV-positive patients in hospital, according to the new study”. “… In Africa, nearly 40% of all adult deaths related to HIV or AIDS are due to tuberculosis, but almost half of the TB cases remain undiagnosed and untreated before death. The authors of the study, which was conducted in 10 hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, say that if implemented more widely, this low-cost intervention could save thousands of lives per year.”

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Lancet (Correspondence) –Time to recognise countries' preferences in HIV control

N Tromp et al; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00659-0/fulltext

“While The Lancet stated that the new WHO antiretroviral therapy (ART) guidelines are ambitious, Granich and Williams (Jan 2, p 27) called for the implementation of a “test-and-treat strategy” to achieve the goals of the 90-90-90 target and epidemic control. They stated that this strategy fits within the global budget and implied that countries' HIV budgets should be first and foremost spent on putting all individuals with HIV on ART. However, their suggestions overlooked HIV control preferences at the country level, where goals other than epidemic control might also be considered important. …” The authors argue “….that the international debate on guidelines for HIV control should better reflect the context at the country level. The debate should acknowledge that countries may deviate from spending budgets on the test-and-treat approach for their own good reasons. At the same time, it should recognise the need to support countries in making difficult decisions—eg, the identification of goals in HIV control, the trade-offs between these goals, and the selection of interventions that contribute to achieving these goals. Only then can it be judged whether a country's decision to spend less than 50% of their HIV budget on testing and ART is justified.”

BMJ Open –Long-term financing needs for HIV control in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015–2050: a modelling study

Rifat Atun et al; http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/3/e009656.long

The authors estimated the present value of current and future funding needed for HIV treatment and prevention in 9 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries that account for 70% of HIV burden in Africa under different scenarios of intervention scale-up. They also analysed the gaps between current expenditures and funding obligation, and discussed the policy implications of future financing needs.

Lancet Global Health (blog) – We can end AIDS among people who inject drugs: the case for a Harm Reduction Decade

C Cook; http://globalhealth.thelancet.com/2016/03/10/we-can-end-aids-among-people-who-inject-

drugs-case-harm-reduction-decade?platform=hootsuite

See also BMJ News, Focus on harm reduction in fight against HIV, says report : “New HIV infections among people who inject drugs could be virtually eliminated by 2030 if a small percentage of global drug control spending is redirected towards harm reduction programmes, a new report has said. The report, The Case for a Harm Reduction Decade: Progress, Potential and Paradigm Shifts, by UK based non-governmental organisation Harm Reduction International (HRI), found that redirecting 7.5% of the money spent on the “war on drugs” could reduce HIV related deaths by 94%.” …”

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Global Public Health - Neglected chronic disease: The WHO framework on non-communicable diseases and implications for the global poor

S Nulu; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2016.1154584

Brilliant paper. “The current global framework on noncommunicable disease (NCD), as exemplified by the WHO Action Plan of 2012, neglects the needs of the global poor. The current framework is rooted in an outdated pseudo-evolutionary theory of epidemiologic transition, which weds NCDs to modernity, and relies on global aggregate data. It is oriented around a simplistic causal model of behaviour, risk and disease, which implicitly locates ‘risk’ within individuals, conveniently drawing attention away from important global drivers of the NCD epidemic. In fact, the epidemiologic realities of the bottom billion reveal a burden of neglected chronic diseases that are associated with ‘alternative’ environmental and infectious risks that are largely structurally determined. In addition, the vertical orientation of the framework fails to centralise health systems and delivery issues that are essential to chronic disease prevention and treatment. A new framework oriented around a global health equity perspective would be able to correct some of the failures of the current model by bringing the needs of the global poor to the forefront, and centralising health systems and delivery. In addition, core social science concepts such as Bordieu's habitus may be useful to re-conceptualising strategies that may address both behavioural and structural determinants of health.”

In other NCD policy news, you might want to take part in the next NCD Alliance webinar (15 March). Among others, they’ll discuss: Follow up to the 138th WHO Executive Board Meeting; Latest News on SDG Indicators; UNGASS on Drugs and UNSG High Level Panel on Access to Medicines; …

IJHPM – Human Rights Discourse in the Sustainable Development Agenda Avoids Obligations and Entitlements; Comment on “Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?”

C Williams et al;

http://www.ijhpm.com/article_3173_0.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

“Our commentary on Forman et al paper explores their thesis that right to health language can frame global health policy responses. We examined human rights discourse in the outcome documents from three 2015 United Nations (UN) summits and found rights-related terms are used in all three. However, a deeper examination of the discourse finds the documents do not convey the obligations and entitlements of human rights and international human rights law. The documents contain little that can be used to empower the participation of those already left behind and to hold States and the private sector to account for their human rights duties. This is especially worrying in a neoliberal era.”

