Goosby: PEPFAR Examines Next Steps as Needle Exchange Ban Officially Nixed

The needle exchange ban never applied to US-funded international AIDS programs, but the previous administration essentially acted as if it did. Now that the ban has officially hit the legislative dustbin, Eric Goosby, MD, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, has signaled an readiness to move forward in providing PEPFAR support for needle exchange programs in countries hard hit by the [...]

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Goosby to Discuss Five-Year Strategy at Town-Hall Forum

For those with burning questions about the new five-year US global AIDS strategy released today, Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, will participate in a town-hall style forum hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation this Friday at 9:30 eastern time.
Dr. Goosby will discuss the strategy and how it fits into the Administration’s broader [...]

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PEPFAR’s Five-Year Strategy Comes Up Short on Treatment Targets

The Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator released its five-year global AIDS strategy today, marking World AIDS Day by outlining its vision for the transition of PEPFAR from an emergency response to a more sustainable, country-driven program.
The biggest news in the 20-page report can be found on page 6, where OGAC outlines its prevention and [...]

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WH Officials Announce IAS Conference Set for D.C. in 2012, Leaves Other Key Global AIDS Policy Questions Unanswered

Today’s White House news conference on the Obama Administration’s global HIV/AIDS efforts did not, in fact, provide all that much news.
The main announcement came from Secretary Hillary Clinton, who said the International AIDS Society would host its 2012 conference in Washington, D.C., a step made possible by the Administration’s repeal of the HIV entry ban. [...]

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WHO Announces New HIV/AIDS Guidelines, As Top WH Officials Prepare to Detail Global HIV/AIDS Efforts

In a long anticipated move, the World Health Organization released new recommendations on the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS today. The WHO announced that it is now recommending antiretroviral therapy (ART) be initiated at a CD4 threshold of 350 cells/mm3 for “all HIV-positive patients, including pregnant women, regardless of symptoms.”
The WHO called for prolonged use [...]

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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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Uganda’s Minister of Health Worries About A Slowdown in US Commitment to Fighting AIDS

Uganda’s Minister of Health recently told leading U.S. decision makers that “concern is growing across the African continent about a slowdown in U.S. assistance” to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Dr. Stephen Mallinga says any weakening in U.S. support or funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund to [...]

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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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Goosby Letter to PEPFAR Country Ambassadors Focuses on Transition to Country Ownership, Technical Assistance

Many policymakers and program implementers agree that PEPFAR is at a key turning point; the biggest challenge going forward is to transform this successful global AIDS initiative from an emergency response in the face of a worldwide epidemic into a sustainable chronic disease program.
The Obama Administration’s plans for that transformation have been the subject of [...]

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