Last week I heard a very interesting presentation about a pattern that is emerging in Europe around the seizure of generic medicines. According to Percy Makombe from the Economic Justice Network presenting a paper at the Symposium on Health For All in an Interconnected World at York University, its possible to draw parallels between recent drug seizures (17 in Holland in 2008 alone) in Europe and the havoc being wrought by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Though the generic drug trade is legalized through the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual …

This week I went to an research event called Urban Youth and the Determinants of Sexual Health put on by the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives and several other partners.  Toronto seems to have a rad group of research that focus on youth, sexual health, participatory action research, and social determinant.
One of the presenters described participatory action research is that it changes the shame and shyness around sexual health among teens and calls it knowledge.  The Toronto Teen Survey is a pretty cool example.  Researcher Roxana Salehi talked about female …

This week’s a busy week with lots of diverse events, including some dealing with technology and volunteerism, media for social change, art and AIDS, just to name a few.
Volunteer Toronto is hosting a film evening on Thursday with a new British film that asks questions about how Web 2.0 technology can change democracy and civic participation.  Us Now is about “the power of mass collaboration, government and the internet.”   I’ll see you there.

Film: Us Now (internet and volunteerism)
Thursday, February 26 - 7:00pm
Bloor Cinema - 506 Bloor Street West at Bathurst
On …

I meant to post this for a while, but didn’t get to it until now…it was still bike season when I read it!
In her 2008 book, The Wisdom Of Whores, Elizabeth Pisani manages to piss everyone off.  The result is a compelling read about what she refers to as the “bureaucrats, brothels and the business of AIDS”.
Based on years of experience as an epidemiologist and writer for UNAIDS, Pisani asks us to look at HIV/AIDS pragmatically rather than ideologically.  It seems simple enough: AIDS programs should be based on evidence.  …

After a brief absence due to Unpacking Development getting hacked last week, we’re back up and ready to go again. This week in Toronto there are a bunch of conferences and speakers around international development, health and politics:

One of my favourite things about my apartment building is the informal recycling program in the lobby.  There’s a certain corner where you can leave behind slightly used goods for use by the next person, or find treasures of your own.
In a weird coincidence, the other day, as I leafed through a pile of books someone had left, I came across Christine Maggiore’s book, What if Everything You Thought About AIDS was Wrong? Maggiore was a prominent AIDS denialist who has been in the news lately, after her death in …

A recap seems to be the thing to do in the blogosphere, although I’m a few days too late.  I got my inspiration here: Blood and Milk and Global Health Report.  So, here are the top five most popular posts on my blog in its first year - its a surprising mix!

Ethiopian Nativity of Mary: Reporting back from a visit to one of Toronto’s Ethiopian Orthodox Churches after a big celebration.
Toronto Events This Week - Lead up to World Aids Day: It seems like Torontonians really wanted to get involved …

There is lots going on in Toronto this week, from a Fair Trade Holiday Shopping Festival to a Schools Without Borders music event to a Cafe Scientifique night on Gender Inequities in Health.  As well, in the lead up to World AIDS Day on December 1, there are a lot of AIDS-related events for you to check out (see Unpacking Development’s Toronto Events Calender for the details):
On Tuesday, November 25, speaker Jonathan Berger from the AIDS Law Project will give a talk on the South African Treatment Action Campaign’s legal …

Here are some really interesting recent links on how people are tracking and tackling health issues through computer and cell-phone based technologies.  Some of them are better ideas than in practice, but I appreciate the potential!
Project Masiluleke
“Project Masiluleke is a path-breaking effort that harnesses the power of mobile technology to address one of the world’s gravest public health crises. This ambitious initiative will leverage the ubiquity of mobile devices in South Africa to help fight the country’s crippling HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics.” (Also featured in a BBC article here).

Morbus on …

Today I was at the first day of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network’s 2008 Research Conference.  The organization is a big funder of AIDS research in Ontario and it was great to check out what people are doing to learn about the pandemic in my ‘hood.
Sometimes I’m amazed at how broad the approach is to the topic of HIV/AIDS.  I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but when oncologists get together, do they talk about arts-based models in cancer research while simultaneously talking about the cellular processes taking …