Lancet (Special issue on global health security) - Can the Ebola outbreak rejuvenate global health security?

http://www.thelancet.com/infographics/global-health-security “The west African Ebola epidemic has rekindled interest in global health security, but it has also highlighted a troubling lack of political commitment to public health, and it is far from clear whether the crisis will be enough to rejuvenate global health security, say leading global health experts writing in The Lancet.  Through a series of essays, the review, which is published as part of a special issue on global health security, explores different perspectives on the wider lessons that can be drawn from the outbreak, including how it has demonstrated the importance of securing individuals’ access to health care as part of the pursuit of global health security. The essays discuss whether the Ebola crisis is likely to increase political commitment to advancing health security and provide insight into the relevance to global health security of several issues, from counterfeit medicines and antimicrobial resistance, to armed conflict, natural disasters and migration. “The central message of this collection of short essays is that there is no simple definition of health security,” write Lancet Editors  Pam Das and Richard Horton in a  Comment linked to the review.  “It means, variously, human security, the prevention and control of infectious diseases, attention to non-communicable diseases, revitalising research and development to produce global public goods, dealing with substandard and falsified drugs, considering conflict and disaster settings, addressing international migration, and building stronger health systems through universal health coverage. The complexity of global health security should not induce paralysis. But it should make us pause before we argue for quick solutions.” A worrying trend, according to Horton & Das: “One consequence of this increased attention to health security is an erosion—it might not be an exaggeration to say collapse—of multilateral approaches to the world's greatest threats. In Washington, DC, the most influential city determining the future of global health, the political atmosphere is deeply hostile to multilateral solutions to global health challenges. It is, sadly, also deeply hostile to WHO, which, one senior US State Department official told us recently, has been “overwhelmed” by Ebola. The US Government remains fully committed to global health. But another government adviser tells us that the US administration is “furious” about the way existing international health arrangements failed to contain the Ebola outbreak. The USA will now “go it alone”, he said. It will protect its homeland through bilateral responses, such as the announcement of an African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention through a partnership with the African Union, not WHO. The USA will no longer be interested in UN, let alone WHO, reform, he suggests. Instead, it will do what it needs to do to protect its own interests—domestically and overseas.”   That would be shortsighted, Horton & Das argue. “Global health security, we think, is an idea that presses the case in favour of a renaissance in multilateralism, not its demise.” Writing in another review published as part of the special issue,  Lawrence Gostin and  Eric Friedman from O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, USA, say that the Ebola crisis provides a rare political opportunity for sweeping reforms.  They propose a blueprint for a transformed global health system with robust, equitable national health systems at its core; an empowered WHO taking a more prominent leadership role, with member states doubling its budget to US$8 billion over 5 years to achieve this goal; and strong International Health Regulations that can hold member states to account. (In the words of Horton & Das: “We also publish the first comprehensive analysis of the Ebola crisis by Lawrence Gostin and Eric Friedman. Several working groups are already planning and writing reports on the way the international community responded to the epidemic, together with lessons learned. The Public Policy paper by Gostin and Friedman will be hard to better—they offer incisive recommendations for a new global health framework, strengthened national health systems, an empowered WHO, clearer roles and responsibilities for stakeholders, revised International Health Regulations, and enhanced human and financial resources”.) Finally, in a Viewpoint paper accompanying the special issue, ‘What is a resilient health system, lessons from Ebola’, Margaret Kruk  et al look at what can be learnt from the Ebola epidemic to make health systems more resilient, by being better prepared to withstand and respond to severe global health crises, minimise social and economic disruption, and recover more quickly. “

Upcoming annual ITM colloquium in Rabat, Morocco

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=65cec900d3e9a66f23fd757f5&id=2c06265eae&e=23c782b508 The Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, Belgium (ITM) will organise its annual colloquium of 2015 in partnership with the École Nationale de Santé Publique (ENSP) of Rabat, Morocco. The conference on Maternal & Neonatal health (MNH) in low- and middle-income countries will take place from 24 to 27 November in Rabat, Morocco.  You find some info here but even more here. Abstracts need to be submitted by May 31.

Global Partners Forum 2015 in Seattle

The Gates Foundation hosted its annual Global Partners Forum meeting in Seattle this week, an event far less important than ITM’s annual colloquium, obviously. Check out hashtag #GPF2015.

Humanosphere – Gates Foundation rallies the troops to attack UN development goals

Tom Paulson; http://www.humanosphere.org/world-politics/2015/05/gates-foundation-rallies-the-troops-to-attack-un-development-goals/ Must-read. “The Gates Foundation really, really dislikes what the international community intends to do over the next 15 years to reduce poverty and inequity. … The SDGs were not just debated and critiqued at the Gates confab; they were downright ridiculed, repeatedly.” “They look more like an encyclopedia of development than a useful tool for action,” said Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (which has received several million dollars in Gates grants). Piot called for everyone in the room to advocate for keeping health at the top of the development agenda and to push against the SDG approach. “It’s like ‘No targets left behind,’ ” joked Mark Suzman, the Gates Foundation’s chief of policy and advocacy. Nevertheless, attendants seemed to agree that the SDG agenda is now virtually unstoppable, or in their words: “The SDG trainwreck has left the station” (Charles Kenny). (as for our own opinion: we give Peter Piot the benefit of the doubt - the man is known for being politically-strategically shrewd, and most probably assesses the SDGs from that point of view. Arguably, he also said many other (and nicer) things, for example “Global health has to be embedded in social movements”. He also  called on WHO to focus on epidemic preparedness as the 1st stage of restoration. Nevertheless, we have a feeling that many Seattle participants seem to have given some sort of (funding-inspired?)  example of group think over there… (with Amina Mohammed as one of the few exceptions, according to Tom Paulson).   The key fight the coming decades, unlike in the rather a-political MDG era (and that was a huge mistake already, most of us agree), is to break the power/stranglehold of big capital, big finance, multinationals … on our economies, political power, etc.  If we fail, Mr Gates, the world is doomed…   (As a start, to do things differently, we recommend reading some of the work of  Laszlo Zsolnai.) Meanwhile, THE GPF2015 buzzword was apparently “consilience”.  See Wikipedia - “ Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge is a 1998 book by biologist E. O. Wilson. In this book, Wilson discusses methods that have been used to unite the sciences and might in the future unite them with the humanities. Wilson prefers and uses the term consilience to describe the synthesis of knowledge from different specialized fields of human endeavor.” Bill and Melinda also emphasised the critical role of evidence/data for decision making in global health.

Felix Dodds –Why those attending the Gates Foundation meeting are wrong on the SDGs

http://earthsummit2012.blogspot.be/2015/05/why-those-attending-gates-foundation.html Pretty neat answer to all the SDG sceptics in Seattle and elsewhere.

