Why do some global health initiatives receive priority from international and national political leaders whereas others receive little attention? To analyse this question we propose a framework consisting of four categories: the strength of the actors involved in the initiative, the power of the ideas they use to portray the issue, the nature of the political contexts in which they operate, and characteristics of the issue itself. We apply this framework to the case of a global initiative to reduce maternal mortality, which was launched in 1987. We undertook archival research and interviewed people connected with the initiative, using a process-tracing method that is commonly employed in qualitative research. We report that despite two decades of effort the initiative remains in an early phase of development, hampered by difficulties in all these categories. However, the initiative's 20th year, 2007, presents opportunities to build political momentum. To generate political priority, advocates will need to address several challenges, including the creation of effective institutions to guide the initiative and the development of a public positioning of the issue to convince political leaders to act. We use the framework and case study to suggest areas for future research on the determinants of political priority for global health initiatives, which is a subject that has attracted much speculation but little scholarship.

Objective: To (i) evaluate food choices and consumption patterns of elementaryand middle-school students who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and (ii) compare students' average nutrient intake from lunch with NSLP standards. Design: Plate waste from elementary-and middle-school students' lunch trays was measured in autumn 2010 using a previously validated digital photography method. Percentage waste was estimated to the nearest 10 % for the entrée, canned fruit, fresh fruit, vegetable, grain and milk. Univariate ANOVA determined differences in percentage waste between schools, grades and genders. Daily nutrient intake was calculated using the district's menu analysis and percentage waste. Setting: Elementary and middle schools in northern Colorado (USA). Subjects: Students, grades 1-8. Results: Plate waste was estimated from 899 lunch trays; 535 elementary-and 364 middle-school students. Only 45 % of elementary-and 34 % middle-school students selected a vegetable. Elementary-school students wasted more than a third of grain, fruit and vegetable menu items. Middle-school students left nearly 50 % of fresh fruit, 37 % of canned fruit and nearly a third of vegetables unconsumed. Less than half of the students met the national meal standards for vitamins A and C, or Fe. Conclusions: Few students' lunch consumption met previous or new, strengthened NSLP lunch standards. Due to the relatively low intake of vegetables, intakes of vitamins A and C were of particular concern. Effective behavioural interventions, combined with marketing, communications and behavioural economics, will likely be necessary to encourage increased vegetable intake to meet the new meal standards.

Since 1990 mortality and morbidity decline has been more extensive for some conditions prevalent in low- and middle-income countries than for others. One reason may be differences in the effectiveness of global health networks, which have proliferated in recent years. Some may be more capable than others in attracting attention to a condition, in generating funding, in developing interventions and in convincing national governments to adopt policies. This article introduces a supplement on the emergence and effectiveness of global health networks. The supplement examines networks concerned with six global health problems: tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia, tobacco use, alcohol harm, maternal mortality and newborn deaths. This article presents a conceptual framework delineating factors that may shape why networks crystallize more easily surrounding some issues than others, and once formed, why some are better able than others to shape policy and public health outcomes. All supplement papers draw on this framework. The framework consists of 10 factors in three categories: (1) features of the networks and actors that comprise them, including leadership, governance arrangements, network composition and framing strategies; (2) conditions in the global policy environment, including potential allies and opponents, funding availability and global expectations concerning which issues should be prioritized; (3) and characteristics of the issue, including severity, tractability and affected groups. The article also explains the design of the project, which is grounded in comparison of networks surrounding three matched issues: TB and pneumonia, tobacco use and alcohol harm, and maternal and newborn survival. Despite similar burden and issue characteristics, there has been considerably greater policy traction for the first in each pair. The supplement articles aim to explain the role of networks in shaping these differences, and collectively represent the first comparative effort to understand the emergence and effectiveness of global health networks.

During the last 2 centuries, southern right whales Eubalaena australis were hunted to near extinction, and an estimated 150 000 were killed by pre-industrial whaling in the 19th century and illegal Soviet whaling in the 20th century. Here we focus on the coastal calving grounds of Australia and New Zealand (NZ), where previous work suggests 2 genetically distinct stocks of southern right whales are recovering. Historical migration patterns and spatially variable patterns of recovery suggest each of these stocks are subdivided into 2 stocks: (1) NZ, comprising NZ subantarctic (NZSA) and mainland NZ (MNZ) stocks; and (2) Australia, comprising southwest and southeast stocks. We expand upon previous work to investigate population subdivision by analysing over 1000 samples collected at 6 locations across NZ and Australia, although sample sizes were small from some locations. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region haplotypes (500 bp) and microsatellite genotypes (13 loci) were used to identify 707 individual whales and to test for genetic differentiation. For the first time, we documented the movement of 7 individual whales between the NZSA and MNZ based on the matching of multilocus genotypes. Given the current and historical evidence, we hypothesise that individuals from the NZ subantarctic are slowly recolonising MNZ, where a former calving ground was extirpated. We also suggest that southeast Australian right whales represent a remnant stock, distinct from the southwest Australian stock, based on significant differentiation in mtDNA haplotype frequencies (F ST = 0.15, p < 0.01; Φ ST = 0.12, p = 0.02) and contrasting patterns of recovery. In comparison with significant differences in mtDNA haplotype frequencies found between the 3 proposed stocks (overall F ST = 0.07, Φ ST = 0.12, p < 0.001), we found no significant differentiation in microsatellite loci (overall

