Ending Vertical Transmission of HIV: Community reality far from global ambition

Activists say “set the bar based on the latest science and not declining budgets”

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – New research by community activists from Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Nigeria finds that women’s health is still not a priority within programmes to prevent vertical transmission of HIV, despite all the recent declarations and summits on maternal health. The research report launched at the African AIDS Conference (ICASA) in Addis Ababa today calls for more comprehensive care for women and families as part of the drive to end vertical transmission of HIV.

African governments are revising their national plans to meet the targets set in the Global Plan Towards Elimination of New HIV Infections in Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive. The four countries in this report are priority countries because the gap between the need for and access to vertical transmission services is among the largest in the world.

Activists are calling on African leaders to set the bar based on the latest science and not declining budgets as they scale up programmes to meet the global goals of reducing HIV infection among children and AIDS-related maternal deaths.

“At podiums, politicians talk about women being the center of the programmes to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. But in national plans, programmes and budgets, women are simply forgotten,” said Aditi Sharma of International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, coordinator of the report. “If governments continue to fail to use this opportunity to stop a cycle of HIV and health problems, for a woman as well as her children, her male partner and her community, they will certainly fail to meet their health goals.”

This week at ICASA, host country Ethiopia announced a new Emergency Plan on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission.

Responding to the launch, Hereni Yalew of the National Network of Positive Women Ethiopians (NNPWE) said, “We welcome Ethiopia’s new plan for ending vertical transmission of HIV and the Minister of Health’s recognition of how women’s groups have helped to ensure that more women are using services – from HIV testing to antenatal care. The next step is to involve women’s groups more fully in designing a programme that better responds to the needs of the community and meets the goals that Ethiopia has set itself.”

Revised national plans and programmes to prevent vertical transmission of HIV and keep mothers alive and healthy must address common barriers that community researchers identified in all four countries.

“Women must get all the services they need to stay healthy. In Cameroon, antiretroviral drugs are free and the national policy says that HIV tests should also be free. But many women told us that have to pay 500 CFA (US$1) in public facilities and over 3,000 CFA in private facilities. Testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections is several times more expensive and beyond the reach of most women,” says Sandrine Mataffeu, of the Central Africa Treatment Action Group (CATAG) in Cameroon.

“Many of the health authorities and service providers interviewed in Cote D’Ivoire considered the lack of male involvement as one of the weakest points of the national programme. Giving incentives for couples to attend testing and care together would help reduce the fear of rejection and blame that many women face,” said Sylvère Bukiki of the West Africa Treatment Action Group (WATAG) in Cote D’Ivoire.

“We are calling on Africa to say no to single-dose nevirapine. Women in rich countries get the best drugs and counseling to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. In Nigeria and many other countries in Africa women are still receiving single-dose nevirapine when scientific studies have shown that it can cause drug resistance and put their future treatment at risk,” said Olayide Akanni of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) in Nigeria.

Other common themes emerging from the four countries include:

• Lack of proper guidance and correct information about infant feeding choice
• Lack of integration between HIV prevention services and sexual and reproductive and maternal and child health services
• Recent WHO guidelines on earlier initiation of treatment for pregnant women and the use of more effective regimens to prevent vertical transmission of HIV are not being fully implemented

The Long Walk: Ensuring comprehensive care for women and families to end vertical transmission of HIV also includes updates from six countries that reported on this issue in 2009. These updates show some progress, including testing scale up, training of healthcare workers and integration of services. However, women still lack correct infant feeding guidance in most countries, and continue to face widespread stigma in health care settings.

At ICASA, activists are also calling on governments not to walk away from the AIDS response just as new science and proven interventions make ending AIDS a possibility.

“Donor and governments cannot promise to eliminate vertical transmission and reduce AIDS-related maternal mortality by 2015 on the one hand and on the other starve the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria or promote free trade agreements that kills off generic competition essential for affordable drugs,” added Sharma.

The full report is available at four4women.org.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Findings Published in Two International Peer-reviewed Publications Provide New Global Data on Influenza Vaccine Provision and the Level of support for

Vaccine supply data from 157 countries shows that global vaccination levels remain low;
while policy measures that directly impact patients are linked to higher levels of Influenza Vaccination.

Geneva, 28 November 2011 – Two studies being published this week in peer-reviewed journals look at global vaccination policies and use global vaccination provision data that had not been previously available. The first study published in Vaccine[1] shows that despite influenza vaccine provision increasing, levels globally remain low and the rate of growth is slowing. Only 20% countries achieved the study’s conservative threshold which is based on WHO immunization recommendations[2]. Official vaccination recommendations alone do not drive higher coverage; instead public health policies with a direct impact on patients, such as effective communication and reimbursement policies, are associated with higher levels of seasonal influenza vaccination. These factors appeared substantially more important than United Nations (UN) development status, which does not appear to correlate directly to coverage levels. The second study being published in the International Nursing Review[3] shows that there is wide-spread health authority support for healthcare worker immunization around the world.

The new data for the two publications was provided by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)[4]. Although seasonal influenza places a major burden on public health, with over 40% of national governments recommending vaccination of at-risk groups, no systematic global data has been available to assess vaccine provision nor the effect of immunization policies. For this reason, the IFPMA compiled global vaccine supply data for 157 countries from 2004 and 2009.

The IFPMA study published in Vaccine measured seasonal influenza vaccine provision worldwide and found coverage needs to continue to grow strongly to meet vaccination recommendations issued by public health Authorities and Organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO). The results show that global vaccine supply increased by more than 70% to 449 million doses during the study period (2004 to 2009), but only 20% of the 157 study countries reached the study’s low threshold level, which was based on WHO seasonal influenza immunization recommendations for the elderly only, and did not include other at-risk groups.

