Posts Tagged ‘AIDS’

After AIDS, Bringing The Fight To Cancer

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

“Rich country problems” are starting to be recognized in the developing world.

  • Even though aid money to developing nations has typically been spent fighting contagious diseases like HIV and malaria, public health workers are now confronting a rise illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
  • The fight against noncommunicable diseases isn’t as well-funded, but funding for it has increased since 2004. Even organizations that focus their work on U.S. victims of cancer and heart disease are starting to expand into international aid.
  • One obstacle to greater funding for noncommunicable diseases is simply that donors are used to fighting AIDS and tuberculosis, not heart disease and cancer. Contagious diseases are also easier to prevent than non-contagious ones. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals don’t even address this type of illness.

Facts & Figures

  • 60% of deaths in developing nations result from noncommunicable diseases.
  • Only 3% of the $22 billion dedicated to health aid around the world is for fighting noncommunicable diseases.
  • The United Nations is holding its first high-level conference on noncommunicable diseases in 2011.

Best Quote

“We happily see declines in infectious diseases and unhappily see increases in non-infectious diseases, and donor funding has just not come close to responding to that changed health profile. There is a huge and glaring disparity.” – Rachel Nugent, Deputy Director for Global Health, Center for Global Development

A Strategy To Prevent AIDS For Everyone

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

America is diverse, so a strategy to prevent a national problem has to be just as varied.

  • On Tuesday, President Barack Obama issued the first national AIDS plan, a strategy that is considered a milestone in the history of AIDS in America.
  • In America, AIDS users are diverse and the causes of the disease vary according to geography and economic background. Therefore, one single method of prevention cannot be applied to everyone.
  • Obama’s plan links nonprofits, organizations, businesses, and philanthropies with local governments to tailor specific prevention programs according to the surrounding demographic of AIDS users.

Facts & Figures

  • 1 in 30 adults in Washington, D.C. are infected with HIV
  • HIV is the leading cause of death among black women of childbearing age

    Millionaire Moves To Ugandan Mud Hut

    Thursday, April 8th, 2010

    Successful British businessman Jon Pedley is leaving behind a life of luxury to move to Uganda and start a charity.

    • A self-made tycoon, Pedley experienced many setbacks in life – a criminal record, struggles with alcoholism, and a serious car crash that left him in a coma for 6 weeks.
    • Inspired by a friend who works in Uganda, Pedley is selling real estate and businesses to fund his new charity, Uganda Vision.
    • Uganda Vision connects troubled British youth to children in Uganda who are struggling with AIDS and poverty.

    Facts and Figures

    • The 41 year old is selling his 16th-century farmhouse to move to a mud hut in Uganda.
    • Pedley is also selling Empowered Communications and Eme Tech to raise funds.
    • After fully recovering from his car accident, he gave up alcohol and found religion.

    Best Quote

    “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.” – Jon Pedley

    When Paying Less Attention To AIDS Is A Good Thing…

    Monday, November 9th, 2009

    A heated debate is under way over how money should be allocated to fight illnesses that affect young children in developing countries. While much headway has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, children continue to perish from simple dehydration.

    • The U.S. is receiving increased scrutiny from UNICEF and other humanitarian organizations about the percentage of foreign aid that goes to fighting childhood AIDS as opposed to other diseases that afflict children in the developing world.
    • President Obama has promised to put more emphasis on child and maternal health but has simultaneously committed to increase money given to fight AIDS.
    • Leaders in the movement to fight AIDS in Africa, such as Jeffrey Sachs, suggest that other Western nations focus on different global health priorities, since the U.S. is spending so much on AIDS specifically.

    Facts & Figures

    • Diarrhea kills 1.5 million children a year in developing nations – more than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.
    • Oral rehydration salts cost literally pennies, but only 4 in 10 children suffering from dehydration in developing countries receive this simple treatment.
    • In Africa’s two most populous nations, Nigeria and Ethiopia, 540,000 children under the age of 5 died of pneumonia and diarrhea in 2007, which is more than twice the total number of people who died of AIDS.

    Best Quote:

    “AIDS is still underfunded, no question. But maternal, newborn and child mortality is tremendous tragedy and gets peanuts.” – Jeremy Shiffman, Political Scientist at Syracuse University