Bajans waiting too late for HIV tests

BARBADIANS ARE STILL AVOIDING HIV/AIDS tests and many are dying of the disease at a stage before treatment can make a difference.

A prominent figure in the AIDS fight, Dr Dale Babb, made this complaint on Monday.

She said many persons only discovered they had HIV/AIDS when they fell ill and sought medical treatment.

"We have several persons who have never been tested and are unaware of their status," she told the media. "They may be positive. They may be negative."

And addressing an AIDS conference at the Blue Horizon Hotel she stated: "We still have persons being diagnosed at a very late stage of HIV infection and many dying at that stage before treatment could effect a difference."

According to Babb, Barbados had 3 110 HIV positive cases, a total of 1 931 AIDS cases and some 1 283 deaths from the disease.

Babb, clinical medical officer with the National HIV/AIDS Programme in the Ministry of Health, told reporters: "We are still seeing about 60 per cent of persons coming (for diagnosis) at a late stage . . . "

Babb admitted that the shift towards what she called provider-initiated testing and counselling was being influenced by factors such as an increase in the number of persons living with HIV.

Source:www.nationnews.com

Bukenya Hails NGO for HIV Education in Schools

THE Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, has hailed the Uganda Program for Human and Holistic Development (UPHOLD) for implementing President Yoweri Museveni's directive on HIV/AIDS prevention in schools.

Representing the vice-president, Dr. David Muduuli, his principal private secretary, told participants at a conference held at the Sheraton Hotel, Kampala on Monday that UPHOLD had done a commendable job in ensuring that children are sensitised on HIV/AIDS prevention.

Museveni initiated the Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to Youth (PIASCY) to provide school children and teachers with information on HIV/AIDS prevention.

According to Dorothy Aanyu, UPHOLD's senior adviser on education, they procured and distributed education materials to 47 primary teachers' colleges, primary schools and the district education offices.

On Bona-Baggagawale (prosperity for all) programme, Muduuli said the Government would establish coordination and monitoring centres to ensure the public benefits from the scheme.
He advised the participants to advise the public to form groups and engage in large scale agricultural production so as to earn more from their produce.

Dr. Samson Kironde, the UPHOLD chief of party, said they have supported education activities in 34 districts. He added that they plan to improve the quality of service in primary education through an integrated education strategy.

source:allafrica.com

Government to fast-track implementation of Hiv/Aids programmes

The government is set to fast-track the implementation of HIV/AID fund programmes.

Finance Minister, Amos Kimunya the government has put in place investigations that will nab errant non-governmental and community based organizations that have been misusing funds, meant for HIV intervention.

Speaking in his office, Kimunya said the on-going investigations would see some of the organizations blacklisted.

During the signing of a 5.3 billion shillings HIV/AIDS credit agreement with World Bank, Kimunya put the organizations on notice.

Speaking at the same function, Special Programmes Minister, John Munyes said the HIV prevalence rate had dropped from over 14 per cent in 2001 to 6 percent last year.

The credit will be disbursed to Civil Society Organizations that will have undergone evaluation by the government.


source:www.kbc.co.ke

World Vision in HIV/Aids Campaign

Humanitarian organization World Vision has finished training 30 health community mobilisers to carry out an HIV/Aids awareness campaign in the district.The trainees are drawn from the sectors of Musenyi, Mwogo, Nyamata, and Mayange, and trained purposely to restore people's attention to and precaution against the scourge.

In an interview with Fred Mulindahasi Rafiki, one of the trainees and president of the association of community health mobilizers, he said the four-day training helped them to fight HIV/Aids stigma and discrimination among the victims.

"We shall use the knowledge to fight stigma and discrimination among the most vulnerable people living with the virus because stigma leads to depression and hinders people from seeking care and treatment," he said

He added that they would also encourage Aids patients to join associations of people living with the virus for care and would carry out mobilization and awareness campaigns among the youth.

Recent statistics indicate there over 1000 HIV patients in the district with about 350 on anti-retroviral therapy.


source:allafrica.com

Key HIV/AIDS Drug Patents To Be Reviewed By U.S. Patent Office

The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted each of PUBPAT's requests to review four key HIV/AIDS drug patents held by Gilead Sciences, Inc. The patents relate to the drug known generically as tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), a key weapon in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Gilead markets TDF in the United States under the brand name VIREAD and as a part of its ATRIPLA combination product. Prior Art Submitted by PUBPAT Raises Substantial Doubt Regarding Validity of Gilead Sciences Claims.

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 18, 2007 -- The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted each of PUBPAT's requests to review four key HIV/AIDS drug patents held by Gilead Sciences, Inc. The patents relate to the drug known generically as tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), a key weapon in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Gilead markets TDF in the United States under the brand name VIREAD and as a part of its ATRIPLA combination product.

Roughly 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS, including more than 1.2 million Americans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not allow anyone other than Gilead distribute TDF in the United States because Gilead claims the four challenged patents give them the exclusive right to do so.

"Every person suffering from HIV/AIDS has a right to get the best medical treatment science can offer, without any unjustified impediments placed in their way," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director. "This includes Americans infected with HIV/AIDS, who are entitled to the best pharmaceuticals possible without undeserved patents making them exorbitantly expensive."

In its March filings challenging the patents, PUBPAT submitted prior art that the Patent Office did not review before granting the patents to the Foster City, California, biopharmaceutical giant. PUBPAT also described in detail how the prior art invalidates the patents. The Patent Office has now found that PUBPAT's filings indeed raised "substantial questions" regarding the validity of each of the four Gilead Sciences patents. Having granted PUBPAT's requests to review each of the patents, the Patent Office will now turn to deciding whether they deserve to exist or not.

"We are very pleased that the Patent Office has agreed with us that there are indeed significant questions about the validity of the Gilead patents on TDF," said Ravicher. "This is a very strong first step towards ending the harm being caused to the public by Gilead's use of those patents to prevent anyone else from offering TDF to HIV/AIDS patients in the United States."

source:www.prweb.com

A man on horseback passes a Cessna from the Mission Aviation Fellowship on a landing strip at Manamaneng village in Lesotho.

The flight to this remote mountain village went smoothly until the very end, when a flock of sheep decided to run onto the grassy airstrip - straight into the path of a rapidly descending Cessna 206 Turbo.

