ZICS will operate a summer school during closure in both December and August. Students for the summer school are to be drawn from across Africa and from Europe and North America. The summer school programme will be based upon issues relating to sustainable development, the arts, sports, the environment and issues relating to HIV & Aids. Accreditation will be sought for the summer school programme.The Thembinkosi Foundation promotes the interests of those affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa....
According to Wikipedia, "activism can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversial argument." In the global struggle against HIV/AIDS, activists have contributed positively in an number of ways, particularly in securing greater access to antiretroviral drugs for resource-poor countries and increased funding for HIV-related research and programs.AIDS activists share common aims, but recent developments make it clear that there are profound disagreements within the activist community on methods and convictions. In the Autumn issue of the Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine (summary available here), AIDS activists Nathan Greffen and Gregg Gonsalves take dead aim at the...
This week sees the launch of the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Some of what is going on in the conference can be followed on the website that the Kaiser Family Foundation has set up. But you really have to be there to get the buzz, the celebrities, the infighting, as well as whatever new research results are on offer. Part of my summer reading has included Elizabeth Pisani's The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS, in which she describes the XV International AIDS Conference as follows:In 2004 Thailand hosted the Fifteenth International AIDS Conference. Once upon a time, these conferences were about science. Nowadays they are about institutional posturing, theatrical activism and money. Lots of money. The Bangkok conference cost US $18.5...
In the industrialized nations of the north, it is easy to take for granted the progress made in the control of the HIV virus, and some of the hard-fought, positive changes in the social, ethical and legal treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. In the United States, regimes of increasingly effective drugs have been developed to control the virus and transform HIV/AIDS from a death sentence into a chronic disease; legal protections specific to persons with HIV/AIDS have been bolstered; social stigma, while by no means absent, has had some of its sharper corners blunted by therapeutic advances and improved public understanding of the modes of HIV transmission. The fact that this is not the case globally was driven home by a recent report by Human Rights Watch. In Egypt, an HIV positive...
Do we believe that good health policies can reduce mortality and morbidity at a population level? The answer is yes: scientific research, meetings, consultations, reports and all the other magical ingredients that go into health policy formation are driven by the idea that if our policies are well-constructed and implemented, they will have a beneficial effect on public health. The whole process assumes that policies can have real and widespread effects. Conversely, it seems to follow that if the process of health policy formation goes awry, and we end up with wonky policies, needless death and disease can be produced in substantial numbers. Normally, the production of human death and suffering on an industrial scale raises strong ethical objections. Especially when guns are involved, we...
Today the New York Times has an article with the ambitious title 'Why Africa fears Western Medicine' by Harriet A. Washington, author of the generally well-received book Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. The title is ambitious, because it is a short opinion piece about a rather large question. And some might say: the question itself is questionable, considering that most Africans have little access to Western medicine, and hence have little to fear. And in my experience, those who do have access, if anything, are often a bit too trusting. But let's take the bait, and examine Washington's mini-theory anyway.According to Washington, the African fear of Western medicine basically has two roots. First, there...
Panel I: Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research on HIV/AIDS in Brazil
Panelists:
David Martin, Harvard College 07
Amy Nunn, ScD, Harvard School of Public Health, dissertation: “The Politics of Life and Death: A Historical Institutional Analysis of Antiretroviral Drug Policy in Brazil”; Corporate Relations Manager, Global Business Coalition on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Sophia Zamudio-Haas, M.S. Candidate in Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health.
Moderator: Lorena Barberia, Program Associate, Brazil Office, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
Amy Nunn:
Global context of the epidemic. In the world, only about 1.6 Million of 7 million needing HAART receive it
Brazil was the first country to implement HAART and has the...
Panel II: A Comparative Look at the Brazilian Response to AIDS
Panelists:
Varun Gauri, Senior Economist. Development Research Group, World Bank
João Biehl, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University; author of Will to Live: AIDS Therapies and the Politics of Survival (Princeton Univ. Press, forthcoming).
Cristina d’Almeida, National Agency for Research on AIDS, France
Moderator: Eduardo Gómez, Politics and Governance Group, Harvard School of Public Health; dissertation: “Contested Epidemics: Institution, Global Politics and Response in the United States and Brazil
Varun Guari, “Institutions and Identities: Explaining Gov’t Responses to HIV/AIDS in Brazil and South Africa”
Summary of his research with Evan Lieberman
Came out as a paper in...
