Poverty News and Research

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PEPFAR and IDUs; economic crisis and health; human-rights and pharmaceutical companies

Although PEPFAR has helped to provide "antiretroviral therapy to 2.1 million people with HIV, almost all of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa, and has spent more than US$18 billion on the continent" it has failed to reach "thousands of injecting drug users in PEPFAR countries in Africa, many of whom have HIV," according to the authors of a recent comment in the journal Lancet.

21 Jun 2009

Former Senate majority leaders outline health care compromise

Three former Senate majority leaders unveiled a health care reform plan Wednesday that would tax health benefits with value over what members of Congress are given and would mandate that both employers and individuals carry insurance, Kaiser Health News reports.

18 Jun 2009

Tibotec, TB Alliance join to expedite development of promising tuberculosis drug

The pharmaceutical company Tibotec said it will join with the non-profit Global Alliance for Tuberculosis Development (TB Alliance) to speed up the development of the experimental TB drug TMC207, Health-e/IOL reports (Thom, Health-e/IOL, 6/18). Tibotec, which is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced the news on Wednesday at the Pacific Health Summit in Seattle (Doughton, Seattle Times, 6/18).

18 Jun 2009

Call to protect hospitals, schools from impact of disasters

WHO and UNICEF today called on governments to strengthen risk reduction measures in four key areas so that health and education systems are able to cope with disasters, including the risks from climate change. These areas are:

18 Jun 2009

Former Senators unveil bipartisan health proposal, would tax benefits, mandate coverage

Three former Senate majority leaders today unveiled a bipartisan health care reform package that would tax health benefits and includes individual and employer mandates.

18 Jun 2009

Senate Health Committee to begin reform mark up today, finance to follow next week

Senate Democrats are scrambling to reduce the price tag of reform proposals, which initial estimates place at $1.6 trillion, The Wall Street Journal reports.

18 Jun 2009

Opinion: World must work together to stop human trafficking

"To some, human trafficking may seem like a problem limited to other parts of the world," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton writes in a Washington Post opinion piece, but "it occurs in every country, including the U.S., and we have a responsibility to fight it just as others do."

18 Jun 2009

Veterans Affairs Department expands coverage amid patient safety concerns

The Associated Press reports that the VA "opened the doors of its health care system Monday to about 266,000 nondisabled veterans with moderate incomes, some of whom have been shut out of those benefits. The veterans eligible are from a category known as "Priority 8." They have no illnesses or injuries attributed to their military service, and they earn more than the average wage in their communities."

17 Jun 2009

Boston Globe examines the U.S. strategy towards global health

The Boston Globe examines the U.S. strategy towards global health aid. "President George W. Bush scored major advances in his administration's worldwide campaign against AIDS," and "[t]he Obama administration believes it can leverage Bush's successes into an assault against a much broader array of diseases that afflict poor countries," writes the Globe.

15 Jun 2009

UK tops the list of countries at extreme risk to the spread of swine flu

A Warwick Business School professor and one of the founders of global risks specialist, Maplecroft, has released three new maps and indices revealing the countries most at risk from an influenza pandemic.

12 Jun 2009

Zimbabwean PM to meet with Clinton, Obama in appeal for foreign aid

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met with U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., Wednesday in an attempt to secure donations for a country in economic collapse, ZimOnline reports.

11 Jun 2009

World Economic Forum on Africa begins; reports examine African development

The World Economic Forum on Africa - a three-day event, which this year is focusing primarily "on the world economic downturn and how to lessen its effect on African economies" - kicked off Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa, VOA News reports.

11 Jun 2009

HELP Committee postpones day of reckoning

Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions released their health care proposal today, but left out for now the two elements Republicans dislike the most -- a new government-run insurance plan and a requirement that employers provide coverage or pay a penalty.

10 Jun 2009

House Democrats unveil bill that would create insurance exchange, public plan

House Democrats on Tuesday released an outline of their proposal to reform the health care system that would require that all Americans have insurance and that employers provide coverage or pay a penalty, The Associated Press reports. The bill also emphasized preventive care but omitted details about how to cover the costs.

10 Jun 2009

Washington's basic health plan raises rates to compensate for budget cuts

Washington state's cash-strapped health insurance program, Basic Health Plan, "is resorting to steep premium increases to achieve what [its officials] were loath to do on their own - expel thousands of working-class people," the Seattle Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

House Democrats unveil reform outline

CQ reports that details are emerging regarding House Democrats' Plan. "The health care overhaul under development by House Democrats would subsidize insurance premiums for families earning as much as four times the poverty level, while expanding Medicaid and improving its payments to health providers."

9 Jun 2009

Neighborhood influences asthma rates

Neighborhoods with restaurants, entertainment, cultural facilities and ethnic diversity have lower asthma rates in the city of Chicago than neighborhoods where residents are less likely to move, and where there are more churches and not-for-profit facilities.

5 Jun 2009

Panel discusses health care issues in Black America

CNN's Soledad O'Brien hosted a panel discussion on health care issues facing African-Americans in preparation for "Black in America 2, a CNN investigation about the most challenging issues facing African-Americans that will premiere July 22 and 23. The video touches on health care disparities in the African-American community and concurrent social issues that affect care.

5 Jun 2009

Opinion: Governments must take 'concrete action' to reduce maternal mortality, morbidity

With the U.N. Human Rights Council's June session coming up, governments have a "chance to prove that they value women's lives by taking concrete action" to recognize "preventable maternal death as a violation of women's rights," Mary Robinson and Alicia Yamin, advisory council members of the International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights, write in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

4 Jun 2009

Vietnam publishes report documenting Millennium Development Goal progress

Vietnam recently published a report tracking its progress towards the U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, which outlines the health ministry's work with other government and international agencies, Vietnam News reports.

3 Jun 2009