"Dumb sheep," growled pilot Tim Vennell. Maneuvering quickly, he kept the single-engine plane aloft 150 feet farther than usual, something he'd rather not do on a strip just 1,800 feet long and nearly a mile and a half above sea level.

Seconds later, the six-seater landed, and out hopped a nurse and two trainers for caregivers of the terminally ill. And so, Vennell's Idaho-based Mission Aviation Fellowship once again did its part in a growing battle against the HIV/AIDS scourge in this battered southern African nation.
The religious fellowship has become a vital link in a new quest to improve health care for rural villagers cut off by poor or nonexistent roads. Their impoverished isolation is especially acute now, with snow painting the alpine landscape white and temperatures dropping below freezing.

The five red-and-white Cessnas transport doctors, nurses, anti-retroviral drugs for HIV, blankets, coal, food and any other supplies that can fit, including, once, live pigs. And they evacuate patients with emergencies to the capital, Maseru.

In short, the planes make possible the health project recently launched here by Partners in Health, a secular medical charity in Boston that works in rural areas of Haiti and seven other countries. The planes also make possible a support program for 2,000 AIDS orphans being led by Catholic Relief Services, which is based in Baltimore.

"We wouldn't even fathom the possibility of being here without [the flight service]," said Dr. Jennifer Furin of Partners in Health.

Since last year, the organization has begun projects here and at two other mountain health centers in Lesotho (pronounced Le-SOO-too), with seven more planned. The goal is eventually to reach 300,000 people who receive scant care and often no HIV treatment.

This village is technically accessible by car, but that requires a dangerous seven-hour trek along rutted dirt roads that snake up and over mountain peaks reaching 10,000 feet. The absence of guardrails explains the twisted hulks lying in deep ravines.

Safety aside, the half-hour flight from Maseru to Bobete saves time - and lives. "In this country, someone dies basically every 10 minutes from HIV and AIDS," said Furin. "For every hour that doctors and nurses and other health professionals are on the road, it's six people dead."

And unlike many African countries, Lesotho's HIV rate is higher in rural areas than in its few cities - one legacy of a system that sends thousands of men to South Africa's gold mines for work. About 25 percent of Lesotho's adults are thought to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; in remote areas, Furin says, it's close to 50 percent.

In Bobete during the past six months, the number of people receiving HIV treatment has soared from zero to 231 and counting. While thousands more in the region probably need the lifesaving drugs, those are 231 lives that almost certainly would be lost without the drugs and, by extension, Mission Aviation Fellowship.

MAF, as it is known, has deep roots in Lesotho. It arrived in 1980 at the government's request to establish the Lesotho Flying Doctor Service. Wholly surrounded by South Africa, Lesotho is smaller than Maryland with just 2 million people, many sprinkled around small villages established near water and grazing for cattle.

For the Protestant evangelical aviation fellowship, founded in 1945, Lesotho offered a way to spread its mission of "overcoming barriers, transforming lives, building God's Kingdom." Worldwide, it works in 26 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with a key aim of moving missionaries over difficult terrain.

In Lesotho, Vennell always pauses before takeoff to say a prayer. But in some ways, the operation resembles any small-plane charter service; fewer than 3 percent of the flights are for missionaries or the church. Many Basotho, as Lesotho's people are called, know only that the planes are a force for good.

"I just know it has brought people who are going to help me," said Mamonehela Moalosi, 22, a mother who walked to a clinic one recent morning to have her 18-month-old son vaccinated.

Today, 90 percent of MAF's flights are health-related. Two-thirds of the total is for the Ministry of Health, including regular trips for nurses who commute to distant villages for vaccinations, prenatal care and family planning. A quarter is for groups such as Partners in Health, the Clinton Foundation, Catholic Relief Services and the United Nations.

"We fly anyone involved in helping the mountain people," said Vennell, a 36-year-old Texan who studied mission aviation technology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and lives in Maseru with his wife and five children.

That has included representatives of Population Services International, which the United States pays to distribute condoms and to promote changes in sexual behavior for HIV prevention.

source:www.baltimoresun.com

Advocates plead for boost to AIDS funds

The B.C. government's $4.1-billion surplus and 2010 Olympic spending made it hard for AIDS activists and people living with the disease to swallow the health authority's claims of budget constraints at a meeting last night.

Mike Conroy, Vancouver Island Health Authority chief operating officer, told about 40 people gathered at an AIDS Vancouver Island Society annual general meeting in Victoria that there are "competing priorities" for its $1.3 billion budget.

"The choices are extensive and the pressures are intensive," Conroy said.
In a move to redistribute the health authority's $1.5-million budget specifically marked for HIV programs to the north and central regions where the need is greater, the south Island AIDS programs found themselves $450,000 short this year.

"When we looked at our resources, we came to the difficult conclusion that we could only enhance HIV/AIDS prevention and support services in central and northern Vancouver Island by reallocating existing funding from the south," Conroy said.

Funding has been frozen since 1992, said executive director Miki Hansen. After protests, VIHA gave AIDS Vancouver Island transitional money, but the agency ended its 2007 fiscal year with a $105,000 budget deficit.

"It makes no sense," Hansen said. "If there's a need for equity across the Island, put more dollars in."

Andrew Beckerman, who is HIV-positive, said in a question and answer session that he couldn't reconcile the health authority's money crunch and the province's surplus and spending.

"The 2010 Olympics benefits almost no one but real estate developers," Beckerman said. "Whereas, we have basic needs that need to be met in this province to provide food and shelter."

He inquired how "frivolities" trump basic human rights.

"We have people hungry in this province, people living in the street and as a person living with AIDS, I wonder why my life isn't valued," Beckerman said. He is financially sound, but spoke on behalf of those who are not.

Outgoing executive director Miki Hansen stressed that AIDS Vancouver Island, the Victoria AIDS Resource and Community Service Society and the Vancouver Island Persons with AIDS Society will all be caught in the potential 2008 funding crunch if transitional funding isn't maintained or core funding increased.

"What we do, people really need," Hansen said.

AIDS Vancouver Island's Victoria needle exchange, serving 2,000 intravenous drug users, needs more than $250,000 for a new building and support services.

And yet the needle exchange is just one of the ways AIDS Vancouver Island works to stop HIV infection and helps people living with the disease, she said.

"A lot of HIV-positive people never used a syringe, don't do drugs and contracted HIV through other ways," she said.

