Maria Dieci

Health policy, dev econ, global health. Asst Prof Health Policy and Management @EmoryRollins. Previously @UCBerkeleySPH, @poverty_action. All views are my own.

[The Lancet @TheLancet]

On the cover of The Lancet:
Editorial — “Robert F Kennedy Jr: 1 year of failure”

Read the latest issue: https://t.co/x0Mv0owHDx

[Atul Gawande @Atul_Gawande]

Bill Foege, rest in peace. He was a hero of public health, key to the eradication of smallpox (which killed more than half a billion people), a former head of CDC, and unfailingly wise, kind, and persistent.

@celinegounder recalls his life beautifully: https://t.co/8YvcqGOxkd

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Heartbreaking piece from @propublica about how Trump's dismantling of USAID is leading to the slow starvation of refugees: https://t.co/hjiodYpFwG It's hard to fathom the cruelty of officials who would abruptly pull food from families in refugee camps, leaving them nothing.

[Health Economics @HECJournal]

Can paying people to vaccinate backfire?

A new study finds that 1 in 7 vaccine-hesitant adults who would have accepted a COVID-19 shot declined when offered money. Incentives ⬇️ trust in vaccine safety & weakened prosocial motivation to vaccinate. https://t.co/qqwCf7NdmZ

[Emily Oster @ProfEmilyOster]

In my many lectures on where data comes from, I start with: "The CDC estimates the obesity rate in the US is 41.6%. How do they know?" People have all kinds of ideas, but you quickly realize that to know this in a reliable way you need to weigh a random sample of Americans (1/2)

[American Academy of Pediatrics @AmerAcadPeds]

The American Academy of Pediatrics joined fellow medical leaders in a new op-ed in @statnews with a clear, urgent message: Vaccines work—and they save lives. https://t.co/WKuf2nJmVP

[VoxDev @vox_dev]

"We use our estimates on the impact of Gavi funding on child mortality to calculate the number of lives saved by Gavi support, which is approximately 1.5 million lives."

Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️ https://t.co/fX8hbqybPh

[Atul Gawande @Atul_Gawande]

This is a travesty and a nightmare. The US was a founder of @Gavi. It lowers vaccine costs for the world, has vaccinated 1B children, and averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year -- and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.

[Maria Dieci @MariaDieci]

@ElisaMaffioli @AnneFitz13 @ZoeMcLaren @leightjessica 😍😍

[Health Economics @HECJournal]

The Editorial Boards of leading health econ journals are issuing a Joint Statement of Principles on Editorial Independence. In these troubled times some scholars worry their work might suffer ideological attack. We reaffirm our commitment to unfettered scholarship. Please repost.

[Prashant Yadav @Prof_Yadav_SCM]

A single price for pharmaceuticals is both inefficient and inequitable. Differential pricing improves societal welfare (under most conditions). There is sufficient and strong evidence for this. Also, an MFN clause hurts the poorest countries the most. Understandably, the US thinks it is paying a higher share of R&D, but there are other ways to balance this, including value-based tiering. I hope the detailed policy proposal behind the EO has some conditionality zones for the MFN clause. Links to my review studies and past work on this are in the following posts.

[Maria Dieci @MariaDieci]

Excellent highlight of PRO (https://t.co/gKwW7Snk3P), an innovative and essential initiative moving philanthropic dollars to urgent global projects most in need after USAID funding cuts
https://t.co/z0OQP5qS9n

[Jennifer Gunter @DrJenGunter]

The NIH plans to defund the WHI, the largest clinical trial ever for women that was meant to catch up on missed research. This study has been a fountain of knowledge. The hatred of women from this administration is really from cradle to grave. https://t.co/GED2ZR19CF

[Center for Global Development @CGDev]

After the USAID cuts, the total number of awardees has fallen from 2,562 to 306.

@JustinSandefur & @charlesjkenny warn the cuts will considerably reduce capacity to navigate the complexities of USAID contracting:
https://t.co/yi01mernDO

[Melinda French Gates @melindagates]

Thanks to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, more than 1 billion children have been immunized against the world’s deadliest diseases, like tuberculosis and malaria. Now the U.S. government is reportedly planning to end its support for Gavi—support that’s been critical to this progress for nearly 25 years.

It breaks my heart to think that more than a million children in low-income countries could die over the next five years because of this decision.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the world’s success in immunizing children is one of the greatest achievements in history. It’s also one of the hardest-won. Mothers around the world line up for hours in the heat to get vaccines for their children, women travel through mountains on foot to administer them, and thousands of scientists dedicate their lives to developing them—all because there’s nothing more important than saving the life of a child.

Leaders must reconsider the plan to end support for Gavi. Unraveling one of the most effective systems in global health would be an absolutely devastating choice.

[Maria Dieci @MariaDieci]

@hannalynnglenn @ianhealthecon Congratulations, @hannalynnglenn!! So happy for you!

[Justin Sandefur @JustinSandefur]

Each dot represents 10 people whose lives depend on US foreign aid for HIV prevention & treatment.

Without it, 1.6m people could die per year.

@charlesjkenny & I were pleased to work with @NickKristof and the NYT data viz team to show the stakes of what’s happening at USAID.

[Brooke Nichols @brookenichols]

We estimate 100 people per hour, including 68 children, are dying because of the abrupt halt in funding.

https://t.co/sDMcwOoRIm

[Steven Mazie @stevenmazie]

BREAKING: Supreme Court DENIES President Trump‘s emergency bid to cancel nearly $2 billion in USAID spending. The vote is 5-4.

[Prashant Yadav @Prof_Yadav_SCM]

USAID’s global health supply chain accomplishes remarkable feats, all while operating under intense public scrutiny & compliance requirements unmatched in any other supply chain (Admittedly, it has some challenges, which I have also voiced in the past). Specifically for USAID's global health programming, 👇 I urge the leadership of the State Department—esp. Sec. Rubio—to consider steps to make his humanitarian waiver for life-saving medicines work. For this waiver to save lives, it must be supported by the right staffing, adequate working capital, and a clearer understanding of activities that lie on the critical path to delivering medicines to patients. @ThinkGlobalHlth @CFR_org
https://t.co/ZILvmSskTG