The Global Pulse Journal Blog

Recently members of several major corporations including Nike, EBay and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) presented an open letter calling on the US government and President Obama to take an innovative approach to carrying out the goals and visions committed to at the recent G8 summit and to develop a US global development strategy. They call on US leaders and Congress to develop a rewritten US development Act to replace the outdated 1961 Foreign Assistance Act. They discuss an approach to modernize foreign assistance in the global arena.

A  new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that  heterosexuals living in impoverished communities are as much as five times more likely to be HIV-positive than the general U.S. population, regardless of race or ethnicity. In the US, the overall HIV prevalence rate for African Americans is eight times the rate for whites, and the rate for Latinos is three times the rate for whites. Yet in very-low income areas this CDC study found that these disparities do not exist. The study examined 9,000 people in 23 cities, finding that 2.1% of heterosexuals living in high-poverty urban areas were infected with the HIV virus, including 2.4% of those living below the poverty line and 1.2% of those living above it. This is in comparison to the 0.45% rate of HIV infection in the general US population. The authors hypothesize that the findings could account for many of the ethnic and racial disparities in HIV infections in this country, since African Americans are 4.5 times as likely and Latinos four times as likely as whites to live in poverty.

For a look at the US government’s role in improving global maternal, newborn, and child health check out the Kaiser Family Foundation’s recently released report entitled “The U.S. Government’s Efforts to Address Global Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health: The Global Health Initiative and Beyond.” The report discusses US efforts towards improving child and maternal health including the recently heightened focus placed on these issues by the Administration’s Global Health Initiative. It provides a detailed overview of the U.S. government’s response thus far, looks at U.S. funding trends for maternal and child health, examines international and domestic agencies’ activities related to maternal and child health, explores U.S. participation in international multilateral efforts and identifies key policy issues surrounding the future of the U.S. involvement in such health issues.

A related webcast and fact sheets on maternal and child health and family planning are also available.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Program for Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO) 16th Annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference on Minority Health is scheduled for Tuesday, June 8, 1:30-4:00pm EDT.  The videoconference entitled “What Will Health Care Reform Mean for Minority Health Disparities?” will feature Mayra Alvarez, M.H.A., Legislative Assistant, U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin (Illinois); Ralph Forquera, M.P.H., Executive Director, Seattle Indian Health Board and Clinical Assistant Professor with the School of Public Health, Department of Health Sciences at the University of Washington and Tony L. Whitehead, Ph.D., M.S.Hyg., Professor of Medical Anthropology and founding Director, Cultural Systems Analysis Group (CuSAG), Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland. This interactive session will be broadcast with a live audience in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt auditorium at the UNC School of Social Work and can be viewed over the Internet (webcast). Questions will be taken from broadcast participants by email and toll-free telephone.

Check out their website to register and access related materials.

In this week’s issue of NEJM, Dr. Lucas Restrepo from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ, articulates concerns over the impact of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070, on access to medical care in the state:

It can be argued that health care providers who neglect to report illegal immigrants under their care will violate the law and be considered criminals. The bill provides physicians with no guidance as to what constitutes “reasonable grounds” to suspect that somebody is in the country illegally, leaving the particulars of such scrutiny to anyone’s imagination (although the fact that Arizona shares a border with Mexico rather than a European country suggests that whites will not be “reasonable” suspects).

Dr. Restrepo and colleagues also published a letter in the Arizona Republic earlier:

As physicians, we are concerned about the immigration bill signed by Gov. Jan Brewer. We care for many patients who may appear foreign based on superficial impressions. It is unclear whether health-care professionals like ourselves will infringe on the law if we don’t report patients or their families to the police or immigration authorities based on a vague suspicion of illegality. . . . Senate Bill 1070 tacitly prescribes a break with one of the oldest traditions of medicine: Physicians shall protect patients regardless of nationality or race [emph. added].

In a statement released on May 18, the National Physicians Alliance and CIR/SEIU-Healthcare condemn the law as “an affront to human rights and a devastating step backwards for the health and well being of the entire nation,” and warn that it will “create new obstacles to obtaining needed health care.”