I know that this blog has discussed male circumcision and HIV prevention before. But now that the World Health Organization has endorsed the use of male circumcision to reduce risk of HIV transmission, the issue has really gone global. News items are everywhere. And Americans can no longer think it is something that just Africans, living in high HIV prevalence countries, have to contend with. No, the debate has arrived, like many a new immigrant to these shores, in New York. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York City is planning a promotion campaign for male circumcision among populations deemed to be at risk for acquiring HIV. The Department has started asking some community groups and gay rights organizations to discuss circumcision with their members. Health and...
This blog has dealt with ethical questions about male circumcision and HIV before, but somehow the assumption crept in that this is a distinctively African controversy. Maybe it was because of the high HIV prevalence in that part of the world. Maybe its was because of the longstanding interest -- especially among anthropologists -- with circumcision rituals in Africa. Let us make a confession here: the author of this post has co-authored an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics called Male Circumcision and HIV Infection: Ethical, Medical and Public Health Tradeoffs in Low-Income Countries. And it too is guilty of identifying the issue a bit too much with sub-Saharan Africa. Whatever way this came about, the ethical questions concerning the promotion of male circumcision to lower risk...
The blog HIV Information for Myanmar posted an excellent HIV Cartogram -- that is, a map of the world where the size of each country is proportional to the number of people living with HIV/AIDS. It puts things in perspective to see South Africa, India, and Nigeria each appearing larger than North America and South America combined.[edited to correct link]Technorati Tags: hiv, aids, nigeria, india, south africa, north america, south america, map, cartogram,...
According to the Washington Post, a Baptist-affiliated treatment center in South Africa has started a program for traditional "witch doctors" known as "sangomas." The program is designed to spread HIV awareness messages through traditional medicine in the community - 80% of which consult sangomas according to WHO.A lofty goal, indeed. The program, however is contingent on the sangomas agreeing to study the Gospel of John twice a week before receiving lessons in human anatomy, symptoms of HIV infection and the function of antiretrovirals and other modern medicines.According to the Post, Nobuntu Matholeni, a chaplain at the center, brushed aside criticism. "They came to us knowing very well what we stand for and knowing that this is God's thing," Matholeni said.Living Hope is funded heavily...
Okay, taking one look at my site meter has told me that the case of Andrew Stimpson, the British man who has seemingly fought off HIV, is getting a LOT of attention, so let me take a few minutes to address what it means for people with AIDS or at risk of contracting HIV.First of all, we don't yet know if there really is anything special about Mr. Stimpson. He may simply be a lucky guy with a healthy immune system that was able to do its job when push came to shove. He took vitamin supplements, a strategy proven to help keep the body healthy against HIV for a longer period of time compared to not taking vitamins. If this was going to happen with anyone, it would most likely be someone like Andrew Stimpson.Nevertheless, the fact that this has never happened to anyone else before is a pretty...
The message for World Aids Day this year stresses the need for all to play a part in addresing the HIV/Aids pandemic. The facts are horrorfying:Around forty million people are living with HIV throughout the world - and that number increases in every region every day. In the UK alone, more than 60,000 people are living with HIV and more than 7,000 more are diagnosed every year. Ignorance and prejudice are fuelling the spread of a preventable disease.World AIDS Day, 1 December is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and AIDS.This year, it's up to you, me and us to stop the spread of HIV and end prejudice.The Thembinkosi Foundation promotes the interests of those affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa....
World Aids Day is almost upon us.For more information on this day of enormous importance follow the HIV/Aids links on this site and visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6166530.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/health/2005/aids_crisis/default.stm for recent stats on the HIV/Aids pandemic.For a more personal view of the affects of HIV/Aids visit my earlier posts - perhaps the most harrowing of which is Boipelo's Story. http://thembinkosifoundation.blogspot.com/2005/10/boipelos-story.html.The Thembinkosi Foundation promotes the interests of those affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa....
Zambia has a population of about 11 million people. More than one million of Zambians are living with HIV. Estimates put the prevelance rate at around 20%. 290 000 Zambians are in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and this is the official figure that only takes account of those who know their status. As at March 2006, an estimated 76000 people were on ART in Zambia.That 76000 Zambians are currently on ARV treatment as of now is not a mean achievement at all one when considers the circumstances. In fact it is quite a phenomenal feat. Especially when we consider that less than three years ago in 2003, during the pilot phase of ART in the Zambian public health sector, there were only 2,000 people on treatment in two centres at Lusaka’s UTH and Ndola Central Hospital. In the second phase...
