Global Healthbeat: Doctor s Without Borders Top Ten Underreported Humanitarian Crises 2007 - Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe, a landlocked country in southern Africa of 12 million people, once had the one of the best health systems in Africa. Today - due to political turmoil, 80 % unemployment, food shortages and general chaos - the health system is collapsing. Inflation is 15,000%. 3 million people have fled the country and close to 2 million people have HIV/AIDS. These unhappy statistics have given Zimbabwe's health crisis the distinction of being among Doctors without Borders (MSF) Top Ten Underreported Humanitarian Crises of 2007. BBC News and CNN have been banned from reporting and filming in Zimbabwe.

Three thousand people die every day due to AIDS in Zimbabwe, and chances of a coordinated response to the crisis are slim. In 1990, life expectancy for males born in Zimbabwe was 60 years, today it is 37 years and for females, it is 34 years. The UN has been calling for an end to human rights violations in that country since 2005. 500,000 people are reported to be internally displaced due to the razing of slums and seizures of land and property.

With refugees fleeing the country - taking with them HIV, tuberculosis and malaria - this is everyone's problem. MSF and the UN are trying to respond, but for Zimbabwe, it is just not enough.


Thank you Sokwanele-Zimbabwe for use of photo of HIV + Grace, found in a ditch, covered with banana leaves...

Labels: AIDS, health crisis, poverty, Zimbabwe

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World AIDS Day December 1, 2007

The good news is - not as many people have AIDS as was previously estimated - UNAIDS reports a decline of 16%, with 33.2 million people infected worldwide. New HIV infections and mortality are declining.

The good news is - AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was. Advances in treatment now turn the disease into a chronic illness. Basketball star Magic Johnson was first diagnosed with HIV 15 years ago. Today he dedicates his life and talents to preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in the black community. Blacks make up 13% of the US population, but 50% of new HIV cases in 2004. AIDS was the leading cause of death in black women (aged 25-34) in the US in 2002.

The goals now are to halt the spread of the disease and to provide universal access to treatment. Despite the US promise of more funding to battle AIDS, protesters decried the Bush administrations abstinence-only sex education restrictions for domestic and international programs. Demonstrators also called attention to Washington DC's problem of escalating AIDS cases. The infection rate is inordinately high in this city compared to the rest of the US, the black population is the hardest hit, and children and women are among the newly diagnosed. The number of new cases is rising in Eastern Europe and France as well.

Countries in southern Africa are now the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic, and Nobel Peace Prize winners Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu called for renewed efforts toward fighting the disease at a concert in South Africa. In the US, AIDS is the leading cause of death among blacks age 24-44.

Treat every day as World AIDS Day - protect yourself, educate loved ones, and fight for universal access to antiretroviral medications and an end to poverty.

Thank you Akaogatak for use of World AIDS Day photo...

Labels: AIDS, World AIDS Day

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Global Healthbeat: South Africa AIDS Policy

AIDS activists in South Africa are demanding the dismissal of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who President Thabo Mbeki continues to praise as a heroine. Both the South African President and his Health Minister have made international headlines over the past few years for their controversial view on AIDS and their approach to the AIDS crisis in South Africa. Tshabalala-Msimang has been condemned by the national and international community for her distrust of anti-retroviral medications (ARV) and her promotion of food to treat the viral illness. She has recommended the virus be treated with lemon, garlic, olive oil and beetroot.

5.4 million South Africans are infected with the AIDS virus - the highest number in the world. One of my own personal heroes, Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, has lamented that the anti-apartheid heroes and heroines era who lost their lives would be shocked at the staggering 900 deaths daily in South Africa due to AIDS. Tutu has condemned "...the bizarre theories held on high..." by the South African government.

Nathan Geffen, policy coordinator for South African's Treatment Action Campaign cites the following failures of the government policies:

• failure to provide adequate levels of staffing and expertise
• inadequate provision of medications to HIV-positive mothers to prevent transmission to children
• delays in providing treatment to people diagnosed with AIDS

The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF) released findings of an exhaustive study last month, hoping to put this question to rest. The panel concluded that while nutrition is important for supporting overall health, no food is going to help protect the population from tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS. AIDS accounts for almost half of the deaths in South Africa. Why are some people in the South African government choosing to ignore the evidence - and continue to put lives at risk?

The good news is that there is a Comprehensive Treatment Plan in place for South Africa, and ARV's are center stage - although the number of people taking advantage of the plan ( less than 500,000) is a small percentage of those who actually need it. The Plan is modeled after the WHO Treatment guidelines. Services offered are:

• Testing
• condoms
• nutritional support
• medications to treat opportunistic infections (OI)
• ARV's

ARV's work by blocking the replication of viruses. They do not cure the disease, but slow its progression. There are three types of ARV's available today:

• nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI)'s
• non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI)'s
• protease inhibitors

Universal access to prevention and treatment options is the only way to stem the tide of this devastating disease.

Thank you jimmcintosh for use of photo Orphaned by AIDS.

Labels: AIDS, antiretrovirals, South Africa

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