Monthly Archives: August 2010

Secretary Clinton: Countries need to take the lead in their own health care

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to students of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies on Monday regarding the Global Health Initiative. Her speech focused on “how the Obama Administration is building upon our country’s long standing commitment to global health,” she said, with an emphasis on integrating and improving existing health programs, but in a new way. One that pursues a sustainable delivery system in which countries develop their own capacity to support the health of their own people.

A Scientific Update:

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Here are some quick summaries of technological newsmakers from the past week: New microscope for TB detection – portable and a fraction of the cost: Developing countries that lack the expensive lab equipment needed to detect tuberculosis might soon have a portable, low cost alternative. A study in PLoS One magazine reports, “A new $240 microscope […]

What We're Reading

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This week from Science Speaks: The One Blog posted Friday on a woman in Zimbabwe who, while caring for family members with AIDS, found that soy milk can provide much needed nutrients to AIDS patients in a form they can easily digest.  Though her family has since passed away, she now supplies soy milk to […]

This one is for the children

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Three U.S. Senators introduced new legislation last week in an effort to bolster treatment innovation by pharmaceutical companies for rare and neglected pediatric diseases. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Al Franken (D-MN) proposed The Creating Hope Act of 2010 (S. 3697) in a bipartisan effort that builds on the FDA Amendments Act […]

What We're Reading

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This week’s reading list is below. If you have anything to add for next week, please let us know! The Globe and Mail has an opinion piece by Alan Bernstein and Peter Piot, two leaders in the world of HIV.  They use the opportunity to argue for smarter HIV research that takes less time and […]

Goosby Gives Straight Talk on PEPFAR

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“The President has every intention of keeping up with the $63 billion over six years,” that was promised for the Global Health Initiative (GHI) and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), said Ambassador Eric Goosby, MD – the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, on Tuesday. Goosby sat down with Global Health Council President and […]

New PEPFAR Guidance on HIV Prevention Intervention for Injection Drug Users

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The regional HIV/AIDS epidemics in Russia, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia are concentrated in part among injection drug users (IDU) and their partners. This population is highly stigmatized, making it difficult to successfully launch appropriate prevention campaigns. In an effort to recognize that the use of syringe exchange programs and medication-assisted therapy can help reduce […]

Working toward IAS 2012

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Key experts from the administration and civil society Thursday discussed results from the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, and provided a look ahead to the 2012 meeting in Washington, D.C. The forum was co-hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Center for International and Strategic Studies, and aimed to examine U.S. and […]

A Profile: The Medicines Patent Pool Initiative

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During IAS 2010 in Vienna, UNITAID’s Ellen ‘t Hoen gave a plenary presentation on the organization’s new Medicines Patent Pool Initiative, a project that began to take shape in 2008. Hoen leads the program, which aims to lower the cost of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis drugs by working with pharmaceutical companies to allow generic production […]

100 Legislators Call on Obama to Increase Global Fund Contribution

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U.S. politicians continue to speak out boldly in favor of increased global AIDS and health funding. Last week, 100 House members joined Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) in sending a letter to President Obama encouraging him to make a three-year commitment of at least $6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This […]