Guardian – Dear Bill Gates: 'Will you lead the fight against climate change?'

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/30/dear-bill-gates-will-you-lead-the-fight-against-climate-change Euh, no?

NYT –Gates Foundation Plans Teams to Determine Causes of Child Mortality

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/health/gates-foundation-plans-teams-to-determine-causes-of-child-mortality.html?_r=0 On a more positive note, the Gates Foundation pledged seventy five million dollars to set up a network of medical facilities across Africa and Asia. “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to create a network of disease-surveillance teams in poor countries to do “minimal autopsies” on children to plumb causes of child mortality and also possibly spot emerging epidemics, the foundation announced Wednesday. Although the effort will be modest at first — a $75 million donation to start small teams in six countries — the foundation hopes to expand to as many as 25 Asian and African countries, with dozens of members on each team. The network will include the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University’s Global Health Institute.”   The network is to be known as Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance, or Champs. Cultural sensitivity will be key, obviously.

WHO Afro news & Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health

African Public Health Leaders Unite to End Preventable Deaths and Improve Health of Women, Children and Adolescents by 2030

http://www.afro.who.int/en/media-centre/pressreleases/item/7649-african-public-health-leaders-unite-to-end-preventable-deaths-and-improve-health-of-women-children-and-adolescents-by-2030.html “Hundreds of leaders and public health experts from across Africa gathered in Jo’burg to identify game-changing interventions to accelerate progress towards improving the lives of millions of women, children and adolescents. This consultation will provide a roadmap – an updated Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health – to end preventable deaths of women, newborns, children and adolescents by 2030, which will be launched alongside the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September. … This meeting – co-hosted by the South African National Department of Health and the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child movement, with support from PMNCH and the World Health Organization (WHO) – is part of a broad consultative process to update the original Global Strategy.  Immediately following the consultation, the UN Secretary-General will host a high-level call to action on 14 May to mobilize commitments and leadership from countries around the world for the updated Global Strategy. The strategy will be discussed at the World Health Assembly on 18 May and then officially launched by the UN Secretary-General in September 2015 alongside the SDGs. It will be accompanied by a five-year implementation plan that can be tailored to meet country-specific needs and contexts.

The Zero draft of Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health - launched for public consultation

http://everywomaneverychild.org/images/Global-Strategy_Zero-Draft_FINAL_5-May-2015_copy.pdf Check out the zero draft. Meanwhile, Richard Horton tweeted with some optimism on (the future of) WHO Afro, for once. “Message from AFRO: it's time to change, and change in a big way. It can be done. Dr Tshidi Moeti is serious about transformation”.  So it seems he’s optimistic on the change in regional leadership & action.

WHO – Celebrate International Day of the Midwife

http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/news_events/events/2015/international-day-midwife/en/ 5 May was International Day of the Midwife. The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM)’s theme this year was “Midwives for a better tomorrow.”  “This is a special year to highlight the role of midwives in progress towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 – improving newborn and maternal health – as the MDGs come to an end in September and the world moves forward to the UN SDGs. As the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health is being updated, the role of midwifery in preventing maternal and newborn deaths and morbidity is gaining prominence.” See also UN News – the UN called for greater investment to increase the number of midwives and enhance their training.  See also The Huffington Post:    “Midwives should be placed at the very heart of the post-2015 development agenda, and access to midwives should be specifically indicated within the targets of the SDGs related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health.” For some more info, see for example UNFPA’s State of the World’s midwifery 2014 ( here ) or the Lancet series on Midwifery from last year.

Save the Children (report) –State of the world’s mothers: the urban disadvantage

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8585863/k.9F31/State_of_the_Worlds_Mothers.htm?msource=wessnstw0515 Annual report from Save the Children, published ahead of Mother’s day. Shakira already referred to it in the intro this week. “One of the worst places in the world to be a mother is in an urban slum. The 16th annual State of the World’s Mothers report delves into a comparison of the health disparities between wealthy and poor women and children living in cities around the world. In 2015 more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Unfortunately, a growing proportion of child deaths are occurring within these cities in urban slums.” See also the Guardian for some coverage of this report.

Lancet (Offline) – Offline: Is it time for a Glorious Revolution?

Richard Horton; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60904-7/fulltext “Last week, three of Europe's sharpest global health commentators debated the future of global health governance at The Lancet–London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Global Health Lab.” …Anthony Costello is Director of UCL's Institute for Global Health. He applied the “Benn Principles” to global health governance. Based on these questions, Costello's targets were philanthrocapitalists and private corporations.” …  “ David McCoy is an academic and activist at Queen Mary University London. He chairs the global health charity, Medact. Although governance is everywhere, it is not the type of governance we might hope for, he argued. The governance in global health “blocked the transformative change we need”. Finally, Gorik Ooms, human rights lawyer, asked: Do we need a glorious revolution?” The Glorious Revolution of 1688 signalled the beginning of Britain's parliamentary democracy. Democracy is, indeed, the most important gap in global health governance today. On the bright side, some of the participants started with a Glorious Night out, after the Lab.

Book: “To Save Humanity” – what matters most for a healthy future

Edited by Julio Frenk & Steven J Hoffman; https://global.oup.com/academic/product/to-save-humanity-9780190221546?cc=be&lang=en&# This book will soon be published. “"To Save Humanity" is a collection of short, honest essays on what single issue matters most for the future of global health. Authored by the world's leading voices from science, politics, and social advocacy, this collection is both a primer on the major issues of our time and a potential blueprint for post-2015 health and development. This unparalleled collection will provide illuminating and thought-provoking reading for anyone invested in our collective future and well-being.”  Almost 100 short essays, and if you’re one of the authors, chances are that you matter in global health, it looks a bit like a ‘Who’s who in global health’. And yes, that includes Elton John (who just addressed the US Congress on HIV/AIDS).

