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Recent releases in Global Health

The Importance Of Investing In Adolescent Girls: A Lancet editorial examines the challenges adolescent girls living in developing countries face and the work of the U.N. Adolescent Girls Task Force to help young women overcome these barriers.

5 Mar 2011

Clinton defends State Department budget requests before House panel

In her testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday about President Barack Obama's FY12 budget request, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also defended the State Department's FY11 budget request, Bloomberg reports. Clinton said the proposed budget cuts for FY11 would be "devastating" to U.S. national security, and U.S. programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq would see "sharp reductions" if the proposed cuts are passed.

3 Mar 2011

'Implementation science' approach to play a critical role in next phase of PEPFAR program

An "implementation science" approach will play a critical role in the next phase of The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, according to an editorial in JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

3 Mar 2011

GHI executive director addresses global health community at Kaiser Family Foundation town hall

In her first public address since being tapped in January to serve as executive director of President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative, Lois Quam on Tuesday said she's been doing "a lot of listening" to officials at the State Department, PEPFAR, CDC and other agencies about the GHI.

3 Mar 2011

Adherence counseling during HIV treatment greatly improves patient outcomes

Intensive adherence counseling around the time of HIV treatment initiation significantly reduces poor adherence and virologic treatment failure in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a recent study in PLoS Medicine by Dr. Michael Chung, assistant professor of Global Health at University of Washington, who works at the Coptic Hope Center for Infectious Diseases in Nairobi, Kenya.

3 Mar 2011

Senate Majority Leader will attempt to pass new one-month stopgap measure to avoid government shutdown

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday "he will attempt to pass a 'clean' one-month stopgap funding measure at current spending levels when the Senate returns next week, in a bid to avoid a government shutdown," CQ reports.

24 Feb 2011

USAID Administrator discusses global health programs at NIH event

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Tuesday delivered a speech at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he reaffirmed President Barack Obama's commitment to the 6-year $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI) and discussed the USAID's role in bolstering U.S. global health programs, CIDRAP News reports. During his speech, Shah emphasized the administration's focus on structuring global health programs to be more cost efficient.

17 Feb 2011

WH statement says Obama would veto FY11 budget that 'undermines critical priorities or national security'

The Office of Management and Budget released a statement on Tuesday warning that President Barack Obama would "veto the continuing resolution funding bill now being debated in the House if it contains drastic cuts to national security, but it remains unclear if large cuts in diplomacy and foreign aid programs would be enough to force White House action," Foreign Policy's blog "The Cable" reports.

17 Feb 2011

AHF condemns budget move by House Republicans for global AIDS programs

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which provides AIDS medical care and services to more than 152,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide, today strongly condemned a move by House Republicans, who on Friday proposed slashing President Obama's 2011 funding for global AIDS programs by $813 million.

16 Feb 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

"Africa should be one of the leading regions in shaping global food security policies and feeding the future instead of others shaping it for Africa. Developing practical, integrative and more small-scale solutions for agricultural inputs and outputs, farming, and for managing both land and water resources, will help Africa provide for future generations on the Continent and elsewhere," Robin Renee Sanders, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, writes in a Huffington Post blog post.

5 Feb 2011

Politico looks at how proposed budget cuts could affect U.S. foreign aid, including global health funding

Politico examines how Republicans' proposed budget cuts could affect foreign aid funding. The House Republican majority has recommended combining President Barack Obama's "State and foreign aid requests with 'nonsecurity' domestic spending and to cut appropriations to 2008 levels."

3 Feb 2011

African first ladies gather to discuss HIV/AIDS

On the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday, the General Assembly of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) gathered to discuss the continent's progress against HIV/AIDS, Walta Info reports.

3 Feb 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

Innovative Health Financing Can Benefit Global Health, Pharma: "The launch of pneumococcal vaccination in Nicaragua under AMC [advance market commitment] has shown that innovative approaches to health financing can benefit both global health and pharmaceutical companies," according to a Lancet Infectious Diseases editorial that describes how the roll-out of GAVI initiative is helping to provide developing countries with low-cost pneumococcal vaccines.

28 Jan 2011

FDA provides tentative approval under PEPFAR for Matrix's Lamivudine and Zidovudine NDA

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Matrix Laboratories Limited has received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for its New Drug Application (NDA) for Lamivudine and Zidovudine Tablets, 30 mg/60 mg.

20 Jan 2011

The Citizen examines potential impact of EU-India free trade agreement on HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries

The Citizen examines the potential impact a free-trade agreement between the EU and India currently under negotiation could have on patients living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

22 Dec 2010

Daily Report Global Health Conversations: The QDDR and global health

After the State Department released recommendations for how to improve its own effectiveness and that of USAID in last week's Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report's Jaclyn Schiff spoke with Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of Global Health Policy & HIV at the Kaiser Family Foundation, about the QDDR in relation to U.S. global health efforts.

22 Dec 2010

U.S., South Africa sign PEPFAR partnership agreement

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Tuesday signed a "partnership agreement that will guide efforts on fighting HIV/AIDS in the African nation," Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports (Wessels, 12/15).

17 Dec 2010

New DNA-based testing technology for tuberculosis treatment

The driving force behind the rapid tuberculosis test that received World Health Organization endorsement this week is Dr. David Alland, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

13 Dec 2010

USAID, PEPFAR and HHS welcome WHO's endorsement of rapid diagnostic test for TB

The United States welcomes the policy statement and roadmap issued today by the World Health Organization (WHO) charting the rollout of the Xpert MTB/RIF rapid diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) and rifampicin resistance, a proxy for multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

9 Dec 2010

Rapid TB test endorsed by WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that a new test that can detect tuberculosis (TB), including drug-resistant forms, in less than two hours could revolutionize treatment of the disease. Tuberculosis is still a major killer worldwide killing 4,700 people every day last year. The annual death toll of 1.7 million includes 380,000 people who are at particular risk because they have HIV, the virus that depresses the immune system and causes Aids.

8 Dec 2010