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Globalization & Health (Editorial) – Globalization and Health: developing the journal to advance the field

Greg Martin, Ronald Labonté et al;

http://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-016-0143-2

“Founded in 2005, Globalization and Health was the first open access global health journal. The journal has since expanded the field, and its influence … … To mark the ten years since the journal’s founding, we, members of the current editorial board, undertook a review of the journal’s progress over the last decade. Through the application of an inductive thematic analysis, we systematically identified themes of research published in the journal from 2005 to 2014. We identify key areas the journal has promoted and consider these in the context of an existing framework, identify current gaps in global health research and highlight areas we, as a journal, would like to see strengthened.” (Interesting stuff)

UN - Right to sexual and reproductive health indivisible from other human rights - UN experts

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17168&LangID=E

“The right to sexual and reproductive health is not only an integral part of the general right to health but fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the rights to education, work and equality, as well as the rights to life, privacy and freedom from torture, and individual autonomy, UN experts have said in an authoritative new legal commentary. Yet, the experts from the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) note, “the full enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health remains a distant goal for millions of people, especially for women and girls, throughout the world.” The commentary … highlights the numerous legal, procedural, practical and social barriers people face in accessing sexual and reproductive health care and information, and the resulting human rights violations. … … The experts’ guidelines, known as a General Comment, concern Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which refers to the right to the highest attainable standard of health.”

NPR Goats & Soda – Studies Reinforce The Urgency Of Treating Pregnant Women With Malaria

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/09/469845916/studies-reinforce-the-urgency-of-treating-pregnant-women-with-malaria

Two studies in this week's New England Journal of Medicine presented some interesting findings on malaria treatment for pregnant women. More in particular, the new studies provide much-needed guidance on how to prevent and treat malaria during pregnancy. ITM was involved in one of the two studies (i.e. the PREGact study).

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Read also the related NEJM Editorial - Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy: Till now, information on the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of artemisinin-based combination therapies in pregnant women was fairly limited. “Two articles in this issue of the NEJM, by the PREGACT Study Group and Kakuru et al., present new findings to support the use of artemisinin-based combination therapy in both the prevention and the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in pregnancy.” The studies demonstrate the effective, safe use of artemisinin combination therapy during pregnancy; ACT hadn’t been tested on pregnant women before. The hope is now that the studies provide the needed evidence for decision makers to use ACTs in the treatment of pregnant women with malaria.

AP – AP Investigation: American company bungled Ebola response

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/46328e561bfb44b99b2e6937835be957/ap-investigation-american-

company-bungled-ebola-response

“An American company that bills itself as a pioneer in tracking emerging epidemics made a series of costly mistakes during the 2014 Ebola outbreak that swept across West Africa — with employees feuding with fellow responders, contributing to misdiagnosed Ebola cases and repeatedly misreading the trajectory of the virus, an Associated Press investigation has found. San Francisco-based Metabiota Inc. was tapped by the Sierra Leonean government and the World Health Organization to help monitor the spread of the virus and support the response after Ebola was discovered circulating in neighboring Guinea in March 2014. But emails obtained by AP and interviews with aid workers on the ground show that some of the company's actions made an already chaotic situation worse….”

Zika

Some more Zika info & key reads, in no particular order:

WHO – Zika situation report 10 March

http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/situation-report/10-march-2016/en/

Check it out.

WHO – WHO and experts prioritize vaccines, diagnostics and innovative vector

control tools for Zika R&D

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2016/research-development-zika/en/

(see also above – the 3-day landscaping R&D meeting): “After a three-day consultation on Zika research and development, international experts, convened by WHO, have agreed on top priorities to advance R&D for Zika medical products. The following tools were prioritized as the most viable

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options to help fight the spread of Zika virus in the immediate future: Multiplex tests for ‘flaviviruses’ (viruses related to Zika, such as dengue, chikungunya), in addition to more traditional tests; protective vaccines based on killed virus (or other non-live) preparations for women of childbearing age; and innovative vector control tools that reduce the mosquito population. “Zika virus induces a mild and mostly harmless infection in the majority of patients,” indicated Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General in charge of R&D at WHO. “For that reason medicines to treat it seem less of a priority at this stage. The most pressing need is the development of diagnostic and preventive tools to address the current R&D gap and protect pregnant women and their babies.”

See also Mosquito spraying may not stop Zika, other methods needed: WHO (Reuters)

And see also Zika Virus R&D: No Vaccine Before 3 To 5 Years, Sample Sharing Needs Incentives (IP-

Watch)

Vice – Zika Virus, 'Ghostbusters,' and the Strange New Normal of Tropical Disease

Pandemics

Peter Hotez; https://news.vice.com/article/zika-virus-ghostbusters-tropical-disease-pandemics

“…Epidemics of vector-borne diseases may become a new normal for areas of our planet where poverty, conflict and human migrations, temperature and rainfall alterations, or some combination of these factors are having their greatest impact.”

