“Uganda has sometimes been considered a success story in fighting HIV and has been a darling of international donors,” including the U.S., which “has poured over $1 billion into the country for AIDS programs. But throughout Uganda there are people … who are passed over, denied treatment, or simply invisible to the country’s HIV prevention and treatment programs. Groups such as gay men, migrants, drug users, sex workers, and people with disabilities, as well as prisoners, are commonly left out,” Kathryn Todrys, a researcher with Human Rights Watch writes in GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog.

In this World Policy Blog post, Julie Mellin, editorial assistant at the World Policy Journal, reflects on her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana to examine the “ABC (Abstain, Be Faithful and Condomize) … safe sex” campaign, “[o]ne of the campaigns most highly funded by the international community (especially…

In this Africa.com opinion piece, Ana Ruth Luis, medical director of the Southern Africa Strategic Business Unit at Chevron Africa and Latin America Ex in Angola, discusses what she calls “the important role Chevron has in driving down the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Africa.” She writes, “Chevron was able to drop new infections to zero among our employees and their babies by educating our employees, establishing a culture of voluntary, confidential testing and treatment, addressing stigma and discrimination in the workplace, and providing comprehensive medical care for expectant mothers.”

“Spending to improve health in developing countries has continued to grow during the three-year economic downturn, although at only half the blistering pace it did a decade ago,” according to a report (.pdf) by researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the Washington Post reports (Brown, 12/14). “The report details the trends in development assistance for health between 1990 and 2009 from aid agencies and governments in 23 developed countries, multilateral institutions such as the [WHO], and hundreds of non-profit groups and charities with preliminary estimates for 2010 and 2011,” an IHME press release states (12/14). “Overall, spending on malaria and child health problems has grown more rapidly in the past few years than spending on AIDS and tuberculosis,” according to the report, the Washington Post notes (12/14).

In this post on the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Global Health Policy” blog, Denizhan Duran and Amanda Glassman of CGD review the proposed FY12 federal global health appropriation approved recently by Congress. They state that “this year’s budget is a missed opportunity in a period defined by budget pressures: global…

GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog interviews U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby “on the challenges and goals of the new PEPFAR blueprint and the promise of an AIDS-free generation.” According to the interview transcript, Goosby discusses how and why the international community is “at a turning point in the fight against AIDS,” lessons the U.S. can learn from Africa and PEPFAR, and challenges in creating the blueprint, among other topics (Judem, 12/27).

Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., Deputy Global AIDS Coordinator Julia Martin said “[t]he decision about whether to reauthorize [PEPFAR] ‘rests with Congress. … Whether we move in that direction is yet to be fully determined but PEPFAR…

“Three weeks after President Obamas budget proposal for fiscal year 2014 appeared, sustaining support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, while cutting funds to [PEPFAR], and hacking global TB funding, physicians, scientists, and global health advocates are weighing in,” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science…

Mary Fanning, South Africa’s country coordinator for PEPFAR, writes in a New Age guest column, “In the fight against HIV/AIDS, this is a time of hope. It’s also a time to celebrate the partnerships that are advancing this work and to recommit to a plan to ensure prevention, treatment and care for those infected and affected is sustainable and locally managed,” adding, “Ultimately, whether it’s putting more people on treatment, supporting HIV testing campaigns or leveraging mass media to drive the prevention message, the partnership between the U.S. and South African governments saves lives.”

“Senior U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday to extend … a successful and popular program to combat AIDS worldwide launched 10 years ago by former President George W. Bush,” Reuters reports. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and…