Blogs address global AIDS issues following World AIDS Day, release of U.S. blueprint

Dec 4 2012

The following blog posts address global AIDS issues, following World AIDS Day on December 1 and the release of the Obama administration's "President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-free Generation" (.pdf) on November 29.

• Deborah Derrick, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog: "As we approach World AIDS Day tomorrow, we have a chance to reflect on the [Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's] achievements and train our eyes on what was once an unimaginable goal: an AIDS-free generation," Derrick, president of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes. "Sustained focus and investment in global health will move us toward a future in which no one dies from AIDS-related illness and no baby is born with HIV," she continues (11/30).
• Bill Gates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog: "This year is especially important because the world is making huge progress against HIV, but we still don't have all the tools we need to end the epidemic," Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, writes. "I'm convinced that the right people and organizations are assembled to push toward beating this epidemic. What's not yet in place are the necessary financial resources," he says, asking people to donate to the Global Fund (11/30).   
• Scott Kellerman, Management Sciences for Health's "Global Health Impact" blog: "[E]liminating pediatric HIV is on the agenda," Kellerman, MSH's global technical lead for HIV/AIDS, writes, noting, "U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby and [UNAIDS Executive Director] Michel Sidibe announced the goal to eliminate pediatric HIV by 2015 last year." He continues, "We want our policymakers to think big and to provide the support and resources to make the impossible possible" (11/30).
• Jon O'Brien, "RH Reality Check": In order for the Obama administration's plan for combating HIV/AIDS to be effective, "both family planning and condoms for HIV prevention must be included," O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, writes. He notes PEPFAR's FY 2013 Country Operational Plan (COP) Guidance states "there continues to be significant unmet need for voluntary family planning and reproductive health services worldwide" and that "voluntary family planning should be part of comprehensive quality care for persons living with HIV." However, he says the COP includes the statement, "PEPFAR funds may not be used to purchase family planning commodities" (11/29).
• Tom Paulson, KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog: Paulson, a KPLU correspondent, provides recap of articles and blogs released around World AIDS Day. "We can end AIDS. It's true," he writes, adding, "It is also true to say we can end hunger and extreme poverty, if only we put enough resources, talent and political will into those efforts. But we don't. And until we put in the effort needed to truly suppress HIV/AIDS, calling for an end to the global AIDS pandemic will be, despite some amazing progress made in the past decade, wishful thinking" (11/30).
• Taufiqur Rahman, The Hill's "Congress Blog": "We have the technology and political will to dream of an AIDS-free generation," Rahman, an international health consultant, writes. "We have the capacity to use science and research to make a difference at the implementation level," he continues, concluding, "It is a time to once again put 'country ownership' and smart investments as central to sustainable AIDS prevention and treatment" (11/30).
• Alison Yager, "RH Reality Check": Yager, supervising attorney in HIV policy at the HIV Law Project, highlights "a few essential truths in the fight against AIDS," noting "services for people living with and at-risk of HIV/AIDS remain critical to individual health," "AIDS programming is as vulnerable now as it ever was to the prospect of funding losses," and "deep-seated homophobia, sexism, and ignorance ... perpetuate HIV stigma and continue to hamper this fight" (11/29).