Hansen passed the executive director's torch to Katrina Jensen, amid heated budget negotiations between as VIHA and the AIDS agency.

"I'm hopeful VIHA will recognize how needed all these services are and restore the funding," Jensen said. "We certainly are not going to stop fighting."

source:www.canada.com

We’ll make condoms more accessible’

When women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury said on Monday that women should carry condoms on their person and that protection should be made available to them 24/7, it wasn't just an off-the-cuff remark. The minister meant every word she said. She has now proposed that anganwadi workers carry condoms and an elderly woman in each village or locality be designated for condom distribution. The objective: to ensure women can buy condoms any time of the day.

“It is not possible for women to buy condoms at night. There are only a few 24-hour pharmacies and most medical shops close by 10 p.m. So, the best way is to designate an elderly person who can be contacted when the condoms are needed,” she told the Hindustan Times.

Chowdhury said the idea was to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS from infected men to their wives, which is the case in many families across the country. “The best way to prevent such a situation is by ensuring women have condoms in their possession rather than them being dependent on their husbands.”

The move is part of the government’s new initiative to make condoms more accessible, affordable and available in every nook and corner of the country. “Community participation can ensure that condoms are available at the doorstep in villages,” Chowdhury said.

The Ministry wants the additional duty for anganwadi workers to be

incorporated in the restructured Integrated Child Development Scheme and is, with the Planning Commission, finalizing the new module of the scheme, to be launched later this year.

Chowdhury said the government must ensure women’s constitutional right to equality and ensuring they get contraceptives is one such right. The ministry and the National AIDS Control Authority will jointly implement the plan.

The minister had on Monday created a flutter by saying that women should trust condoms more than their husbands, and suggested that they buy condoms themselves to protect themselves.

source:www.hindustantimes.com

Enter Malaria, Another Companion of HIV/Aids

Anita Elena looks frail after months of chronic diarrhoea. "I prefer this illness to malaria because malaria kills you rapidly," says Elena, sitting on a reed mat in front of her makeshift two-roomed stick and mud home, which she shares with her husband and three children. "My older brother died of malaria five years ago. He went rapidly."

The 30-year-old Elena, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, is HIV positive and was close to death before she began antiretroviral therapy (ART) in February this year. Although she still looks sickly, Elena says, "I am much better now that I have started to take the drugs."

However, Elena is right to be concerned about malaria. People living with HIV/AIDS are especially vulnerable to the disease.

"Patients suffer more often and more severely from malaria once their immune system starts to decline and they will respond less quickly to treatment," says Albert Kilian, a senior technical advisor to the Malaria Consortium, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).

"Research in the past five years has suggested that a severe malaria infection suppresses the immune system of an HIV-positive person even more," he points out.

Some 16,6 percent of Mozambique's population group aged 15 to 49 years is infected with HIV, one of the world's highest prevalence rates. Malaria is also endemic and is transmitted all year round, peaking towards the end of the rainy period which usually starts late September and lasts until April or May.

Tuberculosis (TB) is more often talked about in relation to HIV/AIDS because it is the main killer of people with AIDS and, unlike malaria, it rarely afflicts healthy people. However, recent research has highlighted the critical relationship between malaria and HIV.

"A pregnant HIV-positive woman who is infected with the malaria parasite is likely to have more severe malaria symptoms, and runs the risk of developing life-threatening anaemia. She is also more likely to give birth to a low birth-weight baby," according to Kilian.

"Moreover, malaria appears to increase the HIV viral load and may heighten the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, although there is no solid evidence yet."

Malaria in HIV-positive children is also a major concern. It is already the main cause of death for children under five, accounting for 30 percent of hospital deaths. "Anaemia, common in children suffering repeated episodes of malaria as well as other illnesses, is associated with increased mortality in HIV-infected children," Kilian adds.

Those living with HIV/AIDS can lessen their vulnerability to malaria if they take prophylactic treatment against opportunistic infections using co-trimoxazol, in addition to taking ART if their CD4 count is below 200, explains Kilian.

In Mozambique, 53,414 people were recorded to be on ART by March 2007, according to the Mozambican Treatment Access Movement (MATRAM). It is estimated that over 200,000 people need to be on ART to prolong their lives.

The government is committed to fighting both HIV/AIDS and malaria, but the challenges are huge in one of the world's poorest countries. Over 50 percent of the population live in poverty, and 50 percent do not have access to basic health care as the nearest health care unit is over 20 kilometres away.

Although Elena has a health centre nearby, she has to go into Maputo for her ART. "I leave home at five am and usually reach the hospital at ten am, she says. "I have to walk and then wait a long time for the chapa (a public taxi). My legs hurt so much the next day."

Distributing insecticide-treated nets has proved to be an effective intervention in the battle against malaria. The government distributes free nets to pregnant women and recently has extended this free distribution to children under five years old.

In the rural railway town of Boane (west of the capital Maputo) where Elena lives, NGOs have also begun to distribute free nets to people living with HIV, but only a few have benefitted.

Celia Vilanculos, a volunteer of the local Boane branch of Kindlimuka, an association for people living with HIV/AIDS and "sympathizers", visits the sick.

"Many of the people suffer from malaria but they do not work and cannot afford mosquito nets. Only five of the ten sick people I visit have nets. I tell them to make sure that they stay away from stagnant water and keep their yards clean," says Vilanculos.

The national director of MATRAM, Cesar Mufanequiço, would like to see the distribution of free bed nets to people living with HIV/AIDS scaled up.
Many people living with HIV/AIDS die of malaria, especially in the rural areas. Most do not have nets. We talk about fighting HIV/AIDS together with malaria and TB but in practice we often treat them separately," he argues.

Elena says she cannot afford a net. "When I was well, I worked as a domestic worker. My husband is only a petty trader. My dream was always to have a good home for my children," she says, sighing as she looks at what is more like a shack.

"The mosquitoes are a big problem. My husband finds egg shells, which we burn at night to try to chase off the mosquitoes before we sleep, but it does not work well."

source:allafrica.com

Phill Wilson leads Dorchester march against AIDS

Calling HIV/AIDS in America “a black disease,” Phill Wilson, the founder and executive director of the L.A.-based Black AIDS Institute, called on participants in a small march and rally in Dorchester on July 14 to help end the epidemic in the black community within five years.

