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  • African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) Meeting in Ghana The fifth annual international conference of the African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) will be held Nov. 9-11 in Accra, Ghana, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. The theme of this year's conference will be improving maternal, newborn, and child health in Africa, which will be discussed by top experts from around the world. ASADI V will kick off with the release of Science in Action: Saving the Lives of Africa's Mothers, Newborns, and Children, a new report by several African science academies, assessing the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing maternal and childhood mortality -- the focus of U.N. Millennium Development Goals Four and Five -- in sub-Saharan Africa. The report will include estimates of lives that could be saved if proven scientific methods reached more parts of Africa. 11/9
  • Meeting HIV/AIDS Cost Demands: Is The Global Response Working? The November/December 2009 edition of Health Affairs focuses on key global health challenges – including the economic, political, scientific and ethical ones – facing world policymakers in their response to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Over the next several years, the world could face a funding shortfall that would prevent millions more with HIV/AIDS from gaining access to antiretroviral drugs. Yet over the long-term, the world could also take critical steps to slash the global burden of HIV-AIDS – and the costs of battling the pandemic – by half. 11/10
  • Meeting HIV/AIDS Cost Demands: Is The Global Response Working? The November/December 2009 edition of Health Affairs focuses on key global health challenges – including the economic, political, scientific and ethical ones – facing world policymakers in their response to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Over the next several years, the world could face a funding shortfall that would prevent millions more with HIV/AIDS from gaining access to antiretroviral drugs. Yet over the long-term, the world could also take critical steps to slash the global burden of HIV-AIDS – and the costs of battling the pandemic – by half. 11/10

HIV-Positive Cambodians Evicted From Phnom Penh Homes

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Friday, June 19, 2009

To make way for a Ministry of Tourism garden, 20 families with HIV-positive members have been evicted from their homes and moved outside of the city, reports the Phnom Penh Post.  The newspaper writes, "Despite municipal officials claiming that residents left voluntarily and will be better off at the new site, which has been condemned by local and international rights groups as being unsuitable for human habitation, residents said they were unhappy with the move" (Shay/Chamroeun, Phnom Penh Post, 6/18).

According to the China Post, "[t]he evictions from the Borei Keila community came after several months of strong protests by the families, who complained that they would be without basic services, have no means of income and lose access to medical treatment at the new location."  The China Post reports that other residents in the neighborhood not infected with HIV were "resettled in apartments. The 20 families evicted Thursday were not given that option."

Naly Pilorge, director of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, said in a statement, "It is tragic that the government has chosen to create a permanent AIDS colony where people will face great stigma and discrimination," adding that the relocation area is far from medical services (China Post, 6/19). U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights country representative Christophe Peschoux said, "What has been prepared so far is a warehouse-type shelter without running water or electricity," adding it "is not appropriate to receive families that have members with HIV." According to Peschoux, the U.N. submitted an alternative to the plan that would have integrated the now uprooted families into the community (Phnom Penh Post, 6/18).  

According to the AP/Washington Post, "Officials say they evicted the families because they had illegally settled on state land where the government now wants to build new offices for the Ministry of Tourism. The evictions were carried out Thursday without force after a week of negotiations. About 50 police stood guard, helping the families to collect their belongings" (Cheng, AP/Washington Post, 6/18)

The secretary of state at the Ministry of Tourism "said the government had helped the community with all its available resources, and that no matter what the government did, the community would still have demanded more" (Phnom Penh Post, 6/18).

The Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report is published by the Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2009 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.