Is an AIDS-free Generation Possible?

In a speech given Tuesday at the National Institutes of Health, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a major shift in U.S. fight against AIDS, which she hopes will lead to an “AIDS-free generation.”  Whereas the previous focus under President George W. Bush was on ABC: abstinence, being faithful, and using condoms; the Obama administration wants to concentrate on circumcision, mother-child transmission and “test-and-treat” solutions.  In other words, the strategy is no longer aimed solely at prevention, but rather at scientific intervention and treatment.

Mrs. Clinton’s speech was praised by many, including Dr. Unni Karunakara, international president of Doctors Without Borders, who called it “very encouraging to see the U.S. government wanting to turn the latest H.I.V. science into policies that will save lives while beginning to reverse the epidemic.”  Others, like Dr. Mead Over of the Center for Global Development, were more cautious, stating that “[Mrs. Clinton’s] vision for an AIDS-free generation is ambitious, but we don’t have strong evidence yet that we can achieve that.”  

While Mrs. Clinton did not address many details, such as funding, she did articulate one specific goal: to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of the disease by 2015.  She also emphasized the importance of circumcision for men, multidrug cocktails for pregnant woman, and treatment of patients from the date of infection instead of when symptoms first appear as measures to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Drug companies such as Mylan, maker of an antiretroviral drug which treats one third of HIV/AIDS patients in the developing world, are encouraged at the shift in the administration’s policy.  In reaction to Clinton’s speech, Mylan’s president Heather Bresch commented, “

While the generics industry has made significant contributions toward making HIV/AIDS medicines more affordable, we believe the focus must now turn to expanding access to treatment for more people.  As such we’re heartened that the Obama administration is embracing treatment as prevention and rallying global leaders to help end the global HIV/AIDS pandemic by making the creation of an ‘AIDS-free generation’ a policy priority.

AIDS activists across the world also applauded Clinton’s speech and the administration’s bold new scientific focus in fighting the disease, which is thought to infect nearly 34 million people worldwide.  

To read the New York Times recap:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/health/policy/hillary-rodham-clinton-aims-for-aids-free-generation.html
And for some reactions from Africa:
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7Bfacbe32c-ab0a-4cce-83ec-3e0dc4cbda31%7D
Watch Clinton’s entire speech at the NIH here:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid52223497001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAGWqYgE~,KxHPzbPALrFyReeXAVeKZGa43PKUv3A9&bctid=1265084101001

War on Malaria

When most people think of disease in Africa, HIV/AIDS typically comes to mind as the most severe problem; however, malaria claims more lives annually and creates a miserable yearly routine for many Africans.  During the rainy season in Malawi, which runs from November to April, many villagers end up contracting malaria multiple times.  It is difficult to find a Malawian family that is untouched by the disease, which is the leading cause of death in the country.  In a “From the Field” article on the Malaria Vaccine Initiative’s website, the Jackson family from Chakwindima, a rural village west of Lilongwe, is profiled.  Despite taking precautions, the Jacksons contracted the disease a total of 14 times between 5 family members over the course of the 2007-2008 malaria season.

“We sleep under bed nets every night,” said Jacques Jackson, 36, the father.  “But we also spend some time in the early evening outside,” a time thick with mosquitoes, which transmit the disease-causing parasite to humans when they bite them.

Mary Jackson, the mother, “prepares food for us and cooks outside.  The children like to be close to their mother, and so they are outside with her.  And maybe they even are bitten when they sleep under the nets, because they often roll right up against the nets, where the mosquitoes can get them.”

http://www.malariavaccine.org/FromthefieldSeptember2008.php

By James Ratemo, jratemo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, October 19  2011 at  15:32

In fact, malaria claims close to 800,000 lives annually, most of which are young children living in Sub-Saharan Africa, and costs African countries more than $12 billion in lost GDP.  With staggering figures such as these, it is easy to see how a potential solution to the malaria crisis could change the lives and futures of millions of Africans.  Although malaria vaccines have been in the works for decades, none have come close to the success of the recent Phase III trials of RTS,S, a drug first developed by GlaxoSmithKlein over 25 years ago to be used by the U.S. military.  More recently, the project has been backed by grant monies from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is committed to eradicating malaria worldwide.

Preliminary results from Phase III trials of RTS,S, released October 18, 2011, show that it protected nearly half of the children who received it with acceptable safety and tolerability.  Clinical trials will include tests of over 15,000 children and are scheduled to continue through 2014.

To read the entire article:

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/New+vaccine+fights+malaria+better++study+shows/-/1066/1258052/-/item/0/-/frsujp/-/index.html

And check out this video from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose $200 million grant is contributing to the development of RTS,S:

Educational Follow-Up: Mkhosi and Matapila

Muli Bwanji!

Reinier and George are back in Lilongwe after spending two awesome weeks in two of our potential partner communities: Matapila and Mkhosi.

We’re glad to say that our experience could not have been any better and the Educational Follow-Up Program has proven to be a big hit in rural Malawi!

Upon arrival, we received a warm welcome by all the teachers, students, and community members who remembered World Camp from our camps and homestays this summer.

The headmasters of both schools invited us to stay with them for the week, something they probably regretted after realizing that we couldn’t stop asking them about education, HIV/AIDS, activism clubs, hyenas, and black mambas. However, all these questions as well as meetings with key stakeholders in the communities helped us to develop a clear understanding of the structures, struggles, and opportunities that exist. We soon became amazed about how much was being done by the village headmen, SMC/PTA committees, support groups, and many others despite the huge challenges that these communities face. Also, the constant quest for skills and training instead of “things” or “kwacha” really enabled us to have insightful talks about moving forward.

All these key stakeholders brought their energy, ideas, and concerns to our Leadership Workshop at the end of the week. Seeing the SMC/PTA talk about their responsibilities, village headmen discussing with students how they could help clubs to be more active, and teachers brainstorming about ways to increase peer education could not have been more inspiring. Our field assistants did an amazing job facilitating this process, because truly seeing the community discuss educational improvement among each other was exactly what we hoped for.

Last, during both weeks we started Empowerment Writing Workshops with St. 8 students. We had contacted NGOs, World Camp alumni, and other experts on how to effectively teach young people about creative writing but still were a bit nervous to see how it would play out in practice. We worked closely together with all the teachers and carefully explained what short stories, poetry, and journaling are all about. The students insisted to write in English and both the boys and the girls were excited about becoming awesome writers. We told them that they should see the journals that we gave them as new friends that they can talk to about anything, which helped to really make it an empowerment writing class.

Read Alefa's introduction to her short story to get a bit of an idea what their stories were about:

“My Birthday”

“A long time ago there was my birthday. But this day was very happy because there were many people on this day.

I welcomed many friends, these friends are Charity, Dyna, Cathirin and Yustina.

This birthday started at 2:00pm and finished at 6:00pm.

When it finished there were two girls and two boys, these children were going to the forest at 7:30pm and this one girl was HIV positive.

At the forest was sexual intercourse.

Because of sexual intercourse they contracted HIV. Then all the girls died and the boys contracted HIV.

When I go there two years later the boys are also dead.

Many people in the area suffer from HIV and AIDS and in our area, population is decreasing and children of orphanage are increasing.”

It was amazing to see that many of the students were able to give some of their sad stories a positive twist by looking critically at themselves and describing how they could do something to put a smile on their own face and on that of others.

These students definitely made us smile, and writing this blog puts a smile on my face again. What makes me even happier though is thinking back of how involved, excited, and helpful all the teachers were during these workshops. Seeing these teachers work incredibly hard in overcrowded classrooms and being able to provide them with new ideas on how to empower their students is what cannot make me stop smiling!