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The United Nations World Food Programme has announced that nine trucks carrying 225 metric tons of food have begun to cross the border into Gaza today. The food convoy follows the arrival yesterday of seven WFP trucks carrying 200 metric tons of food assistance into the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

The trucks will cross into Gaza through Kerem Shalom, the southern border crossing from Israel that has been opened after a consensus was reached by all parties to allow emergency relief supplies through. WHO also sent one truckload of urgently-needed medical supplies to Gaza through the crossing yesterday.

“There is a severe humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza as a result of the recent turmoil and closure of the border crossings. It really is crucial that food as well as other humanitarian assistance continue to reach the increasingly desperate population,” stated Arnold Vercken, WFP Country Director inside the occupied Palestinian territory.

Gaza relies on the importation of all basic commodities, however, with the recent border closures, commercial food stocks in Gaza are quickly being depleted and are expected to run extremely low within two weeks as people panic buy flour, sugar and oil. Already within the past few days wheat flour prices have shot up by 40 percent and commercial food stocks have already run out in some areas.

The purchasing power with the population in Gaza has been heavily affected by the closures, violence, the destruction of property, looting and the inability to go to work. Overall, there is certainly a growing dependency on humanitarian assistance.

WFP has managed to continue its food assistance but the challenges of supplying such assistance are numerous in terms of logistics, security and growing needs with the population.

WFP is assisting 275,000 beneficiaries in Gaza out of 1.4 million population or 60 percent of the non-refugee Palestinians inside the Strip. Over the past week the UN agency is also supplying fresh bread to 10 hospitals in Gaza. In total 80 percent of Gaza’s population rely on food aid from WFP or UNRWA.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency: on average, each year, we give food to 90 million poor folks to meet their nutritional needs, which includes 58 million hungry young children, in 80 of the world’s poorest countries. WFP — We Feed Men and women.

http://www.wfp.org

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Implementing best-practice standards for emergency international food aid will improve the top quality, timeliness and appropriateness of food aid, reports Daniel Maxwell, PhD, research director for Food Security and Complex Emergencies at the Feinstein International Center (FIC), part with the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. In a forthcoming policy briefing paper from FIC, as well as an article within the journal Disasters, Maxwell outlines emerging best-practice standards for locations which includes information systems, analytical tools, and strategic targeting.

Information systems are essential for converting program planning to an analysis-driven process rather than a resource-driven process, notes Maxwell, who is also an associate professor at the Friedman School. “Analyzing food security in a a lot more holistic way will allow us to broaden responses beyond just food,” he says. “An integrated information program that incorporates analysis of baseline vulnerabilities of households, monitors household trends, and considers alternative responses will offer the evidence base for improved decision making and for planning a far more appropriate humanitarian response.

“Since the famine in Sahel over 30 years ago, information systems have emphasized early warning just before a crisis. This really is important, but even if well-documented, early warning alone has proven inadequate to plan a response.” Maxwell stresses the importance of continual contextual monitoring and periodic program evaluation. He also highlights the must separate information systems from operational budgets in order to maintain objectivity and impartiality about information gathered.

In addition to improving information systems, better tools and methods are needed to plan aid responses that may possibly include not only food, but could also include the provision of complementary resources, including water or cash. New analytical tools not only track trends in food security, but also aid to predict both positive and negative consequences of interventions. “One with the potential negative consequences of poorly managed food aid is the impact of food aid on nearby markets,” says Maxwell. “We are making progress toward better market analysis that may possibly limit, if not eliminate, the negative effects of food aid programming on these markets.”

