Sydney Skov, originally from Portland, Oregon, is a recent graduate of New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and holds a self-designed degree in French and African Relations and Communications. She currently works as an intern on the Internet Team at ONE and hopes to dedicate herself and her future career in human rights law to the mission of fighting global poverty. She is looking forward to future travels through Francophone Africa and learning more about West African dance but first, she's excited for a wonderful fall and winter exploring Washington DC.
At ONE, we are dedicated to repairing our world through the fight against global poverty. Hanukkah starts tomorrow night, and this year, it’s theme of dedication takes on new meaning as faith and advocacy converge and we ask you to make dedication the fight against global poverty part of your Hanukkah celebration.
ONE Sabbath presents Light ONE Candle, 8 Days of Dedication to Ending Global Poverty. Each night, you can read traditional Jewish texts about the Hanukkah light and miracles as well as read quotes from Rabbis and modern commentators. Learn about the ancient holiday of Hanukkah while discovering more about issues that affect the world’s most vulnerable including preventable disease, global development, water and sanitation, agriculture, and child and maternal health. Redefine dedication this year by adding your voice to the fight against extreme poverty and by discovering how ONE Sabbath and faith communities are hoping to create miracles of their own. Happy Hanukkah!
Today on Capitol Hill, the Global Health Council held a special panel to discuss the work being done in the global fight against tuberculosis. Production of a new vaccine is underway and three distinguished speakers, Dr. Videlis Nduba, Dr. Harriet Mayanja-Kizza, and Dr. Sizulu Moyo outlined the considerable impacts of the disease and what organizations in Africa are doing to produce a safe and effective vaccine.
With the rise of HIV infection, instances of tuberculosis have also increased as those with weakened immune systems cannot fight off the disease. Dr. Sizulu of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative pointed out that in 2007, 73% of new Tuberculosis infections were in those who already had HIV. She also reminded the audience that this is no longer a disease only affecting the developing world as the bacteria can easily be carried, spread through the air, and contracted without the carriers expressing symptoms.
A new tuberculosis vaccine is vital. Diagnostics for the illness are over 100 years old and the current vaccine for TB is 90 years old and protects only some children and no adolescents or adults. However, investigations for a new vaccine are making progress. Dr. Nduba of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is hopeful that a vaccine may be available as early as 2016. KEMRI along with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also use mobile facilities, mobile ex-ray trucks, and laptops to screen thousands of adolescents and infants in Kenya for TB. Dr. Mayanja-Kizza, Professor of Medicine at Makerere Uninversity in Uganda, spoke of the University’s partnership with AERAS Global TB Vaccination Foundation. Along with building clinics, the organizations train field workers, nurses, and community leaders to ride motorcycles into communities to screen infants for the disease and sensitize communities to information on TB.
The South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) established in 2001, is at the forefront of vaccine research in developing a safer, more effective TB vaccine. Dr. Sizulu mentioned that such a discovery between 2014 and 2018 could reduce TB in Africa and Asia up to 40% by 2050. There is still much work to be done but the fight against tuberculosis is gaining ground in Africa.
We’ve been talking about it for months and now it’s almost here. The climate change conference in Copenhagen starting December 7 has everyone’s attention, even YouTube’s. Instead of just presenting a place to watch the proceedings, the video site is going interactive.
Go to YouTube to submit and vote on questions that will be answered by world leaders during a televised town hall on CNN. With Google Moderator on YouTube for the first time, you can view, add, and vote on video or text questions in one spot.
They’ve got a section on “Developing world issues” that ONE members should be all over. Visit www.youtube.com/cop15 now to get started.
Voting and submissions are accepted until December 14. Track the conversation and get started by visiting www.youtube.com/cop15. As the conference in Copenhagen draws nearer, stay tuned for updates here and on the YouTube blog which will be posting popular and interesting questions from concerned citizens of the world.
Today, the Global Health Council hosted a panel discussion on gender, HIV, and why women matter in regard to the disease. In many areas of the world, women and girls are disproportionately affected by the pandemic as they face barriers to prevention, treatment, and care. Three distinguished activists in the fight against HIV/AIDS presented reasons for why such gender inequality exists, and how changes can be made to more effectively treat infected women, mothers, and children.
First to speak was Katherine Fritz of the International Center for Research on Women. Her statements were hopeful, alluding to the encouraging fact that the AIDS death rate has decreased by 17% since 2001. “The tide has turned and we are swimming with the current,” she said in reference to incorporating women’s issues into the greater conversation on AIDS treatment and prevention. While progress has been made, she reminded the audience that many factors, including biological susceptibility, social vulnerability, economic dependency, and a lack of female controlled prevention continue to put women at a disproportionate risk for contracting the virus.
Dr. Lulu Oguda, Senior Medical Officer at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and Heather Boonstra from the Guttmacher Institute contributed to the discussion on HIV and gender by stressing the importance of integration in the medical field, saying that it is imperative that HIV positive, expectant mothers get the treatment they need to prevent transmission of the disease to their children. Unfortunately, many clinics in rural Africa are specialized to deal with only certain aspects of HIV prevention and care. With some clinics providing ART treatments for women and others providing natal and post-natal medication to prevent mother to child infection, it is nearly impossible for an HIV positive, pregnant woman to move from clinic to clinic simply to get the range of treatments she needs, for herself and for her baby.
While providing care for HIV positive women and preventing mother to child transmission continues to present many challenges, it is clear that much that can be done in the future. Treating AIDS as a chronic illness much like diabetes, instead of an emergency issue, will allow patients to take responsibility for their own care. Including comprehensive treatments and integrated services into existing health structures will also make it easier for women to help prevent the transmission of HIV and help the world make strides in eradicating the disease.
In honor of World AIDS day, our friends at Africare have uploaded another inspiring video in their Pass it On! series. This short film shot in Dodoma, Tanzania shows how young artists represent AIDS and express how the virus has impacted their lives in drawings and paintings. Watch the video here and discover how some are healing through art.
Each day, more children are orphaned and left to assume the roles of adulthood as parents are killed by AIDS; currently over two million children in Sub-Sahara Africa are alone in the world. With a growing number of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC), the disease has become more than just a heath crisis. However, there is hope as work is being done, through Africare and other organizations, to increase community-based outreach to empower youth impacted by AIDS. Learn more about COPE, The Community-based Orphan Care Protection and Empowerment Project, and more about what is being done to help those who have been affected by HIV/AIDS on Africare’s website.
How will you help today? Just pass the knowledge on.
An interesting blog post from Global Health Magazine published by the Global Health Council discusses a disease often overlooked in the developing world: cervical cancer. The disease kills one woman every two minutes. While it affects women worldwide, the mortality rate in Africa is particularly high at 80% due to multiple factors including low screening rates, lack of awareness, and the twin issue of HIV infection.
Especially with the availability of the HPV vaccine, there is incredible potential for improving prevention. Global Health Council members PATH and GSK have partnered to create a pilot project in Uganda, distributing the vaccine to rural populations. A high rate of acceptability of the vaccine in rural areas is a promising start to better prevention against cervical cancer.
Read the whole post and check out the Global Health Magazine blog here.
Africare, a partner organization devoted to improving lives and building futures, also tells the stories of individuals making a difference in Africa. Enter “Pass It On”. Through a new series of 16 videos, one featured each month, Africare hopes to connect the development work Africans are doing in different countries. Certain challenges, including access to clean water and the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS are being met through community efforts to battle poverty and disease.
This month, meet Alassane and see the wonderful work he is doing in Mali. You can find more info and the inspiring clips here.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