Hotez also called Zika ““truly the virus from hell”. (it’s obvious Peter knows how to handle the media)

Stat news – Obama’s emergency request for Zika funding stalls in Congress

http://www.statnews.com/2016/03/08/zika-funds-congress-stalls/

“The emergency money the Obama administration wants to fight the Zika virus is stuck in Congress — and so far, there’s no sign that congressional Republicans are about to budge.”

FT – WHO chief wants help for drug industry to fight global pandemics

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a0281426-e21a-11e5-8d9b-e88a2a889797.html#axzz42EZeVAW2

A somewhat surprising statement from Chan from earlier this week. “Pharmaceuticals companies cannot be expected to keep picking up the bill for tackling global pandemics, the head of the World Health Organisation has warned, urging the creation of a new funding mechanism for emergency drugs and vaccines. Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, said the pharma industry had spent almost $1bn developing Ebola vaccines in the past two years without any return on investment. “The question we need to ask is can we continuously tax the industry like this? Yes, maybe once, but not every time.””

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JAMA (viewpoint) - Research Priorities for the Emerging Zika Virus Epidemic

H Lazaer et al; http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2502313

This Viewpoint proposes research priorities to better understand and effectively respond to the spread of Zika virus.

Some other Zika related links, mostly on the ‘accumulating evidence’ of a Zika link to birth defects & other disorders:

*Two recent studies from Friday last week: Zika Virus Infection in Pregnant Women in Rio de Janeiro — Preliminary Report (NEJM study from last week); Zika Virus Infects Human Cortical Neural Progenitors and Attenuates Their Growth (study in Cell Stem Cell) (see also the Guardian, Zika virus: scientists a step closer to establishing microcephaly link ; or the Washington Post)

* First Zika-linked birth defects detected in Colombia (Nature news)

See also ‘Zika-Linked Nerve Disorder Unsettles Colombia’: Country has seen sharp increase in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which can cause severe paralysis (in WSJ )

*A Biotech Evangelist seeks a Zika dividend (NYT) – on Randal J Kirk (from Intrexon – a company very much into genetically modified insects, among others) (remark: very interesting piece!!!)

Global health events

Ban Ki Moon in Germany

https://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/EN/Artikel/2016/03_en/2016-03-08-besuch-ban-ki-

moon_en.html;jsessionid=2208D0ED24884BCB6C4A00103DDF9DFC.s7t2

Ban met Merkel & co. “…The development of the global health system was another item on the agenda. The Chancellor stressed that Germany has already shouldered responsibility in this field during its Presidency of the G7, and will continue to do so, when it holds the G20 presidency next year.”

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WHO - WHO Director-General addresses Human Rights Council on climate change (3 March)

http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2016/human-rights-council/en/

Speech Margaret Chan (last week). Keynote address at the Human Rights Council panel discussion on climate change and the right to health. Geneva, Switzerland (3 March 2016) “Delegates from United Nations Member States convened in Geneva, Switzerland for the 31st session of the Council, listening to Dr Chan’s call for a human rights-based approach that would put people’s health at the centre of the discussion on climate change, an approach that “provides an entry point for holding countries accountable for their international obligations on climate change.” See also “A ruined planet cannot sustain human lives in good health" (WHO)

“…. To define an action agenda, WHO will host a second global conference on health and climate this year, hopefully in July. … To support accountable action, WHO and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will jointly roll out climate and health profiles for individual countries. These profiles focus on the health risks and opportunities for the most vulnerable populations. They also track compliance with the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions in terms of their impact on health. …”

On the panel discussion itself, on the relationship between climate change and the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, see Human Rights Council holds panel discussion on climate change and the right to health (OHCHR)

You might also want to read Universalizing environmental and human rights (New Internationalist)

Professor John Knox, the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the environment presented his latest report on how these rights could be developed and implemented. You find the report here or here.

“This report describes the increasing attention paid to the relationship between climate change and human rights in recent years, reviews the effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights and outlines the application of human rights obligations to climate-related actions. The report assesses the Paris Agreement in light of the procedural and substantive human rights obligations of States relating to climate change and concludes that in order to ensure that global temperatures do not rise to levels that would impair a vast range of human rights, States should fully implement all of their commitments in connection with the Paris Agreement and strengthen their commitments in the future. Each State must also adopt a legal and institutional framework that assists those within its jurisdiction to adapt to the unavoidable effects of climate change. In all of these actions, States must take care to protect the rights of the most vulnerable.”

There’s also an implementation report.

