The Wall Street Journal: White House Proposes 9% Increase in Global-Health Funding
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration proposed a nine percent increase in funding for global health needs in its fiscal 2011 budget, pledging to spend more to combat preventable diseases and reduce deaths among women and children. The proposal was accompanied by the release of a set of ambitious targets to be achieved by 2014, including getting 1.6 million more people into drug treatment for HIV/AIDS, cutting the prevalence of malaria by 50 percent, and reducing the number of deaths of mothers and children under five years old. Officials emphasized that while the requested contribution to the Global Fund is less than the amount given last year, it is $100 million more than the amount requested last year.

The Washington Post: A crisis in Sudan (Op-ed, Jimmy Carter)
Humanitarian and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter brings attention to the renewal of nationwide violence in the Sudan, calling it one of “the most urgent responsibilities the international community faces.” President Carter’s own organization, the Carter Center, has been working to instill peace in the nation for more than 20 years, however, he fears that recent disputes over insufficient government funding, border lines and the permanent division of oil wealth and infrastructure, threaten to undo all of the progress from the past two decades. President Carter calls for the international community to intercede in order to ensure “sustained support for the faltering progress toward peace and democracy.”

Reuters: Bill Clinton to coordinate Haiti relief efforts
Reuters reports that former U.S. President Bill Clinton, currently the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, will be named international coordinator for relief efforts in the earthquake-devastated country. Speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced, U.N. diplomats and officials said Clinton was the most obvious choice to coordinate aid and reconstruction in the impoverished Caribbean nation. The former president has been actively involved in the Haiti relief effort from the beginning and has already visited the country to witness the destruction for himself. Clinton called for short and long-term funds while meeting with global leaders in Davos, Switzerland last week.

The New York Times: Countries Submit Emission Goals
The New York Times reports that the climate change accord reached at Copenhagen in December passed its first test on Monday after countries responsible for the bulk of climate-altering pollution formally submitted their emission reduction plans, meeting the agreement’s Jan. 31 deadline. Most major nations — including the United States, the 27 nations of the European Union, China, India, Japan and Brazil — restated earlier pledges to curb emissions by 2020, some by promising absolute cuts, others by reducing the rate of increase from a business-as-usual curve. However, analysts said that even if all nations met their promises, the world would still be on a path to exceed the Copenhagen agreement’s central goal of limiting global warming to less than 3.6 degrees above the pre-industrial era.

BuaNews (South Africa): UN to Hold MDG Summit
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced that the UN will hold a summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September, according to South Africa’s BuaNews. The summit is to take place along with the opening of the General Assembly, where leaders of the 192 UN Member States meet each year at its Headquarters in New York. The Secretary General pledged to mobilize support to tackle the critical challenges threatening peace and prosperity across Africa, including extreme poverty, economic and social well-being, and the ravages of climate change. Said Ban Ki-Moon, “We have made great strides toward the Millennium Development Goals, but there is not much time to the 2015 deadline, and still much distance to travel.”

The Huffington Post: Narrowing Down Davos: Targeting Chronic Disease and Empowering Women in Developing Nations (Op-Ed)
CEO of Tupperware Brands Corporation Rick Goings reports on his experiences at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, highlighting the need to help women and children in the developing world. According to Goings, it is women and girls who can lead countries out of poverty, emphasizing that it is women who are “much more likely to think ‘we’ instead of ‘me.’ The CEO calls for businesses to play a bigger role in supporting women, offering the idea of developing more corporate health initiatives as a potential way to get involved. Said Goings, “Chronic disease and the fate of women in developing nations are epic issues. But separate them from the far larger issues of global health and gender parity and they at least seem manageable and surmountable.”