The long-awaited rollout of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs through public health systems is at last becoming a reality in a growing number of African countries. But the initial excitement greeting the announcement of each new AIDS treatment programme is often tempered by a closer examination of the figures, and the realisation that only a fraction of those in need will initially be able to access therapy.
Equity in Health
Global TB effort doomed without new drugs and tests
The international humanitarian medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said that the battle against tuberculosis (TB) is being lost because of reliance on archaic diagnostic tests and drugs. "The HIV/AIDS pandemic has magnified this problem as TB often coincides with, and is made harder to treat by, HIV/AIDS. MSF calls for an urgent increase in worldwide investment in TB research and development," the organisation said.
South Africa Makes AIDS Drugs Available Ahead of Polls
The world's biggest AIDS treatment plan gets a boost this week as five pilot hospitals in South Africa's richest province roll out life-saving anti-retroviral medication. Officials say the April 01 launch in Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg, shows the government fulfilling a pledge to make ARVs available in South Africa - the country most battered by HIV/AIDS with some 5.3 million of its 45 million people infected.
US firms try to block cheap Aids drugs
The US, under pressure from its giant pharmaceutical companies, is trying to undermine the use in poor countries of cheap, copycat Aids drugs, made by "pirate", generic companies but validated by the World Health Organisation, campaigners claim. US drug companies want the money promised for President George Bush's Aids plan to be spent on their products.
Bush's Aids plan slammed by activists
The Bush Administration's Global AIDS strategy is based on selective and misleading use of science, evidence and rhetoric in support of an ideological approach to AIDS prevention and treatment that fails to address the needs of women and girls, who now represent the majority of those infected with HIV worldwide, asserts the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), a U.S.-based organisation focused on the effects of U.S. international policies on women's rights and health worldwide. "This plan is all smoke and mirrors when it comes to responding to the spread of HIV among women and girls," asserted Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director of CHANGE. "On one hand, the strategy correctly cites critical factors, such as violence and sexual coercion, that put women and girls at high risk of infection," notes Jacobson. "Yet the plan fails to offer any concrete strategies for addressing these concerns." This posting also includes information from the latest issue of the Africa Focus Bulletin on the Aids plan, which was released in late February.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30266
Healthcare for SA poor comes first, says HST
Improvements in secondary and tertiary hospital capacity should not come at the expense of basic care for the poor, the Health Systems Trust (HST) says. The Durban based NGO was responding to a speech by Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, in which she said R2 billion would be spent on upgrading and revitalising hospital facilities next year, including the building of 18 new facilities. The minister also said inequities in the funding allocated to primary healthcare in different provinces would have to be addressed, with some provinces allocating R50 per person each year, and others R300. But Antoinette Ntuli, HST information dissemination and equity director, urged her to ensure resources and initiatives are "fast-tracked in poor, rural areas".
SA doctors certificates will stay, says health minister
The proposed Certificate of Need (CoN) for doctors, which they claim intrudes on their right to freedom of movement, will remain. This was the word from Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang in a February media briefing. "The government will move on the CoN framework to achieve our goals in terms of the constitution," the minister said. "The CoN will remain. It is intended to transform the healthcare sector in South Africa."
TAC and Aids Law Project hold health transformation seminar
On the 10th of February, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the AIDS Law project held a joint seminar on transformation of the South African Health System, including both the public and private sectors. This is part of preparations for a conference to be held in May with the aim of developing detailed policy positions for TAC's Campaign for a People's Health Service. Presentations made at the workshop can be found on the TAC website.
To march or not to march: Protest sparks debate over health legislation
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) organised a protest march by doctors to the opening of parliament on 6 February. Amongst other grievances, the march was over controversial new legislation that includes a proposed Certificate of Need (CON) that would impact on where doctors are able to practice. SAMA said in the build up to the march that the CON would intrude "on doctors’ right to human dignity; freedom of movement and residence; freedom of trade, occupation and profession; and property rights". This sparked a debate when the Peoples' Health Movement came out in support of the CON, saying it represented an attempt to address the greatest inequity in S.A.'s health system, namely the widening gap between the public and private health sectors. Read the PHM press statement and a report from the SAMA website about the march by clicking on the link below.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30308
UN criticises developed countries for reneging on promises on sexual health
The developed world is breaking its pledges to fund sexual and reproductive health care in the developing world, says a new report published by the Alan Guttmacher Institute and the United Nations Population Fund. "It is time for developed countries to live up to the pledges they made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). In 2000, these countries provided $2.6 billion (£1.4; €2.1bn) for sexual and reproductive health services in developing countries - less than half of what they had pledged at ICPD for that year," the report states.