It's World Malaria Day -- Proof that the Millennium Development Goals are Achieveable

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Today is World Malaria Day. Malaria is one of the targets of Millennium Development Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

The UN Wire reports that World Malaria Day brings us one step closer to our goal

This weekend, thousands of people around the world are showing their commitment to ending malaria deaths by 2015 by Sleeping Out, sending nets, throwing fundraisers, and spreading the buzz about malaria prevention. Sunday, April 25, is World Malaria Day – and just in time for this annual day of recognition for the cause, the World Bank has made an astounding commitment of their own : they are pledging $200 million to provide people in sub Saharan Africa with bed nets. This announcement comes just days…

Emily L. from Care2 Health Policy reminds us to Do Our Part to Commemorate World Malaria Day

December 31, 2010 was the target date UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon set in place for delivering effective mosquito nets to all regions affected by malaria (his words: "universal coverage"). This is an incredibly lofty goal, but that's what makes it so wonderful. We are making real progress toward the eradication of malaria, and moving rapidly toward the Millennium Development Goals.

Of all the Millennium Development Goals, this one seems to have the most focus by the main stream media and the people it follows.

Stars, social media unite for malaria effort

Celebrities are lining up to support an online campaign to urge people to buy insecticide-treated bed nets to help prevent the spread of malaria in Africa. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and actor Ashton Kutcher will seek to leverage their followings on the social-media site Twitter to drive the campaign.

The UN aims to reduce the deaths from malaria to near zero in Africa by 2015. So far, more than $4 billion has been raised to fight the disease, mostly from the World Bank, government agencies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The UN expects to cover 800 million people at risk of malaria with bednets, but it is still short of funding for roughly 50 million of those nets, Chambers said.

There is true significant progress being made, this does not mean that we can rest on our laurels though.

Africa's malaria battle progressing, more help promised

Malaria infections are dropping across Africa in response to the World Health Organization's Roll Back Malaria program, according to Rob Newman, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme. U.S. officials announced plans to focus part of that country's Global Health Initiative on reaching 450 million women and children in sub-Saharan Africa with the aim of halving malaria rates among the group.

Reuters (4/22) U.S. effort to fight malaria focuses on women

Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:08pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government announced on Thursday it would focus part of its $63 billion, six-year Global Health Initiative plan to accelerate efforts to fight malaria, mostly in Africa and aimed at women and children

AlertNet.org/Reuters (4/22)

INTERVIEW-Africa making "dramatic" headway against malaria

22 Apr 2010 15:36:33 GMT Source: Reuters * Africa making "dramatic" anti-malaria progress * Killer disease's economic burden likely to ease By Ed Cropley

Infection rates in Zambia, for instance, more than halved from 2001 to 2008 due to widespread distribution of mosquito nets, targeted spraying of insecticides and better and cheaper diagnosis and treatment, said Rob Newman, director of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Global Malaria Programme.

The progress made in the struggle to eradicate malaria has been on many fronts. Government organizations through the United Nations and in developed industrial countries, non-government organizations such as the World Bank and World Health Organization, philanthropic organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The most important factor to my mind was capturing the imagination of the public that this was a terrible challenge that ruined the lives of millions, but that it was a challenge that could be successfully met. We need to do as good as a job as that with the other 7 Millennium Development Goals this September at the UN Millennium Summit.

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Urgent Message To [Insert Your Senator's Name Here] on U.S. International Affairs Budget

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It has been about 3 weeks since I have had a chance to get back to this blog, but luckily this request from ONE only came a couple of days ago.

Tom Hart, Government Relations Director of ONE says that Between now and 2015, we can eliminate malaria as a major public health problem in the world, ensure no child is born with HIV, and prevent more than 4.2 million future child deaths through vaccination.

We can do this through smart investments in global health, with a particular focus on women and young children. But we can't do it without a strong U.S. International Affairs Budget.

I signed the petition asking Senator Barbara Boxer

Please sign the bipartisan budget letter supporting a $58.5 billion International Affairs Budget.

I said:

I hope you support this effort being recommended both by ONE and the US Global Leadership Coalition. There are few things we can do that both help the less fortunate in the world and help our national security.