Wilson, an openly gay black man who has been living with HIV for 26 years — the last 15 with full-blown AIDS — said that while there is no cure in sight and a vaccine is probably 15 years away, the HIV/AIDS infection rate in the black community could be cut by 50 percent. He ticked off a list of actions on the road to achieving that goal: “We can increase the percentage of folks who know their HIV status in our communities. We can increase it by 50 percent. We can encourage all of our family and friends to know their HIV status. We can make sure that folks in our community are in treatment — both that they have access to treatment and that they utilize treatment.”

Wilson also cited a need to reduce the “debilitating stigma that undermines our ability to fight AIDS in our community,” and stressed the need for members of the black community to get involved. “How many churches did we pass in this march today?” Wilson asked. “Every one of those churches should be a part of this rally next year.” He told the scant crowd that had gathered outside of the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club for the rally that there should be 1000 people at next year’s rally. “Every one of you should make sure that when you come back next year you bring 10 people. Ten people.

“We need our folks to come out,” said Wilson. “AIDS is a critical issue and yes, it is a health issue, but it’s also a civil rights issue, it’s a human rights issue, it’s an urban renewal issue, it’s an issue that we have to be there for because if we have any hope, any prayer of reaching racial equality and racial justice, we have to end this AIDS epidemic. An army decimated by disease cannot fight. A dead people cannot reap the rewards of a victory won.”

Wilson delivered his remarks at an event sponsored Healing Our Land, Inc., a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS headquartered in Dorchester. The late-morning march, which made its way down Washington Street from its starting to point at Grace Church of All Nations, onto Columbia Road and down Blue Hill Avenue to the rally site, attracted just about 25 people, including Boston City Councilors Chuck Turner and Charles Yancey, both of whom represent parts of Dorchester.

Healing Our Land Executive Director Rev. Franklin Hobbs attributed the low turnout to a loss of momentum resulting from the fact that the event was not held last year. The organization, which operates on an all-volunteer basis with minimal resources, had staged similar marches for the previous six years.

Like Wilson, Hobbs called for a greater involvement in Healing Our Land’s efforts to end the epidemic, singling out members of the LGBT community specifically. “HOL is a safe place where you can come and you can raise your voice gay, straight, lesbian, transgender, bisexual; whoever you are you’re welcome to come into this movement,” Hobbs said from the stage. “In fact, you’re not only welcome but we need your voice so that we have a comprehensive movement that addresses all facets of humanity.”

Wilson offered some sobering statistics about the impact of HIV/AIDS in the black community: Black people represent roughly 12 percent of the U.S. population yet they comprise nearly 50 percent of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS today. They also represent nearly 54 percent of the country’s new HIV/AIDS cases. “No matter how you look at it — through the lens of gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic class, education or region of the country where you live, black folks bear the brunt of the AIDS epidemic in this country. When you look at youth we’re two-thirds of the new HIV/AIDS among youth,” said Wilson. “When you look at men we’re 40 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases among men. When you look at gay men we’re 30 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases among gay men. And when you look at women, black women represent nearly 70 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases among women in this country. AIDS in America is a black disease.”

Moments after he concluded his remarks, Wilson returned to the stage and interrupted one of the event organizers as he delivered a polite fundraising pitch. “It takes money and Healing our Land does not have money so we need to make sure that they have money to do the work that they need to do,” said Wilson producing his wallet. “I’m going to empty out my wallet,” he said, pulling out $40. He then implored others in the crowd to match his donation, which one person quickly did. Wilson then urged $20 donations and $15, $10 and $5 contributions. He worked his way down to 50 cents. “I know that your life is worth 50 cents,” said Wilson. A curly-headed baby in camouflage shorts toddled over to pony up a quarter given to him by his mother. Wilson kept on: “Give a brother a dime,” he urged, squeezing another 30 cents out of the crowd. When all was said and done, Wilson had raised $297.25 for Healing Our Land.

“Now does everybody feel good that you made a contribution to save your life?” Wilson asked. “Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something, okay? It’s time for us to stop waiting for somebody else to save us.”

source:allafrica.com

A new offensive in India's war on AIDS

The 2006 political declaration on HIV/AIDS in the United Nations General Assembly says that a quarter of a century into the epidemic, more than 65 million people have been infected with HIV, more than 25 million have died of AIDS, 15 million children have been orphaned, 40 million people are currently living with HIV, and millions more have been made vulnerable.

More than 95 per cent of them live in the developing countries.

The declaration further says 'we must overcome any legal, regulatory, trade and other barriers that block access to prevention, treatment, care and support; commit adequate resources; promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all; promote gender equality and empowerment of women; do everything necessary to ensure access to life-saving drugs and prevention tools; and develop with equal urgency better tools -- drugs, diagnostics and prevention technologies, including vaccines and microbicides for the future.'

The Indian scenario

The first HIV/AIDS case was detected in India more than 20 years ago, but the disease remains a mystery to many even today. Stigma, discrimination and alienation of HIV-positive people still exist in Indian society.

Even in a 100 per cent literate state like Kerala [Images], children with HIV/AIDS are prevented by parents of other children from studying in the same school.

In Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, doctors refused to help an HIV positive woman deliver her baby. She was also prevented from breastfeeding because the doctors felt she might pass on the virus to the baby. If this is the way doctors behave, how can we blame ordinary people who are less knowledgeable about the disease?

To educate every member of the society about the disease, INP+ -- the Indian Network for Positive People -- on July 9 launched an all-India campaign which will end on August 31, in Lucknow.

Fighters for a cause

It began a decade ago, when about 35 people living with HIV/AIDS attended a national workshop in Pune. Among the 35 was Ashok Pillai. After everyone underlined the critical need to have a platform for the AIDS-affected to raise and discuss the problems they face in society, Pillai came forward to run the organisation, and he was elected the general secretary.

The INP+ was formed with 12 people in February 1997. Three years later, there were more than 1,000 members from 14 states.

Today, 10 years later, the INP+ has a presence in 22 states and 126 districts, and has 82,000 members all over India.

After Pillai passed away in 2002, K K Abraham took over the reins of the organisation for some time.

R Elango has been the INP+ president since September 2006.

The organisation also has a network for women, the Positive Women's Network. The PWN+ is headed by Kausalya.

