HIV/AIDS, Diabetes, Adolescents Matters in 2009- courtesy of the AIDS PORTAL, Population Council

Trial Finds Microbicide Ineffective as HIV Prevention Method for Women

The Population Council is disappointed that the microbicide candidate PRO 2000 was not shown to be effective. We applaud the Microbicides Development Programme; the researchers in four countries who conducted and completed the largest microbicide trial to date; and the 9,385 volunteers who made it possible. It is encouraging that these results confirm the safety of PRO 2000. The biomedical and behavioral information generated by this trial will advance the field and inform future research.

We continue to believe that microbicide development is an essential, achievable objective. An effective vaginal microbicide would increase women's prevention options, saving lives and slowing the progress of the AIDS epidemic.

Because no one product can meet the needs of everyone, those of us working in HIV prevention will continue to develop products and test approaches to expand the means for women and men to protect themselves.

The Population Council is committed to developing a range of microbicides as part of our comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, support, and treatment.

Fact Sheet: The Population Council, HIV/AIDS, and microbicides (more)

The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental research organization that seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources. The Council conducts biomedical, social science, and public health research and helps build research capacities in developing countries. Established in 1952, the Council is governed by an international board of trustees. Its New York headquarters supports a global network of regional and country offices.

Welcome to our newsletter for Southern Africa. This newsletter focuses on resources specifically related to countries in the region. In this last issue for 2009 we ask now that World AIDS Day and its flurry of activities is past- what happens next? In response, we highlight documents that may signpost new directions in scaling HIV Prevention southern Africa.
As usual we highlight New resources- documents, news and events specifically related to countries in the region
For general research, reports and toolkits you can sign-up for our global newsletter here. You can also sign-up for our other regionally focused newsletters: East Africa (run by the Kenyan AIDS NGO Consortium) and Latin America and the Caribbean (run by the International AIDS Alliance).

Do you have comments? ideas? resources to contribute? Please contact me and get involved!

Kind regards,
Naume
naume@aidsportal.org


Doing HIV Prevention Better
World AIDS Day 2009 has once again highlighted the need to scale up HIV Prevention. According to UNAIDS for every four people put on treatment, five are newly infected. A priority for 2010 is to reassess HIV Prevention Strategies based on a better understanding of the local drivers

SADC HIV Prevention Meeting: Achieving Prevention Targets, SADC, June 2009

New HIV recommendations to improve health, reduce infections and save lives, WHO 2009

2009 AIDS Epidemic Update, UNAIDS 2009





Investing in Women
AAI has released the first ever global scorecard analyzing country AIDS responses for women and the extent to which governments are meeting their commitment to report on these responses. Countries with the highest HIV burdens were doing the best job of reporting. This however, did not necessarily reflect good performance in delivering HIV services for women. Good reporting bySouth Africa, for example, contrasted with a poor record in improving the maternal mortality of HIV-positive women, or curbing high rates of violence against women.

The AIDS Accountability Scorecard on Women 2009, AAI , November 2009

Back prevention, NGOs say as Sixteen Day campaign kicks off , CSVR and Genderlinks, November 2009




Botswana
Assessing the integration of gender and human rights in HIV-related documents and processes in selected Southern African countries: A Rapid Assessment, Gender Project (Centre for Human Rights) and the AIDS and Human Rights Research Unit (Centre for Human Rights and Centre for the Study of AIDS), University of Pretoria, 2009

Combating HIV stigma in health care settings: what works?, Journal of the International AIDS Society 2009
View all 54 items


Lesotho
Antiretroviral treatment outcomes from a nurse-driven, community-supported HIV/AIDS treatment programme in rural Lesotho: observational cohort assessment at two years , Journal of the International AIDS Society 2009, 12:23
Lesotho National HIV & AIDS Strategic Plan - 2006 - 2011 , Government of Lesotho, 2006
View all 31 items


Malawi
Punishing Success? Early Signs of a Retreat from Commitment to HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment , Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, Médecins Sans Frontières, November 2009
Universal access to HIV treatment under threat from high drug prices, MSF, 2009

View all 106 items










South Africa
A network-level explanation for the differences in HIV prevalence in South Africa’s racial groups, African Journal of AIDS Research, Vol 8, No 3 (2009)


