This week’s Lancet returns the spotlight to Option B+, an innovative strategy for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV which was first developed in Malawi with technical assistance from MSH. Four letters respond to the concern that international organizations have too quickly endorsed the Option B+ approach of providing lifelong triple antiretroviral therapy (ART), irrespective of CD4 count, to pregnant women with HIV in high-burden countries. MSH experts Scott Kellerman, Jonathan [...]
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cd4,
eric schouten,
jon jay,
Jonathan Quick,
Malawi,
Option B+,
PEPFAR,
Scott Kellerman,
WHO,
World Health Organization
I got a call from the resident doctor to come to exam room 6. As soon as I entered the room, I prepared myself. The little girl, 7- or maybe 8-years-old, didn’t look well; she was “floppy,” combative, and not entirely aware of where she was or what we were doing to her. She [...]
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Eric Goosby,
Malawi,
Michel Sidibe,
pediatrics,
PEPFAR,
PMTCT,
Rwanda,
UNAIDS,
USAID
Cross-posted from the K4Health blog. No matter which health system building block you are trying to improve, you need specific data, information, and knowledge to inform your decision-making process—this is where good knowledge management comes in handy. “The Intersection of Knowledge Management and Health Systems Strengthening: Implications from the Malawi Knowledge for Health Demonstration Project” provides [...]
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Family Planning,
governance,
health information,
health systems,
health workforce,
K4Health,
knowledge management,
leadership,
Malawi,
medicines,
reproductive health,
service delivery,
technology,
vaccines
The Ugandan government launched a new prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) strategy on September 12. Uganda will transition from an approach based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Option A — which is contingent on an HIV-positive pregnant woman’s CD4 count — to WHO’s newest PMTCT strategy, Option B+. Option B+ — whereby HIV-positive pregnant women [...]
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Africa,
HIV & AIDS,
Malawi,
MNCH,
newborn health,
news,
Option B+,
PMTCT,
reproductive health,
Uganda,
Women,
Women's Health,
World Health Organization (WHO)
Each year over 10 million men, women, and children in developing countries die as a result of our collective failure to deliver available safe, affordable, and proven prevention and treatment. A recent analysis of innovations in products and practices for global health, from the Hepatitis B vaccine to use of skilled birth attendants, revealed virtually none [...]
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Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet (ADDO),
Afghanistan,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Booz Allen,
Clinton Global Initiative,
Erik Schouten,
Haiti,
innovation,
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation,
Jonathan Quick,
Malawi,
Option B+,
performance-based financing,
Rockefeller Foundation,
Rwanda,
Tanzania,
The Global Fund,
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria,
The Lancet,
USAID
It’s been nearly two weeks since former President William J. Clinton closed the last session of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) and delegates returned home. This year’s conference featured commitment and calls for an AIDS-free generation, a growing interest in Option B+, and new research towards a cure. Here are some reflections from what [...]
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Bill Clinton,
Center for Strategic & International Studies,
Chewe Luo,
Eric Goosby,
fragile states,
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi,
Hilary Rodham Clinton,
HPTN 052,
injection drug users,
Kaiser Family Foundation,
Malawi,
MSM,
non-communicable diseases. NCDs,
Option B+,
PMTCT,
Scott Kellerman,
sex workers,
universal health coverage (UHC),
vulnerable populations
The prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is taking center stage this week during USAID’s 5th Birthday campaign — and rightly so. Preventing mother to child transmission of HIV is one of the most critical, effective tools to helping kids reach their fifth birthdays. Ambassador Eric Goosby and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé have called for the elimination [...]
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5th Birthday campaign,
AIDS,
ARVs,
B+ option,
Chewe Luo,
HIV,
Malawi,
Option B+,
pediatrics,
PMTCT,
Scott Kellerman,
USAID,
World Health Organization (WHO)
Cross-posted from the Global Health Magazine blog. How did Malawi control its brain drain? The British Medical Journal issued a report last month estimating that nine African countries have lost $2 billion worth of investment in training and educating doctors who have subsequently migrated abroad. It needn’t be this way. Doctors, nurses and other health [...]
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Africa,
British Medical Journal (BMJ),
community health workers,
Emergency Human Resource Program (EHRP),
Global Health Council,
health workers,
health workforce,
human resources for health,
leadership and management,
Malawi,
nurses,
research,
sustainability,
UK's Department for International Development (DFID)
Cross-posted from the K4Health Blog. The overhead lights dim and in the dark, the high-spirited rhythm and melodic line of a Malawian song rises and overtakes the quiet buzz of conversation. We are seated in a large auditorium at the International Conference on Family Planning in Dakar, Senegal and watching the first film focused on [...]
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Family Planning,
International Conference on Family Planning,
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Knowledge for Health,
Malawi,
mobile health,
mobile technology,
music,
Population Services International (PSI),
reproductive health,
scalability,
sustainability,
texting,
The District Hospital Band,
Thokozani “Thoko” Bema,
video
This year is not only MSH’s 40th anniversary; it is also 30 years since the first reported cases of HIV. Thirty years ago HIV was considered a new, always-fatal disease. …Today 6.6 million people—nearly half of those in need—will take life-saving antiretrovirals.
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Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival,
BASICS,
Building Local Capacity Project,
CFPHS,
Community-based Family Planning and HIV & AIDS Services,
Discovery channel,
Ethiopia,
HIV & AIDS,
ICASA,
Japanese Leadership Program,
Jonathan Quick,
JSI,
Malawi,
MSH,
NCDs,
PFSCM,
PMTCT,
STAR-E,
Supply Chain Management System,
Uganda,
USAID,
World AIDS Day
