Chair

The Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Michel Sidibé today announced the appointment of South African scientist, Professor Salim S. Abdool Karim as Chair of the newly established UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel. Mr Sidibe made the announcement in Durban, South Africa during his opening address at a UNAIDS Scientific Symposium on the implications of the “Mississippi baby” for public health programmes on mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The panel will advise UNAIDS on major new scientific discoveries, as well as gaps and strategic needs in AIDS research and on how UNAIDS can adjust its policies to address these needs and shape the AIDS response.

The Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Michel Sidibé today announced the appointment of South African scientist, Professor Salim S. Abdool Karim as Chair of the newly established UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel. Mr Sidibe made the announcement in Durban, South Africa during his opening address at a UNAIDS Scientific Symposium on the implications of the “Mississippi baby” for public health programmes on mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The panel will advise UNAIDS on major new scientific discoveries, as well as gaps and strategic needs in AIDS research and on how UNAIDS can adjust its policies to address these needs and shape the AIDS response.

More than 12 African heads of state and other global leaders met today and reviewed progress toward implementing transformative reforms in the AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria responses and pledged to accelerate the pace of change (increase annual domestic funding for health care, particularly AIDS, TB and malaria services).  AIDS Watch Africa (AWA), an advocacy platform for African Heads of State on AIDS, TB and Malaria convened the meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the side-lines of the African Union summit celebrating 50 years of African Unity.

A simple practice that benefits all newborns is also bringing down mortality rates.

The baby was born eight weeks premature. She weighs little more than a kilogram; a tiny bundle  in a padded nest battling against death. Her heart flutters.

An alarm sounds, adding to the cacophonous soundtrack of the neonatal intensive-care unit in the Pelonomi Hospital, a sprawling, 44-year-old complex of brown brick buildings southeast of central Bloemfontein. It is typical of many large public hospitals in South Africa: bustling, understaffed and slightly run-down.

"Mamma, kom hier asseblief [Mommy, please come here]," a nurse calls, after silencing the alarm.

The University of Cape Town and the Department of Health of the Western Cape Government invite applications for the above position in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine linked to the Chief Directorate: Strategy and Health Support.

The successful person:

Dr Aaron Motsoaledi rubs his forehead and repositions himself in his chair, leaning forward as if to make sure the point come across clearly: “I will say it upfront. There is no way National Health Insurance (NHI) will function anywhere if the public health system is not functioning well.”

The health minister has been on a long overdue mission to transform South Africa’s health system since he took office more than three years ago.

The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), aims to reduce preventable deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart attacks and strokes, chronic respiratory diseases and cancers, by 25 percent by 2025.

WHO is coordinating negotiations on the surveillance, indicators and voluntary targets that will form an eventual global plan to fight NCDs, and is drafting recommendations to be considered by member governments in October 2012. Many NCDs are caused by alcohol, tobacco, diet and a lack of exercise.

The Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG) has called for increased global commitment to funding and coordinating health research to meet the specific needs of developing countries. The group proposes a package of changes that includes utilizing open knowledge innovation and prizes as incentives, mandatory government commitments, pooling of funding and an international binding convention on global health research.

Nokuzola Ndabazonke walks slowly to the chair in her physiotherapist's consulting room. She turns and painstakingly sits down. Two months ago she could not sit up straight by herself or use her hands and could hardly utter a word. She is also infected with HIV.

"She had TB of the brain and consequently suffered a stroke," says physiotherapist Laura Grobicki.

After intensive sessions with Grobicki, Ndabazonke's condition improved remarkably.