allAfrica.com: Africa: Daily HIV/Aids Report (Page 1 of 2)

Politics and Policy

Malaysia Expected To Achieve Millennium Development Goals on HIV/AIDS, Deputy PM Says

[Oct 03, 2007]

Malaysia is on track to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals on curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS by the end of the decade, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Malaysia's New Straits Times reports. According to Razak, based on the country's plan to expand "harm reduction" programs to 25,000 injection drug users, it is "projected that either by 2009 or 2010" the country should see "positive results" and achieve the MDGs. The government's harm reduction program includes methadone treatment, needle-exchange programs and access to antiretroviral treatment in prisons, Razak said (New Straits Times, 10/2).

There are about 75,000 HIV-positive people living in Malaysia, 70% of whom are IDUs. The government has said that transmission through heterosexual sex is increasing and has noted a trend of increasing HIV incidence among women in the country. Current efforts to combat the spread of the disease have targeted IDUs, commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/22).

According to the Times, the government this year has allocated 14.4 million Malaysian ringgit, or about $4.2 million, for methadone treatment programs and seven million ringgit, or about $2 million, for needle-exchange programs (New Straits Times, 10/2). The government plans to increase the number of people receiving methadone treatment under the program from 5,000 to 25,000 by 2010, Razak said. He added that the program has enabled 66% of HIV-positive IDUs to maintain permanent jobs and about 25% to do general work after one year of treatment (Xinhua/People's Daily, 10/2).

Health Minister Chua Soi Lek recently said that the government has set aside 300 million ringgit, or about $88 million, to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the next three years (New Straits Times, 10/2).

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Global Challenges

UNICEF HIV/AIDS Office Head Kolker Expresses Concern Over Ugandan President Museveni's Comments on AIDS-Related Deaths, Treason

[Oct 03, 2007]

Jimmy Kolker, head of UNICEF's HIV/AIDS office, on Friday said that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's comments earlier in the week comparing AIDS-related deaths to treason could lead to stigma and discrimination against people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, Uganda's Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports.

Museveni on Sept. 24 during a speech to officials from 12 Ugandan universities said of a person who contracts HIV, "Instead of being an asset, you become a burden. ... And afterwards, they announce that [the person] has died after a very long illness ... is that not treason?" According to the Monitor, treason is a capital offense punishable by death in Uganda.

Kolker, who previously has served as assistant U.S. global AIDS coordinator and U.S. ambassador to Uganda, in a Sept. 28 e-mail to the Monitor said it is important to ensure Museveni's comments "do not contribute to stigma, misunderstanding and divisions." Kolker recognized Museveni's earlier efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the country but added, "We need him (Museveni) to remain a spokesman for the positive messages needed to prevent AIDS and mobilize people to continue the fight for the affected."

According to the Monitor/AllAfrica.com, under Museveni's leadership, HIV prevalence in Uganda has decreased from a double-digit percentage in the early 1990s to 6.4% currently because the government instituted the ABC HIV prevention model -- which stands for abstinence, be faithful and use condoms -- and other measures. HIV/AIDS advocates in the country have not publicly responded to Museveni's comments (Butagira, Monitor/AllAfrica.com, 10/1).

Related Opinion Piece

Will Museveni's comments cause "all the time spent raising awareness around HIV/AIDS and fight stigma" to go "down the drain?" the Rev. Amos Kasibante, coordinating chaplain at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, asks in a Monitor opinion piece. Kasibante writes that there are other "medical and nonmedical conditions" that could cause people to become a "burden" -- such as high blood pressure, cancer, stroke and a "whole host of things." He adds, "If we can stretch treason without limit, should we also not accuse other groups of treason?" (Kasibante, Monitor, 10/1).

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