Sida

New multi-country research study finds neither newborns nor their mothers are receiving appropriate treatment and care to end this needless tragedy.

Petite révolution en Afrique du Sud : la ministre de la Santé, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, largement discréditée pour ses positions pour le moins ambiguës sur le VIH-Sida, s’est vue retirer le dossier de la lutte contre le sida. Les militants séropositifs ont applaudi la décision du gouvernement Mbeki, mais réclament toujours plus de moyens pour contrer la pandémie.

Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Secretary-General’s special envoy to Africa for HIV/AIDS, has been an outspoken critic of the United States administration as well as a number of Western and African governments. He has also condemned the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for their failure to alleviate the AIDS pandemic in Africa. His views on HIV/AIDS can now be read in his new book, ’Race Against Time,’ which has just been launched. In this extract from the new book, Lewis criticises the way women have been left out of the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, and blasts the governments that often applaud themselves for their "gender sensitivity."

25 juillet 2005 - « Les femmes et les filles, une espèce en voie de disparition » : cette formule effrayante reflète pourtant la vérité en Afrique, dans les Caraïbes et en Asie en raison des ravages du sida, a déclaré l’Envoyé de l’ONU sur le VIH/sida lors d’une conférence internationale à Rio, où il a plaidé pour la création d’une agence internationale qui réponde aux besoins spécifiques des femmes.

The quicksand of quick fixes: the vexing temptation to make AIDS ’manageable’, by Hein Marais

Dubbed "Jean Chretien’s Gift to Africa" the Federal Liberal Government has introduced legislation, called Bill C-9, aimed at helping to save millions of lives in developing countries. In principle, the legislation will allow for the manufacture and sale of low cost generic drugs from Canada to nations that can’t produce their own. In practice, many NGO’s and health advocates believe the bill as worded now negates many of gains made in the fight for global health.

Canadian people must speak out to sway legislative opinion about the bill. As the bill goes to a Parliamentary Subcommittee for debate and changes, Canadians have a unique opportunity to show their lawmakers how they really feel about this bill.

’Avoid Aids, come inside’ says the sign outside the sex shop near the Durban beachfront. Just 100 meters away 500 Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) activists, from 110 branches across South Africa, were meeting at the second TAC National Congress to plan how to carry on their fight for the roll out of a comprehensive treatment plan for the 5 million people living with HIV-AIDS.

Zackie Achmat, a South African who is a leading proponent of an international solution to the AIDS crisis, was in New York last fall, just as his government at long last delivered on the demands that he and other activists have pushed for years that it develop a comprehensive treatment plan for its 4.5 million citizens living with HIV.

A rare activist-driven win for some of Africa’s wretchedly poor women, men and children leaves me humbled. In June 2002, I wrote a ZNet column’Corporate cost-benefit analysis and culpable HIV/AIDS homicide’in which the main prediction proved partly wrong within a few weeks. I have been waiting for a chance to correct the mistake. My error, excessive pessimism, was compounded by another event I would not have considered possible: the November 19 announcement that the South African government will now finally begin providing anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines to hundreds of thousands of people who are HIV+.

À l’occasion de la Journée internationale de lutte contre le sida, le 1er décembre, il sera beaucoup question de cette épidémie qui fait des ravages, particulièrement sur le continent africain. Mais la maladie progresse aussi chez nous. Si l’avènement de la trithérapie en 1996 a permis de réduire considérablement le nombre de décès en Occident, on observe néanmoins, depuis quelques années, une recrudescence des nouveaux cas de VIH.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), AIDS, the official rate of which is 5%, will in fact affect many more people, with an average of 173 000 new cases every year. Many aggravating factors, particularly the war and displacement of populations, have probably strongly contributed to the spread of HIV and other STDs. Hospitals are currently inundated with people carrying HIV. At the Kisangani hospital, 68% of the sick will die of AIDS, as will 75% of those at Kikwit. A recent study involving apparently healthy families who donate blood revealed that more than one third were already HIV positive. UNAIDS estimates that at least 90% of HIV positive people are not aware of their health status.

Fighting AIDS was supposed to show George W. Bush’s softer side. "Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many," he said in his State of the Union address this past January. He has since reconsidered, deciding instead to offer a few more opportunities to the few.

Beginning at the end of September several highly placed Liberals, including Jean Chrétien, Alan Rock, Pierre Pettigrew and Paul Martin, have declared that they are in support of changing the Canadian Patent Act to allow for the Canadian manufacture of cheap generic drugs solely for export to developing nations. This follows the WTO decision on August 31st that expands the exportation of generic drugs to nations that desire them. Still, although seen as a move in a positive direction, many health experts are cautiously watching the moves of the Canadian government.

Millions of people, the majority women, are dying needlessly of AIDS. Racism and sexism are two major factors in these deaths. So why aren’t women around the world up in arms?

Des millions de gens, majoritairement des femmes, meurent chaque jour du sida. Le racisme et le sexisme sont deux facteurs majeurs pouvant expliquer ces morts. Alors pourquoi les femmes du monde entier ne joignent-elles pas la lutte ?

Alternatives appuie une campagne qui vise une meilleure planification familiale et l’appui dans la lutte contre les MST-VIH/SIDA en faveur des jeunes /adolescents et adultes des populations des quartiers pauvres de KINSHASA.

Avec les années, le phénomène de l’héroïne à Vancouver est devenu un secret de moins en moins bien gardé. Or, la ville est sur le point de devenir la première en Amérique du Nord à offrir aux toxicomanes un lieu sécuritaire d’injection (LSI) sous supervision médicale.

On February 4th, representatives of South Asian nations - including ministers, members of parliament, religious and civil leaders, youth groups, and people living with HIV/AIDS - convened in Kathmandu, Nepal, to develop a coherent strategy for waging war against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Cases of HIV/AIDS in Canadian prisons have increased by 35% over the last 4 years according to the recent report "Action on HIV/AIDS in Prisons: Too Little, Too Late".

On ne le répètera jamais assez, le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine (VIH) et le sida continuent de faire des ravages à travers la planète. Selon ONUSIDA, plus de 70 % des personnes atteintes de la maladie vivent en Afrique subsaharienne. Un peu partout sur le continent, des bénévoles comme Fati Sawanago ont décidé de donner un coup de pouce pour soulager ceux qui en ont bien besoin.

L’Afrique est confrontée à une « double situation critique » avec le VIH/sida et les conflits concourant à menacer des vies, selon un nouveau rapport lancé lors de la 14e Conférence internationale sur le sida, en juillet dernier, à Barcelone, en Espagne.

Eight years ago Jean-Francois Boivin and Elise Roy, both medical doctors and public health specialists, took on a rather challenging and unconventional research project. In 1994, they joined forces to explore the possibility of studying the health concerns of Montreal street youth.

It is well known that Sub-Saharan Africa is dealing with an HIV/AIDS pandemic that is skyrocketing out of control. But behind the statistics, which show that in some areas one in four people are already infected with the deadly virus, is another problem - those who are left behind. The millions of children struggling to grow up without parents.

En Afrique du Sud, alors que le sida tue chaque jour des centaines de personnes, le président Mbeki refuse toujours de fournir l’accès aux antirétroviraux. Si la politique gouvernementale ne change pas rapidement, un enfant sur trois sera orphelin d’au moins un parent d’ici les 10 prochaines années.