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EU authorizes $11 million in humanitarian aid for Zimbabwe; Prime Minister to meet with members of Congress next week

The E.U. on Tuesday authorized $11 million in humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe, VOA News reports (VOA News, 6/2). The E.U.'s actions come one day after U.N. agencies expressed the need for $718 million in foreign donations to help meet the urgent needs of the people of Zimbabwe (Kaiser Daily Global Health Report, 6/2).

3 Jun 2009

U.N. agencies increase request for foreign donations to Zimbabwe

In the midst of Zimbabwe's growing humanitarian crisis, U.N. agencies on Monday released a revised statement of appeal for foreign donations totaling $718 million for "food, clean water, AIDS medicines and other aid – up from an estimate of $550 million in November," the AP/Washington Post reports (Shaw, AP/Washington Post, 6/1).

2 Jun 2009

HIV/AIDS advocates react to Obama's proposed global health initiative

Some HIV/AIDS advocates have voiced disappointment with the level of HIV/AIDS funding in President Obama's proposed $63 billion, six-year global health initiative, VOA News reports. According to VOA News, the advocates say that Obama has not met pledges he made as a presidential candidate, while other say that the "picture is more complicated."

20 May 2009

Opinion piece examines efficacy of foreign aid

"President Obama signaled recently a major shift in the way the United States tries to help poor countries," Philip Stevens, policy director at the International Policy Network, writes in a Providence Journal opinion piece, adding, "Whereas the Bush presidency pushed to spend enormous sums on individual high-profile diseases such as AIDS, Obama says he will broaden U.S. aid to improve health more generally."

19 May 2009

House, Senate Committees approve bills that include influenza pandemic funds

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a $91.3 billion defense and foreign aid spending bill that includes President Obama's request for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight a potential influenza pandemic, the AP/Winston-Salem Journal reports.

15 May 2009

Obama administration 'wants to go slow' on HIV/AIDS efforts, editorial says

"The road to ending AIDS comes with warning sign: Caution -- Politics Ahead. Just ask President Obama, who's getting a crash-course introduction," a San Francisco Chronicle editorial says.

13 May 2009

Stanford study shows PEPFAR program saved a million lives

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the ambitious U.S. government program begun in 2003, has cut the death toll from HIV/AIDS through 2007 by more than 10 percent in targeted countries in Africa, though it has had no appreciable effect on prevalence of the disease in those nations, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine that is the first to evaluate these outcomes.

6 Apr 2009

U.S.-funded HIV/AIDS, malaria initiatives represent 'new approach' to foreign aid, opinion piece says

In her book "Dead Aid," author Dambisa Moyo comes to "disastrously wrongheaded conclusions" regarding U.S. foreign aid, columnist Michael Gerson writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

5 Apr 2009

Christian Science Monitor examines effect of economy on U.S. foreign aid targets

The Christian Science Monitor on Monday examined how the Obama administration is "hinting that the economic downturn means the president is unlikely to reach his goal of doubling foreign aid by the end of his four-year term.

23 Mar 2009

UNITAID working with travel web sites to raise donations for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

Philippe Douste-Blazy, former French foreign minister and head of UNITAID, announced recently that he is in talks with online travel industry CEOs to allow air travelers booking online to make a $2 per-flight donation to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria efforts worldwide, the Financial Times reports.

16 Mar 2009

Bush says he will sign PEPFAR reauthorization

President Bush on Saturday during his weekly radio address said he is eager to sign legislation (HR 5501) that would reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through 2013, the AP/Google.com reports (Reichmann, AP/Google.com, 7/26).

29 Jul 2008

Editorial 'wrongly criticized' Sen. Coburn's 'due diligence' in reauthorizing PEPFAR, letter to editor says

A recent Washington Post editorial "wrongly criticized" Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and "his colleagues for conducting due diligence" regarding legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee's Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, writes in a Post letter to the editor (Gregg, Washington Post, 6/5).

8 Jun 2008

$50 billion needed for global AIDS control

As Congress considers the renewal of PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program, over the coming weeks, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) President Michael Weinstein offers the following commentary regarding what is needed in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

25 May 2008

World warned about three major threats to human health

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning concerning major threats to human health.

20 May 2008

Newspapers respond to PEPFAR reauthorization bills

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and London's Guardian recently published an editorial and an opinion piece about bills (S 2731, HR 5501) that would reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

29 Apr 2008

Sub-Saharan African countries not on track to meet MDGs, U.N. Secretary General Ban says

Sub-Saharan African countries likely will not meet the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals -- which include reducing the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria -- by 2015, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development in Accra, Ghana, AFP/Google.com reports.

22 Apr 2008

Barack Obama pledges to increase spending on global HIV/AIDS to $50 billion

Barack Obama today stepped ahead of all other candidates for President in one of the most critical areas of foreign policy, the effort to eradicate extreme poverty.

1 Nov 2007

Molecular condom that protects against AIDS

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's ongoing trade delegation to India will initiate a long-term international collaboration with that country and the University of Utah.

31 Oct 2007

House approves bill that would allow contraceptive donations to international groups barred from funding

The House on Thursday voted 241-178 to approve a fiscal year 2008 foreign aid spending bill that would allow the federal government to give contraceptives but not money to international groups barred from receiving U.S. aid because of their abortion policies, the Washington Post reports (Williamson, Washington Post, 6/22).

22 Jun 2007

International community should focus on 'critical' health conditions, including HIV/AIDS epidemic, of Myanmar's population

The international community "needs an approach that focuses not on fostering democratic governance" in Myanmar "but on the critical health and education needs," including curbing the spread of HIV, among the country's "long suffering" population.

3 Apr 2007