AIDS Denialism Abandoned: A New Beginning for the South African Health Department , Consultancy Africa Intelligence- HIV & AIDS Newsletter-2 December 2009

View all 524 items


Swaziland
Relationships, partnerships and politics in the lives of the urban poor in AIDS-afflicted Swaziland, African Journal of AIDS Research 2006
Swaziland: TB-HIV services needed to lower world's highest rates , PlusNews, 4 November 2009
View all 26 items


Zambia
A Test of the New Variant Famine Hypothesis: Panel Survey Evidence from Zambia, World Development, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 25 November 2009

The Adolescent Experience In-Depth: Using Data to Identify and Reach the Most Vulnerable Young People: Zambia 2007 , Population Council
View all 126 items


Zimbabwe
Fertility preferences and the need for contraception among women living with HIV: the basis for a joint action agenda, AIDS 23: S7-S17, November 2009

Global Fund Extends Life of Zimbabwe Funding for AIDS, Other Diseases , VOA, November 2009

View all 100 items


Southern Africa
Is AIDS Exceptional?, aids2031 Programmatic Response Working Group (Working Paper no 25), 2009
Country Experiences in scale up of male circumcision in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region: Two years and counting, A sub-regional consultation, Windheok, Namibia June 9-10 2009

View all 1191 items



Need Help?
Naume Kupe is the Southern Africa AIDSPortal facilitator. Contact her with questions or to find out how to get involved: naume@aidsportal.org; Skype: Naume_AIDSPortal
Jobs
Chief of Party, HIV and OVC , CRS Malawi, 16 January 2009

Project Director, FHI, Mozambique, 11 December 2009


View all
64 items

Events
1st Conference on Update of HIV/AIDS in Africa, Accra Ghana, 14-17 December 2009

XVIII International Aids Conference Vienna, Austria, 18-23 July 2010


View all
480 items

News

Are patent pools the answer to affordable second line HIV treatment? , UNAIDS, 3 November 2009

Why should we aim at having an HIV and AIDS competent church? , CUAHA, 3 November 2009

How To...
Do you want to link up with individuals and organisations working in your area of interest? Search the AIDSPortal Members Contact Directory.

Network Information
AIDSPortal has been contracted by the RIATT on Children and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa to develop its website. The website that is based on AIDSPortal’s nexus system will be launched early next year. Read more

Looking For More?
AIDSPortal has over 100 items related to Southern Africa. Visit us to find what you are looking for.









AIDSPortal is an initiative of the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development, a network of over 90 UK based organisations working together to understand and develop effective approaches to the problems created by the HIV epidemic in developing countries. If you would like to contact the AIDSPortal or wish to stop receiving this newsletter please email info@aidsportal.org


Over the past 15 years, girls' education in the developing world has been a story of progress.
Interest and funding from the development community have grown in response to the accumulating evidence documenting the many benefits of girls' schooling.
School enrollments have climbed. The large majority of girls now attend primary schools.
Yet questions remain:
• Why focus on girls? Why not boys too?
• What about adolescent girls?
• What works?
• What's next?
New Lessons: The Power of Educating Adolescent Girls, by Cynthia B. Lloyd, responds by providing:

New evidence of the dramatic, immediate returns that girls reap when they remain in school during adolescence.
The first-ever compendium of promising, girl-friendly educational initiatives with key features of hundreds of programs, sorted by region and country.
An educational manifesto for adolescent girls that identifies learning goals and educational pathways.
A ten-step plan to count, invest in, and advocate for adolescent girls' education.

New Lessons is a call to action to create and support a range of innovative educational opportunities for adolescent girls. Schooling for girls during adolescence can be transformative if it is of adequate quality and designed with their developmental and learning needs in mind.

The benefits of learning for girls ripple out within the family, the community, and across generations.
(Click here for more information)

Single printed copies of New Lessons are available free of charge. Please send requests or inquiries about bulk orders to publications@popcouncil.org.





The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental research organization that seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources. The Population Council conducts research worldwide to improve policies, programs, and products in three areas: HIV and AIDS; poverty, gender, and youth; and reproductive health. Established in 1952, the Council is governed by an international board of trustees. Its New York headquarters supports a global network of regional and country offices.



