Wednesday, December 1. 2004
AIDS Matters focuses principally on the "information infrastructure" supporting the global AIDS response. Here is our wish list for 2005 for key ways in which global AIDS information resources could be improved:
- 1) PEPFAR Web Presence: The World's largest AIDS program, PEPFAR, still has minimal web presence. Although PEPFAR officials do recognize the importance of transparency, current PEPFAR programs are difficult to learn about via the web. There are many areas in which this can be improved.
- 2) IAS Web Resources: The International AIDS Society organizes the most important global gatherings of AIDS specialists, including the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006. The IAS's past conference in Bangkok was logistically impressive -- but very weak from the information infrastructure standpoint. Little of the vast amount of information offered at the conference (presentations, powerpoints, posters, vendor information) was captured and made available online to participants and the global community. Here are recommendations for the future.
- 3) Procurement Database for SCMS Program: The Global Fund has initiated an impressive Price Reporting Mechanism which discloses the purchase price of procured medications. As PEPFAR launches a counterpart procurement program, the $7 billion "Supply Chain Management System" (SCMS), organizers should emulate the Global Fund in providing full online transparency around procurement costs.
- 4) Stronger Advocacy Sites for the Global Fund: Of the three main funders of global AIDS programs -- the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and the World Bank -- only the Global Fund relies exclusively on outside donations to support its efforts. This makes advocacy activities particularly important. The Global Fund has accomplished a great deal, but it needs help telling its story. Advocacy organizations -- most notably Friends of the Global Fight -- would benefit from an enhanced web strategy.
- 5)More Active Policy Prescriptions: While several organizations formulate global AIDS policy -- such as the Global HIV Prevention Working Group or the United Nations Reference Group on Economics -- no group takes a particularly active role in articulating clear global AIDS policy, and making sure those policy recommendations reach decision makers in individual countries.
- 6)Policymaker Online Forum: While a number of e-mail lists exist to promote policy discussions, there is no well-managed online policy forum which attracts senior officials to discuss AIDS funding and program policy options. The IAEN offers a question and answer area, but this is still a far cry from a dynamic forum area visited regularly by global experts.
- 7) AIDSconsensus.com: The Copenhagen Consensus identified AIDS as the planet's greatest problem, worthy of a $27 billion (notional) investment. This conclusion should be followed by an online "AIDSconsensus.com" in which experts allocate in most effective fashion that $27 billion.
- 8)AIDS Best Practices Service: While a great deal of attention is spent on establishing monitoring and evaluation systems for AIDS programs, solid conclusions are still several years away, which is too late for consequential near-term funding decisions. The major funders would benefit from a joint, online, "best practices" presentation of case studies that tells the successes of AIDS programs, even if not in a scientifically perfect way. There is currently relatively little positive feedback reaching policymakers and funders, especially in the US Government.
- 9) More Attention to Media-Neglected Countries: Several countries reeling under the devastation of AIDS receive proportionately little coverage. Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo are particularly notable, representing 10% of AIDS cases worldwide but receiving scant media attention.
- 10) AIDS Weblogs: There are currently few weblogs tracking global AIDS policy. Weblogs can provide an informed and current voice to what is actually transpiring in global AIDS issues. Ideally there would be several good blog sites in DC, NY and Geneva, and another dozen (at least) professional sites commenting from recipient countries.
These ten steps won't cure AIDS -- but they are nonetheless very consequential. It is hard to imagine a great deal of progress occurring in the battle against global AIDS without significant improvement in these areas in 2005.
|
