| Satellite Meeting brings together researchers and policy makers |
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Evidence for Action brought together policy makers, implementers and researchers to share experiences and priority questions relating to HIV treatment and care systems during a satellite meeting at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico, August 2008. Speakers included Michel Kazatchkine (Executive Director of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria), Kelita Kamoto (Head of HIV Department, Ministry of Health, Malawi) and Christine Nabiryo (Deputy Executive Director, TASO Uganda), as well as Evidence for Action researchers.
Michel Kazatchkine addressed the meeting, stressing the importance of bridging the gap between researchers and policy makers to strengthen the scale-up of treatment and care systems. Michel Kazatchkine addresses the Evidence for Action satellite meeting, part 1 Michel Kazatchkine addresses the Evidence for Action satellite meeting, part 2 Benson Droti of MRC UVRI talked on priority public health research questions on delivery systems for HIV treatment and care in Uganda. His presentation will be available for download from this page soon. Details of a trial looking at Home-based vs facility-based delivery of ART were presented by Christine Nabiryo of TASO Uganda. Her presentation will be available for download from this page soon. Johanna Hanefeld of LSHTM presented results of a study looking at the role of Global Health Initiatives in the scale-up of ART in Zambia and South Africa. The key informant interviews carried out showed that while Global Health Initiatives such as PEPFAR, World Bank and the Global Fund had vital in scaling-up HIV treatment in these countries, they had also had unintended effects on human resources, equity and coordination. See Johanna's powerpoint presentation about the role of the Global Health Initiatives(238kb) Impact Beyond Intent working paper(123kb) Kelita Kamoto gave an overview of the progress Malawi has made towards rolling out HIV treatment, along with the challenges they have faced. Sam Phiri, Executive Director of Lighthouse Centre, Malawi, spoke about the challenges Lighthouse has faced trying to integrate HIV and TB treatment for co-infected patients. The meeting provided a useful forum attempting to bridge the divide between policy makers and researchers. This is something that Evidence for Action will continue to attempt, listening to policy makers to find out the key knowledge gaps for implementation, and working with stakeholders to generate and communicate evidence to strengthen implementation. |