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A WHITAKER GROUP PUBLICATION NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008

AFRICA HEALTH NEWS


PREVENTION

GOOGLE JOINS FIGHT TO to support the collection and analysis of blood samples of humans and
animals in hot spots within Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the
PREVENT FUTURE PANDEMICS Congo (DRC), China, Madagascar and Southeast Asia.
■ Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health - A $2.5
Search engine company Google announced in October that it award- million grant to support research to accelerate the discovery of new
ed grants of more than $14 million to support researchers in Africa pathogens, and to enable a rapid regional response to outbreaks by es-
and Southeast Asia who are working to prevent the next pandemic. tablishing molecular diagnostics in vulnerable countries including Si-
The initiative, known as Predict and Prevent, will be part of a glob- erra Leone and Bangladesh.
al effort to identify hot spots where diseases may emerge, detect new ■ Children’s Hospital Corporation supporting Healthmap and
pathogens circulating in animal and human populations, and respond ProMED-mail - A $3 million grant to combine HealthMap’s digital de-
to outbreaks before they become global crises. tection efforts with ProMED-mail’s global network of human, animal,
“Business as usual won’t pre- and ecosystem health specialists. Together, these programs will assess
vent the next AIDS or SARS. The current emerging disease reporting systems, expand regional networks
teams we’re funding today are on in Africa and Southeast Asia, and develop new tools to improve the
the frontiers of digital and genetic detection and reporting of outbreaks. HealthMap brings together dis-
early detection technology. We parate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the
hope that their work, with part- current global state of infectious diseases. ProMED-mail is a global re-
ners across environmental, animal porting system for outbreaks of emerging diseases.
and health boundaries, will help
solve centuries-old problems and AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA
save millions of lives,” said Dr.
Larry Brilliant, Executive Director
Kenyan farmers examine their
of Google.org, the company’s phil- GLOBAL FUND APPROVES
poultry after an outbreak of avian
anthropic arm.
New infectious diseases occur RECORD SUM IN NEW GRANTS
influenza in Sudan every year; recent examples in- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced
clude HIV/AIDS, SARS (Severe in November that it approved $2.75 billion in new grants, more than
Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and avian influenza. Three-quarters of twice the sum approved to date by the Fund’s board in one funding
those new diseases are zoonoses, that is, they have jumped from ani- cycle. The majority of the resources - 51% - will go to malaria pro-
mals to humans. grams, with proposals for AIDS and tuberculosis receiving 38% and
In addition, the Predict and Prevent initiative aims to support sci- 11% respectively.
entists seeking to predict and avert outbreaks of established diseases “This is the highest amount of new financing approved by the Glob-
before they happen by using a range of tools such as long-term weather al Fund ever. These new resources will significantly help the world in
forecasts, deforestation maps, genetic detection of new pathogens and achieving global targets such as universal access to AIDS treatment and
the development of digital models. prevention, and cutting the number of deaths from tuberculosis and
Organizations receiving grants include: malaria by half by 2015,” said Mr. Rajat Gupta, Chair of the Global Fund
■ The Massachussetts-based Woods Hole Research Center - A $2 Board.
million grant to support high-resolution satellite mapping of forests to Most of the new funding - 77% - has been earmarked for Africa and
enhance monitoring of forest loss and settlement expansion in tropical the Middle East. Asia and the Western Pacific will receive 14%, Latin
countries. The Center will create information to share with environ- America and the Caribbean 6%, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia
mental and human experts so they can better anticipate the emergence 6%. Twenty-eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa received grants, with
of infectious diseases. the largest sums going to Nigeria ($409.4 million), Tanzania ($264.7
■ Columbia University International Research Institute for Climate million), the Democratic Republic of Congo ($233.2 million), Zimba-
and Society - A $900,000 grant to improve the use of forecasts, rainfall bwe ($187.3 million), Ethiopia ($148.4 million) and Zambia ($144.1
data and other climate information in East Africa, and to link weather million).
and climate experts to health professionals so they can better predict The Global Fund is a public-private partnership between govern-
the outbreak of infectious diseases. ments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities. It
■ University Corporation for Atmospheric Research - A $900,000 works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral orga-
grant to build and implement a system that will use weather projections nizations to supplement existing efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculo-
to inform and target responses to disease threats in West Africa. sis and malaria. To date, the Global Fund has committed $11.3 billion
■ Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI) - A $5.5 million grant in 140 countries.
PAGE TWO

PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS ERADICATION

STARBUCKS JOINS (PRODUCT) RED TO GLOBAL MALARIA


RAISE MONEY FOR GLOBAL FUND ACTION PLAN
The Seattle-based in Swaziland, Rwanda, Ghana and Lesotho. LAUNCHED
Starbucks Coffee “If every single Starbucks customer bought The inter-governmental Roll Back Malaria
Company is the lat- one RED Holiday Exclusive [beverage] for a (RBM) Partnership has developed a Glob-
est global multina- week, we would save 15,000 lives for a year in al Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) to reduce
tional corporation Africa,” Starbucks Senior Vice President Mi- global deaths from the disease to near zero
to sign on to the chelle Gass told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. by 2015, and subsequently eradicate malaria
(PRODUCT) RED Starbucks buys coffee from 10 African coun- worldwide.
campaign. Under the agreement, Starbucks tries: Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, The plan is the outcome of intense consul-
will give a portion of its profits on selected Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda tations involving 30 countries and regions
beverages to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, and Zambia. where malaria is endemic, 65 international in-
Tuberculosis and Malaria. “The business of Starbucks with roots in Af- stitutions and 250 experts from a wide range
From November 27 to January 2, Starbucks rica and branches all over the world is an ideal of fields. RBM projects it could save up to 4.2
will give five cents for each holiday beverage fit for RED,” said Bono. ‘It’s pretty mind-blow- million lives in the 20 highest burden coun-
sold in the United States and Canada to the ing to think that millions of people can buy tries in Africa.
Global Fund. Thereafter, donations will come RED going about their daily lives and in doing The GMAP offers a comprehensive blue-
from certain Starbucks products that are des- so raise millions of dollars to fight AIDS in Af- print for reducing malaria and sustaining the
ignated RED. rica. That’s not a bad hit from your caffeine.” effort until full eradication is achieved. It pro-
(PRODUCT) RED is an initiative launched Starbucks’ partnership with Product RED is vides timelines for delivering medicated bed
in 2006 by anti-poverty activist Bono to en- part of the company’s Shared Planet corporate nets and drugs to those at risk in the develop-
gage the private sector in raising awareness global citizenship program. Through the pro- ing world, and outlines a strategy for increas-
and funds to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Com- gram, Starbucks contributes to coffee-growing ing investment in research leading to the even-
panies who take on the RED label undertake communities in Africa and Latin America. tual eradication of malaria globally. Research
to contribute a percentage of their profits to The Starbucks holiday coffees carrying the is projected to cost at least $750 million annu-
the Global Fund. So far the initiative has raised RED label are peppermint mocha twist, gin- ally over the next 10 years.
more than $112 million to support programs gersnap latte and espresso truffle. The GMAP aims first to control the disease
by making antimalarials and preventive mea-
