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A report that recommends steps to reduce hurricane damage in New Orleans has been released by an expert engineering panel with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

The 84-page report, “The New Orleans Hurricane Protection System: What Went Wrong and Why,” targets the public and policymakers, and complements and synthesizes the thousands of pages released so far by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during their post-Katrina investigation.

Dr. Robert Gilbert, the risk expert on the ASCE panel and a civil engineering professor in the University of Texas at Austin, noted that their risk analysis confirms the vulnerable nature of the city’s hurricane protection system. Inside the report, the panel estimated that despite the levees and floodwalls, New Orleans residents’ pre-Katrina risk was at a 1,000-fold higher rate than considered minimally acceptable for a major U.S. dam.

“A thousand people died in New Orleans, and the system failed once in 40 years,” stated the international risk assessment expert. “That’s way off the chart of acceptable risk if you compare the system to major U.S. dams, which have governmental oversight and must meet federal safety guidelines.”

Determining the factors that directly or indirectly led to this high risk was a major goal with the ASCE panel as an essential step to assist the city make informed decisions about the future.

“Given the high risk, some very significant decisions need to be produced about how New Orleans is going to be redeveloped and function inside the future,” Gilbert stated. “The risk of flooding ought to influence everything from how individuals are evacuated to where and how houses are re-built and land is re-developed. Building houses on ground that is five to 10 feet below sea level and assuming they will never get wet is nonsensical.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected in June to release its assessment of the inherent risk with the 350-mile, New Orleans’ hurricane protection system.

As part of assessing the risk and making recommendations for future improvements, the panel considered factors that included:

* how inconsistencies inside the features with the levees and floodwalls – including their varying heights and construction from erodible materials – resulted from their piecemeal development and disjointed oversight, and how this fed into the failure at 50 locations along the system during Hurricane Katrina; * how the hurricane protection system was under-designed to handle a major storm surge produced by hurricane winds that would reach New Orleans. No 1 had ever estimated the height of the surge likely to reach different points with the levee system using the standard benchmark – a major hurricane that would hit an average of every 100 years.

Despite the importance of engineering improvements, Gilbert cautioned that fortification steps alone aren’t enough.

“It isn’t just about improving the reliability with the levees and making them taller,” he said. “Spending federal money towards developing a way to evacuate folks effectively is crucial, and very little emphasis has been put on this or on determining how to rebuild the city in a way that will keep individuals and property safe.”

Relying only on levees isn’t the answer, Gilbert stated, since upgrading them is expensive, and it’s difficult to anticipate the magnitude of future storms, which can impact a small portion of a levee system and have catastrophic consequences. He also noted that higher levees can create greater danger as a result of the higher wall of water that is released if they fail.

“I’m hopeful that getting this report out into the public forum about all these challenges will assist motivate the individuals involved in making tough decisions about the future of New Orleans to start doing so.”

In August 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the ASCE External Review Panel each published lists of steps to take to protect New Orleans, and since then several improvements have been created. An amendment to Louisiana’s constitution has led to two new levee boards in New Orleans, replacing roughly a dozen agencies who previously handled oversight. These boards involve engineers and others with flood control experience who oversee the maintenance and operations with the hurricane protection system. Furthermore, legislation has been proposed to require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to have external peer review of major flood control and navigation projects.

The external review provided by the ASCE with the Corps’ levee investigation occurred at the request of Lt. General Carl A. Strock, the chief of engineers for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. For their role in the ASCE External Review Panel’s work, Gilbert, the Hudson Matlock Professor of Civil Engineering and two other University of Texas at Austin engineering alumni received the U.S. Army’s Outstanding Civil Service Medal this past February.

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A copy with the ASCE panel’s “What Went Wrong and Why” report is available at: http://www.asce.org/.

For more information about the panel recipients of the U.S. Army’s Outstanding Civil Service Medal, go to: http://https://www.engr.utexas.edu/news/articles/200704121197/index.cfm

Contact: Barbra Rodriguez
University of Texas at Austin

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The Group of Eight industrialized nations appears to be on the “verge of backtracking” on commitments created at its 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to present universal access to HIV/AIDS remedy by 2010, the Financial Times reports. G8 leaders are meeting this week in Heiligendamm, Germany, for their annual summit (Williamson/Ward, Financial Times, 6/6).

