The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has pulled the plug on financing loveLife, a controversial South African youth-targeted HIV/AIDS campaign. In a statement the Global Fund board said it had found that loveLife "was deemed to not have sufficiently addressed weaknesses in its implementation". Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden said it had become difficult to measure how the prevention campaign was contributing to the reduction of HIV/AIDS among young people.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
Global Fund withdraws support for loveLife in South Africa
Global inequality of life expectancy due to AIDS
Dorling D, Shaw M, Smith GD: British Medical Journal, March 2006, 332:662-664
Recent political events such as the Make Poverty History campaign, the Live8 concerts, the G8 summit in Scotland, the World Trade talks in Hong Kong, and the broader background of "globalisation" have turned attention towards the global picture concerning inequalities in health. In this article we ask two questions: what is the state of inequality in health and wealth across the globe? and, is inequality increasing or decreasing over time?
Global strategies to reduce the price of antiretroviral medicines: Evidence from transactional databases
Waning B, Kaplan W, King AC, Lawrence DA, Leufkens HG and Fox MP: Bulletin of the World Health Organization 87(7): 520–528, July 2009
In this study, the main objective was to estimate the impact of global strategies, such as pooled procurement arrangements, third-party price negotiation and differential pricing, on reducing the price of antiretrovirals (ARVs). Researchers estimated the impact of global strategies to reduce ARV prices using data on 7,253 procurement transactions from July 2002 to October 2007. They found that large purchase volumes did not necessarily result in lower ARV prices. Although current plans for pooled procurement will further increase purchase volumes, savings are uncertain and should be balanced against programmatic costs. Third-party negotiations by the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative resulted in lower generic ARV prices. Generics were less expensive than differentially priced branded ARVs, except where little generic competition exists. Alternative strategies for reducing ARV prices, such as streamlining financial management systems, improving demand forecasting and removing barriers to generics, should be explored.
Good adherence to HAART and improved survival in a community HIV/AIDS treatment and care programme: The experience of the AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Kampala, Uganda
Abaasa AM, Todd J, Ekoru K, Kalyango JN, Levin J, Odeke E and Karamagi CAS: BMC Health Services Research 8(241) 20 November 2008
This study assessed the effect of adherence to HAART on survival in The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) community HAART programme in Kampala, Uganda. It took the form of a retrospective cohort of 897 patients who initiated HAART at TASO clinic, Kampala, between May 2004 and December 2006. A total of 7,856 adherence assessments were performed on the data. The study study showed that good adherence and improved survival are feasible in community HIV/AIDS programmes such as that of TASO, Uganda. However, there is need to support community HAART programmes to overcome the challenges of funding to provide sustainable drug supplies, the provision of high quality clinical and laboratory support and achieving a balance between expansion and quality of services. Measures for the early identification and treatment of HIV infected people should be strengthened.
Good governance and good health: The role of societal structures
BMC International Health and Human Rights 2005
Only governments sensitive to the demands of their citizens appropriately respond to needs of their nation. HIV prevalence is significantly associated with poor governance. International public health programs need to address societal structures in order to create strong foundations upon which effective healthcare interventions can be implemented.
Governing AIDS through aid to civil society: Global solutions meet local problems in Mozambique
Foller M: African Journal of AIDS Research 12(1): 51–61, 2013
This article explores how international funders influence civil society organisations (CSOs) in Mozambique through funding mechanisms, the creation of partnerships, or inclusion in targeted programmes. The main focus is the relationship between external funders and AIDS non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The main questions the paper aims to answer are: Who is setting the agenda? What power mechanisms are in place to fulfil planned projects and programmes? Are there any forms of resistance from civil society AIDS-organisations in the face of the donor interventions? The actions are analysed through the lens of governmentality theory. The study concluded that external funders have the power to set the agenda through predetermined programmes and using various technologies. Their strongest weapons are audit mechanisms such as the result based management model used as a control mechanism, and there is still a long way to go to achieve a situation with multiple forms of local resistance to the conditions set by economically powerful funders. The standardisation imposed through clustering external funders into like-minded groups and other constellations gives them power to govern the politics of AIDS.
Government Accountability Office report on PEPFAR
Genderhealth.org
This report looks at the reasons behind the GAO study, the findings of the study, and relevant recommendations that emerged from the study. It describes the challenges posed by spending requirements in allocating prevention funding under the President's Emergency Funding for Aids Relief (PEPFAR).
Government boost for PMTCT, paediatric services in Uganda
Plus News: 1 December 2009
In a bid to reduce the rate of HIV transmission from mother to child, Uganda will now give all pregnant women highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Second deputy Prime Minister, Kirunda Kivejinja, said the government was committed to scaling up interventions that prevent HIV infections in children by improving prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services. ‘We shall also ensure scale-up of access to services for early infant HIV testing and treatment, and for care and support for all children that are affected by HIV,’ he added. ’We have proven that when pregnant women receive HAART, the rate of transmission from mother to child is less than 2%; this should go full-scale in Uganda,’ Addy Kekitiinwa, executive director of the Baylor Uganda Children's Foundation, said. A recent Ugandan study of 1,829 women found a 1.67% infection rate among infants born to mothers who received HAART during pregnancy, compared with an 11.75% infection rate among infants whose mothers received single-dose Nevirapine, and 3.73% and 5.02% of those who received two types of combination therapy.
Guidelines on HIV self-testing and partner notification: Supplement to consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services
World Health Organisation: Geneva December 2016
In an effort to support countries, programme managers, health workers and other stakeholders seeking to achieve national and international HIV goals, this 2016 update of the WHO guidelines issues new recommendations and additional guidance on HIV self-testing (HIVST) and assisted HIV partner notification services. The guidelines support the routine offer of voluntary assisted HIV partner notification services as part of a public health approach and provide guidance on how HIVST and assisted HIV partner notification services could be integrated into both community-based and facility-based approaches and be tailored to specific population groups. The guidelines support the introduction of HIVST as a formal intervention using quality-assured products that are approved by WHO and official local and international bodies.
Haart alone not enough to stop spread of HIV
Less than 10% of HIV-positive individuals in South Africa will be eligible to receive antiretroviral therapy if World Health Organisation guidelines which mandate the use of anti-HIV therapy in patients with a CD4 cell count below 200 cells/mm3 are followed, according to a French-funded study published in the May 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The study also found that this would have only a limited impact on the spread of HIV.