President Museveni of Uganda is one of the twelve winners of the Commonwealth Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS. His award was announced by Dr Neal Blewett, the former Australian Minister for Health, at an awards ceremony held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre in Australia on 4 October.
Equity in Health
The recommendation for the composition of the vaccine for the 2002 Southern Hemisphere influenza season has been decided and communicated to vaccine manufacturers by the World Health Organization (WHO), following agreement by international experts at a WHO meeting held in Cannes, France.
The Transitional Working Group (TWG) to establish a new Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, convened for the first time on Thursday and Friday (10/11-12) in Brussels. The TWG agreed on the name of the Fund, conceived as a financial entity for leveraging resources to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria for countries and groups in the greatest need. The Fund will support programs for strengthening health systems and country-level partnerships involving governments, the private sector, and civil society. In addition, the Fund will support the purchase of critical health products, such as bed-nets, condoms, antiretroviral drugs, anti-TB and anti-malarial drugs, on the basis of an independent review of local realities.
The head of the African National Congress's religious desk, Cedric Mayson, has attacked other South African church leaders for using the HIV/Aids epidemic to make "political attacks" on President Thabo Mbeki, describing them as "a disgusting ploy".
On the 4th October 2001, more than 30 participants gathered at the Healthlink Worldwide offices in London to discuss and debate plans to establish a ‘Global Health Fund’. The event was jointly organised by the Health and Development Forum and British Overseas NGOs in Development [BOND]. Participants came from a wide range of organisations including British and international NGOs, academic institutions, the World Health Organisation and concerned individuals. The intention of the meeting was to update participants on developments concerning the establishment of the Fund, share views on this and identify key views and issues which could be fed into the consultation process.
A disputed new report on mortality rates in South Africa, released on Tuesday, said Aids was the biggest killer in the country, and predicted that it would account for the death of between 5 and 7 million people by 2010.
The review of provincial and local government finances released this week by South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, revealed the impact of HIV/AIDS on service delivery, budget forecasts and personnel planning throughout government, saying the affects of the pandemic were becoming visible.
Professor Sam Mhlongo, a member of the Presidential Aids Advisory Council, has said the The Medical Research Council (MRC) report on HIV/Aids and adult mortality in South Africa, is "unacceptable" because it does not define what Aids is. Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala Msimang said the report was a "work in progress".
The war on Aids takes a new turn with local filmmakers involving themselves in the largest HIV-awareness television series to date, writes Jann Turner.
Teenaged girls in Swaziland reacted with anger at the five-year ban on their sex lives this week, complaining that their boyfriends "won't wait". The ban was introduced two weeks ago as a measure to curb spread of HIV/AIDS in the kingdom.
