AFRICA: IRIN HIV/AIDS Update 26 June 2001

Improving drug access

FAO warns of AIDS' rural impact

Canada commits US $73 million

ILO to launch HIV/AIDS code of practice

Funds for Burkina Faso

Improving drug access

Efforts to improve access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS are gaining new momentum, UNAIDS said on Monday. A total of 58 countries have now expressed interest in access to lower-price drugs - including treatments for opportunistic infections and antiretroviral therapy.

Twenty-three countries have indicated interest in the past month alone. Eleven of the participating countries (10 of them in Africa, one in Latin America) have already reached agreements with manufacturers on significantly reduced drug prices. The process is gaining new momentum as regional groups of countries recognise the potential of driving drug prices lower through regional procurement, UNAIDS said. Countries in Southern, Eastern and West Africa are actively pursuing this option.

"A regional approach holds strong potential to expand the benefits of improved access to care, for example through the possibility of bulk purchasing, shared technical assistance and joint resourcing," said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

Governments are also devoting more public funds towards prevention and care. Some - like Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Mali, Morocco and Senegal - are allocating special funding to subsidise access to antiretrovirals for people who are unable to afford the drugs. Other countries, including Burundi and Rwanda, contribute to a special fund for purchasing drugs at subsidised prices. Countries are also directing debt relief funds toward HIV/AIDS prevention and care programmes. Cameroon and Mali, for example, have converted part of their debt into a fund for care and subsidising access to drugs, UNAIDS said.

However, access to care and treatment will remain uneven until countries are able to afford AIDS-related drugs and diagnostic equipment, strengthen their health systems with the necessary infrastructure and trained staff, and provide adequate voluntary counselling and testing services, and psychosocial support, UNAIDS said.

While significant price discounts for antiretroviral therapy have been achieved, the vast majority of people affected by HIV/AIDS remain without access to even basic drugs and medicines. Ensuring that essential care - palliative care, prophylaxis and treatment for opportunistic infections - is rolled out rapidly is as critical a challenge as making antiretrovirals more widely available.

For more information: www.unaids.org

FAO warns of AIDS' rural impact

HIV/AIDS is taking a heavy toll on food security in rural areas and slowing down economic growth rates at the national level, FAO warned on Monday.

"HIV/AIDS is a major development problem," FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said. "HIV/AIDS poses a serious threat to the food capacity of millions who are infected and their families, both in terms of their capacity to produce and to purchase their food."

In a message delivered to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, Diouf said that traditional safety nets - which contribute to food security in times of need - are breaking down in the worst affected communities, where families and neighbours become too overburdened to help each other.

"Furthermore, HIV/AIDS is affecting food security at the national level, by reducing countries' ability to import food when needed. It has been estimated that it is currently reducing annual GDP growth per capita by 0.8 percent in Africa. Many of the worst affected countries are low-income food-defict countries, and many are also highly indebted poor countries. Their difficulties in importing food are thus being exacerbated," Diouf said.

For more information: www.fao.org

Canada commits US $73 million

Canada on Monday announced a US $73 million commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS in the developing world. Of the amount, US $44.6 million would be used for initiatives in Africa.

"We must increase education and prevention while ensuring that those who are now living with HIV/AIDS have access to care," Minister for International Cooperation Maria Minna said. She clarified that the money would not be going to the UN's Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, but was for programming on the ground through the Canadian International Development Agency.

Minna stressed that donors must not divert contributions away from existing programmes to go towards the global Fund initiative led by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She added that Canada was currently discussing the amount of its contribution to the Fund, which Annan has urged should be in the region of US $7-10 billion over the next decade to effectively tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

ILO to launch HIV/AIDS code of practice

Citing new data showing some 23 million workers worldwide are now infected with HIV/AIDS, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) plans to formally launch a pioneering Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work at this week's UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

The Code of Practice will provide workers, employers and governments with new global guidelines - based on international labour standards - for addressing HIV/AIDS and its impact at the enterprise, community and national levels where most infections occur, an ILO statement said. It will also help boost efforts to prevent the spread of HIV, manage its impact, provide care and support for those living with the disease and counteract stigma and discrimination.

The key principles of the Code note that: HIV/AIDS should be treated like any other serious illness/conditions; workers, employers and governments should collaborate to promote prevention; there should be no discrimination and stigmatisation against workers on the basis of real or perceived HIV status; the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS should be recognised; HIV/AIDS screening should not be required of job applicants or persons in employment and testing for HIV should not be carried out at the workplace; asking job applicants, workers or co-workers to disclose HIV-related personal information is unjustified; access to personal data relating to a worker's HIV status should be bound by the rules of confidentially; and finally, HIV infection is not cause for termination for employment.

"The new Code is the most wide-ranging and comprehensive blueprint for workplace policy on HIV/AIDS ever developed and addresses this present situation as well as its future consequences for the world of work," ILO Director General Juan Somavia said. "The Code is not just about policy and guidelines. It is about respecting the dignity of others and learning to live with the reality of HIV/AIDS."

Funds for Burkina Faso

More than US $95 million to stop HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso was pledged at a donor round-table conference on Friday organised by UNDP. The funds would be used in the main areas of prevention, surveillance of the epidemic, care and support for the infected, as well as "multi-sectoral coordination and the establishment of partnerships", a UNDP statement said. About 7 percent of Burkinabes are HIV-positive, and the infection rate is expected to reach 10 percent by next year.

"To effectively confront the epidemic, we must first address the leadership challenge. We need to permanently alter the norms, values, and traditions that are fuelling the epidemic, especially those that perpetuate gender inequalities and discrimination against those living with HIV and AIDS," said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown.