Archive for May, 2008
Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Senator John Warner of Virginia have all signed-on to the Lugar-Sununu letter to the Senate leadership asking for immediate action to get PEPFAR reauthorization to the Senate floor. This letter is critical to our efforts to get PEPFAR going and put saving lives ahead of politics, and we’re excited to have their support. They join Senators Lugar, Sununu, Smith, Dole, Hagel, Corker and Collins.
Want to get involved? If you live in Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Utah, Mississippi, Wyoming, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Minnesota, Virginia or Missouri, we need you to write to your senator or senators and ask them to sign the Lugar-Sununu letter and get PEPFAR going: http://www.one.org/pepfarletter
If you’re not in one of those states, you can still ask your senators to co-sponsor PEPFAR here: http://www.one.org/pepfarsenate/
-Aaron Banks, ONE.org
Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) has signed-on to co-sponsor the reauthorization of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. That brings the number of co-sponsors on our Senatometer up to 9!
Co-sponsors:
Joe Biden (D-DE)
Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Don’t see your senators’ names? Sign our petition and ask them to be champions for fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB in the developing world: http://www.one.org/pepfarsenate
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has signed the Lugar-Sununu letter to the Senate Leadership in support of getting PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) reauthorization to the Senate floor for a vote ASAP. Collins joins, Senators Lugar, Sununu, Smith, Dole, Corker and Hagel in showing broad support for overcoming any obstacles to PEPFAR reauthorization this year, and keep America’s promise to lead the world in fighting global AIDS.
-Aaron Banks, ONE.org
Yesterday, ONE members in 16 states launched a campaign to get PEPFAR going in the Senate. PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) is America’s primary vehicle for working with countries in the developing world to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. In its first five years, PEPFAR has saved millions of lives, and now it’s up for reauthorization for five years and $50 billion dollars, a substantial increase in America’s commitment to battling these deadly, but treatable diseases. Unfortunately, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and six other senators are blocking all action on the bill. Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and John Sununu (R-NH) have written an urgent letter seen below at the bottom of this post) to the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, asking them to do whatever it takes to get PEPFAR reauthorization to the floor of the senate.
Coburn’s concerns should be debated out in the open, not hidden behind a procedural block. There is a now a serious chance that PEPFAR reauthorization won’t happen until next year. Millions of people across the developing world can’t wait that long. The challenge to us is to convince key senators to sign that letter and show that there is strong, bipartisan support for reauthorizing PEPFAR this year, and continuing America’s commitment to moral leadership in the fight against global AIDS.
Live in Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Utah, Mississippi, Wyoming, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Minnesota, Virginia or Missouri? We need you to write to your senator or senators and ask them to sign the Lugar-Sununu letter and get PEPFAR going: http://www.one.org/pepfarletter
If you’re not in one of those states, you can still ask your senators to co-sponsor PEPFAR here: http://www.one.org/pepfarsenate/
Make sure to follow our progress on the PEPFAR Co-Sponsor Senatometer
You also learn more about PEPFER here: http://www.one.org/pepfar
April 30, 2008
The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Minority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Mr. Majority Leader and Mr. Minority Leader:
We are writing to urge you to act expeditiously in scheduling floor time for the consideration of S. 2731, the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.
As you know, the programs the Act would reauthorize — the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and tuberculosis programs — have had an enormously positive effect in combating these diseases in Africa and throughout the developing world. PEPFAR is on schedule to achieve its topline goals of supporting treatment for 2 million AIDS patients with life-saving antiretroviral therapies, preventing the transmission of 7 million new cases of the disease, and supporting care for 10 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, including orphans and vulnerable children. Through its multilateral efforts, the U.S. will have also supported the distribution of 46 million mosquito bed nets to protect families from malaria.
Since its inception, PEPFAR has enjoyed broad bipartisan support and strong cooperation between the Executive and Legislative branches. PEPFAR also has served as a powerful demonstration of U.S. leadership and compassion throughout the world. As the President witnessed during his recent trip to Africa, U.S. investments in PEPFAR are paying major dividends both by creating a more positive global perception of the United States and by bringing stability and hope to strategic regions across the globe.
By passing this legislation in the next few weeks, we will enable the President to take this commitment to the G-8 meeting in Japan in early July and to use it to leverage additional commitments from our international partners. Moreover, we need to act now in order to send a clear message to PEPFAR recipients that the United States is fully committed to continuing the success of this program and to expanding our efforts to fight the pandemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Thank you for your consideration, and we hope that you will act swiftly to bring this critically important piece of legislation to the floor.
Sincerely,
Senator Richard Lugar
Senator John Sununu
Senator Elizabeth Dole
Senator Gordon Smith
Senator Bob Corker
Senator Chuck Hagel
-Aaron Banks, ONE.org
Update: We’re now up to 14 signers to the letter.
Senator Richard Lugar
Senator John Sununu
Senator Elizabeth Dole
Senator Gordon Smith
Senator Bob Corker
Senator Chuck Hagel
Senator Thad Cochran
Senator Mel Martinez
Senator Orrin Hatch
Senator John Warner
Senator Susan Collins
Senator Olympia Snowe
Senator Arlen Specter
Senator Norm Coleman
New statistics from the GSM Association reveal that cell phone usage is taking off across Africa. The GSMA reported that African cell operators added 70-million users in the past year (a growth rate of 33%) and expanded cell phone coverage by an area the size of France. Around 66% of Africa’s population is now reached by a mobile phone signal, up from 62% in 2007. Some African countries, such as Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, already have coverage rates well above 90%.
Cell technology has enabled poor African countries to bypass the messy infrastructure and expensive start-up costs of setting up fixed-line systems. As a result, wireless technology is reaching isolated rural areas where fixed lines were never able to penetrate: while the number of African cell phone users reached 282 million in 2008, there are still only 35 million fixed lines on the continent.