One way to preserve the integrity of markets is to employ the best-practice standards of targeting humanitarian assistance better. “As food aid can be a scarce resource, targeting allows for maximum impact by ensuring that proper quantities of food aid reach appropriate beneficiaries at appropriate times,” says Maxwell. “In addition to delivering aid for those who require it, good targeting helps to prevent the unintended consequences of food aid – displaced trade or production incentives, or labor market distortions – by not supplying food aid for those who don’t need to have it.” Maxwell discusses various methods of targeting that identify vulnerable populations – and involving those populations in both the identification of appropriate interventions, and the targeting of these interventions. Later this year Maxwell and Helen Young, PhD, research director of Nutrition and Livelihoods at FIC and professor at the Friedman School, along with FIC researcher John Burns, will begin new research on involving communities in targeting in complex emergencies.

Maxwell acknowledges that implementing best-practice standards is really a tough process. “Improving analysis and tying this analysis to improved program design, implementation and monitoring or evaluation sounds like straightforward, good programming in any type of humanitarian or developmental intervention but – given the myriad of contextual factors, neighborhood government restrictions and donor politics, not to mention complex logistical considerations and the relative inflexibility of food as a resource – it’s often anything but a straightforward exercise to improve programming on the ground.” Despite the challenges, Maxwell maintains that adopting best-practice standards will support the humanitarian community to link food aid programs to broader interventions and policy changes, thus growing the likelihood they will benefit individuals and communities in both the immediate circumstances of crisis, but also in the longer term.

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Maxwell, leader of the Food Security and Livelihoods research program at FIC, was formerly Deputy Regional Director for CARE International in Eastern and Central Africa, based in Nairobi. Maxwell’s recent research has focused on food security, famine, chronic vulnerability, and humanitarian response in complex emergencies. He is the co-author, with Chris Barrett of Cornell University, with the recent book, “Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role.”

Maxwell, D, Sim A, Mutonyi M, Egan R. Forthcoming Feinstein International Center Policy Briefing Paper. “Emergency Food Security Interventions: A State with the Art Review” ((forthcoming).

Maxwell, D. Disasters. 2007 (March);31(S1): S25-S39. “Global Factors Shaping the Future of Food Aid: the Implications for WFP.”

Contact: Siobhan Gallagher
Tufts University, Well being Sciences

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The United Nations Development Programme is planning to launch a joint program on HIV/AIDS in China in an effort to combine the activities of several U.N. agencies into a common plan for fighting the disease, Khalid Malik, UNDP’s resident representative in China, stated recently, the China Daily reports. Malik made the announcement during a recent visit to Guangzhou, the capital of China’s Guangdong province.

The program, referred to as the U.N. Joint Country Program on HIV/AIDS in China, aims to supply ongoing support for China’s five-year action plan against HIV/AIDS, which was announced last year, Malik said. The United Nations also will assist several provinces in mobilizing HIV/AIDS awareness efforts and support other external agencies. In addition, UNDP plans to serve as a link among neighborhood efforts and the national elements of the joint country program, Malik stated.

China in May 2003 launched the China Care program in selected counties in 25 provinces to strengthen care and support services for folks living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the program, in numerous counties there is a “severe lack of capacity for counseling, so progress with the treatment is slow,” Malik stated, adding, “Also numerous unforeseen obstacles are getting encountered, including men and women dropping out of the program since they are not getting proper advice from the doctors.” As a result, the United Nation’s HIV/AIDS programs in China have focused on facilitating the country’s efforts to curb the disease, Malik stated. “Over the past decade, U.N. agencies in China have played a significant role with respect to promoting national advocacy, policy and planning in the field of HIV/AIDS,” he stated. Malik added the national budget for HIV/AIDS in China has increased from about $12.5 million in 2002 to about $185 million last year (Quanlin, China Daily, 6/19).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the whole Kaiser Everyday Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Every day Well being Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a totally free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday recommended a very modest overall increase for domestic HIV/AIDS care and therapy programs and flat funding for remedy education and training and domestic HIV prevention programs. The Senate committee’s proposed funding is much much less than recommendations from the House of Representatives subcommittee and significantly less then the actual needs for HIV/AIDS care, therapy, education and prevention programs. The Senate committee’s recommended funding is inadequate overall to meet the growing needs of those living with HIV/AIDS inside the United States.

