Donor nation support for HIV stands firm but investments remain at 2008 levels

via Kaiser Family Foundation

               

U.S. continues to account for more than half of all donor government investments.

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 18, 2012— Donor nation funding in 2011 for HIV in low- and middle income countries returned to prior levels after a drop in 2010, but has been roughly flat since the recession hit world economies in 2008, according to an annual funding analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The study found that donor governments disbursed US$ 7.6 billion in 2011 for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries. Overall donor government support for AIDS has been flat since 2008, which marked the end of rapid increases in donor disbursements of more than six-fold over the 2002 to 2008 period.

"International investments still account for two thirds of funding for HIV in Africa, the continent most affected by the epidemic," said Paul De Lay, Deputy Executive Director, Programme at UNAIDS. "Although more and more countries are increasing domestic investments for HIV, investments from donor governments remain an essential resource."

"The benefits of early detection and treatment have never been more clear, but countries have never been more challenged to provide needed resources. This is a critical time to keep the focus on the HIV epidemic," said Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO.

The two largest donor governments – the United States and United Kingdom – reported funding increases. The United States, the largest donor nation, reported a US$785 million increase in disbursements over 2010, but only returned to 2009 levels after reporting a delay in disbursements as the reason for last year's decline. Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden maintained or slightly increased their support, while Ireland, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands decreased funding.

Read the rest here.


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Online Coverage of AIDS 2012 Kicks Off With Live Webcast On Sunday, July 22

via Kaiser Family Foundation

In partnership with the International AIDS Society, the Kaiser Family Foundation is the official webcaster of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) – the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. 

Kaiser will provide online access to the daily developments that take place at the conference in Washington, D.C. beginning this Sunday, July 22.

Tune in to the live webcast of the Opening Session on Sunday, July 22 at 19:00 (7 p.m. ET).  The Closing Session will also be webcast live on Friday, July 27 at 15:15 (3:15 p.m. ET).  Throughout the conference, Kaiser will provide webcasts, podcasts (in English and Spanish) and transcripts of roughly 50 other conference sessions. 

Additionally, on Friday, July 19, the Foundation and the Black AIDS Institute will present a webcast featuring leading conference speakers discussing expectations of the conference and on July 27, they’ll take a look at what was accomplished at AIDS 2012, what still needs to be done and begin to look ahead to AIDS 2014.

Kaiser's AIDS 2012 conference coverage, including live webcasts, will be available at www.kff.org/aids2012.  Visit the page now to see a guide to conference coverage.

GET THE WEBCAST & HEADLINES WIDGET

If your organization is interested in making the conference coverage available to its constituency, grab this free widget (pictured to the left) and place it on your website, blog or social networks. During the week of the conference, the widget will automatically update to display the latest available webcasts and news headlines.See the widget on the conference website. Get the widget here.  RSS feeds will also be available.

GET THE DAILY EMAIL

To follow news from the conference and be alerted each day with a list of available webcasts, sign up for the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, which will feature special conference coverage.

Kaiser’s coverage of AIDS 2012 will include:

• Live and tape-delayed webcasts and transcripts of each day's sessions, including the opening and closing sessions, all plenary sessions, and selected other sessions and press conferences;
• English- and Spanish-language audio podcasts of select sessions;
• Interviews with conference newsmakers, scientists and journalists; and
• Extended news coverage in the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, including summaries of coverage from international news sources and newly-released studies.

Check out the live webcast here.



[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position. Please look for us on Facebook here www.facebook.com/MappingPathways and you can follow us on Twitter @mappingpathways as well.]

Kaiser/UNAIDS study finds drop in overall disbursements for AIDS response in 2010, seven out of 15 governments report reductions

Via the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Funding disbursements from donor governments for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries fell in 2010, dropping 10% from the previous year’s level, according to an annual funding analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The study found that donor governments disbursed US$ 6.9 billion in 2010 for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support--US$ 740 million less than in 2009. The decrease was due to a combination of three main factors: actual reductions in development assistance, currency exchange fluctuations, and a slowdown in the pace of U.S. disbursements, which was not a budget cut.

Of the 15 governments surveyed, seven--Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States--reported a year over year decrease in their disbursements as measured in their own currencies. The figures presented in the report are in US dollars, consistent with international standards and other reporting mechanisms.

Due to currency fluctuations, when measured in US dollars, Australia showed a slight increase in its AIDS funding contribution even though it contributed less in its own currency. Conversely, there was a slight decrease in Denmark’s contribution despite the country’s increased funding level in its own currency.

"AIDS is a smart investment even in this difficult economic environment. We have to look beyond the near-term costs and recognize the long-term benefits," said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. "Donors need to make and follow through on commitments today to reduce costs in the future."

The overall drop in disbursements was primarily attributed to a reduction in disbursements by the United States, the largest donor nation, which accounted for 54% of total donor disbursements in 2010. While the United States Congress appropriated similar levels of funding for the AIDS response in 2010 as in 2009 (approximately US$ 5.5 billion in each year), disbursements from the United States declined from US$ 4.4 billion in 2009 to US$ 3.7 billion in 2010. This slowdown stems from new requirements established by Congress for the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Some funds appropriated in 2010 will be disbursed in later years.

"With U.S. funding delayed but not eliminated to this point, this year’s drop in spending may be a temporary blip, though its impact on services may be real," said Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO.

Read the rest here.

[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position.]

Models: Tools to Improve Decision Making about HIV

Via AIDS.gov, by Ronald Valdiserri, M.D., M.P.H.

For those of us who work in the HIV/AIDS field, the month of July was dominated by exciting HIV prevention news coming out of the International AIDS Society meeting in Rome. Results from the HPTN 052 study showed that early, compared to delayed, antiretroviral treatment resulted in a 96% reduction in HIV transmission to uninfected partners. The TDF2 study conducted by CDC in partnership with the Botswana Ministry of Health, found that a once-daily pill containing two anti-HIV drugs reduced the risk of acquiring HIV infection by about 63% in a study population of healthy, heterosexual men and women. These and other study findings continue to add weight to the notion that HIV treatment is prevention. All of us are encouraged when we think about how these findings could be translated into real world settings in a way that would bring us closer to achieving the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Without minimizing the tremendous enthusiasm that rightly attends the prevention breakthroughs that were presented in Rome, I would like to talk about another scientific discussion that took place in July. As it turns out, this meeting was also held in a world capital, although to a much smaller audience. And while the results of this two-day meeting didn’t garner media attention the same way as the Rome meeting did, the topics under discussion were no less consequential.  In mid-July, I was very fortunate to attend a two-day workshop on “Modeling and Evidence-Based Decision Making” sponsored by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research and cosponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, and the Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services. Meeting participants included colleagues from state and local departments of health, academia, federal government, and professional and community-based organizations.

Colleagues from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Maryland, and New York City shared with us their experiences with using various models to assist in making decisions about “optimizing” HIV prevention investments. Using different approaches, each of these health departments was trying to answer the same question, “What combination of prevention services and activities will result in the greatest reduction of the number of new HIV infections?”

At the onset of the meeting, we were reminded that modeling is used in other areas of health and public policy decision-making, especially when leaders are trying to combine diverse information from a variety of sources in order to make sound decisions at a population level.  However, even the biggest fans of modeling reminded us that a model is not a “crystal ball” nor is it infallible.  Instead, what models do is provide a tool to help us make better decisions about complex realities. Good models should always be clear about the inputs and assumptions that were used to generate the results. And perhaps most importantly, they should be used to guide rather than to conclude any discussions about how best to allocate resources.

Read the rest here.

[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position.]