PATH's Rachel Wilson speaks on PEPFAR

Rachel Wilson, director of Policy and Advocacy at PATH, will bring her policy expertise to the “US Roles in Global Health: Which Direction?” panel at the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) conference in Arlington, Virginia, on March 29, 2008. Wilson will offer a lens into the policy debate surrounding the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The conference expects to draw more than 400 health care journalists from across the country.

With more than 15 years of experience in public health policy, research, and communications, Wilson will frame the many challenges facing global health through the lens of the current PEPFAR reauthorization debates. She will focus on policy restrictions, the need for equity in funding other health areas, health systems strengthening, and the human resource crisis as they relate to PEPFAR. Her insight comes as Congress and the White House have agreed to use $50 billion over five years to combat HIV/AIDS.

The AHCJ conference aims to improve the quality, accuracy, and visibility of health care reporting, writing, and editing. Additional panelists include Scott F. Dowell, chief of the Global Disease Detection and Emergency Response Branch of the Coordinating Office for Global Health at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Daniel Epstein, information specialist for the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Americas; and moderator Jim Simon, assistant managing editor of the The Seattle Times. The conference will also feature speakers Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis Quaid, and Michael Leavitt, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Posted March 27, 2008.