The next battle

"We want to disseminate all possible information about the disease and provide all the facilities available," Elango said about the nationwide campaign.

"We want people to pause and think why there is stigma and discrimination even after more than two decades (since the first case). People think that if you have HIV/AIDS, you will die immediately but we want people to understand that those with HIV/AIDS also can have quality life like any other normal person."

Because of the lack of information available, only 10 out of every 100 people afflicted with the disease get themselves tested.

"We want those 90 people also to come forward and get themselves tested. If everyone gets access to testing and treatment, if everyone in society is made aware of the disease, we can check the stigma and the discrimination and also control the epidemic," Elango said.

Another major reason behind the INP+ campaign is that though the UN wants to make ART (antiretrovial treatment) available to all persons with HIV/AIDS, many who are on ART have reached a stage where they are in need of the second-line treatment. As the second-line drugs are expensive, the Indian government has not started giving them out through health centres.

"Four per cent of those who are on ART are badly in need of the second-line drugs but the drugs are not available. Many people have even died because of the non-availability," Elango said.

The INP+ is in talks with the National AIDS Control Organisation to start giving the second-line drugs free of cost, as the government cannot deny treatment.

"Their target was making first-line drugs available to one lakh people. Nearly 80,000 people have now access to it but four per cent of them again need the next stage drugs," said Elango.

The INP+ plans to concentrate its campaign in high prevalence states -- like Manipur, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka -- and also the states not covered so far like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

"Till three years ago, there were not many reports of HIV/AIDS cases from Bihar, UP, MP, etc, but that was not because there were not any," said Elango. "That was because there was no awareness and no testing. That is why we plan to end our campaign in Lucknow."

Elango also said there were no high-risk groups today.

"We have educated truck drivers and sex workers and now the disease has spread to the middle class and upper classes of the society."

The Tamil Nadu success

One of the states that have successfully spread HIV/AIDS awareness is Tamil Nadu.

"Access to care, support and treatment is a must. Tamil Nadu will move closer towards what the UN wants: universal access to treatment," said Supriya Sahu, project director of the Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society, kickstarting the INP+ campaign.

In the last six months, the number of people on ART in Tamil Nadu has nearly tripled from 7,000 to 20,000, and 40,000 people have been registered for pre-ART services. The number of ART centres has gone up from 7 to 19, and the number of children on ART has increased from 400 to 1,100.

Tamil Nadu also has the highest number of integrated counselling and testing centres in the country: 730.

According to Sahu, access to ART has to be equitable. But accessibility is still a problem for many, though Tamil Nadu has the maximum number of people on ART. "Though the drug is given free of cost, we have to see that it reaches the needy, and it remains sustainable and lifelong too," Sahu said.

The scenario in high-prevalence north-eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland is different. Hence, the INP+ is planning a separate campaign in those regions, where it has to fight not only HIV/AIDS but also Hepatitis C.

Mountainous problem

Ajitshwor, a member of the Manipur unit of the INP+, has been on ART since 2004. When he first started the drug, he had to buy it, as free drugs were not available then. "Luckily for me, after three months, in April 2004, free ART drugs were given to us by the government," he said.

Though Manipur is a high-prevalence state, Ajitshwor added, the geography of the state makes it impossible to disseminate information. "75 per cent of the state is hilly. So, even to reach such villages is a task."

Similarly, although ART is available, people find it difficult and expensive to travel to get the drugs. "We also have blockades and bandhs happening all the time," he added.

Another major problem those affected with HIV/AIDS face in Manipur is Hepatitis C. "In Imphal, 92 per cent of those with HIV/AIDS have Hepatitis C also. So, just taking ART won't help the patients," Ajitshwor said.

When he first tested positive, Ajitshwor thought he would die soon. Later in 2004 when his CD-4 count went down 91, his doctor told him, 'There is no hope for you, still you can start ART.'

"But now I know that I will not die of AIDS," Ajitshwor said. "What is going to kill me is Hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is the killer in Manipur because most of the HIV/AIDS patients are or were drug users. It is transmitted through sharing of needles.

"We plan to go to every district so that information, care, support and ART are accessible to all," Ajitshwor continued. "In the cities, awareness is high but in the rural areas it is not high, so there is stigma and discrimination."

Nagaland too faces similar problems, according to Chongtie, who works as an education officer in the state.

"It is very difficult to get access to information, care and ART in Nagaland. There are only three ART centres in Nagaland. If I have to go to Kohima from a village to get the drug, it will take a day's travel. So, we have been asking for more ART centres. More than 4,000 people need ART but from our centre itself, only 360-odd people get access to ART," Chongte said.

Stigma and discrimination are also very high in a small state like Nagaland.

"Even among the educated, there is not enough awareness. We ourselves felt it. We had invited doctors to one of our seminars. The way they spoke about the target group, they made us feel that all of us were sex workers and that was how we got the disease. I worked as a nurse in a hospital and there was not a single sex worker among us. But they stigmatised us as sex workers. That is the kind of awareness we have in Nagaland."

source:www.rediff.com

350 PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN ST. KITTS AND NEVIS CABINET RESOLVES TO FERVENTLY COMBAT AND ARREST HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JULY 18TH 2007 (CUOPM) – There are just under 350 persons in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis living with HIV/AIDS.

Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, who is also the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) point man on HIV/AIDS and other health issues, at its meeting on Monday was informed that the rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Federation of 1.1 percent as assessed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre “translates to about 340 persons living with HIV/AIDS.”

The government is “resolved to work even more fervently to combat and arrest the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and recognizes the continuing need for a multi-sectoral approach with strong partnerships involving local, regional and international partners,” said Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Sustainable Development, Information and Technology, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty.

Cabinet was updated on the CARICOM/Pan-Caribbean Action Plan for HIV and AIDS Action Plan (PAN-CAP).

PANCAP was established in February 2001 by the CARICOM Heads of State and aims to scale up the response to HIV/AIDS in the Region.

Minister Carty said that in the update, matters of law, ethics and Human Rights relating to HIV and AIDS and persons affected by the epidemic were discussed in fair detail.

"The update comes as Phase 3 of the PAN-CAP National Assessment Exercise on HIV/AIDS in the Federation. In Phase 4, recommendations for legal and policy reforms will be made to the government in a draft report, after which the National AIDS Secretariat will receive a final report, in Phase 5,” he said.

