I'm very impressed by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, a joint initiative of the Gates Foundation and Kaiser Family Foundation. The working group comprises 50 leading AIDS authorities from around the world that meet periodically, backed up by a very capable staff. The Working Group has released two reports (with one more soon to be published), each of which providing cogent directives in combating AIDS. The reports are probably the most clearly presented and credible documents of the kind anywhere. Every AIDS policymaker on the planet should have copies. Here are the two reports to date:

- May 2003 Report - Access to HIV Prevention: Closing the Gap: A Global HIV Prevention Working Group Report

- July 2002 Report - Global Mobilization for HIV Prevention: A Blueprint for Action: A Global HIV Prevention Working Group Report

My frustration with the initiative is they do fine work, publish their reports, hold a press conference -- and then seemingly disappear. So do their reports. Google lists only about 200 citations of the two reports combined. (As a point of reference, the World Bank's "Confronting AIDS" report and UNAIDS 2002 Epidemic Report have about 1700 citations each). If you're not getting the word out, why bother with the effort? I'm not able to find a dedicated Web site, editorial calendar, members list, contact list -- not to mention interactive features that could draw in many more global policymakers. There is a wonderful opportunity here that Gates and Kaiser could be jumping at.

Part of my interest in posting this information is to see how this post fares on the Web compared to the limited information provided by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group. If my measly blog entry ends up with higher search engine results, you'll know there's work to be done. Check back in six months!