Notes on AIDS Vaccine Conf (this wk) & MDG Summit (last wk)

Tweeps,

I hope you’re all doing well. I enjoyed seeing some of you up here in New York for the MDG Summit last week.  

AIDS Vaccine 2010

For those who don’t know, this week in Atlanta is the annual conference focused specifically on AIDS vaccines (http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org/conference/2010/(http://www.hivvaccineenterprise.org/conference/2010/). This past year has been the most exciting we’ve had in terms of progress on a path for the AIDS vaccine, and there should be some interesting news coming out of the conf.

We encourage everyone to use the hashtag #AIDSvax10 for posts on the conference this week. Also, you can IAVI’s Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/aidsvaccine) and Facebook page for updates. Another couple good feeds to follow is the conf. organizers, the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise (http://twitter.com/hiventerprisehttp://twitter.com/hiventerprise) and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (http://twitter.com/hivpxresearch). The Enterprise will be live webcasting news conference’s from the conference: http://bit.ly/bjUhFq

MDG Summit

As for the MDG Summit, it seems like the opinions are rolling in on both the final UN declaration on the summit and President Obama’s signing of a policy security directive on global development (the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network has posted some of the reaction on their blog (http://www.modernizingforeignassistance.org/blog/).

A couple highlights on R&D and AIDS we pushed out on Twitter and FB. The final UN document declaration (http://bit.ly/9jfsIL) says the global community commits to:

Further promoting research and development, knowledge-sharing

and the provision and use of ICT for health, including through facilitating

affordable access by all countries, especially developing countries;

(o) Enhancing public-private partnerships for health-care service delivery, encouraging the development of new and affordable technologies and their innovative application and developing new and affordable vaccines and

medicines needed, in particular, in developing countries;

The new US development policy (http://bit.ly/clDcaN) document states:

“Invest in game-changing innovations with the potential to solve long-standing development challenges.  Leveraging the power of research and development, the United States will:

·         Increase our investments and engagement in development-focused innovation by seeking and scaling up potential game-changing development technologies such as vaccines for neglected diseases, weather-resistant seed varieties, and clean energy technologies. 

·         Increase public funding - while securing more private funding - for development-focused research, including by:

o   Capitalizing new models for innovation and bringing sustainable models to scale;

o   Using our leadership, bilaterally and multilaterally, to foster, highlight, and reward innovation; and

o   Increasing developing countries’ creation and utilization of science and technology and removing impediments to innovation faced by the private sector.”

               

In regard to bolstering science, tech & innovation to help achieve the MDGs, I wanted to end with a plug to check out a post in the Global Health Magazine blog by Dr. Omu Anzala, who directs the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative, IAVI’s partner based at the University of Nairobi. Anzala makes the case that in order for Africa to achieve the MDGs, there must be “substantial investments to unlock the potential of a new generation of African minds to tackle the continent's greatest challenges.” http://bit.ly/9Rs6rN

I hope everyone has a great week!

Best,

Vince

Vince Blaser

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

New Media Specialist

110 William Street, 27th Floor

New York, NY 10038

(212) 847-1051

www.iavi.org

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