Lancet –Offline: The law as a prescription for health

Richard Horton; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60861-3/fulltext (already from last week’s Lancet issue) “Last week, The Lancet joined with the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown University to launch a Commission on Global Health and the Law. Chaired by Lawrence Gostin and John Monahan, the Commission includes legal and human rights scholars, together with health experts with wide experience of development. Our aim is to review and map the effects of law on health. We want to define why law matters to global health. We will identify the functions of the law, and investigate how those functions might accelerate advances in specific areas of health.  … (and on Tony Blair, who gave a lecture there, and is known worldwide for being a ‘visionary’ ): He was at Georgetown to reflect on what the university calls “global futures”. He spoke about governance and getting things done. The rule of law, he suggested, was becoming more and more important for development. It imbued society with confidence. It eliminated the chronic fear of insecurity. And it encouraged investment. In global health, we have not seen law as an intervention to enhance human wellbeing, a commodity to save lives. But if the instincts of our Commission are correct, we should expect to see global health law emerge as one of the critical determinants of success in the era of sustainable development.” (in short, something for our director’s night desk, it appears)

Lancet (World Report) –UK political parties make pledges for the wider world

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60876-5/fulltext We don’t know yet how the UK elections will work out. This piece (a must-read) is from last week’s Lancet issue. “The UK's political parties would take different approaches to international development and global health if in power after May 7. But who is promising what? Udani Samarasekera reports.” In other UK related (global development) news, you might also want to read this Guardian analysis, End of term report card: the coalition government and global development: “The development sector reviews the highs and lows of the last five years of coalition Conservative and Liberal Democrat government in the UK.”

Lancet (Comment) –  Health and sustainable development: a call for papers

Richard Horton & Zoë Mullan; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60504-9/fulltext “…As the SDGs, in whatever final form they take, are unveiled in September, 2015, The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will begin to curate a special issue on sustainable development, to be published in April, 2016. As part of this special issue, we seek original research articles that cross two or more of the key disciplines of the SDGs: poverty, nutrition, health, education, economics, gender equality, water and sanitation, energy, urban planning, conservation, and climate change. Multidisciplinary authorship is a must. The deadline is Sept 15, 2015, and submissions should be made online.” On the same topic, you might also want to read this very interesting post by Tim France,  “Working across the SDGs needs some new information tools”. Meanwhile,  proposed themes for the UN General Assembly Session on the Post 2015 Development Goals, in September, were already announced.  See http://earthsummit2012.blogspot.be/

International trade agreements news

Euractiv - Commission floats ISDS reform ahead of EU ministerial trade talks

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/trade-society/eu-floats-isds-reform-ahead-trade-talks-us-314344 Over to the wonderful land of secret multilateral trade agreements then. According to Susan George and many others, we need a “Dracula strategy” to drag the TPP, TTIP and all the rest of them into the sunshine so those who will have to live with its consequences can know what’s coming and take action. It seems to work, at least to some extent. This week, “EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström met her counterpart in the United States on Monday evening (4 May), in order to untangle the Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) knot in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership (TTIP), before presenting a formal proposal to EU ministers and MEPs this week, in a bid to unlock the negotiations.”  See also  IP Watch. (But the best way is still the ballot box, in my opinion, shaking up the powers that be, and thus “the system”, in places like Greece, the UK & Scotland, etc.)

FT – US accuses EU of undermining global food security

Financial Times  “The U.S. has accused the E.U. of undermining efforts to improve global food security by proposing new rules that would allow any of its 28 member states to opt out of decisions by Brussels to open the door to genetically modified crops. In an interview with the Financial Times, Tom Vilsack, the U.S. agriculture secretary, said the move also raised ‘serious issues’ about the future of transatlantic trade talks.” (you gotta be kidding)

Humanosphere – Humanitarians split on Obama’s trade agenda: Trans Pacific Partnership

Tom Paulson; http://www.humanosphere.org/world-politics/2015/05/humanitarians-split-over-obamas-trade-agenda-trans-pacific-partnership/ “Leading humanitarian organizations like the ONE Campaign and Oxfam appear to strongly disagree on whether to support the Obama Administration’s push to ‘fast-track’ an international trade agreement – and if its impact on the global fight against poverty and inequity will do more harm than good.”

WHO – A commitment to improve global health information

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/health-metrics-evaluation/en/ WHO and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) signed a Memorandum of Understanding defining areas where they will work together to improve the quality and use of global health estimates to measure the world’s health challenges.

Happy Hand Hygiene Day

WHO - Hand hygiene in the control of Ebola and health system strengthening

http://www.who.int/gpsc/hand-hygiene_ebola/en/ Shakira already referred to Happy Hand Hygiene day in this week’s intro. See also clean hands save lives.   (I finally know now why my mother (a nurse) kept insisting on this, when I was a little boy.) “For any infection that can be spread through touch, including those carried in bodily fluids, hand hygiene is vital. It is the key action that protects every individual. That is why WHO highlights a number of key messages on hand hygiene in the prevention of Ebola Virus Disease, and how improving hand hygiene action can positively affect whole communities, a whole country, if the right systems and culture can be embedded.”

Ebola update

For the latest, see for example AFP or Reuters.  The (official) death toll passed 11000, but on the whole there has been ‘extraordinary progress’ against the disease, and cases are now also declining in Guinea and Sierra Leone, with the lowest figures in almost a year (for new weekly cases). Normally, this weekend the epidemic will also be declared over in Liberia. WHO figures from 7 May are here. Some other news bits on Ebola:

• Health officials now think Ebola survivors can spread the disease through unprotected sex nearly twice as long as previously believed. (see a recent report)
• The WSJ reports on the ailments that plague African Ebola survivors

Ebola related viewpoints

Foreign Policy – How Castro’s doctors could stop the next Ebola outbreak

Laurie Garrett; http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/06/cuba-ebola-west-africa-doctors/# Laurie Garrett comes up with a “modest proposal”. “It endeavors to solve three crucial problems all at once: U.S.-Cuba relations; the post-Ebola human resources deficits in physicians for Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia; and the scarcity of skilled nurses in those same countries.”

Politico Europe – Gates : don’t forget Ebola

http://www.politico.eu/article/gates-dont-forget-ebola/ “Bill Gates keeps talking about Ebola. The West’s short-term memory on the recent epidemic ­— which has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly in sub-saharan Africa but with a smattering in richer countries — worries the billionaire philanthropist.”  …  In the interview with Politico, Gates says, among other things, that NATO should be ‘part of the conversation’, and he also looks ahead to the next G7 summit.

BMC Health Services research - Roundtable discussion on the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research: why prioritise talk over aid in the midst of the Ebola crisis?

J Lazarus et al; http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/15/192/abstract In this piece, health systems experts from around the world (including EV Kopano Mabaso) discuss why they were we meeting at the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research while real people were dying of Ebola in West Africa.

BMJ (Feature) – Ebola: a game changer for vaccines, or a scare that will soon be forgotten?

http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1938 Scientists say that it is only a matter of time before another neglected infectious disease causes a global public health emergency. So will the world now make these diseases a priority? Sophie Arie reports.

The American Journal of Bioethics – focus on Ebola

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uajb20/15/4 Check out this special issue on Ebola (probably not the last one). With an editorial on ‘Ideology and Microbiology: Ebola, Science, and Deliberative Democracy’.