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Lancet – Offline: Uncivil society

Richard Horton; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00679-6/abstract

“What can be bad about non-governmental organisations (NGOs)? They are essential voices in a discordant global health conversation often dominated by risk-averse multilaterals, corrupt governments, and neo-colonial donors. NGOs democratise global health by rebalancing the dialogue towards those who have little or no voice. They advocate for issues too sensitive for others to mention. They are instruments for accountability. And increasingly, they deliver services that weak governments simply cannot provide. But NGOs are not free of their own ideologies. Their high-minded philosophies frequently mask self-interested agendas. Although advocacy seems an uncontested good, is it fair that those who shout loudest (or have the most money) dominate over under-resourced rivals? And who, anyway, do NGOs really represent? Their donors? Their staff ? Or is it really the communities they claim to defend? In last week’s Lancet–London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Global Health Lab, we explored the role of NGOs in global health today. The verdict? Be sceptical.”

Read why.

GHTC (blog) – Better together? Five takeaways on the proposal for a WHO pooled fund

M Robinson; https://blog.ghtcoalition.org/2016/03/07/better-together-five-takeaways-on-the-proposal-for-a-who-pooled-fund/

Recommended. The author discusses key messages from a recent panel discussion on a WHO proposal for a pooled fund and observatory for global health R&D.

ODI (blog) - What will make the High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment a true game changer?

A Hunt; http://www.odi.org/comment/10358-high-level-panel-women%E2%80%99s-economic-empowerment-gender-sdgs

Looking ahead to the first meeting of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s new High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment at the Commission on the Status of Women next week.

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Coming up soon: World Health Day 2016 – focus on diabetes (7 April)

http://who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2016/en/

See also here. Includes the key messages & the goal of World Health Day 2016.

Coming up later this year - 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion, Shanghai 2016

http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/9gchp/en/

“The 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion (9GCHP) will be co-organized by WHO and the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of the People's Republic of China. The conference will provide an unprecedented opportunity to reassert the significance of health promotion in improving health and health equity at the historical moment of 30 years anniversary of Ottawa Charter, and the first year of implementing the SDGs. It will direct and guide Member States on the practical application of evidence-based health promotion concepts, approaches and mechanisms for achieving SDGs.”

Global governance of health

Plos (essay) – Trans-Pacific Partnership Provisions in Intellectual Property, Transparency, and Investment Chapters Threaten Access to Medicines in the US and Elsewhere

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001970

Brook Baker describes the potential harms to global health from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement and its failure to balance the interests of patients and the public with those of industry.

PHM – Key points from PHM steering council meeting in Bangkok (end of January)

http://www.phmovement.org/sites/www.phmovement.org/files/CoChair%20letter_March2016_EN.

pdf

Chiara Bodini & David Sanders are now co-chairs.

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NPR – What It'd Take To Save 10 Million Lives: Zinc, Bed Nets, $70 Billion

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/07/469194150/what-we-need-to-save-10-

million-lives-zinc-bed-nets-70-billion

Interview with Gavin Yamey, on last week’s Plos ‘Grand convergence’ related Collection.

Guardian – How the World Bank is 'nudging' attitudes to health and hygiene

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/mar/04/world-

bank-nudging-attitudes-health-hygiene?CMP=share_btn_tw

On a new global nudge unit run by the World Bank, the Global Insights Initiative (Gini).

The conversation – Gates Foundation calls for ‘energy miracle’

Y Sharma; http://www.scidev.net/global/energy/news/gates-foundation-energy-

miracle.html?utm_content=bufferaab44&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_cam

paign=buffer

One assessment of the Gates’ annual letter from a few weeks ago. “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is shifting its development interest towards bigger, global issues such as climate change, according to the annual letter by its founders.” But not everybody agrees: “…Alex Reid, head of global programme communications at the foundation, says the 2016 letter was “not a foundation annual letter but Bill and Melinda talking about issues they focus on outside the foundation and are investing in” — unlike previous letters. “

CGD – Anti-Corruption Strategies in Foreign Aid: From Controls to Results

W Savedoff; http://www.cgdev.org/publication/anti-corruption-strategies-foreign-aid-controls-

results

“Corruption is an obstacle to social and economic progress in developing countries yet we still know very little about the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts and their impact on development impact. This essay looks at 25 years of efforts by foreign aid agencies to combat corruption and proposes a new strategy which could leverage existing approaches by directly incorporating information on

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development results. With better results data, funders would be able to (1) prioritize investigative resources, (2) test control strategies, (3) implement pay for results and (4) be selective with objective criteria.”

Science Speaks – PEPFAR Report to Congress reviews advances, accomplishments, opportunities, cites challenge of growing populations among most at risk

science speaks;

Antigone Barton discusses PEPFAR’s 2016 Annual Report to Congress, from this week.

PolitiFact - Do U.S. global AIDS dollars build stability, less violence? Hard to prove

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/04/tom-daschle/do-us-global-aids-dollars-build-stability-less-vio/

“PEPFAR got some bipartisan love from two former Senate majority leaders, Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn. In an op-ed in The Hill titled "Big-hearted, self-serving and right," Daschle and Frist argued that global health aid is in the national interest. "In a study for the Bipartisan Policy Center last November, we showed how the largest global health project in history, PEPFAR, has not only saved millions of lives but also improved America’s national security," they wrote. Among PEPFAR’s achievements, they said "our study found that in PEPFAR countries, political instability and violence have fallen 40 percent (compared to just 3 percent in equivalent non-PEPFAR countries), while economic growth has increased — and so has America’s reputation."

