GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL 29th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

After three days assessing the reach and danger of public health threats of many kinds around the world, the Global Health Council wound up its annual conference on a note of hope, according to PLANetWIRE's May 31 feature story. From May 28-31, some 1,500 participants from 75 countries reviewed the ongoing crises of HIV/AIDS, the renewed spread of tougher forms of malaria and tuberculosis, the rising rates of child and maternal mortality, and the growing impact of globalization and environmental decay on the most vulnerable people, as well as the looming threat of bioterrorism. At a closing plenary session, speakers concluded that although the situation is grave, the new and broader public awareness of the various threats is a positive development that could help generate the needed higher investments and commitment by world leaders and health professionals. For more on the conference, read: PLANetWIRE

SAVING WOMEN'S LIVES

"You have a big opportunity, and a lot at stake," said first lady Laura Bush in a 13-minute speech broadcast by U.S.-run Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, according to USA Today May 22. "Many people are dedicated to helping you build a lasting peace -- and you yourselves must seize this opportunity." She asked women to get involved in forming a new Afghan government. The country will be selecting delegates to a national council that meets June 10 to form a government. About 40 women are among about 4,700 delegates already selected. "I want you to know that the isolation the Taliban regime forced on you is not normal -- not by international standards, not by Islamic standards and not by Afghanistan's own standards," she said. Read: USA Today

The Wall Street Journal reported May 31 that a cheap and widely available medicine can substantially reduce the risk to some pregnant women of developing eclampsia, a potentially fatal condition, according to a study published May 31 in the Lancet, a medical journal. "In the first large-scale clinical trial looking at the effects of magnesium sulphate given to pregnant women with pre-eclampsia, or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, researchers said the drug reduced the risk of eclampsia by 58% compared with a placebo," according to the WSJ. "This is potentially usable in very poor countries," said James Neilson, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Liverpool and one of the authors of the study. "It's now up to international health agencies and national governments to promote this drug." Read: The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press

Agence France Presse reported May 31 that older men in Eastern Zimbabwe have a major risk of being infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), mainly because they have had sex with prostitutes, according to a British and Zimbabwean research team led by Simon Gregson at Imperial College London. "They then marry a woman five to 10 years younger than themselves and have unprotected sex with her, passing on the virus." The study also found that "breaking this link in the pattern of transmission must become a central focus of HIV-prevention strategies." The risk from the age difference adds to clinical evidence that women are more vulnerable to HIV through "dry" sex or forced sex, in which abrasions to the vagina help the virus to enter the bloodstream more easily.

MORE FROM THE CHILDREN'S SUMMIT

Saying the Vatican has failed to curb sexual abuse by priests worldwide, a Catholic advocacy group will take its plea for redress to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva in September, according to a May 17 story by Newsday. Frances Kissling, President of Catholics for a Free Choice, said the group decided to increase its pressure after the Vatican failed to apologize earlier this month. Newsday noted that CFFC had asked the Holy See to apologize during the UN's Special Session on Children May 8-10. "They didn't apologize," Kissling said. "They made a very brief reference in general to the importance of protecting children from pedophilia, but they didn't make it in reference to themselves." She added, "They do not get that they are in very serious trouble, that their moral credibility is at stake." Read: Newsday: May 17 and May 9, Boston Globe, Associated Press, United Press International, Inter Press International and Agence France Presse

Barbara Crossette of The New York Times, writing for Women's Enews. reported May 20 that the Bush administration, which has blocked payments to the United Nations Population Fund, has opened a new front in its opposition to international family planning. "This time, in meetings surrounding the United Nations Special Session on Children, the American delegation tried to parlay its "abstinence-only" sex education plan into international policy," noted Crossette. "The bid to give prominence to a 'just say no' policy on adolescent sex was defeated by a majority of nations this time. Yet women's health experts, inside and outside the United Nations, fear that the issue will sooner or later resurface, and say Washington's campaign can only hurt girls in the poorest nations." Adrienne Germain, President of the New York-based International Women's Health Coalition, said, "In the developing world, pregnant girls are most often married, sometimes at 10 or younger, or are the victims of sexual coercion and trafficking. Abstinence-only sex education is a very negative position that the U.S. is taking, which need not be imposed on other countries." Read: Women's Enews

