11 Major Stories from 2011

---

AIDS turns 30

30 years ago, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report outlining five cases of what was believed to be a rare form of pneumonia. In retrospect, this report would be the first official one to outline what is now recognized widely as the HIV epidemic.

Read our special feature on 30 Years of HIV.

---

ARVs Prevent Infection

On May 12, the results of the HPTN 052 trial indicated that if an HIV-positive person adheres to an effective antiretroviral therapy regimen, the risk of transmitting the virus to their uninfected sexual partner can be reduced by 96 percent.

The story, which made global headlines in May, was recently hailed as the biggest breakthrough of 2011.

---

Anti-Gay Legislation

In May, Ugandan MPs backing an anti-homosexuality bill, which included a death penalty clause for repeat offenders, said they would move forward with it, despite President Museveni’s calls for them to abandon it.

In November, Nigeria’s Senate voted to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection.

---

Contraception and the Risk of HIV

In October, a seven-country study published in the Lancet showed that women using hormonal shots to prevent pregnancy, such as the contraceptive Depo-provera, increased their risk of contracting HIV, and doubled the chance that they transmit HIV to their partners. This was major news because helping women avoid unwanted pregnancy is an important part of reducing mother-to-child transmission.

---

Medicines Patent Pool

In July, the Medicines Patent Pool announced their first agreement with pharmaceutical company – Gilead Sciences – to improve access to HIV and Hepatitis B treatment in developing countries. The Patent Pool was created in 2010 to improve access to HIV medicines by enabling the negotiation of voluntary patent licences to generic pharma companies, enabling them to develop and distribute new formulations.

---

Generic Anti-Retrovirals under Fire

In March, thousands protested terms in the ongoing free trade agreement between the EU and India, which pushes for tougher intellectual property regulations – threatening the production of generic pharmaceuticals in India, which currently produces the majority of anti-retroviral drugs used in developing countries.

Read more in UNAIDS’s Press Statement.

---

Funding Cuts for HIV

In November, poor funding resulted in the Global Fund’s decision to cancel its 11th round of funding. The Global Fund is responsible for about 70% of HIV treatment in developing countries.

Earlier in the year, the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS released a report showing that funding fell from US$7.6 billion in 2009 to $6.9 billion in 2010 – the first time funding has dropped in more than a decade.

---

New Targets in Global AIDS Response

In June, at the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS, a new set of targets was outlined for the global AIDS response. Simply put: ”Zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths”.  The meeting concluded with the adoption of a declaration that seeks, by 2015, to double the number of people on ARVs to 15 million, end mother-to-child transmission, halve TB-related deaths in people living with HIV, and increase preventive measures for the “most vulnerable populations”.

---

Crowdsourcing New HIV Strategy

In September, UNAIDS, recognizing the important role of young people in the global AIDS response, launched a digital campaign aimed at encouraging young people to crowdsource a new strategy on HIV and Youth. The campaign, #CrowdOutAIDS, provides platforms for young people to interact and engage with each other regarding issues related to HIV in their community and seeks to reach a collective set of agreements out of these interactions.

---

More Political Misinformation

In November, Leader of the Democratic Alliance in South Africa, Helen Zille, called for people who knowingly infected others with HIV to be charged with attempted murder, and quested why the government should pay for people who contracted HIV through “irresponsible behaviour”.

On August 1st, Uganda’s Minister of Health, Christine Ondoa, claimed she knew three people who had been cured of HIV through prayer.

---

New HIV Vaccine Approved for Trial

In December, the first and only preventative HIV vaccine based on a genetically modified killed whole virus has received approval by the FDA to start human clinical trials.

Developed at The University of Western Ontario, with the support of Sumagen Canada, the vaccine (SAV001) holds tremendous promise, stimulating strong immune responses in preliminary tests with no adverse effects or safety risks.

---

As we enter the 4th decade of HIV, there is no better time than now to celebrate success and renew our commitment as responsible individuals, volunteers, activists, and sponsors. Reaching Zero New Infections is possible – and we hope it will be at the top of everyone’s resolution list this year.

