Healthcare Information For All by 2015: HIFA2015 email forum launches today. HIFA2015 is a new global email discussion group with an ambitious but achievable goal: ‘By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider.

The group will provide a neutral discussion space for all those with an interest in the creation, exchange and use of relevant, practical healthcare information for family carers, primary health workers, and district-level healthcare providers in developing and transitional countries.

This will launch formally in Mombasa, Kenya, on 26th October 2006, at the 10th Congress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa. For further details, see this.

I have surprisingly seen little coverage on the UN’s latest marketing tactic. I heard on “On The Money” (CNBC financial show) of all places that the UN has taken “celebrity” power + argubaly the hotest website (YouTube) to reach people about global poverty. With 34 million visitors per month, this link to YouTube is surprisingly saavy. LINK TO VIDEO…

The UN has teamed up with one of the most recently watched controversial posters who has been all over the news (Lonelygirl15) on YouTube to deliver their “Stand Up” against poverty campaign. The only mention of this comes from a CNET.com news blog referencing the WSJ article today:

WSJ 10/9/07 “U.N. Enlists Internet Star for Antipoverty Pitch”
“The U.N. has enlisted the star of hugely popular Web video series LonelyGirl15 and other Web video makers to participate in an ad campaign promoting an antipoverty event it plans Sunday…

The U.N. hopes the videos will spark buzz about its call for people around the world to “stand up against poverty” at rallies and other events planned for a 24-hour period Sunday. The online videos are part of a broader ad campaign, designed by WPP Group’s ad agency Y&R, also involving television.”

I have seen a few other organizations engage in this type of social marketing, but global health advocates should take note of tools like this to spread their messages.

Recently Kenneth Behring (through his foundation) donated almost $650,000 to develop a website on the importance of safe drinking water by 2007. Behring, a real estate mogul and former owner of the Seattle Seahawks, has donated over $120 million to various causes including the Smithsonian, The Wheelchair Foundation and other water related causes. Thie purpose of water website effort is to:

“develop a web-based resource to inform decision makers around the world about the importance of safe drinking water — and what they can do to meet this need. ‘Safe water is essential for health, yet remains one of the most critical problems facing the world today,’ said Behring. “One out of every five people lacks access to clean drinking water. We must create innovative, sustainable approaches that can make a significant impact on the world’s water crisis.” Read more here.

I am not clear on what this website will do, how it will be promoted and how such a critical message will be spread. I guess we will see what happens next year. Issues surrounding water are incredibly important/dire and we plan to post more on technology and innovation in this area.

HELINA 2007: eHealth in Africa
Abstracts due before October 15, 2006.
9-10 January 2007 Bamako, Mali

Conference announcement and call for abstracts
Web site: http://www.helina2007.hcnls.org/HELINA2007.html
E-mail: mailto:helina2007@amiesit.com

Hosted by the Mali Society for Health, the HELINA 2007 conference brings together international health informatics professionals and researchers in Bamako, Mali, on January 9th and 10th, 2007. The goal of the conference is to exchange on the topic “eHealth in Africa”, sharing on lessons learned from existing projects, discussing conceptual and organizational issues, and laying the ground for the future of eHealth in Africa through a better understanding of opportunities and challenges. The submission form should be downloaded from the conference web site.

Its been a busy month for OneWorld Health (OWH), the first *non profit*
drug company in the US. OWH is dedicated to developing pharmaceuticals
for neglected diseases in developing counties. The first major event is that
they recieved their first drug approval last week for Visceral leishmaniasis.
They have faced many hurdles in starting this venture and getting to this
point, I highly encourage you check out their story. From their website,
they have a couple more drugs in the pipeline:

Second, Dr. Victoria Hale, founder, recieved the $500,000 MacArthur
Genius Award. You can read more in this US News article.

Finally, The mainstream press has a related article covering a OWH project
with Amryis Biotechnologies to develvop a malaria compound. This piece
also discusses the business idelogy some non-profit funders are taking. Its
short on details, but a good summary.

I am sure there will be future entries on OWH and hopefully we will
have time to post a short interview from staff there.

Riders for Health celebrated a major anniversary last week. “Riders for Health have worked for over 15 years on the problem of delivery systems for healthcare in Africa”

The founders of this organization had a “shared love of motorcycles that inspired marriage and the founding of an organization that provides African health care workers with motorcycles to transport patients and deliver medical supplies.”

__________________________________________________________
“RIDERS QUICK FACTs-
(1)Every year three million people die in developing countries because of lack of access to treatment.