…There are many fine reasons for America to promote better health overseas, but we wanted to explore whether the data prove that reducing political instability and violence is one of them. As it turns out, it’s tough to make the case. “ (in fact, the claim is rated as ‘mostly false’…)

Deliver 2030 – Leaving no one behind in the SDGs: greater coordination and coherence is required

Nick Corby; http://deliver2030.org/?p=6802

“…To embed within this new global agenda the coherence and coordination needed from all stakeholders requires much more consideration in the coming months. Inspiration for this discussion could come from UNAIDS’ Three Ones. While the Three Ones were designed for the HIV response, one national plan, one coordinating authority and one country level monitoring and evaluation structure would also benefit the SDGs and the intent to leave no one behind.”

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Development Diaries - #SDGs: UNDP to Nigeria, Prioritise Poverty Reduction, 4 Others

http://developmentdiaries.com/sdgs-undp-advises-nigeria-to-prioritise-poverty-reduction-4-

others/?utm_content=buffer4f677&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign

=buffer

“The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has urged Nigeria to select and implement five priority areas out of the 17 SDGs to fast-track development in the country. The Country Director of Programme in Nigeria, Dr. Pa-Lamin Beyai, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja. Beyai identified the five priority areas as poverty reduction, gender equality, education, health, and climate change….”

Aidspan – OIG audit reveals significant weaknesses in how CCMs are managed, and how CCMs coordinate and oversee grants

http://www.aidspan.org/gfo_article/oig-audit-reveals-significant-weaknesses-how-ccms-are-

managed-and-how-ccms-coordinate

From this week’s GFO issue. “The Office of the Inspector General has identified significant weaknesses in (a) the adequacy of the country coordinating mechanism model in coordinating and overseeing grants; and (b) the effectiveness of CCM policies and procedures at the Global Fund Secretariat level and at the country level. The OIG has just released a report on the first-ever audit it conducted on CCMs. … ”

UHC

Lancet (World Report) – Experts sceptical about Nigeria's free health-care plans

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00691-7/fulltext

Nigeria's Government has promised to provide health coverage to millions of citizens. But experts are not convinced that it will happen based on the country's track record. Andrew Green reports.

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Planetary health

Guardian – US and Canada promise to lead world to low-carbon economy

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/10/us-canada-promise-lead-world-low-

carbon-economy-obama-trudeau

“The US and Canada declared they would help lead the transition to a low-carbon global economy on Thursday, in a dramatic role reversal for two countries once derided as climate change villains. The shared vision unveiled by Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau ahead of a meeting at the White House commits the two countries to a range of actions to shore up the historic climate agreement reached in Paris last December. The two leaders committed to rally G20 countries behind the accord, promote North American carbon markets, cap emissions from hundreds of thousands of existing oil and gas wells, and protect indigenous communities in a region which is warming beyond the point of no return, according to a statement from the White House. …”

Global platform for sustainable cities launched in Singapore

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/global-platform-for-sustainable-cities-launched-in-

singapore

“The inaugural meeting of the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) kicked off yesterday at the Sheraton Towers Hotel (ahum). The project is being funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) - a global institution that finances environmental projects - and led by the World Bank.”

Victory – Hindustan Unilever settles with 591 Kodaikanal workers

http://kodaimercury.org/victory-hindustan-unilever-settles-with-591-kodaikanal-workers/

“Activists Celebrate as Unilever Settles with Kodaikanal Workers. The settlement between Hindustan Unilever and 591 former mercury workers from its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal is an unprecedented victory and a fitting culmination of the 15-year campaign by workers and the hundreds of thousands of supporters worldwide, said campaign organisations The Other Media, Chennai Solidarity Group and Jhatkaa.org. According to activists, it is public outrage, not corporate responsibility, that prompted Unilever to do what it had refused to do for 15 years. Millions of people shared the viral music video Kodaikanal Won’t, and more than 150,000 people in over 100 countries petitioned and tweeted to hold Unilever CEO Paul Polman accountable….”

Yes – this concerns the well-known eco-responsible Paul Polman.

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Humanosphere - Countries most in need of Global Climate Fund money are struggling to get it

Tom Murphy; http://www.humanosphere.org/environment/2016/03/countries-most-in-need-of-

global-climate-fund-money-are-struggling-to-get-it/

No surprises there.

Check out also After COP21: 7 Key Tasks to Implement the Paris Agreement (World Resources institute) – for the COP watchers.

