Most prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes in Africa are still not following a comprehensive approach around the four pillars as recommended by the UN strategy, according to this paper, despite the evidence on how critical interventions such as improving access to family planning and HIV prevention knowledge and tools support the goal of ending vertical transmission of HIV. Many women in the developing world continue to receive sub-optimal drugs and confusing messages about infant feeding, undermining even the slow ‘progress’ made on pillar three. And far too many women and infants in need of treatment are leaving prevention of vertical transmission programmes without any follow-up treatment, care and support. Research conducted in a number of African countries has revealed several barriers to care, such as lack of involvement of men in PMTCT services, lack of implementation of WHO guidelines on prevention of vertical transmission and infant feeding, prohibitive costs of ANC, delivery, diagnostic tests, OI and STI treatment, and transportation to distant clinics, and stigma, combined with a shortage of trained health care workers, long waiting times and lack of integrated services under one roof.
Equity and HIV/AIDS
Swaziland is still short of lab reagents needed for CD4 count testing, used to initiate and monitor patients on antiretroviral treatment. Shortages of HIV programme supplies in Swaziland were first reported in mid-2011. Although the stock-outs have been largely blamed on reduced revenues from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the country also opted not to apply for funding in Round 10 from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Instead, it chose to assume financial responsibility for HIV treatment itself, at a time when SACU revenues were already expected to decline. Health Minister Themba Xaba said in a statement that the government needed US$875,000 to purchase the CD4 machine reagents.
In this report, the UNAIDS Advisory Group strongly affirms that sex workers and their organisations play a crucial role in confronting HIV and in many places have an outstanding record in helping to achieve universal access. However, sex workers usually face human rights violations and struggle to access HIV and other health and social services. Stigma and discrimination within society results in repressive laws, policies and practices against sex work, as well as their economic disempowerment. Violence against sex workers is too often committed with impunity by state and civilian actors, exacerbating sex workers’ HIV vulnerability. They are often excluded from access to benefits and financial services available to the general population and prevented from forming organisations that enable economic empowerment and social inclusion. In this report, the Advisory Group argues it it necessary for sex workers to enjoy universal access to HIV services, highlighting good practices that enhance human rights protections for sex workers in the hope that the information presented here will help shape programmes and policies on HIV and sex work that are truly human rights-based.
The authors of this study set out to determine the relative roles of stigma versus health systems in non-uptake of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV-1 interventions by conducting a cross-sectional assessment of all consenting mothers accompanying infants for six-week immunisations. Between September 2008 and March 2009, mothers at six maternal and child health clinics in Kenya's Nairobi and Nyanza provinces were interviewed regarding PMTCT intervention uptake during recent pregnancy. Among 2,663 mothers, 2,453 (92.1%) reported antenatal HIV-1 testing. Although internal or external stigma indicators were reported by between 12% and 59% of women, stigma was not associated with lower HIV-1 testing or infant HIV-1 infection rates; internal stigma was associated with modestly decreased antiretroviral uptake. Health system factors contributed to about 60% of non-testing among mothers who attended antenatal clinics and to missed opportunities in offering antiretrovirals and utilisation of facility delivery.
The recent rise of health systems strengthening as a policy priority suggests that a move away from single-disease approaches to global health may be occurring. As the largest attempt by far to tackle one disease, the global AIDS effort has acted as a lightning rod for criticisms of global health initiatives focused on single diseases, according to the author of this paper. Global AIDS institutions have sought to respond by broadening their mandates to incorporate some wider systemic interventions into their activities. However, as the debate over addressing particular diseases or investing in health systems continues, five important underlying political and ethical questions are being neglected, including whether there is an ideal health system, the timescales involved, the definition of sustainability, governance/structural capacity and political will. If a more sustained and coordinated effort to improve health outcomes is to become a reality, these difficult questions will need to be tackled, the author concludes.