“Protecting communities around the world against the ongoing threat posed by seasonal influenza is an important public health goal,” commented Dr. Lance C. Jennings, Clinical Associate Professor, Canterbury Health Laboratories & Pathology Department, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. “The growth seen in vaccination levels in recent years is encouraging, but coverage rates do not meet local official immunization targets in many countries. Therefore, the results of this new IFPMA study, showing that effective communication and reimbursement policies help improve uptake irrespective of national development status, are particularly welcome.”

The study showed vaccine provision was uneven around the world, and several less developed nations, notably in Latin America, achieved higher coverage levels than a number of more developed countries, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe. Sub-group analysis of 26 countries showed countries’ development status and the inclusion of influenza vaccine in official recommendations did not appear to correlate well with vaccine provision. In contrast, vaccine uptake showed higher correlations with large-scale communication activities and reimbursement.

Many countries recommend seasonal influenza vaccine for key risk groups, and undertake annual immunization campaigns. Although vaccine use is increasing around the world, the rate of growth is slowing, and few countries achieve high levels of vaccine coverage. Continuing and accelerating the growth in vaccine uptake is essential to protect populations against the threat of influenza. The IFPMA indicates that the opportunity exists to achieve this goal. Robust measures that connect directly with patients, such as the use of effective communications and financial support for vaccination, can improve the effectiveness of local immunization policies, irrespective of countries’ UN development status.

The second IFPMA study published in the International Nursing Review³ shows public health authorities around the world officially recommend and financially support seasonal influenza vaccination for healthcare workers. The proportion of countries supporting healthcare worker immunization was similar to that targeting ‘traditional’ risk groups. Notably, health authorities’ support for vaccination did not correlate with national UN development status.

“Public health experts around the world are increasingly calling for routine influenza vaccination of healthcare professionals, to protect the workers themselves, their families and colleagues, and most importantly their patients,” said Dr Kristin L. Nichol, Associate Chief of Staff for Research, Minneapolis VA Medical Center Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota.

“Seasonal influenza poses a serious threat, causing potentially life-threatening infections in seriously ill patients, and staff absences that can disrupt healthcare services and increase costs. In contrast, healthcare worker vaccination can enhance patient safety, reduce workplace absence and provide savings for healthcare organizations.”

Dr Nichol also stated that “Increasing immunization rates is an important priority, and robust policy measures, such as education, providing easy access to vaccines and formally documenting workers’ vaccination status can help achieve this. The results of this new IFPMA research are therefore particularly encouraging, because they show official support for healthcare worker immunization is wide-spread, including in less developed countries, and is not simply determined by national wealth.”

The IFPMA data surveyed 26 countries taken from each region of the world. The research found 88% of the countries recommended healthcare worker vaccination against seasonal influenza. This compared with 92% that recommended immunization for those with chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular or metabolic diseases, and 96% that recommended vaccination of the elderly. In these countries, there was no clear correlation with development status, as defined by the UN classification, with 83% of less developed countries and 92% of more developed nations recommending healthcare worker immunization.

_________________________________________

[1] Palache A. Seasonal influenza vaccine provision in 157 countries (2004 to 2009) and the potential influence of national public health policies. Vaccine Volume 29, issue 51, pp. 9459-9466 (Cover date 28 November 2011) © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

2 The threshold was based on a single target group included in WHO recommendations: the elderly. No other risk groups were included. Consequently, the threshold, set at 15.9% of the population, was considered conservative.

3 Music T. Protecting patients, protecting healthcare workers: the role of influenza vaccination. International Nursing Review 2011.

4 Supplied by IFPMA IVS member companies: Abbott Biologicals, Baxter, Biken, Crucell, CSL, Denka Seiken, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Green Cross, Hualan Biologicals, Kaketsuken, Kitasato Institute, MedImmune, Novartis Vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur, Sanofi Pasteur MSD and Sinovac.


*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Africa Positioning Itself to Realize the Demographic Dividend as Leaders Push for Global Access to Family Planning

DAKAR, Senegal, 30 Nov. 2011 – Researchers and advocates will meet on the second day of this major family planning conference in Dakar to discuss critical findings and proven strategies to deliver family planning services. Their shared goal: to broadly increase contraceptive access to 215 million women worldwide and to transform development across the board.

Today’s conference theme will be the demographic dividend – the concept that health and social development, enabled by full access to contraception, are inextricably linked with strong economic growth. There are numerous examples of success in Asia, where declining fertility, spurred by rising contraceptive use, have led to increased education, improved health, and market-driven economic policies have allowed for significant income growth. To determine whether Africa is poised to follow suit, experts must examine countries with recent and remarkable achievements in family planning, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda.

“Investing in family planning is one the most cost-effective strategies governments can implement. When women prevent unintended pregnancies, families can invest their resources in education, healthcare and family businesses.” said Dr. Amy Tsui, Director of the Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a lead conference organizer.

African finance and health ministers will convene today in a high-level closed-door meeting to discuss concrete steps to achieve the demographic dividend in their own countries. In addition, an official press conference will feature five experts speaking to the policy, research, donor, and program components necessary to increase access to family planning, and the economic benefits of doing so. Speakers will include:

· Hon. Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura, Minister of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone

· Dr. Amy Tsui, Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Institute of Population and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

· Ms. Monica Kerrigan, Deputy Director and Team Leader, Family Planning/Reproductive Health, Family Health Office, Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

· Dr. Scott Radloff, Director, Office of Population and Reproductive Health, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

· Dr. Akinrinola Bankole, Director, International Research, Guttmacher Institute

· Ms. Jill Sheffield, President, Women Deliver

“We’ve made a lot of progress in putting maternal health on the global agenda; now we must call on leaders to put family planning on their to-do list. Every individual deserves this – women, men, and young people,” said Jill Sheffield, President and Founder of Women Deliver.

The challenges ahead are significant, but this conference presents enormous opportunity to profoundly impact global development for the next 50 years plus.

