TB Alliance Website

We are excited to announce the launch of the new TB Alliance website: http://www.tballiance.org/

Tuberculosis, or TB, kills nearly 2 million people each year. The TB Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of finding better, faster-acting, affordable drugs to fight TB. In an effort to provide a comprehensive overview of TB, clearly illustrate the extent of the global pandemic and highlight the TB Alliance’s efforts, our website now includes (among other features):

· An in-depth analysis of the challenges facing the TB epidemic, including inadequate treatments, HIV-TB co-infection, multi-drug resistant and extremely-drug resistant TB, and the economic impact of the disease

· A detailed synopsis of the TB Alliance’s ongoing efforts to advance the development of new tools to fight TB with information on the organization’s global partnerships, drug pipeline and mission

· A new section on regimen development, a novel clinical development paradigm that can speed the development of novel drug combinations in a fraction of the time

· A “Voices of TB” section that includes video perspectives from those on all sides of the fight against TB

· An expanded newscenter with current TB and TB Alliance coverage as well as fact sheets and other media materials that detail information on the global pandemic.

Additional updates to the site are in the works.

What do you think? We want to hear your feedback. Please feel free to respond with any comments you have. You can also follow our news on Twitter, or our Community Engagement efforts on Facebook.


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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.

Rotary International and USAID Provide 10,000 Ghanaians with Safe Drinking Water

Americans are working together to help solve the global safe drinking water challenge. Through community organizations like local Rotary clubs, they are partnering with the federal government and communities around the world to expand access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Rotary's International H2O Collaboration is one recent success.

International H2O Collaboration, an alliance between Rotary International and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), built a mechanized system to provide more than 10,000 people in three communities in Ghana with safe drinking water.

The water system is part of a US$2 million project that is providing boreholes, hand pumps, and mechanized pipes, as well as ventilated pit latrines and showers, across Ghana’s Volta, Greater Accra, Eastern, and Central regions.

"This project is a great example of public and private partnership at its very best, to improve not only the quality of life, but life itself, immeasurably," said Rotary International President, Kalyan Banerjee.

"This innovative partnership between USAID, the Ghana Ministry for Water Resources, and Rotary International saves lives by reducing these communities’ use of unsafe open water sources,” said Laurel Fain, chief of the USAID Ghana Health Office. “Today, the community and the government of Ghana take responsibility for maintaining these facilities and for continuing to educate children and citizens in proper hygiene, creating conditions where our assistance is no longer necessary.”

The International H2O Collaboration is in its third year. As part of the efforts in Ghana, the collaboration is also funding hygiene training and bio-sand water filters in the Dominican Republic, and a project in the Philippines to improve sewage collection and treatment that will help more than 150,000 people.

According to USAID officials and Rotarians who have been involved in the initiatives, the collaboration has provided valuable insight into best practices for water and sanitation projects.

To read the full article visit Rotary International

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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.

Experts Meet in Stockholm to Find Long-Term Sustainable Solutions to the Global Water Crisis

More than 2,600 humanitarians and policymakers meet in Stockholm this week to hash out ideas about how to tackle escalating problems surrounding water scarcity and access to sanitation, particularly in urban environments.

World Water Week delegates are seeking long-term sustainable solutions to the growing global water challenge. The goal is to try and improve the lives of almost 900 million people who lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 2.7 billion who lack access to basic sanitation, according to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) statistics.

Growing pressure on resources and amenities is a key concern as urban populations increase.

“Governments pay a lot of lip service to the needs of the poor, but have very little to show in demonstrating investments and strategies,” said Sheela Patel, chair of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI). “While the state subsidizes the elite, water for the poor is sold at a much higher rate.”

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a framework of global targets set in 2000 by the U.N. to be met by 2015 to try and alleviate poverty, will also be a focus.

Measures to improve water and sanitation are incorporated into MDG 7, which aims to ensure environmental stability. The goal is to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

A key message that WaterAid, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), will try to relay is one of equity and inclusion -- how to make urban sanitation safe and fair while preventing the creation of mass slums, and spurring debate over climate change concerns.

Daniel Yeo, senior policy analyst at WaterAid, said he hopes for discussion on the severe drought which is creating famine in the Horn of Africa, and the linkage to food security.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis now, but the long term crisis is still there and it hasn't been solved.”

To read the full story by Reuters click here.

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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.

Katine, Uganda

I wanted to email those close to the site and highlight our new Return to Katine series, looking at progress in education, health, water and sanitation, and savings and co-operatives in Katine, Uganda. As a reminder, in October 2007 the Guardian began tracking a development project implemented by Amref in Katine, north-east Uganda. For three years we covered the highs and lows of development work and tried to explain processes. Our full-time coverage of the project came to an end in October 2010, as the Global development site launched, but we are returning to the sub-county over the next few years to monitor how the community fares when Amref withdraws. There is also an academic review of the first three years published in October last year too.

