Hill Hearing on AIDS Funding

Yesterday, within the robust walls of the US Capitol, four important players in the game of private-sector organizations met to discuss the importance of public-private partnerships, as well as US federal funding, to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. Olutosin Akinyode and I attended the forum.

Lisa Bohmer (Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation), Maurice Middleberg (Global Health Council), Jeff Richardson (Abbott Fund) and Jane Kambalame (Embassy of the Republic of Malawi) held a hearing illustrating the necessity of PEPFAR as vital to the effectiveness of each organization.

Many of these groups are funded and supported by PEPFAR and are examples of what the bill has done and can do in the future – increased support will allow them to reach more men, women and children with HIV/AIDS. The reauthorize PEPFAR bill will double the number of people on retroviral treatment to 3 million, including over 450,000 children.

All the information you need to make your call is here. (more…)

Bono on Idol

Idol Gives Back just featured Bono during his trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In the piece Bono was next to a woman named Elisa. A photo is below.

[Elisa was banished by her family when they discovered she was HIV-positive. The rejection led Elisa to try to take her own life several years ago, but thankfully she then got help from a wonderful local health care facility called PASADA and today she is on AIDS medication and doing very well. She has become a volunteer in her community, working with TB patients, and is engaged to be married. PASADA’s work is funded in part by America, via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.]

-Virginia Simmons

Next Bono Clip

The next clip of Bono’s trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, aired. In it, Bono meets with Deloy, a 14-year-old boy who lost both of his parents to HIV/AIDS. Deloy shared his “memory box” with Bono, a small cardboard box decorated in wrapping paper in which he keeps mementos from his mother and father.

Deloy receives help from a wonderful health care facility in Dar es Salaam called PASADA, which is funded in part by America via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,

Deloy wants to be a judge when he grows up.

Below and above, two photos from the trip.

-Virginia Simmons

First Bono Clip of the Night

The first clip from Bono’s recent trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, just aired.

In the clip, Bono visits Eusebia, a former nurse and grandmother, and Sophia, a 14-year-old who was born with HIV/AIDS and has no parents.

Eusebia now volunteers full-time providing home-based care to adults and orphans living with HIV/AIDS. Eusebia lost three of her own children to AIDS and now looks after 7 family members, in addition to her work in the community. The clinic with which Eusebia works, PASADA, is funded in part by America, via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.

Below, a photo from the trip.

-Virginia Simmons

T-1 Day Until ONE on Idol

Just wanted to highlight a comment that ONE member Valentina Benson just left on my post about Idol featuring ONE tomorrow night.

Below her comments, also find a new photo of Bono from his recent trip Tanzania. Footage from the trip will air on Idol Gives Back on Wednesday night.

Valentina Benson Says:

WOW, this is going to be amazing! SOOO excited that Bono is able to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on this issue. Think of all the young people who will give to this cause throughout thier lifetimes because of this…I got to ask hime a personal question after his speech in Philly on 10/21/05 and I think of his response daily. I asked, “How can I teach my students (5th grade) about the issues in Africa,’ Bono replied, “Make it an adventure, NOT a burden.” Well AMERICAN IDOL GIVES BACK is definitely an adventure.

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[photo caption: Caption is: Bono, U2 lead singer and co-founder of The ONE Campaign and Product (RED), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with Eusebia Chilipwele, a former nurse and grandmother who now volunteers full-time providing home-based care to adults and orphans living with HIV/AIDS. Eusebia lost three of her own children to AIDS and now looks after 7 family members, in addition to her work in the community. The health care facility with which Eusebia works, PASADA, is funded in part by America, via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.]

Big News: ONE on Idol Wednesday

On Wednesday night, American Idol is going to feature ONE on their special “Idol Gives Back” episode.

Last year we gained 100,000 new members after Idol Gives Back aired, and this is going to be another incredibly important moment to place the fight against extreme poverty in the living rooms of more than 25 million Americans.

The episode will air at 7:30/6:30c and I’ll be watching and live blogging (in case you don’t have a TV, miss it or just like to read our blog;)

Stay tuned for more updates as the air date draws closer. Until then, an exclusive sneak peak for loyal ONE Blog fans of our co-founder Bono’s recent trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he met 14-year-old Deloy. Footage from the trip will air on Idol Gives Back on Wednesday.

[Photo caption: ONE co-founder Bono meets with Deloy, a 14-year-old boy living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania who lost both of his parents to HIV/AIDS. Deloy, shared with Bono his “memory box,” a small cardboard box decorated in wrapping paper in which he keeps mementos from his mother and father. Deloy receives help from a wonderful health care facility in Dar es Salaam called PASADA, which is funded in part by America via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.]

-Virginia Simmons

I do some work for the Global Fund

I’m guessing a very large majority of the 1.4 million people getting AIDS treatment, the 3.3 million treated for TB, the 46 million people who have received mosquito nets paid for by the Global Fund, have no idea something called the Global Fund exists.

I’ve been visiting Tanzania this week, and the Global Fund wasn’t very visible, except when President Bush mentioned it. Does that matter?

After all, the Global Fund is just a way to collect the best proposals from countries, choose the best ones based on good science and medicine, and then monitor success. They have no offices in any of the 136 countries where they fund programs.

So if your relatives are getting mosquito nets, it probably doesn’t matter to you. Like most people, John Moses Nyahenge, a computer science student I spoke with in Dar es Salaam, said AIDS and malaria were two of the biggest challenges in Tanzania, that the U.S. is helping, and that he hadn’t heard of the Global Fund.

“They know it’s the US that saved their lives,” said Pam White, who runs the U.S. Agency for International Development in Tanzania, said about Zanzibar island. That’s true. In addition to the presidential initiatives on AIDS and malaria, the US is the largest contributor to the Global Fund (though France and Sweden and dozens of other countries, plus companies, foundations and (RED) buyers do too).

I do some work for the Global Fund, and I’ve met a lot of the staff. They’re fairly normal people, putting in long hours in an office across the highway from an airport. The good they help people do is pretty remarkable – more than 2 million people are alive today who wouldn’t be.

You can read more at strong>www.investinginourfuture.org.

-Seth Amgott