e-zine nEUws, 47th edition

e-zine nEUws, 47th edition
29th June 2005

• Dates to keep in mind
• Development Priorities of the British EU Presidency
• Senior figures at the World Health Organization have admitted they will probably fail to meet their target for disseminating HIV drugs
• HIV/ AIDS fourth deadliest disease in the world

UK Presidency of the European Union

1 July 2005
 

The United Kingdom is taking over the EU Presidency from Luxembourg this week. They have published a UK Rep Guide with very general information to be found at: http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/UKREP%20Guide%202005-1,0.pdf

In addition, the Foreign Office has some sites with greater detail, notably answers to the question "why is Britain in the EU?", something many have asked over time: FCO website.  

World Bank meeting on Achieving the Health MDGs

5 July 2005 -  11 - 12.30 H Brussels

The World Bank's Office in Brussels would like to invite you to a meeting on ' Achieving the Health MDGs by Effectively Using Existing Interventions'  on 5 July 11:00 AM - 12:30 at the World Bank Office in Brussels - Rue Montoyer 10, 1000 Brussels. The meeting will involve a presentation by Mr. Abdo S. Yazbeck - Health and AIDS Program Leader at the World Bank Institute. To confirm your participation, please contact: Guggi Laryea, glaryea@worldbank.org

Friedrich Naumann Foundation Roundtable “Revising the UN-Millennium Development Goals – towards a more effective development policy”

5 July 2005 - 14.30 – 16.30 H - Dorint Novotel, Boulevard Charlemagne 11-19, Brussels

Panellists:
Ms. Haleh Bridi, Special Representative of the World Bank to the EU
Dr. Peter Nunnenkamp, Kiel Institute for World Economics
Mr. Hugo Schally, DG Development, European Commission

To confirm your participation, (latest by 1 July), please contact: ute.entrup@brussels.fnst.org

World Population Day

11 July 2005

“Each woman and girl is a unique and valuable human being who is entitled to equal opportunities and universally adopted human rights, no matter where she is born or where she lives. Now is the time to energize efforts to put gender equality at the top of the international peace and development agenda.”

For more information: http://www.unfpa.org/wpd/

Development Priorities of the British EU Presidency

During the UK Presidency, Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for International Development, will chair meetings of EU Development Ministers.

DFID has set out following statement on its work during the six months:

Our priority is to secure decisions related to poverty reduction, AIDS, development in Africa and revision of the EC's Development Policy that ensure that the EU provides more and better aid that maximises its contribution to the fight against poverty. We will also continue to work towards an ambitious outcome to the Doha Development Round that makes trade work for developing countries and strive to ensure that greater account is taken of developing countries in EU Trade policies, including in negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements.

For more information, please consult: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/eupresidency2005/default.asp

Senior figures at the World Health Organization have admitted they will probably fail to meet their target for disseminating HIV drugs

The BBC has reported that the WHO will probably fail to meet its "3 by 5" target.

"A progress report out on Wednesday will assess whether the target of getting three million people onto the drug by the end of the year is still feasible. But officials say even if the "three by five" target is missed, it has still served as a catalyst for change. And they promised efforts to improve access to treatment would continue. When the WHO announced the "three by five" target in December 2003 - giving Aids drugs to three million people in the developing world by the end of 2005 - it knew that achieving it would be tough. At the time just 400,000 people were receiving the drugs. Now as the deadline approaches, the latest progress report is expected to show that although huge strides have been made, the WHO is still way short of its goals. Figures released by the WHO in January showed the number receiving drugs had increased to 700,000.

Dr Kim Jim, head of the WHO HIV/Aids programme, said: "It is going to be extremely difficult to reach that target, but the point is that we are going to get to three million.

"The scale-up is happening in every single country in the world."

Huge demand

For many countries, the stumbling blocks have been lack of co-ordinated strategy to get drugs out and shortages of staff to monitor patients on the treatment.  There has also been a spiralling demand for anti-retorivirals - as more people receive these potentially life-saving drugs, more and more are coming forward for HIV testing.

With the G8 meeting in Gleneagles next week, the WHO is hoping that the $27bn pledged globally for HIV treatment for the period 2005-2007 will be converted into hard cash.

However, aid agencies have warned that only half the money needed to fund HIV treatment this year has been handed over. The British government has already pledged to ensure there is universal access to treatment by 2010. That would mean delivering drugs to 6 million people - double the WHO target.

For the full article, please consult: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4629933.stm

HIV/ AIDS fourth deadliest disease in the world