Infectious diseases & NTDs

All Africa – Uganda: 'Uganda Not to Blame for Global Fund Delays'

http://allafrica.com/stories/201603071796.html

On some of the MoH-MoF discussions (including some fingerpointing)…

Lancet – NextGen HIV prevention: new possibilities and questions

K Mayer; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00655-3/fulltext

“At the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston, MA, USA, on Feb 22–25, several exciting new HIV prevention approaches were presented.”

Some other bits & pieces:

New Cases of Polio Reported in Pakistan (VOA) – somewhat disappointing news…

In other polio related news, read also a new Lancet Letter - Changing oral vaccine to inactivated polio vaccine might increase mortality.

UNAIDS to collaborate on new mobile technology platform to improve data collection and advance the response to HIV (on the collaboration with Orange on a new project to strengthen links between

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health-care providers and people living with and affected by HIV through the use of mobile technology )

Zika Isn't The Only Outbreak; Nigeria Struggles To Rein In Lassa Fever (NPR Goats & Soda – why is Nigeria’s response to Lassa Fever is far worse than its (praised) response to the Ebola outbreak?) There are a number of reasons.

Ebola vaccine trial in Sierra Leone battles against fear and logistics (Guardian)

NCDs

Global Public Health - Means and ENDS – e-cigarettes, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and global health diplomacy in action

A Russell et al; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2016.1152284

« E-cigarettes are a new and disruptive element in global health diplomacy (GHD) and policy-making. This is an ethnographic account of how e-cigarettes and other Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) were tackled at the 6th Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. …”

Check out also another new GPH paper, African media coverage of tobacco industry corporate social responsibility initiatives.

BBC News – Why South Africans will pay 'sin tax' for fizzy drinks

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35670275

South-Africa is the first African country to introduce a soda tax.

Lancet (Editorial) – The health crisis of mental health stigma

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)00687-5/fulltext

“Many people with mental illness experience shame, ostracism, and marginalisation due to their diagnosis, and often describe the consequences of mental health stigma as worse than those of the condition itself. Interventions to address stigma educate about mental illness and overcome the stereotypes that underlie prejudicial reactions. Along with pharmacological and psychological therapies, stigma interventions have emerged as potentially valuable and complementary tools. … In

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today's Lancet, Graham Thornicroft and colleagues review the evidence for effectiveness of interventions to reduce mental health stigma and discrimination, and conclude that they can work at an individual and population level. … … However, although the main message of this Review is encouraging, the gaps highlighted are troubling. Evidence from low-income and middle-income countries is virtually absent, despite the high burden of both mental illness and stigma, and scarce resources to support people with mental health problems. …”

So much more still needs to be done before the stigma is eliminated.

Sexual & Reproductive / maternal, neonatal & child health

Global Public Health – Gender counts: A systematic review of evaluations of gender-integrated health interventions in low- and middle-income countries

B Schriver et al; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2016.1149596

“As a result of new global priorities, there is a growing need for high-quality evaluations of gender-integrated health programmes. This systematic review examined 99 peer-reviewed articles on evaluations of gender-integrated (accommodating and transformative) health programmes with regard to their theory of change (ToC), study design, gender integration in data collection, analysis, and gender measures used. …”

All Africa - South Africa: The Price of Sanitary Pads Is a Tax On Womanhood

http://allafrica.com/stories/201603080267.html

Not just a story in the South, actually. Also in the North this is an issue.

Health4Africa - Lessons learned from the Situation Analysis of Knowledge Translation and Use of Evidence in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in West Africa

V Lokossou et al;http://www.health4africa.net/2016/03/lessons-learned-situation-analysis-

knowledge-translation-evidence-maternal-newborn-child-health-west-africa/

“Since November 2014, the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) has been implementing a Regional Project tagged “Moving Maternal Newborn and Child Health Evidence into Policy in West Africa.” The project is funded by the International Development Research Centre , the Canadian

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Institutes of Health Research, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the ECOWAS Commission. A situation analysis of knowledge translation and use of evidence in West Africa integrating gender and equity issues as well as conducive and limiting factors of health systems was conducted in 6 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal) during the second half of 2015. The Validation Workshop on the Situation Analysis which gathered together eighty stakeholders from ECOWAS Member States and Canada, was held in Dakar from 18 to 20 February 2016.”

Plos – Length-of-stay in Health Facilities after Childbirth is Too Short in Many Low- and Middle-Income Countries

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001972

Oona Campbell and colleagues frame a prediction model for post-partum length of stay and identify factors associated with length of stay in LMIC.

