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Iran Reports First Confirmed Case Of H1N1 Swine Flu
The Ministry of Health in Iran has reported the country"s first confirmed case of H1N1 swine flu, in a 16 year-old Iranian boy who lives in the US
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Study Shows Teen Contraception Use Declining, Level Of Sexual Activity Unchanged
After years of declining teenage pregnancy rates and improved teen contraception use during the 1990s and early 2000s, the trends appeared to have flattened or even reversed among some groups of teens in recent years, according to a study from Columbia University"s Mailman School of Public Health and the Guttmacher Institute, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Researchers found that from 2003 to 2007, teens" contraceptive use declined by 10%, while their level of sexual activity did not change. The decrease in contraceptive use was particularly prevalent among black teens. The figures take into account the rate of contraception use as well as the types of contraceptives used, as methods vary in effectiveness. Teen condom use leveled off and in some cases declined, according to the study. The study also reported that the teen birth rate increased by 5% from 2005 to 2007. According to the study"s authors, the findings suggest a link between declining teen contraception use and the rise in abstinence-only education during former President George W. Bush"s administration. President Obama"s fiscal year 2010 budget proposal calls for redirecting some abstinence-only funds toward increased comprehensive sex education, the Monitor reports. In addition to the effects of abstinence-only sex education, the decline in condom use also could be tied to lessening concern about sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. A shift in the teen population to include a higher number of Hispanics -- who have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth -- also could contribute to the findings. Laura Lindberg, one of the study"s authors and a senior research associate at Guttmacher, said, "In the end, this story is really about the loss of momentum." She added that although the statistical changes are small, "they raise concern about what the next few years will bring in this country." Sarah Brown, director of the National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, noted that the proportion of births to unmarried women, particularly among women ages 20 to 24, also is on the upswing (Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor, 6/18).
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Opinion: U.S. Global HIV/AIDS Funding; Maternal Health; Meeting Needs Of Recipient Nations

U.S. Lawmakers Should Not Slow AIDS Funding According to a Concord Monitor opinion piece, PEPFAR has "fostered self-relianceň€¦ strengthened drug supply and delivery systemsň€¦ trained new health care workers," and the impact of U.S. tax dollars has been "multiplied" by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "A slow-down now in U.S. global AIDS funding could compound drug shortages and treatment disruptions already threatening HIV programs in the developing world," according Jodie Ann Dionne-Odom, a medical doctor who has worked in Africa. She concludes that as lawmakers "make vital funding decisions in the coming weeks," they should consider that these programs cost "less than one tenth of 1 percent of our budget, and the lives saved are priceless" (7/20). "Inattention" To Maternal Health In Pakistan Promotes Suffering Some of the "greatest suffering of women" in Pakistan "isn"t political or religious. It comes simply from the inattention to maternal health care," writes columnist Nicholas Kristof in a New York Times opinion piece. Kristof profiles a Pakistani doctor"s efforts to improve women"s health care in the country, where "a woman dies every 35 minutes because of problems from pregnancy or childbirth." He writes, "The underlying reason is that maternal health has never been a priority globally, either to poor countries or to foreign aid donors like the U.S. The only exceptions are Britain and Norway, and I hope the Obama administration will back them up" (7/18). Foreign Donors Should Direct Funds According To National Priorities Cambodia "has reduced the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the general population from more than 3 percent to just under 1 percent," but that achievement "masks a darker truth," which is that health policy in the country is determined "by the priority or caprice of officials in Geneva, Washington or Berlin - not Phnom Penh," writes correspondent Joel Brinkley in a McClatchy-Tribune News Service/Sacramento Bee opinion piece. Although Cambodia"s health ministry a few years ago asked international donors help "establish a primary health-care system," donors were "largely unresponsive," he writes. While "[n]o one expects the international community to pick up responsibility for funding and staffing Cambodia"s hospitals," he writes that "if the foreign donors at work here and in dozens of other poor nations made an effort to direct their money to the nations" actual priorities, they might save millions of additional lives" (7/16). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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