Speakers at a session on stigma at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, held in December 2011 in Ethiopia, noted that HIV patients in Africa frequently suffer shame and depression but the continent’s health systems were ill-equipped to handle the issue, which not only affected their quality of life, but could lead to poor adherence to HIV treatment regimens. They said while HIV programmes focus heavily on reducing externalised stigma and ill-treatment of HIV patients by society, little is done to deal with a patients’ self-perception and how that might deteriorate following an HIV diagnosis. Studies from Zambia and Uganda have shown that depression is the most common psychiatric disorder among people living with HIV, and is more prevalent among HIV-positive people than in the general population. The Mbabane Mental Health Support Group, an advocacy group from Swaziland, calls for the integration of mental health services into primary healthcare as well as that of HIV positive people.
Published data on adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Kenya is limited. This study assessed adherence to ART and identified factors responsible for non-adherence in Nairobi. This is a multiple facility-based cross-sectional study, where 416 patients aged over 18 years were systematically selected and interviewed using a structured questionnaire about their experience taking ART. Additional data was extracted from hospital records. Overall, 403 patients responded: 35% males and 65% females, of whom 18% were non-adherent, and the main (38%) reasons for missing therapy were being busy and forgetting. Accessing ART in a clinic within walking distance from home and difficulty with dosing schedule predicted non-adherence. The study found better adherence to HAART in Nairobi compared to previous studies in Kenya. However, the authors argue that adherence can be improved further by employing fitting strategies to improve patients' ability to fit therapy into their lifestyles and implementing cue-dose training to impact forgetfulness. Further work to determine why patients accessing therapy from ART clinics within walking distance from their residence did not adhere is recommended.
A meeting to address issues around HIV and men who have sex with men went ahead as scheduled in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 3 December 2011, despite protests and calls for its cancellation by local religious leaders. The meeting - held a day before the opening of the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections in Africa (ICASA) - was organized by the South African-based NGO, African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR). Originally due to be held at a local hotel, the venue quietly shifted to the UN compound in Addis Ababa. According to participants, it attracted more than 150 participants from 25 African countries, and focused on addressing the problems MSM faced in accessing HIV services. Speakers included UNAIDS executive director, Michel Sidibe. Before the meeting, four religious leaders had called a press conference to denounce it. Ethiopia's Minister of Health, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, persuaded them to cancel the press conference. Even at the new venue, there were hundreds of protesters outside for half the day, said one participant, Homosexuality is illegal in Ethiopia and punishable by between three and 10 years in prison. While the government allowed the meeting to go ahead, gay rights activists doubt it will lead to a positive change for MSM in Ethiopia.
This National Strategic Plan (NSP) has four strategic objectives, which will form the basis of the HIV, STI and TB response: address social and structural barriers to HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI) and TB prevention, care and impact; prevent new HIV, STI and TB infections; sustain health and wellness; and increase protection of human rights and improve access to justice. The NSP is driven by a long-term 20-year vision for the country with respect to the HIV and TB epidemics, adapting the Three Zeros advocated by UNAIDS, and additional one for discrimination: zero new HIV and TB infections; zero new infections due to vertical transmission (mother-to-child); zero preventable deaths associated with HIV and TB; and zero discrimination associated with HIV and TB. In line with this 20-year vision, the NSP has the following broad goals: reduce new HIV infections by at least 50% using combination prevention approaches; initiate at least 80% of eligible patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART), with 70% alive and on treatment five years after initiation; reduce the number of new TB infections as well as deaths from TB by 50%; ensure an enabling and accessible legal framework that protects and promotes human rights to support implementation of the NSP; and reduce self-reported stigma related to HIV and TB by at least 50%.
On 1 December 2011, World AIDS Day, United States (US) President, Barack Obama, pledged to provide antiretroviral treatment to some six million people globally by 2013, an increase of two million on the previous target. However, there will still be no increase in funding from the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which pledged US$48 billion in 2008 for five years. Consequently, although costs of HIV and AIDS programmes have come down, PEPFAR is having to look at smarter programming and greater efficiencies to increase roll out. PEPFAR noted that the US was also working to persuade other wealthy countries, such as China, Germany and Sweden, to take greater responsibility in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Obama's announcement has been welcomed with cautious optimism in developing countries, who are concerned that the rich countries of the North may not keep their pledges to the Global Fund – the main HIV and AIDS funder for many poor countries – in the current global recession.