The deadline of April 9, for senators to sign the letter is coming up fast.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Action Alert: Send an urgent message to your senators (one.org)
• ONE urges donors to fully fund the Global Fund and GAVI (one.org)
• Military Leaders Call for Budget Support (one.org)

Seeing the Vision of a Better World

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Back in September of last year, I did a post on Exploring Pathways of Vision, Sight and Insight at My Pathways to New Paradigms blog which was designed to open myself to new possibilities.

This blog takes the idealistic visions of what could be possible and works to identify efforts to make them a reality. The Millennium Development Goals are an ultimate expression of that concept. The idea that individuals could have even a minuscule affect on global challenges that have afflicted the world for centuries takes both extreme idealism and pragmatism. The Exploring Pathways of Vision dealt with the subject from a more academic, scientific and philosophical perspective though it did recognize how this work could benefit millions.

This post looks at real world application in developing countries. Andrew of Care2 tells us that in Africa, approximately 140 million people are at risk of river blindness, a disease caused by the bite of a black fly that breeds in fast flowing rivers.

Fortunately, one tablet can prevent river blindness and Merck & Co. has promised to provide this tablet for as long as it takes to get rid of this disease for free.

Care2 asked us to send a message of support to the volunteers on the ground letting them know you are grateful for their work.

In some villages, most of the adults have gone blind and the children are kept home from school to act as their guides and caretakers. This devastating disease has forced families to move away from fertile lands and fresh water for fear of going blind. Right now, volunteers are working to distribute these free tablets to as many people as possible.

Here is my message to the volunteers at Sight Savers International.

You are not only a great example of humanity for the rest of us, you are also a model of how non-profits and businesses can work together to positively address the suffering on millions. The science of the western world makes no difference if it can't get to where it is needed. A heartfelt thanks also to Merck & Company for their role is this important effort.

Change.org calls on us to take action now to call on the international community to provide assistance to end preventable blindness today >

More than 40 million people in the developing world can't see their children, parents, and friends, yet most blindness can be prevented or cured with inexpensive medicine or operations. Trachoma infection causes horrible pain, scarring and eventually blindness, and it affects millions of children around the world. But a simple $8 operation can fix these problems, sparing a child years of infections resulting in a lifetime in the dark.

This video provides a glimpse into the suffering that this can cause.

This next one tells us how these problems can be successfully addressed with pragmatic and low cost approaches to care. A concept we seem to have difficulty with in the West.

Thulasiraj Ravilla: How low-cost eye care can be world-class | Video on TED.com

This blog plays only a very small part in getting the word out about these efforts. It is hoped that by recognizing and telling of the efforts of others I can help generate more support for them.

World Aids Day Seeking Comfort and Hope

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My last post was on World Aids Day supporting the BloggersUnite event in support of day. Truth be told it was a last minute post thrown together during my real life/day job lunch hour but I wanted to get something up. Despite the last minute effort, I got a comment from somebody who has been touched by the destruction of this disease, so I thought it worthwhile to pass it along.

VictorStephens commented on BloggersUnite Reminds that Today is World AIDS Day and so does the rest of the world - Milestones For A New Millennium:

HIV/AIDS has touched the soft spot of people globally. In almost all countries over the world, there are many associations, charitable organizations, religious missions and several other bodies have setup funds, donations and other aid to help the unfortunate AIDS victims. I have personally seen innocent children of tender age affected by aids which was no fault of theirs. AIDS today has definitely become a global problem. Much has been said of this dreaded disease, but sad to say, the statistics adds on daily. When is the world going to say that we have conquered AIDS? Do we just talk about it only? What promise and comfort has the future for these poor victims?

Site/Blog URL: http://familyget-togetherhaven.blogspot.com

Reaching Out Helping Women Realize the Millennium Development Goals

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I received a request from Amnesty International requesting support for women in Sierra Leone. It fits in with 3 of the Millennium Development Goals 3. Gender Equity 4. Child Health 5. Maternal Health .

One in eight Sierra Leonean women die giving birth. Health care facilities are understaffed, lack basic equipment and medicines and are far from people's homes. Pregnant women and their families struggle to afford the costs of getting to a hospital and the costs of the care they would receive there.

