World Wide HIV/AIDS Looking For Solutions

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This final post in the series looks at global resources available to help overcome this challenge. The resources cited below were found at SciDev.Net of Science and Development Network, which "is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing reliable and authoritative information about science and technology for the developing world."

AIDS Education Global Information System

AEGiS, a non-profit organization that is a web-based reference for HIV/AIDS information. AEGiS is a virtual HIV/AIDS library containing reference materials and late-breaking information from HIV/AIDS-specific publications and news sources from around the world. [I must admit to having seen an article on SciDev which raised some ethical concerns, but I can't find it now]

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

IAVI’s mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. IAVI is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. Founded in 1996, IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conducts policy analyses, and serves as an advocate for the field with offices in Africa, India, and Europe.

The World Health Organization's approach to HIV/AIDs is to recommend that Universal voluntary testing, immediate treatment can reduce HIV cases

26 November 2008 | GENEVA -- Universal and annual voluntary testing followed by immediate antiretroviral therapy treatment (irrespective of clinical stage or CD4 count) can reduce new HIV cases by 95% within 10 years, according to new findings based on a mathematical model developed by a group of HIV specialists in WHO. The findings were published in The Lancet¹ today to stimulate discussion, debate and further research.

Finally, what of the future? One perspective comes from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Health equity, the financial crisis and Obama: Where next?

Amartya Sen put it succinctly when he commented on the report; ‘this WHO Commission has concentrated on the badly neglected causal linkages that have to be adequately understood and remedied’.

Global health debates too often focus on biomedical aspects of health and those working in this area rarely have space, place, opportunity or desire to link up with those working on the social science aspects.

During his campaign, for example, Obama pledged to increase spending on child and maternal health, and not at the expense of related important areas like HIV and AIDS. These policies are reinforced by a focus on health infrastructure (see the policy for Global Health Infrastructure by 2020), which will be vital to ensure equitable and context-specific service delivery. Another area in which the Obama administration is singing in tune with the Commission’s report is the focus on improving health-care systems to prevent the ‘brain drain’ of health human resources i.e. health professionals leaving the South for better pay in richer countries.

Finally, a story on a private/public partnership with community-based focus as a model for the future to address global health care. DHL partners with UNICEF to empower communities to improve child survival in Maharashtra via India Press Release by R & PM Edelman on 11/18/08. DHL's grant will fund a three-year UNICEF project to empower communities to improve child survival rates in 1,000 villages in Maharashtra.

"The partnership with DHL is a good example of the private sector taking the initiative to champion developmental concerns in rural India complementing the Government's commitment to 'inclusive growth'," said Mr.Vijay Satbir Singh, Secretary of Women & Child Development in Maharashtra, at the partnership ceremony launch.

"Community involvement is the key to sustainable development. If we are serious about improving child survival and reducing maternal mortality, we must give youth and their families the tools that will enable them to survive and lead healthy lives," said Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Representative in India.

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Escaping poverty traps

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In a previous post, I posted about the small interventions that have been recommended by the Millennium Project. We also need to be aware of the challenges in implementing even these small changes.

Andrew Shepherd on 7/2/08 wrote on the Prelude to the Chronic Poverty Report 2008: Escaping poverty traps via Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Blog.

The ODI Blog is featured below under Millennium Bloggers with Minds of Their Own. The post is almost two months old and was found while creating this blog. It is still worthwhile including in these early posts. I have added some updated links.

[It] is clear that many of today's poor will simply stay poor, even if economic growth is sustained. They are caught in one or more of five poverty traps:

1. insecurity of life or livelihood;
   
2. weak citizenship status;
   
3. living in a deprived area;
   
4. experiencing social discrimination;
   
5. or held back by poor quality work.

The second international Chronic Poverty Report, launched next week (event), shows that the poorest can be included in progress. ...(read more)

The Price Tag for the MDGs

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This weblog is a johnny-come-lately to writing about the Millennium Development Goals. When first putting it together I searched for others blogging on the MDGs. There are a number of "institutional" blogs, but I also found two impressive blogs that were personal endeavors. One which is African Development for the Completely Bloody Ignorant by Rav Casley Gera. Rav's latest post from 2/17/08 is on the Millennium Project: Why we must act - and how much it will cost. I am impressed with the organization of Rav's blog. He provides a good summary of the overall financials of the Millennium Development Goals. The importance of budgets to efforts such as this has already been commented on. This post will be a synopsis of his summary highlighting some of the important resources to which he gave access.

I am going to start at the end and highlight the Millennium Project Overview Report, the full 300+ page version, ten key recommendations, and the reports of the individual task forces provided in Rav's post. These provide a great deal of information on the cost/benefits rationale of the Millennium Project.

Rav goes through the "math" on how the proposals of the UN Millennium Project are designed to meet the Millennium Development Goals. It's definitely worthwhile going through his post, but the answer is $135 billion in 2006, with annual spending rising to $195 billion in 2015. Which sounds like a lot until you understand that it is between 0.44 and 0.54% of rich countries' GNP or you compare it to the cost of the Iraq war which some put at $3 trillion. It is still short of the 0.7% of GNP we've been promising for aid for around thirty years, first in 1970, most recently in 2003. The US, which has the economy to account for nearly half of the total extra aid needed, is currently at less than 0.2%. Only five countries -Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden - have reached the target.

Rav then provides The benefits of meeting the goals

Is it worth it? The report certainly thinks so. Meeting the goals means a host of changes of great benefit to the world's poorest people:

• 300 million more people lifted out of poverty between now and 2015 than on current trends; In Africa, 150 million people lifted out of poverty, as opposed to an increase of 75 million in the number of extremely poor people under current trends
• 230 million fewer people undernourished than on current trends; in Africa, 75 million fewer; as opposed to 25 million more on current trends
• 3.4 million fewer children dying each year, the benefits seen almost entirely in Africa

There are other benefits cited but bottom line, it is making a better world. Rav has promised a quick one-post summary of the key points for reference. He is also going to look at some of the critics of Sachs' proposals, and what it is they dislike. I look forward to both and will link when available.