Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20140530

Ifill plus, the sweeping Public Health transformation in rwanda. Where aid groups and Trained Health workers are overcoming a shortage of doctors, while still achieving dramatic results. Reporter the number of children dying before age five has dropped to a quarter of what it was in the year 2,000. The number mothers who die in childbirth is down 66 since 1990. Ifill those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Bae systems. Thats inspired work. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff ukraines military suffered a blow today when pro russian rebels shot down a helicopter, killing at least 12 people, including a general. A plume of smoke could be seen rising above the wreckage near slovyansk. Ukrainian officials said rebels used a portable antiaircraft rocket to bring down the helicopter. Meanwhile, russia demanded again that ukraines government call off its military campaign. Ifill its back to square one in the hunt for a malaysian airliner that vanished march 8th, with 239 people on board. Officials announced today theyve finished searching 330 square miles of the indian ocean seabed off western australia, and theres no sign of the wreckage. And, it turns out, theyve been looking in the wrong place. Paul davies of independent Television News filed this report. Reporter it was their most promising lead. Signals thought to come from the missing planes black box recorder. Specialist equipment on unmanned submarines could trace the source, they hoped. The u. S. Navy has had to accept that mh370 does not lie here. The underwater search was carried out by a vessel dragging a towed pinger locator. Four separate acoustic pings have been heard, at first believed to be from the planes black box recorder. But analysis now suggests they didnt come from the planes wreckage at all. Some experts believe the source of the pings could in fact be the search vessel itself or its underwater equipment. Something that should have been checked earlier, this expert says. Huge admission. Huge admission for them to have done that. Its very hard to believe they hadnt and so well wait and see as this story continues what the final say is from the company but you would have certainly expected them to do that before they put it in the water in the indian ocean. Reporter it is the latest disastrous news for relatives like danika weeks whose husband paul is one of 239 passengers and crew whose fate remains unknown. Its just another slap in the face. Its just another long road for us and look im just, im shattered by the news. Im absolutely shattered. Reporter this phase of the search ends here. It will be resumed and expanded in august with the Australian Government saying its still confident that in time flight mh370s final resting place will be located. Paul davies, itv news. Ifill the move will be to use more powerful sonar equipment across a much wider swath of the indian ocean. Woodruff the president of nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, vowed today his government will wage total war on boko haram. The Islamist Group kidnapped more than 200 school girls last month and has carried out a series of other attacks. Jonathan pledged again to get the girls back, and he insisted the threat from boko haram will be eliminated. Woodruff hours later came word that the militants had killed at least 32 more people in a village in northeastern nigeria. Ifill news of a shocking crime swept across india today, two teenage sisters were gang raped, strangled and left hanging from a tree early yesterday. It happened near a village in Uttar Pradesh state. Police have now arrested four men including two police officers. India drew world scrutiny last year after a fatal gangrape in new delhi. Woodruff in egypts president ial election, with nearly all the votes counted, the former army chief, abdel fattah alsisi, has won a landslide victory. His Campaign Announced today he garnered more than 93 of the ballots cast. But only 46 of those eligible, turned out even after voting was extended for a third day. Ifill back in this country, the secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson, came under fire over immigration policy. At a house hearing, republicans demanded to know why the Department Released 36,000 convicted criminals last year who were in line to be deported. Johnson took office in december. I look at the same list youve seen and i have seen some pretty serious criminal convictions on those on that list including homicide and other things and so i want a deeper understanding of this issue myself to make sure that were doing everything we should be doing to insurance Public Safety in this process. Ifill republicans at the hearing also criticized president obamas decision to delay a review of deportations until late summer. They charged its just a ploy to pressure them on immigration reform. Woodruff the United States has recorded more cases of measles so far this year than any year since 1996. There have been 307 cases, mostly linked to people who caught the virus abroad and spread it in the u. S. Among people who were never vaccinated. Most of those came this month in an outbreak among amish communities in ohio. Ifill coaches, parents and officials from sports leagues held a summit on concussions and kids at the white house today. They heard president obama call for more intensive research on the longterm effects of head injuries in the young. The president also urged broader recognition of how serious the problem can be. He told the audience we have to change a culture that says, suck it up. Woodruff Ford has recalled nearly 1. 