sures available to all those in endemic areas by
IMMUNIZATION 2010. The coverage strategy includes distribut-
ing up to 300 million insecticide-treated bed
nets in 2009 and 2010; spraying 172 million
NEW CLINICAL TRIALS FOR TB VACCINE households annually with insecticides; provid-
BEGIN IN KENYA & SOUTH AFRICA ing 25 million courses of Intermittent Preven-
tive Treatment (IPTp) for pregnant women;
Clinical trials began in October to test a new efforts, more so in an era where TB-HIV co- giving 1.5 billion diagnostic tests; and deliv-
tuberculosis vaccine that, researchers hope, infection is a great challenge,” said Ms. Lucy ering 228 million treatments of artemisinin
will improve immunity among people who Chesire, a prominent Kenyan TB advocate. combination therapy (ACT).
have already received the standard vaccine A Phase II study is also being conducted at In addition, the GMAP outlines a strategy
but who remain vulnerable to new drug-re- the University of Cape Town Lung Institute in to prevent malaria resurgence once it has been
sistant strains. South Africa, where 82 adults with a history of brought under control. This includes maintain-
A Phase I trial of the vaccine, developed by active TB are receiving the vaccine. ing high levels of preventative interventions
Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell The vaccine has already been tested on even after the number of new malaria cases
N.V. and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foun- volunteers in the United States, where it was drops by strengthening local health systems.
dation, has been launched in western Kenya by found to be safe in healthy adults. According to the RBM, eventual elimination
the Walter Reed Project-Kenya, a US Defense The need to develop a new TB vaccine has of malaria is a reachable goal, as evidenced
Department HIV/AIDS program. It will test taken on new urgency in recent years as the by the more than 20 lower burden countries
the safety of the candidate vaccine in healthy disease has become the top cause of death around the world that are already poised to
adults, who have been previously immunized among those infected with HIV/AIDS, and as eradicate malaria within their borders. In Oc-
with the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vac- new multi-drug-resistant strains of TB have tober, health experts predicted that Swaziland
cine. Some of the test subjects have also been rendered standard antibiotic treatments inef- would soon join Mauritius as the second coun-
exposed to TB but show no signs of the dis- fective. In Africa, the World Health Organiza- try in the Southern Africa Development Com-
ease. tion (WHO) estimates that people living with munity (SADC) to eliminate malaria. In addi-
“I am glad that a high burden country like HIV are 50 times more likely than HIV-nega- tion, the World Health Organization (WHO)
Kenya has been selected in these broader, more tive people to contract TB. Without treatment, reported in September that Rwanda, Tanzania,
comprehensive efforts in advancing new tools 90% of those co-infected with HIV and TB Eritrea, and Sao Tomé have dramatically re-
that are urgently required in global TB control usually die within months. duced malaria deaths.
PAGE THREE

