May 16, 2012 | 11:35 AM | By

World health report highlights chronic diseases, lack of consensus in global health

Flickr, Erebos

Analysis

The World Health Organization has published its annual health report for 2012 and this year decided to “put the spotlight on the growing problem of non-communicable diseases.”

Here are some of the news stories spawned by the WHO report:

Reuters/MSNBC Heart disease, diabetes spreading to poor regions

AP/Washington Post Diseases of affluence are spreading worldwide

Voice of America Non-communicable diseases cause most deaths worldwide

UN Dispatch The Good, Bad and Mixed News in World Health Statistics

This focus on the NCDs, (non-communicable diseases) is certainly legitimate since they are, as a general category, major contributors to the global burden of disease. But another way to look at this, of course, is that the WHO report has turned the spotlight away from other diseases.

Why the focus this year on diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses? Why has the attention been shifted away from the still-expanding HIV-AIDS pandemic, the threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis or malaria?

One easy answer is that the WHO annual statistics report always picks a theme and this year’s flavor is chronic disease.

Before, it was AIDS. Another year, it was TB or malaria. To WHO’s credit, one year the organization focused the attention on the much-neglected problem of mental illness worldwide. Another time, the spotlight was on deaths from accidents (which is a much bigger contributor to global mortality than you might think).

All of these are legitimate health concerns. But the nagging suspicion — or perhaps just inkling — you get from all this is that the shifting spotlight indicates no real strategy for global health.

I’ve long been disturbed by the lack of a clear, comprehensive strategy in global health — as well as the lack of a clear definition of what the hell we even mean by global health. Many tell me to lighten up, that the diversity of opinion and a de-centralized approach to the fight against disease is actually a good thing.

I’m not so sure, and I’m not alone in my uncertainty. See this post from the Center for Global Development’s Amanda Glassman and Kate McQueston Making Priority Setting a Priority for Global Health, which offers links to other related posts.

Kate Kelland of Reuters earlier this week also did a great report on the ‘squishiness’ of the WHO health statistics and the debate over how best to measure the burden of disease globally. It’s worth a read and mentions a group of Seattle number-crunchers, at the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (e.g. a recent report on malaria) who are trying to bring more reliability and perhaps order to all this.

But, clearly, it’s not just a matter of improving the numbers. The international community has no consensus on what we mean by global health, let alone consensus on which problems deserve the most attention and resources.

 

FILED UNDER: Health, annual report, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, non-communicable diseases, World Health Organization
May 16, 2012 | 10:43 AM | By

Op-ed: Tolerance for Arab autocrats fuels terrorism

I think the thesis here could be broadened a bit. Tolerance for inequity and political repression, anywhere, tends to foster reactionary movements and instability. The old American political strategy described by the cliche: “He (insert dictator’s name here) may be a bastard but at least he’s our bastard” may be a good sound-bite but recent events appear to be proving it unsound.


The rising spectre of terrorism in Syria shows that by clinging to power and refusing to implement meaningful reforms, Arab autocrats in Syria, Bahrain, and elsewhere are indirectly contributing to the resurgence of terrorism in their societies. Arab protests started peacefully, but almost in every country regime repression and torture ultimately pushed popular revolts toward violence.

Read more at: www.globalissues.org

May 16, 2012 | 10:42 AM | By

Maternal deaths decline sharply worldwide

This isn’t really news, since this trend has been well-reported – especially following an earlier dispute over the trend between some Seattle researchers and the WHO. But it’s stunning progress and worth highlighting.


The number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has dropped sharply in the last two decades, according to a report by a consortium of United Nations agencies set to be released on Wednesday. Maternal deaths fell to about 287,000 in 2010, the report said.

Read more at: www.nytimes.com

May 16, 2012 | 10:39 AM | By

Global government debt on the rise again

The Guardian, using data from the World Bank to create an illustrative map of global debt, says the amount of debt developing nations owe to rich governments, international financial institutions, banks or other lenders is on the increase. The story reports:

Years after debt campaigners succeeded in persuading the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and G8 to abolish debts worth billions of dollars owed by developing countries, figures show total external debts are once again on the increase.

