Compiled by Martin Flynn and Bruce Wainwright
TB the number 1 killer for people with HIV
TB is the most frequent opportunistic infection and leading cause of death
for HIV positive people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
There are about 12 million people co-infected with TB and HIV and two-thirds
of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.
TB incidence rates have tripled since 1990 in African countries with high
HIV prevalence, and the numbers are rising, warns the WHO Global Tuberculosis
Control report for 2005.
In Uganda, for instance, widely regarded as a success story in lowering the
rates of HIV/Aids, fewer TB patients are being cured than four years ago.
Nigeria, with the third highest HIV caseload in the world, has the highest
estimated number of new TB cases annually.
In Eastern Europe, the WHO believes that drug resistance is to blame. Russia,
continues to be challenged by resistant strains of the bacterium that cannot
be treated with conventional, cheaper medications.
“We have a lot further to go,” said Dr Jong Wook Lee, director
general of the WHO: “The methods, procedures and supplies needed are
well known. They are getting impressive results wherever they are being used.
The challenge now is to invest enough so that they can be used in Africa.”
The UK's International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn has pledged £5million
to fighting TB over the next three years. Announcing the funding, he said:
“It is a remarkable achievement that we are on target to reach the goal
of halving TB cases by 2015 in most places.”
First Bollywood movie about HIV
My Brother Nikhil is Bollywood's first mainstream film about a homosexual
hero with HIV. Inspired by events in Goa in the late 1980s, when people were
arrested after testing HIV positive, the movie stars Sanjay Suri, a hero who
doesn't get ill simply because he is gay.
“It's the story of how the family comes together during a crisis,”
Suri explains. “It's also about acceptance of taboo relationships. My
character Nikhil has to fight for the right to dignity before he can begin
to fight for life.”
Pharmacos 'cosy up' to government
The UK government has produced guidance for pharmaceutical companies seeking
to improve access to healthcare.
The framework document says access can be achieved by a combination of “differential
pricing”, selling medicines at lower prices in developing countries;
investing in research into diseases affecting developing countries and helping
to support their health and development goals.
“Improved access requires a contribution from all parties, not just
the pharmaceutical industry,” said Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“The UK Government will do its part by investing in health systems in
developing counties and by supporting the framework needed to encourage companies
to invest in research and development.”
Meanwhile, British-based GlaxoSmith- Kline (GSK), one of the world's largest
drugs manufacturers, is becoming increasingly concerned by the illegal diversion
of cheap drugs sold to the developing world, often 30 times cheaper than in
Europe, that are then resold at considerable profit back to wealthier countries.
GSK has also called upon the government to use its presidency of the G7 to
ensure the world's emerging economic powerhouses respect patents and clamp
down on counterfeiting.
“Globally, the UK must work to deliver a level playing field by demanding
respect for intellectual property rights in the countries that benefit the
most from globalisation: India, China, Brazil,” said GSK chief executive,
Jean-Pierre Garnier.
Aids activists around the world are anxious that generic antiretroviral drugs
be made available cheaply to millions living with HIV in poor countries as
soon as possible.
There is concern that western governments are now under considerable pressure
from the leading pharmacos to enforce World Trade Organisation patent rules
on generic antiretroviral manufacturers in India and Brazil.
Global Fund 'winning the PR battle'
The much maligned Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria is slowly winning
over rich western countries to contribute more to fight the world's three
big killer diseases.
The Fund predicts greater progress this year in getting more people with HIV
onto HIV therapy after putting in place staff and mechanisms in Africa, Asia
and Latin America
“We welcome the priority that the Commission for Africa has given to…
scaling up the battle against HIV/Aids,” said Dr Richard Feachem, executive
director of the Fund.
“These are key elements in the core business of the Global Fund.”
The Global Fund needs $2.3 billion in 2005 to honour its current commitments
to fund over 300 programmes in 127 countries, and this will increase to $3.5
billion next year.
The UK government has pledged to increase its contribution from £92
million to £96.8 million, although it is estimated that a fair UK contribution,
based on the size of its national wealth, should be over £163 million
each year.
At a funding conference held in Stockholm in March, $6 billion was pledged
by donor countries, a third of it from the US. However, President Bush has
proposed a 31 per cent cut in US donations, relative to 2005.
Meanwhile, intense lobbying by a broad coalition of Aids, religious, humanitarian
and activist groups in the US has resulted in the Senate approving a Budget
Resolution increasing funds available to the Global Fund this year from $300
million to $800 million. For details, visit: www.theglobalfund.org
G8 leaders dubbed
'all mouth and no trousers'
Campaigners converged on Number 10 Downing Street and London embassies of
G8 countries last month to urge politicians to find $2bn to get three million
people on urgently-needed HIV treatment by 2005.
Activists from the Make Aids History alliance charged G8 leaders with being
'all mouth and no trousers' and wore masks of world leaders, demanding each
government commit its fair share to fill the funding gap.
www.makepovertyhistory.org
Insurance breakthrough in Netherlands
There is little risk involved in providing life insurance policies to HIV
patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy, according to the Dutch Association
of Insurers.
Findings from a study which examined the mortality of HIV patients, from an
insurance standpoint, demonstrated that the life expectancy of people with
HIV in the Netherlands had increased significantly in recent years.
These findings applied to patients who have successfully undergone medical
treatment in recent years, had experienced no further medical complications
and had not used intravenous drugs.
Among this group, the probability of death, beyond the average mortality,
due to HIV, was found to be as low as one tenth of one per cent per year -
odds that put HIV patients in the same risk category as diabetics and people
with a serious heart problem.
“Until now, it was nearly impossible for people with this disease to
obtain life insurance, which was a significant impediment to many things that
most people take for granted, such as obtaining a mortgage,” said Eric
Fisher, general manager of the Dutch Association of Insurers.
Asked if UK insurers would be following this lead, Kevin Waite of Positive
Discounts in the UK, said that cover was now also being considered by Its
So Easy insurance. Other UK insurers are expected to follow suit.
words
“Telling teenagers to abstain from sex as a way to curb the spread
of HIV/Aids would only work if girls have the right to say 'no'.”
Muthoni Wanyeki in the Kenyan East African Times.
“Most of the children we find on the street still have their umbilical
cords.”
Helena Jackson of the uMephi project in South Africa, commenting about
discarded HIV positive babies.
“The term Aids is no longer widely used, according to the Terrence Higgins
Trust. It is
perhaps referred to, in medical circles at least, as 'late stage' or 'advanced
HIV infection'.”
Politics.co.uk
“People have safe-sex fatigue; they are fed up of having to be afraid
of HIV. In these circumstances, crystal [meth] is the perfect Petri dish for
disease transmission.”
Peter Staley, founder of Aids Med USA
“Preserving memorials to the dead is praiseworthy, but we'd like to
see the government doing more for the living. We'd like to see VAT removed
from condoms.”
Lisa Power of THT, commenting on Gordon Brown's budget.
“The Department of Health has for far too long optimistically assumed
that the interests of health and the (pharmaceutical) industry are as one.”
Report from the Commons Health Select Committee.