The ICFP is co-sponsored by more than 30 international organizations including USAID, DFID, AFD, UNFPA, WHO, European Commission, World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Accredited members of the press may register for ICFP in-person at Le Méridien, Dakar

For more information on ICFP, please visit: www.fpconference2011.org

Follow us on Twitter @FPDakar2011 and find us on Facebook

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

andmark Conference on Family Planning Opens Today in Dakar, Senegal

DAKAR, Senegal, 29 Nov. 2011 – Thousands from around the world will gather at Le Méridien President Hotel in Dakar, Senegal today for the opening of the International Conference on Family planning. This is the largest meeting of its kind, and will aim to push forward an agenda for broad family planning access and support around the world. Today, more than 215 million women worldwide want but do not have access.

The historic four-day conference features more than 140 plenaries, sessions and panels that will share latest research, proven strategies, and lessons learned in addressing the massive need for contraception worldwide. Participants will seek to galvanize greater political and financial support, hold governments accountable for their commitments, and champion contraceptive innovation and access.

In a world of seven billion, empowering women and ensuring access to contraception for all individuals is more important than ever. “Now is the time to prioritize family planning – as a strategy to reduce maternal mortality, to improve the lives of women and their families, and ultimately, to enable broad and enduring economic development,” said Dr. Amy Tsui, Director of the Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a lead conference organizer.

To launch this landmark meeting, Melinda Gates will welcome over 2,000 participants in a video address. An opening plenary will feature remarks from: His Excellency Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal; Her Excellency Chantal Compaoré, the First Lady of Burkina Faso; the Honorable Stephen O’Brien, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of DFID; and Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Populations Fund.

“We are honored to have such an influential group of experts together in Africa – precisely where the need is greatest, and the hurdles highest. We believe that this conference will shape the future of families and nations and will be a milestone event for women, men, youth and children worldwide,” said Dr. Tsui.

As the conference opens today, the need for family planning access, affordability, and effectiveness has never been greater – but nor have the solutions been more attainable. The wealth of scientific knowledge, family planning experience, and critical discussions at ICFP will help ensure that universal access to family planning becomes a reality.

The ICFP is co-sponsored by more than 30 international organizations including USAID, DFID, AFD, UNFPA, WHO, European Commission, World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Matt Damon Leads the List of Guest Bloggers in the New Water Section of the Huffington Post

As an advocate helping solve the global safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) challenge, join the discussion on the new Huffington Post Water page. The blog by Matt Damon, summarized below, is the leading article on this interactive and informative page. To post your comments, read blogs and watch WASH related videos, visit Huffington Post Water.

Safe Water and a Toilet -- Is That Too Much to Ask... for 2.5 Billion People?

By the time you finish reading this paragraph one more child will have died from something that's been preventable for over a century. Nearly 40 percent of the world's population is still unable to secure a safe glass of water or access a basic toilet. While we continue to rally around the goal of ensuring safe water and sanitation for everyone, the real question we are left asking ourselves is: how do we truly approach this in a way that results in realizing this vision within our lifetime?

Even today, as solutions are known and available, lack of access to safe water and sanitation continues to claim more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. This painful reality has driven philanthropic efforts to help stop the suffering. But even after decades of charity, subsidies, multilateral aid, and investments on the part of governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the system remains inefficient and largely misses the goal of providing relief for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP) in their daily need to secure water.

Instead of viewing this as an ocean of people with their hands out waiting for charity-driven solutions, what if we see them as potential customers? In the past decade we have seen a paradigm shift in how we understand the BOP -- a shift that holds much promise for tackling the safe drinking water and sanitation crisis. Microfinance has been a catalyst in this, democratizing access to capital.

Through WaterCredit, Water.org has explored the application of microfinance to water and sanitation needs. With the support of the Pepsico Foundation, Water.org has reached more than 250,000 people with loans that allow them to pay connection fees for house taps and to construct toilets. Now, Water.org is taking this to scale with an $8 million grant from the Pepsico Foundation announced last Thursday and a $3.8 million grant from the MasterCard Foundation. This philanthropic capital will leverage an additional $36 million in commercial capital, reaching about one million people.

Water.org calls on NGOs, governments, utilities, philanthropists, and influencers to recommit to approaching this crisis from the perspective of the poor. This call includes raising the stakes by putting the global water and sanitation crisis on the map in a way that it truly deserves. This is a challenge worthy of the next global movement.

Water.org is honored to have the opportunity to work with Arianna Huffington, who pledged herself and her team to give this movement an incredible kick-start with the launch of a new section of Huffington Post. Ultimately, the solution will be creativity, innovation, and collective action that will allow us to achieve universal access to water and sanitation, and do so in our lifetime.

To read the full blog by Matt Damon and Gary White, visit Safe Water and a Toilet.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Scientists Report Rare Occurrence of Humans Harboring Two Strains of Flu at the Same Time in Global Flu Hot-Spot

While dual infections in Cambodia did not produce new strain, study cites need for continuous tracking against risk of different influenza viruses combining to create a new pandemic

(Deerfield, Ill., USA – November 2, 2011) Researchers conducting influenza-like illness surveillance in Cambodia have confirmed a rare incidence of individuals becoming infected with a seasonal influenza and the pandemic strain at the same time, a reminder of the ongoing risk of distinct flu viruses combining in human hosts to produce a more lethal strain, according to a report in the November issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. A pandemic strain is a type of flu against which people have little or no natural immunity.

While the individuals recovered and the two strains did not recombine into a new and different virus, experts say coinfections in Southeast Asia deserve particularly close scrutiny given the ongoing transmission of the deadly avian influenza virus H5N1 and circulation of the pandemic H1N1 influenza that first emerged in 2009. The report comes as flu season gets underway in the United States, and while Cambodia and other tropical parts of Asia are reporting continued flu activity.

