Three articles published by the Associated Press in mid-December criticising the conduct of a trial of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine in Uganda are threatening to undermine its use in newborn babies in developing countries, according to South African experts. A single dose of the drug given to mothers while in labour and to their babies at the time of birth is known to greatly reduce transmission of HIV from mother to child. The articles, which appeared in newspapers and were broadcast on radio stations in the United States, Britain, South Africa, and many other countries, made allegations about a trial that was conducted from 1997 to 1999 in Uganda by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and subsequently published.
Equity in Health
A year after the Malawian government launched its HIV/AIDS treatment programme, the numbers of people awaiting treatment are stretching hospitals to their limits. In May 2004 the government began providing free antiretroviral (ARV) medication at public health facilities, hoping to reach 44,000 people living with the virus by June 2005.
Antiretroviral drugs are "affordable" and launching a program to deliver the medicines to HIV-positive people throughout South Africa is "feasible," according to a cost study completed by the country's national health and finance ministries.
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* Health Minister cool to drug plan
http://allafrica.com/stories/200305140990.html
The cost of a state supported anti-retroviral programme in South Africa in its most expensive year could be below R10-billion and still be highly effective, according to calculations by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT). TAC manager, Nathan Geffen, presented these figures to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health last month.
HUNDREDS of former Cape Plc workers who died from asbestos related diseases before 1968 were buried in unmarked mass graves in the Northern Cape and the Northern Province, it was reported on Sunday. According to the television report about 15 000 people, including children as young as seven, were employed by the company between 1893 and 1979. SABC said documents in its possession indicated that the company colluded with the apartheid government to continue its mining operations in SA from 1968.
As if asbestos was not enough, 72-year old Gideon Mkhonto may soon find himself worrying about the financial health of the company that made him sick. Mkhonto is one of 7500 South African asbestos victims anxiously waiting for hard-won compensation from London-listed Cape Plc, which used to mine asbestos in Northern Province and Northern Cape. His problem is that Cape the company might not survive long enough to pay him the R55000 he is expecting.
This study examines how changes in the social determinants of health have impacted health inequalities in South Africa over the last decade, the second since 1994. Information collected on social determinants of health and on health status was obtained from the 2004, 2010 and 2014 questionnaires in the South African General Household Surveys. The health indicators considered include ill-health status and disability. Concentration indices and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of change in a concentration index methods helped to unravel changes in socio-economic health inequalities and their key social drivers over the studied time period. The results show that inequalities in ill-health are consistently explained by socio-economic inequalities relating to employment status. Provincial differences narrowed considerably over the studied periods. Relatedly, disability inequalities are largely explained by shrinking socio-economic inequalities relating to racial groups, educational attainment and provincial differences. The extent of employment, location and education inequalities suggests the need for improved health care management and further delivery of education and job opportunities.
This paper examines how changes in the social determinants of health have impacted health inequalities over the last decade, the second since the end of apartheid. Data was drawn from information on social determinants of health and on health status in the 2004, 2010 and 2014 South African General Household Surveys. The results show that inequalities in ill-health are consistently explained by socio-economic inequalities relating to employment status, while provincial differences in ill health narrowed considerably over the studied periods. Disability inequalities were largely explained by socio-economic inequalities relating to racial groups, educational attainment and provincial differences. The authors indicate that the extent of employment, location and education inequalities suggests the need for improved health care management and further delivery of education and job opportunities.
This report presents a picture that is slightly at variance with many other reports on Africa’s progress towards the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It shows that progress is being made in a number of areas such as primary enrolment, gender parity in primary education, malaria deaths and representation of women in parliaments. There has also been a reinforcement of state capacity to deliver growth in many countries. If this rate of progress continues, the continent will be on course to meet a significant number of the MDGs by the target date (2015), but not all. A critical area for progress is the health-related MDGs, where progress is slowest. Interventions to accelerate progress on the health MDGs will yield significant dividend. In sum, the preconditions for accelerating progress to meet the targets of the MDGs are now largely in place, albeit constrained by inadequate resource flows and capacity in some critical areas like health capacity.
This report presents progress made since the last report in 2007, discusses how far the continent still needs to travel, at what speed, and what needs to be done further. It is an abridged version of a much more comprehensive joint Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African Union Commission (AUC), and African Development Bank (AfDB) report to the July 2008 African Union Summit. The conditions for accelerating growth and development to meet the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are largely in place. Since the last report, the number of African countries with MDGs-consistent poverty reduction strategies or national development plans has risen to about 41. Growth, fueled in large measure by appropriate policy reforms, favourable primary product prices and a marked improvement in peace and security, notably in the west and south central regions remains strong. In 2007, for example, more than 25 African countries achieved a real GDP growth rate of 5% or above while another 14 grew at between 3 and 5%. However, the continent’s average annual growth rate of approximately 5.8% still remains significantly lower than the 7% annual growth rate required to reduce poverty by half by 2015. This growth is increasingly coming under threat from new developments. Rising food and oil prices, as well as climate change, pose significant risks to the preservation and acceleration of growth and to progress towards the targets of the MDGs in the region.