G8 leaders in July 2005 in the close of their summit in Gleneagles agreed to an instant doubling of aid to Africa to $50 billion annually as a way to fight poverty and illness on the continent. The final summit communique officially endorsed a debt relief plan, which canceled at the least $40 billion in debt owed by the world’s 18 poorest nations. The communique also included an agreement on offering universal access to HIV/AIDS remedy, in accordance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Kaiser Every day HIV/AIDS Report, 5/17). Based on the Times, the agreement pledged to present 10 million HIV-positive folks with therapy access by 2010.

According to a draft of the communique for this week’s summit, which was dated June 1 and obtained by the Times, G8 will aim to assist supply “approximately 5 million people” with antiretroviral access “over the next couple of years” — a “dramatic cut” from the goal of delivering treatment access to 10 million individuals, the Times reports. According to officials close to the summit, the decreased treatment target was inserted in the draft communique as a result of pressure from the U.S. delegation. HIV/AIDS professionals and advocates said the therapy target reduction reflects divisions between the U.S. and European countries on how funding really should be targeted, also as a “realization” on the part of G8 governments that delivering universal access is, inside the short term, “beyond their budgets,” the Times reports. Delivering therapy access to about 10 million people would cost about $23 billion, based on UNAIDS. The British government is lobbying for the draft language for this week’s communique to be revised, in accordance with G8 officials, the Times reports.

Reaction
An unnamed senior official familiar together with the G8′s plans on HIV/AIDS stated the lower number would be a “huge backward step given the commitments produced at Gleneagles.” Francoise Ndayishimiye — a board member from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — stated it could be a “disaster” if G8 backtracks on its universal access pledge. Global Fund spokesperson Seth Amgott stated that it really is “unclear” if the organization will reach its spending and treatment goals if G8 reduces its target. President Bush on Wednesday after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that he comes towards the summit “with a deep desire to make sure that those suffering from HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa know that they’ll get aid from the G8.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy also has said that he will make universal remedy access one of his priorities at the summit. Furthermore, Merkel is expected soon to announce a brand new HIV/AIDS pledge of $1.35 billion, in accordance with the German media (Financial Times, 6/6).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the whole Kaiser Everyday Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Well being Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free of charge service of the Henry J. Kaiser Family members Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Household Foundation. All rights reserved.

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A pioneering AAAS program that provides technical expertise to human rights groups is helping Amnesty International USA with a new online effort to monitor threatened settlements in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan and offer evidence of destroyed villages.

High-resolution commercial satellite images, analyzed by AAAS researchers, are posted after to Amnesty International’s new “Eyes on Darfur” Web website (http://www.eyesondarfur.org/). The project is in the forefront of efforts by human rights groups to use satellite cameras to assist shield vulnerable populations. It is going to allow computer users around the globe to visually track the status of settlements Amnesty International considers possible targets of attack.

The new web site includes up-to-date images on 12 intact but vulnerable villages as properly as archival satellite photos documenting the destruction of a dozen settlements in Darfur because January 2005. Lars Bromley, project director for the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, stated the commercially available photos can show objects as small as two feet across, adequate to show destruction of huts and other structures.

“We provide the geospatial support,” Bromley said. “We’re just supplying a new form of content,” but content can have dramatic impact. “By analyzing geospatial images, we can see that whole villages, some with a lot more than 1,000 homes, have been destroyed” considering that the beginning of 2005, Bromley stated. The images also show the appearance of makeshift settlements of displaced persons in close proximity to the small contingent of African Union monitoring forces in Darfur.

AAAS is actually a nonprofit, non-advocacy group, Bromley stated, but it has lengthy sought ways to use scientific methods, including forensic sciences and statistics, to help advance human rights.

Although the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement using the main rebel group in Might 2006, the violence inside the Darfur has continued. Pro-government Arab militias called janjaweed have been accused of genocide against non-Arab Africans who live in the region.

The new online monitoring program, which Amnesty International officials hope will enhance pressure on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to assist end the violence, was funded by the Save Darfur Coalition. The nonprofit advocacy group has been urging the United States and others to back a bigger multinational peacekeeping force in Darfur.

The Eyes on Darfur Web web site was launched to coincide with a presentation on the project during the Fifth International Symposium on Digital Earth on the campus with the University of California, Berkeley. Ariela Blatter, director of crisis prevention and response for Amnesty International USA, and Bromley of AAAS discussed the project.

The Darfur images are being collected by a AAAS program, begun in January 2006, that has been exploring how satellite imagery along with other cutting-edge geospatial technologies can be utilised to help assess human rights violations and stop others prior to they occur. The program received a one-year pilot grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and that recently was renewed for 3 years.

