Recent releases: PEPFAR in Zimbabwe; dengue in Thailand; blogs on improving U.S. foreign aid; examining allocations of health aid

Sep 5 2009

U.S. Optimistic About Zimbabwe Health System Revitalization

The U.S. plans to support efforts to develop a sustainable health system in Zimbabwe and increase its capacity to treat people, Eric Goosby, U.S. global AIDS Coordinator for PEPFAR, said on Wednesday after a visit to the country with USAID and CDC officials, according to a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. Goosby said he is "optimistic" that the Zimbabwe PEPFAR team's experience will be used "to develop a response that fits the existing health infrastructure, supports it and reinforces it in a way that creates a durable and lasting response" (9/2). 

PLoS Medicine Examines Age-Shift Of Dengue Fever Distribution In Thailand

An analysis of data from Thailand's 72 provinces led researchers from Johns Hopkins University to discover that decreases in birth and death are behind a shift in age distribution of dengue hemorrhagic fever in the country, according to a PLoS Medicine study (Cummings et al., 9/1). In an accompanying commentary, authors explore the shifting patterns in dengue and what it means for clinical practice and future vaccination strategies (Simmons/Farrar, 9/1).

Blog: Advance Market Commitments Could Improve U.S. Foreign Aid

Though the idea of the "Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a new market-based financing mechanism that accelerates the delivery of life-saving vaccines for children worldwide," originated among American global health experts, the U.S. was on "the sidelines observing instead of leading the launch of the first mechanism of this kind," according a Huffington Post blog entry. "President Obama and our Congress can move the United States from the sidelines to the frontlines of this issue by calling for new AMCs to tackle infectious diseases, and then backing those calls with financial support," the authors write. "Science is one of the comparative advantages of our knowledge-based economy, and focusing on our prowess in providing better tools to address diseases of poverty is one of the best forms of foreign aid," they write (Levine/Berkley, 9/2).

Blog: U.S. Global Development Policy, State Department Reviews Are An 'Important Opportunity'

The recent Presidential Study Directive, which initiates a review of U.S. global development policy and the State Department's recently launched Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review are "an extremely important opportunity to pull all the pieces out there right now aimed at elevating development and modernizing foreign assistance into one smart strategy," according to a blog post on the Huffington Post. The author outlines how the reviews and foreign assistance reform should ideally proceed. "Key to a successful integration of the three important activities is coordination between and within the executive and legislative branches of government," she notes (Herrling, 9/1).

Researchers Analyze The Recipients Of A Decade Worth Of Health Aid

A review of 10 years of health aid appearing in the WHO Bulletin (.pdf) revealed "significant imbalances in the allocation of health aid which run counter to internationally recognized principles of 'effective aid,'" and "[c]ountries with comparable levels of poverty and health need receive remarkably different levels of aid." Additionally, the authors write, "our findings suggest that control over spending decisions at the country level is limited, as global and regional priorities dominate aid allocation" (Piva/Dodd, 8/25).