HIV/Aids barometer : 65 million with Aids

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- June2006

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=274271 & area=/insight/hiv__aids_barometer/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01 June 2006 09:07

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aids-related deaths in South Africa: 1 801 518 at noon on May 31 Looking to the future: Twenty-five years after the first Aids cases were reported, there is no sign of a halt to the pandemic which is likely to spread to every corner of the globe, the head of the United Nations’s Aids agency has said.Peter Piot was speaking as UNAids released a report that declares the world’s response to the disease, which has infected about 65-million people and killed 25-million, has been nowhere near adequate. Five years after a special UN session pledged its commitment to halting the Aids pandemic, only a few countries have met the targets laid down.“I think we will see a further globalisation of the epidemic spreading to every single corner of the planet,’’ said Piot. “It won’t go away one fine day, and then we wake up and say, ‘Oh, Aids is gone.’ I think we have to start thinking about looking at the next generations. There’s an increasing diversity in how the epidemic looks.’’India has the largest number of people living with the virus. With 5,7-million infections, it has overtaken South Africa’s total of 5,5-million. But the epidemic it still at its worst in sub-Saharan Africa, where 90% of the world’s HIV-infected children live. “I think in Africa, it is only comparable in demographic terms to the slave trade regarding the impact it has had on the population,” Piot said. The report shows clear prevention strategies have been worked out, there is more funding, and drug treatment is slowly reaching those in the poorest countries.By the end of last year, there were 1,3-million people in the developing world on anti-retroviral drugs, averting between 250 000 and 350 000 deaths.“We know what needs to be done to stop Aids,’’ says the report. “What we need now is the will to get it done.’’ It calls for “active and visible leadership’’ from heads of state and governments.The report is launched on the eve of a high-level meeting at the UN in New York to assess progress over the past five years and chart the way forward. -- © Guardian Newspapers 2006Aids-related deaths in South Africa: 1 814 805 at noon on Wednesday June 14

 

HIV/Aids barometer - August 2006

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=280478 & area=/insight/hiv__aids_barometer/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01 July 2006 09:07

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aids related deaths in South Africa: 1 881 188 at noon on Wednesday August 23.A snip that could cut HIV: Sephiwe Shabange (22) sat patiently with four other men in a busy clinic in Mbabane, Swaziland. They were surprisingly calm considering they were there to be circumcised. “I do this to reduce the chance of getting HIV/Aids,” he said.The procedure takes 30 minutes under local anaesthetic. The patient waits a further 30 minutes to monitor bleeding. An hour after the operation, a pleased Shabange left the clinic. “It’s painful, but really it is not so bad,” he said.He is one of a growing number of Swazi men signing up for circumcision in the hope that they will not contract HIV/Aids. Waiting times in state-run hospitals are from six to nine months, but in private or NGO-run clinics -- where the procedure is done each day -- the wait is two to three weeks.The demand for circumcision rose last year when local press reported the findings of a South African study showing circumcised men to be 61% to 75% less likely to be infected by the virus.The study’s authors said the work showed two million new HIV infections would be averted if circumcision were introduced across Africa. Two further studies are under way in Kenya and Uganda. The results will determine whether male circumcision is put forward as part of an HIV/Aids prevention package, along with abstinence, partner reduction and condom use.No one is sure why circumcision is effective. One explanation is that the soft tissue of the foreskin is vulnerable to tearing and bleeding, and this can facilitate the spread of the virus. Another is that the foreskin contains a higher density of cells called Langerhan cells, which are thought to be the doorway for HIV to enter the body.In Swaziland, with a population of about one million and an infection rate of more than 40%, it is no wonder the population is looking for ways to beat HIV.“The scientific community hasn’t come out and said it definitely works,” said Dr Mark Mills, head of the Mbabane private clinic, but somehow, he said, the population heard it on the news and “it’s spreading like wildfire”. Demand at the clinic has risen from about one request a month last year to 50 to100 a month.“Everybody is interested because of this epidemic,” said Musa Dwane, as he waited to be circumcised. “[The] problem is for those who are employed it is affordable, for those who are not it’s too much. In government hospitals it is affordable but the queue is very long.” There are voices of caution. Prudence Mkhatshwa is chief nurse in charge of promoting male circumcision for the Family Life Association of Swaziland, addressing companies and communities about the benefits. Her message is that male circumcision helps prevent many sexually transmitted infections, HIV is just one of them. But she is careful not to promote the procedure for HIV.“For HIV we emphasise behaviour change. If it’s a young man who’s not married he must abstain,” she said. “We tell them ... circumcision is not a cure.”-- Leila LakSource: © Guardian Newspapers 2006Aids-related deaths in South Africa: 1 874 519 at noon on August 16Aids orphans: More than 15-million children in sub-Saharan Africa will have lost one or both parents to Aids by 2010, according to a United Nations report that says the world has failed youngsters affected by the pandemic.The neglect of these children, who have been largely invisible, is a double betrayal because without parents they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and far more likely to become HIV-positive themselves, says the joint report by Unicef, UNAids and the US Agency for International Development.There are 2,3-million children with HIV, most born to mothers carrying the virus. Many of these children will die before they are two years old, according to Médécins sans Frontières (MSF), because drugs suitable for children have not been manufactured. MSF says pharmaceutical companies have not acted because few children in rich countries have HIV.At the launch of the report at the International Aids conference in Toronto, Michel Sidibe of UNAids said children were “the missing face” of the pandemic.“By 2010, if nothing is done to quicken the pace of action ... some countries in the most affected part of the world will have 15% to 20% of their children orphaned. Funding is extremely disappointing. Prevention and care programmes in low- and middle-income countries will require $15billion a year in 2007. Things can’t go on this way.”Source: The GuardianAids-related deaths in South Africa: 1 867 909 at noon on August 9Healthcare workers in need: A new study by researchers at Boston University in the United States says African healthcare workers are contracting HIV faster than they are being lured abroad by better-paying jobs.According to their findings, published in the latest edition of United Kingdom medical journal, The Lancet, twice as many healthcare staffers in Zambia, for example, died of Aids-related illnesses than were leaving to work in Britain.Frank Feeley, the report’s author, suggested that while policymakers might be tempted to focus on halting emigration as the best strategy to strengthen the health service, it was time to put more effort into keeping HIV-positive professionals alive. -- PlusnewsEstimated worldwide HIV infections: 186 1268 at noon on Wednesday August 2A growing risk: Young people in developing countries are in growing danger of HIV infection because of forces beyond their control, an NGO said on Monday.Sarah Hendriks, of Plan International in Toronto, said this was because the cultural, economic and social factors relating to the decisions about young people’s sexual and reproductive health had greater impact than the acquisition of knowledge itself.The NGO argued that although education for children and adolescents had improved immeasurably, there was a constant clash between the safety messages being taught and the realities that prevented young people from being able to adopt them.Source: www.plusnews.org