What happened to 2005!?... did you have a good year?

What do you have planned for 2006?

You could be one of the 100 journalists around the world who will be chosen for the new Fellowship programme in the US -- or you could walk away with an Award for Best Practices in Global Health... details below...

..but, wherever you go and whatever you do -- if you think we should know about it, then email it: send in your news items, your questions, your suggestions, your problems, and your successes.

Let's keep this network alive, thriving, and growing.

 -- and, with that, I would like to welcome Carren Otieno, a TV journalist, from Nairobi, to the Health and Media listserv. Carren is our 28 listserv member from Kenya, and 232 listserv member in total.

Colin Lloyd, Moderator, South Africa

"Hi everyone, this is Mama Janneh, a radio journalist from The Gambia (presently in UK). I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Malaria Free New Year.... cheers!"

1. Fellowships and Awards

+ Fellowships in the US for 100 Journalists Worldwide

The U.S. government and six universities are cooperating on a new program that will bring 100 journalists from around the world to the country for study and training.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the launch of the Edward R. Murrow Journalism Fellows Program on December 13. The fellows will train for three weeks in April at their respective host universities, which will develop special curricula for the journalists.

According to the organizers, the journalists will travel to Washington, D.C. at the beginning of April for a short orientation and a chance to meet government officials. They will then break into six groups and travel to one of the participating universities.

At the university, they will attend specialized seminars, interact with American students, and learn about local government through visits to state capitals and small communities. The program concludes back in Washington with an international journalism symposium.

Journalists interested in the program should contact their country’s U.S. embassy. For a complete list of links to U.S. embassies around the world, click here

(Português)

+ Nova iniciativa leva 100 jornalistas para treinamento nos EUA

O governo americano e seis universidades estão trabalhando juntos em um novo programa que levará 100 jornalistas de todo o mundo aos Estados Unidos para estudo e treinamento.

A secretária de Estado Condoleezza Rice anunciou o lançamento do Programa Edward R. Murrow de Bolsas em Jornalismo dia 13 de dezembro. Os bolsistas participarão de um treinamento de três semanas em abril em suas respectivas universidades, que desenvolverão um programa de estudo para os jornalistas.

De acordo com os organizadores, os jornalistas viajarão para Washington, D.C., no começo de abril para uma curta orientação e oportunidade de encontrar oficiais do governo. Em seguida, serão divididos em seis grupos e viajarão para uma das universidades participantes.

Na universidade, os bolsistas participarão de seminários especializados, conviverão com estudantes americanos e aprenderão sobre o governo local através de visitas a capitais de estado e pequenas comunidades. O programa é finalizado em Washington com um simpósio internacional de jornalismo.

O programa é uma cooperação do Bureau de Assuntos Educacionais e Culturais do Departamento de Estado, o Instituto Aspen, com sede em Colorado, e as universidades de Kentucky, Minnesota, Carolina do Norte (Chapel Hill), Oklahoma, Sul da Califórnia e Texas (Austin). Este é o primeiro ano do programa, e seu sucesso ajudará a determinar sua continuidade no futuro.

Os jornalistas interessados no programa devem entrar em contato com a embaixada americana em seus países. Para uma lista completa de embaixadas de todo o mundo, visite http://usembassy.state.gov/

+ Journalists eligible for international fellowship at U.S. University

Experienced journalists and other mid-career professionals from developing nations are eligible for a one-year fellowship to pursue a graduate degree at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Application deadline: January 17.

The annual fellowship covers tuition, housing and other costs for a total of US$40,000 for the year. Fellows pursue a master’s degree in International Policy and Practice. The program has sponsored participants from 35 countries, from professions that include journalism, diplomacy, government, the military, and the nonprofit sector.

Candidates must have eight years of professional experience, a bachelor’s degree, and an excellent level of English. A minimum TOEFL score of 250 is required for admissions.

The fellow takes courses in international economics, international politics, and an exclusive seminar that features prominent guest speakers and discussions on international topics. The student can choose to specialize in a topic such as conflict resolution, economics or development, or to study a particular region such as Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, or Europe and Eurasia.

The school year begins in August 2006. For more information, contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, at mipp@gwu.edu or telephone +1-202-994-7050.  GWU website

(Português)

+ Jornalistas qualificáveis para programa internacional em universidade americana

Jornalistas experientes e outros profissionais em meados de carreira de países em desenvolvimento são qualificáveis para uma bolsa de um ano de estudo em pós-graduação na Universidade George Washington em Washington, D.C. A inscrição termina dia 17 de janeiro.

A bolsa anual cobre mensalidade escolar, alojamento e outros custos, totalizando US$40.000 pelo ano. Os bolsistas farão o mestrado em Política e Prática Internacional. O programa patrocina participantes de 35 países, de profissões que incluem jornalismo, diplomacia, governo, serviço militar e em setor sem fins lucrativos.

Os candidatos devem ter oito anos de experiência profissional, diploma de bacharelado, e um excelente comando do inglês. A nota mínima necessária no exame TOEFL é 250 para admissões.

O bolsista fará cursos em economia e política internacional, e participará de um exclusivo seminário com palestrantes proeminentes e discussões sobre assuntos internacionais. O estudante pode escolher se especializar em temas como resolução de conflito, economia ou desenvolvimento, ou estudar uma área específica como América Latina, Ásia, Oriente Médio, ou Europa e Eurásia.