Guardian - Ebola shows how our global health priorities need to be shaken up

Chelsea Clinton and Devi Sridhar; http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/06/ebola-global-health-priorities-chelsea-clinton Now the threat from Ebola seems to be receding, rich countries must not revert to their former myopia. Listening to other countries’ needs and investing in women and children would be a start, argue these two female global health leaders.

G7/G20 - Ebola and future health crises: the role of the G7

http://www.g7g20.com/articles/michael-edelstein-david-l-heymann-and-philip-k-angelides-ebola-and-future-health-crises-the-role-of- The Ebola outbreak has underlined the importance of working to improve global preparedness for health crises, write Michael Edelstein, David L Heymann and Philip K Angelides, Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House.  “The momentum generated by the Ebola outbreak provides an opportunity for G7 leaders to strengthen national public health capacity in developing countries by providing development assistance through the framework of the International Health Regulations…. The G7 can also support the global health emergency workforce being conceptualised by WHO and its international partners, and the development of safe and effective vaccines for neglected diseases such as Ebola. Finally, G7 members could consider the opportunity to build on the momentum and solidify relationships between defence and health, and integrate the response to civilian health crises into the core function of their armed forces.”  (that last point sounds debatable, to say the least)

The Hill – Foreign aid on the front line

The Hill; Linn Dorin & Raj Kumar argue:  "...The Ebola outbreak highlighted one of the biggest limitations in the world's current approach to international development: local capacity. Money is critical in an emergency, but it is equally important that a country has the ability to use that money effectively. ... To prevent the next epidemic and solve some of the world's most challenging problems, we need to do more than just train nurses and build health centers. We need to build the operational and financial capacities of the local institutions that are essential partners in the delivery of effective aid."

Global Fund – Partnership Forum Focuses on Strategy

http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/mediacenter/newsreleases/2015-05-07_Partnership_Forum_Focuses_on_Strategy/ “This week, partners in global health gathered in Addis Ababa to participate in consultations about the strategy the Global Fund partnership should implement to best accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics and to contribute to building resilient health systems. The Partnership Forum, bringing together more than 130 participants, is engaging wide-ranging discussions that focus on developing the Global Fund’s Strategy for 2017-2021, and will consider how best to take advantage of recent scientific advances and growing experience in implementation to prevent new infections and treat those affected by HIV, TB and malaria. … This year’s Partnership Forum, including additional meetings in Bangkok, Thailand and in Latin America, are an opportunity for a broad consultative process. Additional consultation opportunities will also be held alongside meetings hosted by WHO, UNAIDS, PMNCH and the Stop TB Partnership. The Global Fund has also launched an e-Forum to enable people who cannot make it to these meetings to share their views online.”

GFO – issue 265

http://www.aidspan.org/gfo_article/missing-middle-harm-reduction-east-africa This issue has, among others, an interesting article on Innovation for greater impact: exploring domestic resource mobilization efforts in collaboration with the Global Fund  (by Deb Derrick).

Save the Children – Now to spend it equitably

Simon Wright et al; http://blogs.savethechildren.org.uk/2015/04/now-to-spend-it-equitably/ Some of the latest info on GAVI, including its inclusion of HSS as a strategic goal.

Scientific American - President’s Malaria Initiative Enters Its Second Phase

Sam Loewenberg; http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/president-s-malaria-initiative-enters-its-second-phase/ “The next phase of the strategy, under the Obama administration, will build on the gains, seeking to reduce malaria deaths by 30 percent between 2015 and 2020 in 19 target countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Greater Mekong region in Asia. (There were 198 million malaria cases globally in 2013.) Efforts will even aim to eliminate the disease in some countries. The program will also address drug and insecticide resistance to malaria, along with each country's capacity for its own treatment, monitoring and surveillance. The secret to the initiative's success seems to be that it takes on mundane but often overlooked management issues that can trip up global health programs.”

WHO – Financial report 2014

http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA68/A68_38-en.pdf One of the preparatory documents for the upcoming World Health Assembly.

Lancet (Editorial) - Rural health inequities: data and decisions

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60910-2/fulltext “70% of the world's 1·4 billion people who are extremely poor live in rural areas. A new report released on April 27 by the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO), Global evidence on inequities in rural health protection: new data on rural deficits in health coverage for 174 countries, presents the first global, regional, and national data on the extent and major causes of rural–urban inequities in coverage, and access to health care.” “…The ILO report leaves no doubt that the urban–rural gap in access to health care exists. The question is more about the size of the deficit and what can be done. The conclusion that only a comprehensive and systematic approach can address these inequities cannot be overstated, and must be acted on. No single action focusing on one of the indicator areas is enough to achieve UHC. A country's approach must systematically and simultaneously address legal coverage and rights, health-worker shortages, extension of health-care protection, and quality of care. Only then can equitable access for all be fully achieved.”

WHO – “Sin Tax” expands health coverage in the Philippines

http://www.who.int/features/2015/ncd-philippines/en/ The drugs might not work, but the (sin) taxes are working … “Within the first year, they raised more than USD$1.2 billion and allowed the Philippines to provide health care to an additional 14 million families or roughly 45 million Filipinos. Four years ago, roughly 74% of the population was enrolled in PhilHealth, the national health insurance programme. Today, 82% of the roughly 100 million people living in the Philippines are covered.  … Within two years of passing the law, the Philippine Department of Health’s budget increased from US$1.25 billion to nearly US$2 billion.” In other UHC news, the Asian development Bank fully supports UHC now.

BMC Medicine –Accelerating health equity: the key role of universal health coverage in the Sustainable Development Goals

Viroj Tangcharoensathien et al ;  http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/13/101 On the importance of UHC, and the much needed increase in government investment in strengthening primary healthcare, and the health work force in the SDG agenda. “UHC and the health workforce are two among 13 health targets in the SDGs, and jointly contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. The upcoming health targets in the SDGs, more inspirational and demanding than the previous health-related MDGs, are achievable only when countries demonstrate investment in health systems strengthening beyond the rhetorical statements made at the United Nations General Assembly by Heads of State.”

Harvard Public Health Review –Universal Health Coverage: an Overview and Lessons from Asia

TM Cheng; http://harvardpublichealthreview.org/universal-health-coverage-an-overview-and-lessons-from-asia/ Part of the April issue of Harvard Public Health Review (on global health issues).