“The imaging initiative is an exceptional example of how science and technology may be applied to assist expose human rights violations,” said Mona Younis, director of the Science and Human Rights program at AAAS. “The project is the latest in a 30-year effort by AAAS that has included documenting atrocities from Guatemala to Kosovo, whilst also operating to promote basic human rights worldwide.”

Last year, the imaging program — in cooperation with Amnesty International in London as well as the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights — produced satellite images showing powerful evidence the government of Zimbabwe had destroyed a settlement west of Harare and relocated thousands of residents as component of a political campaign against opponents.

For the Eyes on Darfur project, Amnesty International researchers present Bromley with all the names of villages of interest, gathered from media reports along with other sources. Geospatial coordinates for the villages rarely are available. Also, the spelling of place names can vary or names can be changed altogether soon after a village is overrun. “The process is laborious.” Bromley said. Even when village locations are mapped, archival satellite images could not be accessible for a specific locale and time. When trying to document a past incident, it can be crucial that there be images obtainable ahead of and right after the attack.

The archival section with the new online web site shows the sort of destruction that already has occurred throughout Darfur. A village called Donkey Dereis, in south Darfur, was intact when photographed at the finish of 2004. An image two years later shows the near total destruction of the village, with 1,171 homes classified as “definitely destroyed.” Most with the huts have disappeared, Bromley said, and homestead areas have turn out to be overgrown with vegetation.

Photos in 2004 of an region called Ishma show a series of villages that were destroyed or heavily damaged during a road clearing operation. One of the villages is essentially gone. “It was just scorched out with the region,” Bromley stated.

Some of the archival images starkly show the movement of displaced persons in the area. Whilst several have fled to refugee camps in eastern Chad, makeshift settlements also have grown within Darfur. A plain outside the city of Tawilla is empty in 2003. By the finish of 2004, some scattered huts have appeared and by February, 2006, hundreds of structures are crammed up against the wall of a base occupied by a small monitoring force from the African Union.

The sites that will probably be monitored for any evidence of violent change consist of a settlement in northern Darfur called Malam el Hosh that is in a very dry, arid location. Nearby is a fairly large water source-essentially a village well-that might be attractive to militias.

In addition to Amnesty International USA, the AAAS geospatial imaging program’s partners include the U.N. Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide; the National Resources Defense Council; the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; the U.S. Campaign for Burma and EQUITAS, the international center for human rights education. Three satellite image organizations — DigitalGlobe in Longmont, Colorado, GeoEye in Dulles, Virginia and ImageSat in Netherlands Antilles — have provided images at discounted prices. Additionally to Zimbabwe and Darfur, the AAAS program also has done some function on Lebanon and will be turning its attention to Burma (also identified as Myanmar).

The Eyes on Darfur project largely involves delivering technical expertise and analysis with techniques that are now mature, Bromley stated. Inside the coming months, the AAAS program will explore other imagery tools that might be useful for human rights monitoring, including sensors that will pick up use of fire in conflicts or night-time light monitors that can detect habitation patterns.

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The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (http://www.sciencemag.org/). AAAS was founded in 1848, and has 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the globe, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (http://www.aaas.org/) is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” by way of initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and more. For the latest study news, log onto EurekAlert!, http://www.eurekalert.org/, the premier science-news Internet web site, a service of AAAS.

Contact:

Ginger Pinholster
Earl Lane
American Association for the Advancement of Science/

Suzanne Trimel
Amnesty International

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In a year when many Americans have experienced first-hand the dangers of raging wildfires, University of Central Florida researchers are preparing to study whether interactive, virtual reality simulations of wildfires can make residents far more willing to invest in preventing them.

The UCF analysis team is developing an interactive simulation of a wildfire spreading by way of Volusia County. Participants will decide how considerably they want to invest in prescribed burns and insurance, and their decisions is going to be contrasted with people who only obtain written info about the danger of wildfires.

Researchers Glenn Harrison and Elisabet Rutstr?m of Economics, Charles Hughes of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Stephen Fiore of Philosophy and the Institute for Simulation and Training hope this project will demonstrate that virtual reality could be an effective public policy tool that enables residents to see first-hand the long-term effects of economic and political decisions.

“This technologies could empower ordinary citizens to make decisions that could possibly be comparable in top quality to experts’ and save society from making bad decisions,” Fiore said.

