Photo credit: Tash McCarroll/USAID
March 2017
- World TB Day:
March 24 - World Health Worker Week:
April 2–8 - World Health Day:
April 7 - World Malaria Day:
April 25 - HIV Vaccine Awareness Day:
May 18 - Hepatitis Testing Day:
May 19 - HIV Long-Term Survivors Day:
June 5
Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections
Photo credit: Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)
The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was held in Seattle, Washington, February 13 - 16, 2017. CROI is a premier scientific conference that brings together clinical researchers from across the globe to share the latest studies and research developments in infectious diseases, including HIV and AIDS. Of particular note, new findings presented at CROI, as discussed in First-in-Human Trials Demonstrate Nanoformulations' Ability to Transform HIV Treatment, show that novel nanoformulations of antiretroviral medications can transform HIV treatment by reducing dosing by 50 percent, saving money and increasing patients' adherence. Additionally, findings in U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-partner ICAP’s Engage4Health study, as presented in Research Shows Promise in Combination Strategy for HIV Care and Treatment Linkage, show that a combination of evidence-based interventions, including early antiretroviral (ART) initiation, can improve linkage and retention to care. Read the conference program and abstract e-book [PDF, 64.5MB].
For more:
- Download electronic materials from the conference.
- Watch webcast of all conference sessions.
- Read the highlights from each day from AIDSMap.
- Read the Daily Recaps from the PMTCT/Peds High Five Team:
OHA Looks Ahead to World Health Worker Week
Photo credit: HIWA
By: Diana Frymus, MPH, Health Workforce Branch Chief and Kim Rogers, Program Assistant, Health Workforce Branch
USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS (OHA) joins the international community in celebrating health workers and recognizing their vital contributions to achieving global health goals during the fifth annual World Health Worker Week (WHWW), April 2-8, 2017.
The achievements made in HIV and AIDS would not be possible without the tireless efforts of health workers across countries supporting HIV services. From clinical to lay cadres, frontline health workers are often the first interface for clients seeking HIV services and are integral to the expansion of HIV testing, initiation of HIV treatment and follow-up, and linkages needed to support viral suppression – all components to meeting the global 90-90-90 goals. The role of health workers, especially at the community level, continues to expand and change as innovative service delivery models and Test and Treat are further rolled out to scale.
USAID is a key contributor to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR’s) achievements in strengthening the health workforce needed for supporting HIV services. The Agency has been at the forefront of aligning with new global priorities to ensure that Human Resources for Health (HRH) activities are the most innovative, strategic and sustainable.
Check out the OHA HRH webpage to learn more about current HRH programmatic efforts focused on:
- Increasing availability and utilization of data for HRH decision-making
- Optimizing HRH for HIV service delivery models
- Expanding and sustaining the role of the community-based health workforce
- Innovative financing for HRH
This year we also celebrate the diversity of the HIV workforce that is critical to achieving an AIDS-free generation. This workforce is made up of various cadres across health and social services. It includes not only doctors, nurses, pharmacists and community health workers, but also professional social workers, community development workers and child and youth care workers who provide support for children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV.
USAID plays an essential role to the development of the social service workforce that supports PEPFAR’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children programs. The needs of the HIV workforce serve as an example for how global calls for more comprehensive focus on health and social sector employment may yield greater service efficiencies and impact on the diverse populations programs aim to serve.
In this ever-changing health landscape, WHWW serves as an opportunity to bring communities, partners and policy-makers together in recognizing the HIV workforce and to further dialogue around the challenges that have an impact on workers' ability to do their jobs safely, efficiently and effectively. As WHWW approaches, OHA, as well as the Bureau for Global Health, will release more information on how to participate in WHWW. Please join us in celebrating these incredible heroes dedicated to combatting HIV and AIDS!
In Vaccines We Trust
Photo Credit: PATH
By: Margaret M. McCluskey, RN, MPH, Senior Technical Advisor, HIV Vaccines
Why do we trust that vaccines are the answer to preventing illness and death from infections like measles, mumps, polio, pertussis, pneumonia, influenza and yellow fever? Is it on faith that we base our trust in these “jabs,” or merely on the vast experience of global vaccine programs? Of course not.
We vaccinate our children because the data, based on decades of solid scientific surveillance, have proven time and time again that vaccines save lives. Just walk through any old graveyard and you cannot help but notice the tiny headstones, like the one near my house in Tenleytown here in Washington D.C., that simply says: “Mary, age 5.” Although losing a child before the age of five in less developed parts of the world is sadly, not uncommon, here in the United States and in most of the West, our children are protected from common childhood infections because they are routinely vaccinated as a matter of public health policy.
The beautiful thing about biomedical science is that we can count on it to reveal and validate the truth. Another reliable aspect, is that results can be questioned, necessitating increased scrutiny through rigorous methods to confirm their validity. True results “hold up,” despite rigorous re-evaluation. For decades now, facts, not fiction, have driven the field of routine childhood immunizations, resulting in sustained, dramatic decreases in childhood mortality. USAID has long invested in these simple, life-saving tools for very good reason: Next to potable water, vaccines are the bedrock of global health.
Yet, there are a many threats from infectious disease for which vaccines have yet to be discovered, not least of which are vaccines capable of preventing leading killers like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. Also important and currently in development are: a universal flu vaccine; one for hookworm - which is ubiquitous to so many parts of the developing world; a definitive vaccine for Dengue and Lassa fever and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; ones for emerging pandemic threats like Zika, Ebola and avian influenza (H7N9). These are the tough vaccines still yet to be discovered, and the above diseases are real threats to our collective well-being and national security. These vaccines are well worth the long and arduous road of research and discovery until we have them in hand to prevent and control epidemics.
As vaccine skeptics vie for headlines and attention, many of us will stay the course, knowing that vaccines are the simplest, safest and most practical way to save lives and diminish human suffering. And for HIV, it is hard to imagine ending the epidemic without one.
Contact OHA-Communications-Team@usaid.gov for more information.
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