GIZ (discussion paper on social protection)- When doctors and nurses are not enough: The need for more qualified social health protection staff for developing Universal Health Coverage

M Pellny et al; http://www.giz.de/fachexpertise/downloads/giz2015-en-when-nurses-and-doctors-are-not-enough.pdf “..While the UHC-debate so far has been revolving predominantly around topics such as access to care and financial risk protection, with the obligatory technical debates on funding, pooling, purchasing, and the provision of medical staff to deliver quality care, one aspect has received little attention so far: the need for non-clinical skills and competencies to formulate and implement comprehensive health system reforms for UHC in low and middle income countries. The topic of this paper has emerged from discussions within the P4H network during country work and aims to raise awareness for the need of more qualified social health protection staff in countries that wish to implement UHC. It outlines a number of competencies related to health system functions, gives a snapshot into the situation of countries such as Cambodia and Nepal, and finally describes the case of Germany where the profession and training of “social insurance clerk” was established under public law to guarantee the availability of qualified staff tailored to the system.”

Harvard Public Health Review – Self-Interest as Motivation for International Cooperation Toward Universal Healthcare

Dustin Holloway; http://harvardpublichealthreview.org/self-interest-as-motivation-for-international-cooperation-toward-universal-healthcare/ From the same April issue. “World communities have a fundamental obligation to assist each other to develop the governance structures needed to implement UHC. This obligation, grounded in self-interest, is articulated by modern theories of the social contract as proposed by John Rawls and expanded by Norman Daniels. Beyond obligation, the dangerous spread of pathogens and the enormous economic burden of disease should provide ample inducement for nations to cooperate to create systems that establish and support robust universal healthcare. Furthermore, the enormous economic potential of a rising Africa and Asia is a tangible incentive to align the interests of world governments in favor of the universal health policies necessary to take advantage of the demographic transition in those emerging economies. Armed with moral force, justice theory, and a strong economic incentive, there is a convincing basis for persuading wealthy nations to act in support of universal health care, and the WHO should retain UHC as a central element of the Sustainable Development Goals as they are finalized in the coming year.”

Nature –Fossil-fuel divestment campaign hits resistance

http://www.nature.com/news/fossil-fuel-divestment-campaign-hits-resistance-1.17484?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews The fossil-fuel divestment movement is dividing academia. My colleague Gorik Ooms learnt as much in a nice evening out with Richard Horton and other Anthony Costello’s, last week, this is an overview in Nature News on the current cleavages.

NYT – Insuring for disaster

Jeffrey Sachs; New York Times Another disaster in the world, another Jeffrey viewpoint.  “Natural disasters like the devastating earthquake in Nepal constitute a highly uncertain but quantifiable risk. No one can say for sure when a major earthquake will strike. But the fault lines are known. We need a new global system of disaster insurance, akin to how homeowners guard against calamity”. With some of Jeff’s ideas on what this would involve.

G7/G20 – What can the G7 fix?

http://www.g7g20.com/articles/jim-o-neill-what-can-the-g7-fix In June, there will be a G7 summit in some kind of German “Schloss”, Schloss Elmau – sounds like the perfect environment for the likes of Ilona Kickbusch et al.  This is an early reflection from Jim O’Neill: “The G7 and G20 groups must become less reliant on the United States and should collaborate more closely to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance”, writes Jim O’Neill, Chair of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance and former Chief Economist, Goldman Sachs.

Angela Merkel at Dialogue forum

http://m.bundeskanzlerin.de/Content/EN/Artikel/2015/04_en/2015-04-29-g7-dialogforum-wissenschaft_en.html;jsessionid=24D6A83A6FCA9F295E234A72FE993C2F.s4t1?nn=820086 Angela Merkel is also warming up for the G7 summit. “The Presidents of the national academies of science of the G7 states have presented Chancellor Angela Merkel with statements on the most important research issues relating to the G7 agenda. The scientific and research community is urgently needed in the fight against disease and in the field of environmental protection, said Angela Merkel.  … The Chancellor would like to use the G7 summit to push ahead with two UN projects: firstly, a worldwide climate agreement and secondly an agenda for sustainable development. Other focuses of the G7 summit include health and protection of the marine environment. Research scientists have addressed these issues in their statements.”

Joint Learning network –Improving coverage of the informal sector in Francophone countries

http://www.jointlearningnetwork.org/blog/improving-coverage-of-the-informal-sector-in-francophone-countries “Last week, the Joint Learning Network partnered with the World Bank and the World Health Organization to organize a one-day joint learning session in Dakar, Senegal on April 25, 2015 as a part of the World Bank-WHO Francophone Flagship course. Building on the knowledge shared during the course, Mame Cor Ndour, Abt Associates and Advisor to the MoH, Sénégal, and JLN member Cheickna Touré, L’Union Technique de la Mutualité Malienne and Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium facilitated a “deeper-dive” into challenges and experiences related to implementing initiatives to cover the informal sector and their families.”  (more blogs on this event will follow)

UNAIDS - Chinese Premier commits to ending the AIDS epidemic in China

http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2015/may/20150504_china With a smiling Sidibé, obviously (nobody can smile like him in photo-ops like this). See also  Xinhua.

Bill Gates - An AIDS Number That’s Almost Too Big to Believe

http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/An-AIDS-Number-Thats-Almost-Too-Big-to-Believe?WT.mc_id=04_29_2015_WAS_tw&WT.tsrc=Twitter&utm_content=bufferfdac0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Bill Gates uses an ‘Effective altruism’ argument (in the words of somebody on Twitter). “If the world accelerates the fight against HIV/AIDS over the next 15 years, we can save 21 million lives.” I have another one: ”If we manage to rid the world of  Big Capital(ists), we’ll save hundreds of millions of lives, if not billions.” Wonder who from the ‘value for money’ crowd can beat that.

Plos - Screening and Treating UN Peacekeepers to Prevent the Introduction of Artemisinin-Resistant Malaria into Africa

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001822 Stan Houston and Adam Houston highlight how deployment of UN peacekeepers has the potential to introduce artemisinin-resistant malaria into Africa.

Science Speaks - CDC consolidates global TB activities in new global health branch

Science Speaks; "In an effort to increase coordination and collaboration on tuberculosis activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and maximize the CDC's impact on global TB efforts, the agency is consolidating TB and HIV activities under a revamped program in the CDC's Center for Global Health, changing the Division of Global HIV/AIDS to the Division of Global HIV and TB.”

Lancet – Informed use of bedaquiline for tuberculosis–Authors' reply

LR Mingote et al; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60887-X/fulltext From last week’s Lancet issue.

Reuters – Polio eradicators hail historic progress, aim to "finish the job"

Reuters; From late last week. “The world is closer than ever to being able to wipe out polio, international experts said on Thursday, with zero cases of the crippling disease recorded across all of Africa this year and fewer than 25 globally. Polio eradication specialists are wary of claiming premature success and warn complacency could prove the project's downfall, but with only two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, reporting polio cases in 2015, they see an end in sight.” Euractiv also  reported that the “EU’s renewed support to the Global Polio eradication initiative is critical to ending the disease”. And yes, “polio eradication will further the goals of the Global Health Security Agenda, to which many EU member states have committed”.