You’ll find estimated to be a lot more than half a million individuals in the U.S. who are infected with HIV but are not in medical care. At least half of that number, 250,000 or far more folks, is unaware of their HIV status. Individuals under 25 years of age account for roughly half of new HIV infections. African Americans and Latinos together account for over 60% of individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

“We at AIDS Action Council are really disturbed that the committee’s funding levels are not enough to keep pace with the growing infection rate, especially in communities of color, or to address the treatment and care needs of individuals living with HIV/AIDS in our country,” stated Rebecca Haag, Executive Director, AIDS Action Council. “Current funding amounts are not sufficient to ensure that life-saving drugs and medical therapy are available to all who are infected, not enough to reduce the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections every year and not enough to provide outreach and testing to men and women who are unaware of their HIV status. The reality is we need to have significantly much more funding.”

We are quite dismayed that the Senate bill contains $30 million for the new Early Diagnosis Grant Program, for which no state is currently eligible, while delivering no increased funding for HIV preventions programs or funding for increased HIV testing and counseling. AIDS Action Council does, nonetheless, commend the Senate committee for cutting by $28 million funding for community- based abstinence-only programs. These programs have been shown to be ineffective and should be replaced with educational programs which are comprehensive and scientifically sound.

AIDS Action Council is also concerned that the AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETCs) and the Dental Reimbursement Program were the only Ryan White programs that did not see funding increases in either the Senate or House committee’s bill. AETCs are responsible for building and maintaining a well- educated wellness professional workforce, which is vital in light of growing caseloads. The dental program increases access to oral well being care services for HIV-positive individuals who cannot afford routine dental care while supplying education and clinical training for dental providers, especially those located in community based-settings. Both programs are critical to maintaining the health of those living with HIV.

AIDS Action Council urges legislators in both the House and Senate to amend the legislation to increase funding to keep pace with this growing, deadly epidemic.

“The President has rightfully referred to as for a significant increase in our commitment to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. We cannot leave men and women living with HIV/AIDS or those at risk here in our own country behind. The Senate committee’s measure falls short of meeting the challenges of a still growing domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic. Congress needs to do more” Haag added.

AIDS Action Council is really a Washington non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of men and women living with HIV and AIDS and that helped to create and ensure passage of the original Ryan White CARE Act in 1990 and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Therapy Modernization Act of 2006 last December.

AIDS Action Council
http://www.aac.org

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The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has entered into a lease for space with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and partnered with the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center to become the first tenant at BioBAT, a brand new 486,000 square foot bioscience center to be housed at the Brooklyn Army Terminal inside the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. BioBAT is really a collaboration between NYCEDC and SUNY Downstate through the SUNY Research Foundation. IAVI plans to develop a world-class laboratory focused exclusively on accelerating the development of AIDS vaccines.

Under the terms with the 15-year lease with NYCEDC, the agency that manages BAT on behalf with the City of New York, IAVI will occupy 36,000 square feet of space and move its AIDS Vaccine Development Laboratory into the new facility in the first quarter of 2008 from a temporary location at the SUNY Downstate campus. The City and the State are delivering $54.5 million for the creation of BioBAT, and the City will provide $12.5 million of its portion for the construction of IAVI’s space.

“Ending the AIDS epidemic is one with the greatest public health challenges we face today, and I can’t think of a better place to create the next generation of AIDS vaccine candidates than in New York City, the global capital with the world and IAVI’s headquarters for the past ten years,” stated Seth Berkley, President and CEO of IAVI. “I am hopeful that some of the most promising vaccine concepts within the next five years will emerge from work done at IAVI’s AIDS Vaccine Development Laboratory and its affiliated research partners.”