• A higher proportion of women in Sierra Leone die in childbirth and pregnancy than almost anywhere else in the world
  
• Women and their families are forced to negotiate and pay for equipment and medications, and provide their own food and water, while they're in a health facility, at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives
  
• Most people live far away from a medical facility and cannot afford transportation costs to a hospital or doctor

So I signed the letter the following letter to help make sure that no more lives are cut short. Urge Sierra Leone's government to make maternal health a priority.

Dear President Koroma,

I am very distressed to hear of the high risks that women in Sierra Leone face in pregnancy and childbirth. I understand that more women in Sierra Leone die during childbirth than almost anywhere else in the world.

I respectfully urge you to make every effort to guarantee the health and well-being of pregnant women. Access to maternal health care services would be improved by allocating more money to health within the budget, by addressing the mismanagement of resources, by ensuring hospitals are better supplied and medical staff paid adequate salaries and by providing women and girls with information about their health and reproductive rights.

It is your duty as President to ensure that the right to life and the right to health of all Sierra Leonean women are respected and protected. The government of Sierra Leone should ensure that costs are not a barrier to essential health services, including emergency obstetric care and other reproductive health services.

Yours sincerely,
Brian Dowling

What would be even better is empowering women to help themselves. The story and video below provide two examples, One from the Stand Up Take Action Campaign and one from Care. It is only natural that I use it in a blogging post as this year the Stand Up Take Action End Poverty Now! event, taking place on October, 16th is intended to give a clear focus on holding governments accountable for improving the status of women and their rights.

Kenyan Women Use ‘Stand Up’ to Stop Harassment, Fight for Maternal Health By Monica Omollo

“Stand Up provided a platform for me to bring together the voices of rural women to speak out about issues affecting them,” she said. “It provides an opportunity to empower rural women and ensure that they understand that they have the power to change their current circumstances through advocacy.”Monica organized the first-ever public anti-poverty rally in the Nyanza province, about 300 km outside Nairobi. The event was presided over by Ida Odinga, the wife of current Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.“The rally was considered unusual because most public rallies in this area have been political and hosted by politicians looking for votes,” she said. “The public was therefore very happy that we were out to find common solutions for their problems.”

The Great Flu : The Video Game for Paul Farmer Wanna-bes.

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Back in March of this year I did a post on Looking for the next Pandemic, a game online, life and death offline. The post focused on an article in Global Health - Change.org: What Will Be the Next Global Pandemic? Let's Find Out. and an online game found by two of my nieces, Pandemic II. Though I had doubts as to the veracity of the game, what I thought that what would be even better is if somebody came up with a WHO versus Pandemic game where one could learn the challenges facing global health delivery. Well somebody did, the folks at the Erasmus MC of the Netherlands (site has limited English). They have made a game called The Great Flu. The Rachel Maddow show said that the World Health Organization did not have time to play the game to give its opinion on it. So I still cannot say anything about the scientific accuracy of the game, but I have to believe that it is, and at least it is a step in the right direction. More at Swine flu inspires new video game by By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer at Wtop.com.

Related Posts:

• 6th of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals
• World Wide AIDS the Tragedy
• Overcoming Competing Goals and Commitments in Global Malaria Intervention

6th of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

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This is the sixth of the United Nations Millennium Campaign 8 video special on the Millennium Development goals. This captivating video focuses on the personal stories and struggles around achieving Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS.

United Nations Millennium Campaign - Goal 6- Combat

United Nations Millennium Campaign - Goal 6- Combat HIV AIDS

Related Posts:

• The Ongoing Campaign Against Malaria
  

• Fighting Against Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis steming the pandemic that is sweeping countries : A Scientific American In-Depth Report
  

• World Wide AIDS the Tragedy
  

• Dec. 1st Bloggers Unite Blog for World Aids Day
  

• Innovation, Disruptive Milestones for the New Millennium
  

• The U.S. Election and Science and Hope
  

• Barack Obama on Millennium Development Goals

4th of 8 days 8 Goals Personal Stories behind the Millennium Development Goals

Sphere: Related Content This is the fourth of the 8 videos provided by the Facebook Group United Nations Millennium Campaign on the Millennium Development goals. We are making up for some lost time but has I said in the last post it still provides a great visual in making the case for the Millennium Development Goals. I did some gripping and the people at the Facebook Group United Nations Millennium Campaign responded immediately which is a hallmark of a concerned effort. The "first" day video is here. The second day video is here. Third day video here.