WHO – Global Framework for Accelerated Action for Adolescent Health: consultation

http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/adolescence/framework-accelerated-

action/en/

“The 68th World Health Assembly requested the WHO Secretariat to develop a Global Framework for Accelerated Action for Adolescent Health (the Framework) in consultation with youth, Member States and major partners, aligned with the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016-2030) and its Operational Framework. Launched by the U.N. Secretary-General in September 2015, the Global Strategy lays out an ambitious vision for a world “in which every woman, child and adolescent in every setting realizes their rights to physical and mental health and well-being, has social and economic opportunities, and is able to participate fully in shaping prosperous and sustainable societies,” focusing on nine key areas for action. The Global Framework for Accelerated Action for Adolescent Health will provide guidance to countries and programmes on how to plan, implement and monitor a SURVIVE, THRIVE and TRANSFORM response to the health needs of adolescents in line with the Global Strategy. Comments are now sought for initial inputs into the Framework, from representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, academia, youth groups, and from individual citizens, to inform what should be in the Global Framework for Accelerated Action for Adolescent Health. The online survey is open from 7–28 March 2016. »

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Health Affairs (blog) – US Vaccine Officials Weigh In At The Midpoint Of The Decade Of Vaccines

D Fleming; http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2016/03/07/us-vaccine-officials-weigh-in-at-the-midpoint-

of-the-decade-of-vaccines/

Interesting blog.

Access to medicines

UNITAID (discussion paper) – Ensuring that essential medicines are also affordable medicines: Challenges and options

Ellen ‘t Hoen et al;

http://www.unitaid.org/images/marketdynamics/publications/Ensuring_that_essential_medicines_

are_also_affordable_medicines_challenges_and_options.pdf

“This paper provides an overview of key historical developments, focused on the experience of increasing access to HIV medicines. Using the Essential Medicines List as a guide for prioritization, it then discusses some of the recent challenges and possible approaches to address them.”

IP-Watch – Gilead Sovaldi Case Reveals Patent-Health Fissures In India

http://www.ip-watch.org/2016/03/09/gilead-solvaldi-case-reveals-patent-health-fissures-in-india/

“Are patient groups, health activists and manufacturers of low-cost generic drugs always on the same page? Do India’s generic companies think alike? The short answer: not necessarily, though their interests have overlapped on many occasions. Both questions are once again being debated in India in the wake of the patent opposition hearings in case involving sofosbuvir (brand name Sovaldi).”

New Statesman – How the "free market" in vaccines is neither free nor fair

B Cooper; http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2016/03/how-free-market-vaccines-

neither-free-nor-fair

From last week. Recommended.

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Human resources for health

Health Policy & Planning - Motivating health workers up to a limit: partial effects of performance-based financing on working environments in Nigeria

A Bhatnagar & A George;

http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/03/05/heapol.czw002.short?rss=1

“In 2012, the Nigerian government launched performance-based financing (PBF) in three districts providing financial incentives to health workers based on the quantity and quality of service provision. They were given autonomy to use funds for operational costs and performance bonuses. This study aims to understand changes in perceived motivation among health workers with the introduction of PBF in Wamba district, Nigeria. …”

Call for contributions – High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth: Call for contributions

http://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/hrh_heeg_call/en/

The title is clear enough.

Miscellaneous

CGD - A Big, Bold Plan for MCC’s Future

Sarah Rose ; CGD;

“After more than a decade of operations, MCC has made the shift from innovative start-up to established donor agency. “MCC NEXT,” the agency’s new, much-anticipated strategic plan, takes a hard look at how the poverty and development landscape has evolved over the past decade and stakes out the position a more mature MCC should take in this new context. …”

Devex – Gayle Smith's beginning of the end

https://www.devex.com/news/gayle-smith-s-beginning-of-the-end-87861

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“Gayle Smith will use her tenure as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development to “lock in” initiatives introduced by President Barack Obama and to build a strengthened agency, capable of holding its own in Washington’s perennial turf battles, she told a packed audience on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. …

“…She pointed to the Global Health Security Agenda — an investment worth more than $1 billion that aims to prevent, detect and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks in 17 countries — as an example of the kind of long-term preparatory work that should be emphasized.”

African health stats

http://www.africanhealthstats.org/cms/

Check out this site. Innovative data site that allows you to chart, map and compare key health indicators across all 54 African Union member states.

Healthy Developments - Interagency Social Protection Assessments (ISPA)

http://health.bmz.de/events/news-

archive/2016/02/Something_new_is_happening_for_social_protection__Interagency_Social_Protec

tion_Assessments__ISPA_/index.html?pk_campaign=05_2016

“24 February 2016 marked the website launch of the Interagency Social Protection Assessments initiative: www.ISPATools.org. It offers a set of practical tools that help countries improve their social protection system by analysing its strengths and weaknesses and offering options for further action.”

“…Recognising the need for more coherent and coordinated approaches both at international and national levels and responding to a G20 request, social protection experts from more than 20 international organisations such as the WB, ILO and GIZ, together with partner countries have been developing a set of harmonised, systematic tools to assess and improve social protection systems, programmes and delivery mechanisms – the Interagency Social Protection Assessments (ISPA) tools.”

