Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC)
25 January 2008
Politics and Policy
Bush in State of Union Address To Call for $30B Extension of PEPFAR
[Jan 25, 2008]
President Bush on Monday during his last State of the Union address is expected to reiterate his call for a $30 billion, five-year extension of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, USA Today reports (Wolf/Page, USA Today, 1/25). Bush in May 2007 called on Congress to double current funding levels for PEPFAR to $30 billion for five years after the program's original mandate expires in September. PEPFAR directs an authorized $15 billion over five years for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis primarily to 15 focus countries and provides funding to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Administration officials have said reauthorization of the program at $30 billion would increase the number of people receiving access to antiretroviral drugs through PEPFAR from 1.4 million to 2.5 million (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/31/07). In addition, a $30 billion reauthorization would provide prevention measures to about 12 million people, according to USA Today.
"Our compassion should be manifested in helping people who suffer from disease and hunger," Bush said on Thursday during an interview. He added, "We have a strategy that's working. It is to support a strategy that has made a difference in over a million people's lives in a relatively quick period of time."
Bush on Thursday also said that during Monday's State of the Union address, he plans to reveal a "new idea" to address hunger worldwide and announce plans to expand the President's Malaria Initiative. Bush next month plans to visit five African countries -- Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda and Tanzania -- during a six-day trip to review PEPFAR programs (USA Today, 1/25).
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Global Challenges
Gates Calls for Collaboration Between Businesses, Governments, Not-For-Profits To Help Curb Poverty, Improve Health Worldwide
[Jan 25, 2008]
Product RED -- which benefits the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria -- exemplifies a new kind of "creative capitalism" that could help eradicate poverty worldwide, Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. "We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well," Gates told an audience of corporate executives and politicians at the forum, adding, "I like to call this idea creative capitalism." Gates explained how businesses can expand the reach of market forces to provide the benefits of science and technology to people worldwide.
Gates at the forum said that the newly launched partnership between Dell, Microsoft and Product RED illustrates this new kind of capitalism, the Post-Intelligencer reports (Moore, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/24). Dell and Microsoft earlier this week announced that on Friday, they will begin selling two Product RED laptops and one desktop computer that run Microsoft Windows Vista. The companies will provide the Global Fund with $50 for each laptop sold and $80 for each desktop. The computers were designed in part by Irish musician and Product RED co-founder Bono.
Microsoft said that it expects "several hundred thousand" of the Dell computers to be sold in 2008. After the computers go on sale on Jan. 25 in the U.S., they will be available in 30 additional countries on Jan. 31 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/24).
According to Gates, RED-branded products have generated about $50 million for the Global Fund during the last year and a half. "As a result, nearly two million people in Africa are receiving lifesaving drugs today," Gates said (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/24). He added that the "world is getting better in many crucial ways. I am an optimist. But I am an impatient optimist. Things are not getting better fast enough, and they are not getting better for everyone" (Elliott, Guardian, 1/25).
Gates also on Friday announced that his foundation will award $306 million in grants to fund projects to improve soil quality, milk production, irrigation and seed development in a number of African and Asian countries, AFP/Economic Times reports (AFP/Economic Times, 1/25). "If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers -- most of whom are women," Gates said in a statement (Heim, Seattle Times, 1/25).
Related Report
Business coalitions have become highly effective in helping companies address the challenges of HIV/AIDS in the workplace, according to a report released on Thursday by WEF's Global Health Initiative, Xinhuanet reports. The report is the first to examine global business coalitions and their role in supporting the private sector to combat HIV/AIDS, Xinhuanet reports. More than 40% of business coalitions have launched during the past two years, and more than 60% have launched during the last five years, according to Xinhuanet. The WEF report includes reviews of different coalition's organizational, governance, membership and financial models. It also outlines best practices and highlights the challenges in supporting the private sector.
According to the report, four regional and 47 national business coalitions have been formed, and when combined, they are helping more than one million companies implement workplace HIV/AIDS programs. The report highlights five points for current and developing coalitions to effectively support businesses in fighting HIV/AIDS:
Establish a coalition based on national HIV prevalence and the effect on local businesses;
Involve all relevant stakeholders up front;
Provide continued private sector engagement and investment;
Tailor the business model and services to the changing environment; and
Seek to build skills and expertise within the company.