This is the fourth of the 8 video special by United Nations Millennium Campaign on the Millennium Development goals. This captivating video focuses on the personal stories and struggles around achieving Goal 4 - Child Health

Somewhat Related Post:

• End Poverty 2015 - Millennium Development Goals

The Ongoing Campaign Against Malaria

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This Saturday was World Malaria Day. I did not do a post on the day of the event. While it may have some promotional benefits in regards to raising awareness having single awareness days for causes has some limitations. More importantly, I know that this post will potentially reach more through the long tail of search engines than it will through my small but appreciated cadre of subscribers. This issue is of concern to this blog as it is within Millennium Development Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Below are some links from various sources dealing with this issue. First are some basic facts from Scientific American explaining both where we are and where we hope to go. I actually do subscribe to the magazine. There do seem to be glimmers of hope with the new vaccines, but at the very far end of the tunnel, more sustained globally-coordinated action is needed now.

In-Depth Report: A Guide to Malaria

The international community has just two years to meet the United Nations' 2010 goal of providing protection and treatment to every person threatened by malaria. Can it be done?

• When was malaria first discovered and by whom? How is the disease transmitted? What are its effects? Toby Fagan, postdoctoral researcher at Edinburgh University, gives this response
• Money for cheaper herb-based malaria meds A subsidy program intended to drive down the cost of lifesaving malaria drugs called artemisinin-based combination therapies -- now considered the most effective treatment against the parasitic disease -- is unveiled
• New Malaria Map Shows Disease More Widespread Than Previously Thought Scientists report that there are nearly 50 percent more clinical cases of malaria worldwide than previous estimates suggested
• Malaria Vaccine Proves Effective in Clinical Trial A new vaccine stimulates human immune cells to recognize and kill malaria parasites
• Successful Malaria Vaccine Also Proves Effective in Infants New data shows that the RTS,S vaccine is safe and effective in infants
• 2008 Gadget Guide: 11 Socially Responsible Inventions to Save the World Devices to pump and filter water, protect against disease-carrying insects, and more

Sign Up for other Scientific American Newsletters

The second is from CoolPeopleCare written by Sam Davidson who urges

Let's put an end to malaria.

Sam reminds us of the nearly three million children in Sub-Saharan Africa who are in danger despite on needing something simple as a simple bed net that could be purchased through organizations like Sweet Sleep. He also provides the opportunities to join the commitment to ensure that everyone in malaria-affected regions has access to essential prevention and treatment services by 2010 or by sending a postcard to help raise awareness. As Sam says, Malaria, like poverty, can be stopped, and we can be the generation to stop it.

Click here to Count yourself in

Finally, Care2 offers additional means of helping. You can get to those means from here.

"I pledge to give up buying cookies for 2 weeks..."
"I pledge to ride my bike to work instead of driving this week..."
"I pledge to cook at home one night instead of eating out..."

Sometimes, it doesn't take much to save a life. It can be an action as small and simple as forgoing one movie ticket. Just $10 can buy a lifesaving bed net, send it to Africa and show a family how to properly hang it.

What small pledge will you make to save a life from malaria? Share your pledge and save a life »

Often, the lifesaving solution is simple: refugees in Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania need bed nets. With your help, families in these refugee camps can get bed nets before the rainy season arrives in eastern Africa. What are you willing to give up for a few days in order to save a life? Please make a difference and help save the life of a refugee in Africa today »

Thank you for helping,

Natasha
Care2 Campaign Team
< Saturday, April 25 is World Malaria Day.
Send a Net - Save a Life. It's Truly That Simple »

A postcard has been sent from the World Malaria Day web site from Brian Dowling.

Related Posts:

• World Wide AIDS the Tragedy

• Overcoming Competing Goals and Commitments in Global Malaria Intervention

Looking for the next Pandemic, a game online, life and death offline

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Yesterday's post linked to my new fundraising page FightAIDSTuberculosisMalaria as part of my recent Change.org page. Below is a post on Global Health that was sent to me from Change.org weekly by way of their Blog for Change. The blogger Alanna Shaikh is trying to determine what the next pandemic could be. Revisiting her site should provide updates to which disease is currently in front in the race. That night my two nieces were talking about an online game Pandemic II. The idea of the game is to wipe out the entire world population, which beyond a number of other questionable premises, makes little sense from an evolutionary perspective (for the virus, not for us). Perhaps the game could be used to test various diseases against each other. What would be even better is if somebody came up with a WHO versus Pandemic game where one could learn the challenges facing global health delivery.

