Half of Africa's population, mostly the poor and disadvantaged, do not have access to existing essential medicines and many more are denied new medicines for treating common diseases like malaria and HIV, says a report released last Monday. "Only 50 000 of the 4.5-million people who need antiretroviral therapy have access to treatment despite significant reductions in cost," states the annual report for 2002 of the regional director of the World Health Organisation.
Equity in Health
HEALTH GAINS AT WHO REGIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING
A five-day regional health meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, last month saw African health ministers pledging to give greater attention to women's health and scale up their HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) programmes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) regional committee session urged governments to develop "appropriate policies and legislation to create a supportive environment for scaling up interventions" for the three epidemics, a WHO statement said.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30013
Only 23% of Global Fund allocations distributed
At a roundtable hosted by the UNDP at the 13th ICASA, Nairobi, Kenya, it was reported that of the US$50 million allocated to 53 countries in the first Round by the Global Fund for Aids, TB and Malaria, only 23% has been distributed. Jerry van Nortick from the Fund reported that the money was being distributed based on results and progress in individual countries.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30002
TB and HIV programmes prepared to merge at long last
HIV-associated illnesses are creating a six percent annual increase in the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases across sub-Saharan Africa. According to new joint programme planners, the TB/HIV co-epidemics will only be effectively addressed by integrated interventions for early detection and treatment of both diseases. A new policy document just released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) provides national governments and TB/HIV programme managers with immediate and crucial guidance on how this can be achieved under particular circumstances.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30006
U.S. ABORTION POLICY CLOSES AFRICAN CLINICS, SAYS STUDY
U.S. President George W. Bush's anti-abortion policy has forced family planning clinics in poor countries to close, leaving some communities without any healthcare, according to a report issued Wednesday. Under the policy, known as the Mexico City rule by supporters and the Global Gag rule by opponents, foreign family planning agencies cannot receive U.S. funds if they provide abortion services or lobby to make or keep abortion legal in their own country.
Related Link: Access Denied: The Global Gag Rule- http://64.224.182.238/globalgagrule/impacts.htm
UNAIDS Launches Progress Report
The UN Secretary General and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has released a report, which clearly states that the current pace of country activity on HIV/AIDS is insufficient to meet the 2005 goals agreed by all nations at the Special session on HIV/AIDS in 2001. The report was released at the international conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases that took place in Nairobi Kenya.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29991
UNAIDS releases global HIV/AIDS performance scorecard
A new UNAIDS global HIV/AIDS performance scorecard released at the ICASA conference in Nairobi, Kenya, has revealed that although most African countries have developed strategic frameworks for HIV prevention, only a fraction of people at risk still have meaningful access to basic prevention services. Unless efforts are dramatically scaled up, many African and other member-states of the United Nations will be unable to meet their basic HIV/AIDS prevention and care goals as stated in the declaration adopted at the 2001 meeting of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS).
Further details: /newsletter/id/30005
AFRICA: Activists sceptical over global drug agreement
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".
Further details: /newsletter/id/29962
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.