The Duck of Minerva

What Am I Reading? Inaugural Feature on Global Health #1

Global Health

by Josh Busby

22 August 2016, 0609 EDT

I’m on leave this year so my regular blogging might be a little scant, but I thought I’d introduce a new feature which is a periodic series “What Am I Reading?” I’d like to flag what I’m  reading on different topics, namely health, the environment, and foreign policy. This first one is on health.

Zika

  • Last week I had a piece on the Monkey Cage in the Washington Post on the Zika virus, presenting some empirical work on what frames might generate public concern and, in turn, more impetus for Congressional funding for Zika control
  • My colleague Abigail Aiken finds a potential increase in demand for abortion in the Americas
  • There is growing pressure on Congress to fund efforts to combat Zika which have stalled
  • In addition to a state of emergency in Puerto Rico, there is now local transmission of Zika in Miami. CDC director Frieden suggests pregnant women stay away from Miami Beach and possibly Miami as well
  • Here a pregnant mother who lives in Miami pleads for action

D.A. Henderson has died

  • We lost a giant in the field of global health. D.A. Henderson, one of the leaders of the successful effort eradicate smallpox, has died at the age of 87. Terrific obituary in the New York Times and WaPo here

Clinton Foundation

  • Laura Seay goes off on in a Twitterstorm (which are storified here) about calls to close down the Clinton Foundation miss the good work they have and continue to do on AIDS treatment, which is consistent with the story Ethan Kapstein and I tell in our recent book, AIDS Drugs for All

Health Funding in Texas

  • This might be parochial to the U.S., but here in Texas, the state government has slashed funding for maternal care in recent years as a result of the state government’s opposition to abortion and state support for planned parenthood. Big tick up in maternal mortality according to a recent study. Bodes ill if Zika comes to Texas.

WHO Atlas on Air Pollution

  • Angel Hsu evaluates the new WHO atlas on air pollution

Upcoming G20 Meeting in China

  • Yanzhong Huang tees up the potential role of global health in the upcoming G20 meeting hosted by China

Leadership at International Organizations

  • A plug for the Ethiopian candidate for the next WHO leader

The Challenges of Eradicating Guinea Worm

  • Having almost eradicated guinea worms in humans, we are now seeing cases in dogs, making eradication among humans harder.

Polio Returned to Nigeria

  • Re-emergence of polio in Nigeria after two years

AIDS Funding Decline

  • International AIDS conference in Durban over the summer
  • Kaiser Family Foundation finds decline in global AIDS funding for the first time in five years.

 

EpiPen Pricing

  • Prices of EpiPens have grown dramatically in recent years, with cries of outrage in the U.S.

Joshua Busby is a Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. From 2021-2023, he served as a Senior Advisor for Climate at the U.S. Department of Defense. His most recent book is States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security (Cambridge, 2023). He is also the author of Moral Movements and Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2010) and the co-author, with Ethan Kapstein, of AIDS Drugs for All: Social Movements and Market Transformations (Cambridge, 2013). His main research interests include transnational advocacy and social movements, international security and climate change, global public health and HIV/ AIDS, energy and environmental policy, and U.S. foreign policy.

0 Comments