Morning Breakouts

Progress In AIDS Fight In Peril As Governments Renege On Funding Pledges

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

In this Toronto Star opinion piece, Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and Nicci Stein, executive director of the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, discuss how progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the last 30 years “is in peril, due to governments reneging on repeated promises to fund the fight against the pandemic.”

“[S]topping the AIDS pandemic requires sustained engagement from both donor and developing countries, political commitments that are backed by dollars. … Yet many donor countries have chosen precisely this moment to abandon their promises,” they write. They discuss the cancellation of Round 11 grants by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and ask the Canadian government to deliver on its HIV/AIDS funding pledges. Elliott and Stein conclude, “We can turn the tide on the spread of HIV — victory has never been closer. But we need to make sure that those with the power and the money use it toward achieving the goal of an end to AIDS” (12/7).

MCC Invests $122M In Lesotho Health System To Address Key Challenges, Including HIV, TB

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

“The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), through its partnership with the Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho, is helping Lesotho address key challenges in its health sector through a $122 million investment in health infrastructure and health systems,” IIP Digital reports. “More than 720,000 Basotho are expected to benefit from the MCC health project over the next 20 years,” the news service writes.

Forbes Interviews Babatunde Osotimehin About His Work In HIV/AIDS, Maternal Health, Leadership

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and under-secretary-general of the U.N., answers questions about his work from Forbes contributor Rahim Kanani in this interview excerpt. Osotimehin “discussed current trends in population growth, innovative approaches to tackling HIV/AIDS, leadership lessons in public health, challenges to safeguarding maternal health while encouraging family planning, and much more,” according to Forbes (12/8).

Report Says African Mothers Confused Over Infant-Feeding Options To Prevent HIV Transmission

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

Some women in African nations are “dangerously confused about the best nutritional path to protect their children from contracting [HIV],” a new report, based on research by community health workers from Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, shows, PlusNews reports. Though the most recent WHO guidelines (.pdf) on infant-feeding options for HIV-positive mothers in Africa have been adopted in many countries, the recommendation that infants be exclusively breastfed for their first six months has not reached local health care workers or policymakers, according to the report, which was launched this week at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The report also “found that prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs were focused too narrowly on the provision of [antiretrovirals (ARVs)] to HIV-positive pregnant women, rather than more comprehensive approaches that involved family planning, maternal health care and exclusive breastfeeding,” according to the news service (12/9).

Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through PEPFAR Programs

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

New Pediatric Formula For Chagas Disease Treatment Developed In Brazil

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

“A new pediatric formulation developed in Brazil holds out hope for a cure for over 90 percent of newborn babies infected with Chagas disease, a parasitic infection endemic in 21 Latin American countries, where it kills more people every year than malaria,” Inter Press Service reports. “The new pediatric dosage form of benznidazole, which has just been approved for registration by Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), was developed by the Pernambuco State Pharmaceutical Laboratory (LAFEPE) with the support of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi),” according to IPS.

CSIS Seminar Examines Global Health Outreach Of BRICS

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

Inter Press Service Features Interview With Incoming FAO Director General

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

Inter Press Service features excerpts from an interview with Jose Graziano da Silva, former Brazilian minister of food security, “who takes over as the new director general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Jan. 1.” Graziano da Silva “believes it is possible to eradicate hunger in the world” and “says that what is needed is an increase in political commitment, the mobilization of even modest resources, and the adoption of absolute rather than relative targets,” according to IPS (Frayssinet, 12/8).

Global Fund Official Delivers Speech At ICASA Closing Plenary Session

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

The 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) ended on Thursday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where “the final plenary session … left the audience with a notion of hope and urgency that despite the Global Fund’s cancellation of Round 11 disbursements, the organization will continue to campaign, raise funds and place pressure on governments in both the donor and recipient arenas,” an ICASA news article reports (12/8). Speaking at the session, “Global Fund Deputy Executive Director Debrework Zewdie felt compelled to reassure those benefiting from the fund,” saying, “‘Everyone who is on treatment funded by the Global Fund will stay on treatment,'” according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C (Frentzen/Waswa, 12/8).

FAO Food Price Index Remains Virtually Stable; Some Improvements Seen In Somalia

December 9, 2011 Morning Briefing

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its latest Food Price Index on Thursday, saying the Index “in November was virtually unchanged from its October level,” an FAO press release reports, adding, “At the new level of 215 points, the Index was 23 points, or 10 percent, below its peak in February 2011 but remained two points, or one percent, above its level in November 2010” (12/8). The report “also pointed out that, despite some improvements in Somalia thanks to substantial humanitarian assistance and favorable rains, food insecurity is expected to remain ‘critical’ in drought-affected areas until the harvest of short-season crops in early 2012,” the U.N. News Centre writes, adding, “In the Horn of Africa as a whole, food insecurity remained critical for some 18 million people” (12/8).