“IAVI’s decision to become a tenant at BioBAT reinforces our commitment to establishing a bioscience center at the Brooklyn Army Terminal,” said NYCEDC President Robert C. Lieber. “BioBAT will provide the bioscience companies at SUNY Downstate space to grow when they have outgrown their incubator space. I commend IAVI for its commitment to New York City and BioBAT.”

“We hope that IAVI’s decision to establish its AIDS Vaccine Development Laboratory in Brooklyn will inspire additional bioscience companies to follow suit,” said John C. LaRosa, M.D., President of SUNY Downstate. “Downstate and IAVI have worked together for the past two years, and today’s formal announcement is an acknowledgement of our successful partnership.”

IAVI created its AIDS Vaccine Development Laboratory to bridge a essential gap in AIDS vaccine research and development. Collaborating with a network of accredited laboratories and research partners across the globe, the Lab aims to populate the vaccine pipeline with new concepts, which elicit numerous, targeted immune responses that demonstrate a measurable improvement over the candidates currently undergoing clinical testing, and therefore hold the potential to provide greater protection from HIV infection.

IAVI’s AIDS Vaccine Development Laboratory applies an industrial approach — in terms of scale, scientific expertise, high-throughput capacity and financial resources — to promising vaccine concepts. The Lab is designed to accelerate the development of novel technologies that academia does not have the resources to rapidly develop and that industry will not support due to the fact these new approaches do not yet demonstrate a high enough probability of success. By investing in innovations and developing products that have a higher scientific risk, IAVI is inside the unique position to significantly change the landscape of AIDS vaccine research and development.

Twenty-six years after scientists first identified the AIDS virus, the global pandemic continues to take its toll. Almost 40 million folks across the globe are now living with HIV, and the epidemic is expanding in new pockets in Eastern Europe and Asia. A preventive AIDS vaccine remains the greatest hope of reversing HIV’s relentless spread.

In addition to the City of New York, IAVI has received funding from the New York Community Trust for a major two-year grant that supplied early and visionary support of the Lab; and the Pendleton Charitable Trust. IAVI acknowledges the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a major grant in support of novel vector research at the Lab.

About IAVI

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is really a global not-for- profit organization whose mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. Founded in 1996 and operational in 24 countries, IAVI and its network of collaborators research and develop vaccine candidates. IAVI’s financial and in-kind supporters include the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Well being, The John D. Evans Foundation, The New York Community Trust, the James B. Pendleton Charitable Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Basque Autonomous Government as well as the European Union; multilateral organizations including The World Bank; corporate donors which includes BD (Becton, Dickinson & Co.), Continental Airlines, Google Inc., Henry Schein, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc. and Pfizer Inc; leading AIDS charities like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Until There’s A Cure Foundation; other private donors such as The Haas Trusts; and many generous individuals from around the world. For a lot more information, see http://www.iavi.org.

About EDC

New York City Economic Development Corporation is the City’s primary vehicle for promoting economic growth in each with the five boroughs. NYCEDC’s mission is to stimulate growth through expansion and redevelopment programs that encourage investment, generate prosperity and strengthen the City’s competitive position. NYCEDC serves as an advocate to the business community by building relationships with companies that allow them to take advantage of New York City’s several opportunities.

About SUNY Downstate

SUNY Downstate Medical Center is the only academic medical center in Brooklyn, comprising Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Well being, a School of Graduate Studies, a public well being degree program, the 376-bed University Hospital of Brooklyn, and an Advanced Biotechnology Incubator, part of a growing Biotechnology Park. Downstate conducted the first federally funded study of HIV’s transmission from mother to fetus. Its large HIV/AIDS program includes the HIV Center for Women and Youngsters. To learn far more about SUNY Downstate, visit http://www.downstate.edu.