Funny or Die and the Clinton Global Initiative recently released a video that lets you sit in on a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative’s Celebrity Division as they brainstorm ideas to celebrate CGI’s 10th Anniversary. The meeting, run by Ben Stiller, and attended by notable guests including Kristen Wiig, Jack Black, Matt Damon, Sean Penn, and Ted Danson, is going great, until they get a call from President Clinton…himself.

The mission of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) is to inspire, connect, and empower a community of global leaders to forge solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Learn more by visiting their About Us page.

Some Key Tuberculosis report findings

• the number of people who fell ill with TB dropped to 8.8 million in 2010, after peaking at nine million in 2005;
• TB deaths fell to 1.4 million in 2010, after reaching 1.8 million in 2003;
• the TB death rate dropped 40% between 1990 and 2010, and all regions, except Africa, are on track to achieve a 50% decline in mortality by 2015;
• in 2009, 87% of patients treated were cured, with 46 million people successfully treated and seven million lives saved since 1995. However, a third of estimated TB cases worldwide are not notified and therefore it is unknown whether they have been diagnosed and properly treated.

Despite this tremendous progress, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns that this is by no means a time reduce funding for the TB response.

“Fewer people are dying of tuberculosis, and fewer are falling ill. This is major progress. But it is no cause for complacency…Too many millions still develop TB each year, and too many die. I urge serious and sustained support for TB prevention and care, especially for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people”.

For more details about the WHO 2011 global tuberculosis control report, read the original press release by WHO.

Tuberculosis Resources

Read the full report

2011/2012 TB Fact Sheet

Read the Global Plan to Stop TB

Click for Full Size

The 2011 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which was released this week, highlights where countries across Africa stand regarding four key categories: Safety & Rule of Law, Participation & Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development. While any index will have its critics, this report highlights a diversity of scenarios on a continent often judged only by it worst cases.

For a more complete summary, check out the full summary report, otherwise, take a look at a few of the key points outlined below:

The Top 5 Best and Worst

Top five in the 2011 Ibrahim Index (score): 1st Mauritius (82), 2nd Cape Verde (79), 3rd Botswana (76), 4th Seychelles (73), 5th South Africa (71).

Bottom five in the 2011 Ibrahim Index (score): 49th Central African Republic (33), 50th Congo Democratic Rep. (32), 51st Zimbabwe (31), 52nd Chad (31), 53rd Somalia (8).

Category trends:

Sustainable Economic Opportunity: 38 countries improved, three significantly. No country has declined significantly.
Human Development: 48 countries improved.
In the Health sub-category in particular all but two countries improved and neither of the two declines is significant.
Safety & Rule of Law: 36 countries declined, one significantly.
Participation & Human Rights: 39 countries declined, one significantly.
The greatest declines in Safety & Rule of Law and Participation & Human Rights are substantially larger than the concurrent improvements in Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.

Commenting on these results, Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chair of the Foundation, said:

“We have seen this year that Africa’s young majority are no longer willing to stand for the selective approach to governance adopted by many of our continent’s governments. Our young people are demanding a holistic, equitable and inclusive approach to the management of their countries. The Index findings echo these demands – achievements in economic management and human development, however striking, will not be realised if a democratic deficit persists. Africa’s success stories are delivering the whole range of the public goods and services that citizens have a right to expect and are forging a path that we hope more will follow.”

Here is the full index:

Images and Documents contained in this post are credited to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

ONE is hoping users will watch the video and donate their voice by signing a petition and spread the message to their friends that famine is man-made – not an act of nature. There’s also a French version (with some decent, and some amusing, attempts to convey the message by the same celebrities).

Let me know what you think about this latest initiative by ONE and its dream team of celebrity endorsers by leaving a comment below!

