After two years of wrangling and delays, World Trade Organisation (WTO) members last week finally agreed on a deal that eases access to generic drugs for developing countries. It will enable poorer countries to import generic versions of patented medicines from countries producing the cheaper drugs, such as India or Brazil, without violating patent rules. Yet AIDS activists have called the agreement "flawed", as it still does not provide a "workable solution".
Equity in Health
African AIDS programme threatened
The U.S. government has cut off funds to an AIDS programme for refugees in Africa - six weeks after President George Bush toured the continent promising to fight AIDS and launching a US$15 billion initiative. The U.S. objects to one of the aid agencies involved, Marie Stopes International, which runs family planning programmes in China. Organisations that work on reproductive health and AIDS argue that the decision betrays the Bush administration's wider hostility to abortion. Its commitment to a rightwing Christian agenda has led to its promotion of abstinence rather than condoms as a strategy against HIV/AIDS.
AIDS, AFRICA AND SELECTIVE VISION
In a July 11th article, the British weekly The Economist recounts the latest grim statistics on AIDS, noting emphatically that the 9,000 people who die each day from AIDS represents three times the number killed in the World Trade Centre attacks. "If all men are created equal, all avoidable deaths should be regarded as equally sad," says the editorial, adding that "common decency suggests that the rich world should do whatever it can to help." The editorial concludes ominously: "Cynics in the West might write Africa off. Are China, India, Indonesia and Russia to be written off as well?" Translation? Africans are poor and black. Thus we (the Economist) realize, dear reader, your greed for profits is not whetted by viewing them as consumers. Nor is your compassion stirred sufficiently by viewing them as fellow human beings. However, be mindful that the fire that has scorched that continent is spreading and is now threatening places populated by people who are prosperous enough - barely, but still above the threshold - to count as potential consumers and pale enough -barely, but still above the threshold - to awaken your caring. Read this commentary from www.zmag.org.
BATTLE AGAINST MALARIA IS STILL A NIGHTMARE, EXPERTS SAY
Conflicts, civil unrest, emergence of drug-resistant strains of parasites and insecticide-resistant vectors, mass population movements worsened by the refugee situation, and disintegration of health services, is exacerbating the malaria situation in sub-Saharan Africa. A one week workshop held in Nairobi between July 30 and August 4, bringing together regional heads of malaria control in sub-Saharan Africa, concluded that malaria is still "an unfinished agenda in sub-Saharan African countries, and needs more attention than it has so far received".
Child survival strongly linked to maternal survival in Uganda
Child mortality goals are unlikely to be met in societies which fail to pay attention to the survival of HIV-positive mothers, according to findings from the Uganda General Population cohort published this month in AIDS. The authors note that "the very high mortality of mothers who die within a few years of giving birth suggests that simply reducing vertical transmission might not proportionately reduce the mortality risks in children of infected mothers."
Further details: /newsletter/id/29931
Chronology of south african HIV/AIDS treatment access debate
The South African cabinet finally approved the provision of AIDS drugs to HIV-positive citizens through the public health system on 8 August. It instructed the health ministry to act "with urgency". This announcement came after months of a bitter row between South Africa's AIDS activists and the department of health, over the delay in implementing a treatment policy. The following is a chronology of events in the treatment access debate, from December 2001 through to the government's decision this month to introduce a treatment plan.
Chronology of south african HIV/AIDS treatment access debate
The South African cabinet finally approved the provision of AIDS drugs to HIV-positive citizens through the public health system on 8 August. It instructed the health ministry to act "with urgency". This announcement came after months of a bitter row between South Africa's AIDS activists and the department of health, over the delay in implementing a treatment policy. The following is a chronology of events in the treatment access debate, from December 2001 through to the government's decision this month to introduce a treatment plan.
Demand for ARVs gives rise to grey market in Malawi
The illegal sale of anti-AIDS drugs in Malawi was endangering the lives of many HIV-positive citizens who were desperate to access affordable treatment, a health official told PlusNews. "Our major concern is that people are selling immune boosters and multivitamins, and cheating [HIV] positive people by saying they are antiretrovirals (ARVs)," Dr Bizwick Mwale, director of Malawi's national AIDS commission, told PlusNews.
DEVELOP AN ARV PLAN FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN ONE MONTH - CABINET INSTRUCTION WELCOMED BY THE TREATMENT ACTION CAMPAIGN
TAC statement on south african cabinet ARV decision
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) welcomes the Cabinet's instruction to the Department of Health to develop an operational plan within one month to provide ARVs in the public sector. The Cabinet endorsed the findings of the Joint Health and Treasury Task Team Report that between 500,000 and 1.7 million lives will be saved with anti-retroviral therapy. It also reaffirmed the science of HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and treatment. The TAC National Executive will formally suspend the civil disobedience campaign and reconsider pending litigation early next week. We welcome Cabinet's bold step today but we also remember the anguish, pain and unnecessary loss of lives over the last four years.
Related Link:
* Full report of the South African ARV task force
http://www.gov.za/reports/2003/ttr010803.pdf
Further details: /newsletter/id/29932
Hospitals in Africa are getting worse, says WHO
Shortages of essential medicines and medical equipment, a staffing crisis and inadequate infrastructure are undermining the quality of hospital care across sub-Saharan Africa. This could jeopardise plans to provide anti-AIDS drugs to people living with the HI virus, delegates attending the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional committee meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, heard this week.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29968