Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC)
15 May 2008
Global Challenges
World Bank Announces Plan To Implement Long-Term Development Projects To Fight HIV/AIDS in Africa
VOA News Publishes Several HIV/AIDS-Related Articles
About 39% of IDUs Living in Spain Are HIV-Positive, IHRA Report Says
Zimbabwe Business Council To Create Steering Committees To Strengthen Response to HIV/AIDS in Private Sector
Opinion
HIV/AIDS Epidemic 'Reversing Decades' of Development in Africa, Opinion Piece Says
Recent Releases
Essay Examines Progress, Challenges in HIV/AIDS Research
Global Challenges
World Bank Announces Plan To Implement Long-Term Development Projects To Fight HIV/AIDS in Africa
[May 15, 2008]
The World Bank on Wednesday announced a four-year plan to tackle HIV/AIDS in Africa that shifts its mission from providing emergency relief to implementing long-term development projects, Reuters reports (Wroughton, Reuters, 5/14).
The strategy was outlined in a report, titled "World Bank's Commitment to HIV/AIDS in Africa -- Our Agency for Action, 2007-2011," the AP/International Herald Tribune reports. The agency developed the strategy in conjunction with African countries, people living with HIV/AIDS, United Nations agencies, nongovernment organizations and private companies.
Under the plan, the World Bank will advise African countries on how best to manage the influx of international HIV/AIDS funding. It also seeks to improve countries' oversight and assessment capabilities so they can record how efficiently and effectively they are responding to the disease, the AP/Herald Tribune reports (Dunphy, AP/International Herald Tribune, 5/14).
The World Bank said it plans to assist governments in combining HIV/AIDS services with programs for reproductive and maternal health, nutrition and other diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, according to a release. The agency noted that the "feminization" of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, its links to sexual and reproductive health, and the frequency of HIV/TB coinfection "amplify the importance of providing people with integrated health services" (World Bank release, 5/14).
In addition, the bank said it will commit at least $250 million annually for HIV/AIDS programs based on country demand and create a grant incentive fund of $5 million annually to support assessment, health and education projects (AP/International Herald Tribune, 5/14).
The shift in the World Bank's focus follows billions in grant funding from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. According to Reuters, the World Bank has provided $1.5 billion to more than 30 African countries to fight HIV/AIDS since 2000 (Reuters, 5/14).
"With AIDS the largest single cause of premature death in Africa, we can't talk about better, lasting development without also committing to stay the course in the long-term fight against the disease," Elizabeth Lule, manager of the World Bank's AIDS Team for Africa, said (Reuters, 5/14). "After 25 years, it is time to apply the lessons of experience and scale up what is working," Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said, adding, "With this Agenda for Action, the World Bank reaffirms its long-term commitment to assist partner countries" in combating the disease (AP/International Herald Tribune, 5/14).
Recent data indicate that HIV/AIDS cases in parts of Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi and Zimbabwe are declining. Yet for every HIV-positive person in Africa starting antiretroviral therapy for the first time, an additional four to six people contract HIV, according to the report. The bank reported that about 22.5 million people in Africa are HIV-positive. More than 60% of those people are women, and young women are more likely to be living with HIV than young men, the bank said (Reuters, 5/14).
The report is available online (.pdf).
Link to this story.
VOA News Publishes Several HIV/AIDS-Related Articles
[May 15, 2008]
VOA News on Tuesday published several articles about HIV/AIDS in Africa. Summaries appear below.
"African Countries Seek Common Approach Against HIV/AIDS": Leaders of several African countries are proposing a common African approach to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS after the most recent 2007 statistics show that 24.4 million people on the continent are living with the disease. The common policy would increase HIV/AIDS advocacy work, make antiretroviral drugs more affordable and accessible, address HIV-associated stigma and discrimination and encourage behavioral change, according to VOA News (Masina, VOA News, 5/13).
"HIV-Affected Families in Malawi Benefit From Raising Fish": VOA News examines a WorldFish Center program in Malawi, called Aquaculture for HIV/AIDS Households, that encourages fish farming among families affected by HIV/AIDS. WorldFish in collaboration with World Vision teaches farmers in the program how to raise, process and market fish, allowing them to generate income. WorldFish is considering expanding the program to other countries, such as Mozambique and Zambia (Masina, VOA News, 5/13).
"Namibia Touts New Program To Fight AIDS": The Namibian government has launched a five-year strategic plan to reduce the spread of HIV in the country, Liue Kauta, HIV/AIDS coordinator at the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services, said recently. According to Kauta, the plan will focus on leadership, prevention and behavioral change (Masina, VOA News, 5/13).
"New African Effort To Build AIDS Research Center in Ghana": The Africa Life Aid Project, part of the Ghana-based group Woyome Foundation for Africa, is planning a series of fundraising events aimed at encouraging Africans to become involved in efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. The group plans to establish a $250 million Skills Development Center in Ghana's capital, Accra, to provide HIV/AIDS education and job training to young people. The project also is establishing the One-for-One Campaign, which will use donor funds to support the nutritional and other health needs of HIV-positive children, and plans to host an AIDS concert this year (Masina, VOA News, 5/13).