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
http://www.iavi.org

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A humanitarian crisis is imminent in Myanmar unless efforts are taken to tackle particular locations of “acute humanitarian need,” including a response to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, Charles Petrie, head with the United Nations Development Programme in the country, stated on Tuesday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 6/20). UNAIDS estimates that 620,000 people in Myanmar ages 15 to 49 are HIV-positive, and about 80% of HIV-positive folks inside the country do not know their status. An growing number of international organizations and health workers have stopped providing HIV/AIDS services in Myanmar due to pressure from the country’s military government (Kaiser Everyday HIV/AIDS Report, 3/6).

According to Petrie, because he arrived in 2003, the United Nations has been able “to commence addressing some extremely hard issues” in Myanmar, including reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the country’s military. However, the United Nations is concerned about some certain locations of acute humanitarian need, including addressing HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB within the common population, Petrie said, adding, “We are seeing evolutions of these three diseases that is very worrying.”

Petrie stated the organization is concerned that if there’s no “effort to make an effort to and address the 3 diseases” and “address the problems of acute poverty that are emerging,” then the situation is going to be “push[ed] … towards a critical humanitarian crisis.” He added that resources are required from outside donors (AP/International Herald Tribune, 6/20).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the whole Kaiser Day-to-day Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Wellness Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a totally free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Household Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Household Foundation. All rights reserved.

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A June 2007 report from the Department of Defense Mental Wellness Job Force highlights the growing psychological issues that troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing. The report points out that nearly 50 percent of National Guard members and reservists report symptoms of mental disorders — and a lot of return to properties in rural communities, from exactly where they locate it difficult to access military-provided clinical care and support groups.

“As a veteran, I’m pained by daily reports of increasing mental illnesses that our troops face and of how hard it is for them to obtain help,” says Jeannie Campbell, executive vice president with the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. “This is really a new type of war, with citizen soldiers becoming named to several deployments. And assist for their critical mental well being concerns lies outside our overloaded military technique.”

Across our nation, you can find more than 2,000 community-based mental well being organizations, ready and qualified to present quality psychological care to our veterans close to their homes.

In numerous states, community mental wellness providers are already serving veterans and their families. The Western Montana Mental Health Center, below contract with its neighborhood Veterans Administration, supplied mental wellness services to approximately 715 veterans between January and December 2006. Prior to the program, veterans waited 6-8 months for outpatient mental health services. The turnaround time now is 10 days or less.

On May 23, Senators Domenici and Obama introduced the Veterans’ Mental Well being Outreach and Access Act of 2007, which calls upon the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to contract with individual community mental well being centers to supply needed services to Iraq war veterans remote from VA mental health centers.

Community providers’ 40-year track record of delivering critical mental health services to almost six million Americans annually, combined with their far more comprehensive geographic coverage and deep roots in our communities, ideally equips them to answer the growing need to treat our troops for PTSD as well as other disabling mental disorders.

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is really a not-for- profit 501(c)(3) association representing 1,300 mental wellness and addictions remedy organizations that serve almost six million adults, kids, and households in communities across America.

National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
http://www.nccbh.org

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The United Nations World Food Programme appealed to Kenyan authorities to allow food assistance on 140 trucks to cross into Somalia. The WFP food is enough to feed far more than 100,000 individuals for 3 months amid warnings of rising malnutrition in the South.

The WFP-contracted trucks left the Kenyan port of Mombasa and were unexpectedly stopped at the Northeast Kenyan border crossing of El-Wak given that the very first vehicles started arriving there on 25 May.

“The Kenyan overland route was chosen because of main issues with sea routes to Somalia plagued by pirate attacks,” stated WFP Somalia Country Director Peter Goossens. “Delays in distributing food this month to 108,000 people in Gedo district risks further aggravating the alarming rates of malnutrition that are already reported there.”

“We are in intense contacts with Kenyan authorities to facilitate the passage of this cargo into Somalia so that food distributions can urgently resume in southern Gedo,” Goosens added. “Kenya had allowed us to use El-Wak given that January because it really is the most direct route to southern Gedo, where food assistance is urgently required. The rains on top with the already very poor road network in Somalia to southern Gedo make using other Kenyan crossing points at Mandera to the north of El-Wak and Liboi to the south nearly impossible.”

