Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

"A White House plan to modernize the major U.S. food aid program ... is in trouble after fierce lobbying by farm groups, food processors, shippers and others who set out to sink the idea months before it was unveiled in President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget [request]," Reuters reports in an article outlining opposition and support for the administration's effort to reform the Food for Peace program. One of the proposals set forth -- "that at least 55 percent of aid spending, or nearly $800 million of the $1.4 billion requested, would be earmarked to buy and transport U.S.-grown food," with the other 45 percent available as cash donations used to purchase local food or in the form of vouchers -- "would still be the biggest change since the Food for Peace program was created in a mixture of Cold War 'soft' diplomacy, compassion for suffering overseas and a practical use of farm surpluses," the news agency notes.

"Twenty of the world's most troubled countries have made progress in efforts that range from reducing poverty to improving the education of girls and cutting down on the deaths of women in childbirth, the World Bank said on Wednesday" in a new report (.pdf), Reuters reports. Each country has met the requirements for at least one Millennium Development Goal (MDG), while "[a]nother six are on track to meet the goals by the deadline in 2015, with the progress visible in part due to better data collection and monitoring," the news agency notes, adding, "Data gathered in 2010 and earlier had found none of these states had met any of the MDGs" (Yukhananov, 5/1). "The 20 fragile and conflict affected countries which have met one or more targets are Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Comoros, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Kiribati, Liberia, Libya, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sudan, Syria, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, and West Bank and Gaza," according to a World Bank press release, which notes Nepal is the only country among the list to have met the MDG for maternal mortality. The analysis is based on the Global Monitoring Report's data, the press release states (5/1).

"A new strain of bird flu that is causing a deadly outbreak among people in China is a threat to world health and should be taken seriously, scientists said on Wednesday," Reuters reports (Kelland, 5/1). "The new H7N9 avian flu virus has been detected in one more patient in China, a finding that edges the number of cases in the outbreak to 128," CIDRAP writes, adding, "The patient is a 69-year-old man from Hunan province" (Schnirring, 5/1). In addition, "[a] 55-year-old man in central China has died ..., bringing to 27 the number of deaths," Reuters notes in a separate article (Wee, 5/2). "The patient, a man surnamed Jiao, died after medical treatment failed to save him, according to an official from the provincial health and family planning department," Xinhua notes (5/2).

"Saudi Arabia said five more people have died of a deadly new virus from the same family as SARS, and two other people were in intensive care," Reuters reports. "The seven cases were discovered in al-Ahsa governorate in the Eastern Province, the Saudi news agency SPA quoted the Saudi Health Ministry as saying in a statement late on Wednesday," the news service writes, adding, "The novel coronavirus (NCoV) is from the same family of viruses as those that cause common colds and the one that caused the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that first emerged in Asia in 2003" (5/2). "Sixteen people have now died from 23 cases detected in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Britain. Riyadh has accounted for most of the deaths, with 11 people, including the five new fatalities," Al Jazeera notes (5/2).

"The U.K. Department for International Development [DfID] has decided to end its bilateral assistance to South Africa by 2015, raising concerns among several non-governmental organizations," Devex's "The Development Newswire" reports. "DfID has pledged to finish active projects in the country. But by 2015, the United Kingdom's role will solely focus on technical assistance as well as skills and knowledge sharing," the news service notes (Ravelo, 5/1). "Charities have criticized the U.K. after the government announced it would stop direct aid to South Africa in 2015," according to BBC News, which notes, "U.K. aid to South Africa is focused on reducing the mortality rate among women giving birth and supporting businesses." The news service writes, "U.K. ministers said their relationship with South Africa should now be based on trade and not development," adding, "South Africa's government warned that ending the aid program, currently worth £19 million [$29.6 million] a year, would have 'far-reaching implications'" (5/1).

Inter Press Service reports on Taliban-sponsored attacks on health care facilities in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The news service highlights a recent attack, adding, "With 26 hospitals, 10 rural health centers and 419 community health centers, FATA is well equipped to deal with all of its residents' medical needs," but "if the attacks do not stop immediately, Shaukat Ali [of the FATA Health Directorate] warned, the entire health system here will be rendered ineffective."