Abbott Fund to Build First Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic in Tanzania

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Aug 31,2008

Joint Effort with Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative Will Improve Access to Health Care for Children with HIV/AIDS

The Abbott Fund joined representatives from the U.S. government, Baylor College of Medicine, the government of Tanzania and other partners today at a U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) news conference to announce a joint effort to improve care and treatment for children with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The Abbott Fund announced it is supporting the construction of the first pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in the country, in the Mbeya region of Tanzania.

“Building this clinic represents an important expansion in Abbott’s commitment to improving access to care for children in the developing world during the last decade,” said Catherine V. Babington, president, the Abbott Fund. “It fulfills a critical need in Tanzania, where we have been improving health systems not only for people with HIV, but also for those with other chronic health issues as well.” The new clinic will bring the first pediatricians trained in the special needs of children with HIV to Mbeya.

It is estimated that there are currently more than 150,000 (UNAIDS 2008) children in Tanzania living with HIV/AIDS and in need of treatment and care. Mbeya has the second highest rate of HIV in the country, with a prevalence rate of more than 13 percent among a population of more than two million. According to the National AIDS Control Project (NACP), last year only 2,280 children were registered to receive care with half receiving antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. In contrast, almost 16,000 adults in Mbeya are on ARV therapy.

“While we are making progress in enrolling adults into HIV care and treatment, our services for children have severely lagged behind due to lack of trained physicians and other necessary resources,” said Eleuter Samky, M.D., medical superintendent, Mbeya Referral Hospital. “We expect the new center of excellence to accelerate our ability to make progress against our national treatment goals for children with HIV.” The NACP goal is to have children comprise 20 percent of all people on treatment in Tanzania, 88,000 children, by 2010.

The Mbeya center of excellence represents a unique partnership between the government of Tanzania, Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and the U.S. government, supported by the Abbott Fund. The Abbott Fund is committing more than $2 million to the project, which will be run by BIPAI. The clinic will be staffed by physicians from BIPAI and the Pediatric AIDS Corps, while physicians and other health workers from the region will be trained in the special needs of caring for children with HIV. The U.S. government will provide funds for the ongoing operations of the clinic through the PEPFAR program.

“The Mbeya center of excellence will provide the foundation for pediatric HIV treatment for the foreseeable future, helping not only to save children’s lives but increase health care worker capacity in the country,” said Mark W. Kline, M.D., president, Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. “We are confident that we will see the profound improvements in children’s health in Mbeya that we have seen across Africa when integrating pediatric HIV clinics into national AIDS programs.” Today, the BIPAI network clinics treat more than 26,000 children, representing the largest population of treated children with HIV in the developing world.

The Tanzania center is modeled after the pioneering work conducted by BIPAI and supported by the Abbott Fund at the Romanian-American Children’s Center, which opened in April of 2001 in Constanta, Romania. In this approach, children are not only provided antiretroviral medicine and other medical treatment, but are supported by a comprehensive program to address both the children’s and their family’s other daily needs. This program has reduced pediatric AIDS mortality by more than 90 percent in Constanta — the epicenter of pediatric HIV in Europe.

In 2007, BIPAI opened the first pediatric HIV care clinic in Malawi, also supported by the Abbott Fund. This original clinic has now expanded to include satellite clinics in rural areas, treating nearly 2,300 children with HIV.

To date, the Abbott Fund has provided a total of more than $28 million in grants and donated products to support the treatment of children with HIV in the developing world.

Source: Abbott


Advocates disappointed that Obama failed to address the issue

Speaking at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, Former President Bill Clinton called for a reinvigorated response to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. In praising Presidential nominee Barack Obama, Clinton said, “He will continue and enhance our nation’s commendable global leadership in an area in which I am deeply involved: the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, including — and this is very important — a renewal of the battle against HIV and AIDS here at home.”

Clinton’s comments came three weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new estimates indicating that the HIV infection rate in the United States is 40% higher than previously thought. Every year, over 56,000 Americans become infected with HIV, a rate that has not fallen in eight years and is higher than it was for most of the 1990s, according to CDC.

Several other speakers at related Convention events called for the development of a National AIDS Strategy for the United States, including Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Maxine Waters, Michelle Obama, and actor and activist Danny Glover. The Democratic Party Platform includes a call for a National AIDS Strategy and Senator Obama during the primary season pledged to develop a National AIDS Strategy if elected.

However, AIDS advocates were disappointed that although Senator Obama demonstrated leadership during the primary season he did not address the issue in his speech. Nor was there visibility of those living with HIV; for the first time since 1992 there was not an HIV+ speaker at the Democratic Convention.

“It was disappointing that on the occasion of this historic nomination, that one of the greatest health threats facing America today was not more front and center during this year’s Convention,” said Phill Wilson, Founder and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. “This is my fourth Democratic Convention and it has never been so difficult to put HIV/AIDS on the agenda. At a time when the AIDS epidemic is worse in our nation’s capital than in many parts of Sub Saharan Africa, how can AIDS not be a featured as a priority by our Democratic Presidential nominee?”

David Munar, a HIV+ delegate from Illinois and the President of the National Association of People Living with HIV (NAPWA), was encouraged by the focus on the important themes of health care reform, reducing unwanted pregnancies, and tackling the devastation of disease across the globe but was “disappointed that there was not a specific call to action by the Presidential or Vice-Presidential nominees to end the AIDS epidemic in America.” “Obama has been a leader on HIV/AIDS here in Illinois, and I hope that he will continue to personally address the issue during this presidential campaign. His direct involvement and leadership remains critical.”