As of October 10, 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) had tallied 566 known human infections with H5N1 and 332 deaths for a fatality rate of over 60 percent. In Cambodia, 16 of 18 infected individuals have died, with the most recent case reported in August. Thus far the virus has shown a very limited ability to pass from human to human—almost all the infections have been traced to contact with sick poultry and other diseased birds. But in the scientific community, fears remain that under the right conditions avian flu could acquire far greater human virulence through a co-mingling—or reassortment—with a human strain.

“Influenza viruses are continually changing,” said Patrick Blair, PhD, director of respiratory diseases at the US Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California. “Finding a coinfection in an area where there is considerable seasonal flu, pandemic flu and H5N1 avian flu shows there is an opportunity for co-mingling in swine or human hosts that could create an ominous global health problem.” Blair co-authored the study with colleagues from the Cambodia National Institute of Public Health, US Navy Medical Research Unit-2-Phnom Penh, and the US (Maryland)-based J. Craig Venter Institute.

The scientists identified the coinfection from viruses isolated from a young Cambodian boy and his teacher in October of 2009, several months after the pandemic H1N1 influenza strain began circulating around the world. Tests revealed the two viruses to be H1N1 and a human seasonal flu variety known as H3N2. When the researchers conducted a complete sequencing of both virus genomes, they were able to determine there had been no “genetic recombination.”

“This kind of thorough surveillance and scientific investigation is the result of a commitment and collaboration of health authorities around the world—and particularly the US Department of Defense—to invest the resources required to remain vigilant against one of the biggest biological threats of our time,” said Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, noted infectious disease expert and president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), which publishes the journal. “Highly infectious strains of the virus against which humans have little defense can spread from one continent to another with 24 hours.”

Staying Vigilant Against Worst-case Scenario

Blair said the mere existence of coinfection is of interest to disease experts for a number of reasons. First, as the study notes, coinfections are relatively rare. In one study conducted in 2010, scientists examined over 2,000 influenza samples without turning up a single coinfection. Other studies pinpointed a relatively small number of co-infections involving the pandemic H1N1 virus: one in Singapore, six in China, and 11 in New Zealand.

Researchers are keenly interested in identifying any coinfections because, regardless of their immediate risk, there is an urgent need to learn more about the human role in the “genetic reshuffling” that allows different influenza strains to interact and create a pandemic strain.

For example, researchers probing the dual infections in New Zealand found that the H1N1 pandemic strain was co-inhabiting with a strain that was resistant to the anti-viral oseltamivir (sold under the brand name Tamiflu). Such coinfections, they said, “raise the potential of an oseltamivir-resistant pandemic strain.”

As bad as that would be, Blair said the worst-case scenario for many disease experts is one in which a coinfection with avian flu and a human strain results in a highly lethal virus that easily jumps from person to person.

As the study on the Cambodian coinfection notes, the prevalence of H5N1 “in poultry in many areas of Southeast Asia provides increased opportunity for human exposure and adaptation of a lethal virus suitable for sustained human transmission.” The researchers point out that several pandemic flu strains, including the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, have displayed a mix of genetic material from human and animal influenza.

For example, they note that H1N1 virus samples isolated in Southern California in April of 2009 “contained genetic elements from four different sources, including North American swine influenza viruses, North American avian influenza viruses, human influenza viruses, and a Eurasian swine influenza viruses.” Similarly, the flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968 have both been traced to a “reassortment between human and avian strains.”

Blair said it’s hard to predict the chances of H5N1 providing the genetic platform for the next pandemic. “Even though there may be a very small chance of this occurring, avian flu is still percolating in Southeast Asia and it continues to exhibit an extraordinarily high fatality rate in humans,” he said.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

CFR Launches Interactive Map Tracking Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks

October 24, 2011—While tremendous progress has been made to combat vaccine-preventable diseases, outbreaks continue to thwart eradication efforts. Measles still kills an estimated 164,000 people around the world each year—mostly children under five. One or more of the three strains of the polio virus have been reported in circulation in Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, and China.

For the past three years, the Global Health program at the Council on Foreign Relations has been tracking relevant reports to produce an interactive map plotting global outbreaks of diseases that are easily prevented by inexpensive and effective vaccines. The diseases include measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, and rubella.

“These outbreaks illustrate a worrying trend and raise the sense of alarm regarding failures in and public resistance to vaccine efforts,” says CFR senior fellow for global health Laurie Garrett. “Small decreases in vaccine coverage are known to lead to dramatic increases in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases,” she explains.

The map is searchable by region, year, and disease. Established media organizations and blogs are encouraged to embed the chart on their sites and to submit additional news reports of outbreaks and vaccine shortages.

The “Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks Map” is available at: www.cfr.org/vaccinemap

The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.


*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

DNDi Joins WIPO Open Innovation Platform

Geneva, Switzerland, 26 October 2011 – The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) welcomes the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) initiative to create an open innovation platform – in the form of a searchable public database – to make intellectual property (IP), including compounds and regulatory data, for neglected disease innovation available for licensing. The initiative, called Re:Search, is being launched today in Geneva.

This initiative confirms a recent growing trend of openness in the management of IP for global health. After the Medicines Patent Pool for HIV launched by UNITAID and the Pool for Open Innovation for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) launched by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), WIPO Re:Search represents an additional move towards more open mechanisms that have the potential to facilitate and foster sharing of IP and knowledge for neglected disease innovation.

DNDi joins WIPO Re:Search as a Provider and likely User. It has committed to providing raw data to WIPO Re:Search, including information on development of drugs for leishmaniasis and human African trypanosomiasis, both of which are fatal parasitic diseases.

