‘Tis the season of meet-ups! We offer a ringside seat!

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Aidspan

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Article Number: 1

This newsletter covers webinars on important issues, including antimicrobial resistance, supply chains, pandemic treaty, malaria programs and vaccine hesitancy. We also have an interview with Danny Badila from the Democratic Republic of Congo who offers a perspective on what is being done to tackle tuberculosis in Congolese prisons.

The 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79) met in the last week of September and among the slew of high-level meetings there was one on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has now become a global health threat. In the lead-up to it, CiSPHA organized a regional webinar, which we bring to you, entitled, “The Last Mile towards the HLM on AMR: CSOs Consultation on the Challenges and Advocacy Opportunities.” The discussions revolved around the severe impact of AMR on public health in Africa, emphasizing the importance of a One Health approach, strengthening surveillance and laboratory capacities, ensuring access to quality medicines, and empowering civil society in advocacy efforts. During the UNHLM, we hope that the critical need for public awareness on AMR and how to go about it is discussed as much as the bio-medical aspects of the issue.

 

Even as the UNGA seeks a negotiated Pact for the Future to detail actual actions needed to attain the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, there is still back and forth going on with regards to the Pandemic Treaty being negotiated by the WHO. During a virtual press conference on 10 September 2024, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) reiterated the importance of uniting the Global South to push for a pandemic agreement that serves all nations, not just the wealthiest, and called out the Global North for prioritizing pharmaceutical profits over human lives​. The Save our Society campaign led by the AHF supports linking the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing System (PABS) with technology transfer.

 

In 2022, malaria caused more than 600,000 deaths worldwide — 95 percent of them in Africa and 80 percent of them children under the age of five, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) data. We bring to you a webinar introducing the US government-funded President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Reaching Every At-Risk Community and Household with Malaria Services (REACH) project and the issues that came up during it.

 

As the replenishment year plays out, we offer a commentary on the Global Fund Results Report, 2024. The article focuses on some of the earlier articles from our newsletter and other sources on the importance of health systems strengthening to eradicate the three diseases of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

 

The Democratic Republic of Congo  is currently battling the largest mpox epidemic in the world and it is at its government’s request that the Global Fund has stepped in with $9.5 million in funding for its emergency mpox response in six of the highest transmission provinces: Equateur, Sud-Ubangui, Sankuru, Tshopo, Sud-Kivu, Nord-Kivu, as well as in Kinshasa, a province with a high population density and 17 million people.  The WHO stated that the country has run out of tests for the disease. The issue of addressing stock-outs, came up during a meeting organized by the African Constituency Bureau on 11 September 2024, on challenges in supply chain systems for HIV, Tuberculosis, and malaria health products and explored ways to strengthen Africa’s health supply chains in countries receiving Global Fund grants. Country presentations included Zimbabwe, which faces issues like low domestic financing and capacity gaps, and Ghana, which deals with currency instability and fragmented procurement systems.

 

Even as vaccine deployment and supply issues are being dealt with, the concern over vaccine hesitancy continues. In our article on “From Vaccine Hesitancy to Vaccine Acceptance”, we explore the history of the issue and offer insights from research and a webinar held as part of a series on vaccine uptake in Africa by the Charité Center for Global Health.

 

We end with an interview of Danny Badila, epidemiologist and General Coordinator of Health for Prisoners, Democratic Republic of Congo who provides an in-depth view of the various challenges associated with tackling tuberculosis in the DRC, with a particular focus on the situation in Congolese prisons. The interview by Christian Djoko is translated by Amida Kariburyo, from our French counterpart Observateur du Fonds Mondial (OFM).

 

So, that’s a wrap for September!

 

Any thoughts about which aspect in the global health initiative sector you’d like to see covered in our newsletter are always welcome and we’d really appreciate suggestions on who can pen an article on it! Anyone who wishes to voluntarily contribute as a guest columnist and provide an incisive analysis or first-person account of what is happening at micro – or macro – levels in the field of global health interventions is also welcome. Any feedback and suggestions in French, Spanish, English can be sent to Ida Hakizinka ida.hakizinka@aidspan.org and/or in English to madhuri@aidspan.org

 

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