THE majority of children in sub-Saharan Africa are not benefiting from efforts to expand antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, WHO has said. In a featured talk at the just ended International AIDS conference in Toronto, World Health Organisation (WHO) director of AIDS programmes Dr Kevin De Cock said 800,000 of the 2.3 million children infected with HIV worldwide needed antiretroviral drugs to stay alive. His comments followed an extensive review of progress in efforts to step up antiretroviral treatment. “Of the 800,000, only 60,000 to 100,000 are receiving therapy.While the children account for 14 per cent of AIDS deaths, they make up only six per cent of recipients of antiretroviral drug therapy and many of these are orphans,” he said. “We must conclude that the scale-up has so far...
The Zambian health deputy minister Chilufya Kazenene has raised alarm about HIV/AIDS in rural areas reaching alarming levels in the next few years if the current interventions are not scaled up as a matter of urgency.It will be very sad if some rural areas in Zambia which currently have relatively low prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS start to experience an upward swing in the spread of this virus because very little is being done to ensure that things do not get worse in the rural areas. Zambia has areas like Northern Province with 8.3 per cent infection rate and North-Western Province with 9.2 per cent but very little is being done to help these provinces push down these rates. Obviously areas like Lusaka with 22 per cent infection rates and Copperbelt with 19.9 per cent will definitely...
28th September is a big date for Zambians. It is the date of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections that will shape Zambian politics for the next for the foreseeable future. The issue of HIV/AIDS is one that many NGO's are fighting to put on the agenda."All election candidates should make clear their personal commitment to tackling HIV and AIDS because we want Zambian politicians to take a leading role in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We want them to tell us what they will do about the pandemic if we elect them to office, because they should recognise that HIV is as much an election issue as a better economy or improved education," said Felix Mwanza, project manager of Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC), a civic organisation.About one in five sexually active Zambian...
This editorial from The Voice in Botswana caught my eye. It points to a very worrying trend facing those living with HIV in sub-saharan Africa. As I've alluded to in previous posts non-adherence to treatment is a big issue in Bots!'There were two related reports that emerged at the recently ended 16th International AIDS conference in Toronto that caught our attention and hopefully the attention of every responsible citizen who don't want to see this country's human resources decimated by HIV /AIDS.These are the reports that TB strains resistant to first and second line drugs have been found among HIV-Positive people in our neighbour, South Africa and another one which states that first line drugs are no longer working for a growing number of people living with HIV who are now in need of...
Zambia has a population of about 11 million people. More than one million of Zambians are living with HIV. Estimates put the prevelance rate at around 20%. 290 000 Zambians are in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and this is the official figure that only takes account of those who know their status. As at March 2006, an estimated 76000 people were on ART in Zambia.That 76000 Zambians are currently on ARV treatment as of now is not a mean achievement at all one when considers the circumstances. In fact it is quite a phenomenal feat. Especially when we consider that less than three years ago in 2003, during the pilot phase of ART in the Zambian public health sector, there were only 2,000 people on treatment in two centres at Lusaka’s UTH and Ndola Central Hospital. In the second phase...
THE majority of children in sub-Saharan Africa are not benefiting from efforts to expand antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, WHO has said. In a featured talk at the just ended International AIDS conference in Toronto, World Health Organisation (WHO) director of AIDS programmes Dr Kevin De Cock said 800,000 of the 2.3 million children infected with HIV worldwide needed antiretroviral drugs to stay alive. His comments followed an extensive review of progress in efforts to step up antiretroviral treatment. “Of the 800,000, only 60,000 to 100,000 are receiving therapy.While the children account for 14 per cent of AIDS deaths, they make up only six per cent of recipients of antiretroviral drug therapy and many of these are orphans,” he said. “We must conclude that the scale-up has so far...
The Zambian health deputy minister Chilufya Kazenene has raised alarm about HIV/AIDS in rural areas reaching alarming levels in the next few years if the current interventions are not scaled up as a matter of urgency.It will be very sad if some rural areas in Zambia which currently have relatively low prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS start to experience an upward swing in the spread of this virus because very little is being done to ensure that things do not get worse in the rural areas. Zambia has areas like Northern Province with 8.3 per cent infection rate and North-Western Province with 9.2 per cent but very little is being done to help these provinces push down these rates. Obviously areas like Lusaka with 22 per cent infection rates and Copperbelt with 19.9 per cent will definitely...