This mechanism has the potential to avoid duplication in research and to reduce costs and development timelines for the benefit of patients. However, while DNDi welcomes the initiative, it points to two elements considered essential to ensure innovation and access in neglected-disease endemic countries:

‘Firstly, WIPO and other important players engaged in global health should take a step further in terms of access, especially by including not only the least developed countries but all neglected disease-endemic countries’, said Dr Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director of DNDi. ‘Secondly, we need to aim for more transparency in licensing practices that have a public health goal. We have to go beyond the minimum,’ he added.

Since its inception, DNDi has advocated for open innovation. In practice, it brokers very ambitious and clear agreements to ensure equitable access in neglected disease-endemic countries with several pharmaceutical partners. DNDi will continue to negotiate for the best conditions for neglected patients and to promote more open innovation for neglected diseases.

Part of DNDi’s mission is to encourage and support follow-on research for neglected diseases by the research community. It will use WIPO Re:Search, in addition to other public databases, to share, as much as possible, research data generated in partnership with public and private partners.

About Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)
DNDi is a not-for-profit research and development organization working to deliver new treatments for neglected diseases, in particular human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, malaria, and, with the recent expansion of its portfolio, specific helminth infections and pediatric HIV. DNDi was established in 2003 by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation from Brazil, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia, and the Pasteur Institute of France. The UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/World Health Organization’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) serves as a permanent observer.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

BBC’s Peter White and charity Sightsavers highlight the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness

This World Sight Day (13 October) the charity Sightsavers will pledge to raise £62 million to eliminate the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness, trachoma.

BBC Disability Affairs Correspondent and Radio 4 presenter, Peter White, will endorse the charity’s initiative by presenting his personal experience of its work in Kenya to guests including some of the UK’s most influential policy makers

Sightsavers has decided to carry out this unprecedented investment in order to eliminate trachoma from the 14 African and Asian countries where it is endemic, by 2020. To do this, the charity has pledged to raise an additional £6.25 million yearly to tackle trachoma for the next ten years. This is the biggest single investment Sightsavers has ever made to combat the disease.

Though eliminated in most developed countries, trachoma remains a significant threat in the developing world, affecting more than 84 million people. The disease of poverty mainly affects people who live in hot, dry and dusty areas where there is poor availability of water and sanitation. Triggered by bacteria, after years of repeated infection the inside of the eyelid may be scarred so severely that the eyelid turns inward and the lashes rub on the eyeball, scarring the front of the eye. If untreated this condition leads to blindness. It costs Sightsavers as little as £5 to carry out an operation to treat severe trachoma.

Peter White has witnessed first-hand the devastating effects that trachoma can have on people’s lives in some of the world’s poorest countries where Sightsavers works. Earlier this year, the BBC correspondent travelled to Africa to learn more about Sightsavers’ work to fight trachoma in the Marasabit region of Kenya, an area blighted by drought which is exacerbating disease levels.

Speaking about his experience in Kenya, Peter White said: “What struck me most was the scale of the problem Sightsavers face and the devastating effect sight loss has in an economy where everyone’s contribution is vital. For the first time it was explained to me that losing your sight as a herdsman, or running a home with many children, can be an economic disaster and it became clear to me that the work Sightsavers does can literally restore lives in a matter of minutes.”

Sightsavers’ ambitious ten-year plan will aim to:

–        Operate on one million trachoma patients by 2020

–        Expand antibiotic distribution to 84 million people

–        Ensure at least 80 percent of children aged between one and nine have clean faces by encouraging face washing

Commenting on the initiative, Simon Bush, Sightsavers Director for Advocacy and African Alliances, said: “Sightsavers knows there is an urgent need for global efforts to be increased if the goal of eliminating trachoma by 2020 is to be reached and, more importantly, if people are to be stopped from needlessly going blind. A massive backlog of patients require surgery – if we don’t act quickly they will be blinded by trachoma.”

At the event, entitled, ‘A SAFE solution: our plan to eliminate blinding trachoma’, Peter White is to address some of the UK’s most influential policy makers including the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
International Development, Stephen O'Brien; Sightsavers’ Chairman, Lord Nigel Crisp; and esteemed Professor Alan Fenwick OBE who has been pivotal in raising the issue of NTDs to the international community.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

National HIV/AIDS Summit on September 22 Will Honor Dr. Tony Fauci

WASHINGTON, DC (September 20, 2011) – The nation’s war against HIV/AIDS began 30 years ago with reports that young homosexual men began to die from a new disease that was destroying their immune systems. But rather than simply observe this important milestone, the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research is using the 30^th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic to convene a major policy summit in Washington that will address the “unfinished business” of the HIV/AIDS research community – determining how to match the significant progress in drug discovery with the delivery of state-of-the-art care to every person infected or potentially infected with HIV.

Taking place on September 22, from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Capitol Hill (Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 106), the 2011 National HIV/AIDS Summit will bring together an estimated 150 scientists, clinicians, public health leaders and advocates who will draw the roadmap for accelerating the field of “implementation science” in HIV, an area focused on answering key questions that will improve the prevention, early diagnosis and consistent treatment of people with HIV. At this stage of the global response to HIV/AIDS, the research community is increasingly employing implementation science to understand why interventions are not accessed by those who need them and to develop more efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver HIV drugs and treatment services worldwide.

“This National Summit is intended as a call to action around the need to accelerate progress in closing the treatment gap so that all people with HIV can take advantage of the remarkable achievements over the last 30 years that now make it possible to live a near normal lifespan with this disease,” said Veronica Miller, Ph.D., Director of the Forum. “Our goal is to take up the current challenges presented by the HIV epidemic to move the science of prevention, care and treatment forward.”