Other surrogates did address HIV/AIDS during related Convention events. Speaking on Monday at a luncheon to recognize the leadership of 26 Members of Congress on HIV/AIDS, Danny Glover said a National AIDS Strategy is needed in the US. “First we thought AIDS was someone else’s problem,” Glover said. “Lately we’ve recognized it is a problem in other countries. But while we’ve been tackling AIDS overseas, we’ve forgotten about the home front.

“It’s time we demand better results from our domestic response to AIDS,” Glover continued. “That is why Senator Obama has called for a National AIDS Strategy. We have to have a plan of action to tackle AIDS in America.

“A National AIDS Strategy has to focus us on achieving concrete outcomes, including bringing the HIV infection rate down and increasing access to care,” Glover said. “A Strategy has to better coordinate the work of federal agencies and use resources most effectively. And it has got to move us away from basing health policy on conservative social agendas, and instead design programs based on what works – like comprehensive sex education, condom promotion, and needle exchange.”

Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Maxine Waters also called for a National AIDS Strategy at the Monday event. Michelle Obama noted the need for a National AIDS Strategy in her remarks at the luncheon for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Convention delegates on Tuesday.

More than 1000 individuals and over 300 organizations, including public health departments, faith based communities, civil rights groups, health care centers and AIDS organizations throughout the country have endorsed a Call to Action for a National AIDS Strategy at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org.

More information about the National AIDS Strategy is available at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org.

Source: AIDS Action


Atlanta-based WellCentive (www.wellcentive.com) today announced that it has been selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as an approved vendor for payment for the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).

PQRI is a voluntary CMS program that provides a financial incentive to physicians and other eligible health care professionals who successfully report quality outcomes data for their Medicare patients.

Earlier this year, WellCentive was also chosen as one of a select group of registries from across the United States to help CMS test direct reporting of data for the PQRI program. WellCentive was the first registry organization to interface with the CMS system and submit data to CMS for this program.

“We are excited to be chosen as one of the registries approved for payment for the 2008 PQRI program,” said Paul Taylor, M.D., CEO and medical director of WellCentive. “Our selection as both a testing partner for this new registry-based PQRI reporting program, and also as an approved vendor for the 2008 program is a testament to the quality and effectiveness of the WellCentive registry system.”

Participation in the PQRI program enables health care professionals to improve the care of their Medicare patients through evidence-based outcome measures that have been selected for inclusion in the 2008 PQRI program. While the PQRI program is currently a pay-for-reporting program, it is widely believed to be a precursor to a Medicare pay-for-performance program. Pay-for-performance programs sponsored by private health care insurance companies have existed for many years and are growing in popularity and financial importance every year.

As a CMS-approved registry, WellCentive can help health care providers successfully report on a designated set of quality measures to earn a bonus payment of 1.5 percent of Medicare Fee For Service receipts for the selected reporting period. This reimbursement will increase to 2.0 percent for the 2009 PQRI program.

WellCentive’s Web-based registry is more efficient than the only other available reporting option for PQRI payment for 2008, which is a claims-based system. Direct reporting from electronic medical records is not an option for payment in the 2008 PQRI program.

In addition to direct reporting to CMS for the PQRI program, the WellCentive registry system has the capability to directly report data to other payers’ databases for their pay-for-performance programs.

“A physician’s ability to maintain a single patient registry system that is interfaced with multiple external payer databases truly sets the WellCentive system apart in the market,” said Taylor. “This can quickly be translated into a significant return on a relatively small, but important, investment as well as improved patient care.”

Source: WellCentive


Scientists Discover New Virus Invading US Honeybees

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Aug 29,2008

Scientists at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), located in Edgewood, MD, working with scientists at the University of Montana and industry partners Bee Alert Technology, Inc. and BVS, Inc. have discovered in U.S. honeybees a virus only before identified in European honeybees.

The invading bee virus newly discovered in the U.S. is called Varroa Destructor Virus -1 (VDV-1). First definitively identified in Europe in 2006, VDV-1 is carried by both honeybees and the tiny varroa mites that affect them. VDV-1 is related to a family of paralytic viruses that causes a breakdown of some membranes. In silkworms the virus causes flaccid disease, which causes the worms to digest themselves internally.

The virus was discovered using a technology developed for battlefield detection of viruses. This technology, called Integrated Virus Detection System / Proteomic Mass Spectrometry, reveals virus by size and peptide information contained in a sample and compares that information against known genetic sequences. This approach may provide important clues to scientists around the world working to find the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder — a mysterious malady that has caused rapid depopulation of beehives around the globe.

This is the first detection of this virus in North America and will allow beekeepers in the U.S. the possibility of early control and quarantine of affected colonies.

For more information, please contact Joan Michel (410.436.3610; 410.652.3912 — mobile).

ECBC is the Army’s principal research and development center for chemical and biological defense technology, engineering and services. ECBC has achieved major technological advances for national defense, civilian needs and industrial competitiveness, with a long and distinguished history of providing the Armed Forces with quality systems and outstanding customer service. ECBC is located at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. For more information about the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, please visit our Web site at http://www.ecbc.army.mil/ or call (410) 436-3610.

Source: Edgewood Chemical Biological Center


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