Need for Practical Leadership to Scale Up Medical Male Circumcision

By Isaiah Esipisu

A Kenyan young man undergoing voluntary medical circumcision in Western Ken

Washington DC - The Assistant Minister for Finance Dr Oburu Oginga has joined other world leaders at the ongoing International Aids Conference in Washington DC to urge politicians to take a front line in scaling up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision – which prevents the risk of HIV infections by about 60 per cent.

“We have had leadership meetings especially in Luo Nyanza to support the issue of male circumcision for medical reasons, but as leaders from other countries have put it, there is an urgent need to do it more rigorously,” said the Assistant Minister.

 

NACC Seeks a Policy to Support High Risky Groups

By Isaiah Esipisu

Prof Alloys Orago, Director NACC in Kenya

Washington DC: The Kenya’s National Aids Control Council (NACC) may soon have programs targeting concentrated groups such as Commercial Sex Workers, Men who have Sex with Men and Injecting drug users, if the current organisation’s strategic plan is approved for implementation by policy makers.

Until Saturday this week, key health research scientists, officials from the NACC and the Parliamentary Health Committee members are dialoguing at the ongoing International Aids Conference in Washington DC with an aim of developing a policy that will deal with such criminalized groups.

 

This comes after both the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey (KAIS) and the Kenya Modes of Transmission Study indicated that such concentrated groups had high prevalence of HIV, and recorded a high number of new infections.

 

Global Fund to Change The Funding Strategy

By Isaiah Esipisu



Different posters with different meanings at the
International Aids Conference in Washington

Washington DC: Countries funded by the Global Fund for the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria will no longer receive the money in ‘batches of rounds’ as it has traditionally been for the past ten years.

According to Dr Christopher Benn, the Director – External Relations and Partnerships Cluster at the Global Fund, the ‘annual funding round’ system is no longer sustainable, and as a result the funding agency will now focus on supporting particular projects of interest.

“The ‘annual rounds’ method of funding was a good way to channel a lot of money quickly to countries in need, where the Global Fund has built up projects in 150 countries all over the world. But it is no longer the best,” said Dr Benn during the ongoing International Aids Conference in Washington DC.

Multi-Drug Resistant TB Could Soon be Cured in Three Months

The current treatment takes two years, with 12,600 pills and 180 daily jabs

Drugs for MDR-TB: A dose meant for one day

By Isaiah Esipisu

Washington DC: Patients suffering from Tuberculosis could soon be treated to a 14 days dose to cure the disease, down from the current 180 days dose that also involved hundreds to thousands of pills and injections. At the same time, patients with the Multi-Drug Resistant TB will soon be cured in four months without injections and powdered sachets, down from the current recommended period of up to 24 months.

This is after scientists from the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development made a major breakthrough in developing a combination drug regimen that killed 99 per cent of TB causing bacteria in just two weeks – in a trial phase.

Mapping out Climate Change Adaptation Plans on Kenya’s Airwaves

MAKUENI, Kenya, Jun 28 2012 (IPS) - On a Wednesday morning in Mutitu-Andei township in Makueni County, one of Kenya’s driest areas, smallholder farmer Josephine Mutiso tunes into Radio Mang’elete 89.1 FM and listens as meteorological experts discuss the changes in rainfall patterns in the county.

In the past Mutiso has implemented much of the advice from the community station and has been able to successfully use “Zai” pit farming to rehabilitate her dry farmland.

This is a traditional technique which involves digging pits about 30 centimetres deep and filling them with manure and topsoil. When it rains, the mixture of topsoil and manure is able to retain moisture for a longer period, and it ensures that the crop nutrients are concentrated in the pits.