Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has urged people living with HIV/AIDS to make use of anti-AIDS drugs, which are freely available at healthcare sites throughout the country. Mwanawasa was quoted by a local newspaper, The Times of Zambia, as saying: "The answer does not lie in sitting back with your disease but in presenting your case to authorities ... so that you can get treatment." He noted that antiretroviral treatment would improve their health.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
Zima Resolves to Lobby HIV/Aids Global Fund
Doctors have resolved to lobby the Global Fund to give Zimbabwe funds for use in HIV/Aids initiatives. At the Zimbabwe Medical Association congress, which took place in Victoria Falls from August 19 to 22 under the theme "New Horizons in the Health Sector", the doctors said it was grossly irresponsible and a violation of human rights for Zimbabwe to be denied money from the fund. Zima secretary-general Dr Paul Chimedza said doctors suspected that the reason the country was denied the money was political.
Aids conference: 'Virus' of free trade fatal for those with HIV/AIDS
The rapidly spreading virus of free trade has proved as fatal to those living with HIV/AIDS as the disease itself according to Health NOW!, a global alliance of activist groups fighting the patenting of life-saving medicine by drug multinationals. Speaking at the XV international AIDS conference in Bangkok a Health NOW! spokesperson argued that millions of lives could be saved if developing world nations were not forced to sign unfair trade agreements by developed countries. Multilateral as well as bilateral free trade pacts he said were devastating the lives of the poor, contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and compounding the devastation caused by the pandemic.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30520
Aids Conference: 3 by 5 goals can be met, says report
Although the objective of the World Health Organization's 3 by 5 Initiative - treating three million people with antiretroviral drugs by 2005 - is behind schedule, it is still possible, according to the first progress report for the initiative. The report - released in advance of the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand - estimates that 440,000 people currently are receiving treatment under the program.
Aids conference: Access for all includes access by civil society to global bodies
In an unprecedented gesture, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan invited 11 HIV/AIDS activists from diverse civil society organizations for a frank dialogue about the UN and international response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, facilitated the meeting. The 11 civil society organizations reached quick consensus on four key issues that need to be addressed immediately, by the Secretary General and UN bodies, in order to enhance and sustain comprehensive response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30528
Aids conference: Bangkok - What did we learn?
The 15th international AIDS conference has come and gone, but what will we have hoped to achieve when the world meets again in Toronto in two years time? Unlike the international AIDS conference in Vancouver 1996 when Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) broke new scientific ground and Durban 2000 when equal access to medicines made centre-stage, Bangkok 2004 presented no revolutionary science, no dramatic breakthroughs. But it did get back to basics and the need for an holistic approach. There is no single strategy to address HIV/AIDS. It requires prevention and treatment, activist pressure and government commitment, advanced scientific research and community involvement, and above all, a human rights-based approach designed to support vulnerable individuals and groups.
Aids conference: Controversy over Nevirapine at Aids conference
Conference delegates at the recent International Aids Conference in Thailand witnessed top South African government officials facing off with leading civil society activists over the use of the antiretroviral drug Nevirapine for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The session eventually brought about a better understanding of this issue. The controversy followed a comment made by South African Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, at the opening of the South African stand at the Conference on Sunday. The Minister said that recent studies did not support the use of single-dose Nevirapine for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).
>>> Visit the website of the Health and Development Network (http://www.hdnet.org/home2.htm) and read The Correspondent, a daily newspaper produced at the International AIDS conference, for detailed news.
>>> Kaisernetwork.org conference page:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2004/kffsyndication.asp?show=portal.html
>>> XV International AIDS Conference
http://www.ias.se/aids2004/
>>> WHO site
http://www.who.int/3by5/bangkok/en/
Aids conference: Scaling up access to care in resource constrained settings: What is needed?
Address by Jim Yong Kim, Director, Department of HIV/AIDS, WHO, XV International AIDS Conference, Bangkok Plenary Address, 13 July 2004
"As we have learned from this epidemic, silence cannot be an option. "3 by 5" is our best chance to use time creatively and effectively to fight this epidemic. Those of us with power and responsibility are called to do everything possible over the next 18 months to make a difference, to finally dance with this epidemic at its own pace. For the activists, you must hold all of our collective feet to the hottest possible fire because large organizations and the powerful have a way of finding reasons to not take action. If you don’t continue to push us, we will falter. Bold and ambitious goals for AIDS prevention and care - and action to match – are our only options. Anything less is to miss the warning of Martin Luther King and to be guilty of an appalling and deadly silence."
* Interview with Jim Yong Kim
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/6/en/feature.pdf
Aids conference: US aids plan at odds with treatment for all
As 15,000 scientists, policy-makers, advocates and People Living with HIV/AIDS gathered in Bangkok for the 15th International AIDS Conference, a rising chorus of critics were challenging the strategy of President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Randall Tobias, US Global AIDS Coordinator, and other US officials in Bangkok faced daily protests in Bangkok on issues ranging from the purchase of generic drugs through the President’s AIDS Plan to its highly controversial focus on abstinence-based prevention programs. "The international community has come to Bangkok under the banner of ‘Access for All’, but all too often the Administration’s AIDS plan is undermining this critical goal," said Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30523
Declaration on treatment access for HIV/AIDS
"We, economists, public health experts and policy makers involved in the fight against AIDS are committed to scaling up access to health care including ARVs for HIV positive people. We consider it a rational economic decision and an absolute priority. The goal set by WHO is to have 3 million people on treatment by the end of 2005. What it will cost, who will do it and how it will be done is still being debated and we have much to learn. There are, of course, major concerns around the scaling up of access to treatment; how can these programs improve the uptake? How can they reach the most vulnerable and poor populations? How can they achieve a high level of adherence to ARV treatments in order to avoid the spread of resistance? This declaration sets out a principle we all should subscribe to and apply: the principle of a comprehensive minimum package of treatment provided for free to all the people living with HIV / AIDS."
Further details: /newsletter/id/30550