Cross posted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn@anu.edu.au
AIDS spreads to infants as most mothers fail to get treatments
By Marilyn Chase. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.21.2009
Drugs that prevent HIV in infants don't get to two-thirds of infected expectant mothers, leading the virus to spread to 370,000 newborns a year, a treatment advocacy group said.
Only 33 percent of pregnant women with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, receive antivirals, a strategy proven 15 years ago to block mother-to-child transmission of the disease, said a report released today from the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. The group blamed governments and global health groups for poor coordination, funding gaps and valuing "wealthy women over poor," said Stephen Lewis, founder of AIDS-Free World and co- author of the report's preface.
Approximately 33 million people in the world have HIV/AIDS and 2.7 million people a year become infected, according to the United Nations. In the most hard-hit countries, AIDS has shortened life expectancy by 20 years, plunged households into poverty and left behind 12 million orphans, the UN said.
"Donors talk the talk, but don't walk the walk," said coalition leader Gregg Gonsalves in an e-mail. "For millions of women, maternal and child health is about HIV/AIDS and we have failed them."
A top AIDS official at the UN, a target of criticism in the report, agreed with many of its findings.
"There has been some progress," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, in an e-mail.
"Overall coverage is still very low for this proven, inexpensive and effective intervention."
Least Expensive Treatment
Most women with access to prevention get the cheapest possible regimen for themselves and their babies — a single pill of the Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH drug nevirapine, according to the report. Nevirapine cuts transmission to babies by 40 percent and may also spark the rise of drug-resistant strains of the AIDS virus, the report said.
Boehringer provides the drug free for mother-to-child prevention in developing countries, and sells the drug for as little as 60 cents a day to treat those in poor nations who already have the disease, according to the German company