• Global Health - Change.org: What Will Be the Next Global Pandemic? Let's Find Out.

  Alanna Shaikh has spent the last ten years immersed in global health; she has worked for NGOs, companies, universities, and the US government on projects that ranged from preventing antibacterial resistance to improving maternal and child health. She has decided to try picking the next pandemic.
  

• What will be the next global pandemic? Avian influenza? Smallpox? Well, in honor of March madness, I'm holding a tournament. We're going to find the next global pandemic, right here. We'll match up the scariest infectious diseases, and pick a winner - the next global pandemic.

  diigo tags: change.org, mdg6, global health

  • This is one of the challenges that faces us in achieving the 6th Millennium Development Goal combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Fighting Against Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis steming the pandemic that is sweeping countries : A Scientific American In-Depth Report

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One source of information is the Scientific American Newsletter. They had a special issue on the uphill efforts to eradicate Tuberculosis. I am providing the links to the main article and some of the related articles. These fit directly with the focus of this blog and the Millennium Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases. It has also been a topic of interest in My Pathways to New Paradigms. I wrote in that blog of having a great deal of confidence in addressing many of the problems we face today through technology and science. These are concrete examples of why. This is also the area in which I believe that business models can be the most value added. We are constantly looking for more economically efficient healthcare delivery systems in this country and it is a critical issue, but it takes on a far greater epidemic life and death perspective in developing countries. There is the additional challenge of taking on far more desperate circumstances with a greater deficit of resources.

In-Depth Report:
The Fight Against Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis

• What's the Rx for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis? Hard Work--And Imagination
  A rising star in public health is showing the world that the deadliest strains of tuberculosis can be treated anywhere
• New Tactics in the Fight against Tuberculosis
  The pandemic is growing in many places, and strains resistant to all existing drugs are emerging. To fight back, biologists are applying a host of cutting-edge drug development strategies
• Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis in Russia
  Merrill Goozner traveled to Siberia to find out if rising rates of MDR-TB in Russia can be curbed
• Infected and Imprisoned: Tuberculosis in a Siberian Jail [Slide Show]
  The plight of inmates with TB in Russia's Tomsk Province
• Tuberculosis, The Unromantic Killer
• Tuberculosis has never stopped being one of the world's most lethal infections
• Ancient Bones Hold TB Clues
  A team of Israeli, Palestinian and German scientists is analyzing DNA from human remains that date back to the ancient city of Jericho to try to understand more about the origins of tuberculosis

Related posts:
Global Health Equity From MIT World
Best Intentions Unintended Consequences
Barack Obama on Millennium Development Goals
Report for the World's efforts on MDGs: What we did last week
World Wide AIDS the Tragedy

Dec. 1st Bloggers Unite Blog for World Aids Day

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Bloggers Unite is taking on another issue affecting millions. On December 1st, 2008, BlogCatalog members will be joining with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of HIV/AIDS Policy's AIDS.gov for Bloggers Unite For World AIDS Day. Their basic approach: We Need Your Help! As this campaign is directly related to the Millennium Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases, this blog will be taking a global perspective on this issue. There are an estimated 33 million people with AIDS worldwide. It affects every country, city, and town in the world. And, the most frightening thing about it is that is going largely unchecked. In fact, that is one of the reason that worldaidscampaign.org is continuing its "leadership" theme, which it developed after learning that many leaders who promised to support AIDS were not keeping their promises. Unlike most campaigns where we hope awareness led to action, this is one campaign where awareness is action! If even just 10 percent of our members get involved, we can reach an estimated 4 million blog readers. And if half of our members participate, we can reach 20 million. And if all bloggers participate, we can reach the entire world. The BlogCatalog Team
BlogCatalog.com · 7162 Eckhert Road · San Antonio, TX · 78238

Barack Obama on Millennium Development Goals

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I think that we can be comfortable that Barack Obama supports the Millennium Development Goals. At least his heart seems to be in the right place. This seems pretty clear from both ends of the political spectrum.