The vaccine

The new vaccine, known as MVA-B, is a variation on the Live Virus Vaccine once used to eradicate Small Pox. Scientists have managed to manipulate this virus to carry 4 HIV genes with the hope that an immune system would recognize the virus if an individual became infected.

“It is like showing a picture of the HIV so that it is able to recognise it if it sees it again in the future” explains Professor Mariano Esteban, head researcher on the project at the National Biotech Centre in Madrid.

In the study, this vaccine was given to 24 healthy patients to gauge how their immune system would respond. In this early study, roughly 90% of the HIV-free volunteers who were given the vaccine, developed an immune response against the virus. After one year the vaccination, 85% still show signs of this response.

How it works

MVA-B is a therapeutic vaccine. This means that, if it is refined to the point where it was totally effective, it would be administered to those already living with HIV. It would then control the virus in their bodies in much the same way modern antiretroviral treatments do, except people would only need a single injection- not a daily regimen of tablets. Such a vaccination programme, if rolled out globally, would have a tremendous impact on the lives of people living with HIV, and reduce greatly further spread.

How important is this?

HIV is an incredibly complex virus with many strains. As such, any insight that could help researchers better understand how it works, is significant. In this context, however, it is important to recognize that this breakthrough is the result of a Phase I trial on one specific strain of the virus.

What’s next?

The next step in the process is another Phase I test. This time, however, the vaccine will be injected in to HIV positive volunteers to test its therapeutic application. Before any large-scale production, this vaccine will still need to go through Phase II and Phase III tests, which would involve injecting vaccinated volunteers with the HIV virus on a larger scale. These trials will likely take several years.

How long until an effective vaccine is available for HIV?

No one knows. As scientists will continue to make discoveries we will move closer to an eventual vaccine for HIV. Until this point, the most effective method of reducing HIV is by minimizing the spread of the epidemic. This is done by learning about HIV and AIDS, protecting yourself from HIV and other STIs by wearing a condom, and by encouraging your partner(s), friends, and communities to do the same.

Here are a few other posts on HIV research and advances:

‘Slow Progressers’ could be the key to new HIV treatment

Medical Advances and Human Rights Abuses: HIV/AIDS in 2010

30 Years of AIDS – A Timeline [PREZI]

Kiva is a non-profit that facilitates micro-loans to entrepreneurs, students and people in developing countries. The visualization above was created to celebrate five years of Kiva helping people through more than 4 million unique transactions.

Here is a little more about Kiva:

The event was hosted by Mpumelelo “Pommie” Mbangwa, a former cricketer with the Zimbabwean national team turned internationally recognised cricket commentator. Mbangwa, who joined North Star Alliance as a celebrity ambassador in 2009, actively uses sport as a tool to raise awareness about how HIV is affecting the lives of mobile populations and communities in Southern Africa.

“North Star Alliance is an organisation which is doing a lot and its aim is to increase HIV awareness in communities of truck drivers in Africa. These truck drivers move around and could contract and transmit the virus, and so, in those places, the organisation has clinics which offer health services for free,” said Mbangwa.

“Further, it is important to impart information about HIV and AIDS to young people so as to set them on the right path early on. Combining that aspect with cricket is particularly effective as it helps get their attention and gives them the means to adopt a healthy lifestyle,” explained Mbangwa.

“Engaging the communities surrounding North Star Alliance clinics is an essential part of the organisation’s health strategy which includes services oriented toward improving occupational, public, and individual health”, said Luke Disney, Executive Director at North Star Alliance.

“While our primary focus has always been to improve the health and wellbeing of mobile populations such as truck drivers, we became keenly aware that the drivers were only one side of the story. To mount an effective response to STIs and HIV, we also need to work with local community members who access our services and the firms that employ them,” explains Disney.

G4S, the event’s co-sponsor, and one of North Star Alliance’s local partners, employs over 11,000 people across Malawi. Beyond their sponsorship, G4S also brought with them their experience running community-based sport-development programmes by aligning the North Star Alliance cricket clinics with their mini-cricket league “under 13 playoffs” which also took place on Friday.