NYT –Gilead Hepatitis Drugs Brought In $4.55 Billion in First Quarter

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/business/gilead-hepatitis-drugs-brought-in-4-55-billion-in-first-quarter.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 In our evergreen series ‘how much money did Big Pharma make this week?’.

World Bank – “The zero hour” for mental health

Tim Evans et al; https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/zero-hour-mental-health Tim nails it: “Are countries prepared to deal with this often “invisible” and often-ignored malady? (= mental health) The simple answer is: no.” Which is why “We, as part of an international, multi-institutional, working group, coordinated by the distinguished Harvard University professor, Arthur Kleinman, have begun to discuss ways to jump start society-wide efforts to address the mental health challenge.  To this end, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, will co-host a major event on mental health in Spring 2016.”

WHO - WHO/UNHCR issue new guide on mental health in humanitarian emergencies

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/mental-health-in-emergencies/en/ Just released.

Lancet (Correspondence) –Tobacco plain packaging: too hot for regulatory chill

R Lencucha et al; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60883-2/fulltext With Ronald Labonté as one of the co-authors.

Lancet (Editorial) – Towards better management of COPD

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60873-X/fulltext From last week’s Lancet. “Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous syndrome that can result from several respiratory conditions, including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma, and is recognised as one of the world's major public health crises. According to WHO, COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide. In advance of this year's American Thoracic Society (ATS) conference in Denver, CO, USA (May 15–20), the ATS and the European Respiratory Society released a joint summary of the present and future state of COPD research. Their recommendations include further studies in the following areas: patient-centred outcomes; CT scanning as a diagnostic aid and to measure progression; comorbidities in relation to COPD; the association between smoking and COPD; and pharmacological treatments and combined approaches to COPD subtypes. In this themed issue of The Lancet, we publish a two-paper Series with a focus on early COPD, and personalised management of the disease.”

FT – Global spending on cancer drugs surges to $100bn

Andrew Ward; http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/40d7c23c-f256-11e4-b914-00144feab7de.html#axzz3ZH2UFhGh Another episode in our popular “follow the money” series.

Plos NTDs –Reviewing Dengue: Still a Neglected Tropical Disease?

O Horstick et al; http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003632 Dengue is currently listed as a “neglected tropical disease” (NTD). But is dengue still an NTD or not? …  The answer, according to these researchers: “Despite advances in dengue research, dengue epidemics are increasing in frequency and magnitude, and dengue is expanding to new areas. Specific treatment and a highly effective vaccine remain elusive. Major research gaps exist in the area of integrated surveillance and vector control. Hence, although dengue differs from many of the NTDs, it still meets important criteria commonly used for NTDs. The current need for increased R&D spending, shared by dengue and other NTDs, is perhaps the key reason why dengue should continue to be considered an NTD.” Meanwhile, “Mister NTD” himself, Peter Hotez, suggested a ‘Worm Index’ for the SDGs (see Plos NTDs).  There’s a “strong association” between helminth infections and reduced human development. (Another worm index would refer to the extent to which Big Business and the Davos class have hijacked SDG related fora in insidious ways.)

Lancet (Editorial) –Keeping watch on women's cancers

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60911-4/fulltext “In response to the notable increases in global cancer incidence and the sobering statistics associated with cancer specific to women, The Lancet Oncology/The Lancet Cancer Campaign has recommended that cancers that affect women should be a top health priority and will publish a Series on the topic in 2016.”

UN’s SaveKidsLives campaign  on road safety

U.N. News Centre   “Each day some 500 children die from road traffic crashes, thousands more are injured and the situation is only getting worse, the United Nations warned (today) as it launched #SaveKidsLives, a global campaign to generate action to make streets safe for children.” The third UN Global Road Safety Week ends on 10 May, and has the theme ‘Children and road safety’. ”It features hundreds of events to highlight WHO’s package of 10 key strategies for keeping children safe on the road. The campaign is part of a larger Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 plan of action to save five million lives across the world.”

Impatient Optimists - Ideas Wanted: New Ways to Reduce Childhood Pneumonia Deaths

http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2015/05/Ideas-Wanted-New-Ways-to-Reduce-Childhood-Pneumonia-Deaths#.VUt49fmqqkr   “A primary focus of this round of Grand Challenges in Global Health is on improved tools for assessment of malnutrition in sick children.”

WHO – Quality of care for every pregnant woman and newborn

In a new commentary published in the BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,   “Quality of care for pregnant women and newborns—the WHO vision”,  WHO states that quality of care must improve if the world is to end preventable deaths of mothers and newborn babies globally. The BJOG commentary sets out WHO’s priority thematic areas and framework for quality of care, which must be ensured in order to help reduce preventable maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity. WHO “envisions a world where every pregnant woman and newborn receives quality care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period”.

Guardian - Pregnant 10-year-old rape victim denied abortion by Paraguayan authorities

The Guardian; A very sorry case that you probably heard about this week.

You gotta give credit where credit is due – check out this nice interactive visualization tool from IHME on the SDH. http://vizhub.healthdata.org/sdh/

WHO – Synthesis document – Health workforce 2030 - Towards a global strategy on human resources for health

http://who.int/hrh/documents/15-295Strategy_Report-04_24_2015.pdf?ua=1 Covered already in a previous newsletter, but probably good to read before going to the WHA. “In 2013 the Board of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) decided to facilitate the development of forward-looking strategic thinking on human resources for health (HRH). This synthesis paper was developed as a result of a broad-based consultation process, and it captures the evidence and recommendations from the papers produced by eight thematic working groups. Was adopted by the GHWA Board it at its eighteenth meeting on 25–26 February 2015.”

