Showing posts with label HIV-AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV-AIDS. Show all posts
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Chemists Without Borders Conference Call, 6-28-2007
Last week's conference call was very exciting. Rolande Hodel (www.AIDSfreeAFRICA.org, New York, NY) and Terry Wright (www.Cytoluminator.com, Darwin, Australia) had an extended discussion of their respective projects. Cytoluminator employs photodynamic therapy (PDT), which has been succesfully used to cure various intractable diseases. Terry said that they have been able to kill HIV in models and are preparing to do human clinical testing. Rolande may have candidates for that. Moreover, Terry said he has a prospective investor with very deep pockets (>$1billion) who may even become interested in financing Rolande's pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Cameroon, Africa. All in all, a very stimulating discussion. This is just the beginning.
Friday, December 01, 2006
AIDS Day story
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?
Victoria Hale Named 2006 MacArthur Fellow
Founder & CEO of the Institute of OneWorld Health Recognized for Pioneering Non-Profit Pharmaceutical Company
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Victoria Hale, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of the Institute for OneWorld Health (iOWH), a 2006 MacArthur Fellow today. These prestigious Fellowships are awarded to individuals who have developed original and creative ideas that have the potential to make important contributions in the future. Dr. Hale is being honored as a Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur for creating a nonprofit model of drug development that is driven by the neglected health needs of people in the developing world.
"The MacArthur Fellowship will give OneWorld Health increased visibility and help us form entrepreneurial partnerships to ensure that people with the greatest need gain access to the new medicines we are developing. It will also help me look at ways to apply the model of OneWorld Health in other areas of global health," said Dr. Hale.
The MacArthur Foundation does not accept applications or unsolicited nominations for Fellows. Only twenty to twenty-five Fellows are chosen through a meticulous review process analyzing their work and overall promise. Fellows are awarded an unrestricted grant of $500,000 distributed over the course of five years.
Dr. Hale's recent honors include selection as an Ashoka Senior Fellow for leading work in social innovation (2006), Executive of the Year by Esquire Magazine (2005), the Economist Innovation Award for Social and Economic Innovation (2005), and the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2005).
Learn more about the MacArthur Foundation Fellows Program.
Read the article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the MacArthur Fellows announcement.
http://www.oneworldhealth.org/media/e_newsletter_macarthur.php
Founder & CEO of the Institute of OneWorld Health Recognized for Pioneering Non-Profit Pharmaceutical Company
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Victoria Hale, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of the Institute for OneWorld Health (iOWH), a 2006 MacArthur Fellow today. These prestigious Fellowships are awarded to individuals who have developed original and creative ideas that have the potential to make important contributions in the future. Dr. Hale is being honored as a Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur for creating a nonprofit model of drug development that is driven by the neglected health needs of people in the developing world.
"The MacArthur Fellowship will give OneWorld Health increased visibility and help us form entrepreneurial partnerships to ensure that people with the greatest need gain access to the new medicines we are developing. It will also help me look at ways to apply the model of OneWorld Health in other areas of global health," said Dr. Hale.
The MacArthur Foundation does not accept applications or unsolicited nominations for Fellows. Only twenty to twenty-five Fellows are chosen through a meticulous review process analyzing their work and overall promise. Fellows are awarded an unrestricted grant of $500,000 distributed over the course of five years.
Dr. Hale's recent honors include selection as an Ashoka Senior Fellow for leading work in social innovation (2006), Executive of the Year by Esquire Magazine (2005), the Economist Innovation Award for Social and Economic Innovation (2005), and the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2005).
Learn more about the MacArthur Foundation Fellows Program.
Read the article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the MacArthur Fellows announcement.
http://www.oneworldhealth.org/media/e_newsletter_macarthur.php
Monday, September 18, 2006
AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?
This editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News last week.
Posted on Thu, Sep. 14, 2006
AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?
By Ruthann Richter
In all the bluster of the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto, where did the children go? It was stunning how little attention was paid to them, with hardly a mention of children in all the talk about how to contain the epidemic and treat those in need.
The epidemic is 25 years old, yet we are still at a stage where children are largely ignored in the policy arena and receive minimal funding to meet their needs, both physical and psychological. That is the case despite that 2.3 million of the world's children -- most of them in sub-Saharan Africa -- are now living and dying with HIV. And an additional 15 million are growing up without the nurturing hand of a mother or father because AIDS has taken them away.
``It is impossible to understand how, in the year 2006, we continue to fail to implement policies to address the torrent, the deluge, of orphan children,'' Stephen Lewis, the U.N. envoy for AIDS in Africa, said in closing the mammoth conference Aug. 18. ``I appeal to everyone to recognize that we're walking on the knife's edge of an unsolvable human catastrophe.''
