In The News
1. WHO Zika Emergency Committee Advises Pregnant Women To Avoid Travel To Zika-Affected Areas, Take Precautions To Prevent Sexual Transmission
News outlets discuss the outcomes of the second meeting of the WHO's Zika emergency committee and a briefing by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.
CIDRAP News: Growing Zika complication data color advice from WHO panel
"Only five weeks after its first meeting, a World Health Organization (WHO) Zika emergency committee met [Tuesday] to discuss rapidly accumulating evidence that shows a stronger link between the virus and serious complications such as birth defects and neurologic problems, which led to stronger and more finely tuned recommendations..." (Schnirring, 3/8).
New York Times: WHO Advises Pregnant Women to Avoid Areas Where Zika Is Spreading
"The World Health Organization advised pregnant women on Tuesday to avoid travel to areas where the Zika virus is spreading. Experts on the organization's Zika emergency committee also recommended that pregnant women and their partners who have been in areas with Zika rely on abstinence or safe sex to prevent sexual transmission of the virus..." (McNeil, 3/8).
Reuters: WHO advises pregnant women to avoid travel to Zika-affected areas
"...Sexual transmission is 'relatively common' and health services in Zika-affected areas should be ready for potential increases in cases of neurological syndromes such as microcephaly and congenital malformations, it said..." (Nebehay/Miles, 3/8).
Washington Post: WHO warns pregnant women to avoid going to Zika-affected areas
"...David Heymann, an infectious disease specialist who is heading the WHO emergency committee on Zika, pointed to the accumulating evidence linking the pathogen to birth defects and neurological disorders in adults. 'We felt we needed to make this recommendation,' he said, adding that it remains up to individual countries to designate regions where there are ongoing outbreaks 'and where there are not'..." (Sun, 3/8).
2. CDC Director Says Agency Working With Puerto Rico To Protect Pregnant Women From Zika
Reuters: CDC director calls Zika in Puerto Rico a 'challenge and crisis'
"During a tour of Zika preparations in Puerto Rico, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called Zika a 'tremendous challenge and crisis' and said protecting pregnant women from the virus is a top priority. ... Frieden has been working with CDC staff and the Puerto Rican government on strategies to protect pregnant from becoming infected with the mosquito-borne virus..." (Steenhuysen, 3/9).
3. Johns Hopkins Neurologist Speaks With Los Angeles Times About Zika Virus
Los Angeles Times: Could climate change be the culprit in spread of Zika virus?
"...According to [Johns Hopkins University neurologist] Dr. Carlos Pardo Villamizar, warmer climates may have triggered the emergence and subsequent spread of the Zika virus by making more of the world habitable for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, its main carrier. Higher temperatures and dryness have been linked to the spread of another mosquito-borne illness, dengue, and deforestation is thought to be a cause of the most recent Ebola outbreak in Africa..." (Kraul, 3/9).
4. U.N. Officials, Agencies Recognize International Women’s Day, Launch Effort To End Child Marriage
U.N. News Centre: On International Women's Day, U.N. officials call to 'Step It Up' for gender equality
"Senior United Nations officials from around the world are marking International Women's Day with calls to 'Step It Up' with more resources and greater political action to achieve gender equality by 2030. 'I remain outraged by the denial of rights to women and girls -- but I take heart from the people everywhere who act on the secure knowledge that women's empowerment leads to society's advancement,' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the day..." (3/8).
U.N. News Centre: New U.N. initiative aims to protect millions of girls from child marriage
"...The initiative by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), announced on International Women's Day, is part of a global effort to prevent girls from marrying too young and to support those already married as girls in 12 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, where child marriage rates are high..." (3/8).
U.N. News Centre: INTERVIEW: U.N. official explains why new global development agenda is good news for women
"From economic exclusion to violence targeting women and girls, the head of the United Nations entity tasked with promoting gender equality believes such challenges make it all the more critical to push ahead with the new global development agenda, which contains many targets specifically recognizing women's equality and empowerment. 'We're asking private sector, individuals, ourselves -- as the women organization -- to step it up for gender equality,' Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of U.N. Women, told the U.N. News Service..." (3/8).
5. Sanctions On North Korea Hampering Access To Tuberculosis Medications, Humanitarian Foundation Says
Washington Post: North Korean tuberculosis patients at risk as sanctions hamper medicine shipments
"The lives of more than 1,500 North Korean tuberculosis patients are at risk, an American-run humanitarian foundation said Wednesday, because tough new sanctions are stopping medicine from getting to sick people. Following the multilateral sanctions imposed by the United Nations this month as punishment for North Korea's recent nuclear test and missile launch, South Korea this week imposed direct sanctions of its own. But unlike the unilateral American sanctions passed by Congress, the South Korean measures do not make a general exception for humanitarian aid..." (Fifield, 3/9).
6. WHO Needs Nearly $74.3M To Address Health Care Issues In Syria
International Business Times: WHO seeks financial aid to support health care needs in Syria
"The World Health Organization (WHO) needs $74.33 million in urgent aid to address the health care problems in war-torn Syria. Under its Strategic Response Plan (SRP) 2015, the WHO said it would work towards disease surveillance and response, strengthening delivery of secondary health care services, and support immunization programs..." (Malik, 3/8).
7. Former South African President Mbeki Reignites Criticism Over Views On HIV/AIDS
Associated Press: Former South African president criticized for AIDS comments
"...Now [South Africa's former] leader, Thabo Mbeki, faces fresh scrutiny for defending his old pronouncements about the disease. ... Mbeki, who had questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, said in a Monday post on his foundation's website that nutrition was critically important and that antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs, should be used 'with great care and caution'..." (Torchia, 3/8).
Health24: Thabo Mbeki is a coward and his AIDS denialism was catastrophic -- TAC
"... 'The impact of Mbeki's AIDS denialism was catastrophic,' the [Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)] said in statement in response to the former statesman's letter, which forms part of a series of letters attempting to reframe Mbeki's presidency. The letter, titled 'A brief commentary on the question of HIV and AIDS,' comes seven and a half years after Mbeki was forced to step down as president of South Africa..." (3/9).
Newsweek: Ex-South African President Thabo Mbeki Stands By Controversial HIV Comments
"Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has reignited controversy surrounding his views on HIV/AIDS by stating that he 'stands by' everything he said on the issue while in office..." (Gaffey, 3/8).
8. Ipas Trains Indian Health Care Workers In Safer Abortion Technique
The Guardian: India's doctors learn safer abortion techniques to cut maternal deaths
"...At Vani Vilas hospital for women and children in Bangalore, in the south-west state of Karnataka, doctors and nurses gather for training in a safer, quicker [abortion] procedure -- the manual vacuum aspiration technique, which is significantly underused in India -- and in how to better support women having abortions. The four-day training program is run by Ipas, an NGO focused on preventing deaths from unsafe abortion..." (Cousins, 3/9).
9. More Than 2.3M People Worldwide Infected With Both HIV, Hepatitis C, Study Shows
International Business Times: HIV, Hepatitis C News: More Than 2 Million People Infected With Both Viruses, Study Finds
"More than 2.3 million people internationally are infected with both HIV and hepatitis C, according to estimates from a study released Tuesday at the University of Bristol and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The study, which was the first to look at the simultaneous infection of HIV and hepatitis C, was published in the online journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases and sponsored by the World Health Organization..." (Salo, 3/8).