4 million vehicles, mostly for possible power steering defects. They include, ford escapes and explorers, and mercury mariners from model years 2008 through 2011. About 200,000 taurus sedans from 2010 to 2014 are also affected. They may have corrosion problems. Ifill the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 65 points to close at 16,698; the nasdaq rose nearly 23 points to close at 4,248; the s p 500 added 10, to finish at 1,920. Still to come on the newshour. My wideranging conversation with secretary of state john kerry. Growing calls for v. A. Secretary Eric Shinseki to step down. A sweeping Public Health transformation in rwanda. Plus, the political fight over school lunches. Woodruff the storm kept building today over allegations of delayed care and misconduct at Veterans Affairs hospitals. And demands that v. A. Secretary Eric Shinseki resign or be fired grew ever more intense. Hari sreenivasan has that story. This is intolerable. The findings of this report are troubling and grave, of course, they are unacceptable, unconscionable and unworthy of the service of our men and women in uniform. Reporter the reaction of House Minority leader nancy pelosi spoke for politicians from both parties today, after an Inspector Generals interim report on the v. A. Medical center in phoenix, arizona. It alleged v. A. Staffers there cooked the books using various ploys to make wait times appear closer to the goal of just 14 days. In fact, the i. G. s findings revealed phoenixarea veterans seeking care had to wait an average of 115 days for a first appointment. And 1,700 veterans were kept off any official waiting list and were at risk of being lost or forgotten. The report did not conclude whether long wait times have contributed to any patient deaths because that part of the investigation is still ongoing. But the findings struck sparks at a house hearing last night with Top Department officials. Tennessee republican phil roe charged v. A. Executives in phoenix gamed the system to earn bonuses for keeping wait times short. What i dont understand is, as a veteran, as a doctor, as a practitioner, how you can stand in a mirror and look at yourself in the mirror and shave in the morning and then not throw up knowing that youve got people out there and they cant get in, and theyre desperate to get in. Someone whos making 180,000 a year gets a bonus for not taking care of the veterans. I dont get that. Reporter and more lawmakers from both sides, including republican senator john mccain of arizona, called for a criminal investigation, and for change at the top of the v. A. Its time for secretary shinseki to step down. And if secretary shinseki does not step down voluntarily, then i call on the president of the United States to relieve him of his duties, to fire him. Reporter others, including House Speaker john boehner and minority leader pelosi stopped short today of going that far. They spoke at separate events. The question i ask myself is, is him resigning going to get us to the bottom of the problem . Is it going to help us find out whats really going on . And the answer i keep getting is no. But the real issue here is that the president is the one who should be held accountable. I really do think we have to be careful about thinking that just because you remove the top person means that youve changed the systemic problem that exists in the Organization Ten years before shinseki, or five years at least before shinseki became the secretary. Reporter for his part, shinseki answered by insisting hes already ordered changes. In a usa today oped column, he wrote i remain committed to providing the highquality care and benefits that veterans have earned and deserve. And we will. Reporter publicly, at least, the secretary still had support at the white house. Spokesman jay carney when it comes to the current situation, the inquiries and the investigations and some of the allegations, the president wants to see the results of these reports. And he, as you know, made clear that he believes there ought to be accountability once we establish all the facts. Reporter in the meantime, the Inspector Generals investigation has now expanded to 42 v. A. Health Centers Nationwide for more on the growing outrage over veteran health care and what the Inspector General at the v. A. Found, we turn to usa today reporter gregg zoroya. Greg, late this afternoon there was a closed door meeting with Eric Shinseki and several veterans groups what do you know of what took place at that meeting . Well, i think the key here was to try to tell them how aggressive theyre trying to be to get these veterans in to see doctors more quickly. They outlined a plan to do just that. So what are some of the steps. The key thing they want to do they say is to try to reach out and theyve asked all their facilities, identify those people who have been waiting to see doctors longer than they should. And then theyre going to find work very hard. Apparently call them repeatedly to see if they can reach these veterans and then get them in either to see a doctor at the hospital if they have the ability to do that. Or get them out to a nonva doctor and get them some care. And so there is still some division among veterans groups, some who are calling for shinseki to resign and others who are saying basically what john boehner said, that does this get to the bottom of it. Right. I think though that in general all the groups are extremely concernedment those who have called for him to step down. But theres others who while they are reerving judgement are increasingly worried about whether shinseki can solve this problem. The other question i had, lets just kind of walk our audience through what the Inspector General found. It basically said there were almost two sets of lists. There were some people that were never put on the waiting lists just to make the numbers look better . Right. You have probably at the phoenix facility you have Something Like 3,000 veterans who were waiting for