Of added significance, the summit will pay tribute to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has directed the federal government’s biomedical research efforts against HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic and is now one of the world’s most widely cited scientists for his contributions to HIV disease, including recently moving NIAID funding into HIV/AIDS implementation science. To honor Dr. Fauci, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, now 95 years old, will travel to Washington to present the NIAID Director with the C. Everett Koop HIV/AIDS Public Health Leadership Award, an award established in 2010 to recognize distinguished service, vision and leadership in HIV/AIDS research, education and advocacy. Dr. Fauci will then give a national address to policymakers and the HIV/AIDS community reflecting his lessons learned over 30 years in combating HIV/AIDS.

Assessing the Scientific Progress to Date; Defining Immediate Priorities for Implementation
Unlike the myriad meetings looking back at the 30 years of HIV/AIDS, the 2011 National Summit will not only chart the scientific progress to date in controlling the HIV epidemic but will focus on the current challenge for the scientific community -- matching the advancements in treatment with the delivery of care to every person infected or potentially infected with the virus.

Starting with a keynote address by Martin S. Hirsh, MD, Professor of Infectious Disease and Immunology at Harvard Medical School and a seminal figure in the development of multi-drug therapy for HIV, the summit will feature a prestigious panel of experts that will address the state of the science and identify the research gaps that are impeding further progress. The panelists will feature:
· Roger Pomerantz, Senior Vice President and Head of Infectious Disease at Merck & Co., Inc.
· James Curran, MD, Dean of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University
· Lynda Dee, President of AIDS Action Baltimore
· Cornelius Baker, National Policy Advisor for the National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition
· Sharon Hillier, PhD, a leader in HIV/AIDS clinical research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Because an estimated 56,300 Americans become infected with HIV every year and the disease has reached epidemic levels in developing countries, a second panel will identify the major impediments to effective HIV care in the U.S. and globally, including the growing shortage of HIV medicine specialists in the U.S., the need for sustained funding for the distribution of HIV medicines both in the U.S. and globally, and effective ways to reach, diagnose and treat both persons who are infected and those who are not yet diagnosed. Moderated by John G. Bartlett, MD, Professor of Infectious Disease at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, this panel will comprise:
· Dr. Paul Stoffels, MD, Company Group Chairman, Global Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson
· Mark R. Dybul, MD, formerly U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator leading the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and currently Co-Director of the Global Health Law Program at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
· Gregory Pappas, PhD, Director of Washington, DC’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Disease and Tuberculosis Administration
· Christine Lubinski, Vice President of Global Health for the Infectious Disease Society of America
· Art Reingold, MD, Professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health and a leading researcher and authority on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and developing countries.

Following the National Summit, Dr. Fauci will be honored by Congressional leaders and officials of the Obama Administration at a reception at the U.S. Capitol from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. The reception will take place in Room HVC-201 of the Capitol Visitors Center.

About the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research
Now part of the University of California (UC), Berkeley School of Public Health and based in Washington, DC, the Forum was founded in 1997 as the outgrowth of a White House initiative. Representing government, industry, patient advocates, healthcare providers, foundations and academia, the Forum is a public/private partnership that organizes roundtables and issues reports on a range of global HIV/AIDS issues. Forum recommendations have changed the ways that clinical trials are conducted, accelerated the delivery of new classes of drugs, heightened awareness of TB/HIV co-infection, and helped to spur national momentum toward universal testing for HIV. http:// www.hivforum.org

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

Countries worldwide are saving children’s and mothers’ lives at a faster pace

International efforts to address child and maternal health challenges appear to be working, yet few countries will meet international targets for child mortality or maternal mortality.

SEATTLE – With four years left for countries to achieve international targets for saving the lives of mothers and children, more than half the countries around the world are seeing promising trends in lowering child mortality and maternal mortality, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

In countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America, declines in child mortality and maternal mortality have sped up over the past decade. This has reduced the number of deaths in children under the age of 5 from 11.6 million deaths in 1990 to an estimated 7.2 million in 2011and it has lowered the number of deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth from 409,100 in 1990 to 273,500 deaths in 2011.

The trends indicate that efforts to educate more women, to prevent infectious diseases and to implement other targeted health programs in developing countries are having an impact. They also show, though, that few countries are going to achieve international targets for improving child and maternal health. An estimated 31 developing countries will achieve Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4), which calls for a two-thirds reduction in the child mortality rate between 1990 and 2015, and 13 developing countries will achieve Millennium Development Goal 5, which calls for a three-fourths reduction in maternal mortality ratio over the same period. Of those countries, nine will achieve both goals: China, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Maldives, Mongolia, Peru, Syria, and Tunisia. The study, “Progress toward Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on maternal and child mortality: an updated systematic analysis,” is published in The Lancet.

“If the world is going to achieve these goals, we need to see immediate, concerted action on the part of governments, donors and bilateral agencies to move these trends in the right direction,” said Dr. Rafal Lozano, Professor of Global Health at IHME and the paper’s lead author. “We know that accelerated progress is possible because we are seeing it already.”

A significant number of countries have seen 5% declines per year in child mortality or higher, twice the global rate, over the past decade, including Cambodia, Ecuador, Rwanda, Malaysia , and Vietnam. In maternal mortality, Kenya, Morocco, Zambia, and Zimbabwe all had declines of more than 8% annually over the past decade. Even Afghanistan, which has one of the worst maternal death rates in the world, has had a 4.9% annual decline in maternal mortality since 2000, after increasing 2.2% annually over the previous decade.

Part of the decline in maternal mortality in much of sub-Saharan Africa is due to improved prevention and treatment efforts for HIV/AIDS, the researchers note. In looking for other key drivers for the mortality declines, the researchers point to global health programs, such as the scale-up of insecticide-treated bed nets in countries with a high malaria burden, and to country-level programs, such as the government of India’s ongoing investment in rural health clinics. In 2010, IHME published a paper showing that educational attainment among women of reproductive age accounted for 51% of the decline in child mortality.

