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Inter Press Service examines how efforts underway in Namibia have helped to decrease the number of infants born with HIV while also increasing the number of HIV-positive infants on life-saving antiretrovirals (ARVs). According to the news service, since the launch of an early infant detection (EID) program in 2006, “the number of HIV-infected newborns has dropped from 13 percent to two percent in Namibia, according to the national Ministry of Health” — figures that “stand in sharp contrast with data from other African countries where many pregnant women are not diagnosed in time to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus and only a few HIV-positive infants receive ARVs.”

Of the 20,000 children living with HIV in Namibia, “7,622 children are receiving ARV treatment,” according to Angela Mushavi, who is PMTCT coordinator of the CDC, a major donor for Namibia’s EID-programme. “Namibia’s progress in paediatric HIV has been particularly impressive, in light of the challenges facing its health care system,” the news service writes.

The article highlights how the dry-blood sampling used for EID testing can be completed by parents and preserved during week-long shipments to laboratories and additional ways that the government has worked to make ARV treatments easier for infants and their caregivers (Van Den Bosch, 7/28).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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The Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Tuesday approved by voice vote its fiscal year 2010 spending bill draft, which excludes funding for abstinence-only sex education programs and, unlike the House bill, does not include language lifting the ban on the use of federal funding for needle exchange programs, CQ Today reports. According to the article, Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) “confirmed that the bill will not contain funding for abstinence-only education programs when the full committee marks it up on Thursday. Instead, the draft will contain funding for more comprehensive sex education, which can include teaching abstinence.” Harkin also said that the Senate bill does not contain language lifting the ban on the needle exchange funding because that is “a matter for conference” (Wolfe, 7/28).

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Minnesota’s only storefront needle exchange drop-in center, called Access Works!, “fell victim to economic hard times and federal anti-drug policies” and ended its program last week after 13 years, the Minnesota Independent reports. The program “traded used needles for clean ones, conducted HIV and Hepatitis C testing, taught overdose prevention, held support groups and connected users with chemical dependency treatment experts,” according to the Independent. Federal funding cannot be used to administer needles for such programs, Lauri Wollner, executive director of the program said. She added, “The federal ban has had a long-term impact. We spend almost $40,000 a year on needles and about $5,000 a year on disposal (of used needles).” Private donations also have been down, she said. While the ban on the use of federal funding for needle exchange is being revisited by Congress, “local needle-exchange activists say it is doubtful that congressional action will be able to save the struggling organization,” the article states (Birkey, 8/3).

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Congressional Quarterly examines a “three-page concept paper” issued by the House Foreign Affairs Committee that lays out a plan to overhaul U.S. foreign aid. The committee suggests “giving the administration greater flexibility to control aid in exchange for greater public oversight and a performance- and need-driven allocation system,” the news service writes. “The plan would reorganize aid programs around seven purposes, including ‘reducing poverty and alleviating human suffering,’ ’supporting human rights and democracy,’ and ‘expanding prosperity through trade and investment,’” according to CQ. The House committee wants to enhance USAID’s role, “giving the agency a seat on the National Security Council and putting it in charge of the U.S. global AIDS plan and the Millennium Challenge Corporation,” the news service writes.

Reforming U.S. foreign aid is a “top legislative priority” for Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who earlier this year introduced a bill “to require the administration to put together a development strategy, which he called a ‘down payment’ on greater change,” CQ reports. Last week, Senate Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced bipartisan legislation “to beef up” USAID, “also intended as a first step toward an overhaul,” writes CQ.

The story includes reaction to the House committee’s concept paper from Capitol Hill and foriegn aid experts (Graham-Silverman, 8/3).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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South Africa’s shortage of health professionals combined with a budget shortfall of over $130 million for the government’s HIV programs could keep the country from reaching its goal of providing 80 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS in need of treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) by 2011, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday, Reuters reports. Motsoaledi said of the funding, “We have discussed it with Treasury, calculated the costs and I have already met international funders. We are waiting and hoping that there is no chance of the actual shortfall happening.”

According to Motsoaledi, an estimated 700,000 HIV-positive South African’s currently receive ARVs. “Unfortunately it is only 50 percent of the number that has been targeted,” he told Reuters. The article examines the factors contributing to the shortage of health professionals in South Africa, including trained professionals leaving the country for positions that offer higher pay and better conditions, and the low number of doctors being trained in the country compared to those needed annually.

According to Reuters, “[d]espite his overstretched budget, Motsoaledi is exploring providing ARVs to patients” earlier than when currently dispensed by public hospitals. “Waiting for people to go to a CD4 count of 200 is too low too late, maybe we should start them at 350,” Motsoaledi said (Govender, 9/15).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe in New York on Monday signed a partnership agreement with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) pledging to work towards eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa, Agence France-Presse reports. Presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda attended the signing ceremony.

