RETURN TO MAIN PAGE // Archive for the ‘HIV/AIDS’ Category
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HIV Travel Ban Set to be Lifted
The Obama administration is moving forward with a rule change that would end the current regulation preventing HIV-positive individuals from entering the U.S. The proposed change, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within HHS, appeared in today’s Federal Register. The posting is a request for public comment, due by August 17, 2009. CDC will then review the comments and make any appropriate modifications, issuing a final rule later in the year.
In the CDC/HHS post, the agency notes, “While HIV infection is a serious health condition, it does not represent a communicable disease that is a significant threat for introduction, transmission, and spread to the U.S. population through casual contact.”
This issue was in the news most recently with the high profile denial of a visa to British activist Paul Thorn who was seeking to participate in the Pacific Health Summit in Seattle. Thorn was denied entrance to the U.S., despite efforts by Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Jim McDermott on his behalf.
The proposed CDC/HHS change would amend the definition of “communicable disease of public health significance” and would remove references to HIV from the scope of medical examinations that aliens must undergo before they obtain admission to the U.S.
ONE will be tracking this development closely, and will let you know what happens.
-Rena Pacheco-Theard
HIV/AIDS & Tuberculosis: The Deadly Duo
At a congressional briefing last Thursday, leading global health experts pushed for stronger U.S. leadership and more aggressive global policies to combat HIV/TB co-infection worldwide. The hearing coincided with the Center for Global Health Policy’s release of “Deadly Duo: The Synergy Between HIV/AIDS & Tuberculosis”, which echoed many of the main points of the briefing. The discussion, moderated by Christine Lubinski, director of the Center for Global Health Policy, included Dr. Diane Havlir, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Dr. Carol Hamilton, co-chair of the Center’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and Rosemary Mburu, advocacy and policy coordinator for Kenya’s AIDS NGO Consortium (KANCO).
Both the hearing and the report warned that the recent success of HIV treatment is at risk due to the spread of tuberculosis. In the past two decades, the number of new cases of TB in HIV-prevalent countries has tripled – TB is now the number one killer of those infected with HIV in the developing world. Within two weeks of contracting HIV, Dr. Havlir explained, the risk of also contracting TB doubles. These catastrophic consequences of co-infection require immediate action.
The panelists emphasized the need to improve and ramp-up antiretroviral treatment, diagnostic tests, and research and development. Dr. Havlir also urged an earlier start for treatment. This early start, Havlir explained, would have dual benefits – it would improve survival rates of HIV-positive patients as well as lower the risk of contracting TB. Dr. Hamilton explained that outdated drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines are becoming less and less effective at combating the spread of TB. Even more dangerous, TB strains are developing faster than the drugs to combat them, resulting in drug-resistant strands of TB.
Mburu provided a face to the disease, recounting personal stories from the ground. A lack of labs to diagnose drug-resistant TB, compounded by a lack of accessibility to treatment and a lengthy delay in test results is causing an increase in TB deaths. “People are living with HIV, but it is TB that is killing them,” Mburu explained.
Lubinski ended the briefing with an aggressive call to action. She urged attendees to, “re-invigorate the energy [and] the passion” from HIV/AIDS research and development to fight against the increasingly disastrous consequences of TB.
Check out a webcast of the briefing here.
-Pooja Gupta
Today is National HIV Testing Day
As you may know, today is National HIV Testing Day in the United States. To commemorate the day, and to encourage all Americans to get tested for HIV/AIDS, the Obama administration compiled this footage of then-Senator Obama being tested during a visit to Kenya back in 2006.
President Obama actually spoke with some New Hampshire ONE members about his visit to Kenya when he was running for president. Check out our account here .
To find a testing site near you visit http://www.hivtest.org.
-Chris Scott
Visiting the Mother-to-Mother Program
Our first on-the-ground post from our delegation traveling through Ethiopia and Ghana. Learn more about our trip here.
Yesterday we spent time at the Mother-to-Mother program at Adama Referral Hospital in Ethiopia. The hospital is a comprehensive HIV/AIDS service site, currently providing over 12,000 people with HIV care and more than 7,300 people with antiretroviral therapy.
