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101. The Emerging Global Health Crisis

Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
Rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries are increasing faster, in younger people, and with worse outcomes than in wealthier countries. In 2013 alone, NCDs killed eight million people before their sixtieth birthdays in developing countries. A new CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report and accompanying interactive look at the factors behind this epidemic and the ways the United States can best fight it. The co-chairs of the Task Force are Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., Purdue University president, former Indiana governor, and former Office of Management and Budget director, and Thomas E. Donilon, distinguished fellow at CFR and former national security advisor to President Barack Obama. Thomas J. Bollyky, CFR senior fellow for global health, economics, and development, directed the project. The bipartisan Task Force, CFR's first devoted to a global health issue, is composed of a distinguished group of experts that includes former government officials, scholars, and others.
Topic:
Health, Infectious Diseases, and Health Care Policy

102. A Long Way to Go: The Ebola response in West Africa at the sixty day mark

Author:
Debbie Hillier and Krista Riddley
Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The international response to the Ebola epidemic is on the right path, but there is a long way to go. The UN's interim objective was to treat 70 percent of cases and to ensure that 70 percent of burials were done safely within 60 days, i.e. by 1 December 2014. Case numbers are stabilizing in Liberia and Guinea, but remain out of control in Sierra Leone – such that the targets for cases treated has not been met. The UN has not provided figures for what had been achieved by 1 December, but a previous sitrep on 21 November showed that only 13 percent of Ebola cases in Sierra Leone have been isolated, compared with 72 percent in Guinea.
Topic:
Disaster Relief, Human Welfare, Infectious Diseases, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa

103. Quarantines in Sierra Leone: Putting people first in the Ebola crisis

Author:
Wairimu Munyinyi Wahome
Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
In May 2014, initial reports were received of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. One month later, the president of Sierra Leone declared a public health state of emergency in a bid to contain the spread, limiting public gatherings. Since then, quarantine measures have been imposed, including self-quarantines informed by district and chiefdom bye-laws and government-imposed quarantines. In November 2014, standard operational procedures (SOPs) on the management of quarantines were released by the National Ebola Response Coordination (NERC) function to streamline quarantine operations across the country.
Topic:
Infectious Diseases and Health Care Policy

104. Seven Million Lives Saved: Under-5 Mortality Since the Launch of the Millennium Development Goals

Author:
John McArthur
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
To what extent have developing countries' patterns in reducing under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) changed since the advent of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? This paper investigates that question across multiple time horizons, with attention to the fact that countries' progress had already begun to accelerate during the late 1990s compared to the early 1990s. The paper gives special consideration to countries the MDGs were primarily intended to support, including initially “Off Track” and low-income countries. Although only 21 percent of originally Off Track countries and 34 percent of originally low-income countries are now on a path to achieve the MDG target by 2015, at least 80 percent of each group has seen accelerated progress since 2001. Approximately 90 percent of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have accelerated. Most importantly, regression analysis indicates that cross-country trends since 2000 differ considerably from previous decades. The years since the launch of the MDGs include the first extended period in at least four decades during which rates of U5MR decline have not been negatively correlated with U5MR levels. Compared to a conservative counterfactual trend from 1996 to 2001, at least 7.5 million additional children's lives are estimated to have been saved between 2002 and 2013. The results suggest that much of the greatest structural progress has been achieved by countries not likely to achieve the formal MDG targets, even if their progress might be linked to the pursuit of those targets. Implications are considered for setting U5MR targets through to 2030.
Topic:
Development, Health, Human Welfare, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa

105. U.S. Support Essential to Ambitious Global Introduction of Inactivated Polio Vaccine

Author:
Nellie Bristol
Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Earlier this fall, Nepal became the first low - income country to introduce the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into its immunization system. Many more countries will have to follow suit to meet the ambitious deadlines laid out in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's (GPEI) Polio Eradication Endgame Strategic Plan 2013 – 2018. The plan calls for global introduction of at least one dose of IPV into routine childhood immunization schedules followed by eventual withdrawal of the widely used oral polio vaccine (OPV). Currently, 75 mostly high - and middle - income countries use the injectable IPV in their immunization systems, leaving 119 that need to do so by the end of 2015 to keep with the plan's schedule.
Topic:
Health and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Asia and Nepal

106. Repurposing Global Polio Eradication's Tool Kit

Author:
Nellie Bristol
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a 26 year, $11 billion drive to eradicate poliovirus worldwide, is one of the largest public health initiatives ever. It is led by national governments together with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rotary International, and the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation. Involving a variety of partners from NGOs to universities and foundations and engaging millions of health workers and volunteers, the GPEI has provided billions of polio vaccine doses around the world. While it recently has faced new outbreaks and international spread of poliovirus, the GPEI has reduced the annual number of polio cases globally by more than 99 percent.
Topic:
Health, World Health Organization, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
India and United Nations

107. Investing for the Few: The IFC's Health in Africa initiative

Author:
Anna Marriott and Jessica Hamer
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim has publicly stated that achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and equity in health are central to reaching the two new overarching World Bank Group goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity. Jim Kim has also rightly emphasized the need to close the gap in access to quality health services for the poorest 40 percent of the population and to eliminate point-of-service payments that impoverish people in every country.
Topic:
Government, Health, Foreign Direct Investment, World Bank, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa

108. Trading Away Access to Medicines - Revisited: How the European trade agenda continues to undermine access to medicines

Author:
Sophie Bloemen, Tessel Mellema, and Leïla Bodeux
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The failure of the current pharmaceutical research and development (R) system is revealed by the World Health Organization (WHO) alert about the lack of effective medicines to address antimicrobial resistance, and the absence of a treatment for the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging communities in West Africa at the time of writing.
Topic:
Health, International Trade and Finance, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

109. Turning the Tide on Ebola: Scaling up public health campaigns before it's too late

Author:
Debbie Hillier
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is totally unprecedented. The accelerating number of cases, the poor health infrastructure in affected countries, the short supply of skills, knowledge and personnel, and the fear surrounding this disease are providing a huge challenge to affected governments and the international community as they battle to bring the epidemic under control.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Health, Humanitarian Aid, Foreign Aid, Health Care Policy, and Ebola
Political Geography:
Africa and West Africa

110. GLC Resolve Award Innovation Profile: Afghanistan

Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health has prioritized reproductive, maternal and child health by increasing access to a range of family planning methods, introducing education on reproductive health issues in schools, and working with the religious community to counter stigma on family planning.
Topic:
Development, Education, Gender Issues, Health, Human Welfare, Social Movement, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan