Modifies a prohibition on the use of funds in the Act for needle exchange programs; the revised provision prohibits the use of funds in this Act for needle exchange programs in any location that local public health or law enforcement agencies determine to be inappropriate.

As Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) said in his press release following the vote:

I congratulate my colleagues on ending a senseless funding ban that was hindering our efforts to stamp out HIV/AIDS and other transmissible diseases….The science has been clear for years—syringe exchange works. There were so many states and localities already running syringe exchange programs; it was the national politicians that were behind the curve. Today the national politicians have caught up with local government and scientific research, and lives will be saved as a result.

The House lifting of the ban is because of strong leadership by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Congressman David Obey (D-WI), Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and others. The Senate vote is expected over the weekend. PHR can’t thank you all enough for your efforts to end this harmful ban — a great victory for health and human rights!

Douglas Gwatidzo, MD, head of Zimbabwe Physicians for Human Rights (Public Radio International)

Zimbabwean physician Douglas Gwatidzo has collaborated with Physicians for Human Rights in investigations of his country’s health and human rights disaster. Dr. Gwatidzo is the 2009 winner of the Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights, which he will accept tomorrow evening at a special awards ceremony at the Global Health Council’s 36th Annual International Conference.

Dr. Gwatidzo is in Washington, DC and is available now for photo ops and interviews. To arrange a meeting with Dr. Gwatidzo, contact PHR Senior Researcher Richard Sollom by email at rsollom [at] phrusa [dot] org or on his cell at +1-617-501-8510.

Through his work with the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR), Dr. Gwatidzo has passionately taken action against the human rights violations of the current government. As a practicing physician and co-founder and unwavering volunteer director of ZADHR since 2002, Dr. Gwatidzo has supported beleaguered fellow health workers, mentored young medical students, provided medico-legal documentation and care for survivors of state torture and advocated in the public arena for an end to government violence.

In November 2008, Dr. Gwatidzo launched an investigation with Physicians for Human Rights into the current cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe and the utter collapse of the country’s health system. This investigation has documented the closure of hospitals and clinics, breakdown in sanitation and water purification systems, the ensuing and unchecked cholera epidemic, food scarcity, interruptions in HIV/AIDS treatment, untreated tuberculosis, and new outbreaks of anthrax and malnutrition not seen in Zimbabwe. The investigation led to a 2009 Physicians for Human Rights report, Health in Ruins: A Man-Made Disaster in Zimbabwe.

The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights was established in 1999 to honor Dr. Jonathan Mann and highlight the vital link between health and human rights. Sponsored in 2007 by four organizations — Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, Health Right International, John Snow, Inc. and the Global Health Council, the award is bestowed annually to a leading practitioner in health and human rights and comes with a substantial financial reward to allow its recipients a measure of freedom to pursue their work in the important area of global health and human rights.

Despite his untimely death in a 1998 plane crash, Jonathan Mann is considered by many to be one of the most important figures in the 20th century fight against global poverty, illness and social injustice.

Next week, May 12 will be an international day of solidarity for the Drs Alaei. People all over the world will stand up and say with one voice that “Treating AIDS is Not a Crime.”

Vigils are taking place in more than 16 countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico and the United States. You can participate in this international day of solidarity with the Alaeis no matter where you are.

• Send a letter to the Iranian Embassy in your Country, release a statement from your organization or mail a letter to an Iranian policy-maker on May 12. Here is a sample letter and statement you can use, including addresses for some Iranian policy-makers.
• If you are in Washington DC or New York City, join one of our vigils. See these blog posts for all of the details for the vigils in NYC or DC.
• Join our Virtual Vigil for the Alaeis on May 12 from 11am-1pm EST (GMT -4:00). We will be streaming live video from the vigil locations in NYC and DC. You’ll also be able to chat with PHR organizers and other participants from around the world.
• Organize a vigil at the Iranian Embassy in your Country or some other location in your community. You can send us video and photos and even stream your vigil live to the world through our website.
• Sign our new petition asking the Head of the Iranian Judiciary to drop the charges and ask friends and colleagues to sign the petition.

Let us know you are participating in the Day of Action for the Alaeis by filling out this simple webform.

