Dear friends,

In this week’s update, we look at disproportionate cancer rates among Roma women in Hungary and the high cost of AIDS medicines for patients in Russia. The Open Society Foundations are supporting efforts to address both problems.

We are also pleased to welcome you to the new Facebook page for the Open Society Public Health Program. Remember to “Like” us and join the conversation on health and human rights issues worldwide.

Paul Silva
psilva@sorosny.org
Follow me on Twitter: @PauloNYC

Give Roma Women an Equal Chance Against Cancer

In Hungary, Roma women are three times more likely to die from cancer as their non-Roma counterparts. Yet 90 percent of these cases could be cured if detected in time and treated appropriately. The Open Society Foundations are supporting the Equal Chances Against Cancer Campaign to provide breast cancer screening for thousands of Roma women across Hungary. Find out more.

Russian Patients Demand Cheaper AIDS Drugs

Russia saw a rare feat in health care this month: When patient advocates called for less expensive HIV treatment, one drug manufacturer responded by cutting the price in half. But the cost is still more than double what Russia paid in 2010 for similar medicines, and prices for other necessary HIV drugs have yet to be lowered. Read the blog and tell Big Pharma to stop putting profits before patients.

What We're Reading

• HIV and AIDS: Bold New Goal for 2020 Set at UN AIDS Summit — Guardian Development Network
• Don’t Stop Now, Finish the Job!: Making HIV Prevention Funding Work — International HIV/AIDS Alliance
• From Talk to Action: Review of Women, Girls, and Gender Equality in National Strategic Plans in Southern and Eastern Africa — ATHENA Network and HEARD
• Russia’s H.I.V. Crisis — World Policy Blog

From Our Twitter Feeds

• Budget cuts by donors are forcing closure of NGO #HIV clinics in South Africa. tinyurl.com/3ws88eh Where's the money for #AIDS? via @skowalski
• HIV/AIDS: Straight Talk with Elizabeth Pisani, author of The Wisdom of Whores http://tinyurl.com/3f62qes via @PauloNYC
• Conspiracy of Silence video exposes lack of political will responsible for suffering of millions of patients worldwide: http://t.co/eUitubD via @CareNotTorture
• BBC News - Sterilisation: North Carolina grapples with legacy - http://bbc.in/mutsAq via @OSMHI

Follow the Open Society Public Health Program tweets at: @OpenSociety/health-team.