GLOBAL PHILANTHROPY

When Bill and Melinda Gates created the world's biggest philanthropy, they figured the Gates Foundation's primary task would be identifying good causes and signing the checks. "Pretty naive for the world's richest couple," wrote Tom Paulson May 29 in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "We all thought our job would be largely just deciding where to put the resources," said Patty Stonesifer, the former Microsoft executive who with Bill Gates Sr., the billionaire's father, directs the Seattle-based foundation and the distribution of funds from its $24 billion in assets. They discovered that philanthropy, especially on this massive a scale, can be highly political and complex. "I sometimes say this is still the Gates Learning Foundation," Stonesifer said with a laugh, referring to an earlier education-oriented incarnation of the foundation. "Coming from the business world, we haven't always had the patience we needed. ... We're still learning how best to effect change." Read: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Colorado's former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth has discovered that when you have $1 billion to give away, everyone returns your phone calls," reported The Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO). In 1997, media mogul Ted Turner promised $100 million a year over 10 years to United Nations projects. He hired Wirth to spend the money on global problems ranging from measles to minefields. The Rocky Mountain News noted, "In about five years, it will be time for the foundation to close up shop. Wirth is certain its impact will remain." Wirth mused, "Perhaps the U.N. will be better at telling its story, or inspiring assistance from the private sector...Some of the world's great places may have been saved. Maybe polio will be gone. Any one of those would be a pretty significant contribution," he concluded. Read: The Rocky Mountain News

ENVIRONMENT

Report by UNEP: Global Environment Outlook-3 Expansion of cities, destruction of forests, erosion of fields and rising demand for water are likely to threaten human and ecological health in many countries for at least a generation, warned the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in a comprehensive overview of the state of the global environment, reported The New York Times May 23. UNEP's report, "The Global Environment Outlook-3," cautioned that political choices over the next 30 years could spell the difference between environmental salvation and environmental doom. The Associated Press on May 22 quoted UNEP's Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer, as saying human development "across more and more areas of the planet is not sustainable. Unless we alter our course, we will be left with very little." The report, released in advance of this summer's U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development, is based on contributions from more than 1,000 scientists. It assesses environmental changes over the past 30 years and looks ahead to the next three decades. Read: The New York Times and Associated Press

HIV/AIDS WORLDWIDE

On May 25, The Press Trust of India reported Nafis Sadik, a Pakistani physician who headed the UN Population Fund for more than a decade, has been appointed Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for AIDS in Asia. Sadik, who became the first woman to head a major United Nations agency in 1987 and retired in 2000, will help promote an expanded, multisectoral response to AIDS. She will meet top government officials to seek support and encourage celebrities to join the cause, the United Nations said. Sadik will also be responsible for pushing governments to meet goals, including a 25 per cent cut in HIV prevalence among young people aged 15-24 in the most affected countries by 2005. "Sorry, sir, it's urgent," the aide said to Dr. Mohammad Hekmat, who looked up from the middle of a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan. Syringes imported from neighboring Pakistan were allegedly contaminated with HIV, the aide said. The Boston Globe reported May 22 that so began Afghanistan's first-ever HIV scare, a fuse lit by rumors, innuendo, and enmity toward Pakistan by many in the nation's fledgling intelligence services. "The subsequent secret tests of syringes, randomly taken from pharmacies and hospitals, have found no signs of tampering, and the needles appear safe," noted The Globe. "But the scare shows that while Afghanistan is reaping some benefits from its new global links, there is growing fear among its people of exposing the nation to the ills of modern rule and great confusion over how to defend against them." International health specialists in Geneva and Kabul said in interviews that it was extraordinarily unlikely that packaged syringes could contain the AIDS virus. Read: The Boston Globe

With mixed reviews, Nigeria is conducting large-scale trials of generic drugs in a bid to protect its massive population from the AIDS scourge, reported Agence France Presse on May 21. "It is all going even better than we might have expected," said Dr. Kalejaiye. "The results we are getting back from patients are very positive. I have lots of people lining up for this." But elsewhere, doubts remain. In the northern city of Kano, one of the worst areas of HIV infection, doctors complained that testing began late and that not enough drugs had been supplied.