"By placing a spotlight on the increasingly important role that business coalitions are playing in the response to AIDS around the world, we hope that this global report will spur further engagement and action by businesses," Richard Samans, managing director at the forum, said, adding, "Business coalitions help individual companies respond to the pandemic more effectively through collaboration, in particular by providing them with tools and processes that have been developed and tested in practice by their peers" (Xinhuanet, 1/25).
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Ukrainian Health Ministry Approves Measures Aimed at Combating HIV/AIDS in 2008
[Jan 25, 2008]
The Ukrainian Ministry of Health recently approved a set of measures aimed at combating HIV/AIDS in 2008, the Ukrainian News reports. The measures were written as part of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's instructions to draft and approve a national HIV/AIDS program for 2009 to 2013 (Shpakovskyi, Ukrainian News, 1/23).
Yushchenko in December 2007 ordered ministers in the country's Cabinet to develop measures for conducting large-scale HIV prevention programs, as well as for providing access to HIV testing and treatment. Yushchenko also called on the Cabinet to increase the work of the National Council for Fighting Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, as well as to improve the system that registers and purchases medicines, such as antiretroviral drugs. In addition, the government was instructed to ensure the creation of an advertising campaign aimed at preventing HIV, as well as to take steps aimed at developing partnerships with international donor organizations (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/14/07).
Under the measures, the health ministry's department of public procurements and the Committee for Combating HIV/AIDS and Other Socially Dangerous Illnesses will draft proposals aimed at improving legal documents that regulate state funds for health supplies and health care workers. The committee along with other organizations also will draft proposals on the placement of public advertisements aimed at preventing HIV, as well as the funding for such ads.
The measures also call for several agencies to draft proposals aimed at increasing cooperation with international donor organizations in an effort to bolster donor funding for HIV/AIDS programs in Ukraine. In addition, the measures call for proposals on ways to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and education; increase the number of physicians at medical facilities; and review standard procedures for personnel at facilities that provide HIV/AIDS services, the News reports (Ukrainian News, 1/23).
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Drug Abuse, HIV/AIDS Increasing in Northeast India, U.N. Official Says
[Jan 25, 2008]
Recent surveys indicate that drug abuse and the spread of HIV/AIDS are increasing in India's northeast region, Gary Lewis, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime representative, said recently, UNI/WebIndia123.com reports. According to UNI/WebIndia123.com, the issues of drug use and HIV/AIDS in the northeast region have reached "terrifying dimensions," with the Indian states of Nagaland and Manipur showing strong links between injection drug use and HIV transmission.
The region's literacy rate, as well as its HIV/AIDS and drug use awareness levels, are more than 90%, UNI/WebIndia123.com reports. However, the northeast is experiencing a rising trend in HIV/AIDS cases, Lewis said, adding that although sexual transmission accounts for most cases of HIV, injection drug use also is a major route. The region also has a high unemployment rate of 59.3%, compared with 19.7% nationwide. In response to the identification of the northeast as a high risk area, UNODC has begun to focus more on the region and held a media sensitization workshop in Guwahati on Tuesday, UNI/WebIndia123.com reports (UNI/WebIndia123.com, 1/23).
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Lesotho Aims To Increase HIV/AIDS, Health Cooperation With China, Ambassador Says
[Jan 25, 2008]
Lesotho hopes to increase cooperation with China on HIV/AIDS treatment and other health issues, Lesotho's ambassador to Beijing, Anthony Thibeli, said on Wednesday, Xinhua/CRIEnglish.com reports. China's first medical team to Lesotho arrived in 1997, and the second team arrived in 1999. A team of 15 Chinese doctors currently is working in health care centers throughout Lesotho. "Fifteen is a small number," Thibeli said, adding that Lesotho needs "more Chinese doctors to help us." Lesotho's Minister of Health and Social Welfare last year visited China to discuss cooperation between the two countries on the use of Chinese herbal medicines as HIV/AIDS treatments, doctor training and telemedicine.
Lesotho has decreased its HIV/AIDS prevalence to an estimated 26% from 31%, largely because of efforts to increase voluntary HIV testing, as well as access to no-cost counseling and treatment for people living with the virus, according to Thibeli (Xinhua/CRIEnglish.com, 1/23).
