Vital

News & commentary about the global health workforce

Treatment 2.0: Aspirations for Invigorating the Global HIV/AIDS Response

Two weeks ago, the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released Treatment 2.0, the latest global strategy for making HIV treatment more efficient, accessible, and effective.

The Mixed Messages of AIDS 2010

If the world economic outlook were brighter, AIDS 2010 might be viewed as a turning point in the global HIV response. The conference, which wrapped up last Friday, was the stage for the announcement...

Bottlenecks: Addressing the AIDS Epidemic Through Increasing Human Resources for Health

In a world where over 33 million people are living with AIDS it is imperative to address the human resources for health (HRH) crisis.

Rights Here, Right Now: HIV/AIDS Progress is Just as Real as the Funding Cuts

Global progress on HIV/AIDS is real: 5.2 million people are receiving antiretroviral therapy in middle-income and resource-poor countries, which is remarkable if you look at where we were five or ten years ago.

Keep it Together at AIDS 2010: Moving Beyond the Pitfalls of False Dichotomies

Let’s face it: we’re in one of the worst economic crises we’ve seen in decades, and HIV funding has flat-lined.

World Health Organization Releases New Policy on Retaining Health Workers

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization released “Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention.”

Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Resilience of Health Workers in the Face of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is the health crisis that truly galvanized international attention. But it wasn’t always this way.

Global Health Solutions Begin with Health Workers

Health workers—community health educators, medical assistants, nurses, midwives, doctors, and others are key to improving people’s lives.

Giving Birth: the Good News

Last week, Time published “The Perils of Pregnancy: One Woman’s Tale of Dying to Give Birth,” a poignant photo essay and article on the grim reality of women dying in childbirth in Sierra Leone. I read the piece with mixed emotions. The images, the tone of the Time article contrasted sharply with everything I heard last week during Women Deliver 2010 conference: family planning use is increasing, child survival is improving, and there have been steady declines in the number of women dying from pregnancy-related causes, according to a recent Lancet article.

Cooperating to Change Lives

None of our work is taking place in a vacuum, and none of us have expertise in all areas that need to be changed to improve people’s lives in low-resource areas. Partnerships that, on the surface, seem unlikely can turn out to be surprisingly supportive of each other.