Economist- The new drug warriors

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21650104-one-side-world-softens-its-line-against-illegal-drugs-another-getting From last week’s Economist. “As one side of the world softens its line against illegal drugs, another is getting tougher—and more vocal. “  “THE war on drugs, it seems, is edging towards a truce. Half of Americans want to lift the ban on cannabis, the world’s favourite illicit drug. Four states have legalised it, as has Washington, DC. Latin American presidents whose countries once battled narcos with helicopter gunships now openly wonder if prohibition was a mistake; Uruguay has legalised weed. Much of Europe has decriminalised it; Portugal has decriminalised all drug-use (though not drug-dealing). Heroin addicts in Western countries usually have access to clean needles, substitutes such as methadone and, in parts of Europe, heroin prescriptions. Many governments are starting to believe that managing drug use causes less harm than trying to stamp it out.   In Indonesia, things look very different. On April 29th eight convicted drug offenders, seven of them foreign, were executed by firing squad. Joko Widodo, the president, became convinced of the need for a hard line on drugs as mayor of Solo, a city in central Java, and governor of Jakarta, the capital…. Indonesia is only the highest-profile example of a trend across Asia and the Middle East, the only regions that routinely execute drug offenders.”   China is one of the countries cracking down on drugs, but that doesn’t prevent some of them to make tons of money making ‘legal highs’ for the West (see  The Guardian )

WHO Bulletin – May issue

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/5/en/ Check out for example Flavia Bustreo and Robin Gorna’s call for papers that link millennium to sustainable development goals on women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health.   “… More knowledge is required from analyses of lessons from the MDG process and to ascertain effective implementation approaches to meet the post-2015 challenges. The global strategy for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, intended to accelerate progress on these issues, will be launched in September this year. For the global community to accelerate progress towards improving women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, we need knowledge to be translated into stronger action. To this end, we are now calling for submissions to a theme issue of the Bulletin on the health of women, children and adolescents informed by lessons learned from the MDGs and evidence on effective country implementation. The deadline for submissions is 31 December 2015.”

Lancet (World Report) –Finding surgery's place on the global health agenda

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60761-9/fulltext Billions of people worldwide do not have access to even the simplest surgical procedures. But a new global initiative has launched that hopes to change the situation. Bridget Huber reports. This World Report is on “the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, which aims to improve access to timely, affordable, safe surgery and anaesthesia care, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries. “…” In May, the World Health Assembly will vote on a resolution recognising surgery as a component of universal health coverage, a step proponents say would drive donors and attention to the issue. Without making surgery a priority, it will be impossible to achieve broader global health and development goals, Yamey said, adding: “This is a movement to try to redress one of the gross inequities in public health.”

The Economic times - After Greenpeace and Ford Foundation, Home Ministry shifts focus to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/after-greenpeace-and-ford-foundation-home-ministry-shifts-focus-to-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation/articleshow/47169086.cms Interesting news from India. “After turning the screws on Greenpeace India and the Ford Foundation, the home ministry has now turned its gaze on to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the eponymous non-governmental organisation founded and run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda.  A senior official told ET that the home ministry was looking into the foundation's role into the funding of a prominent Indian health body following inputs received by it from intelligence agencies, but insisted the exercise was an informal one and in preliminary stages.” (A senior official telling something to “ET”, that sounds very much like the BJP.)

Mashable - More billionaire philanthropists are prioritizing social good over profits

http://mashable.com/2015/05/05/philanthropy-top-causes/ “According to the 2015 BNP Paribas Individual Philanthropy Index, which surveyed 400 philanthropists with at least $5 million in investable assets in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, health issues remain the most-supported cause across all four regions.”

Vox – You have $8 billion. You want to do as much good as possible. What do you do?

http://www.vox.com/2015/4/24/8457895/givewell-open-philanthropy-charity In our series on ‘what are the folks in Silicon Valley up to’? Baffling. Effective altruism… On the Open Philantropy Project.

Action for global health – ODA health tracker

http://www.actionforglobalhealth.eu/our-work/financing-for-health/oda-health-tracker.html Nice tool.

Quartz – Obama’s nomination of Gayle Smith for USAID is rankling Africa watchers

http://qz.com/397391/obamas-nomination-of-gayle-smith-for-usaid-is-rankling-africa-watchers/ “President Obama’s decision to tap top White House aide Gayle Smith to take over the US Agency for International Development (USAID) (from Rajiv Shah) has drawn plaudits, but also serious concerns from some long-time Africa watchers about the role of American assistance in abetting repression on the continent.” According to Foreign Policy, the fact that President Barack Obama has tapped a longtime Africa expert and member of his inner circle to run USAID is a move that likely will draw the strapped aid agency closer to the White House.

Devex -The largest-ever USAID award is under protest

https://www.devex.com/news/the-largest-ever-usaid-award-is-under-protest-86071 Other USAID news from this week.  “A partnership of government contractors including John Snow, Inc. is protesting the U.S. Agency for International Development’s decision to award its largest-ever contract to a group led by development consulting firm Chemonics International. The Global Health Supply Chain — Procurement and Supply Management project is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, by far the largest in a suite of contracts worth up to $10.5 billion over the next eight years — and USAID’s largest-ever single award, according to an agency representative. The program is meant to support the delivery and distribution of a range of global health commodities used to prevent and to treat illnesses, including HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.”

CGD- Blink and You’ll Miss It: Global Health in the QDDR

Amanda Glassman et al; http://www.cgdev.org/blog/blink-and-youll-miss-it-global-health-qddr “Global health in the FY2016 international affairs budget: $9.9 billion. Global health in the 85-page, post-Ebola, State Department-crafted, 4-year “blueprint for the next generation of American diplomacy”: one paragraph.”  Another missed opportunity, Glassman & Silverman reckon.

WHO (Alliance) - Uncovering evidence: Making the most of grey literature and local knowledge in health decision making

http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/news/2014/pipfeat/en/ “The complexity of decision-making requires inputs from a broad knowledge base that includes evidence generated from research, best practices, local evidence, as well as tacit knowledge. In the WHO Strategy on Health Policy and Systems Research, “Changing Mindsets” (2012), it was suggested that to synthesize and consolidate relevant research evidence as well as other knowledge, national repositories of evaluations, best practices, and grey literature established within countries should be created to enable greater access to existing knowledge that could improve decision-making.” Hence, “The Alliance is developing a pilot repository entitled “Policy Information Platform” (PIP) in order to alleviate access barriers to the existing policy-relevant knowledge covering both indexed publications and grey literature, as well as to ensure that relevant and reliable information is available in a user-friendly format for policy and management decisions. … In order to inform the best way forward for the Policy Information Platform, the Alliance convened an Expert Consultation in Istanbul (Turkey) in January 2015, which developed a PIP framework and established a theory of change for this programme of work.”

WHO (Alliance) - Policy dialogue briefing note: Policy dialogue: What it is and how it can contribute to evidence-informed decision-making

http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/news/2014/PolicyDialogueNote.pdf?ua=1 “Although policy dialogues play a crucial role in the policy-making process, they are often understood and applied in different ways. To address the need for a comprehensive definition of the concept and how it operates the Alliance, jointly with the WHO Department of Health Systems Governance, Policy and Aid-Effectiveness, developed a briefing note to review the literature on policy dialogues and experiences in using it in health, with a particular focus on LMICs.”

