Fogarty in the News - April 2008

March - April, 2008  |  Volume 7, Issue 2

Fogarty Director
Dr. Roger I. Glass

Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass Quoted in The Scientist

Fogarty International Center's Director Dr. Roger I. Glass was recently quoted by The Scientist magazine in an article titled "Implementing Change."

The piece, written by Bob Grant, explores the growing concern within the global health community that the actual outcomes of many interventions in the developing world are not being properly evaluated, and that implementation science is being excluded from many global health initiatives. A few international organizations have even analyzed how well they evaluate program outcomes, with less than promising results.

"How will we know if we're really seeing into the impact we expect?" asks Dr. Glass. "We spend a lot of effort to develop new tools, vaccines and drugs, and then we wash out hands of them." Dr. Glass recounts the story of development agencies' attempts in the 1970's to halt cholera epidemics in Bangladesh by drilling tube wells. The initial outcomes of the project were unsuccessful because evaluation had not been built into the design of the program.

The problem of scarce funding for evaluation in global health programs with already strained budgets is also touched upon.

In addition, Grant gives several examples of implementation successes in developing nations. The article devotes considerable attention to Fogarty grantee Dr. Jean Pape, citing his work with the GHESKIO clinic in Haiti as an example of a successful link between evaluation and adaptive management." Jean Pape does that better than anyone else," said Dr. Glass.

• Implementing Change: Can better science save global health initiatives?
  The Scientist, March 1, 2008

New York Times Features Fogarty Grantee in Haiti

The New York Times recently published an account of a visit by First Lady Laura Bush to a Fogarty grantee site in Haiti.

During a tour of the GHESKIO HIV/AIDS Center in Port-Au-Prince earlier this spring, Mrs. Bush met with young people who are HIV positive. "It is important for young people to know if they do get tested and are HIV positive, there are good things they can do," she said.

The center is also a participant in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Haiti's infection rate has dropped significantly from double digits to about three percent.

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