The National Science Foundation provided $680,000 to fund the investigation. The simulations should begin within six months, along with the first outcomes should turn out to be offered at the finish of 2007. The entire study will take about two years.

The researchers’ varied backgrounds will allow them to examine many issues. Harrison and Rutstr?m will focus on the economic decisions that participants make and on why they decide — or not — to invest money in prescribed burns or insurance. They will try to determine what elements cause some men and women to be more averse to risks than others. Their insights could aid in the development of public support for policies that reduce the risks of wildfires.

Fiore will analyze how the decisions of expert participants, such as forestry officials, vary from the decisions of participants without having expertise within the subject. He also can examine how decisions may vary for residents who have experienced wildfires first-hand and those that have only seen images of them on television.

Hughes is an expert at designing simulations of complex environments. The forest simulation will probably be able to model rapidly evolving wildfires, giving participants a realistic look at forests before, for the duration of and following fires and prescribed burns.

The simulation will cover about 30 years in an hour. Participants will control how they view the environment, by walking by means of the forest, flying over it or choosing a predefined path. The simulation will be designed such that if users walk past some trees and turn about or return to that spot later, the same trees is going to be there. Such persistence is vital in naturalistic environments.

The researchers chose Volusia County simply because of its 1998 experience with massive wildfires. They wanted an region in which numerous residents will have lived by way of them, and they plan to use actual information for topography, weather, roads, housing density and vegetation. Significantly of the data is going to be taken from Florida Division of Forestry models, which use the above info along with the locations of man-made fire breaks to predict the path, speed and intensity of wildfires. Those models are used in wildfire policy planning.

Participants will probably be given about $100 of real money apiece, due to the fact researchers want to simulate spending decisions in a scenario that is as realistic as possible. The amount of money participants keep in the end will depend on the final value of their land. If they invest in prescribed burns and insurance, they will have to give up some of their $100, but they will have a greater probability of owning more valuable land at the finish.

“We think simulations can support men and women, simply because they are seeing the consequences of their actions,” said Hughes, who this year was 1 of three winners of UCF’s Pegasus Professor Award, which recognizes outstanding teaching, research and service. “There’s a big distinction between that and reading a textbook.”

Hughes stated he sees a future for these types of simulations in museums, classrooms as well as other places, especially because the price of the technology required for such simulations has dropped dramatically in recent years.

Harrison said the team chose fire management policies since of their obvious importance in the state. He said the same technologies might be utilised for other issues, for example hurricane policies, land-use planning or determining the future of the Everglades.

“I like to think about the expense to society of not doing this,” Harrison said. “That expense is society not making greater decisions.”

The 2007 wildfires have prompted some changes to the study, primarily increasing the prominence in the simulations with the wellness effects of smoke from fires.

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Contact: Chad Binette
University of Central Florida

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While thirty-five million Americans really feel the physical effects of hunger each day, every household and individual in our nation feels the economic effects. So finds a new study released right now by the Sodexho Foundation and researchers affiliated with Harvard University School of Public Health, Brandeis University and Loyola University.

The study, titled “The Economic Expense of Domestic Hunger: Estimated Annual Burden towards the United States,” finds that the U.S. pays much more than $90 billion annually for the direct and indirect costs of hunger-related charities, illness and psychosocial dysfunction as well as the impact of less education/lower productivity. These costs are borne by all Americans.

Distributed on an individual basis, it means that on average, each individual residing within the U.S. pays $300 annually for the hunger bill. Distributed on a household basis, it means that the annual price is closer to $800 each and every year. And calculated on a lifetime basis, every single individual’s bill for hunger inside the nation is nearly $22,000.

The study found that the lion’s share of the overall cost, $66.8 billion, resulted from illness associated with hunger, said Brandeis well being economist Donald Shepard, who led the economic analysis. These illnesses included iron deficiency, colds and depression, as well as other causes of fair and poor well being.

“What was unusual about hunger was the wide range of problems associated with it, which included not only the illness burden, but also expenses on food pantries along with other charities to mitigate the problem, and lost productivity due to hunger’s adverse impact on learning,” said Shepard.

“The Cost of Hunger study is really a call to action for communities, legislators, the private sector and people to look at hunger as much more than a social concern – hunger also is an economic problem,” said Stephen J. Brady, president of the Sodexho Foundation. “As such, it’s everyone’s responsibility to finish hunger. The very first step is to be aware with the magnitude of the impact of hunger on every American.”