(Cross-posted on IranFreeTheDocs.org.)

Aiding Survivors of Torture:
Medical and Psychological Documentation of Asylum Seekers
Saturday, June 20, 2009
8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

The George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ross Hall
2300 Eye Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20037

• Breakfast and lunch provided.
• Space is limited, so preference will be given to board-certified and state-licensed health professionals.
• Please register by Friday, June 12, 2009. While there is no cost to you, registration IS required.
• PHR has reserved a number of hotel rooms at a discounted rate that are within walking distance of the GWU School of Medicine.
• A limited number of travel scholarships are available for health professionals who agree to provide a minimum of 2 forensic evaluations for low-income or indigent noncitizens held at area detention centers. Contact Jennifer Baldé jbalde [at] phrusa [dot] org) for more information.
• See the event information page for more details on the day.

We look forward to seeing you at this important training event. Please register today!

Darfuri women in a refugee camp in Chad. (Photo by Michael Wadleigh. © gritty.org for Physicians for Human Rights)

Head on over to DarfuriWomen.org to watch the webcast from 8:30 to 10:00 am today (4/14), at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Physicians for Human Rights and the Nobel Women’s Initiative are holding a breakfast panel discussion featuring some of the leading experts on Sudan. The panel includes PHR’s own Karen Hirschfeld, Darfur Survival Campaign Director.

• Jody Williams – recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize (host)
• Nadia Bilbassy – Charters, Bureau Chief, Middle East Broadcast Corporation (MBC) (facilitator)
• Karen Hirschfeld – Sudan Campaign Director, Physicians for Human Rights (panelist)
• Emira Woods – Co-Director of Foreign Policy In Focus, Institute for Policy Studies (panelist)
• Carla Koppell – Director, Institute for Inclusive Security (panelist)

More info here.

Darfuri women in a refugee camp in Chad. (Photo by Michael Wadleigh. © gritty.org for Physicians for Human Rights)

People are worried about Sudan. Following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir, nearly all humanitarian organizations were expelled from the country. Overcrowded refugee camps in Sudan and neighboring Chad offer little hope for the 1.1 million people now left without essential food, water and medical aid. The entire world is wondering, “What do we do now?”

This is the question that will be addressed at a breakfast panel discussion on Tuesday, April 14, 8:30am (EST) at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The panel includes PHR’s own Karen Hirschfeld, Darfur Survival Campaign Director.

Karen will discuss new data on sexual violence in Darfuri refugee camps. Myriad factors contribute to the rampant sexual violence documented by PHR at these camps; an influx of more refugees will only exacerbate these conditions. The event will be hosted by Jody Williams, who shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with PHR, for their work on the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Download the invitation:

Peter Mugyenyi, MD, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

At his first event in Washington, the pioneering Ugandan AIDS doctor Peter Mugyenyi painted a harrowing picture of what lies ahead in Uganda without increased support from PEPFAR.

After urging people to get tested and enter care, we now have to tell them there is no treatment available when they need it. We created hope and now we are returning to the days when one member of a family can get treatment and the others cannot.

It is a recipe for chaos as patients start to share doses or skip treatment altogether. I fear that we will soon start to see more drug-resistant strains of HIV and rising death rates.

Though Congress authorized significant increases when it reauthorized PEPFAR last year, those increases did not make it into budget this year. Funding stayed flat. Without new funds, clinics are now being forced to cap their patients.

Later, Dr. Mugyenyi told us of his euphoria when President Bush signed the new PEPFAR legislation; Dr. Mugyenyi was actually at the White House for the bill signing last year. Now that no additional funds are flowing, that euphoria has faded.

Dr. Mugyenyi spoke of the extreme sense of urgency among those, like his own Joint Clinical Research Centre, which built large, treatment programs with high success rates. Those clinics are now being forced to turn away patients. “We cannot return to the days when funerals defined our existence. This situation is untenable.”

Next it’s on to Capitol Hill, where Dr. Mugyenyi will carry his urgent message to key lawmakers who are about to begin considering next year’s budget.

Watch for more updates later this week.