appointments but the problem was it wasnt just that. It was that within that group there were veterans who werent even on any kind of a list, or were on lists that were unofficial. And they were being held off of being calculated in the official system, the investigators believe, because it made the results of their performance at the hospital look better. The later they could hold off on pouting these people on the observation list, perhaps the shorter the wait time reflected in the official record would be. So the report says that, it calls these scheduling scheme, really, four different ways that they were cook the books. Give us some examples. Probably the most common one is simply the way the system is supposed to work is if a veteran needed to see a doctor, they asked a veteran when dow want to see him. And thats supposed to be when they schedule the appointment. They would in some cases kind of guide the veteran through. They would ask them, tell them well we cant see you until a particular date. And then try to see if the veterans would agree to and a half. And that would be the socalled starting date. That was one away of gaming the system. There were other much more dramatic ways. In some cases they would actually tell staffers to go in and fix some of the appointment, change them so that they would show a shorter wait time. And thereby improve some of the overall Performance Records that were being sent to headquarters in terms of how long it was taking to see these people. So this report still doesnt get to that conclusion on whether or not some of the people that were on these wait lists or havent ever got to seat care that they deserve actually died as a result. Well, they know, i think, that they have indicated that some people did die while they were waiting. The question is whether they whether their lives were lost as a result of not, of the treatment they didnt get. And whether others who didnt get the appointments or the diagnosis in time had their health affected. It seem these are finding things in this area to reserve judgement until they have a better look at some death certificates, medical records and a more definitive idea of these peoples health. And in case of the death, what lead to their death. So what happens next. If this investigation expands to 40 plus more va facilities . Right, well, they want to get through to the issue of the health and whether the health was damaged by these delays. And they also have, as you have noted, increasing number of facilities are looking at. They started out with ten when the secretary first testified about this two weeks ago, expanded to 26 last week. And they talked about 42 in the report that was released this week. Its not clear how far its going to go. But one major conclusion that came out of the interim report was that the investigators are certain this is a systemic problem. To circle back to something we spoke burlier it seems that the pressure is mounting on eric shin secretary toy step down but the Public Affairs officer puts out emails saying can fix those changes. What about those veteran organization those you might have talked to or other folks you might have talked to. Do they feel like his continued stay here actually compromises the ability to turn things around . The primary theme that im hearing from these folks is they just arent sure yet. And theyre very concerned. They want to get to their people. They want to talk about what the va is trying to do now. The briefing today was an example of that. They are going to take what they were told in terms of the steps that were taken to get these veterans care as quickly as possible. And take to to their members, leadership and see how this is unfolding and whether they should take more dramatic steps with. Whether they should in fact call for them to step down. The jury is still out for many of these major veterans groups. All right, greg, of u. S. A. Today, thanks so much. My pleasure. From the white house rose guard tone the Graduation Day podium at west point president obama has begun mounting a vigorous defense of his Foreign Policy record. Now the nations top diplomat has also joined the fray, i sat down with secretary of state john kerry to talk about the obama administrations foot print around the world and whether it can handle the affairs of its hit tale military veterans once they get home. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us. Happy to be with you. I want to start a little bit of the news of the day. There has been mounting calls for the secretary of Veterans Affairs to step aside including from democrats. As a veteran yourself, is this something you think you should be considering at this point . I think its fair to say that every veteran is deeply concerned about what has taken place. I have personally feel a huge reminder from the struggles we had when veterans came back from vietnam and there were delays and problems. President said he is dopely troubled. Are you . Of course. I think anybody is concerned about the fact that those who have served, the reason i raise the vietnam thing is simply because everybody said never again. There was this huge, you know, effort to make sure veterans came back and were appropriately thanked, appropriately welcomed home. And obviously appropriately cared for. And i think everybody is troubled by the fact that something has gone awry. I would like to trach you on a tour around the world with you, if you would. Beginning on the couldnt negotiate of africa. The president of nigeria Goodluck Jonathan said today he is going to undertake a full scale assault on boko haram in the effort to free the nigerian girls. As you watch Something Like this unfold, something so hard to penetrate, do you worry that the Central African republic and sudan or in nigeria that there are limits