Global Health News

As the Group of Eight (G8) meetings get underway on the 17th and 18th of this month, there are many issues of great magnitude that world leaders will be asked to examine and review.

Last week, the G8 released its’ Accountability Report. It was a comprehensive examination of the record of its’ members against the various promises in all sorts of areas that G8 governments have made over the last decade. While there are varying opinions on whether the Accountability Report will actually spur action in areas where countries have been found to have not fully lived up to their promises, it is a very important snapshot of the issues the G8 has focused on in recent years.

Health and the fight against AIDS and other infectious diseases were front and centre in the report and while there were many pressures and efforts that created the Global Fund it is without doubt, the product of the G8 and G8 countries have provided nearly three-quarters of all its funding to date.

Plagued: TB And Me
By Jo ChandlerJune 12, 2013

The greatest infectious killer in human history is making a comeback, morphing into new drug-resistant forms. While it is largely forgotten in wealthy nations, millions of people a year get sick from tuberculosis. Jo Chandler, to her surprise, is one of them.

Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates met Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra this morning to lobby for an increase to Australia’s $5 billion overseas aid budget. The meeting kicked off a hectic day for Mr Gates, who will also speak at the National Press Club in Canberra at lunchtime, meet with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, and take part in a special ABC TV Q&A program tonight. Speaking on Radio National Breakfast, Mr Gates thanked Australians for their generosity in raising the aid budget, but said more could be done. “Australian aid is spent on a lot of very important, effective things, like health,” he said. But he said he was saddened by Australia’s decision to defer increases in aid as part of this month’s budget

Cape Town / Geneva, 9 May 2013 – A new record low price for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines will help ensure millions of girls in developing countries can be protected against cervical cancer.

Thanks to the GAVI Alliance, the poorest countries will now have access to a sustainable supply of HPV vaccines for as low as US$ 4.50 per dose. The same vaccines can cost more than $100 in developed countries and the previous lowest public sector price was $13 per dose.

HPV vaccines are primarily available as part of routine immunisation to girls in relatively wealthy countries. And yet of the 275,000 women in the world who die of cervical cancer every year, more than 85% are in low-income countries, where the incidence of HPV infection is higher and few women have access to screening and treatment.
- See more at: http://www.gavialliance.org/library/news/press-releases/2013/hpv-price-announcement/#sthash.ZdxNVp4N.dpuf

GENEVA – To observe World Malaria Day, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria launched a special “Close-Up” feature on its website called “A Community Rises” about efforts to control malaria in South Sudan.

Since 2000, over 1 million lives have been saved from malaria. This World Malaria Day (April 25th) is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the gains that have been made and how to scale-up for even more progress going forward. The Global Fund is the major international funder of anti-malaria efforts, representing 60% of international financing and is responsible for some of the most critical interventions in the fight against malaria including the distribution of a total of 310 million nets to households.

the interview Simon Marnie conducted with Richard Curtis about Mary and Martha. A really nice piece.

In recognition of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria’s key role as a multilateral partner and its progress in instituting reforms, the Budget provides $1.65 billion to leverage pledges from other donors and accelerate progress against these three diseases.

It’s Half-time at the Global Fund
4/16/13
Amanda Glassman
This is a joint post with Jenny Ottenhoff.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria recently announced an ambitious goal of raising $15 billion in its fourth replenishment later this year, of which they hope the United States will contribute one-third ($5 billion, or $1.65 billion a year for three years). So I was interested to see these two sentences tucked into the White House’s 2014 budget request:

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced today that it will need $15 billion to continue its life-saving work. If the world comes together to meet this replenishment goal, it will build on one of its greatest achievements of the past decade by saving millions more lives. HIV, TB and malaria are three of the world’s biggest killers, but thanks to the Global Fund we are starting to make significant progress in controlling them. Now is the time for governments and other donors to make new pledges to the Fund (you can help by getting involved with groups such as the ONE Campaign.)