This is worrisome for any country, of course, and most of us have heard all about Greece, Spain and other European government debts.

But this trend is especially worrisome for poor countries because, as was demonstrated not that long ago, these kind of debts tend to magnify the difficulties already faced by many poor countries trying to rise out of poverty. As The Guardian quotes economist Jeff Sachs saying, the way this debt collection plays out is as “belt-tightening for people who cannot afford belts.”

Here’s a link to The Guardian’s global map of debt (below is just a screen grab):

 

 

May 16, 2012 | 10:26 AM | By

A Twitter rebuttal to the NYTimes “Rebranding Africa”

This story done by a NYTimes’ fashion writer is about “the emergence of Africa as a source of fashion creativity.” And it’s interesting as a reminder that Africa is a big country, with a lot of bright spots. But blogger Elliot Ross at Africa is a Country (the site’s name is a joke, by the way) has re-posted a funny list of the Tweets he posted as he read the article.


Africa is in the news – but not just for the sad and familiar reasons of conflict and suffering. The continent is entering the fashion arena, with the quality of its handwork, artistic creativity and its potential for economic growth bringing Africa literally in vogue.

Read more at: www.nytimes.com

May 16, 2012 | 10:25 AM | By

US funding to fight AIDS overseas has positive ripple effect

The U.S. government’s support for fighting HIV-AIDS in poor countries, an effort largely pushed by President George W. Bush, has helped to improve health overseas on many fronts. Here’s a related story about Pepfar, the anti-AIDS program often called Bush’s best legacy, by Reuters.


U.S. government spending to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries is also preventing death from other diseases, a new study finds. Some experts worry the billions of dollars the United States spends to treat people with HIV in poor countries may crowd out prevention and treatment of other illnesses.

Read more at: www.npr.org

May 16, 2012 | 10:24 AM | By

Lack of clarity on ‘safe’ water

Apparently, it’s not at all clear how many people on the planet actually have access to safe, clean water.


By Emma Batha The United Nations recently declared the world had met an ambitious target for halving the number of people without safe drinking water well ahead of a 2015 deadline. It’s an impressive achievement, but not necessarily as impressive as it sounds.

Read more at: www.trust.org

May 16, 2012 | 10:23 AM | By

News Rounds: Congo warlord (not Kony) enlists child soldiers for rebellion, Africa’s next famine, agro-ecology offers Salvadoran farmers independence and profit and more

Congo Warlord Using Child Soldiers (VOA)– Human Rights Watch says a renegade general, Bosco Ntaganda, is forcibly recruiting child soldiers to support his mutiny in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Africa’s Sahel Region in Urgent Need of Aid (VOA) — Will the international community again allow Africans to starve? Time is running out to prevent the full impact of the food crisis in Africa’s Sahel region. It said a donor funding shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars could soon affect emergency aid programs.

El Salvador women put their faith in agroecology (Guardian) – Salvadoran woman farmers have adopted an agro-ecological approach to farming to increase productivity while also protecting their financial independence.

World living beyond its resources (Reuters AlertNet) – Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28 percent globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50 percent bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, a leading conservation group warns.

Water policy needs ‘radical’ change to protect people and environment (Guardian) – The international community needs to “radically transform” the way it manages water, energy and land to ensure the needs of the poorest people are met and the environment is protected, according to the European Report on Development, published on Wednesday.

Mali faces worst crisis in 50 years due to coup and counter-coup instability (Washington Post) – The West African state of Mali is suffering its worst crisis in half a century after a coup in the capital and a rebel takeover in the country’s north, an international human rights group said in a report released Wednesday. The Guardian reports on the public backlash.

Haiti Rebuilding a Healthier Future With Vaccines (Huffington Post) – The board chair of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization describes the critical role immunizations play in improving Haiti’s health status.