According to today's TEDBlog, the two major US presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, released statements yesterday detailing their plans for fighting TB.

Barack Obama Statement at the TED Conference on Commitment to Fighting TB October 3, 2008

Today, I congratulate the TED Conference and James Nachtwey on their efforts to highlight the importance of preventing the spread of tuberculosis. TB claims 1.7 million lives each year, and eliminating it will be a global challenge - but it's a challenge we must take on. When I am President, I will strengthen the health care infrastructure crucial to reducing the spread of tuberculosis and increase U.S. funding for the Global Fund - a partnership that's already saved millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. We'll meet the Millennium Development Goals, which include halving the number of tuberculosis deaths. And we will live up to our commitment to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The annual TED conference brings together great minds and leaders in a mission to advance the American idea. It's time you had a Washington that did its part. As President, I will live up to our commitment to fighting this epidemic, and together, we will make it clear that America is ready to lead again.

This was spurred by the work of James Nachtwey's powerful photographs and RESULTS.org.

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy In Media wrote back on February 12, 2008 that Obama’s Global Tax Proposal [was] Up for Senate Vote. This article seems to be mostly referenced by conservative blogs or websites with a few exceptions. Despite that I found it informative and found little ("the U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of GNP") to complain about. The only difference that, unlike most of Mr. Kincaid's readers, I support the bill.

It is good news that Obama and Biden support funding the Millennium Development Goals. Bad news they want a tax to do it, which means it might never happen in today's economic environment. Seems that my worry is justified, moderator Gwen Ifill asked each candidate what priorities and campaign promises his or her ticket would have to abandon due to the $700 billion rescue package. Palin did not answer the question directly, but Biden did. And, to be honest, his answer was somewhat disappointing. Biden (echoing what Obama told Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation last week) said that the Obama plan to double the amount of American foreign development aid (it is currently at $25 billion) would likely have to proceed slower than expected.

tags: politics, economics, development, obama, politics, economics, mdg, mdgs, millennium development goals

Working Together Learning, Managing and Doing Change

Sphere: Related Content I have a strong bias towards MIT's Mens et Manus approach and enjoy their MITWorld offerings. This is one of the latest found under Learning More About the Issues MITWorld Global Health found at the right hand column.

This blog has posted on the "business of delivering global health service" before which featured the new version of MIT Sloan’s flagship international course The Global Entrepreneurship Lab. This 44 minute video MIT World » : Projects for Change: Bringing Management Tools and Ideas, Collaboration, and Learning-by-Doing to the Challenge of Global Health Delivery provides more important insights for leaders and management being taught at MIT by Anjali Sastry.

Sastry endorses David Kolb’s “learning loop” model: concrete experience, observation and reflection, forming abstract concepts, then further implementing and analyzing. She ponders if this cycle can transcend classroom learning to engender change in the world. Her own research and consulting in health care delivery are based on such a stepped method. She stresses that an integrated, holistic perspective is also required. For instance, a malnourished patient will be unable to absorb drugs administered for AIDS; medicine is insufficient without food. As to the larger picture, she says “obviously we’ve got to tackle global warming and carbon emissions, but we also need to tackle poverty.”

It is a basic premise of this blog that getting the funding from the world governments is at best only a first step and perhaps not the most important step. It was a quote by Sastry from the video that brought home its connection with the Millennium Development Goals and global health.

In the arena of global health, we know that we have the methods to improve healthcare for everybody on this planet. We know that we could reduce the death rate and substantial improve health care with the tools and medicines that we already have. Yet it's not happening. And don't say that there is not enough money. Maybe we need more but there is a boatload of money going into global health.

tags: MIT, management, global health, systems design

praxis: Anjali Sastry's Blog Optimism is her starting point.

The "business" of delivering global health services

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The Millennium Development Goal No. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases is a major logistical challenge even if the Millennium Project promises are kept.

I lean toward favoring systematic approaches to the challenge of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. A primary resource for creating both the systems and the personnel to run those systems is MIT. I have posted on this previously. MIT goes beyond the narrow focus of individual disciplines and combines them into effective change-agent entities . One combination is is the Sloan School of Business Management and Global Health Care.

