The American Faith Community’s Contributions to Global Health
The Global Health Policy Center hosted a presentation highlighting the contributions faith-based-organizations make to global health including the fight against HIV/AIDS in particular.
Blog — Maternal & Child Health
The Strategic Power of Vaccines
The second CSIS High-Level Forum on U.S. Leadership in Global Health placed a focus on vaccines as instruments of U.S. global leadership in pursuit of security and economic interests at home and abroad, in close enduring partnerships with corporations, foundations, multilateral organizations, and other countries.
Extended Trailer: The Strategic Power of Vaccines in Zambia
In November 2011, a team from CSIS traveled to Zambia to produce a video on vaccination efforts - their value, their long-term sustainability, and the challenges to their implementation. The video aims to portray the complexities of immunization in Zambia and to make broader points about global immunization efforts. This five minute trailer is a preview of what we saw. Please stay tuned for the full video in early 2012.
Reflections on the U.S.-South African HIV/AIDS Relationship
The story of US engagement in South Africa to battle HIV/AIDS over the past decade is one of strategic choice, sustained commitment, and significant human impact, matched by recent strong action by the South African government to assert its leadership in reversing the course of its AIDS epidemic. The story unfolding today is of a delicate, complex transition in lead responsibilities – from the United States to South Africa -- that is highly fraught with risks. Several colleagues from CSIS visited South Africa in August to examine this change
South Africa and Maternal Child Health
In August 2011, the CSIS Global Health Policy Center will be traveling to South Africa to look at the major efforts underway to renew United States' bilateral relationship with South Africa. In lead up to the trip, we are publishing four articles summarizing the significant health challenges facing the country: HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Maternal and Child Health, and Noncommunicable Diseases. This piece on Maternal and Child Health briefly highlights the maternal mortality ratio rise in South Africa and other health issues that affect women and children in the country every day.
The Global Health Initiative: New Guidance Issued on Women, Girls, and Gender Equality
On April 28, the U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) issued guidance on the women, girls, and gender equality principle – the first guidance to be issued about the GHI principles. The purpose of the guidance is to provide clarification on the goals and programming options for GHI country teams and partner countries. By explicitly recognizing that gender-related inequalities “disproportionately compromise the health of women and girls and, in turn, affect families and communities,” the GHI is moving forward in putting women and girls at the center of its response.
Women and Safe Water – The Ripple Effect
Women in most of the developing world have the primary responsibility for managing their household’s water supply. Unfortunately, that is not always their choice. Too often, where water is scarce, women are the ones forced to fetch it -- often traveling long distances on foot, sometimes two or three times a day. By providing women with the knowledge and tools to treat water and make it safe, one woman can change the health and well-being of her entire community.
A New and Promising Decade for Women and Girls
Two important developments over the last decade are converging to offer a monumental opportunity to advance the lives of millions of women and girls around the world. These women have been held back from healthy, productive lives due to lack of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
USAID “Walking the Walk” on Innovation
Reform abounds these days in terms of U.S. Development efforts. The launch of the Global Health Initiative, in concert with USAID’s revamped Evaluation Policy and PEPFAR’s “Smart Investments” campaign, promise to maximize the sustainable health impact achieved for every dollar invested. The key catch phrases common in all of these initiatives are efficiency, effectiveness and innovation.
PEPFAR Shows Us What “Smart Investment” Looks Like
It’s an exciting, but trying time for development in Washington. A number of new initiatives have been launched by the White House including the Global Health Initiative and Feed the Future, but their fate is uncertain and much rests on their ability to demonstrate real impacts. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has made strong gains over the past seven years. As the program moves from an emergency response to a sustainable development effort, it has committed to changes to increase efficiencies, innovations and impact. On Thursday, February 10 PEPFAR hosted a day-long meeting to highlight some of the key approaches that will be implemented to ensure that PEPFAR’s new “Smart Investments” save as many lives as possible.
Re-Usable Sanitary Pads Helping Keep Girls in School
Could distributing kits of re-usable sanitary pads to schoolgirls in Kenya help adolescent and teenage girls’ ability to stay in school? Could it educate them about HIV prevention? Could it ultimately help empower girls? The Huru project – which means “freedom” in Swahili – is working to show that it can.
How Access to Water and Sanitation Helps Women and Girls
Improving access to water and sanitation may seem like an indirect way to fight gender based violence, but studies show it's incredibly effective.
Lessons Learned in the Efforts to End Violence Against Women
In response to November's Healthy Dialogues blog on GBV, Mary Ellsberg of the International Center for Research and Women illuminates specifics programs and policies that have worked in the fight against GBV.
Integrating HIV with Other Health Services for Women: New Models in Kenya
The opportunities to integrate health services to better address the client’s needs – especially women – is a key piece of the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative (GHI). I went to Kenya in November to look for lessons for GHI from another US program - APHIA.
Despite Progress, More Work is Needed to Control Infectious Diseases in Nigeria
A recent visit to an HIV/AIDS conference in Nigeria gave me an opportunity to review recent reports on several important infectious diseases in the country. The progress report was decidedly mixed.
Gender Based Violence in Latin America
Rates of gender based violence in Latin America are among the highest in the world, with serious health consequences for the region’s women, who are the most frequent victims.
Healthy Dialogues: November 2010
With the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women approaching at the end of the month – November 25th – we decided to make the theme of this month’s blog gender based violence (GBV).
Can an Equity Focus Accelerate Progress in Child and Maternal Mortality in the Next Five Years?
One intriguing proposition for doing business differently over the next five years has come from UNICEF and its new executive director Anthony Lake.
What’s Next for Health in Afghanistan?
On September 17th, Dr. Suraya Dalil - Afghanistan's Minister of Health - spoke to a small audience at CSIS about the future of health in Afghanistan.
A Phone Call from USAID
Last Friday, September 17th, USAID held a phone call with various news and policy institutions providing a preview of USAID’s agenda going into the United Nations General Assembly.
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Blog
- Protection of Health Care in Armed and Civil Conflict
Assaults on hospitals and medical personnel have long been part of the landscape of armed and civil conflict. In the past year, though, various international actions may better protect health services. - The American Faith Community’s Contributions to Global Health
The Global Health Policy Center hosted a presentation highlighting the contributions faith-based-organizations make to global health including the fight against HIV/AIDS. - Polio Eradication in India
India's inspiring polio eradication will depend ultimately on how the country's health leaders consolidate their victory & how they embed the institutional sources into the country’s remarkably diverse health system. - Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: What It Is, Why It’s Here, And How We Should Respond
The recent outbreak of the so-called totally-drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) in India raises serious international health concerns. - The End of AIDS?
Watch J. Stephen Morrison, Director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, discuss the "end of aids" and the 2012 global AIDS conference - Report: Terra Nova: How to Achieve a Successful PEPFAR Transition in South Africa
A period of major change is unfolding in health and HIV services in South Africa, carrying opportunities and risks. This report finds that the United States can find feasible, flexible ways to support this process. - Report: Role(s) of Vaccines and Immunization Programs in Global Disease Prevention
This report focuses on the “nuts and bolts” of the complex biological, epidemiologic, and risk management concepts for currently available childhood vaccines.
Podcast
- Interview with Kay Warren of Saddleback Church on the American Faith Community and HIV/AIDS Efforts
- Interview with Ken Hackett of Catholic Relief Services on the Faith Community’s and Global Health
- Interview with Dr. Winston Yu of the World Bank and Johns Hopkins University
- Interview with Chris Holmes of USAID on Global Water Challenges
- Interview with Dr. Jon Andrus of PAHO on Non-Communicable Diseases in the Western Hemisphere