Why do some global health initiatives receive priority from international and national political leaders while others receive minimal attention? We propose a framework for analyzing this question consisting of four categories of factors: the strength of the actors involved in the initiative, the power of the ideas they use to frame the issue, the nature of the political contexts in which they operate, and characteristics of the issue itself.We apply this framework to the case of a global initiative to reduce maternal mortality, launched in 1987. Using a process-tracing methodology commonly employed in qualitative research, we conducted archival research and interviewed actors involved in the initiative. We find that despite two decades of effort the initiative remains in an early phase of development, hampered by difficulties in all these categories. However, the initiative's twentieth anniversary year, 2007, presents opportunities to build political momentum. To generate political priority advocates will need to address several challenges, including the creation of effective institutions to guide the initiative and the development of a public positioning of the issue that convinces political leaders to act.We draw on the framework and case study to suggest areas for future research on the determinants of political priority for global health initiatives, a subject that has attracted much speculation but little scholarship.

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Global health issues vary in the amount of attention and resources they receive. One reason is that the networks of individuals and organizations that address these issues differ in their effectiveness. This article presents key findings from a research project on the emergence and effectiveness of global health networks addressing tobacco use, alcohol harm, maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, tuberculosis and pneumonia. Although networks are only one of many factors influencing priority, they do matter, particularly for shaping the way the problem and solutions are understood, and convincing governments, international organizations and other global actors to address the issue. Their national-level effects vary by issue and are more difficult to ascertain. Networks are most likely to produce effects when (1) their members construct a compelling framing of the issue, one that includes a shared understanding of the problem, a consensus on solutions and convincing reasons to act and (2) they build a political coalition that includes individuals and organizations beyond their traditional base in the health sector, a task that demands engagement in the politics of the issue, not just its technical aspects. Maintaining a focused frame and sustaining a broad coalition are often in tension: effective networks find ways to balance the two challenges. The emergence and effectiveness of a network are shaped both by its members' decisions and by contextual factors, including historical influences (e.g. prior failed attempts to address the problem), features of the policy environment (e.g. global development goals) and characteristics of the issue the network addresses (e.g. its mortality burden). Their proliferation raises the issue of their legitimacy. Reasons to consider them legitimate include their members' expertise and the attention they bring to neglected issues. Reasons to question their legitimacy include their largely elite composition and the fragmentation they bring to global health governance.

Since the mid‐19th century, multiple introductions of Japanese sika deer (Cervus nippon nippon) and North American wapiti (C. canadensis) have taken place in the British Isles. While wapiti have generally been unsuccessful, sika have been very successful, especially in Scotland where they now overlap at least 40% of the range of native red deer (C. elaphus). Hybridization between these two species and red deer has been demonstrated in captivity and in the wild. Using a panel of 22 microsatellite loci that are highly diagnostic between red deer and sika, and moderately diagnostic between red deer and wapiti, we investigated the extent of introgression between these species in 2,943 deer sampled from around Scotland and from the English Lake District using the Bayesian clustering software STRUCTURE. We also used a diagnostic mitochondrial marker for red deer and sika. Our survey extends previous studies indicating little introgression of wapiti nuclear alleles into red deer, in particular in Northern Scotland, Kintyre, and the Lake District. We found a new area of extensive sika introgression in South Kintyre. In the North Highlands, we show for the first time geographically scattered evidence of past hybridization followed by extensive backcrossing, including one red‐like individual with sika introgression, two sika‐like individuals with red deer introgression, and six individuals that were apparently pure sika at the nuclear markers assessed but which carried red deer mitochondria. However, there has not been a collapse of assortative mating in this region. Similarly, in the English Lake District red deer, we found only traces of past sika introgression. No sika alleles were detected in the Central Highlands or the Hebridean red deer refugia. We make suggestions for management to prevent further spread of sika alleles into red deer and vice versa.