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.
Equity in Health
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
African Epidemics of Famine and HIV/AIDS Must Be Fought Together
Africa's twin epidemics of HIV/AIDS and famine must be fought together because they are intertwined, Alex de Waal, director of Justice Africa and an adviser to the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, writes in a New York Times op-ed. HIV/AIDS is crippling African nations' ability to resist famine because the disease is killing young people who make up the majority of farmers and other laborers, de Waal says. Meanwhile, famine and malnutrition destroy health, making people more susceptible to disease, more likely to quickly progress from HIV to AIDS and less likely to respond well to existing treatments, de Waal states, adding that the epidemics have disrupted social structures and made it more difficult for affected populations to recover.
AIDS Leading Cause of Death in South African Women
AIDS-related illnesses are now the leading cause of death among South African women ages 15 to 39, accounting for nearly 10% of deaths among South African women, according to new figures released by Statistics South Africa, SABCNews.com reports. In addition, the proportion of South African deaths due to AIDS-related causes almost doubled from 4.6% in 1997 to 8.7% in 2001.