WELFARE OF WORLD'S YOUTH

Karanja is one of some 1,000 young people from Nairobi's slums competing in a city-wide football tournament that culminates with a championship game timed to coincide with The World Cup, reported the Deutsche Presse-Agentur on May 29. The games give young people who live on the streets and in the slums a chance to have some fun, gain self-confidence and learn about reproductive health issues, say the organizers. Lynette Injette Ochola, country director of the German Foundation for World Population, one of the tournament sponsors, said,. "Sport is an excellent entry point for engaging children and youth who are living on the fringes of society." Peer educators have been trained to teach the youngsters about AIDS and safer sex. During the finals June 8-9, the organizers plan to show inspirational videos, entertain participants with music and educate them through puppet shows.

EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS

In a May 25 Boston Globe op ed, Cesar Chelala, international medical consultant of the Pan American Health Organization, argued that Bush administration cuts in funding for UNFPA "will have serious repercussions" in developing countries. He said the agency's stress "is on quality of care for the mothers and their children," and urged governments to increase funding "to organizations such as the UN Population Fund working on issues critical to women's health."

In a May San Francisco Chronicle commentary, Joan Ryan featured other organizations that chimed in on the UNFPA funding issue: "Since President Bush first imposed the global gag rule in January 2001, there has been a steady erosion of the United States' commitment to reproductive rights worldwide," said Kavita Ramdas, Executive Director of the Global Fund for Women. Ryan noted that some nonprofits are "more committed than ever" to funding reproductive health programs in poor countries. "Our mission is to improve the human condition," said Anna Louisa Ligouri of the MacArthur Foundation. "Without empowering women with rights and choice, you can't fulfill that mission." Read: The San Francisco Chronicle and a May 19 letter by Lucille Atkin of Margaret Sanger Center Intl. and Planned Parenthood NYC in The New York Times.

"The world is scarred by unspeakable abuses, but the sexual enslavement of children stands out in one way," stated The Washington Post's May 29 editorial. "The law that Congress passed requires the State Department to draw up a list of flagrant offenders, which then stand to lose a portion of their aid unless the president grants them a waiver." The 2001 list had 23 countries, many either too rich to get aid (South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) or already barred for other reasons (Sudan, Burma, Pakistan). "But the list excluded India, Thailand and Cambodia, even though they rank among the worst cases." The editorial said the State Department is having an internal debate on which countries to name in this year's list. "Country specialists within the department, concerned about causing offense that might damage other U.S. interests, tend to want leniency." The Post concluded, "India, Thailand and Cambodia can argue that they are conducting education campaigns against child prostitution and trying to look after girls who escape from it. But naming and shaming offending countries is a good way to stimulate the prosecutorial crack-downs that could actually curb sex slavery. The State Department should not pull its punches." Read: The Washington Post

"Education has intrinsic importance; the capability to read and write can deeply influence one's quality of life," wrote Amartya Sen in a May 27 New York Times op ed. "Female literacy can enhance women's voices in family affairs and reduce gender inequality in other fields, a benefit to men as well as women, since women's empowerment through literacy tends to reduce child mortality and very significantly decrease fertility rates." Sen concluded, "The need for a new kind of partnership - a global alliance - on schooling is hard to exaggerate. The time to live by positive goals has certainly come - not least for the leaders of G-8 countries who meet at a summit next month in Canada." Read: The New York Times

The above analysis was written by Elena M. H. Cabatu and Kathy Bonk at the Communications Consortium Media Center, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202/326-8700.

If you would like your name to be added to their email service, please e-mail your request to popmedia@ccmc.org.