(2)None of the eight Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by UN aid agencies in 2000 mention transport. Without transport how will the goals even get off the ground?

(3) The Gambian government made history in 2002 by being the first African government to outsource the management of the entire country’s health delivery vehicles. They have given the management to Riders for Health.

(4) Cost-wise the price of one Land Cruiser is the same as ten motorcycles.

(5) Riders for Health enabled African health workers to reach 9.79 million people in 2002-2003.”
__________________________________________________________

TECH AWARD WINNER
“Riders for Health has been named a Laureate for the Agilent Technologies Foundation Health Award, for their innovative work managing transport for the delivery of healthcare in Africa.”

“The internal combustion engine is 100 years old, yet children are still dying because no one can get to them,” said Riders co-founder Andrea Coleman.

“Public health workers have the necessary expertise to radically improve the health of people living in Africa,” she continued, “but even low-tech interventions like mosquito nets, sanitation and health education will not make a sustained difference until reliable, motorised transport is available to those who need it. We are delighted that the Tech Museum has recognised this vital issue, by honouring Riders’ work at a time when we are celebrating ten years of delivering healthcare in Africa.”

PBS DOCUMENTARY
Riders for Health was featured in the PBS documentary Rx Survival: A Global Health Challenge in part 3 – Delivering the Goods. “At the dawn of the 21st century, we can prevent, treat or cure most of the deadliest diseases known to humankind — and yet millions die needlessly every year because the benefits of modern medicine and public health fail to reach them. What are the obstacles to providing care to populations in need? From the villages of the Gambia to the cities and towns of Thailand, from the sun-scorched refugee camps of Chad to the teeming streets of Bangladesh — this episode chronicles innovative health programs and charismatic leaders who, against all odds, are Delivering the Goods to millions of individuals — and inspiring a new vision for the future of global health.”

This video is worth a few minutes on a work break:

http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=7684&where=index

Or Ricky Gervais’s interview with Microsoft management:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9076288729387457440

Today Yahoo! news reported:

BASEL, Switzerland – Roche Holding AG said Friday it will help
three African companies to produce one of its anti- HIV drugs.

Roche will provide the companies — Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, and
Cosmos Ltd. and Universal Corp. Ltd. in Kenya — with the technical assistance
necessary to produce saquinavir, the active ingredient in the Swiss-based
 pharmaceutical's Invirase treatment.

The three companies will produce the drug in Africa and will be allowed to
export it to other developing countries around the world.

"It is both encouraging and heartening that local African manufacturers are
taking steps to increase their capacity to produce and provide HIV medicines
locally," said Lembit Rago, a medicine expert at the World Health Organization.

Roche said the program allowing production of saquinavir would eventually
extend to 25 companies in 14 countries. The drug is used to treat patients who
have developed a resistance to initial anti-HIV therapies.

The company said it does not file for patent rights in the world's poorest
countries. The move, it added, would not affect its pricing policy allowing least
developed countries to buy anti-HIV protease inhibitors at cost.

By Vern Weitzel

Describing it as a “life-saving initiative”, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today officially launched UNITAID, an international drug purchasing facility that will provide medicine and treatment against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for the poorest people of developing countries who otherwise could not afford them.

“UNITAID can use its purchasing power to leverage price reductions for quality drugs and diagnostics, and accelerate the pace at which they are made available. It can provide a stable and continuous source of financing for health care programmes, particularly in low-income countries”, said Mr. Annan at the launch in New York.

“And it can help reassure developing countries of the long-term commitment of the international community. In this way, UNITAID provides a real and immediate tool to help scale up access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB”.

UNITAID will be funded by innovative financing mechanisms such as a contribution on air tickets, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said today, and the Secretary-General congratulated the Governments of France, Brazil, Chile, Norway, and the United Kingdom
for leading the way in developing the initiative.

–

Just an FYI – the British Department for Int’l Dev’l'p runs an information center, ID21.org, that produces several newsletters on various aspects of Development. From their health newsletter, I saw this the other week:

Treating diseases of poverty: creating markets for advance drug purchasing

“While new drugs and vaccines are needed to treat diseases of poverty, not enough is being invested in developing these products because of the lack of a demand or market for them. Advance price or purchase commitments potentially offer a solution, yet a number of structure and design issues first need to be resolved...”

One such mechanism, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), will issue bonds in October to guarantee markets for future vaccines under a plan backed by Britain and seven other countries.