While the number of orphans is escalating, only 3 to 5 percent of them receive any help from government programs, a figure Lewis called ``chilling.'' And though young children are particularly susceptible to the ravages of HIV, with 60 to 70 percent dying by their fifth birthday, fewer than 5 percent of those infected benefit from treatment.
The Clinton Foundation certainly must be credited for advancing the cause of children, helping bring down the cost of pediatric antiretrovirals to less than $200 a year and making these lifesaving drugs available to more than 10,000 children. But as Clinton himself acknowledged at the conference, it's a small fraction of the more than 500,000 youngsters with advanced disease who desperately need treatment to live.
Children continue to be discriminated against on many fronts. Kenyan pediatrician Ruth Nduati, the only plenary conference speaker who focused on children's issues, observed that while adults get free testing for HIV in Kenya, children have to pay a fee -- hardly an option for youngsters often living on the edge of starvation. And while there are 280 sites in the East African country that now hand out anti-AIDS drugs, only 76 of them offer them to children.
During my travels in Kenya, I visited a number of projects to help youngsters -- small, grass-roots programs run by local activists who have rushed in to fill the gap. These programs operate on shoestring budgets, without the benefit of aid from governments or global organizations, which have been woefully absent from the movement to care for orphans and vulnerable children.
Some programs, like the Mji Wa Neema (House of Hope) orphanage in Naivasha, are run by faith-based organizations, in this case the local Catholic Church. The parish priest, Father Daniel Kiriti, has been recast in the role of HIV activist, for he sees the orphans literally collecting at his doorstep. One child, only hours old, arrived early one Sunday morning -- a small package in a paper bag borne by a parishioner who had rescued her from the parish fence. Tolea, as she is called, is now thriving at the orphanage despite infection with HIV.
At another project in Gilgil, a retired nurse and a local cafe owner have cobbled together a home of last resort for children who have no other place to go. One resident, 2-year-old Mary Maishon, was within weeks of starving to death when they rescued her last year. Both her parents had died of AIDS, and her grandfather had virtually abandoned her. She had been living under a piece of cardboard and plastic with her 4-year-old sister and 3-year-old cousin. Mary had been crippled by malnutrition, unable to walk, and too traumatized to talk. She is alive today only because of the efforts of a few community activists working with scarce, donated funds.
It's unforgivable that the world continues to turn its back on children like Mary and Tolea. Saving the younger generation is not only the right thing -- the human thing -- to do, but it is also important for global security and stability. As Lewis warned, if we don't intervene now, ``We are inviting the whirlwind, and we will not be able to cope.''
RUTHANN RICHTER, director of media relations at the Stanford University School of Medicine, writes frequently on the topic of children and AIDS. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.
© 2006 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.mercurynews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15515972.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Sep. 14, 2006
AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?
By Ruthann Richter
In all the bluster of the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto, where did the children go? It was stunning how little attention was paid to them, with hardly a mention of children in all the talk about how to contain the epidemic and treat those in need.
The epidemic is 25 years old, yet we are still at a stage where children are largely ignored in the policy arena and receive minimal funding to meet their needs, both physical and psychological. That is the case despite that 2.3 million of the world's children -- most of them in sub-Saharan Africa -- are now living and dying with HIV. And an additional 15 million are growing up without the nurturing hand of a mother or father because AIDS has taken them away.
``It is impossible to understand how, in the year 2006, we continue to fail to implement policies to address the torrent, the deluge, of orphan children,'' Stephen Lewis, the U.N. envoy for AIDS in Africa, said in closing the mammoth conference Aug. 18. ``I appeal to everyone to recognize that we're walking on the knife's edge of an unsolvable human catastrophe.''
While the number of orphans is escalating, only 3 to 5 percent of them receive any help from government programs, a figure Lewis called ``chilling.'' And though young children are particularly susceptible to the ravages of HIV, with 60 to 70 percent dying by their fifth birthday, fewer than 5 percent of those infected benefit from treatment.
The Clinton Foundation certainly must be credited for advancing the cause of children, helping bring down the cost of pediatric antiretrovirals to less than $200 a year and making these lifesaving drugs available to more than 10,000 children. But as Clinton himself acknowledged at the conference, it's a small fraction of the more than 500,000 youngsters with advanced disease who desperately need treatment to live.
Children continue to be discriminated against on many fronts. Kenyan pediatrician Ruth Nduati, the only plenary conference speaker who focused on children's issues, observed that while adults get free testing for HIV in Kenya, children have to pay a fee -- hardly an option for youngsters often living on the edge of starvation. And while there are 280 sites in the East African country that now hand out anti-AIDS drugs, only 76 of them offer them to children.