GHD Blog » “MIT G-Lab: Global Health Delivery” to provide technical and counseling support to organizations in Africa

MIT Sloan School, GHD Project and MIT teams have made great progress in defining ways to work together to improve health care delivery, including training the cadre of leaders in the field.

The Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Global Health Delivery (G-Lab GHD), the new version of MIT Sloan’s flagship international course, epitomizes the value of this collaboration as it brings together the expertise of MIT faculty with GHD’s experience in implementation.

There is also the need to find creative ways to work with limited resources to make them go further. Below are two doctors, both featured in TED talks, telling of their experiences of dealing with health care issues in the developing countries. Dr. Ernest Madu, talking about the creative tactics he uses to bring good health care to poor communities in Jamaica.

Dr. Ernest Madu: Creative ways to bring health care to the poorest
Dr. Ernest Madu runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Jamaica, where he proves that -- with smart design and creative technical choices -- it's possible to offer world-class health care in the developing world. And it takes nothing more than re-imagining the hospital. Watch this talk >>

#Dr. Seyi Oyesola: Rich hospital, poor hospital
Dr. Seyi Oyesola takes a searing look at health care in underdeveloped countries. His photo tour of a Nigerian teaching hospital -- all low-tech hacks and donated supplies -- drives home the challenge of doing basic health care in poor countries. Watch this talk >>

Diigo tags: glab, MIT, global health, mdg, millennium development goals entrepreneurship, MIT, global

Overcoming Competing Goals and Commitments in Global Malaria Intervention

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Millennium Development Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases includes the eradication of malaria. Back on 7/21/08 Anthony Kiszewski discussed the implications of a new study that finds that global malaria funding remains inadequate in an article Divergent Goals and Commitments in Global Malaria Intervention in PLoS Medicine: New Articles. More PloS New Articles are featured below.

Two others involved in this effort are Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim's. While Kiszewski takes a global perspective, Farmer and Yong discuss the necessary logistics required to provide comprehensive care in an effective manner from an eyes on the ground perspective.

MITWorld provides a deeper look into the issues. Paul Farmer speaks about public entities being enabled to confer rights while at the same time speaking about the need for business practices such as supply chains to create comprehensive healthcare and medical delivery systems for the world's poor in the lecture from MIT World » : Global Health Equity.

ABOUT THE LECTURE:

"Don't foolishly advise Paul Farmer that his bold projects can't succeed. For the past 20 years, Farmer's been toppling orthodoxies concerning the delivery of health care to people of developing nations, and to our country's inner city poor. In a talk full of insights and anecdotes, Farmer brings his audience up to date on his groundbreaking work and methods.Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases.

In 1993, he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in recognition of his work.

Jim Kim - DSMHI delivers a lecture on Bridging the Delivery Gap to Global Health from MIT World Annotated.

Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD holds appointments as François Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a major Harvard teaching hospital; director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights; and chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Some of his many writings include:

• Dying for Growth: Global inequality and the health of the poor at Amazon.com
• Beyond Bellagio: addressing the challenge of sustainable child health in developing countries

MIT is also combining business management practices from the Sloan School of Management with medical social activism. More on that here.

It is these types of systems and practices that must be put into place to make the Millennium Development Goals are reality and are more needed than just a governmental proclamation.

End Poverty 2015 - Millennium Development Goals

Sphere: Related Content G8 action urged to avert six million mother and child deaths every year via End Poverty 2015 - Millennium Development Goals by admin on 4/21/08

The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health has called on G8 leaders to fulfil their previous commitments to global health and commit to new, long-term financing for essential interventions that could avert the deaths of over 6 million mothers, newborns and children every year.

The statement calls for an additional $10.2 billion annually, the estimated cost to ensure universal coverage of basic services needed to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 on reducing child death and improving maternal health by 2015, respectively.

"The world is expecting G8 leaders to show the way in confronting this health crisis faced by millions of mothers and children who do not have access to essential care" said Jeffrey Mecaskey, a representative of the Save the Children Alliance. "The Countdown report gives us all the information we need. We can achieve MDGs 4 and 5, it's simply a question of making the right political choices. "

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