The final report is to be submitted to Cabinet by August 10, 2007 and will guide the evolution of the national response to HIV/AIDS in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Photo: St. Kits and Nevis' Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and members of the PANCAP Team during an April 2005 Mission to Brazil to discuss the provision of antiretroviral drugs to persons living with HIV/AIDS in the Eastern Caribbean. (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

source:www.cuopm.com

Over 300 living with HIV/AIDS

The number of people reported to be living with HIV/AIDS within the Federation has passed the 300 mark.

"Cabinet noted the rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Federation of 1.1 per cent as assessed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), which translates to about 340 persons living with HIV and AIDS.

“The government, in today's meeting, resolved to work even more fervently to combat and arrest the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and recognises the continuing need for a multi-sectoral approach with strong partnerships involving local, regional and international partners," Minister of Information Nigel Carty disclosed as he presented the post-Cabinet statement on Monday night.
The issue of HIV/AIDS dominated Cabinet's attention during its weekly meeting on Monday.

"On the matter of health, Cabinet received an update on the Caricom Pan-Caribbean Action Plan for HIV and AIDS action plan (PANCAP). PANCAP was established in February 2001 by the Caricom heads of state and it aims to scale up the response to HIV/AIDS in the region.

“In the update, matters of law, ethics and human rights relating to HIV and AIDS and persons affected by the epidemic were discussed in fair detail. The update comes as phase three of the PANCAP national assessment exercise on HIV/AIDS in the Federation," Carty said.

He added, "In phase four, recommendations for legal and policy reforms will be made to the government in a draft report, after which the National AIDS Secretariat will receive a final report in phase five. The final report to be submitted by 10 Aug., 2007 will guide the evolution of the national response to HIV/AIDS in the Federation."

source:sunstkitts.com

Puerto Rico aims to strengthen faltering AIDS treatment program

Puerto Rico's AIDS treatment program, hit by drug shortages in recent months, will be aggressively revamped to ensure patients in the U.S. territory receive medication without delays, the governor announced Tuesday.

The program aims to provide anti-retroviral drug therapy for thousands of HIV/AIDS sufferer but has faltered recently due to a forced rationing of free medicine for hundreds of patients. Advocates blame the shortages on mismanagement.

To strengthen the island's program, Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila said some US$78 million (€56.6 million) in federal and local funds will be allocated to streamline medication disbursements and to hire 23 new employees, including Jorge Delgado Rivas, an HIV-positive doctor from California who will serve as the program's new director.

The New York-based Latino Commission on AIDS praised Acevedo and other government officials for the planned overhaul of the program.

"History is being made in Puerto Rico today," said HIV patient Adalid Castro Carreras. "We will keep fighting and make sure everything promised becomes a reality."
Acevedo's announcement comes amid criticism of the island's AIDS program for delays in treatment and mismanagement of federal funds.

More than 26 out of every 100,000 people in Puerto Rico have AIDS, a rate nearly double that of the U.S. mainland, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Intravenous drug users have fueled the increase of HIV cases in the island, although infections among married women have surged, health officials said Tuesday.

As part of the overhaul, health officials are reviewing existing HIV/AIDS cases so they can improve services, Acevedo said. A system that scrutinizes management of federal and state funds will also be created.

Last year, the U.S. halted payments to some clinics that treat AIDS patients, following an investigation into suspected irregularities in the handling of federal funds for HIV/AIDS programs. Almost two dozen clinics were forced to ration free medicine for hundreds of poor people.

The Caribbean region has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS behind sub-Saharan Africa.

source:www.iht.com

Clinton visits HIV kids in Dominican Republi

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP):

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited HIV-positive Dominican children in a hospital funded by his foundation for an up-close look at how AIDS can ravage its smallest victims.

Tuesday's visit was the first stop on an eight-day global tour of projects of the Clinton Foundation, which has several ongoing campaigns, including efforts to fight AIDS in the developing world and childhood obesity in the United States.

Clinton toured a playroom and the paediatric AIDS ward at the Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital, which an administrator said treats roughly 610 HIV-positive children and teenagers. About one-fourth are currently receiving anti-retroviral drug therapy.

source:www.jamaica-gleaner.com

Jamaica has been involved in HIV-vaccine research for the past three years.

Since 2005, the Epidemiology Research and Training Unit (ERTU) on Slipe Pen Road in Kingston has recruited volunteers for two vaccine trials. The first trials began in August 2006, and involved 32 volunteers. Two more trials are currently under way, one with 11 participants and the other with 24. These are part of a global Network, HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which operates out of the United States and has sites in that country as well as in parts of Africa, Europe, South America and the Caribbean.

The ERTU has consistently met its recruitment targets and Joy Braham, coordinator of the study, says people have been receptive to the idea of an HIV vaccine. However, The Gleaner has found that some people are sceptical about the vaccine and quite a few have never even heard about the trials.

"One vaccine fi HIV? No, mi no know nothing bout dat at all," said a young mother with whom The Gleaner spoke in Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew.

However, Braham pointed out that the ERTU and the Ministry of Health have been working to sensitise the public to the vaccine.

"Dr. Peter Figueroa (principal investigator for the trials) has been interviewed on electronic media. We have several different groups working with. There were posters in clinics and presentations to pharmacists, even though most of them didn't attend," she said. "Dr. Figueroa did presentations with university students. Articles have been written, including a series in The Gleaner. Maybe we need to go much wider in terms of targeting certain groups."

Among the persons who know about the vaccine, most of the people who spoke to The Gleaner said they hope it works, but they would rather not volunteer for a trial.

"To me, HIV is a man-made thing and I feel they have the antidote for it. Like other diseases like polio, they developed vaccine that cure or help it, so yes, it should work," said Linval Officer, a 67-year-old vendor in Half-Way Tree.

"Any study is welcome, even though preliminary studies found that it (vaccine) is not effective," said a Spanish Town-based doctor who requested anonymity. "Hopefully, something good will come out of it and the benefits outweigh the risks."

Safety concerns

He said he would be willing to participate in a trial if he had the time, but expressed concerns about the safety of the vaccine.

"As with all vaccines, some people do become infected," he said. "I know they just use certain sections of the HIV, but viruses are unpredictable."