“We must not let the focus on MDGs detract from what has been real and impressive progress with child and maternal survival, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Alan Lopez, Head of the University of Queensland School of Population Health and one of the report’s co-authors. “It is critical that this progress be maintained and that lessons learned from this success be rapidly transferred to other countries where progress has been less impressive.”

One area that needs attention is neonatal deaths. Even as mortality rate in children under 5 fell by 2.2% annually, the mortality rate for infants during the first week of life only declined by 1.7% annually.

“The difference between neonatal mortality and overall mortality in children under 5 might seem small to someone outside of global health, but it’s worrisome because it can be a sign of other problems in the health system,” said Dr. Haidong Wang, Assistant Professor of Global Health at IHME and one of the paper’s co-authors. “If countries can’t make sure that children survive during that first week, they may not be effectively providing prenatal care to mothers, good obstetrical care during the birth or important follow-up care.”

For these new estimates of child and maternal mortality, researchers used the most recent data and advancements in statistical tools to provide policymakers with more precise information as the world intensifies efforts to achieve international targets for maternal and child health. The authors acknowledge that the new estimates may lead to some confusion among policymakers, who have seen a series of analyses on maternal and child deaths in recent years, including two previous sets of estimates from IHME. For example, maternal death numbers for 2005 were estimated to be 546,000 by the United Nations in a 2007 study and are now estimated to have been 347,000 in this study, a difference of 35%. Child deaths track more closely, in large part because of the larger amount of data available over a long period of time.

“People have argued that we should not be updating these numbers every year, but we think that as new data are available and as methods are being improved it is crucial to show governments, funders and the public at large how much progress is being made,” said Dr. Christopher Murray, Director of IHME and one of the paper’s co-authors. “Decisions are being made today that could literally mean the difference between thousands of lives being saved or more women and children dying. That is why improvements in data gathering and measurement are important for guiding policymakers as well as holding them accountable.”

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. IHME makes this information freely available so that policymakers have the evidence they need to make informed decisions about how to allocate resources to best improve population health. For the report and for more information about IHME, please visit http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

BURUNDI BECOMES 10th AFRICAN COUNTRY TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PNEUMONIA THROUGH IMMUNISATION

Pneumococcal vaccines will help provide healthy future for young population

Geneva, 16 September 2011 – The Republic of Burundi will next week accelerate its fight against pneumonia, the world’s biggest killer of children under five, when it becomes the tenth African country to introduce new pneumococcal vaccines.

Every year, an estimated 16,000 children in Burundi die from pneumococcal disease, the main cause of pneumonia.

“Pneumonia is still killing too many of our children, but with this new vaccine we aim to reverse this tragedy and set our children on course for a healthy future,” said Dr Sabine Ntakarutimana, Burundi’s Minister of Health.

Globally, more than half a million children die every year from pneumococcal disease. An estimated 90% of these deaths occur in the developing world and the deaths are especially tragic because pneumococcal disease is preventable through vaccination.

By 2015, the GAVI Alliance (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) plans to have supported the introduction of these vaccines in more than 40 developing countries. Burundi will be the fourteenth developing country to introduce the vaccine with GAVI support.

“The introduction of pneumococcal vaccines into Burundi is a solid long-term investment for the country’s social and economic potential,” said GAVI Alliance CEO, Dr Seth Berkley. Today is a great day for the children of Burundi. GAVI's support for pneumococcal vaccine means that children can get this powerful cost-effective vaccine wherever they live”.

As well as preventing premature death, the use of vaccines also reduces the number of clinic visits, hospitalisations and permanent disability. Parents are able to spend less money on treatment for sick children and have more time for productive work.

In recent months, the Central African Republic, Gambia, Cameroon, Benin and Rwanda have also introduced the new pneumococcal vaccine. This means that since it was first introduced in Nicaragua in December 2010, a total of 14 developing countries will have introduced the pneumococcal vaccine into their routine immunisation programmes with support from the GAVI Alliance.

The roll-out of the pneumococcal vaccines in countries such as Burundi has been made possible through an innovative finance mechanism pioneered by GAVI called the Advance Market Commitment (AMC).

With US$ 1.5 billion from Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Russian Federation, Norway, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a commitment of US$ 1.3 billion from GAVI, the AMC allowed the acceleration of production capacity by the two manufacturers who currently produce the vaccines.

Without the AMC, it might have taken up to 15 years for appropriate pneumococcal vaccines to reach the developing world.

Pneumococcal vaccines, once fully rolled out globally, are expected to save seven million lives by 2030.

# # #

The GAVI Alliance is a public-private global health partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunization in poor countries. The Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society organizations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists. Since it was launched at the World Economic Forum in 2000, GAVI has prevented more than five million future deaths and helped protect 288 million children with new and underused vaccines.

For more information, please visit: http://www.gavialliance.org/support/nvs/pneumococcal/

Sign up to receive GAVI’s newsletter: Immunisation insights


*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

President Clinton Announces “Conversations on Courage” Featuring Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy and Archbish

More than fifty Heads of State to participate, including Barack Obama, President of the United States; King Abdullah, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Ollanta Humala, President, Peru; Tarja Halonen, President, Republic of Finland; George Papandreou, Prime Minister, Greece; Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister, Kingdom of Sweden; Jalal, Talabani, President, Iraq; Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister, Republic of Zimbabwe

Newly announced participants include Fred P. Hochberg, President, Export-Import Bank of the United States; Herman A. Van Rompuy, President, European Union; Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, European Union; Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Leader of the Danish Social Democrats, Denmark; Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO; General Wesley Clark, Chairman and CEO, General Wesley K. Clark & Associates, LLC; Rajiv Shah, Administrator, United States Agency for International Development; Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the Dow Chemical Company; Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Bank; Paul Farmer, Co-founder, Partners in Health; Lee Fisher, President and CEO, CEOS for Cities; Morgan Freeman, Actor and Co-Founder, Revelations Entertainment; Sarah Jones, Playwright/Performer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador; Van Jones, Founder, Rebuild the Dream; Musimbi Kanyoro, President and CEO, Global Fund for Women; Gary Knell, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop; Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor, State of California; Rosario Pérez, Chief Executive Officer, Pro Mujer; Judith Rodin, President, the Rockefeller Foundation; Reeta Roy, President and CEO, the MasterCard Foundation; and James Lee Witt, Chief Executive Officer, Witt Associates

New York—Today, President Bill Clinton announced new elements of the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, including a rare, live discussion with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy via satellite and a discussion with Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu.