Many of the 140 WFP-contracted trucks had waited so long at El-Wak that they were unloaded in recent days as well as the food assistance moved to a local warehouse. The Government of Kenya has closed its border with Somalia because January to folks and commercial traffic, but humanitarian assistance was previously allowed across into Somalia.

In the coming days, a third round of WFP food distributions to folks driven from their homes by fighting in Mogadishu is due to start. A total of 150,000 men and women must receive food including those who are still displaced, some who have returned to Mogadishu and members of host communities.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) for Somalia warned on June 15 that malnutrition was growing in the Middle and Lower Shabelle areas of southern Somalia. It reported acute malnutrition rates above the emergency threshold of 15 percent and extremely high severe acute malnutrition rates of 4.9 percent.

It has also warned of a possible crop failure in parts of south and central Somalia because of poor rains.

FSAU said the reasons for worsening food insecurity in Shabelle had been the cumulative impact of conflict, insecurity and internal displacement compounded by an epidemic of acute watery diarrhoea, farming losses from floods and 3 seasons of below normal cereal production.

In Gedo region, which borders on Kenya, acute malnutrition rates of 15-20 percent were reported in April. In 2007, WFP plans to assist far more than 1 million men and women across Somalia.

WFP will be the world’s largest humanitarian agency: on average, every year, we give food to 90 million poor individuals to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in 80 of the world’s poorest countries. WFP – We Feed Individuals.

http://www.wfp.org

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The Residence on Thursday voted 241-178 to approve a fiscal year 2008 foreign aid spending bill that would allow the federal government to give contraceptives but not money to international groups barred from receiving U.S. aid because of their abortion policies, the Washington Post reports (Williamson, Washington Post, 6/22).

The so-called “Mexico City” policy bars U.S. funding from going to international groups that support abortion, even with their own money, by way of direct services, counseling or lobbying activities. The policy was originally implemented by former President Reagan at a population conference in Mexico City in 1984, removed by former President Clinton and reinstated by President Bush throughout the first days of his presidency. Bush in September 2003 issued an executive order that prevents the State Department from giving loved ones planning grants to international groups that offer abortion-related counseling.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), chair with the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, recently said the legislation leaves the Mexico City policy intact, but Republicans disagreed and cited a threat by Bush to veto legislation that would change existing abortion-related policies and laws. Bush last month in a letter to Residence Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he will veto any legislation that would weaken federal policies or laws on abortion, including measures that would “allow taxpayer dollars to be used for the destruction of human life” (Kaiser Day-to-day Women’s Health Policy Report, 6/13).

According towards the AP/Guardian, 207 Democrats and 16 Republicans voted in favor with the bill. Twenty-four Democrats and 177 Republicans voted against the measure, and much more than a dozen members did not vote, the AP/Guardian reports (Flaherty, AP/Guardian, 6/22). The Residence voted 218-205 against an amendment, introduced by Reps. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), that would have reinforced the existing policy, CongressDaily reports (Cohn, CongressDaily, 6/22). The Senate tentatively plans to vote on its version with the foreign aid spending measure on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reports (Havemann, Los Angeles Times, 6/22).

Comments
Lowey stated the provision provides easier access to contraception as well as the bill would help reduce abortions, unintended pregnancies as well as the spread of HIV. “This amendment would advance the Bush administration’s stated goal of the Mexico City policy to ‘make abortion more rare,’ and protect ladies and children,” she stated, adding, “It is simply not enough to say you support loved ones planning, so long as the current restrictions remain in law” (Lengell, Washington Times, 6/22). Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), who opposes abortion rights, stated he supports the bill because it would “allow … essential lifesaving assistance to reach those who desperately require it” (CongressDaily, 6/22).