For Africa, these new connections have the potential to reap widespread development benefits. Where roads are bad, fixed lines nonexistent and email rare, cell phones are forging communications links that are vital to economic and social progress. Everyone from farmers to health ministers to market vendors is coming up with innovative ways to harness cell technology. In Kenya, for example, the Kenyan Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE) linked up with Safaricom, the country’s largest cell phone company, to help farmers access market prices over their phones. For about 20 cents, farmers can use text messaging to get current prices for goods at markets throughout Kenya, allowing them to reduce transaction costs and bypass middlemen, who often charge below-market rates.
Donors are getting the hint that cell phones can help overcome deficits in Africa’s health infrastructure. PEPFAR, for example, is working with African health ministries and the private sector to set up the Phones for Health program, a $10 million initiative that will allow health workers to use cell phones from the field to input health information to a central database. The program is modeled after TRACnet (http://www.pepfar.gov/pepfar/press/84654.htm), an impressive web-based system in Rwanda that collects and disseminates antiretroviral treatment program reporting, drug shortages and CD-4 tests across the country.
In the long term, coverage and usage must expand significantly if African countries are to realize the full economic potential of cell technology. Evidence indicates that high levels of cell phone usage can fuel economic growth and even attract foreign investment. One widely-cited study found that a developing country with an average of 10 more cell phones per 100 people has 0.59% higher GDP growth than an otherwise identical country. Seizing upon this opportunity will require prioritization by both the international community and African governments, who must continue to combat regulatory bottlenecks that constrain the competitiveness of cell operators across the continent.
-Nora Coghlan, ONE.org
Many think that TB has been eliminated from the U.S., but this is far from true. The poster on the left was created by the Red Cross in 1919, promising that tuberculosis would be “The Next To Go.†But this dreaded disease has not yet gone.
One-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacteria that causes TB, and one in ten of those infected develop active TB disease.
What is the U.S. doing to stop TB? Not enough. U.S. and global efforts to combat TB are falling short.
The U.S. House of Representatives is now considering the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, which would greatly expand our efforts to combat TB, including the development of new, effective drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines.
How can you help? Tell your legislators to co-sponsor the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act (H.R. 1532). Call 1-800-828-0498.
Your immediate action can help curb the TB pandemic.
The current TB vaccine was introduced in the early 1900s, and over time, its effectiveness has greatly diminished. What is more, strains of TB have developed that are resistant to all of our major anti-TB drugs.
Take action now. Call 1-800-828-0498. Tell your Representative to co-sponsor the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act (H.R. 1531) to prevent the spread of drug resistant TB in the U.S. and to develop new medical tools to fight TB.
Please note that while ALL legislators need to hear from you, it is especially important to call if you are from key, target states(Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia). Click here to find your elected official.
Thank you for fighting TB with us.
Summary of the bill
-Christine Kim, Families USA
We normally use our collective voices to advocate to the world’s leaders on the fight against poverty and global disease. Today, I was doing some reading that made me think we might be able to use our collective computing power.
Unfortunately, ONE hasn’t figured out a way to fight extreme poverty using your computer’s idle processing time (think screen savers), but the folks at UC Berkeley have figured out a way to help fight some of the diseases that are hitting the developing world the hardest by doing just that.
There is a lot of research underway on diseases that impact the world’s poor. In some cases, that research requires a significant amount of computational resources. One project, for example, simulates the transmission of malaria. Another maps three dimensional proteins that could one day help find cures for HIV/AIDS and others.
Thanks to the internet, supercomputers aren’t the only way for that research to happen anymore. Something called distributed computing allows personal computers around the world to work together to essentially form one single supercomputer. Seems pretty similar to our grassroots advocacy model here at ONE.
This whole concept is part of the BOINC Project (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing Project). You might have already guessed that it’s run by the University of California at Berkley. Each of the projects you can volunteer your computer for is run by completely independent entities. According to BOINC, “Some are based at universities and research labs, others are run by companies and individuals.” You can read a New York Times Article on the project.
It’s pretty easy to get started. First, you have to pick a project (e.g. what disease you want to help cure). I can’t speak to which project is best or attest to the quality of the research being done, but the projects I list below have websites detailing their work. BOINC “believes their descriptions (institution and area of research) are accurate.”
Below are names of the projects related to developing world diseases and their stated goals from BOINC site:
1. Malariacontrol.net – “Simulation models of the transmission dynamics and health effects of malaria are an important tool for malaria control. They can be used to determine optimal strategies for delivering mosquito nets, chemotherapy, or new vaccines which are currently under development and testing. Such modeling is extremely computer intensive, requiring simulations of large human populations with a diverse set of parameters related to biological and social factors that influence the distribution of the disease.”
2. World Community Grid – “To further critical non-profit research on some of humanity’s most pressing problems by creating the world’s largest volunteer computing grid. Research includes HIV/AIDS, cancer, muscular dystrophy, dengue, fever and many more.”
3. Rosetta@home – “Determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases. By running Rosetta@home you will help us speed up and extend our research in ways we couldn’t possibly attempt without your help. You will also be helping our efforts at designing new proteins to fight diseases such as HIV, Malaria, Cancer, and Alzheimer’s.”
You can read more about the BOINC project on their site.
You have to download and install a program, then select the project you want to volunteer your computer for from a list, but it doesn’t take much time. I downloaded the program and signed up to work on MalariaControl.net in about five minutes today. I created “The ONE Campaign” team, so if you do sign up, feel free to join our team. I recommend you check out the preferences of the program so you can determine when it runs and how much space it takes up on your computer.
I am going to go get lunch now and let my computer do some of the disease-fighting.
-Josh Peck, ONE.org
