OF NOTE THIS WEEK

Barbara Crossette writes in the Nation that the Obama administration plans to give new freedom of action to health and gender experts working in developing countries, marking a clear disavowal of earlier rules that prevented cooperation between PEPFAR and broader initiatives. In new guidelines for 2010, the Obama PEPFAR team will implement a "holistic and realistic policy" that will pave the way to linking AIDS work with strengthening of health systems generally, taking into account family planning, gender equality, malaria and tuberculosis, local economies, and other factors.

Also of interest, check out the new working paper by CGD visiting fellow Ethan Kapstein and Josh Busby Making Markets for Merit Goods: The Political Economy of Antiretrovirals.

NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DONORS

• PEPFAR and the government of Lesotho agree to collaborate on a five-year strategy to implement the country's National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan
• The World Bank profiles the results of the Nigeria HIV/AIDS Program Development Project
• PEPFAR releases its August newsletter
• Base FM Radio receives a PEPFAR grant to support its high school debate program on HIV/AIDS in Namibia

OTHER NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

• Obama Unshackles Global AIDS Work (The Nation)
• U.S. to Grant $2B to Mozambique over the Next Five Years (All Africa)
• Uganda: Government Has Enough HIV/AIDS Drugs (New Vision)
• The Battle in Uganda Over Female Condoms (Time)
• Zambia: Treating Cervical Cancer and HIV Simultaneously (Reuters AlertNet/IRIN)
• G20 Urged to Tax Financial Deals to Fight Poverty and AIDS (The Guardian)
• Final Reports Released on Global Fund Five-Year Evaluation (Global Fund Observer)

RECENT CGD HEALTH POLICY BLOGS

• Potential U.S. Supreme Court Case on Nigerian Drug Trial Presents Mixed Picture for Global Health By Tom Bollyky
• A Bad Choice between Your Stomach and Your Health By Rachel Nugent
• Reflections on NYT Magazine Special Issue on Gender: Three Questions to Guide the New Crusade By Ruth Levine
• What Happens When You Combine a Newspaper with a Ugandan Village and the Internet? By David Wendt
• A Promising Senate Initiative on Neglected Diseases By Tom Bollyky