During my travels in Kenya, I visited a number of projects to help youngsters -- small, grass-roots programs run by local activists who have rushed in to fill the gap. These programs operate on shoestring budgets, without the benefit of aid from governments or global organizations, which have been woefully absent from the movement to care for orphans and vulnerable children.
Some programs, like the Mji Wa Neema (House of Hope) orphanage in Naivasha, are run by faith-based organizations, in this case the local Catholic Church. The parish priest, Father Daniel Kiriti, has been recast in the role of HIV activist, for he sees the orphans literally collecting at his doorstep. One child, only hours old, arrived early one Sunday morning -- a small package in a paper bag borne by a parishioner who had rescued her from the parish fence. Tolea, as she is called, is now thriving at the orphanage despite infection with HIV.
At another project in Gilgil, a retired nurse and a local cafe owner have cobbled together a home of last resort for children who have no other place to go. One resident, 2-year-old Mary Maishon, was within weeks of starving to death when they rescued her last year. Both her parents had died of AIDS, and her grandfather had virtually abandoned her. She had been living under a piece of cardboard and plastic with her 4-year-old sister and 3-year-old cousin. Mary had been crippled by malnutrition, unable to walk, and too traumatized to talk. She is alive today only because of the efforts of a few community activists working with scarce, donated funds.
It's unforgivable that the world continues to turn its back on children like Mary and Tolea. Saving the younger generation is not only the right thing -- the human thing -- to do, but it is also important for global security and stability. As Lewis warned, if we don't intervene now, ``We are inviting the whirlwind, and we will not be able to cope.''
RUTHANN RICHTER, director of media relations at the Stanford University School of Medicine, writes frequently on the topic of children and AIDS. She wrote this article for the Mercury News.
© 2006 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.mercurynews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15515972.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Chemists Without Borders Conference Call 8-17-2006 notes
Chemists Without Borders Conference Call, 8-17-2006
1. Agenda
1.1 Introductions
1.2 Open Access
1.3 Legal
1.4 Funding
1.5 Education
1.6 Conference Presentations
1.7 Arsenic Project
1.8 Communications
1.9 Vaccines & Medicines
1.10 Personnel & Roles
1.11 Unfinished Business
1.12 Feedback
2. Introductions
2.1 Steve Chambreau
2.2 William Doria
2.3 Bego Gerber
2.4 Rolande Hodel - in absentia
Steve, Bego, amazing confference... Jonson&Jonson just blew my mind - in a positive way - I'll give you a summary - maybe for the newsletter when I am back - can you bring up the topic that AIDSfreeAFRICA is looking for volunteers with technical and accounting expertise to join us in Cameroon Jan-Feb 2007? Sorry I will have to miss the call. Cheerfully, Rolande "The humanity of our world will be measured against the fate of Africa," said Horst Koehler, German President and former managing director of the Washington, DC-based International Monetary Fund, in his inauguration address in 2004. Dr. Rolande R. Hodel, Ph.D. 125 South Highland Ave. #3-B1 Ossining, NY 10562 914-923-2073 AIDSfreeAFRICA, Inc. http://www.AIDSfreeAFRICA.org Community Partnerships Against AIDS Programs Bamenda/Cameroon http://www.copaapcam.org
2.5 Heather Morrison
» See document: http://chemistswithoutborders.blogspot.com/2006/07/draft-open-access-position-statement.html