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The Sodexho Foundation commissioned the study in partnership with the Public Welfare Foundation and Spunk Fund, Inc. Their goal is to educate policymakers and the public to build national commitment that will ultimately finish hunger.

For a full copy of the report, please pay a visit to http://www.sodexhousa.com/.

About the Sodexho Foundation

The Sodexho Foundation (http://www.helpstophunger.org/) is an independent charitable organization that is leading the fight against hunger by supporting initiatives that focus on eliminating the root causes of hunger inside the United States. Administrative costs are paid by Sodexho, Inc. to ensure that 100 percent of funds raised are directed to those in want. Established in 1999, the Sodexho Foundation has been a leading force within the pursuit of a hunger-free nation with its ongoing efforts to present support to people and families facing poverty, unemployment, lack of education and food insecurity. Given that its inception, the Foundation has raised and contributed much more than $9.2 million to hunger related and advocacy organizations nationwide.

Contact: Laura Gardner
Brandeis University

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The Louisiana House Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday approved a bill (SB 1) that would launch pilot programs to supply health coverage for low-income and uninsured state residents who live in areas affected by the hurricanes in 2005, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. According to the Advocate, the approval put the measure “one step from final legislative passage” (Shuler, Baton Rouge Advocate, 6/6).

The bill, sponsored by state Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chair Joe McPherson (D), would allow the Louisiana Department of Well being and Hospitals to monitor residents’ medical histories making use of electronic wellness records. The bill also would establish “medical homes” — which might be community clinics, well being centers, physician offices or other neighborhood facilities — to coordinate care for uninsured residents and Medicaid beneficiaries. The medical homes would refer patients to other facilities or specialists as necessary. The networks would be required to comply with accepted standards of care.

The state Senate in Might approved the bill with amendments intended to create specialty care services offered closer to exactly where patients live and to distribute more evenly funds accessible for care with the uninsured (Kaiser Day-to-day Well being Policy Report, 5/25).

The state House committee amended the legislation to allow public-private partnerships in health care networks. McPherson pushed the amendment, which he said was requested by former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.). Breaux is operating with a coalition that consists of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and New Orleans-area hospitals. Under the amendment, the public-private partnerships would be required to meet certain criteria. The state would oversee managed care networks created by the partnership.

McPherson stated that Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s (D) budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning on July 1 includes $36 million for the plan (Baton Rouge Advocate, 6/6).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You are able to view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Day-to-day Well being Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a totally free service with the Henry J. Kaiser Loved ones Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Organization and Kaiser Loved ones Foundation. All rights reserved.

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Most of us don’t want to think about the terrible choices a disaster or pandemic will force upon all of us. The questions such scenarios present are enormous in scope. How to answer those questions is the concentrate of the new issue of Practical Bioethics, the quarterly publication with the Center for Practical Bioethics.

“Preparedness for catastrophic events forces us to consider our unexamined priorities and values,” says Michael Brannigan, the Center’s vice president for clinical and organizational ethics. “With diminishing resources and escalating wants and costs, how do we fairly resolve the intractable conflict in between self-interest and the good with the group?”

Brannigan says planning for a disaster or pandemic forces us to consider how to allocate scarce medical resources. The issues to be resolved are enormous:

How do we fairly ration scarce medical therapy for example vaccines and disposable ventilators?

– Who is treated following frontline workers and very first responders? Those with high risk conditions or those who are healthier with normal life spans but to live?

– What is the scope of healthcare workers’ duties to patients? How do we resolve duties to patients and duties to family?

– What is the institutions’ duty to safeguard and support staff who face disproportionate risks during disasters?

Articles in this edition of Practical Bioethics address how to set priorities, how hospitals are preparing for the unthinkable, the importance of community input into disaster planning to make certain a moral framework for such planning, and factoring inequalities into pandemic flu preparing.

Brannigan notes the Center is operating together with the Mid America Regional Council (MARC) to examine ethical issues in disaster preparing and mass-casualty events. An Ethics in Disaster Preparing Task Force has been formed comprised of members from hospital ethics committees, MARC hospital representatives and staff from each organizations.

“Our first charge as a task force is to establish a protocol for the fair allocation of ventilators, certainly a scarce resource even inside the absence of a major crisis,” Brannigan says. “Only through such collaborative efforts can evenhanded rationing begin to make sense.”