to what u. S. Intervention can do. Well, Goodluck Jonathan is talking about engaging in selfhelp, doing what he thinks he needs to do, to protect the rights of his people and the sovereignty of his country. Is there a role for news there. Well, there is a role. And were playing a role. We have people on the ground that we have put on the ground in order to assist them. Several different disciplines, people in the intelligence community, people in the justice community, people in the military community, all of whom have different expertise to bring to the table. I think an allout assault, im not sure what that means. I would want to know what that means. It could be very risky to the young women. And there may be a time and place for that. But i think we have to look at this very, very closely. I actually hope to be talking to president Goodluck Jonathan somewhere in the course of today or tomorrow. And we are, as i say, prepared to be as helpful as we possibly request. But this is is he is requesting for your help. But this is a challenge for everyone everywhere. He has not to my knowledge said we want your help in a military sense with respect to these young women but we will obviously have discussions with him about what the right way to proceed is. Forestory unfolding as we speak is edward snowden. You said yesterday in an interview that he should man up and come back and face the consequences. He has suggested he would like to come home as well are. There conversations on any level taking place about that happening . Im not going to get into the Legal Process on this. Thats up to the department of justice, up to the white house specifically. He should prove his respect for that system. He should do what many people who have taken issue with their own government do, which is challenge it, speak out, engage in an act of civil disobedience. But obviously accept the consequences of that act of civil disobedience. Not find refuge in authoritarian russia or seek asylum in cuba or somewhere else. Thats running away from the consequences. Mr. Secretary, the president said in an interview this morning with npr that there are a lot of baseball and sports metaphors about blocking and tackling Foreign Policy. Does the president get a bad rap in your opinion for being break or not taking the long home runs instead of the base hits . I dont think the president frankly takes enough credit for the successes that are on the table right now. I mean if you look at what has happened in ukraine, the president lead an effort to try to keep europe unified with the United States, to put difficult sanctions on the table. Europe wasnt thrilled with that. But they came along. That was leadership. And the president succeeded in having an impact ultimately, together with the europeans on the choices that face president putin. In syria, the president obviously made his decision to strike syria. And appropriately sent that decision to congress. Congress didnt want to move. But we came up with another solution which was get all of those chemical weapons out rather than just have one or two days of strike. The president has now succeeded in getting 92 of those weapons out of syria. There is one last transfer that has to take place to get to 100 . I believe it will take place. In addition, the president has engaged with iran. Were on a course to absolute collision where they were building the Nuclear System and the world was standing opposed to that. But the president put in place a series of sanctions, a capacity to be able to bring iran to the table. We are now in the middle of negotiations. Every one will agree the sanctions regime has held together. The weapons the Nuclear Program has been frozen and rolled backwards. And we now have expanded the amount of time that iran might have for a breakout. Thats a success. So i think we are as engaged, more engaged than at any time in american history. And i think that case is there too shall fully proven and laid out. Yet thats not the generally held impression. No, its not. And the reason is there is a general, frankly, not fully informed, not factual, conventional sort of process that gets played out in the media. And of course there is an industry in washington today of oppositionism. Oppositionists, oppose anything. And the congress and its current pace of legislating tells the whole story. Do you want to talk about afghanistan. Bus the president of course put forward his plan this week to pretty dramatic drawdown of forces to under 10,000, half that, again, in the next year. And even though there has been some applaud for the idea that we are winding down in afghanistan, there has also been criticism that it is happening too quickly, that the timetable is too fast watch. Dow say to that . 13 years in a war is not quickly. In 2009 president obama put in place the first truly organized focused strategic approach to afghanistan. Afghanistan had been cannibalized before that, for both troops and talent and money that had gone to iraq. And when the president came in he found in 2009 that afghanistan was a drift and in danger. So the president increased the numbers of troops, the now wellknown surge and we had up to 160, 180,000 troops in afghanistan at one point. And always with a view to trying to train, equip, and prepare the afghans to take charge of their own country. The president set a timetable. He said in 2009 we will transfer security responsibility to the afghans by such and such a date. That was last year. And this year. Weve done it. They had a very successful election. And they provided the security and they did the planning, and they did the execution. That is exactly what the president is now trying to do with respect to the final steps. You wont be surprised to hear that dic cheney, the former Vice President called the timetable stupid and