Health Affairs – Health Cooperation In The New U.S.-Cuban Relationship

J Stephen Morrison et al; http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2015/04/29/health-cooperation-in-the-new-u-s-cuban-relationship/ « In the unfolding reinvention of the U.S.-Cuban relationship, health appears as a sector with special promise for cooperation,  particularly well-positioned to be the front edge of an opening with Cuba. Normalization of relations has the potential for fruitful, enlarged engagement in four key health-related areas that can bring mutual gain in improving lives and advancing knowledge.” We already mentioned Laurie Garrett’s other idea (see the Ebola section), linked to area (4).

Harvard - Crowdfunding site for global health projects prepares to launch

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/crowdfunding-site-for-global-health-projects-prepares-to-launch/ The link doesn’t work anymore, but this is an initiative from Sara Gorman, coming up.

The Conversation –McDonald’s wage hike stems from evolving views on morality, politics and economics

R Emerson; https://theconversation.com/mcdonalds-wage-hike-stems-from-evolving-views-on-morality-politics-and-economics-39843 Perhaps you don’t think this is global health, but we do.

Lancet (Viewpoint) –Aligning incentives to fulfil the promise of personalised medicine

V Dzau et al ; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60722-X/fulltext « Personalised medicine has generated global policy interest in the past few years. In 2012, the European Union established the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine with the aim to accelerate the development, delivery, and uptake of personalised health care, broadly defined. In the same year, the UK's Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research funded the National Phenome Centre to deliver broad access to a world-class capability in metabolic phenotyping for biomarker discovery and validation, improved patient stratification, and early identification of drug efficacy and safety. »

FT - Tech companies see market opportunity in healthcare innovation

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/709aa784-efd4-11e4-ab73-00144feab7de.html#axzz3ZL84CIAW Interesting article (focus on US and ACA though).

BMJ (blog) – MSF scientific day 2015

http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2015/05/06/msf-scientific-day-2015-a-conference-without-borders/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bmj%2Fblogs+%28Latest+BMJ+blogs%29&g=w_blogs_bmj-com Taking place as we write this down (7-8 May).

Equinet  – Contributions of global health diplomacy to equitable health systems in east and southern Africa Regional research workshop report

http://www.equinetafrica.org/bibl/docs/Regional%20GHD%20meeting%20report%20March2015.pdf In 2012-2014 the Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET) (www.equinetafrica.org) implemented a policy research programme to examine the role of global health diplomacy (GHD) in addressing selected key challenges to health and strengthening health systems in east and southern Africa with research institutions in the region.

BMJ Open –Development and validation of a socioculturally competent trust in physician scale for a developing country setting

V Gopichandran et al; http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e007305.full “Trust in physicians is the unwritten covenant between the patient and the physician that the physician will do what is in the best interest of the patient. This forms the undercurrent of all healthcare relationships. Several scales exist for assessment of trust in physicians in developed healthcare settings, but to our knowledge none of these have been developed in a developing country context. We aimed to develop and validate a new trust in physician scale for a developing country setting.”

Health Policy & Planning – new issue

http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/current Check it out.

Global Health Science and Practice - Leveraging the Power of Knowledge Management to Transform Global Health and Development

T Sullivan et al; http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/early/2015/04/28/GHSP-D-14-00228.full.pdf+html “Good knowledge is essential to prevent disease and improve health. Knowledge management (KM) provides a systematic process and tools to promote access to and use of knowledge among health and development practitioners to improve health and development outcomes. KM tools range from publications and resources (briefs, articles, job aids) and products and services (websites, eLearning courses, mobile applications), to training and events (workshops, webinars, meetings) and approaches and techniques (peer assists, coaching, after-action reviews, knowledge cafés).”

Lancet – Social network targeting to maximise population behaviour change: a cluster randomised controlled trial

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60095-2/abstract David Kim and colleagues report the first randomised comparison of multiple network-targeting strategies to promote the spread of health innovations in real-world face-to-face social networks. The accompanying Comment in the Lancet you find here.  “Public health interventions rarely introduce health innovations to every individual in a population all at once. Rather, practitioners target some people for early adoption, hoping that the innovation will spread by word of mouth through social networks. Selection of optimum targets for health interventions in social networks is difficult, because little is known about the spread of health innovations in real-world social networks. In The Lancet, David Kim and colleagues deliver the first randomised comparison of multiple network-targeting strategies to promote the spread of health innovations in real-world face-to-face social networks.”

Health Policy & Planning – Prices and mark-ups on antimalarials: evidence from nationally representative studies in six malaria-endemic countries

B Palafox et al; http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/05/05/heapol.czv031.short?rss=1 « The private for-profit sector is an important source of treatment for malaria. However, private patients face high prices for the recommended treatment for uncomplicated malaria, artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), which makes them more likely to receive cheaper, less effective non-artemisinin therapies (nATs). This study seeks to better understand consumer antimalarial prices by documenting and exploring the pricing behaviour of retailers and wholesalers. »

Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law - Resistance and Change: A Multiple Streams Approach to Understanding Health Policy Making in Ghana

O Kusi-Ampofo et al; http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/40/1/195.abstract “Although much has been written on health policy making in developed countries, the same cannot be said of less developed countries, especially in Africa. Drawing largely on available historical and government records, newspaper publications, parliamentary Hansards, and published books and articles, this article uses John W. Kingdon's multiple streams framework to explain how the problem, politics, and policy streams converged for Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to be passed into law in 2003. The article contends that a change in government in the 2000 general election opened a “policy window” for eventual policy change from “cash-and-carry” to the NHIS.”

ODI - The development agency of the future. Fit for protracted crises?

C Bennett et al; http://www.odi.org/publications/9490-future-development-agencies-protracted-crises “Humanitarian crises, today and in the future, will continue to pose complex, costly and persistent problems that will not be solved through short-term or incremental measures or approaches that fail to question the structures, sectors and silos in place in donor aid agencies. Donors, in particular, need to re-examine their structures, policies and approaches and create a shared space where both humanitarian and development actors can co-exist and apply different approaches and tools to address the range of problems protracted crises entail. This report identifies the numerous conceptual, architectural and political divides that prevent effective linkages between humanitarian and development aid, and offers options for donor aid agencies to better understand and reconcile these differences within their own institutions and beyond.”

Asian age –Goal is to end poverty in all forms everywhere

Charles Kenny; http://www.asianage.com/ideas/goal-end-poverty-all-forms-everywhere-602 Good piece.

ODI (blog) - China’s AIIB bank set to become major player while new BRICS bank lags behind

Chris Humphfrey; http://www.odi.org/comment/9524-chinas-aiib-bank-set-become-major-player-while-new-brics-bank-lags-behind For the related ODI paper, see here.