You can see all the articles here, and read an overview from Richard Kavuma - "When an NGO has been associated with a place for as long, and with a mandate as broad, as Amref has had in Katine, departing will naturally leave a void. Many people here praise Amref, and cite its impending departure as a challenge. The question remains, what will happen to all the community structures and services put up and supported by the project?"


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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.

TACKLING THE GLOBAL RISE OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES: THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SUMMIT The New York Times and The University of Southern California

TACKLING THE GLOBAL RISE OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES:

THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SUMMIT

The New York Times and The University of Southern California

Present New Online Course

Much of the world faces a rising epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancer, heart and lung disease, obesity, and diabetes. For those interested in learning more about why this epidemic is taking place and the steps being taken to control it, The New York Times Knowledge Network and The University of Southern California present a new one-week online course, “Tackling the Global Rise of Non-Communicable Diseases – The UN General Assembly Summit.”

This course, taught by Heather Wipfli, Ph.D. and Jonathan M. Samet, M.D., M.S, will be timed to correspond with developments that unfold at the UN General Assembly Summit on NCDs to be held in New York, September 19-26. The Summit represents the first time ever that the UN General Assembly will hold a summit involving heads of state to address the threat of NCDs to low- and middle-income countries and only the second time the General Assembly has held a special summit to address a health issue (the other for HIV in 2001, which led to the establishment of the Global Fund for HIV/Aids, TB and Malaria). The UN Summit will highlight the role of global “actors” and actions in addressing global health problems.

The course will cover a variety of topics relating to NCDs, including:

• The factors driving the NCD epidemic, e.g. the tobacco and food industries
• The burden posed by these diseases
• The efforts to control the NCD epidemic

“Tackling the Global Rice (sic) of Non-Communicable Diseases” will run from September 16-23, 2011. To register for this new online course or for more information, please visit:

http://www.nytimesknownow.com/index.php/tackling-the-global-rise-of-non-communicable-diseases/.

This course is part of The USC and New York Times Knowledge Network online continuing education program (www.nytimes.com/usc), which offers students tailored, practical programs to enhance their professional paths, and the flexibility of online courses for both working and non-working adults. Courses feature USC faculty, in addition to New York Times journalists.

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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.

Forum for Collaborative HIV Research celebrates it's (sic) 15th anniversary

Journal Republishes the 1996 Landmark Report That Set the Research
Strategy for HIV/AIDS
Document Provided Impetus to Establish the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research

WASHINGTON, DC (August 17, 2011) – The coordinated approach to accelerating medical discovery in HIV/AIDS began 15 years ago with a White House initiative called the Keystone National Policy Dialogue on the Establishment of Studies to Optimize Medical Management of HIV Infection. Now, the independent public-private partnership formed in response to this effort -- the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research -- is re-releasing the landmark report that set the research strategy for scientific advancement in HIV/AIDS, co-infection and universal HIV testing.

Published in The Annals of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research, the August 2, 1996 report of the Keystone National Policy Dialogue on the Establishment of Studies to Optimize Medical Management of HIV Infection reflected the possibility that biomedical research and effective public policy can fundamentally change HIV into a chronic, manageable disease and to alter the course of the epidemic by reducing the transmission of the virus. However, the report made plain that meeting this goal would require an “unprecedented collaboration” among the many constituencies involved in HIV/AIDS research and therefore, called for the establishment of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research, which today is the foremost institution taking up the challenges presented by the HIV epidemic to move the science of treatment, prevention and care forward.

“Fifteen years after the participants of the Keystone Dialogue Group charted the nation’s course for accelerating medical discovery on HIV/AIDS, more than 33 million people with HIV are benefitting from the significant advances that are directly linked to the actions envisioned by this report,” said Veronica Miller, Ph.D., Director of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research. “The tremendous progress achieved since 1996 can be directly attributed to the recognition of the 48 members of the Keystone Group that accelerating HIV/AIDS research and public policy requires shared agreement and a unity of purpose among all stakeholders. This is the enduring legacy of the Keystone report.”

Reflecting on the impact of the Keystone report, Dr. Miller credits this policy document with defining the nation’s goals for optimizing medical management of HIV infection and changing the way clinical trials are now conducted on HIV therapies. Moreover, by paving the way for the establishment of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research in 1997, the report set the stage for a number of important accomplishments in advancing the research agenda. Some of the Forum’s most important achievements to date include: identifying clinical endpoints for immune-based therapy; developing clinical trial designs for heavily-treatment experienced patients; bridging the HIV and TB research communities; identifying gender, racial and ethnic issues in prevention and treatment; addressing pediatric HIV diagnosis and laboratory monitoring; and encouraging routine testing for HIV as an important component for individual health and prevention.