O ano escolar começa em agosto de 2006. Para maior informação, entre em contato com o Departamento de Admissões de Pós-Graduação da Escola Elliott de Assuntos Internacionais na Universidade George Washington, por e-mail mipp@gwu.edu ou telefone +1-202-994-7050. GWU website

+ Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights
Submission deadline: Jan. 30, 2006
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2006 Jonathan Mann Award. The award is bestowed annually to a leading practitioner in health and human rights.

2. Health News

+ Lesotho: where everyone from the King on down will have HIV test
The African kingdom of Lesotho, a nation afflicted by one of the 
worlds worst AIDS pandemics, is to become the first country in the world to offer HIV tests to its entire population. Its ministers and public health officials will announce a 12 million (7 million) 
programme this week to test the 1.9 million people living in the 
mountainous enclave within South Africa for the human 
immunodeficiency virus. In a groundbreaking move for African 
healthcare, King Letsie III of Lesotho is likely to become the first
monarch to take the test publicly.

+ Mozambique: UK Newspaper examines Mother to Child HIV Transmission
London's Guardian on Saturday examined the hurdles Mozambique is facing in trying to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission. About 35,000 infants contract the virus from their mothers annually in Mozambique, and only 3% of women in the country were tested for HIV in 2003, the Guardian reports. Clinics are able to reduce the risk of vertical HIV transmission by giving pregnant women and their newborns the antiretroviral drug nevirapine and by performing caesarean- section deliveries.

+ Nigeria: Conference delegates debate abstinence as HIV prevention
Experts last week said the subject of teaching abstinence to prevent HIV/AIDS led to debate among many attendees at the 14th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, Agence France-Presse reports. About 7,500 representatives, primarily from African nations, attended the six-day conference, which had the theme "HIV/AIDS and the Family".

+ e-quest Kenya
eQuest is a short messages service (SMS) based contest that aims to increase HIV/AIDS knowledge and discussion among youth aged 15 to 24 in Kenya using mobile phones. It aims to encourage young people to seek and find information on HIV/AIDS through SMS. The project is implemented by the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) with funding from the Vodafone Group Foundation through the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Email  Stephanie Martin
 

3. Interview
 

....with Robert C. Gallo, M.D., Director of the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore, Maryland (source: Newsweek Magazine December 2005 edition)

“As one of the discoverers of HIV as the cause of AIDS, I believe humanity can stop this scourge. Consider how far we have already come. Medical science moved quickly to decipher AIDS and to pinpoint its cause as infection by a new virus called HIV. Continuing research produced the HIV blood test and effective drug therapy, setting off a ripple effect of benefits throughout the world. The growing availability and informed use of drug treatments, progress toward a preventive vaccine, and crucial political support—all these advances bolster my optimism about eventually controlling AIDS. However, that won't happen if we lose sight of vital historical lessons in humanity's struggle against its smallest enemies.

By the mid-1970s, when polio was vanquished and no other killer contagion loomed, confidence in Western medicine was running high - too high. Some prestigious U.S. medical schools shut down their departments of microbiology, virus-research programs were curtailed and the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta faced serious reductions. Retroviruses (such as the yet-undiscovered HIV) were thought not to infect humans, and the serious afflictions still at large were regarded mainly as problems for faraway people in the so-called Third World. As the world forgot that epidemics come and go, and can re-emerge with deadly effect, my colleagues and I discovered a retrovirus that causes a form of human leukaemia.

Then came the new pandemic: HIV/AIDS. Years earlier, HIV had already been quietly but steadily on the move. In an age of overnight travel to almost anywhere, changing sexual mores, intravenous drug use and the movement of blood products across national borders for medical purposes, HIV emerged from obscurity in the 1980s to become a universal scourge. Medical science rose to the challenge.

The first big breakthrough was the HIV blood test in 1984, which protected the blood supply for most of the world and gave physicians a way to track the epidemic by flagging infection years before clinical symptoms surfaced. The second was anti-HIV drug therapy, which led to dramatic improvements in patient life spans and quality of life. Until then, most experts were resigned to treating the symptoms of infection rather than trying to disarm the virus itself. Now we know that treating HIV and AIDS depends vitally on our basic understanding of how the virus replicates itself and triggers disease.

So far, science is keeping up with the virus. Yet the very therapeutic advances that have converted HIV infection from a near certain and agonizing death to a chronic, treatable disease have once again lulled society into complacency about the risks and threatened support for basic research and prevention. This epidemic is far from over; HIV/AIDS claims 250,000 deaths per month.

One of the greatest challenges is ensuring adequate supplies of anti-HIV medicine to carriers. However, if used incorrectly, the drugs will be ineffective. It is a mistake to write the same prescription for everyone everywhere. Careful planning, training and increased biomedical research in developing nations are all needed — as opposed to just handing out the drugs. Laudable initiatives such as President George W. Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the AIDS program of Doctors Without Borders and the Global Fund on AIDS are underway. These efforts must be encouraged at all costs.

The ultimate challenge lies in the development of an HIV-preventive vaccine, which would effectively stop the disease. So far medical science has failed. Is pouring more money into such a quixotic quest realistic? Absolutely! To give up in the face of a scourge that claims 10 new infections every minute is to threaten the stability of nations. The question I and my colleagues at the Institute of Human Virology are asking is not whether such a goal can be accomplished but how. It will be achieved much sooner with new, vigorous, science-based efforts allied in a coordinated and truly global approach. The good news is that solid science is quickly teaching us HIV's most intimate molecular details—especially about how it steals its way into our cells. This is precisely the knowledge we need to be successful, and successful we will be. The future of humanity depends on it.”