HIV/AIDS will and must surely be on the mind of the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning as he prepares the budget for fiscal year 2002. Emmanuel Kasonde is the immediate past Chairman of the National HIV/AIDS/STD/TB Council. As past chairman of the National HIV/AIDS Council he must have agonized and formed some ideas on how Zambia must respond to this devastating socioeconomic imperative.
Equity in Health
World Health Organization Grants 'Official Relations' to Corporate Watchdog
In an important step by the World Health Organization (WHO), the international health body is granting official WHO relations status to Infact, the US-based corporate accountability organization. In approving the admission of Infact and INGCAT (the International Non Governmental Coalition Against Tobacco), the WHO's governing board noted both organizations' advocacy work in support of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). With a 25 year history of challenging life-threatening abuses of giant corporations, Infact will bring its corporate accountability expertise into its formalized relationship with WHO.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29007
Asbestos: Cape may die and not pay
As if asbestos was not enough, 72-year old Gideon Mkhonto may soon find himself worrying about the financial health of the company that made him sick. Mkhonto is one of 7500 South African asbestos victims anxiously waiting for hard-won compensation from London-listed Cape Plc, which used to mine asbestos in Northern Province and Northern Cape. His problem is that Cape the company might not survive long enough to pay him the R55000 he is expecting.
HIV Resistance: Data and Spin
On December 18 the first report was presented from a new study of the prevalence of drug-resistant HIV in U.S. patients in early 1999.1 This study found that somewhere between 50 and 78 percent of these patients (depending on how you count patients whose viral resistance could not be measured) had some degree of reduced susceptibility to at least one antiretroviral. White, gay, middle class, insured patients had the most resistance, on the average, while those with less access to care had less. The national press eagerly picked up that story; and when we got home from the ICAAC conference in Chicago where the preliminary report was presented, we found that people all over the country had heard it -- and little else from the conference. A closer look shows that while the study results are valid (though not as surprising as they might appear), the central messages that carried the press story appear to be misinterpretations -- ones that could have future consequences for society's political will to deal with the HIV epidemic, both in the U.S. and abroad.
KwaZulu-Natal: Cases of cholera on the rise
The provincial health department has appealed to communities to take particular care against contracting cholera as another 260 new cases of the disease were reported. KwaZulu-Natal has battled a cholera outbreak since August 2000, with 108687 confirmed cases reported and 235 deaths related to the disease recorded.
Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development
Report from the chair of the Commission, Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, to Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
A drastic scaling up of investments in health for the world’s poor will not only save millions of lives but also produce enormous economic gains, say experts in a landmark Report presented to the World Health Organization (WHO). A group of leading economists and health experts maintain that, by 2015–2020, increased health investments of $66 billion per year above current spending will generate at least $360 billion annually. About half of this will be as a result of direct economic benefits: the world’s poorest people will live longer, have many more days of good health and, as a result, will be able to earn more. The other half will be as a consequence of the indirect economic benefits from this greater individual productivity.
Further details: /newsletter/id/28989
South Africa: Experts advocate midlevel health care providers' role in abortion care
At a recent landmark conference in South Africa, 50 prominent health care providers, public health researchers, policymakers and representatives of technical agencies from around the world issued a call to action in support of advancing the role of midlevel health care providers in menstrual regulation and safe abortion care.
Further details: /newsletter/id/28990
South Africa: Mtshali Unwilling to Back Down On Nevirapine Issue
KwaZulu-Natal premier Lionel Mtshali on Thursday remained resolute that the anti-retoriviral drug Nevirapine would be made available to HIV-positive pregnant mothers in the province's state hospitals.
The Commission on Macroeconomics and health
The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health is a collaborative effort led by eighteen of the world’s leading economists and policymakers from academia, governments, and international agencies to assess the place of health in global economic development and offer a new strategy for investing in health for economic development, especially in the world’s poorest countries. The Commission is a crucial part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) strategy to meet the challenge of assembling and analyzing the evidence linking health status and poverty reduction. In this regard the Commission is a source of advice and analysis for WHO and the broader development community on the relationship between health, economics, and poverty reduction and will communicate its findings to policy makers in national governments and in development agencies. This document provides an overview of the CMH purpose, composition, and activities during the period January 2000 to October 2001.
Zambia: HIV/Aids Hampers Poverty Reduction
POVERTY cannot be reduced in the current environment where HIV/AIDS prevalence is high, a Ministry of Finance report to the World Bank has stated.