“Signatories include Columbia University’s Earth Institute led by leading U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs and the Millennium Promise Alliance, an advocacy group pushing for implementation of the” Millennium Development Goals in Africa, the news service writes. The agreement, “signed as world leaders gathered here for this week’s U.N. General Assembly session, aims to accelerate action on HIV/AIDS and ‘correct the glaring inequality’ faced by children in the face of the scourge … Sidibe told a press conference.” According to Sidibe, each year more than 300,000 babies are born HIV positive, “most of them in Africa and 30 percent of them died before their first birthday, he added.”

The agreement aims to prevent women from acquiring HIV, prevent unintended pregnancies, prevent the mother-to-child transmission of the virus and offer services to women and children affected by the disease (9/21). A UNAIDS press release provides additional information on the specifics of programs working to achieve the goals of the agreement (9/21).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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Health officials in Kentucky are participating in a nationwide effort called the “Test 1 Million Campaign,” with the hopes of “encouraging everyone to get tested for HIV, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics,” WKYT.com reports. Officials from the Department for Public Health held a news conference on Monday to announce the effort. HIV Activist Bobby Edelen said, “If we get one million people tested and find a percentage of those people who have it are positive, those people can make a positive change in their lives.” While health officials are targeting blacks and Hispanics, they “are hoping [their] message reaches everyone,” according to WKYT (Evans, 8/11).

This information was reprinted from dailyreports.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at dailyreports.kff.org.

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The World Health Organization is reviewing its 2006 guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs by HIV-positive pregnant and breastfeeding women because of new evidence that prolonged use can cut the risk of mother-to-child transmission, reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56K6XB20090721″ target=_new>Reuters reports. Current guidelines recommend that these women receive a short-course antiretroviral regimen. However, a new study released at an international AIDS conference on Wednesday shows that a stronger regimen over a prolonged period significantly lowers the risk of mother-to-child transmission.

The study examined 824 pregnant women in Burkina Faso, Kenya and South Africa who received either the standard antiretroviral regimen or a combination of three antiretrovirals. The combination regimen was administered during the last trimester and for a maximum of six months during breastfeeding, according to study leader Tim Farley of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health. Farley said women who received the combination regimen during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding had a 42% lower risk of transmitting HIV to their infants than women given the standard course.

Farley added, “The results of this study show an almost twofold reduction in the risk of HIV transmission during the breastfeeding period and also [show] there is no short-term toxicity” to the women or their infants. He said that participants will be monitored for any long-term health effects. WHO is expected to release the updated recommendations by the end of the year (Roelf, Reuters, 7/21).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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The Alabama Department of Corrections has expanded to all inmates a re-entry program that provides newly released inmates with HIV/AIDS “with information on obtaining licenses [and] other documents and preparing for returning to life outside prison,” the AP/USA Today/Montgomery Advertiser reports (Hunter, 7/22). “In the past, prisoners at the end of their sentences were sent back into the free world with minimal assistance, not the in-depth services the inmates with HIV and AIDS had received,” according to AP/WZTV.com. The expanded Alabama Prison Initiative will allow all inmates to enroll in classes that provide them with “practical tips” and guidance “that will hopefully help keep them from returning,” the AP/WZTV.com reports (7/22). AIDS Alabama CEO Kathie Hiers said, “We’ve seen it help so much in the HIV community. They’re smart to take a good program and expand it” (Hunter, 7/22).

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Uganda’s Health Ministry announced Monday it has ordered investigations into whether the deaths of 17 patients living with HIV in Northern Uganda were caused by their inability to get antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, the AP/mlive.com reports. According to Zainab Akol, manager of the ministry’s HIV/AIDS control program, the ministry is exploring “whether apart from the lack of ARVs, another disease like malaria or any epidemic could have contributed to the deaths,” according to the news service.

The article examines assertions that Uganda is exepriencing a shortage of antiretrovirals. Akol “attributed the shortage of antiretroviral drugs to a sharp increase this year in the number of AIDS patients,” after a countrywide testing campaign identified 100,000 addition HIV-positive people. “The number of HIV/AIDS patients increased yet money provided by donors to buy the drugs did not increase,” said Akol.

The article includes comments by Stephen Watiti of Uganda’s National Forum of People Living with HIV-AIDS Network, who “said his group has also received reports about the 17 HIV patients dying in northern Uganda and is investigating whether patients in other areas of the country are affected.” Watiti commented that some government health centers has stopped providing antiretrovirals to HIV-positive patients and that treatment interruption “could expose Uganda to ‘an explosion of a new HIV epidemic that is predominantly drug resistant’” (Olukya, 7/27).

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