The Mother-to-Mother program offers support groups for expectant mothers who are newly diagnosed with HIV. Mothers already living with HIV gather with expectant mothers recently diagnosed with HIV to mentor, educate and listen to each other.
Visiting with the mothers at the Mother-to-Mother program was a rare opportunity for an intimate discussion. We were able to speak on a personal level with mothers suffering from HIV, but these women didn’t speak of suffering. They spoke of surviving. They were gathered together to support one another through the experience of having a child while being HIV positive. I was moved by their stories and their perseverance. They were attending support groups twice a week, working to be strong mothers to their children and helping to spread the word about HIV prevention. As our discussion ended, one woman asked that we not forget them. My memory is strong. It was a true honor.
-Kathleen Biden
UPDATED: Here’s Maggie Williams on her visit to the Mother-to-Mother program
And here is Senator John Sununu on the Mother-to-Mother program
Drop in HIV Rate Among South African Teens
There is good news out of South Africa on HIV/AIDS. A report released yesterday showed that the HIV epidemic has leveled off at a prevalence of 10.9% for those aged two and over, infections among 20-year-olds are down from 2.2% in 2005 to 1.7% in 2008, and new infections among 18-year-olds have been halved since 2005.
Excerpts below, full piece here
The number of new HIV infections among the country’s teenagers has dropped significantly due to condom use, giving rare hope to the country with the world’s biggest HIV-positive population.
“There is clearly light at the end of the tunnel,” said Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the health minister. “There is real light.”
The report also said that HIV prevalence in children between two and 14 fell from 5.6% in 2002 to 2.5% last year, mainly thanks to the spread of drugs to prevent women passing on the virus to their children.
-Rena Pacheco-Theard
Today is HIV Vaccine Awareness Day!
Did you know - despite everything we’ve learned about HIV, the number of new infections each year is close to what it was in the mid-1990s: the total figure today is 2.7 million? Antiretroviral treatment (ART) helps keep HIV at low levels within the body, but ART can have side effects and must be taken every day for a lifetime. What’s more, access to life-saving treatment can be an issue for people living with HIV in developing countries. Thanks to programs like the Global Fund and PEPFAR, treatment is increasingly available, but it still only reaches a third of people who need it to survive.
We must continue to extend current prevention, care and treatment options to as many people as possible to mitigate AIDS here and now, but we must also invest in the future to bring the epidemic to an end. Continued investment in prevention research, to include new tools like vaccines, microbicides and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), will produce net savings in the long term – and save lives.
In fact, only vaccines have historically ended major viral epidemics. They are proven to be cost-effective and practical. There will be an AIDS vaccine in our lifetime, and we must continue the search.
So today, on HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, I urge you to become informed about AIDS vaccine research. We all have a role to play whether it is as advocates, volunteers, health professionals or researchers.
- Checkout NIAID’s information hub around HIV Vaccine Awareness Day
- The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has a new website, which features an interview with Dr Anthony S. Fauci (Director, NIAID)
- Global Health TV recently posted four interviews with leading AIDS advocates about their commitment to finding an AIDS vaccine
- IAVI President & CEO, Seth Berkley, recently gave a talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as part of their Global Health Policy Center’s speaker series
For those of you reading this blog who are already involved – today (and every day) is an opportunity to say thank you!
-Nicole Schiegg, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative–Washington, D.C.
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day is May 18th
Here’s a little known fact. Hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, developing countries are also hard at work on new tools to prevent HIV. Those who bear the biggest burden of the AIDS pandemic are doing their part to ensure that we have a vaccine for future generations. HIV Vaccine Awareness Day is an occasion to thank the thousands of volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists who are working together to find a safe and effective AIDS vaccine. It is also an opportunity to underscore that supporting science and technology are core elements of good development policy.
Dr. Seth Berkley, IAVI’s President and CEO, blogged yesterday “that the Obama administration should extend its fervor for science to its foreign aid policy, putting science and technology at the heart of U.S. assistance to the developing world.” The full post can be found here.
For those of you in the Washington, DC area today, May 11th please come listen to leading African scientists talk about the novel research they are doing to help advance AIDS vaccine science. The Global Health Council, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) are co hosting a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill at 2 PM in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 419. For more information, please contact: Sara Jane Muratori at smuratori@iavi.org.