The event closed with a charity auction in support of the local North Star Alliance clinic. Among other things, cricket memorabilia items were auctioned off, including an autographed Mbangwa jersey, and a cricket bat signed by players from the current national Zimbabwean cricket team.

For more information about North Star Alliance, visit their Blog, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter!

To see more photos from the cricket clinics, check out: North Star Alliance and G4S use Cricket to Raise Awareness about HIV [GALLERY]

Photo Credit: Clémentine Noblecourt
Press Release: JP Bervoets

Here is an infographic collaboratively released by GOOD and Column Five Media that highlights the current state of the global AIDS epidemic and traces the slowly shifting perception of the American public towards HIV and AIDS.

While there have been some tremendous gains made in the past few years in the global response to AIDS (noticeably the declining rate of new infections), the data presented in this infographic highlight a continued need to give HIV and other communicable diseases proper attention within health and education policy. This means re-evaluating the methods used where widespread stigma and misinformation persist, and working toward increasing access to testing, treatment, information and care where prevalence demands it.

To learn more about how HIV is impacting young people check out an infographic (“What about HIV“) I produced for the Mali Youth Summit on HIV. You can also learn more about the history of HIV in: 30 Years of AIDS – A Timeline.

Good, and Column Five Media. “Infographic: The Successes and Failures of the Fight Against AIDS – Health – GOOD.” GOOD.is. 14 July 2011. Web. 30 Aug. 2011. <http://www.good.is/post/infographic-public-attitudes-about-aids/>.

Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian writer and one of Africa’s leading contemporary literary voices

Its not new news that young people and women are two groups that face tremendous obstacles in many communities.  For young women, these obstacles are often compounded, despite widespread recognition that empowering this group can lead to substantial improvements in health, education, and economic growth.

In 2003, then Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan wrote that “for decades, we have known that the best way for Africa to thrive is to ensure that its women have the freedom, power and knowledge to make decisions affecting their own lives and those of their families and communities”. He later said that “there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.”

Based on my own experiences over the past few years, I can with confidence echo this sentiment. I was quite appreciative, therefore, when I came across an article during this morning’s news-reading on Forbes.com highlighting The 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa.  All under the age of 45, these 20 women are at the forefront of business, governance, innovation, and culture in Africa right now. And, even though I cannot speak to all of their accomplishments directly, or even agree with some of their perspectives, it seemed a list well worth sharing.

Forbes lists The 20 Youngest Power Women In Africa

• Ory Okolloh – Kenyan. Founder, Ushahidi
• Chimamanda Adichie – Nigerian. Writer
• Yolanda Cuba – South African. Corporate Executive
• Ndidi Nwuneli – Nigerian. Social Entrepreneur
• Dambisa Moyo – Zambian. Economist
• Khanyi Dhlomo – South African. Media Mogul
• Phuti Malabie – South African. CEO, Shanduka Group
• Funmi Iyanda – Nigerian. Journalist & Broadcaster
• Isis Nyongo – Kenyan. Managing Director, InMobi Africa
• Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu – Ethiopian. Entrepreneur
• Elsie Kanza – Tanzania. Economic Advisor To Tanzania’s President
• Saran Kaba Jones – Liberian. Founder, Face Africa
• Julie Gichuru – Kenyan. Journalist & Broadcaster
• Lisa Kropman – South African, Entrepreneur
• Stella Kilonzo – Kenyan. Chief Executive, Capital Markets Authority, Kenya
• Magatte Wade – Senegal. Entrepreneur
• Jonitha Gugu Msibi – South Africa. Senior Partner, Ernst & Young
• June Arunga – Kenyan. Entrepreneur
• Juliet Ehimuan – Nigerian. Google country manager, Nigeria
• Olga Kimani-Arara – Kenyan. Google Country Manager, Kenya

For a more details and photos, check out the original article by Mfonobong Nsehe: The 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa

Since this list is by no means exhaustive, feel free to leave suggestions in the comment section below.