unwise, and that it would reinforce the nation that we are weak. Well, look, im not surprised to hear from dic cheney that something thats obviously number one negative, and number two wrong. Dic cheney was completedly wrong about iraq. And we are still struggling with theafter math of what dic cheney and his crew thought was the right policy to go in and start a war of choice for the wrong reasons. And they turned topsyturvy the entire region with respect to sunni and shia and the relationships there. So the fact is that they have been deeply, deeply wrong in the policy that they pursued, and any advice from him really has no meaning to me with respect to what were doing today. Let me ask you about syria. Next week were going to watch kbarbar alassad stand for a third term and you and others 7th term, and you are others said he should step down, clearly isnt going anywhere, and even though you got the chemical weapons out, do you wonder if this was a tradeoff that was worth it . No, i think thats not the tradeoff, gwen. Were not trading off chemical weapons for assad staying. Were getting the chemical weapons out, but the efforts to supported vetted, moderate opposition continued and in fact are being stepped up. I just dont see anyway possible for Bashar Alassad to ever govern whatever you want to call syria in the future, whatever constitutes syria, to goff attorney with any legitimacy whatever so ever. He does by getting reelected. No, this is a completely phoney, fraudulent effort by assad to claim legitimacy for an election that nobody in the International Community with significance is going to respect. The United Nations is to the going to respect it. The Global Community that is supporting the opposition is to the going support. So its it doesnt take you anywhere. Ukraine. Margaret warn certificate just coming back from Eastern Ukraine where she watched the elections unfold and unlike other places, there waepted egypt, for instance there was great turnout. But crimea is still gone. Russian troops may or may not be pulling back from the border. You have said this was a calculated, calibrated strategy, is it turning out the way you intended . Well, at the moment, the strategy is putting in place a new president , elected by the vast majority of the people of ukraine. It was a very large, significant turnout with a huge vote, that won on the first round with a supermajority for a newly elected president. I think thats very significant. The troops that were on the border are moving back towards moscow, not towards kiev. And the fact is that i think everybody acknowledges that the sanctions that the president put in place, have had a profound impact on rousha, and there were greater costs yet to come and might yet come if russia cant find a way to become a constructionive partner in trying to help strengthen ukraine going forward. So you know, there are still danger signs there that we hope will change. There is evidence of russia crossing over, Trained Personnel from chechnya, trained in russia to come across to stir things up, to engage in fiingt. We hope the russians would actually engage more proactively in efforts to now try to deescalate, take advantage of the election, build a road forward. Where ukraine becomes a bridge between the west and the east. From your conversations with your counterparts in ukraine and in russia, do you see any possibility of movement on that front . Well, were hopeful. I talked to the foreign minister of russia yesterday. They are hoping that there might be a way, they express they hope, let me say, that there might be a way to go forward. Obviously words are not what will mean anything here, its action i want to invite asking you about something that you expended a lot of your personal energy on that in the middle east peace negotiations. Which Benjamin Netanyahu has said are dead, the process is dead hamas is clearly involved in the unification plan and moving ahead that is so offended israel and everybody walked away from the table. Are you personally disappointed at all that this seems to be going nowhere fast . Well obviously im disappointed at the process that what is in place, that that didnt produce the next step but i dont leave that in the middle east, you know, either party can afford to simply maintain the status quo and believe that there is a road to greater stability and to peace without reengaging and would coming back at some point in time to the negotiating process president abbas has said that he is prepared to go back to the talks but he has certain conditions that have to be met Petroleum Net netanyahu are waiting to see what happens with the hamas reconciliation w the announcement of a new government, with the question of what that new government may or may not choose to do. That is an appropriate thing to be doing. We are all waiting. Are you the last living optimist on this. Im not an optimist, im a realist. And my reality check tells me that neither side is going to be able to live for the long haul with the status quo without syrias problems evolving. So eventually there will have to be some discussion about some management of that process whether its a full blown Peace Process or whether its individual steps, or not, i dont know, gwen. But i know this, that israels security which is paramount to the United States and for israelies will be better project protected by finding a road ahead. Palestinian rights and ability to have a state can only come through some kind of political process. And both of those aspirations are what govern life ultimately in that region. And the hopes of that edge are on. So my job was to push it forward mi job is to try to find the optimism and possibilities, not to give up. And i refuse give up. I think that you know we have to find the way ahead. This hasnt gone away. And 40, 50 