PHR and its members played a key role in the passage of an expanded and improved PEPFAR last year, and we’re hosting Dr. Mugyenyi in DC as part of ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the need for more funding.

Dr. Mugyenyi leads one of the largest PEPFAR-funded treatment programs in Africa and calls the program “the greatest mission of compassion in recent history.” While in DC, Dr. Mugyenyi will talk with lawmakers and opinion leaders about the urgent need to keep up the momentum with increased resources and support.

His first event will be a speech today at a major foreign policy think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies. On Wednesday he speaks at Georgetown University, where he’ll be introduced by Ambassador Mark Dybul (PDF), former director of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC).

Throughout the week, he’ll meet with key Congressional offices about PEPFAR funding and operations. He’s also slated to participate in a Congressional briefing on strengthening the health care work force in Africa – a key issue in making sure that HIV treatment programs can successful in the years ahead.

It’s going to be a very busy week, but in conversations with Dr. Mugyenyi last week, we know he is greatly concerned about treatment programs’ reaching capacity and is ready to dive right in to everything we have planned. He’s used to it. Back in 2003, Dr. Mugyenyi was summoned to Washington on a day’s notice to help the White House draft the framework for PEPFAR. After the work was over, he was seated next to the First Lady for the announcement of the new program during the State of the Union address.

From his past experience, Dr. Mugyenyi knows a good deal about how Washington works, but he offers a compelling perspective that few others can match. Check back for updates on Tuesday and Thursday and we’ll let you know what issues come up in his talks and meetings. When the week’s over, Dr. Mugyenyi will share his thoughts about his experience and what he hopes he’s accomplished.

If you’d like to read more about Dr. Mugyenyi’s work in Uganda, check out his new book, Genocide by Denial: How Profiteering from HIV/AIDS Killed Millions. It’s reviewed here.

Dr. Peter Mugyenyi with a young patient in Uganda. (AFP 2005)

At the State of the Union address in 2003, President Bush made an announcement that changed the course the global AIDS. As the first non-American to attend the State of the Union of the guest of the First Lady, Uganda AIDS pioneer Dr. Peter Mugenyi, who will join PHR in DC this month, heard Bush lay down a mandate for the US — and a vision of hope for his country:

Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS virus, including 3 million children under the age of 15. There are whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult population carries the infection. More than 4 million require immediate drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims — only 50,000 — are receiving the medicine they need . . . A doctor in rural South Africa describes his frustration. He says, “We have no medicines; many hospitals tell people, ‘You’ve got AIDS. We can’t help you. Go home and die.’” In an age of miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear those words.

On that night in Washington DC, President Bush asked Congress to put $15 billion over five years into the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. As President Bush said in his address,

Seldom has history offered a great opportunity to do so much for so many.

As Dr. Mugyenyi, the Executive Director of the Joint Clinical Research Center (JCRC) — a center of excellence for AIDS treatment, prevention, and research in Sub-Saharan Africa — heard these words, he felt an incredible sense of hope and relief.

Dr. Mugyenyi returned to Uganda in the late 1980’s after studying and practicing medicine abroad to find that HIV was destroying thousands of lives in his beloved country. Even though life-saving medicine was available in wealthy countries, it was out of reach for Ugandans. As Dr. Mugyenyi says in his 2008 book, Genocide by Denial, the vast majority of his patients during these days “died not just of AIDS but of poverty.”

PEPFAR changed this picture, bringing AIDS treatment to millions who could not afford it in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. And Dr. Mugyenyi has been there, every day, providing treatment, research and prevention programs for thousands of Ugandans who previously had no chance at survival.

Now, in the midst of a global financial crisis, the US is considering scaling back on its commitments to global health programs like PEPFAR. PHR is very pleased to be hosting Dr. Mugyenyi in Washington DC from March 16-20 to raise awareness about the impact that a scaling back of commitments would have on the lives of millions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Mugyenyi and hundreds of other African doctors know first hand what the outlook will be for their patients if this happens. We invite you to follow Dr. Mugyenyi’s visit to Washington DC on this blog over the coming weeks to learn more about why we must follow through on our commitments to global health and HIV/AIDS.