Link: Making Hard Choices, Practical Bioethics, Volume two, Number four; Volume three, Nos. 1,two Might 2007

Founded in 1984, the Center for Practical Bioethics raises and responds to ethical issues in wellness and healthcare. As an independent organization nationally recognized for its function in practical bioethics, the Center is much more than a think tank. The Center puts theory into action to assist individuals and organizations find real-world solutions to complex issues in health and healthcare.

Center for Practical Bioethics
1111 Main Suite 500
Kansas City, MO 64105
USA
http://www.practicalbioethics.org

Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in the final communique issued at the close of their summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, agreed to present a lot more than $60 billion to fight HIV/AIDS and address other issues in Africa, Germany’s Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul announced Friday before G8 leaders met with African and international officials, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 6/8). According to the Financial Times, about half with the $60 billion will come from President Bush’s current request for a five-year, $30 billion extension of the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (Williamson, Financial Times, 6/8). Germany will contribute $5.4 billion between 2007 and 2015, in accordance with Wieczorek-Zeul (AP/International Herald Tribune, 6/8).

Package Particulars
The communique indicated the $60 billion would be disbursed “over the the coming years” but did not lay out a specific time frame, Reuters UK reports (Chambers/Heller, Reuters UK, 6/8). Part with the funding consists of $6 billion to $8 billion for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, based on AFP/Yahoo! News (Cole, AFP/Yahoo! News, 6/8). The communique also “recommits” towards the aid pledges produced for the duration of the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to boost aid to $50 billion annually by 2010 (Financial Times, 6/8). Leaders within the communique also pledged to support neighborhood production of drugs, which includes antiretrovirals, to make certain lower prices for treatments. The document also includes 3 “significant dollar commitments” to support actions on mother-to-child HIV transmission, pediatric treatments, and maternal and child well being totaling $4.8 billion, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Leaders in the communique also pledged to assist reduce malaria prevalence and deaths in 30 African countries (AFP/Yahoo! News, 6/8). In accordance with the Times, the communique includes much more than $1 billion for such efforts (Financial Times, 6/8). In addition, the communique pledges support for national well being strategies and peacekeeping efforts in Africa, as properly as $500 million for education programs in 2007 and support for long-term funding (AFP/Yahoo! News, 6/8).

The $60 billion will not be a “firm pledge” because “some countries are cautious about elevated spending,” based on some diplomats, the Times reports. The final communique also consists of the goal of offering five million HIV-positive folks with drug access by 2010 — the remedy target included in a draft with the communique dated June 1 — according to an unnamed source close towards the German delegation. Leaders announced a target of delivering 10 million folks with drug access by 2010 in the Gleneagles communique, in accordance with the Times (Financial Times, 6/8).

Reaction
British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised the communique, the PA/Guardian reports. “The crucial thing about what we have agreed is that we have recommitted ourselves to all the commitments we produced … at Gleneagles,” Blair stated, adding, “It’s a deal among Africa and also the developed globe, and just as we have recommitted ourselves to substantial increases in support and assist, so Africa has recommitted itself to its responsibilities as part of a partnership — proper governance against corruption, proper democracy and so on” (PA/Guardian, 6/8). Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, said the G8 agreement “makes it possible to defeat” HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria (Global Fund release, 6/8). German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated, “We are aware of our obligations and would like to fulfill our promises” (AFP/Yahoo! News, 6/8).

“We will have to watch the G8 carefully to see they keep their promises,” Paul Zeitz, executive director with the Global AIDS Alliance, stated, adding, “But even if they do keep them, the funding falls far short of what is needed” (GAA release, 6/8). “We must not be distracted by big numbers,” an unnamed Oxfam policy adviser stated, adding, “What the $60 billion headline means at best is just three billion extra in aid by 2010. Ahead of this summit, Oxfam showed the G8 were set to miss their 2010 target by a massive $30 billion. Today’s announcement may only close that gap to $27 billion.” Irish HIV/AIDS advocate Bono said with the communique, “I think it can be deliberately the language of obfuscation. It’s deliberately misleading” (Reuters UK, 6/8).

NPR’s “All Things Considered” on Thursday reported on the summit, including the HIV/AIDS agreement. The segment consists of comments on HIV/AIDS from Jurgen Wilhelm, director general with the German Development Service; Eve Odete of Oxfam; and a representative from South Africa (Harris, “All things Considered,” NPR, 6/7). Audio of the segment and expanded NPR coverage are available online.

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You are able to view the entire Kaiser Every day Well being Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Day-to-day Wellness Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free of charge service with the Henry J. Kaiser Family members Foundation . ? 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Loved ones Foundation. All rights reserved.