Dr. Jacqueline Duncan, co-principal investigator for the trials, acknowledged that "there will always be sceptics", but clarified that there is no actual HIV in the vaccine, which consists of synthetic protein made to look like the virus. "HIV itself has genetic matter - nine proteins and enzymes," she said. "What they've done is make a replica of one of these proteins. It is not made of HIV, whether live or killed."

Dr. Figueroa admitted that the idea of an HIV vaccine is "complicated to explain", and sought to simplify the process of creating the vaccine by likening it to how a sculpture of a face is made: the artist makes a clay model of the subject's face, then casts it. The artist then uses the material he wishes to make the sculpture from to cover the model, he said, adding that a similar process of creating an artificial model is used when making the HIV vaccine.

Both Miss Braham and Dr. Duncan agreed that there are members of the health care profession who do not know exactly how the vaccine works.

"We have been informing different health groups," Miss Braham stated. "We find that the more information they have, the more receptive they are."

Unfamiliar with facts

Dr. Figueroa also said many doctors are not familiar with the basic facts of the vaccine trials and that they should liken the vaccine to similar ones that have eliminated polio, rubella and diphtheria, among other chronic diseases.

"You would think they would use the analogy of childhood vaccines that have transformed child health care. If they would just make the analogy, they would see the value of a preventive HIV vaccine," he said.

Dr. Figueroa also pointed out that the lack of knowledge and subsequent negative attitude towards the vaccine is a "big challenge" to the trials. "What you find is that there is a lot of stigma to anything with HIV," he said. "People react emotionally. When I'm explaining to different groups, there are individuals who say they are not interested, but in every group, I've found that there are people who are quite open to participating in the trials and learning more about the vaccine."

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) website - www.iavi.org - which Dr. Figueroa recommends to anyone seeking information on HIV vaccine development, states: "Even partially effective vaccines could make a difference by protecting some vaccinated individuals against HIV infection; reducing the probability that a vaccinated individual who later becomes infected will transmit the infection to others; or slowing the rate of progression to AIDS for those who later become infected with HIV."

Dr. Duncan believes the HIV vaccine trials are important because, over the years, the behaviour change necessary to stop the spread of HIV has not occurred, so a vaccine could have the greatest impact on HIV prevention. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that, in 2004, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death for both young men and women aged 15-24 years old in Jamaica, and was a leading cause of death among Jamaica's children as well. There are over 500 children living with HIV, most of them born to HIV-positive mothers. It is also estimated that 25,000 Jamaicans are living with HIV and, since 1982, a total of 6,437 AIDS cases have been reported.

source:www.jamaica-gleaner.com

AIDS control needs help of all

China will continue to pool together its resources from the ground up in its battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Vice-Minister of Health Wang Longde said yesterday.

Grassroots organizations have to be mobilized to the fullest extent to get AIDS under control, Wang said after receiving a UNAID award acknowledging his leadership in China's fight against the disease.

"My award owes to the government's policy to make AIDS containment a priority in China," he said.
Another UNAID award went to Professor Zhang Beichuan with Qingdao University, China's leading scholar in the field of studies in homosexuality, for his ground-breaking work in raising HIV awareness among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Wang said: "In a sense, grassroots organizations committed to HIV/AIDS response and control are better received than the government by high-risk groups and are an indispensable force in the war against the deadly disease."

UNAIDS executive director Dr Peter Piot, on a weeklong visit to China said joint efforts of different social forces, primarily civil societies, were crucial for a successful war against AIDS.

"China might just be turning the corner on AIDS hence sustainable leadership, funds, and efforts are of great importance," Piot said.

A new "UN joint program on AIDS" has been launched to enhance coordination with the Chinese government, Piot said.

source:www.chinadaily.com.cn

Journalists flood Australia for AIDS conference

SYDNEY, Australia - Fifty-one journalists from 26 countries have been granted fellowships by the National Press Foundation in Washington, United States to attend a four-day training session here in Australia, in preparation for the fourth International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention.

The conference, which is slated to run from July 22 to 25, will have more than 5,000 delegates, including some of the world's leading HIV/AIDS researchers and medical professionals from 130 countries around the world.
About 350 media professionals have also registered to cover the three- day event.

Dr David Cooper, leading HIV clinician and past president of the IAS, the world's leading independent association of HIV/AIDS professionals and principal organiser of the conference, said the event will cover basic science, clinical science and prevention science as it relates to the disease.

Cooper said conference organisers have received a record number of abstracts for presentation, with 3,000 already approved.

Jamaica will be among the countries approved for an abstract presentation, and will also mount posters at the conference.

Dr Tracy Evans, a paediatrician from the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, the western Jamaica city, told the Observer that she will be exhibiting a poster presentation on children with HIV in St James.

Cooper said the conference will cover basic research as well as the clinical outcomes. "It will cover things such as looking on the virus on the immune system in the laboratory and in test tubes and try to work out why the virus is doing what it is doing to the cells of the body," he said.

"Then there are the clinical scientists who look at people with HIV and the clinical outcomes and also there is the group of prevention scientists that look at the scientific aspects of the prevention of HIV and how to get more out of it," added Evans.

At the same time, Bob Meyers, president of the National Press Foundation, told the Observer that the intended purpose for having the 'Journalist 2 Journalist' HIV training prior to the start of the conference is to allow for a preview of the very scientific and medical sessions to be encountered at the conference.

"This is to help journalists from around the world, especially from developing countries, prepare to cover the IAS conference and so a lot of what we are doing will be previewing the very scientific and medical sessions to be encountered next week," he said.

Topics to be covered during the conference will include the HIV vaccine research, new antiretrovirals (ARVs) coming on stream for both adults and children, and microbicide, a biomedical preventative method currently on trial to protect women against sexually transmitted infection, including HIV.

The gel-like substance when inserted into the vagina is expected to form a barrier against the HIV virus, allowing women who are unable to negotiate condom use with their partners an opportunity to protect themselves. The trial which started four years ago could be ready for mass usage as early as 2008.

source:www.jamaicaobserver.com

Death Sentence for Medical Workers in HIV Infection Case

Libya's Supreme Judicial Council on Tuesday commuted the death sentences of six medical workers who were sentenced for allegedly intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, the New York Times reports (Smith, New York Times, 7/18).