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) said the “Mexico City policy exists to draw a bright line between U.S. household planning policy and abortion.” He added, “However, it appears that you’ll find some out there who wish to blur this line, (which) is what leads to coercive abortions and forced sterilizations” (AP/Guardian, 6/22). House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stated, “This bill represents an unconscionable policy reversal that dramatically weakens current pro-life policies” (Washington Post, 6/22).

NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Friday reported on the Residence bill, together with a Senate appropriations bill that contains provisions related to embryonic stem cell analysis. The segment consists of comments from Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Pitts, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) (Rovner, “Morning Edition,” NPR, 6/22). Audio of the segment is obtainable on the internet.

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You’ll be able to view the entire Kaiser Day-to-day Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Every day Well being Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a cost-free service with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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The International Association of National Public Well being Institutes (IANPHI), has awarded its 1st short- and mid-term technical assistance grants to public wellness institutes in five nations. The awards are the result of a $20 million, five-year grant last year from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Emory University, in partnership with Finland’s National Public Wellness Institute, KTL, to support IANPHI.

IANPHI is an international alliance dedicated to optimizing public well being service delivery and decision-making globally by improving national public well being institutes (NPHIs) around the globe. Jeffrey Koplan, MD, MPH, vice president for academic well being affairs at Emory University’s Woodruff Wellness Sciences Center and former director with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is IANPHI president and principal investigator for the IANPHI grant. IANPHI was established in 2006 with 39 founding members; ten new members joined the association in its second General Assembly this year in Beijing, China.

The new grants contain 3 short-term technical assistance grants to NPHIs in Iran, Thailand and Uganda. The Institute of Public Health Study in Iran was given a grant to create a training program on disaster management and risk reduction, together with the peer assistance of national and international partners.

“Iran will be the sixth most disaster prone country within the world,” says the institute’s director, Professor Alireza Mesdaghinia. “About four thousand people die and an additional 55,000 are affected by natural disasters annually. Its capability to respond is very limited, however, because of the shortage of well-trained disaster response teams, including policy, planning and field operations.”

A second short-term grant to Thailand’s National Institute of Well being will support training in biosafety and risk assessment for laboratory staff. Upon completion of their instruction, trainees will assume responsibility for the institute’s biosafety activities.

A one-year grant towards the Ugandan Viral Study Institute is aimed at increasing the institute’s contributions to public health within the nation, with emphasis on partnerships and sustainability. Funds will be used to develop and executive a strategic strategy, establish a computer-equipped resource center and build affiliations with others working to boost public well being in Uganda. The grant will also support improvements within the institute’s financial and grants management systems.

The Institutos Nacional de Salud in Colombia will use a three-year IANPHI grant to implement a pilot site for the study of chronic diseases, which have become a major public well being problem in that country. The project will integrate surveillance, research and monitoring functions and boost capacity on the local level, eventually leading towards the establishment of a sustainable network of surveillance and analysis sites to guide national-level public well being decision-making.

A grant to the Nigerian Institute of Medical Investigation will help strengthen monitoring and surveillance systems for infectious diseases; develop a coordinated technique for emergency preparedness; establish systems for field and outbreak investigation and create a framework for new functions including wellness promotion and chronic disease.

In addition, 3 seed grants were awarded to institutes in Cuba, Guinea Bissau and Uganda to support public wellness study in low-resource countries.

IANPHI soon will award long-term technical assistance grants of up to five years with all the goal of helping produce national public wellness institutes in countries that already have some public well being infrastructure. These grants will involve visits by teams from other countries’ public health institutes and support of specific projects.

“Although it is still a young endeavor, IANPHI is well positioned to act as a catalyzing point for national public well being institute development, leadership and advocacy and thus strengthen international health security,” says Dr. Koplan. “Over the past year our member public health institutes have been in the forefront of protecting our wellness security through their roles in detecting and containing avian influenza, coping with natural disasters, investigating new outbreaks of disease and strengthening their routine disease surveillance systems.”

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Contact: Holly Korschun
Emory University