years. And its not going to suddenly just sort of solve itself by itself. Thats our job is to try to push the process forward. Secretary of state john cery, thank you so much. Thank you. Woodruff next, part two of our look at rwanda, twenty years after the genocide that left almost one Million People dead. Since 1994, rwanda has made progress in reducing extreme poverty. Health care has gotten special attention, with the help of a boston based organization. Special corespondent fred de sam lazaro has the story, part of his agents for change series. Reporter bosco ntawugiruwe reporter bosco ntawugiruwe is a farmer who barely scraps by. He didnt finish high school, but he is also a foot soldier in a Public Health army thats delivering results as impressive as the view on his way to work in rwandas remote volcanic highlands have you been taking your meds . Reporter each day, he checks to make sure patients take their medicines for h. I. V. , for tuberculosis or to check on the recovery of a malnourished child. Shes looking good. Reporter average Life Expectancy has more than doubled in the past 20 years in rwanda. Its now 62. 99 of rwandans have access to safe drinking water. The transformation is striking for those with memories of the massacre of nearly one Million People 20 years ago. After the genocide, this small crowded country, one of the worlds poorest, was written off, including in one prominent medical journal, says Health Minister dr agnes banigwaho just after the genocide there was an article published in the lancet saying rwanda is a land of desolation, dont invest there. Reporter rwandas post genocide government had little credibility early on, drawn mostly from an army of exiled rebels. Its leader, paul kagame consolidated power to become president and has been called everything from a benevolent to a ruthless dictator for cracking down on freedom of expression. Hes been accused of interference and plunder in his mineral rich but troubled neighbor, the democratic republic of congo, where many of the genocide era regime fled after they were defeated. But theres no question rwanda has changed something thats attracted initially reticent aid groups. One of them is boston based partners in health. Doctor peter drobac heads its rwanda office. One of the things that i see rwanda having done very effectively is really take ownership for its own development activities. What happens all too often in, in poor countries is that the agenda is driven by the donors, or by the development agencies. Reporter despite meager resources, he says, rwanda has built a new health care system. Rwanda has a severe shortage of doctors. Theres just one for every 100,000 people. The comparable figure in the u. S. Is 273. So theres a concerted effort to train other providers nurses and especially community Health Workers, volunteers who go into their communities looking for the earliest signs of disease and illness. Bosco ntawugiruwe is one of 45,000 Health Workers elected by their communities. They receive six weeks of training in basic Preventive Health and periodic refresher courses. translated i always wanted to be a teacher so this is very fulfilling. I have skills now and i am giving back to the community. Reporter when oneyearold francine began showing signs of illness, her mother first sought out her Community Health worker for advice. translated it was not hard to find bosco. He advised me to grow a Kitchen Garden to grow more fruits and vegetables. Reporter he also took mother and child to the Regional Health center where francine was treated for malnutrition. One of many conditions that can be diagnosed and treated before they escalate, says Health Minister binagwaho. They can treat 80 of the burden of disease at community level, especially for woman and children under five, meaning cough and fever, they give antibiotic. Malaria, they do the diagnostic and they do the treatment reporter as a result, the number of children dying before age five has dropped to a quarter of what it was in the year 2000. The number mothers who die in childbirth is down 66 since 1990. In part because 99 of pregnant women receive at least one prenatal care visit. We should demystify care providing, the way we provide care. Reporter demystify care basically . Yeah. Yeah, we should employ the community to be in charge. Reporter patients who need more attention go to Regional Health clinics staffed by nurses and when needed, to hospital. The focus has been on the poorest and most isolated regions, unlike most countries whose best facilities are in cities. Rwandas most modern hospital was built butaro, in the mountainous north, mostly with funds from partners in health. Emmanuel kamanzi is a manager with the group while we were building, people couldnt believe this was their hospital. They were, like, this is a resort coming up for experts, for muzungus, for white people, for tourists. But we were like, this is your hospital; this is what you deserve. Reporter the government runs this hospital with some operating money and expertise provided from partners in health. The goal is to build local capacity in the Public Sector. A lesson the groups dr drobac says it learned in haiti, where it began working 27 years ago. After the earthquake, for example, when billions of dollars were pledged for reconstruction for haiti, almost none of that money went into the Public Sector. And it was because of impressions that the Public Sector is weak, is corrupt, is disorganized, is ineffective, but what happens is you really get a selffulfilling prophecy. Reporter rwandas Public Sector has won high marks for being largely free of corruption. Its perhaps the only nation, drobac says, where u. S. Government aid for h. I. V. Aids drugs goes directly to the government because it is trusted. Where rather than all of the aid