Reports/Research/Analysis/Commentary/Conferences/Meetings/Book Watch/Tenders
Vaccines and Global Health: The Week in Review has expanded its coverage of new reports, books, research and analysis published independent of the journal channel covered in Journal Watch below. Our interests span immunization and vaccines, as well as global public health, health governance, and associated themes. If you would like to suggest content to be included in this service, please contact David Curry at: david.r.curry@centerforvaccineethicsandpolicy.org

.
1st International Vaccines Against Shigella and ETEC (VASE) Conference
June 28-30, Washington, DC
PATH
The inaugural Vaccines Against Shigella and ETEC (VASE) Conference will bring together scientists, public health professionals, immunization leaders, vaccine industry representatives, international donors, and other experts from across the globe to work toward the goal of developing and introducing new enteric vaccines.

.
USAID Releases Plan to Save 8 Million Women and Children & Commits Funds To Strengthen Community Health
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Washington, D.C. – Today, USAID released the third annual Acting on the Call report, which details how a renewed focus on the poorest 40% of the population can save the lives of 8 million women and children by 2020. The report also announces Burma as the twenty fifth priority country for USAID’s effort to end preventable child and maternal death. Alongside the report, USAID announced a new $9.2 million program – Integrating Community Health – which will leverage an additional $10 million investment from other sources and is designed to strengthen the role of community health in USAID’s efforts to end preventable child and maternal deaths.
This third annual Acting on the Call report provides country-by-country updates on progress made over the past year in priority countries, which together account for more than two-thirds of the child and maternal deaths worldwide. The report also examines how to accelerate progress through an equity based approach, describing what can be achieved if the bottom two wealth quintiles have the same opportunities and access to health interventions as the rest of the population…

.
Fight Against Bite: ASEAN committed in battle against Dengue
BANGKOK, 22 June 2016 – …The two-day activity commenced with an ASEAN Dengue Conference, which discussed updates on the management of dengue, including information on the development and use of the dengue vaccine. There were deliberations on the progress of the regional dengue situation as well as the initiatives to promote community empowerment through sustaining the fight against dengue and other disease prevention and control in ASEAN. A “Bangkok Call for Action on the Prevention and Control of Dengue” was finalised to enhance the cause….

.
Lack of action on Non-Communicable Diseases damaging Pacific economies: World Bank
June 20, 2016 -PRESS RELEASE
New World Bank report highlights the potential economic burden of NCDs in the Pacific
NUKU’ALOFA, June 20, 2016 – A new World Bank report has put the spotlight on the economic threat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pose to the Pacific Islands, with heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease emerging as the top killers in the region.

The draft report, Pacific Possible: Health and Non-Communicable Diseases, was released for public comment today at the Pacific NCDs Summit in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa. It shows that the economic burden of NCDs continues to rise in the Pacific. It projects that if no action is taken, the economic loss due to NCD mortality across 11 Pacific Island countries will reach between 8.5 and 14.3 percent of gross domestic product by 2040. The costs of NCD morbidity could increase, on average, from 13.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2015 to 18.8 percent by 2040.

“NCDs are a major public health issue in the Pacific region. Their economic burden is much greater in the Pacific Island countries than the global average,” said report lead author and World Bank senior health economist, Xiaohui Hou. “The number of Pacific Islanders affected by these conditions will continue to rise unless we work together to reduce unhealthy habits and ensure limited health resources are delivering the most value for the greatest number of people.”

The report also raises concerns over the long term financial sustainability of public health expenditures in the region, given that Pacific countries already spend a greater share of government funds on health care than the average across lower-middle incomes countries worldwide.

The report includes a number of key recommendations that Pacific Island governments could consider to help inform public health policies aimed at reducing NCDs, which directly cause up to 77 percent of deaths in the Pacific and are a major reason for premature deaths…