If you are not in DC, please checkout Global Health TV. Leading AIDS advocates share their commitment to finding a vaccine: Dr David Kihumuro Apuuli, director-general of the Uganda AIDS Commission and Dr Seth Berkley, IAVI. Additional interviews will be posted leading up to HIV Vaccine Awareness Day.
-Nicole Schiegg, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative – Washington, DC
What We’re Reading 4/29/2009
The Washington Post writes how diseases, from influenza to tuberculosis to cholera and now swine flu, are spreading ever more quickly in an increasingly globalized world. But so, too, are the tools necessary to combat outbreaks of disease: expertise, medicine, money and information.
Washington Post—Diseases Travel Fast, but So Do Tools to Fight Them
Dr. Eric Goosby, a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, is President Obama’s choice to run the American effort to combat the disease globally, the White House announced this week. “The Pepfar program has already saved millions of lives in sub-Saharan Africa and other hard-hit areas around the world,” Dr. Goosby said in a statement. “But significant challenges relating to the prevention and treatment of H.I.V. remain.”
NY Times—Obama Picks Leader for Global AIDS Effort
Zimbabwe’s leaders this week failed for the fourth time in a fortnight to resolve a series of contentious issues threatening to paralyze the country’s shaky coalition government. The crisis talks remained deadlocked after long hours of intense discussions, signaling a serious political problem besetting the new government. A fierce power struggle is raging behind the scenes as President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai intensify their battle for political control.
Business Day (South Africa) - No Aid for Zimbabwe as Leaders Struggle to Overcome Political Impasse
Growing evidence indicates battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into eastern Africa, bringing sophisticated terrorist tactics that include suicide attacks. The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, is fueling concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan — a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan attacks against the West.
Associated Press - Terrorists filter into Africa
-Steve Wilson
Highlights from Caceres: Mid-term Review of the Global Fund
We noted last week that donors met in Spain from March 31 to April 1 to review the progress and funding needs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Here are some highlights from the communiqué.
Results show the Global Fund is having a significant impact: Michel Kazatchkine, the Global Fund’s Executive Director said that the Global Fund “is affecting the course of these three epidemics.” With commitments reaching $15 billion since inception in 2002, the Global Fund has provided support for more than 600 programs in 140 countries. The Minister of Health from Nigeria, the Honorable Babatunde Osotimehin, presented findings on Nigeria’s malaria prevention and control efforts, including contributions from the Global Fund of 4 million long-lasting insecticide treated nets and 18 million doses of ACTs. Burkina Faso’s Minister of Health, the Honorable Seydou Bouda, described many gains in malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS supported by the Global Fund, including 1.2 million children under five receiving ACTs, among others. (Stay tuned for more on Global Fund results coming later this week!)
Donors agreed that with the growth of Global Fund programs, long-term sustainability becomes even more important. Increased domestic financing for health from Global Fund recipients was one area emphasized as a way to improve sustainability. Nigeria and Burkina Faso both pledged full commitment to this. On the Global Fund side, participants asked that cost effectiveness and efficiency opportunities be pursued so that results can be maximized with available funding.
Demand for funding has increased so much that the Global Fund now estimates there is a $4 billion gap between resources currently available and those needed to meet the $13.5 billion demand from countries for 2008-2010. With what is currently available, Round 8 could be fully funded, but there is only $0.9 billion for Round 9 and subsequent rounds. The Global Fund Board will begin approving new grants in November of this year, so there is an urgent need for donors to address the funding gap. Spain has already shown its commitment, and was congratulated for increasing its contribution to $213 million. Other donors confirmed that that they expect to meet the commitments made in Berlin 2007. ONE is hoping they will in fact follow through on their commitments so the Global Fund can continue to support countries in their efforts to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria.
-Lisa Fleisher
PBS Launches New Global Health Site
Last night PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” began airing their new Global Health Unit, a three-part series funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The series “examines efforts to address HIV/AIDS, the increase of HIV/tuberculosis coinfections and the impact of HIV/AIDS on children.”
In conjunction with the Global Health Unit, PBS has also launched a fantastic new website with excellent resources, streaming video, photo galleries, and slide shows. Definitely worth checking out when you have a chance.
-Chris Scott
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TAGS: HIV/AIDS, Policy News