PHA-Exchange> Fw: UN General Assembly: addressing AIDS as a Public Health Crisis

[Claudio]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Claudio" <aviva at netnam.vn>
To: "pha-exch" <pha-exchange at kabissa.org>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 8:28 PM
Subject: UN General Assembly: addressing AIDS as a Public Health Crisis


> From: "Peter Weis" <weisp at who.int>
> > UN General Assembly: addressing AIDS as a Public Health Crisis
> > -------------------------------------------------------> Turning the
Tide
> >
> > By Lee Jong Wook and Peter Piot
> >
> > Today and every day this year, AIDS will kill more than 8,000
> > people. Almost all of them will die in poor countries in Africa.
> > Most will come to the end of their lives with no treatment and
> > very little care, not even to relieve their pain.
> >
> > No natural disaster or armed conflict claims so many lives. Yet
> > the world has failed to respond to this global emergency. Medi-
> > cines that can treat HIV now cost less than $1 a day -- but they
> > are still not getting where they're needed most. Of the 5 million
> > to 6 million HIV-positive people in poor nations who urgently
> > need antiretroviral drugs, only 300,000, just 5 percent, are get-
> > ting them. This is truly one of the great human rights and public
> > health crises of our times.
> >
> > Today, at a special session of the United Nations General Assem-
> > bly, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS will announce
> > plans to work with key partners -- including governments and
> > civil society; other U.N. agencies; multilateral donors such as
> > the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
> > and Malaria; the private sector; and people living with HIV -- to
> > meet the goal of delivering antiretroviral treatment by the end
> > of 2005 to 3 million people living with HIV in developing coun-
> > tries.
> >
> > There is no longer any doubt that providing widespread access to
> > AIDS treatment is practical and achievable. Price is no longer an
> > excuse. Several major pharmaceutical companies have dramatically
> > reduced AIDS drug prices, and generics are pushing prices even
> > lower. Antiretroviral drugs work as well in the developing world
> > as they do in rich nations, and patients in poor countries are no
> > different from patients in the rich world in adhering to their
> > treatment regimens.
> >
> > Nations such as Brazil have proven that it is possible to contain
> > AIDS in developing countries. The Brazilian AIDS program, which
> > provides free antiretrovirals for every patient in need, more
> > than pays for itself through a dramatic reduction in AIDS deaths
> > and hospitalizations, a slowed HIV transmission rate and other
> > public health gains. National AIDS treatment programs are also
> > springing up in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. But
> > it is time for the global community to come together to dramati-
> > cally scale up this effort.
> >
> > Toward this end, WHO and UNAIDS will invite our partners, includ-
> > ing nongovernmental organizations, to join us in sending emer-
> > gency response teams to countries most severely affected by AIDS.
> > These teams will support governments and civil society in imple-
> > menting simple, effective systems and regimens to quickly and
> > dramatically increase the availability of antiretroviral treat-
> > ment in these countries, and to ensure it reaches the people who
> > need it most.
> >
> > We will establish a new, centralized facility through which coun-
> > tries can purchase high-quality, low-priced medicines and patient
> > monitoring technology as part of a program that also tracks drug
> > access and monitors the emergence of HIV drug resistance. We will
> > also announce plans to massively increase training for HIV medi-
> > cal personnel and for community workers and volunteers who de-
> > liver treatment in the developing world. And WHO will disseminate
> > standardized treatment approaches that will simplify AIDS care
> > and help health officials expand treatment.
> >
> > Of course, providing treatment to those infected does not replace
> > the need to prevent HIV infection in the first place. On the con-
> > trary, we have learned that the two approaches work hand in hand.
> > The availability of treatment reinforces prevention, encouraging
> > those at risk to learn their HIV status, receive counseling and
> > care, and become informed about how to prevent the spread of the
> > virus.
> >
> > Responding to the AIDS treatment crisis will require a substan-
> > tial investment by both donor and affected nations. But while the
> > investment will be large, the benefits are almost incalculable.
> > The framework that is put in place to provide care for AIDS can
> > also advance care for tuberculosis, malaria and the other great
> > killers that plague the developing world.
> >
> > Lack of access to care for the treatment of AIDS is one of the
> > greatest public health crises the world faces today. We can re-
> > spond by providing lifesaving medicines to those in need, build-
> > ing a better public health system in the process. We are pledged
> > to work with all our partners -- governments, nongovernmental or-
> > ganizations and people living with HIV -- to achieve this goal.
> >
> > Lee Jong Wook is director general of the World Health Organiza-
> > tion. Peter Piot is executive director of UNAIDS.
> >
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> >
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> >
> > © 2003 The Washington Post Company
> >
> > --
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