U.N. News Centre: Ahead of World AIDS Day, U.N. chief honored for work to end epidemic, fight against stigma
“Speaking at a special event commemorating World AIDS Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [Wednesday] underscored the need to stop stigma and abuse against those living with the disease and to ensure that they receive the care, treatment, and protection they are entitled to…” (11/30).

VOA News: For This World AIDS Day, Hope is High
“…[A] lot has happened since the first World AIDS Day in 1988. Countries in which the topic was once taboo now offer testing and treatment. Mothers with HIV can have healthy babies and live to raise them. Drugs can keep the virus from spreading. More than 18 million people are on lifesaving antiretroviral drugs that keep HIV in check. And now, scientists are talking about vaccines and a cure…” (Pearson, 11/30).

Link to individual story

Devex: What the Trump administration could mean for U.S. HIV/AIDS spending
“HIV/AIDS advocates are warning against any cuts to U.S. spending on the fight against the disease as the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump determines how it will approach global assistance. … While Trump has not said anything specifically about the PEPFAR budget, comments such as ‘Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo,’ and his statement that the U.S. should ‘stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us,’ have raised concerns among some development professionals that Trump may cut the foreign aid budget and that this in turn could spell a reduction in funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment…” (Edwards, 12/1).

Link to individual story

NPR: Why Can’t We Bring Down The Number Of New HIV Cases?
“…The number of people getting infected with HIV each year peaked in 1997 at about 3.5 million. Prevention efforts … have slashed that figure dramatically. But progress stalled around 2010. Since then the world has tallied about two million new cases a year with no end in sight. … [A] new report from [the Kaiser Family Foundation] and UNAIDS shows that global funding to combat HIV declined in 2015 to $7.5 billion from $8.6 billion in 2014. ‘I think we are at an odd point,’ [Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said]. ‘HIV is still a part of the global dialogue but not at the same intensity that it used to be. And that’s a challenge because this epidemic isn’t over’…” (Beaubien, 12/1).

Link to individual story

Deutsche Welle: Russian HIV epidemic at a tipping point
“World AIDS Day 2016 marks an alarming milestone in Russia; not only did the country register its one millionth case of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but experts also have reason to believe up to one percent of the Russian population could be infected with the virus. Despite widespread improvement in the fight against AIDS around the globe, the Russian epidemic is one of the fastest growing in the world and according the United Nations is the worst in the European region. Prime Minister Dimity Medvedev has described HIV/AIDS as an ‘issue of national security’…” (Tilton, 11/30).

Link to individual story

Inter Press Service: Debate Roils India Over Family Planning Method
“The Indian government’s decision to make injectable contraceptives available to the public for free under the national family planning program (FPP) has stirred debate about women’s choices in the world’s largest democracy and second most populous country…” (Lal, 11/29).

Quartz: After battling women’s rights groups for years, India is finally rolling out injectable contraceptives
“…[F]emale sterilization remains the more popular choice, accounting for over 75 percent of contraceptive use in India. The procedure is offered for free by government-run camps, but negligence and even gross human rights violations have often led to deadly results. That could explain why the government is now increasing the number of free-of-cost methods on offer under its long-running family planning program to include injectable contraceptives featuring the drug depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DPMA. Currently, the program offers female and male sterilization, IUDs, condoms, and pills for free…” (Thomas, 11/30).

Link to individual story

Huffington Post: Dr. David Ross, President and CEO, The Task Force for Global Health Interview
“Dave Ross, ScD, is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Task Force for Global Health. In this role, Dr. Ross provides strategic direction to the Task Force and oversees seven programs focused on neglected tropical diseases, vaccines, field epidemiology, and public health informatics. He assumed leadership of the Task Force on May 1, 2016…” Ross discusses the Task Force’s mission, goals, funding, and receipt of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest humanitarian award (Chandler, 11/30).

Link to individual story

The Guardian: America under Trump must not overlook the importance of women in battling HIV
Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity

“…As we mark World AIDS Day with a Trump-Pence administration looming, we must redouble our commitment to advancing the health and rights of women and girls. Advocates, donors, and NGOs must work harder than ever to fight for continued investment in HIV prevention for adolescent girls and young women. Moreover, we must be vigilant in our fight against policies that pull the rug out from under women and girls and threaten global public health outcomes. The bottom line is that we can’t turn the tide on HIV without women and girls” (12/1).

The Guardian: Under Donald Trump, the scourge of HIV/AIDS is going to get worse
Steven W. Thrasher, writer-at-large for Guardian U.S.

“…Donald Trump is set to preside over a newly harmful period in HIV history. It’s not just that Trump literally doesn’t mention HIV/AIDS in his health care policy, nor that he’s generally anti-science. It’s not even just that every single Trump cabinet pick so far has some kind of anti-LGBT record. I am terrified that two of his most important picks — Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Price — know exactly how to harm Americans (disproportionately black and/or LGBT Americans) by way of HIV/AIDS. … As we remember today the tens of millions who have died from AIDS and who live with HIV, we must recommit ourselves to fighting a virus which will likely be allowed to flourish by … the incoming administration” (12/1).