going through non governmental subcontractors, nonprofits and forprofits that take 30, 40, 50 of the overhead and then implement programs, the moneys going directly to the government. Reporter the butaro hospital is also part of an effort to look beyond infectious diseases, which have long dominated Public Health efforts in poor countries to non communicable diseases. Hypertension, cardiac failure, also diabetes. Reporter and medical director doctor mpunda tharcisse says in its first year of operation, the hospital has treated more than 1,500 cancer patients. This is the cancer ward reporter so this is the only place in rwanda where people without means, poor people, can get treatment for cancer . Thats true reporter for the first time patients in a Public Hospital are able to receive chemotherapy. For now the expensive drugs are paid for by partners in health. It means a new lease on life for patients like fouryearold yvette, being treated for kidney cancer. And for bernadette, a 35year old mother of four, who underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer. translated it was very difficult then they first told me it was cancer, because in my mind, cancer meant death. But the doctors were by my side, they kept telling me things will be okay. I thought i was going to die after the operation. I had bad reactions to the medicine, i had pains in my chest. But now im living a new Life Reporter her a new life might be a metaphor for the new, post genocide rwanda. Resurgent after a neardeath experience with a long journey ahead. Ifill freds reporting is a partnership with the undertold stories project at Saint Marys University in minnesota. Woodruff now to combating obesity and promoting nutrition among american children. First Lady Michelle obama has made healthy eating, particularly in schools, her top public priority. But after hearing from some School Districts about the complications in implementing the new program, republicans are now pushing to roll back the regulations. In recent weeks, the issue of Public School lunch standards has turned into a political food fight in washington. First Lady Michelle obama has made fighting Childhood Obesity a priority and on tuesday, she criticized House Republicans who are trying to scale back nutrition guidelines she championed. This is unacceptable. Its unacceptable to me not just as first lady, but as a mother. Woodruff the new standards took effect under the 2010 healthy hungerfree kids act. They require schools to use more whole grains and fresh fruit in meals. And they set limits on the amount of fat, sugar and sodium in food items. The last thing that we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids health, especially when were finally starting to see some progress on this issue. Were starting to move the curve on this. Woodruff but republicans, siding with some School Nutrition professionals and food companies, argue too many students wont eat the new lunch offerings, and say schools are having a hard time paying for the standards. Theyve proposed a oneyear waiver. Alabama republican Robert Aderholt made the case at a markup today of the agriculture appropriations bill. Schools are finding the regulations to be too much and too quick. School districts need more time to implement the changes. Woodruff the waiver measure is expected to win approval in the house but is unlikely to pass in the democratic controlled senate. And with us now to discuss all this is, mark bishop of the Healthy Schools campaign, who is a supporter of the white houses efforts. And jon dickl, who serves on the board of the School Nutrition association and also is the director of School Nutrition for the knox county schools in knoxville, tennessee. He believes there needs to be more flexibility. We welcome you both to the program. John, let me start with you. I think we can stipulate both of you believe children should be eating nutritious food. So my question to you is what is the problem with the standards as they are laid down now . Currently its standards are suffering from inflexibility. And what its doing is its causing a lot of districts nationwide to struggle to meet their financial requirements and also to serve meals that the students are finding pal atable. Specifically finding issues with whole grains, with the sodium targets and potential rulings on smart snacks coming down. Lets talk specifics. Whats the problem with whl grain. The current requirements that we have right now is that 50 of all of our whole grains need to be enriched with 50 whole grain or greater this has been a good move and were applauding that move and were happy where we are right now. What were finding is students are finding some items acceptable. And other items are a little more challenging. So for example, in the southwest part of the country, they are struggling with whole grain flour tortillas. The students dont find them as acceptable in that part of the country because it is part of their culture. In the southeast we have the same problem with whole grain business quits and students finds them less acceptable here. The fda came out on a waiver for whole grain pasta that will allow for a two year exemption if districts qualify and meet the requirements of that waiver. We applaud that because it will allow for additional flexibility for districts because whole grain pasta has been a real challenge to be able to find a pasta that will hold up under cooking that has appropriate color and texture. Let me stop you there, mark bishop. When their argument is that you cant cook some whole gain pasta to be as tasty and appealing to kids as others, what about that argument . You know, first of all, i have no en envy for the job of Service Director t is tireless work, you have to make food on pennies. So its challenging, its hard work and i have the