November 14 is World Diabetes Day
Over 800 Iconic Monuments to Light in Blue as Millions Mark World Diabetes Day

BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 13, 2009 – November 14 marks World Diabetes Day – a global awareness campaign led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) that highlights the diabetes epidemic and aims to bring hope to the 285 million people living with diabetes worldwide.
World Diabetes Day has been celebrated since 1991, when it was first created by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization. It is celebrated each year on 14 November, a date chosen to mark the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who is credited with the discovery of insulin. An official United Nation’s Day, World Diabetes Day is represented by the blue circle logo that is the global symbol of diabetes. This year sees the first of a five-year campaign that addresses the growing need for diabetes education and prevention programmes to tackle diabetes and its life-threatening complications.
The World Diabetes Day campaign aims to establish access to diabetes education as a right for all people with diabetes, to promote greater awareness of the risk factors and warning signs of diabetes, and encourage best-practice sharing in diabetes prevention.

Globe Goes Blue for World Diabetes Day
Throughout the world, over 800 iconic monuments will light in the colour of the diabetes blue circle to help bring the diabetes epidemic to light. The monuments participating in the IDF Blue Monument Challenge include: the Burj al Arab in the United Arab Emirates, the Brandenburger Tor in Germany, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, the Empire State Building in the USA, Niagara Falls in Canada, the London Eye in the United Kingdom, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Table Mountain in South Africa, Place de la Concorde in France and Tokyo Tower in Japan.
In addition to the lightings, hundreds of events will take place worldwide to mark the day, from individual acts of celebration to community-based activities. Examples include Desert Dingo Racing taking on Mexico’s gruelling cross-desert Baja 1000 race in the official World Diabetes Day car, and World Diabetes Day champions in the United States calling on people with diabetes worldwide to test their blood sugar at 14:00 hours (local time – irrespective of the time zone) and share the results online.
IDF is encouraging the public to register their support for all people living with diabetes by lighting a virtual candle and by wearing the diabetes blue circle pin. To view activities happening around the world visit http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/en/get-involved.
World Diabetes Day Museum
IDF has launched the World Diabetes Day Virtual Museum to display diabetes artwork, photographs, personal stories, campaign material, video and any other artefacts that might help illustrate or explain diabetes themes. The Federation is encouraging people to visit the exhibitions of the 2009 and previous World Diabetes Day celebrations, and to contribute their own artefacts. Visit the museum at http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/museum/
World Diabetes Day – Theme and Goals
IDF’s World Diabetes Day campaign aims to establish access to diabetes education as a right for all people with diabetes, to promote greater awareness of the risk factors and warning signs of diabetes, and encourage best-practice sharing in diabetes prevention. The campaign’s 2009 goal is to “Understand Diabetes and Take Control” and its key messages are: know the diabetes risks and know the warning signs, know how to respond to diabetes and who to turn to, know how to manage diabetes and take control.

“The International Diabetes Federation’s World Diabetes Day campaign aspires to a well-informed world where the myths that surround diabetes are dispelled and a motivated community come together to form a powerful global voice for diabetes advocacy,” said Professor Jean Claude Mbanya, President of the International Diabetes Federation. “The campaign has a responsibility to empower, educate and energize the diabetes community. At the end of the five-year period, the campaign hopes to see important changes in diabetes care, treatment, education and prevention efforts.”

The need to increase diabetes awareness grows ever year with the increasing impact of the disease worldwide. The latest data, recently published by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in the 4th Edition of the Diabetes Atlas, show that 4 in 5 people with diabetes now live in low and middle-income countries and that the men and women most affected are of working age – the breadwinners of their families. IDF predicts that the total number will exceed 435 million in 2030[1] if the current rate of growth continues unchecked.

Diabetes now affects seven percent of the world’s adult population and claims four million lives every year. The disease is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and amputation. Diabetes will cost the world economy at least US$376 billion in 2010, or 11.6% of total world healthcare expenditure. By 2030, this number is projected to exceed US$490 billion. More than 80% of diabetes spending is in the world’s richest countries and not in the poorer countries, where over 70 percent of people with diabetes now live.[2]


Diabetes burden by Regions
The regions with the highest comparative prevalence rates are North America, where 10.2% of the adult population have diabetes, followed by the Middle East and North Africa Region with 9.3%. The regions with the highest number of people living with diabetes are Western Pacific, where some 77 million people have diabetes and South East Asia with 59 million.[3]
India is the country with the most people with diabetes, with a current figure of 50.8 million, followed by China with 43.2 million. Behind them come the United States (26.8 million); the Russian Federation (9.6 million); Brazil (7.6 million); Germany (7.5 million); Pakistan (7.1 million); Japan (7.1 million); Indonesia (7 million) and Mexico (6.8 million).[4]