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS LEADERSHIP

UGANDA AND MEDICINES FOR MALARIA TANZANIA’S FIRST


VENTURE LAUNCH NEW INITIATIVE LADY HONORED
Uganda’s Ministry of Health and Medi- clinics or pharmacies in Uganda stock Co- Tanzania’s First Lady Mama Salma Kikwete
cines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a Ge- artem. The study also stated that it took 11 was honored in November by the US Embas-
neva-based NGO that works to develop days of an average household income in sy, the Global Health Progress Initiative and
and make available antimalarial drugs, Uganda to purchase a single course of ACT the Abbott Fund for her role in leading the
launched a new initiative in September for a five year old. fight in Tanzania to reduce the stigma associ-
to make artemisinin combination ther- Under the CAPSS initiative, rural Ugan- ated with HIV/AIDS.
apy (ACT) available to rural Ugandans dans will be able to obtain a heavily-subsi- “Her Excellency Mama Kikwete’s personal
who do not have easy access to free gov- dized course of Coartem from private clin- leadership, which she displayed when she was
ernment-subsidized ACT. ics and pharmacies for about the same cost publicly tested for HIV, and her tireless efforts
Under the initiative, known as the as a packet of chewing gum. to improve women’s and girls’ health and edu-
Consortium for ACT Private Sector Sub- Initial roll-out of the initiative has been cation, make her a global health leader in the
sidy (CAPSS), the Ministry of Health and in eight districts in Uganda, affecting about fight against HIV/AIDS,” said US Ambassador
MMV are working with local private sec- three million people. MMV hopes that Mark Green.
tor partners to ensure that every Ugandan the project will eventually encompass the Mama Kikwete has worked for years with
- even those in remote areas - have easy whole country. partners such as Ambassador Green’s wife, Sue
and low cost access to ACT within 24 “This launch is a landmark event,” said Green, to advocate for children and challenge
hours of the appearance of symptoms. Dr. Chris Hentschel, President and CEO of all forms of stigma against those infected or af-
Effective, rapid treatment of malaria is MMV. “The Ministry of Health and MMV fected by HIV/AIDS in Tanzania.
considered critical to the eradication of have worked together with the CAPSS part- At the November event, Ms. Christy Wistar,
the disease because it closes the window ners for over a year to get the project off the Vice President of Abbott Fund Tanzania, pre-
of opportunity for mosquitoes to transmit ground. Their close collaboration is once sented $25,000 to Mama Kikwete to support
the parasite from one person to another. again proof that partnerships can work in a model school in Lindi that provides quality
It takes just three days of ACT to kill the the fight against malaria.” education for girls and children affected by
parasite in a carrier. Endemic in most CAPSS is modeled after the program that HIV/AIDS. The school currently has facilities
parts of the country, malaria kills about led to malaria eradication in Italy, the last to board 300 students, including 45 children
320 Ugandans each day, most of them stronghold of the disease in Europe. Under who have been orphaned or made vulnerable
children and pregnant women. that program, the Italian government made by HIV/AIDS.
Before the launch of CAPSS, many ru- antimalarial drugs available to everyone by Speaking on behalf of the Global Health
ral villagers could not access ACT drugs stocking subsidized medications in tobacco Progress initiative, Mr. Kevin Walker described
because of poor infrastructure and dis- shops around the country. the healthcare challenges of the 21st century as
tance to drugs, which are available for free The CAPSS Consortium also includes being so great that there is “a collective need
from public health clinics and hospitals. Uganda’s National Drug Authority; Sur- to bring critical stakeholders together to the
Instead, they have been forced to buy low gipharm, a regional pharmacy chain; the table to transform healthcare realities on the
cost, but less ineffective, older medicines non-profit Malaria Consortium; the Inter- ground, especially in Africa.”
such as cholorquine and artesiminin national Dispensary Association (IDA), a “Today, government, industry and NGOs
monotherapies. non-profit dispenser of essential drugs; and are in the same room to discuss healthcare,” he
A single dose of Coartem, the ACT Population Services International (PSI), a added.
of choice, costs about $8, which is more private sector health partnership. The Global Health Progress initiative brings
than most Ugandans can afford. A recent MMV is a non-profit organization that international research-based pharmaceutical
MMV study disclosed that because of its works to develop and deliver effective companies and global health leaders together
high cost, only about one in 25 private and affordable antimalarial drugs through to improve health in the developing world.
public-private partnerships. It is currently Also attending the event were senior Tan-
managing a portfolio of over 40 antima- zanian government officials, representatives
larial projects in collaboration with over from Mama Kikwete’s Wanawake na Maende-
100 pharmaceutical, academic and country leo Foundation (WAMA), US government of-
partners. ficials, and representatives from NGOs work-
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ing on health programs in Tanzania.
is the principle funder of MMV, with other The Abbott Fund works in partnership with
contributers including the governments of the Government of Tanzania and has invested
the US, the UK, Switzerland and the Neth- over $50 million since 2001 to improve the
erlands. Pharmaceutical partners include country’s healthcare infrastructure, increase
Glaxo-SmithKline (UK), Novartis (Swit- access to HIV/AIDS testing, care and treat-
A child receives ACT drugs zerland) and Sigma-Tau Industrie Farma- ment and help orphans and vulnerable chil-
(Photo: Bonnie Gillespie, Voices for a Malaria Free
Future) ceutiche (Italy). dren affected by AIDS.
PAGE FOUR

TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS NEW FRONTIERS

SOUTH AFRICANS TO USE TEXT MESSAGES GATES FOUNDATION


TO BATTLE HIV/AIDS AND TUBERCULOSIS TO FUND CUTTING-
A coalition of technology-savvy businesses
and NGOs has launched an ambitious new
port, at-home testing and “virtual call cen-
ters,” where teams of counselors will field
EDGE RESEARCH
initiative that aims to harness cell phone calls remotely. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation an-
technology to increase HIV and tubercu- PCMs are specialized free text messag- nounced in October that it will give $100 mil-
losis (TB) testing and make treatment op- es, which allow the sender to request that lion to 104 scientists in 22 countries to pur-
tions more accessible in South Africa. someone else call them back. Currently in sue “outside-the-box” research to find cures
Named “Project Masiluleke” (meaning South Africa, about 30 million such PCM- for diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tu-
to “give wise counsel” and “lend a helping messages are being sent each day. Project berculosis.
hand” in Zulu), the initiative was unveiled Masiluleke, in partnership with cellular The grants, initially of $100,000 each, are
in October at a conference in Camden, network operator MTN, will use the PCM modeled along the lines of venture capital in-
Maine, organized by Pop!Tech, a non-profit platform to insert relevant HIV/AIDS and vestments where funding is given in relatively
organization which brings together volun- TB information into the available space on small amounts to support a large number of
teers from the technology world to develop a PCM message. ideas in the hope that a few will succeed.
innovative solutions to global social and With its 90% cell phone penetration rate, “This is a high-risk program” Dr. Tachi
health problems. South Africa is considered the ideal loca- Yamada, President of Global Health at the
In its first phase, the project will send tion for such an initiative. Project backers Gates Foundation, told the Wall Street Journal.
out about a million text messages a day for hope that the initiative will improve South “We recognize that most of these things are
a year using the “Please-Call-Me” (PCM) Africa’s very low testing rate. Only about 1% not going to pan out.”
platform to urge South African cell phone of the population has been tested for HIV. “Most of the approaches that have been
users to contact HIV and TB call centers. A Cape Town-based nonprofit, Cell-Life, tried to date and that are in the pipeline have
Trained operators then provide callers with launched a program in 2007 that uses cell been from a sort of orthodox way of looking
accurate healthcare information, counsel- phones to help healthcare workers monitor at vaccine,” Dr. Yamada said. “Some novel ap-
ing and referrals to local testing clinics. HIV patients and electronically track medi- proaches need to be tried.”
Eventually, Project Masiluleke will in- cations dispensed to hospitals and clinics. To apply for the program, called Grand
clude anti-retroviral therapy (ART) sup- Project Masiluleke is being supported Challenges Explorations, applicants were able
by the Johannesburg-based Praekelt Foun- to bypass the usual detailed and lengthy grant
dation; Pop!Tech; MTN; Frog Design, a process by filling in a two-page on-line applica-
design and innovation firm that develops tion. They were encouraged to propose offbeat
breakthrough mobile applications and or new approaches to problems, which were
services; Nokia Seimens Networks, a com- then submitted to a select panel that included
munications services provider; and the Na- Nobel Prize winners but not those with spe-
tional Geographic Society. The South Afri- cific expertise in the medical areas addressed
can National AIDS Helpline and iTeach, an by the program.
awareness and outreach organization based Over 4,000 applications were received, out
in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, are imple- of which 104 were selected for grants. While
menting partners for the project. most of the grantees are from the United
States, some grants also went to scientists in
South Africa. Projects cover a wide range of
RAPID TREATMENT innovation, including a “mosquito flashlight”
to prevent malaria transmission by disrupt-
PARTNERSHIP RECEIVES GRANT TO IMPROVE ing wavelengths, self-destructing TB cells, and
studying anti-infective properties of the eye to
ANTIBIOTIC ACCESS IN AFRICA help prevent HIV/AIDS and other infectious
The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiot- distribution channels, detect counterfeit drugs diseases.
ics (APUA) has received a $1.37 million grant and measure laboratory capacity to monitor The selection panel will review the progress
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to antibiotic resistance. of the projects in a year. Those that appear
explore ways to fast-track antibiotics to sick Pneumonia and severe diarrhea are leading promising will then be invited to apply for
children in villages in Africa before they suc- causes of death in sub-Saharan Africa, a prob- grants of $1 million or more.
cumb to severe diarrhea and acute respira- lem exacerbated by the high resistance to peni- The Grand Challenges Explorations pro-
tory illness. cillin for Strep pneumoniae. gram serves seven long-term goals to improve
APUA, a Boston-based NGO supported by APUA’s principal supporters include Pfizer, health in the developing world: improve vac-
corporate partners in the pharmaceutical in- Inc., AG Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Bayer-Scher- cines, create new vaccines, control insect vec-
dustry, will work with local field staff in Zam- ing Pharmaceuticals, bioMérieux, Inc., and tors, improve nutrition, limit drug resistance,
bia and Uganda to map antibiotic supply and The Clorox Company. cure infection and measure health status.

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