Key Lawmakers Express Concern about US Global AIDS Funding

Five key House lawmakers—including the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus—have called on the Obama Administration to step up its commitment to combating global AIDS.
In a letter to the president, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and other House members expressed concerned that “continued rapid roll out of AIDS treatment is endangered in Africa” and said the [...]

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Budget Deal Reached on Global Health Programs and Needle Exchange Ban

Lawmakers have finalized the fiscal year 2010 budget for foreign assistance, setting funding for key programs to fight global HIV and TB and reaching a landmark deal to revise the needle-exchange ban.
The agreement—expected to pass the House before the end of this week and the Senate before the end of next week—includes some modest increases [...]

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New Goosby Interview Highlights Challenges, Next Steps in Global AIDS

President Obama’s US Global AIDS Coordinator, Eric Goobsy, MD, discusses health system strengthening, PEPFAR’s tight budget, the Administration’s Global Health Initiative, and other subjects in this interview posted on the Global Health Council’s blog. It’s definitely worth reading for the latest insights into the Administration’s plans for battling global AIDS.

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PEPFAR Has “Mandate Without Money,” Haitians Have ARVs without Water, Food, Shelter

A delegation of HIV-positive Haitains recently visited Washington to lobby for robust funding for PEPFAR. Read their compelling stories in this blog, which details how HIV-positive patients have access to HIV drugs but not necessarilly to a glass of water to wash the pills down or food to make the medicines tolerable and effective.

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Goosby Talks to VOA about Impact of Economic Downturn on Global AIDS Programs

ScienceSpeaks readers will not want to miss this Voice of America interview with Dr. Eric Goosby, the US global AIDS coordinator, who addresses, among other issues, the Administration’s commitment to PEPFAR amid the economic downturn. This Goosby interview comes as the International AIDS Society released this statement warning world leaders not to mistake progress in HIV treatment scale-up [...]

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Emanuel Offers Some Details of Administration’s Global Health Initiative

This post is by Center Director Christine Lubinski, who attended today’s meeting at the NIH of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health.
 The Obama Administration’s Global Health Initiative has been the subject of intense debate and scrutiny since the White House first unveiled the proposal, with few details, in May.
Today, at a meeting of leading [...]

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NIH Director Collins Has Music for Physician-Scientists’ Ears

At a town-hall style meeting with scientists, health advocates, and other “constituents” on Wednesday, Dr. Francis Collins, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, cast himself as a symphony conductor of sorts, hoping to “encourage the music to rise up in a way the whole world will hear.”
That was part of a broader [...]

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UN Envoy Sampaio Making the Case for TB in DC

This post is by Center Director Christine Lubinski: 
Dr. Jorge Sampaio, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Stop TB and former President of Portugal, is in Washington this week to meet with key US government officials about the urgent need for enhanced U.S. leadership to battle global tuberculosis.
Dr. Sampaio invited a small group of global health [...]

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The Lancet ID Calls for Protecting Global AIDS Programs

For anyone concerned about a pullback in funding for global AIDS programs, this commentary in The Lancet Infectious Diseases is a must read. It addresses the apparent wavering commitment of donor countries amid the economic downturn and touches on the unfolding debate about the merits of disease-specific initiatives, such as PEPFAR, versus efforts to efforts to [...]

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Treatment Action Campaign & ARASA Urge Clinton to Work For More HIV/AIDS Funding

The venerable South African AIDS group Treatment Action Campaign along with ARASA (AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa) are imploring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “do everything within your power” to protect women and children from the deadly epidemic.
In a letter released today, the groups recall President Obama’s pledge, during his campaign, to dramatically [...]

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