Protein energy malnutrition is the most deadly form of malnutrition. It is the primary or associated cause of around half of the nearly 11 million annual deaths among children under five, 30 000 each day. The reasons for this tragedy are quite clearly poverty, underdevelopment, and inequality, yet knowing this does not translate into finding correspondingly obvious or immediate solutions. The rest of this article is available at the British Medical Journal website.
Equity in Health
Antioxidants for children with kwashiorkor
BMJ 2005;330:1095-1096 (14 May)
ARV delays could derail national rollout plan in Malawi
A year after the Malawian government launched its HIV/AIDS treatment programme, the numbers of people awaiting treatment are stretching hospitals to their limits. In May 2004 the government began providing free antiretroviral (ARV) medication at public health facilities, hoping to reach 44,000 people living with the virus by June 2005.
SA holds key to 3x5 success, says Lancet
Lack of financial resources, staff, and commitment from key countries, including South Africa, may hamper the World Health Organisation's goal to provide life-long antiretroviral therapy to 3 million people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries by the end of 2005. An Editorial in this week's issue of the The Lancet states that though progress has been made with 720 000 people in developing countries receiving antiretroviral treatment and three times the target number of outlets providing anti-retrovirals, the financial resources allocated to 3 by 5 are below what are needed (US$ 163 million vs 174 million), and the number of WHO staff deployed to the initiative is well below what it should be (112 vs 400).
Unions to protest over alleged rights abuses in Botswana
The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) and the Public Service Workers Association (PWSA) are to embark on a series of demonstrations this weekend to press the government for labour legislation to protect workers from general victimisation, unfair dismissals and discrimination on the grounds of their HIV/AIDS status. According to the unions, the demonstrations will begin on Saturday and end on 4 June, when a petition will be handed over to President Festus Mogae.
World Development Report 2006 on Equity and Development
The World Development Report (WDR) 2006 explores the role of equity in development. Inequalities in incomes, in health and in educational outcomes have long been a stark fact of life in many developing countries. These are often accompanied by profound differences in influence, power and social status, whether at the level of individuals or groups. High inequalities matter for development and need to be addressed by domestic and international policies and institutions. The report will be published in September 2005 and a draft is now available.
World Health Assembly concludes: adopts key resolutions affecting global public health
The World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), wrapped-up its fifty-eighth session last month. More than 2200 people from WHO's 192 Member States, nongovernmental organizations and other observers attended the meeting which took place between 16-25 May. The Assembly reviewed progress made so far in polio eradication and identified what needs to be done to interrupt the final chains of wild-type poliovirus transmission worldwide by the end of this year. The Assembly also noted the progress made in scaling-up treatment and care within a coordinated and comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS and discussed smallpox vaccine reserves and research on the smallpox virus.
Better-funded, More Equitable Health Care Could Save Millions of Women and Children, Experts Say
The lives of 7 million women, newborns and children could be saved each year if health programmes were refocused to overcome inequality and scaled up to provide wider access to proven, cost-effective measures, experts agreed at a recent conference. Health officials, medical professionals, and advocates from around the world took part in "Lives in the Balance: The Partnership Meeting on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health".
Fighting malaria in Africa by linking with other disease initiatives
The global community is committed to cutting by half the number of deaths worldwide from malaria by 2010. In Africa, progress has been slow towards achieving the objectives set by the continent's leaders in April 2000 to help reach this goal. Programmes to reduce malaria could be far more effective if they are linked to existing initiatives to prevent other diseases.
Kenya promises promises expansion of free ARVs
Kenya's government has promised to make antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs freely available to its HIV-positive citizens, many of whom cannot afford the current subsidised medication. Of the 200,000 people in need of treatment in the country, only 35,000 are receiving the life-prolonging drugs. With more than 60 percent of the population living on a dollar a day, HIV-positive Kenyans can expect to pay about KShs500 (US $6.5) per month for ARVs.
Mozambique: Unions Concentrate On HIV/Aids for May Day
Mozambique's main trade union federation, the OTM, launched a week of activities leading up to International Workers Day, 1 May, under the theme "Mozambican workers in the fight against HIV/AIDS." The OTM general secretary, Joaquim Fanheiro, said at a Maputo press conference that this theme was chosen taking into account the realisation that workers should be in the forefront of this fight, because it is workers who fall ill and die of AIDS, it is their children who become orphans, and it is their families who suffer.