This briefing explores the logic of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan conditions to developing countries and why the IMF insists that keeping inflation low is more important than increasing public spending to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. In 2003, funding levels for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment are estimated to have reached almost $5 billion; meanwhile financing needs will rise to $12 billion in 2005 and $20 billion by 2007. But if these large increases in foreign aid become available, will lowincome countries be able to accept them? Despite the fact that the global community stands ready to significantly scale-up levels of foreign aid to help poorer countries finance greater public spending to fight HIV/AIDS, many countries may be deterred from doing so due to either direct or indirect pressure from the IMF.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
This report, commissioned by the South African National Department of Health, aims to inform a co-ordinated response to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa. Divided into two parts, the first details findings from research conducted across five South African provinces and the second offers a set of recommendations. One of the study's objectives was to develop an understanding of the health and social needs of orphans and children at risk, with specific emphasis on access to health, social development and education.
Women and children must be prioritised for treatment for HIV/AIDS, appropriate treatment for children must be developed and healthcare infrastructure must be developed as a matter of urgency. This is according to a report from the Save the Children Fund that aims to examine the implications of expanded access to HIV/AIDS treatment, as exemplified by the 3 by 5 initiative, for prevention of HIV in children and young people, and expanding support and care for orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
All people with HIV/AIDS should have equal opportunity to access effective and appropriate treatment. However, in the context of existing social and health inequities, widespread poverty, high rates of new HIV infections, famine and budgetary constraints, increasing access to HIV care and treatment must be organised in a manner that balances HIV prevention and treatment efforts; HIV interventions and the broader strengthening of the health system as a whole; and HIV care and treatment with other public health and social needs.
The emergence of drug resistance in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) may limit the clinical benefits of antiretroviral therapy. There is no objective evidence that the risk of drug resistance is greater in resource-limited settings than in the developed world. Treatment programmes will be most successful at preventing the spread of drug resistance if they provide healthcare infrastructures to maximize the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy through the use of potent and convenient combination regimens that achieve durable suppression of HIV-1 replication.
This UNAIDS report, from the Secretary-General’s Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, presents empirical data on the scale and character of the pandemic in nine countries in Southern Africa with the highest HIV prevalence rates. As the majority of young people aged 15-24 living with AIDS in these countries are women, the report calls for an end to gender inequality, which is key to the spread of HIV among women.
A Zambian government initiative to begin the local manufacture of cheap generic antiretroviral (ARV) drugs has been welcomed by AIDS activists. "We have been lobbying for affordable drugs for 10 years. This is a dream come true," said coordinator of the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS (NZP+), Clement Mfuzi. "As NZP+, our hope has not only been accessibility, but also affordable drugs. We also hope the supply will be sustainable, because once you take these drugs, it is for life."
This report from the South African Budget Information Service (IDASA) analyses budget allocations and funding flows from the national fiscus for HIV/AIDS interventions. It investigates the best way to deliver funds to the provinces of South Africa to tackle HIV/AIDS. Analysis of official budget documents and interviews with national and provincial social service and treasury officials reveals that provinces are generally improving their spending on the HIV/AIDS conditional grants and beginning to allocate significant funds from provincial budgets to tackling HIV/AIDS.
People living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania will soon have access to free antiretroviral drugs under the government's four-year treatment programme. More than US $1.8 million was recently released by the Treasury Department for the Ministry of Health to purchase anti-AIDS drugs, a local newspaper, The Guardian, reported.
This paper is intended both for managers and technical staff working either in food security and livelihoods or in HIV/AIDS and reproductive health who require an introduction to the linkages between the two areas, and as a guide to the many issues that need to be considered when carrying out assessments (or reviewing others’ assessments) and when planning interventions. The focus is specifically on economic impacts of AIDS, and does not address important emotional, psychological and social impacts.