2.6 Meghann Mouyianis
2.7 Brian Wagner
3. Legal Issues
3.1 Perry on vacation
3.1.1 Will move our 501(c)3 to top of his pile on his return
3.2 Steve has large list of things to work on
4. Open Access
4.1 Feedback@chemistswithoutborders.org email ready
4.2 Newsletter attachment public statement
4.3 Bill Doria: New issue for him
4.4 Schools moving towards making their work accessible
4.5 Support Open Source science a al Jean-Claude Bradley
4.5.1 Doing things in new ways
4.5.2 E.g., Human Genome Project
4.6 Chemistry slowest to implement owing to being major publisher with vulnerable budgets
4.7 Peer reviewed articles published as open access
4.8 Some journals charge publishing fees, others do not
4.9 NIH prefers open access
4.10 Wellcome Trust (UK) insists on open access to results
4.11 Research Councils (UK) 4/8 requiring open access to the work they fund
4.12 Make existing work open before applying for new funds
5. Funding
5.1 Colin Scholes - fundraising
6. Personnel & Roles
6.1 Director of Development
6.2 Director of Public Relations
6.3 Director of Information Technology
6.4 Director of Communications Technology
6.5 Director of Education
6.6 Director of Vaccines and Medicines
6.7 Director of Water Purification or Remediation
6.8 Director of Legal Affairs
6.9 Director of Human Resources
6.10 Project Leaders and Organizers
6.11 Graphic designer
6.12 Web designer
6.13 Other key players and roles
7. Education Project
7.1 Bill Doria will connect with Gary DeBoer re pharmaceutical testing
7.1.1 Bill may be able to start testing this coming semester
7.2 Arsenic Project
7.2.1 Will need hands in November
7.3 Meghann is teacher with teacher contacts
8. Conference Presentations
8.1 PowerPoint
8.2 Quicktime
8.3 Approvals
8.4 Nov 10 deadline for Chicago ACS Conference
9. Arsenic Project
9.1 Have protocol and equipment list from State of CA
9.2 Attempt to tag along with their crews instead of doing it ourselves
9.3 Sign a liability waver
9.4 What will we do with it when we get it?
9.5 How much will we need for first project?
9.6 Ask foreign members what resources local communities might have
10. Other Business
10.1 Next conference call
10.1.1 7 AM GMT, 8-24-2006
10.1.2 6 PM PST, 9-7-2006
11. Topics not dicussed this time
11.1 Communications
11.2 Vaccines & Medicines
11.3 Unfinished Business
12. Feedback
12.1 Plus
12.1.1 Very informative
12.1.2 Better idea of what group stands for
12.1.3 Better feel for what we're trying to do and what the possibilities are
12.1.4 Easier to identify goals
12.1.5 Sense that things are coming together
12.1.6 Seems like we are getting close to practical implementations
12.2 Minus
12.2.1 Didn't review conference call ground rules
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
AIDSfreeAFRICA wish list
Chemists Without Borders is collaborating with AIDSfreeAfrica, a non profit organization focusing on "empowering people in Africa to produce their own essential drugs, diagnostics and diagnostic reagents, in short pharmaceuticals, by helping to build factories and a pharmaceutical infrastructure in Africa." (Rolande Hodel)
Please see the website for more info:
http://aidsfreeafrica.org
If you know any individual or organization who would be willing to donate any of these items, please contact Rolande Hodel at:
RRHodel@aol.com
(post updated 11/10/06)
ELMO
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uVIjmMMO_kW3qh_q9x_myC5LcrZrdjnQovfUgl441QGnnx8wEUOSRgGCko2vKMUTE-tTuGr6EhrQuwdqqhwJCkL9jYUkh4CS5phTj4NBR3RgPCt-Y0lTNtk3aAPChz_5Dz_M_O9PS_Z_lcPV20_B8v=s0-d)
Please see the website for more info:
http://aidsfreeafrica.org
If you know any individual or organization who would be willing to donate any of these items, please contact Rolande Hodel at:
RRHodel@aol.com
(post updated 11/10/06)
ELMO
Sunday, May 28, 2006
ACS Letter to NIH on PubChem
A letter from the American Chemical Society (ACS) to the National Institute of Health on Pubchem has been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and posted on the SPARC Open Access Forum. The ACS apparently expects the NIH to avoid making chemistry information available, or creating links and relationships between different kinds of materials, to avoid competition with "private databases".
PubChem's aim is to disseminate information in the public interest. Building the relationships between different elements facilitates the process of chemistry research.
Why is ACS, a nonprofit organization, fighting the public interest in the interests of private, commercial-like profits, and why is it doing so clandestinely? CWB members - please ask ACS, or friends who are ACS members, about this.
I have sent a letter to the current President of ACS, E. Ann Nally, called Open Access: Transformative Change, explaining very pleasantly the potential of new web-based technologies to rapidly advance research in chemistry - and why this is important. For example, by openly sharing information and working collaboratively, the world's researchers and research funders succeeeded in mapping the human genome in record speed. We could be taking the same basic approach and applying it to finding sustainable, environmentally-friendly energy sources, solutions for malaria, AIDs, bird flu, and so forth.
So far, I have not received a reply.
PubChem's aim is to disseminate information in the public interest. Building the relationships between different elements facilitates the process of chemistry research.
Why is ACS, a nonprofit organization, fighting the public interest in the interests of private, commercial-like profits, and why is it doing so clandestinely? CWB members - please ask ACS, or friends who are ACS members, about this.
I have sent a letter to the current President of ACS, E. Ann Nally, called Open Access: Transformative Change, explaining very pleasantly the potential of new web-based technologies to rapidly advance research in chemistry - and why this is important. For example, by openly sharing information and working collaboratively, the world's researchers and research funders succeeeded in mapping the human genome in record speed. We could be taking the same basic approach and applying it to finding sustainable, environmentally-friendly energy sources, solutions for malaria, AIDs, bird flu, and so forth.
So far, I have not received a reply.
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