But beyond accelerating the science on HIV/AIDS, the Forum also credits the Keystone report with laying the foundation for assessing the factors affecting access to available therapies for HIV, including the duration of clinical effectiveness of specific antiretroviral agents, costs, and quality of life measures to ensure that physicians and patients do not overuse, underuse, or misuse available treatments, limiting their utility in achieving significant public health benefits.

“At a time when cost considerations are driving the health policy debate, it is important to realize that many of the barriers to improved access to effective treatments were predicted 15 years ago, when the members of the Keystone Dialogue Group cautioned about the tremendous pressure on payers and publicly funded programs to decrease coverage and payment levels for HIV therapies,” said John G. Bartlett, MD the Forum’s Executive Committee Co-Chair. “Re-reading the report now should remind policymakers that accelerating the delivery of new classes of HIV drugs is not an end in itself but must be accompanied by an open debate about access to new therapies and more comprehensive information about the long-term effectiveness and consequences of using these therapies in various combinations.”

· Looking to the future, Dr. Miller said the Keystone report provides the roadmap for improving the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care of people living with all chronic infections or co-infections. Accordingly, Dr. Miller reported the decision to expand the Forum’s mission to focus to advance the research agenda in TB/HIV co-infection and the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Immediate priorities for the Forum include setting global standards for new clinical trials in HIV and for monitoring long-term drug toxicity, addressing HCV drug resistance and setting the standard for clinical trial designs to establish efficacy for new anti-HCV compounds.

At the same time, the Forum will be working with government and foundation partners to implement research projects that address emerging and complex scientific issues that have stalled research on HIV prevention and treatment. These initiatives include evaluating the use of novel reproductive technology so couples with HIV can have biological children, initiating research on the interrelationship of autoimmune disease and HIV immune reconstitution, and publishing a series of reports on antivirals that act against HCV, pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV transmission, cardiovascular implications of HIV infection and sustainable international pharmacovigilance.

“The Keystone report demonstrates that we can change the course of HIV in this country,” Dr. Miller explained. “Applying Keystone’s consensus-driven strategic process, we now have a roadmap to advance the research agenda in HIV and other chronic infections as never before.”

The Annals of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research that disseminates consensus reports and proceedings, recommendations and opinions addressing current topics in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. The 1996 Keystone Dialogue Group report is available online at:
http://hivforumannals.org/index.php/annals/issue/view/20

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 a public/private partnership that promotes ongoing collaboration among stakeholders to address emerging issues in HIV/AIDS and set the research strategy. Representing government, industry, patient advocates, healthcare providers, foundations and academia, the Forum is guided by an Executive Committee that sets the research agenda. The Forum organizes roundtables and issues reports on a range of global HIV/AIDS issues, including treatment-related toxicities, immune-based therapies, health services research, co-infections, prevention, and the transference of research results into care. 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.

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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.

48 Hours for East Africa

Hi all,

I wanted to bring your attention to an event that's happening this weekend -- 48 hours of Action for East Africa. This is an initiative that was started by the site Daily Kos. Several blogs are signed up to take part over this coming weekend, with the aim being to use digital channels to bring more attention to the food crisis, and to try and raise funds for the emergency relief of several organisations operating in the area. More info the attached press release. And if you do take part of the course of the weekend then please tag any posts / tweets with 48forEastAfrica

Additionally, Oxfam has just released a briefing on the relationship between climate change and the food crisis. It can be downloaded from -- http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/policy/horn-africa-drought-climate-change-and-future-impacts-food-security

Some highlights of the briefing are:
* Reports from the Kenya Food Security Group and from pastoralist communities show that drought-related shocks used to occur every ten years, and they are now occurring every five years or less.
* According to meteorological data, temperatures have already increased -- mean annual temperatures increased from 1960-2006 by 1.0°C in Kenya and 1.3°C in Ethiopia.
* In the absence of urgent action to slash emissions, temperatures in the region will likely increase by 3°C-4°C by 2080-2099 relative to 1980-1999.
* Rainfall trends are unclear: Most projections, including those of the IPCC, suggest more rain will fall in the East Africa region as a whole. However, even if rainfall does increase, this will in part be offset by temperature rises which cause greater evapotranspiration.
* Developed countries must lead efforts to cut emissions, increasing their current targets to more than 40% below 1990 levels by 2020.
* The $100 billion per year committed for climate action in developing countries must now be delivered.
* National governments and the international community should dramatically increase long-term investment in pastoralists and smallholder food producers in the Horn of Africa.


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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.

East Africa’s humanitarian crisis deteriorates rapidly as aid effort fails to keep pace

· People affected set to rise by 25 percent to 15m

· More than 500,000 at risk of starvation

· Famine likely to spread in Somalia

· Oxfam looks to reach 3m people but faces a $55m shortfall International agency Oxfam says governments and donors must act with greater urgency in the face of a deteriorating crisis and rising needs in East Africa.

