What was hoped to be key in President Thabo Mbeki changing the face of his government's stance on HIV/AIDS was a dismal disappointment. Though Mbeki acknowledged the fact that HIV/AIDS is a problem in South Africa, he still insisted that his government would not change its policy on administering antiretroviral drugs to reduce mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Mbeki's speech came a day after his predecessor Mandela had rebuked the Mbeki administration's HIV policy.
Equity in Health
South Africa: Mbeki's State of the Nation address barely touches the country's HIV/AIDS
South Africa: Virgin Myth Worries ANC Committee
An African National Congress-dominated (ANC-dominated) parliamentary committee has noted that 25% of young people believe child rape cures AIDS, and urgently called for anti-AIDS drugs to be used to prevent HIV infection by rape.
SWAZILAND: Focus on social impact of AIDS
"Panic breeding" is the inelegant term given to a response by some Swazis to an AIDS epidemic that is decimating the population of the small Southern Africa kingdom. The impulse to make-up for AIDS deaths by having more babies is exacerbating both the health crisis and the kingdom's ongoing problem with overpopulation.
Testimony to Senate on 'Halting the Global Spread of HIV/AIDS
Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director
The AIDS epidemic is different from any other epidemic the world has faced, and as such, requires a response from the global community that is broader and deeper than has ever before been mobilized against a disease. Twenty years since the world first became aware of AIDS three things have become clear: that humanity is facing the most devastating epidemic in human history, the impact of which threatens development and prosperity in major regions of the world; that for all the devastation it has already caused, the AIDS epidemic is still in its early stages; and that we are in a position to bring the epidemic under control.
Woman-focused HIV prevention product may be ready 2007
A woman-focused method to prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections can be available by 2007, according to a series of reports by the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Initia- tive on Microbicides. "We have the science and the road map, now we need the political will to fund this effort," said Geeta Rao Gupta, President of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), one of several groups participating in the Initiative.
Zambia: Budget And Aids
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.
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.