Link to this story.
About 39% of IDUs Living in Spain Are HIV-Positive, IHRA Report Says
[May 15, 2008]
As many as 39% of the approximately 84,000 injection drug users living in Spain are HIV-positive, and as many as 73% are living with hepatitis C, according to a recent report by the International Harm Reduction Association, Spain's El PaÃs reports.
Gerry Stimson, executive director of IHRA, on Monday during the XIX International Congress of Harm Reduction Associated With the Consumption of Drugs in Barcelona said that the most "realistic approach" to address HIV among IDUs is to "help them protect their health from contagion or from an overdose."
According to El Pas, Spain has the highest number of HIV-positive IDUs in Western Europe despite a decrease in the number of IDUs in recent years. Needle-exchange programs and methadone clinics also have not helped to fully address the spread of HIV and other diseases among IDUs in the country, El PaÃs reports (Ferrado, El PaÃs, 5/14).
Link to this story.
Zimbabwe Business Council To Create Steering Committees To Strengthen Response to HIV/AIDS in Private Sector
[May 15, 2008]
The Zimbabwe Business Council plans to create provincial steering committees with members from the business community to strengthen the response of the private sector to HIV/AIDS, ZBC Executive Director David Mutambara said Monday, the Herald/AllAfrica.com reports.
Mutambara said the committees will be a resource from which members can be selected to represent the business community on national committees and HIV/AIDS task forces. "We want to rationalize the communication and expression of the business voice," Mutambara said, adding, "We are at the stage of setting up structures."
The Zimbabwe Business Council on AIDS, which was created in 2004, is a private sector program that seeks to address HIV/AIDS among workers and promote growth in the business sector. ZBCA encourages businesses to implement comprehensive HIV/AIDS policies. Mutambara said that about 28 of the council's 30 members have workplace HIV/AIDS policies.
According to Mutambara, ZBCA plans to expand its services beyond large private and public companies to small, medium and micro businesses. He also said the council plans to increase its coverage to all regions in the country (Herald/AllAfrica.com, 5/13).
Link to this story.
Opinion
HIV/AIDS Epidemic 'Reversing Decades' of Development in Africa, Opinion Piece Says
[May 15, 2008]
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is "reversing decades of slow improvement in child survival, life expectancy, educational progress and economic growth," Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, writes in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer opinion piece.
According to Chelala, health issues in Africa "cannot be considered in isolation and are not the sole responsibility of Africans themselves." He adds, "Ways must be found to help people more directly." According to Chelala, it is "well-known" that many diseases affecting children and adults in Africa "could be addressed with minimum resources if they were employed strategically."
Health services and infrastructures in Africa are "inadequate, and a lack of trained medical personnel is widespread" on the continent, Chelala writes, adding that the problem "is exaggerated by the continued exodus of doctors and nurses" to wealthy nations. Industrialized nations "should stop the brain drain of countries living at the limit of their possibilities," Chelala writes. He notes that if "equitable health care systems are to be effective, resources must be redirected from curative care in urban settings with high-tech equipment to primary and preventive care."
In addition, Chelala writes that if wealthy nations "are committed to assist Africa and its people, financial institutions and donor governments must closely monitor how their funds are spent." According to Chelala, unrestricted "financial loans can be more detrimental than helpful, since they only contribute to the corruption of local elites." He concludes, "In a continent ravaged by hopelessness, such actions could contribute to a renewal of hope" (Chelala, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/13).
Link to this story.
Recent Releases
Essay Examines Progress, Challenges in HIV/AIDS Research
[May 15, 2008]
"25 Years of HIV," Nature: In the essay, Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, examines progress and challenges associated with HIV/AIDS research since the virus was isolated in 1983. According to Fauci, the "biomedical research effort directed at HIV/AIDS has resulted in some breathtaking successes"; however, much "remains to be accomplished in the global fight against HIV." To address such challenges, researchers have "two main options," Fauci writes. The first is to "purge every vestige of virus from" HIV-positive people's "bodies so that a course of treatment could be measured in weeks or months rather than a lifetime." He adds that because of HIV's ability to "hide within cells from both drugs and the immune system, such a treatment regime has proved elusive, although important work in this area is being pursued." This leaves researchers "with the second option" of preventing HIV "in the first place," according to Fauci. The international community "must now do better at delivering prevention," he writes, adding that an HIV/AIDS vaccine is the "best hope for ultimately ending the pandemic." Providing "HIV interventions for the people it most affects requires political will, a long-term supply of considerable financial resources, scientific and public-health vision, and dedication from all sectors of society," Fauci writes, concluding, "With these ingredients, the trajectory of our fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the next quarter of a century could move from cautious optimism towards triumph. Absent any of these factors, and history will not judge us kindly" (Fauci, Nature, May 2008).
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