President Obama is expected to discuss the role of development during the State of the Union speech tonight. The Global Health Initiative Working Group, a coalition of advocacy and service organizations, offers the following experts for comment on the speech:
Serra Sippel is President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), working to ensure that U.S. international policies and programs promote and protect sexual and reproductive health and rights through effective, evidence-based approaches to prevention and treatment of critical reproductive and sexual health concerns, and through increased funding for critical programs.
Ms. Sippel can speak to the Global Health Initiative's new focus on integrated programming and addressing the needs of women as a fulcrum for the global development approach.
To contact Ms. Sippel: [email protected] or 202-393-5930
Paul Zeitz is Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. Mr. Zeitz has nearly two decades of experience working in developing nations, including Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia. He has designed and implemented large-scale programs in HIV/AIDS, child survival, reproductive health, health systems development, and support for orphans and vulnerable children.
Mr. Zeitz can speak to the link between development and international stability and security as well as the trends in global health, pediatric AIDS and global AIDS treatment and prevention.
To contact Mr. Zeitz: [email protected] or 202-365-6786
Donna Barry is the Advocacy and Policy Director at Partners In Health as well as a clinician who provides support to all PIH's reproductive health programs. Previously she led the Partners In Health project to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Russia and worked on the women's health programs in Haiti. She is guiding PIH's advocacy and policy efforts related to health and hunger, socio-economic development in Haiti, increasing the pool of funding for global health and the health care worker shortage.
To contact Ms. Barry: 857-272-0180
Chris Collins, Vice President and Director of Public Policy at AMFAR, is a veteran health and AIDS advocate who has helped shape HIV/AIDS policy and communications for nearly 20 years. He is the author of several major reports on domestic and global AIDS response including Improving Outcomes: Blueprint for a National AIDS Plan for the United States, which was published by the Open Society Institute in 2007.
Mr. Collins can speak about the push to strengthen health systems throughout the world, the President's budget, and the need to address marginalized populations.
To contact Mr. Collins: [email protected], 202.331.8600 or 202.492.5807
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Jan. 27/
SOURCE Global Health Initiative Working Group