“Aung San Suu Kyi’s and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s extraordinary leadership in addressing critical global challenges exemplifies the shared dedication of Clinton Global Initiative members, who have improved the lives of more than 300 million people in more than 180 countries since CGI began seven years ago,” said President Clinton.

Drawing upon her own struggles for human rights, democratic governance, and ethnic reconciliation, Suu Kyi will highlight a wide range of strategic actions CGI members can take on these issues. Archbishop Tutu, chairman of the Elders— an independent group of global leaders who work together for peace and human rights—will discuss the importance of a new global effort to end the practice of child marriage.

President Barack Obama will attend the CGI Annual Meeting on Wednesday and deliver closing remarks at the Sustainable Consumption Plenary. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will also participate in the Annual Meeting and hold a one-on-one “conversation” during the Closing Plenary.

More than 1,200 members will attend the seventh Annual Meeting of CGI to brainstorm creative solutions to address the three topics presented at the meeting: Jobs, Jobs Jobs: Generating Employment for the 21^st Century; Sustainable Consumption: Ensuring Long-term Prosperity on a Finite Planet; and Girls and Women: Scaling What Works.

On Tuesday, September 20, CGI will host a series of four keynote lunches, with featured speakers: Valentino Achak Deng, founder and director, the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation; Madeleine K. Albright, chair, Albright Stonebridge Group; Dave Eggers, author and co-founder, the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation and Voice of Witness; Thomas Hicks, deputy assistant secretary of the navy for energy, U.S. Department of the Navy; Leymah Gbowee, executive director, Women Peace and Security Network Africa; Michael Porter, bishop william lawrence university professor, Harvard Business School; Dov Seidman, CEO, LRN; and Jonathan Wolfson, chief executive officer, Solazyme.

President Clinton also announced the event will feature a special session on innovation, titled “Game-Changing Innovation: Technologies for Building Social and Economic Value.” This session will explore how global innovation opportunities can be brought to scale to build the triple bottom line and achieve new levels of prosperity in the years ahead. The participants include John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer, Cisco; Tarja K. Halonen, president, Republic of Finland; Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and chief executive officer, the Dow Chemical Company; and Bob McDonald, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Procter & Gamble.

Other special sessions include: “Voices for Change in the Middle East and North Africa,” “Sports as a Tool for Social Good,” “From Conflict to Creativity: Reducing Violence through the Arts,” and “From Response to Resilience: Effective Disaster Preparedness.”

The following participants were previously announced: confirmed attendees include Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile and first under-secretary-general and executive director, UN Women; Tony Blair, founder, the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, former prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister, Kingdom of Norway; Chelsea Clinton; Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state, U.S. Department of State; Geena Davis, founder, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Bob Diamond, chief executive, Barclays; Helene D. Gayle, president and CEO, CARE USA; Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO, the Coca-Cola Company; Luis Alberto Moreno, president, Inter-American Development Bank; Dikembe Mutombo, chairman and president, Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, Inc.; Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO, PepsiCo; Denis O’Brien, chairman, Digicel; Paul Polman, chief executive officer, Unilever; Jim Rogers, chairman, president, and CEO, Duke Energy; Premal Shah, president, Kiva.org; Vikki Spruill, chief executive officer, the Ocean Conservancy; Trudie Styler & Sting; Mark Tercek, president and CEO, the Nature Conservancy; and Muhammad Yunus, Chairman, Yunus Centre.

Newly announced participants include: Gary Barker, international director, Instituto Promundo; Yves Behar, founder and chief designer, fuseproject; Irina Bokova, director-general, UNESCO; General Wesley Clark, chairman and CEO, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, LLC; Paul Farmer, co-founder, Partners in Health; Lee Fisher, president and CEO, CEOS for Cities; Morgan Freeman, actor and co-founder, Revelations Entertainment; Angel Gavidia, student, Cisco Networking Academy; Tarja Halonen, president, Republic of Finland; Sarah Jones, playwright/performer and UNICEF Goodwill ambassador; Van Jones, founder, Rebuild the Dream; Musimbi Kanyoro, president and CEO, Global Fund for Women; Jakaya Kikwete, president, United Republic of Tanzania; Gary Knell, president and CEO, Sesame Workshop; Pat Mitchell, president and CEO, the Paley Center for Media; Toshihiro Nakamura, co-founder and CEO, the Kopernik; Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor, state of California; Rosario Pérez, chief executive officer, Pro Mujer; Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister, Kingdom of Sweden; Judith Rodin, president, the Rockefeller Foundation; Kathleen Rogers, president, Earth Day Network; Reeta Roy, president and CEO, the MasterCard Foundation; Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister, Republic of Zimbabwe; Peter Sands, group chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank; Rajiv Shah, administrator, United States Agency for International Development; and James Lee Witt, chief executive officer, Witt Associates.

View and share session webcasts from the 2011 CGI Annual Meeting by visiting: http://live.clintonglobalinitiative.org and the event hashtag is #CGI2011.

What:

2011 CGI Annual Meeting (www.clintonglobalinitiative.org)

Where:

Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers

811 7th Avenue at 52nd Street

New York, NY 10019

When:

September 20-22, 2011

Applying for Credentials: To apply for press access to the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, please complete the form at http://bit.ly/pressreg2011.

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.