| | | | |  | | By Daniel Payne | | | | | 
Global health advocates said they're losing faith in Congress' ability to respond to the pandemic around the world after global funds were cut from a supplemental Covid-19 package. | John Moore/Getty Images | DIFFERENT REALITIES — How much money do wealthier nations need to invest in responding to Covid-19? The answer varies dramatically, depending on whom you ask. Congress cut the global funding for Covid-19 responses in its supplemental package — just before seemingly giving up on the deal entirely. The move means that, without the passing of another supplemental package, key pandemic responses will grind to a halt, as POLITICO's Erin Banco reported. The approach on the Hill is in sharp contrast to international organizations, several of which — including the International Monetary Fund, Wellcome, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — announced this week the need to fund pandemic action with $15 billion more this year and $10 billion each year after. "It's incredibly important right now that we don't forget the poorest, most marginalized in the world," Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said at a conference announcing the strategy. But as global health organizations consider longer-term funding to strengthen integrated health systems, the White House hopes for just enough to keep current efforts going for a while longer — a wish that seems unlikely to be granted. "The lack of global funding has real implications," Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said at a press conference Tuesday. "USAID does not have the resources it needs to help countries get more shots in arms." The debate is key to the outcomes of countries around the world. It's playing out publicly in the U.S. now — but could keep coming up for other wealthier nations. Political leaders, entering the third year of the pandemic, are now trying to fund the fight against this pandemic, preparations for the next one, existing global health programs and contributions to other crises, like the war in Ukraine — all while fighting the political currents of the moment. "People are coming to grips with how dysfunctional things are," one global health advocate told Global Pulse. "I think it's a crisis of faith in the U.S. Congress."
| | | WELCOME BACK TO GLOBAL PULSE — and happy World Health Day! The commemoration was first celebrated in 1950, with new themes each year to bring awareness to different health concerns around the world. This year's theme: "Our planet, our health." We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think about the newsletter — and send tips — at dpayne@politico.com. Global Pulse is a team effort. Thanks to editors Eli Reyes and Barbara Van Tine . Follow us on Twitter: @ErinBancoand @_daniel_payne.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | THE STATE OF THE PANDEMIC | | A $200 MILLION BOOST FOR COVAX — MedAccess and the Open Society Foundations announced Thursday they will guarantee $100 million each as a part of a new Risk Sharing Facility to help countries buy additional vaccines. The money will be used as a backstop, allowing COVAX, the global vaccine cooperation project, to order more doses from manufacturers, which can be procured by low- and lower-middle-income countries around the world. The funding boost could allow up to 190 million additional doses for those nations by year's end. The new financing approach will allow faster vaccine access and more options for getting them, the donors said — with an emphasis on giving low- and lower-middle-income countries more autonomy in procurement. The move comes ahead of Gavi's COVAX global donor conference Friday, where countries are expected to make larger pledges for global vaccination goals. VARIANT WATCH — The XE variant of Covid-19 — a combination of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron subvariants — has a rate of community spread 10 percent higher than BA.2, according to early data from the WHO. The variant, first detected in the U.K. in January, is being monitored to better understand how it's different from other versions of the virus. EU EXPERTS SAY FOURTH DOSE NOT NEEDED FOR MOST — Current evidence doesn't point to its need for most people under 80, experts from two EU health agencies said Wednesday. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Medicines Agency's Covid-19 task force said in a statement that a fourth vaccine dose could be advised for those ages 60–79, POLITICO Europe's Carlo Martuscelli reports. U.S. TO DONATE SHOTS FOR KIDS — The U.S. will begin donating 100 million or more Covid-19 vaccine doses for children worldwide as a part of its pledge to donate over 1 billion shots in total. "With more than enough supply for adults, we're working with Pfizer to make pediatric doses available to donate," Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said in a press briefing Tuesday. The tens of millions of doses follow the nearly half-billion already sent around the world, even as adult demand wanes. Still, 20 countries — including Pakistan and Vietnam — have asked the U.S. for pediatric doses, according to Zients. "We're now ready to answer their call," he said. | | | | 
A man rides his bike past destroyed buildings in Irpin, Ukraine. | Chris McGrath/Getty Images | KEEPING HIV AT BAY IN UKRAINE — As the war in Ukraine drags on, it threatens to erase years of progress in treating and preventing diseases. One decadeslong goal, to provide care for nearly 260,000 Ukrainians with HIV, has been jeopardized by the fighting, leading health agencies to try to keep providers open and treatment supplies constant — even in conflict zones. Though about 90 percent of antiretroviral treatment sites in Ukraine are at least partially open, according to the WHO, those on the ground have emphasized the situation's fragility. "Unfortunately, there are no humanitarian corridors to deliver medicines," Andriy Klepikov, who is working in the country with the Alliance for Public Health, told Global Pulse. "So this is one problem which we cannot resolve on our own." Organizations like APH have worked together to get new treatment supplies to those affected by the war, but the delivery will be the harder part, he said. Decades of progress at stake — Some Ukrainians had to flee their homes so quickly they couldn't bring their medications, and others are on the final days or weeks of their supply but now cut off or far from their providers. And the risks reach beyond HIV treatments: Other important therapies, like those for TB or opioid addiction, are also at risk. "Over years, say over the last 15 years, we managed to take the epidemic of HIV and TB under control," Klepikov said. "And so now, because of the Russian aggression, it can be destroyed in days." HEALTH CARE IN THE AIR — Two recent projects, an IPCC report and a WHO database, highlight the growing connection between climate change, pollution and public health. In the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, researchers linked co-benefits between reducing emissions and improved health worldwide — and how those actions could contribute to larger developmental goals. "The climate problem is getting worse, but the solutions are getting better," Gregory Nemet, a researcher and lead author on parts of the report, told Global Pulse. The sustained rise of renewable energy sources is a main reason for hope, he said, since they have grown as a share of the energy market and led to fewer emissions in some countries. Eighteen countries have reduced their emissions over the last decade, he said — which has likely led to fewer respiratory issues in those places. "That's been a big change in the last ten years," Nemet said. More tracking worldwide — The IPCC report comes as the WHO released its largest-ever air-quality database, which now includes pollution levels in more than 6,000 cities around the world — almost 2,000 more than the last report. And for the first time, the database will track nitrogen dioxide levels, which can help predict levels of other pollutants. Almost the entire global population lives in areas with pollution that exceeds WHO standards, a spokesperson told reporters at a conference announcing the database, emphasizing the growing need to connect climate and human health.
| | | | | $13.8 trillion The global economy's cumulative output loss through 2024 because of the pandemic, according to a new report from the International Monetary Fund. | | | | | Europe builds up stockpiles to prepare for nuclear emergencies — The European Commission said it is adding to its stockpile to prepare for nuclear, chemical and biological emergencies, POLITICO Europe's Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif reports. The announcement comes after Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to fighting near nuclear power plants — and as Romania plans to issue iodine tablets to its citizens. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to visit the U.S. — The director-general of the WHO will be in Washington tomorrow for World Health Day — and will hold a press conference with the HHS secretary. West Africa faces the worst food shortage in a decade — Save the Children said in a statement that the region was facing the worst crisis in years, with about 27 million going hungry. That number could rise by 11 million in the next three months because of conflict, drought, rising prices and competing crises, like the war in Ukraine.
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