Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 9/27/2004

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U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - ETHIOPIA: Q/A with WHO Assistant Director-General

2 - GABON: Number of new HIV infections fell in 2003

1 - ETHIOPIA: Q/A with WHO Assistant Director-General

ADDIS ABABA, 27 September (PLUSNEWS) - Jack Chow is the Assistant

Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). During a recent

visit to Ethiopia he highlighted the combined-global threat from HIV/AIDS

and tuberculosis, two of the world’s leading killers claiming 13,000 lives

a day, and told PlusNews that billions of productive dollars are being

lost from both diseases. Below are excerpts from the interview.

QUESTION: Why the need to combine HIV and TB therapy?

A. One third of the world’s population is currently infected with TB.

There are 38 million people who live with HIV. TB is the leading killer of

those with HIV and we have the ability through the provision of US $10

million worth of therapy to treat those living with TB and extend their

lives and improve the quality of their lives.

Q. Why has this treatment not been carried out before?

A. We are finding that there has been a severe constraint in resources and

technical capabilities to deliver in the field. With the advent of the

Global Fund and increased donations from countries like the US, Canada and

others, we now have the opportunity to build health systems and to

increase the pipeline of drug therapy into communities.

Q. Do diagnostics in these areas need to be strengthened?

A. One cannot treat any disease without affirming its presence in a

patient. That’s why for both HIV and TB, we are working to improve

detection so that those testing positive can get the therapy they need and

those who test negative can be provided with strategies to maintain their

negative status.

Q. And what is the WHO doing to improve TB diagnostics?

A. We have established a new TB/HIV coordinator and a working group to

knit together a comprehensive response for countries to combine the

expertise of HIV and TB.

Q. What targets does the WHO have in place to up scale their treatment of

TB?

A. Our baseline goal is detection of 70 percent of those living with TB

and 85-percent-cure rate for those who have access to therapy. For HIV, we

are working very aggressively to treat three million people by the end of

2005. For TB, we are at 37-percent-detection rate and 72-percent-cure

rate. We hope to achieve our targets within the next two to three years.

We are heartened by the success on the cure side and we believe those

targets can be reached.

Q. What is the economic impact on developing countries from these

diseases?

A. We are finding that for each of these diseases, billions of dollars

worth of productivity have been lost through increased medical care, loss

of work output and social insurance costs. So by investing in prevention

and treatment, we re-enforce health as a primary pillar of economic

development.

Q. Critics say the US pressures developing countries not to produce

generic drugs. Do you agree?

A. Well, we need both research-based pharmaceuticals, as well as generics.

We know that HIV is powerful and with each replication, it can produce a

one-point mutation in the genetic code, so we need new antiretroviral and

anti-TB drugs. We need generics to provide cost-effective care at the

community level. And WHO is committed to expanding the pre-qualification

project for green lighting safe and effective drugs.

Q. How is the WHO addressing weak health systems in developing countries?

A. WHO believes very strongly in the strengthening of health systems, such

as training public health workers and giving attention to primary care by

addressing other chronic illnesses. In addition to physicians and nurses,

we like to see a robust number of well-trained community health and social

workers. HIV and TB are not just medical problems and there are many

social factors that must be addressed, such as stigma fear and

discrimination.

[ENDS]

2 - GABON: Number of new HIV infections fell in 2003

LIBREVILLE, 24 September (PLUSNEWS) - The number of people testing

themselves for HIV in Gabon increased sharply last year, but there was a

decrease in the number of new HIV infections detected, according to a

series of survey results published this week.

Doctor Malonga Mouelet, the head of the National Programme to

Fight AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (PNLS/IST), said the surveys

showed a 26 percent fall in the number of people testing positive for HIV

last year.

" The PLNS has seen a fall in the number of people testing positive. If

this tendency is confirmed, we would be right in thinking that preventive

actions are beginning to bear fruit, " Malonga Mouelet told PlusNews.

It was the first time the number of new AIDS cases had fallen since 1988,

he added.

Malonga Mouelet also drew attention to the results of a separate survey

which showed that people were increasingly going for testing at an early

stage before the symptoms of AIDS had become apparent.

" The tests are being carried out earlier and earlier and this tendency

allows us to help people live longer, " he said.

The PLNS said a total of 11,088 HIV tests were carried out on men and

women at 27 centres across Gabon last year, up from 9,024 in 2002 and

7,330 in 2001. This represents an increase of 51 percent over two years.

The PLNS said the 2003 Sentinel survey of pregnant women who volunteered

to undergo AIDS testing at maternity clinics across the country pointed to

an HIV prevalence rate of 8.1 percent among Gabon's adult population (aged

between 15 and 49).

The survey indicated that about 50,000 of Gabon's 1.2 million population

were infected with the AIDS virus.

The central African country slashed the price of AIDS testing and

antiretroviral drugs earlier this year with the help of international

donors including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis,

France and Brazil.

Antiretroviral drugs, which can dramatically improve the health of people

living with AIDS and allow them to live longer, now cost between US $4 and

$10 per month in Gabon. They are distributed free of charge to pregnant

women and children under 12.

[ENDS]

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