Also In Global Health News: Travel Donation Initiative, S. Korea Gives To Vaccine Research, Sri Lankan Refugee Crisis, AIDS Advocates Speak On U.S. Funding
President Clinton, U.N. Advisor Douste-Blazy Announce Voluntary Airline Ticket Donation
Former President Bill Clinton has joined efforts to raise money for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from travelers purchasing electronic airline tickets, the New York Times reports. The U.N. is behind the effort, which will enable travelers to voluntarily add a $2 donation when buying an airline ticket, the New York Times reports. Douste-Blazy, said "the idea is that the citizens of the world are connected by the Internet and credit cards and can show their solidarity" (Carvajal, New York Times, 5/21). Clinton said U.S. air passengers will be able to voluntarily participate in the program, adding, "There is no question that huge numbers of people will participate in this. They understand that it doesn't cost much and that 100% will go to save lives" (AFP/Google.com, 5/20).
U.N. Calls on Sri Lanka To Allow Aid Groups Access To Civilians in Civil War Aftermath
The U.N. on Wednesday called on Sri Lanka's government to allow aid workers access to the country's north and allow them to evacuate civilians who were in the area after the country declared victory against the Tamil Tigers rebel group, the Washington Post reports. The condition of 280,000 displaced Tamils is of "grave and growing" concern, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said (Wax, Washington Post, 5/21). However the U.N. said it had no official information on the numbers of sick or wounded people still in the conflict zone. Elisabeth Byrs, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said, "We need to have access, I repeat, total access, without the least let or hindrance, for the U.N., for NGOs and for the Red Cross" (Reuters/Mail & Guardian, 5/20).
South Korea Donates $300,000 For Cholera, Typhoid Vaccine Research
The South Korean government program Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has announced that it will donate $300,000 U.N. International Vaccine Institute to support typhoid and cholera vaccine research, Yonhap/Mcot.net reports. "There has been extensive research on vaccines to protect Africans against malaria and AIDS but little has been done on other febrile illnesses such as typhoid and cholera," Lim So-yeon of KOICA said (Yonhap/Mcot.net, 5/21).
AP/Washington Post Examines HIV/AIDS Advocates Reaction to President Obama's Global Health Plan
The AP/Washington Post examined the concerns of health advocates that the amount of money allocated for global HIV/AIDS projects in President Obama's global health initiative could risk "reversing the gains" made by former President George W. Bush's PEPFAR program and reduce the amount of money other countries will spend on HIV/AIDS in the future. "We are concerned that he is setting a bad example," Rolake Odetoyimbo, of the Pan African Treatment Movement in Nigeria, said (Odula, AP/Washington Post, 5/20).
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