Conference in Delhi on South-South Cooperation (10-March)

http://ris.org.in/conference-south-south-cooperation

You find all info (agenda, background note, press coverage, …) on the site.

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Read also the following interesting pieces:

CIA director: US government will need to 'overhaul' how it engages with partners (Devex – more evidence of the increasing development & security nexus)

Spies Sans Frontières (IRIN - How CIA-linked firm Palantir is gaining ground in the aid industry (and why some humanitarians are worried)

Research

IJHPM – What Can We Learn About the Processes of Regulation of Tuberculosis Medicines From the Experiences of Health Policy and System Actors in India, Tanzania, and Zambia?

Kabir Sheikh et al; http://www.ijhpm.com/article_3175_0.html

“The unregulated availability and irrational use of tuberculosis (TB) medicines is a major issue of public health concern globally. Governments of many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have committed to regulating the quality and availability of TB medicines, but with variable success. Regulation of TB medicines remains an intractable challenge in many settings, but the reasons for this are poorly understood. The objective of this paper is to elaborate processes of regulation of quality and availability of TB medicines in three LMICs – India, Tanzania, and Zambia – and to understand the factors that constrain and enable these processes. …”

International Journal of Health Services –Mozambique’s Debt and the International Monetary Fund’s Influence on Poverty, Education, and Health

J Best et al; http://joh.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/10/0020731416637062.abstract

“For nearly 30 years, Mozambique has been facing austerity measures regulated by the IMF. These austerity measures, grounded in macroeconomic policies, were supposed to lift Mozambique out of poverty, and improve its healthcare and education systems. By taking an in-depth look at the major etiologies of Mozambique’s debt and the conditions which forced the country to accept austerity measures-despite their protests-prior to receiving IMF funding, this paper examines how IMF policies over the past 30 years have affected poverty, health, and the education system. The results of these policies have contributed to Mozambique’s enduring classification as one of the poorest countries in the world. Aside from economic outcomes, Mozambique also has abysmal health and education systems, with one of the lowest life expectancies in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is time to re-evaluate how the current IMF macroeconomic policies negatively affect, health, education and the socioeconomic status of those who live in abject poverty. As short term macroeconomic policies of PARPA have been ineffective at reducing poverty, promoting education and improving health, the

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IMF should consider using longer term macroeconomic policies which invest in—rather than limit—public services such as health and education.”

International Journal of nursing studies - Using Twitter™ to drive research impact: A discussion of strategies, opportunities and challenges

K Schnitzler et al; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748916000729

“This paper, therefore, explores how using social networking platforms, notably Twitter™ offers potential new ways for communicating research findings, accessing diverse and traditionally hard-to-reach audiences, knowledge exchange at an exponential rate, and enabling new means of capturing and demonstrating research impact. The paper discusses approaches to initiate the setup of social networking platforms in research projects and considers the practical challenges of using Twitter™ in nursing and healthcare research. The discussion is illuminated with examples from our current research….”

JCE - Opening-up the definition of systematic literature review: the plurality of worldviews, methodologies and methods for reviews and syntheses

P Pluye et al ; http://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)00104-9/abstract

« This series of nine articles constitutes a necessary building block toward a better understanding of methods for reviews and syntheses. As mentioned by Dr. Straus, the leader of the team that accomplished this tremendous scoping of a field in rapid development, these articles can help graduate students and researchers for planning, conducting, and reporting reviews and syntheses that include qualitative research alone, or in combination with quantitative and mixed-methods studies. These methods for reviews and syntheses can address complex issues and questions and are becoming popular for addressing clinicians' and managers' needs. »

Reproductive health matters - Assessing political priority for reproductive health in Ethiopia

N Prata et al; http://www.rhm-elsevier.com/article/S0968-8080(15)00081-6/abstract

(from 2015) “… This study seeks to assess the generation and institutionalization of political priority for reproductive health within the political systems of Ethiopia. Interviews with key policy makers, government ministers, academics, and leaders of prominent non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia between July 2010 and January 2011 were conducted, using Shiffman and Smith’s Framework, to analyse the key actors and ideas behind the shift towards prioritization of reproductive health in Ethiopia, as well as the political context and primary characteristics of the issues that propelled progressive action in reproductive health in that country. Some of the key

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lessons point to the readiness of the Ethiopian government to reform and to improve the socio-economic status of the population. The role of civil society organizations working alongside the government was crucial to creating a window of opportunity in a changing political climate to achieve gains in reproductive health. To our knowledge, this is the first time Shiffman and Smith’s Framework has been used for reproductive health policies. We conclude that Ethiopian experience fits well within this framework for understanding prioritization of global health issues and may serve as a model for other sub-Saharan African countries.”

Alliance – Systems Tools for Complex Health Systems - Course package on Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs)

http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/resources/publications/cld/en/

Preparation for Vancouver.