HIV: A forgotten pandemic – POLITICO

from San Francisco to Asia, The number of HIV infections is increasing at a rate that worries US and global health officials.

By 2021, 1.5 million people will be living with HIV, 1 million more than public health officials’ targets. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDSExperts believe the Covid-19 pandemic has played a role.

John Kengerson, leader of the world’s largest anti-AIDS program — the president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief — said: future pulse about his plans to fight back.

Nkengasong managed pandemics in her previous job running the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, President Joe Biden appointed a Cameroonian-American to head PEPFAR, and this year he oversaw its budget, which has reached $7 billion. The Senate confirmed him in May.

Nkengasong said he hopes PEPFAR will help build health systems in the more than 50 countries it works with so that other diseases can be prevented. Without it, he said, the battle against HIV/AIDS cannot be won.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How can PEPFAR work to regain the position lost to HIV by the pandemic?

Political leadership will be decisive.

If you look at our situation 20 years ago, HIV was common and on the streets. I remember HIV was visible in sub-Saharan Africa. I looked around the clinic where I worked and saw a man with a sunken chin. who was crying

That will no longer be the case, as PEPFAR and other programs such as the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria have achieved spectacular success.

As such, the visibility of HIV has decreased. It is now a quiet but dangerous pandemic.

It will be important that the heads of state of the countries we work with own and lead that agenda.

In some African countries, HIV, malaria and tuberculosis are killing more people than Covid-19. Donors still wanted to spend money on the latterDid donors impose the wrong priorities?

No, I think the response to the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be put in the right context.

Covid continues to be very devastating. It has a huge impact on economy and development.

Until we got Covid under control, it was always clear that it would be difficult to get back to fighting malaria, fighting tuberculosis, fighting HIV.

In some parts of the world, the stigma of LGBTQ people makes the fight against HIV difficult. How should PEPFAR deal with it?

This will be an ongoing process of engagement, working not only with political leaders, but also with religious and community leaders.

And it can be argued that the sensibilities surrounding debates ten years ago are vastly different than those required for debates today.

But when it comes to discrimination and stigma, tremendous challenges remain. How do we create advocates so that this dialogue can continue?

We need to do that in partnership with the governments of the countries we support. They should be sensitive to the cultural issues they are dealing with, but not shy away from policy discussions that need to be conducted to influence appropriate change.

Here we explore the ideas and innovators shaping healthcare.

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today pulse check podcastAlice Miranda Ollstein reports with Krista Mahr about doctors’ campaigning ahead of the midterm elections in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Additionally, Dr. Katie McHugh has moved the practice of abortion to other states.

Maternity Care Desert: Inadequate care for new mothers increases the risk of death and other health complications for both mother and baby. March of Dime Report.

and reduced access. His 5% of counties have fewer obstetricians than they did two years ago.

Key data points:

• 2.2 million women live in counties without maternity care.
• Women who live in areas with little or no maternity care are more likely to have asthma, high blood pressure, and smoke cigarettes.
• Since 2020, hospitals have reduced maternity services in 37 counties and added care in 8 counties.
• Only 7% of obstetricians practice in rural areas.
• Two-thirds of maternity care deserts have a high proportion of uninsured women.

Two women die every day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Reportedly, she has two babies dying every hour.

What do you need to do: The March of Dimes said Congress should expand Medicaid eligibility to include more mothers and expand postnatal care for mothers participating in the program nationwide from 60 days to 12 months. I’m here.of Covid Relief and Economic Stimulus Bill Legislature passed in March 2021 gave states the option to extend postpartum coverage to one year, but some states have not.

The March of Dimes also wants to expand doula and midwifery care, telemedicine services, and wants Congress to require insurers that offer Obamacare plans to provide strong maternity care. .

Having health data collectively available is a prerequisite for: Artificial intelligence is to improve diagnosis and treatmentBut privacy is a concern. Health data breaches surge.

Article published in PLOS Digital Health According to researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School and others, there’s no need to worry.

The study found little evidence of a risk to privacy as long as datasets were “anonymized” or links to individuals were removed.

The researchers advise policy makers to:

• Adopt regulations that penalize the use of health data for commercial purposes and patient re-identification.Previously anonymized data is associated with the individual from whom the data originated
• Developing countries must provide incentives to expand research beyond the US
• Involve underrepresented groups in deciding how to use data

Such outreach is critical to prevent AI from perpetuating bias in healthcare, the researchers write. of potential patient re-identification. ”