Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the FY 2013 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill on Thursday, The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports (Pecquet, 5/17). On Wednesday, the committee released the State and Foreign Operations Draft Committee Report (.pdf), which provides additional information on funding through the appropriations bill for U.S. global health programs at USAID and the State Department, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Policy Tracker. "This funding comprises a significant portion of the Global Health Initiative budget (total funding for the GHI is not currently available as some funding provided through USAID, HHS, and DoD are not yet available)," the website writes. The House Appropriations State and Foreign Affairs subcommittee released the draft bill on May 8 and approved it on May 9, according to the website.

"The number of women dying of pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications has almost halved in 20 years, according to new estimates released [on Wednesday] by the United Nations, which stressed that greater progress is still needed in significantly reducing maternal deaths," the U.N. News Centre reports (5/16). "The report, 'Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2010,' shows that from 1990 to 2010, the annual number of maternal deaths dropped from more than 543,000 to 287,000 -- a decline of 47 percent," a UNFPA press release states (5/16). However, "[w]hile substantial progress has been achieved in almost all regions, many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, will fail to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal death by 75 percent through 2015," Inter Press Service writes (Deen, 5/16). "Countries in Eastern Asia have made [the] most progress on improving the health of expectant and new mothers, said the report," Agence France-Presse adds (5/16).

A report released Thursday in Bangkok by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) says more research needs to be conducted to determine the extent to which transgender persons in Asia and the Pacific are affected by HIV, are socially ostracized, and lack fundamental rights, including access to basic health care, a UNDP press release reports. The report, released to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, is "a comprehensive review of material gathered from across the region over the past 12 years" and "emphasizes that inclusive research, designed and implemented in partnership with the transgender community, is critical to enable governments, community-based organizations and supporting organizations to enhance HIV and sexual health care services specific to the needs of transgender people, and foster action by governments to adopt more socially equitable policies and practices to protect their rights," according to the press release (5/17).

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports on a potential public-private partnership that aims to bring tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trials to the gold mines of Southern Africa, where, "[f]or every 100,000 workers ..., 3,000 have tuberculosis, and many have often-fatal, drug-resistant strains of TB." The blog writes that mining company "Anglo American announced Tuesday at the GBCHealth Conference [in New York] that it has agreed in principle to make its mines available for TB vaccine trials organized by Aeras, a non-profit that has 12 TB vaccine candidates now in various stages of research," noting, "No formal agreement has been reached, but Anglo American's spokesman vowed to make it happen."

AIDS activists in Uganda are worried about a proposed reduction in the country's health budget, as Parliament begins "a months-long budgeting process for the ... next fiscal year," VOA News reports. "AIDS activists have expressed concern that Uganda's proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes a six percent cut in health funding to $307.5 million," which "is less than 10 percent of the country's overall budget," the news service writes. Joshua Wamboga of The AIDS Support Organization said a lack of financial commitment from the government could undermine efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the country, VOA notes, adding, "Government officials said the cut to the health budget reflects construction projects in that sector that have been completed and no longer require funding." According to VOA, "The budget is months away from being finalized and activists hope there is still time to increase funds" (Green, 5/15).

The Huffington Post is running "a series of blogs by leading NGOs to call attention to a range of issues that should be raised at the G8 summit at Camp David in rural Maryland from May 18-19," according to the news service. The following summarizes some of the posts published this week.