Back to School at the Mini-U
This past Friday, September 12, 2008 public healthy professionals 
from organizations through the United States and abroad came together at the George Washington University School of Public Health for the annual USAID Global health Mini-University. During the day individuals took various “courses” focusing on different areas of global health. All of the presentations will be posted to the MAQ web site in the coming weeks. I’ll briefly summarize some of the courses I was able to attend:
- New Recommendations for FP/HIV Integration, Virginia Lamprecht (USAID) and Susan Adamchick (Family Health International): This workshop discussed what we know about FP/HIV integration and what we are currently learning. The workshop discussed the formation of the USAID FP/HIV Technical Working Group, results from a recent integration literature review presented at the Mexico City AIDS Conference, and research results from FHI’s latest analysis of integrated programs in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa and Ethiopia. The presenters concluded that more money needs to be put into integration efforts and that integration efforts are crucial if donors wish to meet unmet contraceptive need.
- Postpartum Family Planning: What to expect when you’re no longer expecting, Holly Blanchard, Angela Nash-Mercado, ACCESS-FP, - This workshop, presented in game format, discussed the various methods that can be used safely by women in the postpartum period and when they can safely be used.
- Is Male Circumcision as Good as the HIV Vaccine? Kelly Curran, Harshad Sanghvi, Jhpiego- This workshop discussed the current evidence regarding male circumcision and why it is necessary to expand current MC programs in order to increase uptake. Male circumcision can be seen as one of the tools in the HIV prevention arsenal, to be combined with intervention such as ABC (abstinence, be faithful and condom use).
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Stephen Goldstein said,
September 15, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
Seth:
Thanks for your summary of the integration session. I was somewhat surprised to hear at the session, comments to the effect that apart from a few well reported efforts, the jury is still out concerning the success or failure of integration efforts. I wonder whether this is because many clinics have been integrating family planning services with HIV prevention for some time and they do not feel that this is something new, or worth reporting. I’d be interested to hear how others feel about this.
Stephen Goldstein, Webmaster, www.infoforhealth.org