When it comes to the percentage of adult population living with diabetes, the new data reveal the devastating impact of diabetes across the Gulf Region, where five of the Gulf States are among the top ten countries affected. The Pacific island nation of Nauru has the world’s highest rate of diabetes, with almost a third of its adult population (30.9%) living with the disease. It is followed by the United Arab Emirates (18.7%); Saudi Arabia (16.8%); Mauritius (16.2%); Bahrain (15.4%); Reunion (15.3%); Kuwait (14.6%); Oman (13.4%); Tonga (13.4%) and Malaysia (11.6%).[5]
“The world cannot afford to lose the battle against diabetes. We need to stop people before they start the diabetes journey. For those already living with diabetes, we need to ensure that they receive effective diabetes care and education to help them manage their disease,” said Prof. Mbanya. “We have a collective responsibility to make sure that accidents of geography and history do not determine who should live or die. We have to act today to make a difference for people with diabetes tomorrow.”
The World Diabetes Day campaign can be followed online at www.worlddiabetesday.org; www.twitter.com/wdd; Facebook-http://tinyurl.com/o7o6kf and www.youtube.com/worlddiabetesday.
ENDS
References
1,2,3,4,5 - IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009. www.diabetesatlas.org

Note to Editors
About Diabetes
There are many forms of diabetes but the two most common are type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. It is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys its own insulin-producing cells. People with type 1 diabetes require daily injections of insulin to survive. The majority of all diabetes is type 2 diabetes (85%-95%), which in many cases can be prevented. People with type 2 diabetes cannot use the insulin they produce effectively, but can often manage their condition through exercise and diet, although many go on to require medication, including insulin, to properly control blood glucose levels. It is estimated 60% or more of type 2 diabetes could be prevented. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes represent a serious health threat.
About IDF
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organization of 212 member associations in 163 countries and territories, representing over 285 million people with diabetes, their families, and their healthcare providers. The mission of IDF is to promote diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide. Its main activities include education for people with diabetes and healthcare professionals, public awareness campaigns and the promotion and exchange of information. IDF is a non-governmental organization in official relations with WHO and associated to the United Nations’ Department of Public Information. For more information, please visit www.idf.org and follow us at twitter.com/IntDiabetesFed

About World Diabetes Day
The World Diabetes Day campaign is led by IDF and its 212 member associations in 163 countries. It is supported by 14 official partners: Abbott Diabetes Care, AstraZeneca, Boston Scientific, Bristol-Myers Squibb, LifeScan, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi Aventis and Takeda.



________________________________________
[1] IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009. www.diabetesatlas.org

[2] IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009. www.diabetesatlas.org
[3] IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009. www.diabetesatlas.org
[4] IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009. www.diabetesatlas.org
[5] IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009. www.diabetesatlas.org
Kerrita McClaughlyn | Media Relations Manager
tel +32-2-5431639 | mob +32-487-530 625 | Kerrita.McClaughlyn@idf.org

International Diabetes Federation
166 Chaussée de la Hulpe, B-1170 Brussels, Belgium
tel +32-2-5385511 | fax +32-2-5385114
info@idf.org | www.idf.org | VAT BE 433.674.528

Punishing Success? Early Signs of a Retreat from Committment to HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment
Punishing Success? Early Signs of a Retreat from Committment to HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Médecins Sans Frontières, November 2009

Funding for HIV/AIDS treatment is not keeping up with need, and appears to be shrinking. Funding shortfalls punish the early success of the last decade of ART scale-up, and threaten to have a devastating impact on people living with HIV/AIDS as well as efforts to prevent new infections. As global health actors retreat from providing direct support for AIDS treatment, more demand is placed on the Global Fund, which is itself critically underfunded.

In order to expand and sustain HIV/AIDS care and treatment worldwide MSF recommends:

Sustained and increased funding for HIV/AIDS from the international donor community and national governments – and a continued commitment to universal access to AIDS care and treatment

Improved treatment in line with scientific evidence and recognised international standards of care

Measures to ensure that prices of drugs and diagnostics remain within reach of poor countries