South Africa's Health Ministry spokesman Sibani Mngadi dismissed harsh criticism of its AIDS policy by a top UN official "with contempt" and said he was no Messiah for Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis. UN special envoy on AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis closed a global conference with probably the most blistering attack ever on South Africa's "lunatic fringe" approach to AIDS, calling it immoral and ineffective.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
SA dismisses harsh AIDS policy criticism
Quinn A: The Zimbabwe Standard, August 2006
SADC study urges new 'DRC' model to fight HIV
Plusnews, 14 August 2006
In the fight against HIV/AIDS, think 'DRC' and not 'ABC', a new Southern African Development Community (SADC) report says. The report said the old model of controlling the lethal virus through a programme of ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful and Condom use) should be replaced by 'DRC' - Delaying sex, Reducing partners and continued Condom use.
Single-dose nevirapine not jeopardising mother's treatment, large Zambian study reports
Marco M: AIDSmap, 17 August 2006
Single-dose nevirapine used for prevention of mother-to-child transmission does not appear to be jeopardising the future treatment responses of mothers who take it, researchers from Zambia reported this week at the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada. Their study is the largest investigation to date of the effects of single-dose nevirapine on subsequent maternal treatment response.
Swaziland: AIDS activists say sexual offences bill criminalises victims
Plusnews, 3 August 2006
Groups representing Swaziland's HIV-positive population are angry at a proposed Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act mandating life prison terms for rapists who infect their victims with HIV, claiming that the law will criminalise the victim. "Negative and positive persons must be accorded equal rights. But what are we criminalising here? Sleeping with someone without his or her consent, in other words rape, or HIV?" said Thembi Nkambule, National coordinator of the Swaziland National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (SWANNEPHA).
Toronto AIDS conference focuses on prevention
Plusnews, 22 August 2006
At the close of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada, the pervading mood was one of guarded optimism. The conference theme, 'Time To Deliver', set the tone for a week of reflection on lessons learned from the past 25 years of the AIDS epidemic. UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis used it as a rallying call in his closing speech to define the needs of the next 25 years, with a special focus on prevention.
When putting AIDS in the crosshairs, set targets
Palitza K: Inter Press Service News Agency, 25 July 2006
Civil society organisations in South Africa are preparing to push government to meet its commitment for setting national targets on HIV/AIDS, made at the recent United Nations General Assembly Special Sessions on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS). South African officials at UNGASS promised to set national HIV/AIDS targets by the end of the year (2006), however, a pledge that civil society organisations now want to ensure they keep; claiming government's current approach to HIV/AIDS is not delivering the goods.
XVI International AIDS Conference: Time to deliver on human rights and HIV/AIDS
Amnesty International Canada, 18 August 2006
As the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto came to an end, Amnesty International issued an urgent call to governments and to the international community to place human rights at the centre of responses to HIV/AIDS.
Annan praises pharmaceutical companies for extending HIV commitments
UN News Centre, 24 July 2006
Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies for their commitments to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention after meeting with their top executives at United Nations Headquarters on Monday 24 July 2006. He said that the companies have committed individually to continue to review their product offerings and the prices of their existing and new HIV medications and diagnostics, especially for children, to make them more affordable, accessible and appropriate for use in low- and middle-income countries.
HIV/AIDS and the women left behind
Erdman J, Kelly L: Toronto Star, 19 July 2006
At present, no UN agency is dedicated exclusively to women's human rights and development needs. A set of under-resourced entities are expected to address the concerns of half the world's population. Nearing the end of his term, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis proposed the creation of an independent multilateral agency with the stature and resources necessary to meaningfully improve the lives of women. It is argued that the UN's failure to dedicate the necessary resources to ensure women's systemic equality indicates more than neglect or indifference. It sends a powerful message that women are not worthy of expenditure. It implies that women's lives are not as valuable as the lives of others.
No bright future: Government failures, human rights Abuses and Squandered Progress in the fight against AIDS in Zimbabwe
Human Rights Watch, July 2006
Zimbabwe has been widely hailed as a success story in the fight against AIDS since reporting in October 2005 a decline in HIV prevalence among adults from 25% in 2001 to 20% in 2004. In the face of the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on the country, a declining economy, growing international isolation, decreased funding from international donors for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and a disintegrating public health sector, Zimbabwe’s achievement was indeed significant. Despite the positive news, however, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe remains a serious crisis with some three hundred and fifty thousand of the 1.6 million people carrying the virus in immediate need of life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and another six hundred thousand in need of care and support. The paper argues that the progress gained so far could be undermined by policies and practices that violate the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and those most at risk of infection.