Millions of people are on the brink of starvation in southern Africa, warns the United Nations this week, partly because attempts to limit the spread of HIV have failed. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has left millions of agricultural workers dead, land unfarmed, and families with no money to buy food, it says, and unless concerted action is taken now to stem the spread of AIDS many other regions could face similar crises in the future. According to a report by UNAIDS (the joint UN programme on HIV and AIDS) and the World Health Organisation, nearly one in five adults in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe has HIV or AIDS, and 14 million people in the region are threatened by famine.
Equity in Health
Failure to tackle AIDS puts millions at risk of starvation
GLOBAL COALITION AIMS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO HIV/AIDS TREATMENT
A new international coalition - the International HIV Treatment Access Coalition (ITAC) - has been launched to boost efforts to provide access to antiretroviral drugs to the growing number of people with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries who need them. According to WHO/UNAIDS estimates presented in a report launched by the Coalition, millions of people living with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries face death within the coming years unless they can access these life-saving medicines.
Joint effort can turn pandemic around - Lewis
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa could be turned around, despite the devastating toll on human lives, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, says. Lewis noted that defeating the disease would require a combination of political will and resources. "The political will is increasingly there; the money is not," he said. A key element that had emerged from his visit to Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia was the important role of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund was seen as the best way of financing the struggle against the pandemic, but it would soon face its "moment of truth", as a result of inadequate funding, Lewis warned.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29508
SOUTH AFRICA: STATE SOFTENS STANCE ON AIDS DRUGS
The government's stance on the use of anti-retroviral drugs is increasingly softening, with Deputy President Jacob Zuma saying their use could improve the condition of people living with AIDS. This represents a major shift in the government's position, which had been that anti-retroviral drugs were toxic.
SPOTTING THE DIFFERENCE: THE FIGHT AGAINST MEASLES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
The measles vaccine is safe and highly effective, so why is this disease still the leading cause of death among African children? The governments of seven countries in southern Africa have implemented targeted measles elimination campaigns over the past five years with help from the World Health Organisation (WHO). How successful have they been?
wfp Director Calls for Increased Funds To Fight AIDS, Famine in Africa
African nations need a "massive infusion of funds" to save 38 million people from starvation, World Food Programme Director James Morris told a public meeting of the United Nations Security Council last month, adding that food aid was "crucial" in the fight against AIDS, Agence France-Presse reports.
who may intervene over drugs debacle
The European Union has proposed that the World Health Organisation serve as an objective third party in an attempt to stop the "impasse" in negotiations among 144 World Trade Organisation members about how to improve developing nations' access to drugs used to fight public health crises, including HIV/AIDS, the AP/Nando Times reports. The United States' position that only certain types of diseases should be covered under the deal "blocked" ambassadors from meeting a self-imposed deadline of Dec. 31, 2002, according to the AP/Nando Times. The negotiations focus on how to allow developing nations to import generic versions of patented drugs to fight diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
WORLD fails to grasp impact of Hiv/Aids, feachem says
The world "has still not grasped" the full "devastation" and threat of HIV/AIDS, which has killed 24 million people worldwide and is "still nowhere near its peak," Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said in December.
AFRICA: AIDS - WORST YET TO COME, BUT POSITIVE SIGNS EMERGING
For many African countries the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still to come, according to a new UN report. "In the absence of massively expanded prevention, treatment and care efforts, the AIDS death toll on the continent is expected to continue rising before peaking around the end of this decade," the UNAIDS/World Health Organisation AIDS Epidemic Update 2002 said.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29480