July, 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic:

July 8, 2004 12:20 PM

July, 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic: "The HIV epidemic is worse than ever." "As the AIDS pandemic enters its 24th year, the number of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to increase steadily. Two thirds of infected persons are in Africa, where the epidemic exploded during the 1990s, and one fifth are in Asia, where the epidemic has been growing rapidly in recent years." A new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS shows that ""in short, the epidemic is outstripping efforts to contain it." "We're talking about more than 8,000 deaths every single day and in the war against AIDS we know the tools that work, we know the sorts of intervention that work, and if an administration is choosing other than these, and is doing less than it ought, then they're absolutely responsible." As prevention fails and more people die, some are "still insisting that only brand-name AIDS drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, most of them manufactured by big U.S. pharmaceutical companies, can be bought by beneficiaries of U.S. aid, despite the fact they are as much as five times more expensive as their generic equivalents manufactured in poor countries."
posted by fold_and_mutilate (11 comments total)

The pharmas and fundies are winning this one. And people are dying. Sound familiar?
posted by nofundy at 1:05 PM on July 8, 2004

Great post, fold_and_mutilate.

The SF Chronicle has been running a five-part series this week on AIDS in India.
posted by homunculus at 1:09 PM on July 8, 2004

I read these links and all that goes through my mind is Ball of Confusion.

What we have here is a more than tragic counterpoint to this post.
posted by Wulfgar! at 1:12 PM on July 8, 2004

Experimental drug may keep HIV in check
posted by homunculus at 3:40 PM on July 8, 2004

Why is anyone surprised that the number of people with HIV is rising??

I mean, the ones that have it are living longer (by decades), nobody is being cured, and it is a contageous disease.

I expect that this 'record number' will keep increasing every year, especially as the life expectancy of infected individuals keeps increasing.
posted by eas98 at 6:07 AM on July 9, 2004

I expect that this 'record number' will keep increasing every year....

And pushing ineffective, religious based preventative measures (as the American leadership does) is guaranteed to keep the number of newly infected increasing. Restricting inexpensive access to treatment (as the American leadership does) is guaranteed to keep the death toll and rate of infection rising.

From some of the links:

Asia Russell, from spending advocacy group, Health GAP, says the White House is railroading recipients of US aid into a failed, Christian-right policy.

ASIA RUSSELL: Global AIDS is the greatest public heath threat of my generation, and my President is... got some of the most extreme views around. That sort of combination is quite incendiary.

We're talking about more than 8,000 deaths every single day and in the war against AIDS we know the tools that work, we know the sorts of intervention that work, and if an administration is choosing other than these, and is doing less than it ought, then they're absolutely responsible. It's not enough for them to sit back on their hands and say that they tried.

PETER LLOYD: Kathleen Cravero from the United Nations didn't mention the US by name, but the message that abstinence only was a failed policy in developing nations was clear enough.

The updated statistics highlight the global disparities in deaths due to AIDS. Without treatment, it typically takes 9 to 11 years for HIV infection to progress to full-blown AIDS. A total of 2.2 million people died of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa in 2003 (accounting for 76 percent of the global total). By comparison, in Western Europe, where effective treatment is widely available, only 6000 people died of AIDS in 2003.

The WHO has set a goal of providing antiretroviral treatment to 3 million people in developing countries by the end of 2005 — the so-called 3-by-5 initiative. Even if this ambitious plan succeeds — which is by no means assured — only about half the people who need treatment will be receiving it. Despite substantial progress, there remains a large gap between the number of people in developing countries who need treatment (4 to 8 million) and the number being treated (about 400,000, as of the end of 2003, including about 100,000 in sub-Saharan Africa).1 "Dismal" would be a charitable way of describing the treatment-coverage rates in many countries.

posted by fold_and_mutilate at 12:10 PM on July 9, 2004

heartbreaking stuff, thanks fold_and_mutilate
posted by matteo at 5:50 PM on July 9, 2004

thanks, fold...if funding continues to be cut, hope for millions gets further and further away. "President Bush gives with one hand while taking away with the other. Vietnam is hoping to receive $44.7 million from the Global Fund, yet the President has proposed cutting the US contribution by 64%.
“The world is looking to the US to re-prioritize global cooperation over unilateralism. Yet, will the Global Fund continue to provide resources to Vietnam if the President succeeds with his unilateralist cuts?”
"The Congress may reject the President's proposed cut, as it did last year. But, even so, Congress is unlikely to provide much more than what the US is providing this year. France, Canada and others are already supporting the Fund, and will not make up for the resulting shortfall. As a consequence, the Fund may not be able to finance new rounds of grants next year. If this happens, the original vision of the Fund as a quantum leap forward in AIDS funding will be dead."
posted by amberglow at 1:40 PM on July 10, 2004

Experts in Sex Field Say Conservatives Interfere With Health and Research
posted by homunculus at 10:44 AM on July 11, 2004

At the brink with a global menace
posted by homunculus at 10:55 AM on July 11, 2004

really good French AIDS ads/posters
posted by amberglow at 7:03 PM on July 21, 2004