Microsoft develops application to elicit end-user empathy from programmers

This video is worth a few minutes on a work break:

http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=7684&where=index

Or Ricky Gervais's interview with Microsoft management:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9076288729387457440

Annan Launches UNITAID to Help the Global Fight against HIV/AIDS and other Diseases

By Vern Weitzel

Describing it as a "life-saving initiative", United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today officially launched UNITAID, an international drug purchasing facility that will provide medicine and treatment against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for the poorest people of developing countries who otherwise could not afford them.

"UNITAID can use its purchasing power to leverage price reductions for quality drugs and diagnostics, and accelerate the pace at which they are made available. It can provide a stable and continuous source of financing for health care programmes, particularly in low-income countries", said Mr. Annan at the launch in New York.

"And it can help reassure developing countries of the long-term commitment of the international community. In this way, UNITAID provides a real and immediate tool to help scale up access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB".

UNITAID will be funded by innovative financing mechanisms such as a contribution on air tickets, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said today, and the Secretary-General congratulated the Governments of France, Brazil, Chile, Norway, and the United Kingdom
for leading the way in developing the initiative.

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Making connections on technologies, health and development

Just an FYI - the British Department for Int'l Dev'l'p runs an information center, ID21.org, that produces several newsletters on various aspects of Development. From their health newsletter, I saw this the other week:

Treating diseases of poverty: creating markets for advance drug purchasing

"While new drugs and vaccines are needed to treat diseases of poverty, not enough is being invested in developing these products because of the lack of a demand or market for them. Advance price or purchase commitments potentially offer a solution, yet a number of structure and design issues first need to be resolved..."

One such mechanism, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), will issue bonds in October to guarantee markets for future vaccines under a plan backed by Britain and seven other countries.