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Across The Nation
New Campaign in North Carolina Aims To Boost HIV/AIDS Awareness Among Hispanics
[Jan 25, 2008]
A new initiative launched Wednesday to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among Hispanics in North Carolina, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Some state health officials were concerned that similar initiatives were not successful in the past, and the new effort "aims to address the gaps where public information campaigns about HIV and AIDS have fallen short," according to the News & Observer.
Hispanics represent 6% of the state's population and 8% of reported HIV cases in 2006, the News & Observer reports. Among Hispanics in North Carolina, there are 29.8 HIV cases for every 100,000 people, according to a state survey completed in July 2007. The state's average is 23.3 HIV cases per 100,000 people.
The new effort will be statewide and involve many agencies. It aims to boost HIV testing and will use bilingual educational campaigns, such as Spanish-language public service announcements on local Univision affiliates. In addition, the initiative will feature no-cost HIV testing at Hispanic community festivals.
According to Jesus Felizzola, who is coordinating the initiative, many Hispanics seek treatment for HIV only after the disease has progressed significantly, in part because they are unaware of available public medical services. Some might not seek treatment at all because of concerns about their immigration status, Felizzola said. He added, "We need the Latino community to understand the complexity and extent of this epidemic."
Yvonne Torres, HIV/STD program manager for Wake County Human Services, said, "The Latino community is not afraid to get tested. Where they have difficulty sometimes is in accessing services where someone understands their language" (Perez, Raleigh News & Observer, 1/24).
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Drug Access
HIV-Positive Prison Inmates in Russia Have Limited Access to Antiretroviral Treatment, Advocates Say
[Jan 25, 2008]
Prison inmates living with HIV/AIDS in Russia often lack access to proper antiretroviral treatment and medical care, some advocates said recently, the Moscow Times reports. Limited education among inmates about the disease, a shortage of doctors and bureaucratic barriers in obtaining medical release in the country are contributing to the problem, the Times reports. According to Alexander Kononets, head of the Federal Prison Service's health department, there are 42,000 inmates living with HIV/AIDS in Russian prisons and jails. Written consent is required for an HIV-positive inmate to receive treatment while incarcerated, according to the Times.
Federal Prison Service spokesperson Valery Zaitsev said inmates are screened for HIV/AIDS when they enter a detention facility and usually are screened again when they are transferred to prison. The tests usually are the first time the inmates are tested for the virus, Zaitsev said, adding that those who test HIV-positive subsequently "receive antiretroviral drugs and other appropriate treatment." However, Yelena Panasenko, who coordinates support groups for prisoners with HIV/AIDS in the country's Saratov region, said additional efforts are needed to help the inmates maintain treatment. "Prison doctors can offer treatment, but they will not persuade each inmate to undergo it," Panasenko said.
Tatyana Bakulina -- head of IMENA, a St. Petersburg-based nongovernmental organization that operates support programs for HIV-positive inmates -- added that the situation for inmates living with HIV/AIDS is exacerbated by high rates of tuberculosis and hepatitis C coinfection. Kononets said that there are 43,000 inmates with TB in Russia. "Sometimes a prisoner will come down with a severe fever for three days, and nobody will examine him or give him any medicine," Bakulina said.
Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Federal AIDS Center, said that the situation concerning medical treatment for inmates "was pretty poor last year, but it is already getting better." According to Pokrovsky, inmates now receive treatment under a federal program instead of through regional governments. Experts also said that difficulties released prisoners face reintegrating into society can complicate treatment. About 230,000 convicts are released annually -- 90% of whom suffer from various diseases -- Kononets told the Public Chamber in October 2007.
Court Case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request by Vasily Aleksanyan, a former executive of Russia's Yukos Oil Company, to be released from prison so he could be treated for HIV/AIDS, the Times reports. Aleksanyan, who is facing embezzlement and tax evasion charges, claims that he was intentionally denied treatment while in jail as punishment for not testifying against his bosses. Russian law says that any person diagnosed with serious illness should not be kept in pretrial detention. Prosecutors said that Aleksanyan refused treatment while in jail; however, his lawyer, Yelena Lvova, says Aleksanyan gave written consent for therapy in July 2007. Aleksanyan never received treatment and has not had a medical examination since Dec. 30, 2007, Lvova said. Aleksanyan was diagnosed with HIV a few months after his detention in April 2006 and "could die any day," another lawyer said (Osadchuk, Moscow Times, 1/24).
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