Global Health Policy Research Network Update (March 2009)
IN THIS ISSUE
- UNAIDS: Preparing for the Future
- Mead Over’s New Working Paper on HIV/AIDS in South Asia
- IOM Committee on Cardiovascular Disease Includes CGD’s Rachel Nugent
- April Harding’s Letter to the Editor of the Financial Times
- CGD’s Ruth Levine to Chair NICE International Advisory Group
- HIV/AIDS Monitor Team Holds Workshop with African Research Partners in Bellagio
IN THIS ISSUE
UNAIDS: Preparing for the Future
Michel Sidibé is settling into his new role as Executive Director of UNAIDS, and the UNAIDS Leadership Transition Working Group has a message to deliver. As a member of the UN family, UNAIDS has a unique role in holding donors to commitments to HIV/AIDS and providing programmatic guidance that is simultaneously grounded in science and human rights. The Working Group, convened by CGD and the Global Economic Governance Programme, offers recommendations for Sidibe about where UNAIDS can contribute most, particularly during times when the global community is distracted by severe economic challenges. The Working Group report will be launched in both the U.K. and the U.S. in late March.
Mead Over’s New Working Paper on HIV/AIDS in South Asia
In a new CGD Working Paper, CGD Senior Fellow Mead Over estimates that AIDS could increase the poverty rate in India by about three percentage points. Mead uses new projections of the cost of AIDS treatment in the region to urge South Asian governments to play a larger role in AIDS treatment. He points to heavy reliance on private health care of varying quality to argue that there are efficiency as well as equity grounds for government intervention. Although the low prevalence rate of AIDS in South Asia limits its economic impact there, treatment of AIDS patients presents major challenges to the region's predominantly private health care systems. An earlier version of this working paper appears in HIV and AIDS in South Asia: An Economic Development Risk. 2009. Eds. Mariam Claeson and Markus Haacker. World Bank.
IOM Committee on Cardiovascular Disease Includes CGD’s Rachel Nugent
The U.S. Institute of Medicine recently formed the “Committee on Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease: Meeting the Challenges in Developing Countries.” As a member, CGD Deputy Director of Global Health Rachel Nugent brings expertise on the economic impacts of chronic diseases to the Committee’s work. The Committee is expected to release a major report in early 2010.
April Harding’s Letter to the Editor of the Financial Times
In the wake of a report released last month by Oxfam in which the UK anti-poverty group denounced the World Bank and others for investing in private sector healthcare reforms in the developing world, Financial Times columnist Andrew Jack put this argument under the microscope. Jack urged a more nuanced approach, citing a range of key opinion leaders. The Financial Times published a letter from CGD Visiting Fellow April Harding in support of Jack’s column, in which she argued that by ignoring the private sector, we effectively turn our backs on the millions of poor people who consistently use these channels when they fall ill.
CGD’s Ruth Levine to Chair NICE International Advisory Group
The U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is known globally for its expertise in applying evidence to health choices. NICE International is a new, not-for-profit consulting arm, offering advice to decision-makers around the world about how to create the capacity to assess and interpret evidence for health policy. CGD’s VP of Programs and Operations Ruth Levine has been invited to chair the initiative's Advisory Group, which brings together a diverse group of external experts to provide strategic direction for this new program.
HIV/AIDS Monitor Team Holds Workshop with African Research Partners in Bellagio
The HIV/AIDS Monitor is examining one of the most contentious global health issues: what role does the influx of global donor funds for HIV/AIDS play in national health workforce development? The Monitor’s research partners in Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia are collecting and analyzing data from surveys of health workers and managers, document reviews, and interviews with government officials, health facility managers, funding agents and funding recipients. The Monitor team and their research partners met in early February at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center to examine the data and share analytical tools. Findings, to be released in June, are expected to illustrate how PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and the World Bank MAP have helped to address or deepen the Human Resources for Health (HRH) crisis in each country. For more information about the workshop, see the recent blog by HIV/AIDS Monitor Policy Analyst David Wendt.
ALSO OF INTEREST
- 02/06/2009- The Online Newshour quotes Ruth Levine warning that cutting global health spending during the financial crisis would have dire consequences.
- 02/01/2009- Foreign Policy Magazine ranks the Center for Global Development 15th in their index of the "Top 30 U.S. Think Tanks."
- 01/2009- HIV/AIDS Monitor publication, “Following the Funding,” cited in a CFR paper by Laurie Garrett entitled “The Future of Foreign Assistance Among Global Economic and Financial Crisis: Advancing Global Health in the U.S. Development Agenda.
- 12/16/2008- In an interview with the Voice of America, Ruth Levine, recommends a doubling of the global health commitment from $7.5 billion to $15 billion in the Obama Administration.
- 12/12/2008- The Washington Post quotes Ruth Levine on performance-based aid for child immunizations in developing countries.
- 03/10/09, Ann Arbor, Michigan- Ruth Levine spoke at the University of Michigan’s Center for Global Health about the international health challenges facing the Obama Administration
- 02/24/09, Washington, DC- CGD hosted this Massachusetts Avenue Development Seminar (MADS), featuring Rebecca L. Thornton on “Circumcision, Information and HIV/AIDS Prevention.”
- 02/03/09, Grinnell, Iowa- Grinnell College Symposium on Global Pharmaceuticals As the keynote speaker, Rachel Nugent addressed an auditorium of undergrads, faculty and staff on “Roles and Responsibilities in Preventing Global Drug Resistance.”
- 02/19/2009, Washington, DC- The Global Fight Against HIV/AIDS Georgetown University hosted a discussion with experienced policy leaders, including CGD co-Founder and Chairman Edward William Scott, Jr., to address strategies that philanthropy utilizes to shape HIV/AIDS policy.
- 12/15/08, Washington, DC- Demographics and Development in the 21st Century Policy Series: How Much Do Demographic Factors Influence Infrastructure Demand in Developing Countries? Peter Heller (SAIS and former IMF) spoke at CGD.
- 12/10/08, New York City- Ruth Levine spoke on a panel at the UN about the report of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, Closing the Gap in a Generation.
- The Acronym Party: GAVI’s New Call for Nominations for IAC Members for the AMC Secretariat, Scott Kniaz
- Hanging in the Balance: Who Will Deal with Child Malnutrition?, Ruth Levine
- Public Delivery of AIDS Treatment in South Asia: A Timidly Heroic Assumption, Mead Over
- The Best Thing to Come Out of India Since “Slumdog Millionaire”, Scott Kniaz
- Phones for Health: Great Idea, But Where’s the Evidence?, Mead Over
- Florists Globally Celebrate “Mother’s Day Every Day” Campaign, Danielle Kuczynski
- Re-Evaluating UNAIDS, Danielle Kuczynski
- Climbing a Mountain of Data in Bellagio, Italy: HIV/AIDS Funding and Human Resources for Health, David Wendt
- Oxfam—This is Not How to Help the Poor, April Harding
Read More Global Health Blog Posts >
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