greatest respect for the work that they do. However, flexibility is something that we actually have an agreement on. Flexibility is important. We think that so far the u. Usda has shown tremendous flexibility. This is the agriculture department. Yes, the agricultural department. In addition to the whole gain grains, they, the ruling they just put forward, they also set, they changed how the pro proteins are going to be implemented there are a lot of things they are working with schools to make sure implementation works better. I do want to stick with the arguments from the school, the folks who run the school lunch program, School Breakfast program, like mr. Dicel who say that it is hard to get foods, that meet these standards and that children will eat. Yeah. Well, there are, you know, theres more to the School Food Program that than just the food being served. But after the food there are organizations that we look to that can provide professional development, best practise and help us identify better products whether its the food Management Service institute, school food focus. A lot of great resources to help schools. There is also the Food Industry that is reformulating product os. You mean in a healthier direction. In a healthier direction. Adding whole grains. The usda move is allowing the industry to adapt and create products that work better. Is that something thats going to make it possible to meet these standards . I think, i any right now we have moved so far so fast that really what we need to look at is manufacturing in many of the manufacturing segments need to get caught up. You have 55,000 members in our association that were trying to work with. But what were seeing is a lot of struggles. Even usda foods that are available to school district, usda has come out with some new items lower in sodium. Three years ago i got up and spoke at a legislative action and spoke about the usda foods and the sodium targets that are desired for 2022 which would limit grades k through 5 to 640 mill irgrams of sodium and i took every new item that they had mentioned and when i told them the new sodium lower sodium items were about a thousand milligrams of sodium, so the sodium targets are virtually unachievable. Let me come back on that. Sure. Food may not taste as good to these children without some salt. In some ways we have to engage students with where they are at. Do taste testing, bring them to help them understand what the menu changes are. We know in chicago, one of theirm reduction strategies is to implement a farm to School Program where they are bringing in more local and fresher food that in many ways will actually taste better even know it doesnt have that sodium kponness that i would find in a canned vegetable product. Is that something you can do all over the country, mr. Dicel . Thats something thats being done all over the country currently. We have had a farm to School Program for over three years and a lot of my counterparts nationwide are doing farm to school. We have some folks doing some really excellent creative ideas. A lot of folks are looking to solid alternatives. We do a lot of our recipes are done with a sea salt pot amuous chloride substitute to be able to find food and items. A lot of fresh herbs. Your point su need more flexibility that you would eventually go along with these standards, you want more time. Absolutely. Were already honoring the standards as theyre written but next school year youre talking all grains have to be 100 whole grain. All grains we offer have to be 50 or greater whole grains next year there is no flexibility next year. So i wont be able to offer nonwhole grain bread items next year. From 2017 they are much more restrictive and 2022 will much more restrictive. Why cant there be a little more flexibility. I think there is a lot of flexibility. The usda has shown a considerable effort to work with schools. The whole grains and the protein are perfect points to how this flexibility is happening. And again to address these challenges is not about gutting the standards. Its about figuring out what flexibility works and then engaging students and figuring out how to get done better. Could you address that quick. You keep hearing this about gutting the program this is not an attempt to gut the program. Our organization has been serving kids healthy meals for about 70 years this is about meeting the regulations where they currently are which is well beyond where they were several years ago this is just another attempt for us to be able to meet the needs of our members and to serve the students nationwide a healthy meal. And we do hear you both. Jonathan in knoxville, mark bishop, we thank you both. Thank you. Thank you ifill again, the major developments of the day. The white house said president obama will make no decision about Veterans Affairs secretary Eric Shinseki until a full investigation of delays in care at v. A. Hospitals. And prorussian rebels in Eastern Ukraine shot down a military helicopter, killing at least 12 people. Woodruff on the newshour online right now, in her new book the burglary, journalist Betty Medsger tells the story of an Unlikely Group in the 1970s who stole f. B. I. Files that provided evidence of widescale surveillance of u. S. Citizens. Jeffrey brown talked to the author. You can watch that conversation, on art beat. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. Ifill and thats the newshour for tonight. On friday, Jeffrey Brown sits down with opera legend jessye norman. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Well see you online and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks among others. For all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. Bnsf. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. 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