More on Arizona SB 1070:

• Some 50,000 protesters gather in Phoenix on May 29 to demonstrate against the law
• Immigrant groups and workers’ organizations (Hispanic and not) urge a boycott of Arizona
• The Sound Strike, a group of musicians and performers headed by Zach de la Rocha, boycotts AZ

Does Arizona’s law go too far? Do you think it is likely to affect the practice of medicine in the state? Do doctors have a role to play in this debate? Join the discussion by leaving a comment!

For the past seven years, the United States has supported and expanded its program to fight HIV/AIDS in developing nations, underwriting almost half of the world’s AIDS relief. But some are concerned by recent setbacks in the global campaign to fight disease in the developing world. At a time when the numbers of people infected with HIV is beginning to increase after stabilizing in countries like Uganda and the number of people in need of treatment is rapidly expanding, the US funding has not kept pace. With updated World Health Organization guidelines, the number of HIV-infected people eligible for treatment has expanded to 14 million, a large increase from the only 4 million people current in treatment.

In the face of this expanding pool of people in need, US government funding seems to be staying stable. For example, at the same time that the Obama administration has announced plans to expand HIV treatment to at least 4 million by 2013, they have also signaled no increases in funding budgets through fiscal 2011. Defending the administrations commitment to fight the global pandemic, Eric Goosby, the President’s AIDS czar, stated that “our commitment to universal coverage hasn’t wavered.”

For more on the global fight on AIDS and particularly the fight in Uganda, check out the Wall Street Journal’s January 30th article and slideshow.

This is a guest post by Daniel Rhee, AMSA Global’s Health and Human Rights coordinator.  It was originally posted on the Global listserv in honor of Human Trafficking Awareness Day on January 11, 2010.

“To some, human trafficking may seem like a problem limited to other parts of the world. In fact, it occurs in every country, including the United States, and we have a responsibility to fight it just as others do. ” - Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton (full article here)

Good afternoon, Global!

Today is National Global Human Trafficking Awareness day, and for those who are unfamiliar, human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons)

It is one of several forms of slavery that exist today (click here to learn about modern slavery), and as our Secretary of State stated so clearly, it is not just an international issue, but a domestic one as well.

Here are some quick facts from freetheslaves.net and the US DOJ:

• there are more slaves now than ever before in human history – approximately 27 million around the world
• the cost of a slave has decreased from $40,000 in 1850, to $90 in 2008
• it would cost $40 per family to buy all bonded laborers in the world – Americans spend this much on chocolate each Valentine’s Day
• 17,500 slaves are brought into the United States every year
• sexual exploitation of minors is lawfully considered human trafficking – approximately 325,000 children in the United States are subjected to sexual exploitation every year
• the average age of entry into the commercial sex industry within the United States is 11-12 years old

So for those of you who want to learn/do more, here are a few things for today: Read the rest of this entry →

Medical students from the University of Michigan gathered yesterday for World AIDS Day to rally Representative John Dingell’s support regarding several key issues surrounding global health and health care reform. Students sang modified versions of Christmas carols, whose words were replaced with language describing the necessity of: 1) accessible and affordable essential medicines for HIV/AIDS patients worldwide and 2) continued backing of PEPFAR, which currently only has $366 million of the $48 billion as promised by former President George W. Bush in 2008.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released its latest global health survey, Views on the U.S. Role in Global Health Update. This report explores opinions of the American public on US efforts and policies aimed at improving the health of people in developing nations. The poll found that the majority of Americans support continuing current US spending to improve the health of resource-limited nations, with 32% of the public supporting maintaining spending and 34% supporting increasing spending. A quarter of respondents were leery of the economic conditions of the times and felt that the country was spending too much on health abroad. 58% of respondents felt that efforts should focus on building health infrastructure compared to 36% who felt that it is important to emphasize efforts towards eliminating specific diseases like malaria and HIV.  Reflecting our globalized world, 55% felt that money spent to improve the health of developing nations also impacts the health of Americans in the US. When asked whether US global health funding should be administered directly by the US or via coordinated international efforts, 45% believe that it is best for the US to directly provide aid on its own while 43% felt that international efforts through organizations like the Global Fund are more effective. Additional findings and data as well as information on US Global Health Policy is available from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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