The five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor in May 2004 were sentenced to death by firing squad for allegedly infecting 426 children with HIV through contaminated blood products at Al Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya. They also were ordered to pay a total of $1 million to the families of the HIV-positive children. The Libyan Supreme Court in December 2005 overturned the medical workers' convictions and ordered a retrial in a lower court. A court in Tripoli, Libya, in December 2006 convicted the health workers and sentenced them to death. The medical workers then filed an appeal of the December 2006 conviction with the Libyan Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction earlier this month.

The Gaddafi Development Foundation -- which is headed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi -- confirmed on Sunday that the families of the children accepted a compensation package of about $460 million (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/17).

The judicial council -- which can approve or cancel the Supreme Court's conviction of the medical workers or issue a less serious sentence -- reduced the sentence to life in prison after each family received the compensation package, the Los Angeles Times reports. Idriss Lagha, head of the Association for the Families of HIV-Infected Children, on Tuesday confirmed that each family had received the payment. According to Lagha, the families' acceptance of the compensation implies that they have abandoned their complaint against the medical workers and their call for the workers' execution.

Lagha indicated that the money was being transferred through an international fund supported by several countries -- including Bulgaria and other Balkan nations -- the European Union and the U.S. The fund allows countries to provide money without directly paying the families, according to the Los Angeles Times (Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 7/18). However, it remains unclear "where the money paid to the families came from," the New York Times reports. Seif al-Islam Gaddafi has indicated that Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia forgave some of Libya's debt, freeing funds that were part of the compensation package. But the governments of those countries have denied the claim, according to the New York Times. Bulgaria has committed to participate in the international fund (New York Times, 7/18).

Reaction

The commutation of the sentence could "pave the way" for an agreement to extradite the medical workers to Bulgaria, where they likely will be released, the New York Times reports (New York Times, 7/18). Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin during a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, said, "For us, the case will be over after the Bulgarian women come home," adding, "We are ready to start work on the transfer immediately" (Los Angeles Times, 7/18). According to Dimiter Tzantcev, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Bulgarian institutions already have "started the procedural steps needed for the transfer," and the "formal request" will be made on Thursday.

Libya Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said his government most likely will grant the request, but he did not give a date. "Issuing this decision automatically closes the legal case against them," Shalqam said, adding, "There is a legal cooperation agreement between Libya and Bulgaria, and we don't mind that the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor benefit from it" (New York Times, 7/18). Department of State spokesperson Sean McCormack said the U.S. is "encouraged" by the council's decision, adding, "We urge the Libyan government to now find a way to allow the medics to return home" (Sullivan, Washington Post, 7/18). "The fact that (Libya's) High Judicial Council did not uphold the death sentence is a first relief," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and E.U. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a joint statement. They added, "However, our objective is a solution which allows for the departure of the Bulgarian and Palestinian medical personnel from Libya and their transfer to the E.U. as soon as possible"
UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot on Tuesday praised China's efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS but said that the country still faces "big challenges" in combating the disease, Reuters reports. According to Piot, the country has made progress in increasing access to antiretroviral drugs, and the government and society are increasingly willing to address China's HIV/AIDS situation. "I've been coming to China for 14 to 15 years, and I can say that the first five, six years there was basically no receptivity," Piot said, adding, "Now, today, a lot is going on. Systems are being put in place. I think it's really different." There also is "strong leadership" in China, Piot said, adding, "The education is there. There is money, drugs. I think key obstacles are the size of the country and that everyone needs to know" about the issue.

source:allafrica.com

World struggling to treat HIV-AIDS - report

Global AIDS treatment will fall far short of a universal target to have five million people being treated by 2010, due to a continued lack of access to drugs by many of the world's impoverished people, said a new report.

The report analysing AIDS treatment in 17 countries and titled "Missing the Target" said free HIV treatment was actually not free in many poor countries
Free treatment is not truly free in most countries surveyed," said Gregg Gonsalves from the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, which released the report on Wednesday.

"Charges for diagnostic tests, medical care and other services are putting lifesaving care out of the reach of many thousands of people," Gregg said in a statement.

Although 700,000 more people with HIV received treatment in 2007, the pace needed to accelerate, said the coalition, which represents activists in more than 125 countries.

"Tripling the annual growth rate of treatment access from today's 700,000 to 2 million new people on treatment each year is both possible and necessary to meet the G8 commitment of coming close to universal access by 2010," said the coalition's report.

The United Nations says close to 40 million people are infected with the AIDS virus and that treatment had dramatically expanded from 240,000 people in 2001 to 1.3 million by 2005.

In June, world powers at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany set a target of providing AIDS drugs over the next few years to approximately 5 million people.

STIGMA, MARGINALISED

While increasing numbers of people were being treated for HIV, the latest report said there remained serious challenges with marginalised people, inequitable access to care for rural populations and children, a lack of transportation, the stigma of being diagnosed and the high cost of drugs.

Cambodia, which has some 134,000 people with HIV, was a "success story" in increasing treatment, it said. AIDS drugs only became available in Cambodia in 2004 and there were now 40 centres treating some 21,900 people.

But the report said there was still a "large but silent minority" of marginalised people, such as sex workers, Vietnamese citizens living in Cambodia and people in remote areas and slums, who still did not receive treatment.

"Many of these individuals...are reluctant to seek out health services in general because of fear of stigma and discrimination, if not harassment," it said.

China's free treatment programme, started four years ago, had expanded rapidly from August 2006 when 26,000 people were treated to 30,000 by June 2007, said the report. But this was a small percent of the official 650,000 people with HIV in China.

Major obstacles in China to treatment were stigma and a "prohibitively expensive" test to confirm diagnosis, along with a lack of drugs and trained medical staff, it said.

India has one of the world's largest populations living with HIV-AIDS, about 2.5 million people, but as of 2007 only 70,780 people were being treated through 107 centres, said the report.

"Clearly, therefore, only a fraction of those needing treatment are receiving it now or can hope to receive it in the next half a decade," said the report.

South Africa, the epicentre of the AIDS epidemic with 5.5 million people with HIV, was also struggling to treat people.

As of 2007 some 257,100 patients were receiving drugs at specialist centres, with 30,000 on waiting lists, and up to 110,000 people being treated privately, said the report.

The report said South Africa had a long way to go meet its goal of treating 80 percent of new AIDS cases by 2011.

"Treatment delivery is working and there can be no more excuses for losing this momentum or letting millions die of AIDS," said Zackie Achmat of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign.

source:africa.reuters.com