Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 26 Nov 2001
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* Human Rights Watch Asks Mbeki to 'Take Urgent Action' in Fight
Against HIV/AIDS
* AIDS Activists in Brussels Call on Global Fund to Disperse Money
for Treatment 'Immediately'
* New York Times Begins Series on 'Death and Denial' in South African
Town of Hlabisa
* Hearing Begins Today for Lawsuit Between Treatment Action Campaign
and South African Government
Human Rights Watch Asks Mbeki to 'Take Urgent Action' in Fight
Against HIV/AIDS
New York-based Human Rights Watch last week sent a letter to South
African President Thabo Mbeki, calling on him to "take urgent action"
in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic "sweeping" his country,
the Associated Press reports. Mbeki has been widely criticized for
his skepticism about the causal link between HIV and AIDS and for his
government's refusal to provide antiretrovirals to pregnant women to
prevent vertical transmission. The Human Rights Watch said in its
letter, "The continued refusal of your government to ... support the
provision of the low-cost treatment for prevention of mother-to-child
transmission, along with public statements that sow confusion about
the scientific basis for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs,
are acts of injustice against your people." The letter also stated
that while "many governments [are] guilty of inaction" in fighting
AIDS, South Africa "has gone one step further by actively undermining
proven AIDS treatments." In addition, the letter requested that South
Africa drop its opposition to a lawsuit by the Treatment Action Cam-
paign to make AIDS drugs available to HIV-positive pregnant women.
For its part, the government has "repeatedly" stated its response to
AIDS "has been appropriate" (Associated Press, 11/21).
--
AIDS Activists in Brussels Call on Global Fund to Disperse Money for
Treatment 'Immediately'
AIDS activists held a news conference on Thursday in Brussels to "de-
man[d]" that more money from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tubercu-
losis and Malaria be allocated immediately for treatment, the Wall
Street Journal Europe reports. "Money should be allocated immediately
to treatment programs that already exist and to health care structure
where there are professional medical providers and empty medical
cabinets," Sharonann Lynch of the Health GAP Coalition said, adding
that fund administrators are "focusing on improving overall health
care systems while 10,000 people a day are dying because of lack of
drugs." The fund, which is estimated to need $7 billion to $10 bil-
lion annually to fight the three diseases in the developing world,
has so far received pledges of more than $1.4 billion, but plans are
not yet in place for how the funds will be administered. "They (the
Global Fund) are too slow, they are losing political goodwill and
they are showing no visible signs of commitment to provide antiretro-
viral (drugs) to poor people," Zackie Achmat, chair of South Africa's
Treatment Action Campaign, added. Macharia Kamau, a member of the
group overseeing the administration of the fund, said the activists'
concerns are "legitimate," but added that his group is still trying
to determine how the fund will "operate and how it will work." He
said that the fund "will and can support antiretroviral drugs," add-
ing that disbursement of the money will depend on "demands at country
level." Such demands "will help the fund determine what it should,
can fund," Kamau said (Louis, Wall Street Journal Europe, 11/23).
--
New York Times Begins Series on 'Death and Denial' in South African
Town of Hlabisa
The New York Times yesterday began a series, titled "Death and De-
nial," that examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the South African town
of Hlabisa, located in the KwaZulu Natal Province, which has the
highest adult rate of HIV in South Africa. Of the district's 250,000
residents, 50,000 are thought to be HIV-positive. The first article
in the Times series reports that the "culture of denial" of the dis-
ease -- which has been "compounded" by South African President Thabo
Mbeki's refusal to acknowledge the extent of the AIDS problem -- has
"taken hold" in Hlabisa. Many traditional leaders and politicians
still believe that the disease affects primarily whites and foreign-
ers; professional men "boast" about extramarital affairs and the
"pleasures of unprotected sex"; and some church leaders "burn condoms
and assail people with the virus as sinners" (Swarns, New York Times,
11/25). The second article in the series today examines Hlabisa Hos-
pital, where staffing shortages and lack of resources complicate the
treatment of AIDS patients. Five hundred people took HIV tests at the
hospital between Jan. 1 and June 30 this year, with 63% testing HIV-
positive. According to the Times, the number of patients at the hos-
pital has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, as HIV "swept" across
the province (Swarns, New York Times, 11/26). The Times series will
continue with stories about caregivers, migrant workers, teenagers,
prostitutes and a Zulu healer (Swarns, New York Times, 11/25).
--
Hearing Begins Today for Lawsuit Between Treatment Action Campaign
and South African Government
The court case brought by the South African AIDS group Treatment Ac-
tion Campaign to require the South African government to provide
nevirapine to prevent vertical HIV transmission began today in the
Pretoria High Court, the Agence France-Presse/Washington Times re-
ports. TAC, the Children's Rights Center and Haroon Saloojee, a phy-
sician in charge of community pediatrics at the University of the
Witwatersrand, filed the suit in an effort to force the South African
government to provide nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women
(Keeton, Agence France-Presse/Washington Times, 11/26). The three
parties are suing the South African National Department of Health and
eight of nine provincial health ministers, alleging that government
health officials are "violating [AIDS] sufferers' constitutional
right to life and health care" by not providing the antiretroviral
drug nevirapine to the nation's pregnant women to reduce the risk of
vertical transmission (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/21). The suit
is "demand[ing]" that the government make nevirapine available at all
public hospitals and health clinics. In addition, the lawsuit is ask-
ing the government to plan and implement a national program to pre-
vent vertical transmission. The plaintiffs are asking that the pro-
gram be created within three months and that it include voluntary
HIV/AIDS counseling and testing, the provision of nevirapine "where
appropriate" and a supply of formula to prevent HIV transmission
through breastfeeding. The lawsuit has received support from more
than 150 health professionals, trade unions, religious organizations
and human rights groups. South African Health Director-General Avanda
Ntsaluba submitted an affidavit defending the government's approach
to preventing vertical transmission. Noting that the government has
allocated $2.5 million this year to vertical transmission-related re-
search, Ntsaluba said that the government's vertical transmission
program is a "cautious" one that includes "a rigorous view of safety
issues and effectiveness." The case will be heard today and tomorrow
in Pretoria (Agence France-Presse/Washington Times, 11/26).
Wider Significance
The Baltimore Sun reports that the case between TAC and the South Af-
rican government is "about more than public access to a drug," and is
instead indicative of a challenge by AIDS activists to the govern-
ment's position on AIDS itself. Earlier this year, a debate erupted
over a report by South Africa's Medical Research Council stating that
AIDS-related causes are the leading cause of death among South Afri-
cans (Murphy, Baltimore Sun, 11/26). Before heading to the court in
Pretoria, approximately 300 AIDS activists marched to the South Afri-
can Ministry of Health today to demand that the government "drop its
objections to antiretroviral drugs" (Reuters/Contra Costa Times,
11/26). The Sun reports that if TAC wins this case, the lawsuit "may
establish a legal foundation for AIDS activists pressuring government
to provide" antiretrovirals to all HIV-positive South Africans. Mark
Heywood, national secretary of TAC, said, "We have never confined our
demands to mother and child transmission. We firmly hold the view
that whilst there is value in saving the child's life, there is equal
value in saving, prolonging and improving the mother's life and fa-
ther's life" (Baltimore Sun, 11/26).
--
The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org,
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National
Journal Group Inc. (c) 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
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