Source:  PLOS Medical Journal

 

“To support delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ART) at scale, the World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted a public health approach to HIV treatment and care. Recognizing the
critical importance of streamlined, standardized approaches to scaling up HIV services in settings with limited resources, the public health approach emphasizes strategies such as task
sharing, decentralization and integration of HIV services with other public health programs, and patient and community empowerment. The public health approach also prioritizes
streamlined clinical and laboratory monitoring, standardized first- and second-line treatment regimens, and harmonized monitoring and evaluation strategies [1,2]. In high-income countries with more resources and fewer HIV cases a more individualized approach to HIV care is favored, although the overarching framework of the public health approach provides the setting within which this more personalized service delivery can occur.”

 

 

Publisher: Policy Cures Research

The 2019 G-FINDER Report:  “[This] project has provided policy-makers, donors, researchers and industry with a comprehensive analysis of global investment into research and development (R&D) of new products to prevent, diagnose, control or cure neglected diseases in developing countries. It provides an up-to-date analysis of how R&D investments are being allocated across diseases and product types, funding trends over time, and where the potential gaps lie. This is the twelfth annual G-FINDER report, providing new data on investments made in financial
year 2018. In all, 262 organisations completed the survey for FY2018, which covered 36 neglected diseases and all relevant product types – drugs, vaccines, biologics, diagnostics, microbicides and vector control products (chemical and biological control agents, and reservoir targeted vaccines) – as well as basic research.”

Publisher:  EHRA

“This case study looks at the challenges faced in sustaining HIV prevention programmes among KAPs, implemented primarily by civil society organisations (CSO’s), as a result of the withdrawal of the Global Fund through the transition period of 2020 to 2022 and the lack of government capacity and resources to maintain the already limited services that will likely result in the re-emergence of HIV epidemics among people who inject drugs (PWID), sex workers (SW) and men who have sex with men (MSM).”

Publisher:  Stop TB

“This updated Global Plan to End TB 2018–2022 reflects the progress made over the last five years and is intended to support the achievement of the UNHLM commitments set for 2022. By implementing the Global Plan’s priority actions and mobilizing the needed funding, national governments and TB programmes, backed by stronger worldwide advocacy, can put us on track to end TB by 2030, in line with the SDGs.”

Publisher:  Treatment Action Group

“TAG has tracked TB research and development (R&D) funding since 2005 as one way to evaluate progress on eliminating TB. In every year since then, annual investments have fallen far short of the widely accepted US$2 billion minimum funding target. At the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB (HLM) in the fall of 2018, delegates endorsed a political declaration that contained a commitment to increase annual global TB research funding to US$2 billion. The data presented in this year’s report represent expenditures on TB research in fiscal year 2018 and provide the baseline against which we will measure states’ performance towards this US$2 billion annual target in the years to come.”

 

Publisher:  WHO

“The World malaria report 2019 provides a comprehensive update on global and regional malaria data and trends. The report tracks investments in malaria programmes and research as well as progress across all intervention areas: prevention, diagnosis, treatment, elimination and surveillance. It also includes dedicated chapters on the consequences of malaria on maternal, infant and child health, the “High Burden to High Impact” approach as well as biological threats to the fight against malaria.”

Publisher: UNAIDS

“The struggle to end the AIDS epidemic continues to be inextricably linked with the struggle to end
human rights violations, including discrimination and violence against women and girls and the
marginalization and criminalization of key populations—sex workers, people who use drugs, gay men
and other men who have sex with men, transgender people and prisoners.

This report argues that power in fact rests in the hands of the people, as can be seen in countless local, national and international movements to redistribute power and bring greater attention to neglected issues.”

Publisher: GFAN

GFAN’s report on the 42nd Global Fund Board Meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland on 14-15 November 2019.

Publisher: GFAN

A short guide to Global Fund Board Meetings and the role that civil society has on the Board.  

Publisher:  World Health Organisation (WHO)

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its guidance for the use of lateral flow urine lipoarabinomannan assay (LAM) in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). Tests based on the detection of mycobacterial LAM antigen in urine have emerged as potential point-of-care tests for TB. The WHO Global TB Programme recommended the use of LF-LAM for the first time in 2015. Urinary LAM assays have shown greater sensitivity when used for the diagnosis of TB in people living with HIV. The sensitivity increases significantly in patients with lower CD4 cell counts. Following the new evidence, WHO is now recommending LF-LAM use to assist in diagnosis in a broader group of people, both in inpatient and outpatient settings.”

Source: Policy Update