Link to individual story

Nature: A new global research agenda for food
Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and colleagues

“…Here we set out a new global research agenda for nutrition. It is aimed mainly at researchers, funders, and governments, but has important messages for all stakeholders. … Policymakers urgently need to recognize that diets are compromising economic productivity and well-being as never before. Delegates to the upcoming G20 and G7 meetings in 2017 should take collective responsibility for fixing our failing food system. Funders who support agriculture and nutrition research must focus much more of their resources accordingly, doubling their current allocations to more nutritious food systems by 2020. Scholars and journals must become more pluralistic in the methods and approaches that they support. We can only fix problems in our food systems if we diagnose them correctly. If we do not, the world’s future health and economic problems will be very much greater than they are today” (11/30).

Link to individual story

CDC’s “Our Global Voices”: World AIDS Day 2016 Leadership Statement
In a statement recognizing World AIDS Day, Shannon Hader, director of the CDC’s Division of Global HIV & TB, says, “Today, and every day, we stand with our U.S. government colleagues and partners around the world in affirming our leadership and commitment in addressing HIV worldwide for even greater impact” (11/28).

PEPFAR: PEPFAR Is Saving Lives and Changing the Course of the Epidemic
This press release discusses PEPFAR’s progress in responding to HIV/AIDS globally, highlighting that “[n]ew PEPFAR data show for the first time that the AIDS epidemic is becoming controlled in older adults and babies in three key African countries — Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — where the program has significantly invested” (12/1).

The White House: Fact Sheet: World AIDS Day 2016
This fact sheet describes U.S. efforts to respond to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as highlights the release of the White House’s 2016 progress report on implementing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (11/30).

Link to individual story

Kaiser Family Foundation: The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic
This updated fact sheet provides information on current HIV prevalence and incidence data, prevention and treatment strategies, and the U.S. and global responses to the epidemic (11/29).

Kaiser Family Foundation: Global HIV/AIDS Timeline
This updated timeline serves as reference tool for the many political, scientific, cultural, and community developments that have occurred over the history of the epidemic (11/29).

Link to individual story

BMJ Blogs: John J. Park and Rifat Atun: Will global health be Trumped?
John J. Park, a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University, and Rifat Atun, professor of global health systems at Harvard University and the director of the Global Health Systems Cluster at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, write, “Donald Trump’s election as the 45th president of the United States (U.S.) has left many in the global health community startled. … At this critical juncture, we highlight three areas of global health that are likely to be strongly influenced by the new U.S. leadership [abortion and reproductive health rights, PEPFAR, and global climate change] and call for closer collaboration and engagement by international institutions with the new president’s administration in global health affairs, as it begins its tenure…” (11/30).

Link to individual story

ONE Campaign: The global AIDS response is “Stuck in Neutral”
In recognition of World AIDS Day, Jenny Ottenhoff, policy director for global health at the ONE Campaign, discusses findings from ONE’s 2016 AIDS report, writing, “In short, the global AIDS response is stuck in neutral. … [B]usiness as usual won’t be enough to put the world firmly on the path to the end of AIDS by 2030. … The response of world leaders over the next four years will determine whether we move towards eradication of the disease or retreat” (11/29).

Link to individual story

UNAIDS/PEPFAR: On the Fast-Track to an AIDS-Free Generation
“…The ‘Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive’ (Global Plan) was launched in June 2011. It prioritizes a set of countries that, in 2009, accounted for 90 percent of the global number of pregnant women living with HIV who were in need of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This report summarizes the history and development of the Global Plan, its achievements in reaching ambitious goals, lessons learned, and directions for future progress to end new HIV infections among children…” The website “Start Free. Stay Free. AIDS Free.” accompanies the report (December 2016).

Link to individual story

Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks”: Raise profile, funding of global TB response to match advances seen in HIV, malaria efforts, report says
Antigone Barton, senior editor and writer of “Science Speaks,” discusses findings from a report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on the U.S. government’s role in the control of global tuberculosis. The report notes that TB has not seen the same advances as HIV and malaria, and identifies challenges and opportunities for strengthening the response to the disease (11/30).

Link to individual story

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: Global Fund News Flash
The latest issue of the Global Fund News Flash contains a story and video profiling a woman describing her experience with gender inequality and poverty, as well as an article by Global Fund Executive Director Mark Dybul on the importance of accelerating HIV prevention and treatment (12/1).

Link to individual story

WHO: Bulletin of the World Health Organization
The December 2016 WHO Bulletin includes editorials, news, and research and policy articles on various topics including an editorial on global health security, solidarity, and sustainability; a news article on achieving an AIDS-free generation in Cuba; and a perspective piece on a human rights-based approach to the reimbursement of expensive medicines (December 2016).

Link to individual story