HIV-AIDS in Africa

The Guardian runs a special section on AIDS in Africa, in particular the growing pressure on drug companies to make treatments more accessible in poor countries. Also, these articles appeared in American newspapers recently:

A continent in crisis. "As AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, become more common, the effects of the disease in Africa are spreading into virtually every aspect of society. Education is diminished, poverty is increased, health care systems are ravaged and economic development is stymied."

In S. Africa, health and hope grow. "This clinic offers a rare glimmer of hope in South Africa, which has more people infected with HIV than any other country. The vast majority of AIDS patients die here because they cannot afford the life-extending medicines more common in the West. But over the last two years, the number of private initiatives offering free or low-cost AIDS drugs has slowly but steadily increased."

AIDS took their parents, then their childhoods. "Across southern Africa, a generation of parents is dying. Many of their orphan children are heading families. Others are growing up without the traditional lessons passed down from parent to child, including the farming skills that could help them cope with future emergencies."

Focus on sexual 'hubs' helps Senegal control its HIV rate. "Prostitution was legalized in Senegal in 1969, and today the government tolerates it as long as each prostitute registers with the state, is 21 or older and regularly visits a center run by the Ministry of Health for checkups, education and medical treatment. And that's a big reason why this West African nation of 10.5 million, according to the World Health Organization, has an HIV infection rate of about 2 percent while many of its nearest neighbors face much higher rates."

HIV researchers assess work. "The world's top HIV researchers ... find themselves in 2003 working on two, sometimes contradictory, tracks. They are trying to push the intellectual envelopes of biology to find better treatments, a vaccine, even a cure. At the same time, they are trying to figure out how to use imperfect drugs invented nearly a decade ago to save their patients and millions of the world's poor. The longer AIDS clinicians treat American and European HIV patients, the more complicated their care becomes. New side effects, such as heart attacks and strokes, have emerged. The virus' ability to mutate and escape drug therapy is presenting endless challenges and controversies."

Redefining masculinity in era of HIV/Aids. "What does it mean to be a man in Southern Africa? How do young men perceive themselves as single men, husbands, fathers and breadwinners? How do these perceptions interact with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in a context of poverty and unemployment? These and related topics were discussed at a regional conference on men and HIV/AIDS held last week in Pretoria, South Africa."

Posted on Tue, Feb 18, 2003 at 11:22 AM