Donors must move beyond promises and immediately turn money pledged into action on the ground, as more than half a million people are at risk of starvation, the agency said. The agency said the international community is failing to keep pace with a crisis that is spiraling out of control. The United Nations estimates that the total number of people in need could rise up by 25 per cent and surpass 15 million soon if urgent action on all fronts is not taken, such as providing emergency food, water and shelter.

Despite generous pledges of money from some rich governments and donors their generosity is failing to keep pace with the level of need. As the crisis deteriorates, the amount of money needed goes up. Last week, the UN increased its appeals for Somalia and Kenya by $600m,
bringing the funding shortfall to $1.47 billion. Although more money is in the pipeline, according to UN figures, as much as $280 million of the more than $700m pledged in the past few weeks has not yet been committed to a particular activity.

The priority now will be to convert what has been a generous response by donors so far into activities to save people's lives. “East Africa’s humanitarian crisis is at the tipping point. Hundreds of thousands will face starvation unless donors step forward, maintain the generosity we have seen in recent weeks and help prevent a catastrophe,” said Elise Ford, spokesperson of Oxfam.

“Aid agencies on the ground are ready and we’ve deployed our best people. Where access is possible, aid agencies like Oxfam have increased their programmes to reach people and save as many lives as we can. The question is whether donors are able to act as urgently and convert money into life-saving action,” said Ford.

Oxfam aims to scale up its work to reach 3 million people across Somalia, southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. To do so it needs $91m, and has so far raised $36m, leaving a gap of $55m. According to new figures by the United Nations 564,000 people are at risk of death without urgent intervention in the region. Some 183,000 refugees have left war-torn Somalia towards Ethiopia or Kenya since the beginning of year, according to the UN.

Oxfam warned that the next 3-4 months are set to worsen in Ethiopia, Kenya and parts of southern Somalia and the situation will remain classified as an “emergency” until the end of the year. The whole South of Somalia is likely to be declared a famine due to a combination of worsening pastoral conditions, further food price increases and poor harvest. In Somalia, Oxfam is providing water and sanitation to more than 230,000 people on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

The agency is also assisting over 60,000 who have fled drought zones of Southern Somalia
and have arrived in the capital. Throughout Somalia, the agency is reaching over 500,000 people who benefit from various programs which include direct cash relief for displaced families, water and sanitation services, and cash for work projects amongst others.

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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.

The Dark Side of Oxytocin

For a hormone, oxytocin is pretty famous. It’s the “cuddle chemical”—the hormone that helps mothers bond with their babies. Salespeople can buy oxytocin spray on the internet, to make their clients trust them. It’s known for promoting positive feelings, but more recent research has found that oxytocin can promote negative emotions, too. The authors of a new review article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, takes a look at what oxytocin is really doing.

Oxytocin’s positive effects are well known. Experiments have found that, in games in which you can choose to cooperate or not, people who are given more oxytocin trust their fellow players more. Clinical trials have found that oxytocin can help people with autism, who have trouble in social situations. Studies have also found that oxytocin can increase altruism, generosity, and other behaviors that are good for social life.

But the warm fuzzy side of oxytocin isn’t the whole story. “Quite a number of studies have shown it’s actually not that simple,” says Andrew Kemp of the University of Sydney, who cowrote the paper with his colleague Adam Guastella. Recent studies have found that people who were given oxytocin, then played a game of chance with a fake opponent, had more envy and gloating. These are also both social emotions, but they’re negative. “It kind of rocked the research world a little bit,” Kemp says. That led some researchers to think that oxytocin promotes social emotions in general, both negative and positive.

But Kemp and Guastella think oxytocin’s role is slightly different. Rather than supporting all social emotions, they think it plays a role in promoting what psychologists call approach-related emotions. These are emotions that have to do with wanting something, as opposed to shrinking away. “If you look at the Oxford English Dictionary for envy, it says that the definition of envy is to wish oneself on a level with another, in happiness or with the possession of something desirable,” Kemp says. “It’s an approach-related emotion: I want what you have.” Gloating is also about approach, he says; people who are gloating are happy—a positive, approach-related emotion—about having more than their opponent and about that person’s misfortune.

If Kemp and Guastella are right, that could mean that oxytocin could also increase anger and other negative approach-related emotions. That could have important implications for people who are studying how to use oxytocin as a psychiatric treatment. “If you were to take a convicted criminal with a tendency towards aggression and give him oxytocin to make him more social, and if that were to enhance anger as opposed to suppressing anger, then that has very substantial implications,” Kemp says.

Further research will show more about what emotions are promoted by oxytocin, Kemp says. “This research is really important because we don’t want to go ahead and attempt to treat a range and variety of psychiatric disorders with oxytocin without fully understanding the impact this may have on emotion and mood.”

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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.