28th September is a big date for Zambians. It is the date of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections that will shape Zambian politics for the next for the foreseeable future. The issue of HIV/AIDS is one that many NGO's are fighting to put on the agenda."All election candidates should make clear their personal commitment to tackling HIV and AIDS because we want Zambian politicians to take a leading role in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We want them to tell us what they will do about the pandemic if we elect them to office, because they should recognise that HIV is as much an election issue as a better economy or improved education," said Felix Mwanza, project manager of Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC), a civic organisation.About one in five sexually active Zambian...
This editorial from The Voice in Botswana caught my eye. It points to a very worrying trend facing those living with HIV in sub-saharan Africa. As I've alluded to in previous posts non-adherence to treatment is a big issue in Bots!'There were two related reports that emerged at the recently ended 16th International AIDS conference in Toronto that caught our attention and hopefully the attention of every responsible citizen who don't want to see this country's human resources decimated by HIV /AIDS.These are the reports that TB strains resistant to first and second line drugs have been found among HIV-Positive people in our neighbour, South Africa and another one which states that first line drugs are no longer working for a growing number of people living with HIV who are now in need of...
All profits made through the charitable side of the Thembinkosi Foundation are shared between a number of organisations we are associated with in Zambia. Later we hope to venture into Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa but as for now we are a growing organisation and we know our limitations.We are supporting the work of the Zambian Alliance of Women (ZAW). ZAW exists to promote the interests of women and children. It is committed to empowering women and does a wonderful job on a shoestring budget.We are also supporting a number of 'Home Based Care' projects. Many Zambians carrying the HIV virus do not have access to treatment and certainly cannot afford hospital care. Home Based Care projects, often staffed by individuals who are HIV positve themselves, exist to support the weak and...
Zambia has a population of about 11 million people. More than one million of Zambians are living with HIV. Estimates put the prevelance rate at around 20%. 290 000 Zambians are in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and this is the official figure that only takes account of those who know their status. As at March 2006, an estimated 76000 people were on ART in Zambia.That 76000 Zambians are currently on ARV treatment as of now is not a mean achievement at all one when considers the circumstances. In fact it is quite a phenomenal feat. Especially when we consider that less than three years ago in 2003, during the pilot phase of ART in the Zambian public health sector, there were only 2,000 people on treatment in two centres at Lusaka’s UTH and Ndola Central Hospital. In the second phase...
THE majority of children in sub-Saharan Africa are not benefiting from efforts to expand antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, WHO has said. In a featured talk at the just ended International AIDS conference in Toronto, World Health Organisation (WHO) director of AIDS programmes Dr Kevin De Cock said 800,000 of the 2.3 million children infected with HIV worldwide needed antiretroviral drugs to stay alive. His comments followed an extensive review of progress in efforts to step up antiretroviral treatment. “Of the 800,000, only 60,000 to 100,000 are receiving therapy.While the children account for 14 per cent of AIDS deaths, they make up only six per cent of recipients of antiretroviral drug therapy and many of these are orphans,” he said. “We must conclude that the scale-up has so far...
The Zambian health deputy minister Chilufya Kazenene has raised alarm about HIV/AIDS in rural areas reaching alarming levels in the next few years if the current interventions are not scaled up as a matter of urgency.It will be very sad if some rural areas in Zambia which currently have relatively low prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS start to experience an upward swing in the spread of this virus because very little is being done to ensure that things do not get worse in the rural areas. Zambia has areas like Northern Province with 8.3 per cent infection rate and North-Western Province with 9.2 per cent but very little is being done to help these provinces push down these rates. Obviously areas like Lusaka with 22 per cent infection rates and Copperbelt with 19.9 per cent will definitely...
28th September is a big date for Zambians. It is the date of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections that will shape Zambian politics for the next for the foreseeable future. The issue of HIV/AIDS is one that many NGO's are fighting to put on the agenda."All election candidates should make clear their personal commitment to tackling HIV and AIDS because we want Zambian politicians to take a leading role in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We want them to tell us what they will do about the pandemic if we elect them to office, because they should recognise that HIV is as much an election issue as a better economy or improved education," said Felix Mwanza, project manager of Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC), a civic organisation.About one in five sexually active Zambian...