HIV treatment access in Africa has become the big
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A recent UNAIDS study found that only one in a thousand
HIV positive people in Africa (30,000 out of 30 million) are getting treatments.
The rest are doomed unless we all do something about it very quickly.
The Botswana Project
Diamond-rich Botswana is one of the wealthiest nations in southern Africa
but has the highest incidence of HIV infection in the world - with adult
rates as high as 38 per cent. The Botswana government has now joined forces
with the pharmaceutical giant Merck, Sharpe and Dohme, and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, to set up a project to get HIV treatments started.
Behind the move are doctors and nurses from Harvard Medical School, Amsterdam
and London's Chelsea and Westminster
Hospital. Organising the British end of the project are
Lady Bright, who is deputy chairman of the St Stephen's Aids Trust and
Linda Connor, the hospital's HIV education co-ordinator.
Lady Bright, affectionately known to all as Margot, explains:
"There are two major HIV treatment projects in Botswana. One is the
'Secure the Future' project from Bristol-Myers Squibb which has $100 million
invested, and the other is the African Comprehensive HIV/Aids Partnership
(ACHAP) which has put in a similar amount over five years."
Why is the money going to one of the richest countries in Africa, rather
than elsewhere?
"The rate of HIV prevalence is higher than anywhere else. In some
parts of Botswana it's over 50 per
cent of the adult population aged 15 to 49, who should
be the main wage earners.
"Dr Chloe Orchin and nurse specialist Flick Thooley have gone out
from London to help
