Lack of financial resources, staff, and commitment from key countries, including South Africa, may hamper the World Health Organisation's goal to provide life-long antiretroviral therapy to 3 million people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries by the end of 2005. An Editorial in this week's issue of the The Lancet states that though progress has been made with 720 000 people in developing countries receiving antiretroviral treatment and three times the target number of outlets providing anti-retrovirals, the financial resources allocated to 3 by 5 are below what are needed (US$ 163 million vs 174 million), and the number of WHO staff deployed to the initiative is well below what it should be (112 vs 400).
Equity in Health
SA nevirapine rollout sluggish, says report
Political prevarication and weak management has hampered the implementation of the Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care, Management and Treatment for South Africa a new report has found. The preliminary report is the first in a series that will monitor the implementation of the Operational Plan. The report, researched and produced by the AIDS Law Project and the Treatment Action Campaign, deals with the first seven months since the Department of Health’s announcement of the Operational plan in November 2003.
SA, Mozambique sign health care agreement
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African health minister, and Paulo Ivo Garrido, the Mozambican health minister, have signed an agreement ensuring co-operation in tackling health issues affecting the two countries. South African citizens and their Mozambican counterparts will from now on have easier access to health care at both countries' public hospitals. The agreement was signed at Tonga Hospital in Mpumalanga, an area plagued by malaria. To prevent the spread of the disease, local households were sprayed with insecticides. South Africa has also donated ten tons of DDT, an anti malaria insecticide, to Mozambique.
SA: Pregnant Women Refusing AIDS Test
A LARGE number of pregnant women attending ante-natal clinics in Gauteng are refusing to take HIV-Aids tests, according to figures from four centres running intervention programmes on mother-to-child transmission.
SA: Trials Show Antiretroviral Therapy Can Benefit the Poor
According to a 'Sunday Independent' report, clinical trials conducted in Johannesburg and Cape Town have shown that despite poverty and scarce clinical resources, antiretrovirals can be used successfully by poor people. These findings come after the government's repeated refusal to offer antiretroviral therapy to all saying the majority of South Africans were poor and would misuse the drugs.
SA: Unions demand Aids drugs for civil servants
Civil service unions are demanding action from the government in what they term as a "life threatening crisis" by making anti-retroviral drugs available to civil servants who have contracted HIV/Aids as a result of their work.
SADC meeting on traditional medicine
Press statement
The SADC Ministerial Sub-Committee on Traditional Medicine met at Sheraton Hotel in Harare on 16 September 2005. With regard to legislation the Ministers agreed to encourage member states to start with the development of appropriate legislation on Traditional Medicine and that the legislation will cover amongst others, establishment of councils for Traditional Medicine, protection of practitioners and consumers including the issue of licensing Traditional Medical Practitioners.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31130
SADC Plans Integrated Strategy Against Malaria
The member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are to adopt an integrated strategy to fight against malaria. For this the organization counts on the financial support of 30 million US dollars, granted by the African Development Bank (ADB), which will also be used in cross-border interventions for other communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
SADC Regional Response to COVID-19
Southern African Development Community: Bulletin 11, SADC, Botswana, August 2020
The 11th Bulletin of the SADC Response to COVID-19 in English, French and Portuguese provides an overview of the global, continental and regional situation as well as the measures that have been put in place with the support of WHO. It reports that the COVID-19 situation continues to rise in some states in the region, destabilizing the economies and other systems, and leading to a precarious food and nutrition situation. The report provides the short, medium and long term interventions that countries can put in place to address the situation in relation to issues such as food security, transport, health and economic recovery. Transport and trade facilitation is noted to remain a major challenge while noting achievements in this, including the Tripartite Guidelines on Trade and Transport Facilitation for Safe, Efficient and Cost Effective Movement of Goods and Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic which harmonise the guidelines of SADC, East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Sambo nominated as WHO regional director
Dr Luis Gomes Sambo was nominated by the WHO Regional Committee for Africa for the post of WHO Regional Director for Africa. Dr Sambo, 52, of Angolan nationality, is currently the Director of Programme Management at the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), where he is responsible for the management and operation of the programmes of WHO in the African region.