Recent political events such as the Make Poverty History campaign, the Live8 concerts, the G8 summit in Scotland, the World Trade talks in Hong Kong, and the broader background of "globalisation" have turned attention towards the global picture concerning inequalities in health. In this article we ask two questions: what is the state of inequality in health and wealth across the globe? and, is inequality increasing or decreasing over time?
Equity and HIV/AIDS
Global inequality of life expectancy due to AIDS
Dorling D, Shaw M, Smith GD: British Medical Journal, March 2006, 332:662-664
HIV prevalence rate in corporate South Africa has increased to 19.4%, study says
Kaisernetwork 15 September 2005
An Old Mututal Survey of 100 South African companies found that most companies were unaware of the number of HIV-positive people in their workplaces, noting that 25 companies had conducted prior prevalence testing. Compared with a few years ago, companies are more conscious of the risk HIV/AIDS poses to their business, according to the survey. While all employees polled had access to antiretroviral drugs,only a minority of companies had established disease management programs.
HIV/AIDS mitigation strategies and the State in sub-Saharan Africa – the missing link?
Mohiddin A, Johnston D: Globalization and Health 2006, 2:1
The HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa is widely recognised as a development disaster threatening poverty reduction, economic growth and not merely a health issue. Its mitigation includes the societal-wide adoption and implementation of specific health technologies, many of which depend on functional institutions and State. For international public health policies to be effective, they must consider a country tailored approach, one that advocates a coordinated strategy designed and led by the State with involvement of wider society specific to each country's particular history, culture, and level of development.
Kenya: Workplace AIDS cover in the offing
Ng\\\'aru I, The Nation (Nairobi), 21 March 2006
For businesses, the daily cost of managing HIV/Aids can be a bitter pill to swallow. Statistics reveal an alarming situation: the pressure on business is considerable and costs ballooning. If no action is taken to manage the epidemic, profitability will be affected adversely. This article discusses this impact of HIV/Aids on the workplace.
The pattern of symptoms in patients receiving home based care in Bangwe, Malawi : a descriptive study
Bowie C, Kalilane L, Cleary P, Bowie C: BioMed Central Palliative Care. 2006; 5: 1
Home based care of HIV/AIDS patients is a health need recommended but not often available in Africa. Population based assessment helps to identify unmet health needs to plan services. Careful assessment and follow up of patients receiving home based care in a defined population of Bangwe, Malawi provides details of the frequency and severity of common symptoms.
What Grace did next
Boseley S: Epidemic Report and World AIDS Day 2005, The Guardian (UK), 24 November 2005
Three years ago the Guardian published an award-winning supplement featuring the story of Grace Mathanga, an ordinary African woman with HIV. To launch this year's Christmas appeal, which focuses on Aids in Africa, Sarah Boseley returns to Malawi to find out how Grace is doing now, and what her life can tell us about the future of the continent.
Zimbabwe Aids council says only one in 12 patients getting anti-retroviral drugs
SAFAIDS, 29 March 2006
Zimbabwe's National Aids Council (NAC) on Tuesday said it was only ableto provide anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to one in every 12 HIV/AIDS patients because there is no money to buy adequate supplies. Being the result of funds raised through an aids tax on workers having to be spread out to cover other social sectors requiring support leaving little money to pay for drugs or HIV/AIDS prevention programmes, the article further describes the impact of this news.
Buckling: A challenging new analysis of the impact of AIDS in South Africa
Hein Marais, Centre for the Study of AIDS, South Africa
An AIDS epidemic as severe as the one plowing through South Africa will change society. But how and along what lines? "Buckling: The impact of AIDS in South Africa", a new publication by South African writer and journalist Hein Marais, tackles the question in distinctive and critical-minded fashion-and arrives at disquieting conclusions and proposes a minimum package of social adjustments that could reduce the damage.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31257
Forcing patients to pay for AIDS care undermines treatment success
MSF ; via Procaare
Having to pay for HIV/AIDS care increases the risk of treatment failure, according to new research from Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) presented this week at the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections in Africa (ICASA), in Abuja, Nigeria. The research revealed that in Lagos, Nigeria, among patients who had to pay for their own AIDS care, 44% had multiple treatment interruptions or took insufficient dosages due to lack of funds. The medical effects of this are extremely worrying.
International Womens Day: Womens Global Health Imperative
Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
We are disappointed and frankly outraged that gender equality and strengthening the women's machineries within the UN system are barely noted, and are not addressed as a central part of the reform agenda. Again we must ask how it can be that more than ten years after the commitment to gender parity at the Beijing Conference, the UN is still offering only token representation of women on critical committees, high level expert panels and in senior positions within the organization?
Further details: /newsletter/id/31306
Contact: clmagill@shaw.ca