AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Fri, 12 Oct 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Fri, 12 Oct 2001
-----------------------------------------------

* Use of Folk Media May be Effective Means of Disseminating HIV Pre-
  vention Messages in Africa
* British Pharmaceutical Companies Say Drugs Alone Will Not Improve
  Health of HIV/AIDS Patients in Developing Countries
* Next Round to Tackle Intellectual Property Rights
* South African Mining Union Calls Anglo American Decision to Cover
  Antiretrovirals Only for Senior Staff 'Racist'
* United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Receive Centenary
  Nobel Peace Prize


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Use of Folk Media May be Effective Means of Disseminating HIV Preven-
tion Messages in Africa

In a commentary in the October issue of the American Journal of Pub-
lic Health, Solomon Panford of CARE International and colleagues de-
scribe the benefits of using folk media to disseminate HIV prevention 
information in Africa. Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh, a professor in the School 
of Communication at the University of Ghana, defines folk media as 
"any form of endogenous communication system which by virtue of its 
origin from, and integration into, a specific culture serves as a 
channel for messages in a way and manner that requires utilization of 
the values, symbols, institutions and ethos of the host culture." 
Storytelling, puppetry, proverbs, visual arts and crafts, drama, mu-
sic and dancing are all forms of folk media that are generally prac-
ticed and accepted in rural African society. Using these methods to 
convey HIV prevention information is likely to be successful in Af-
rica, where most rural people are illiterate or low-literate, because 
unlike most modern prevention campaigns that distribute literature or 
use methods that "require rural villagers to 'participate' in ways 
that are often incomprehensible to them," folk media often incorpo-
rate an oral tradition. Most African rural populations are "primarily 
listeners and speakers rather than readers and writers" and are more 
likely to respond positively to an approach that "embodies many of 
the activities, beliefs and customs" of their way of life, the au-
thors state (Panford et al., American Journal of Public Health, Octo-
ber 2001). Folk media have been used in several countries to "promote 
healthy habits and lifestyles such as family planning, adoption of 
new farming techniques (and the) use of oral rehydration therapy," 
Panford said. "The importance of the 'fit' of the communication ap-
proach to the behavior change objectives cannot be overemphasized," 
he added (Mozes, Reuters Health, 10/10). 

Creating a Model

CARE International and the CDC are working together to integrate folk 
media into two existing HIV prevention programs in western Ghana. The 
Wassa West Reproductive Health Project assists residents with family 
planning efforts and HIV and STD prevention, while the Ashanti Region 
Community Health Project, funded by USAID and the Bill and Melinda 
Gates Foundation, promotes "safer sex" -- sex that is "free from un-
wanted pregnancy, unplanned birth spacing, disease and sexual abuse." 
The Ghana project is still in the research and planning phase, but it 
will include folk media, combined with the broadcast of "long-running 
serialized radio dramas" that feature characters who will "evolve to 
adopt positive reproductive health behaviors, such as condom use, 
family planning practice, breastfeeding and early treatment of STDs." 
According to the authors, radio is a "powerful and credible informa-
tion and entertainment medium in most developing countries." In addi-
tion, radios are affordable and can be found in most remote villages. 
The Ghana project also plans to augment the radio messages with pub-
lic re-enactments by drama troupes and through the incorporation of 
some of the themes of the broadcasts into songs and stories for com-
munity gatherings such as festivals. Although such techniques have 
not been "recognized in most Western literature as the most prominent 
means of education in all aspects of African social life, the effec-
tiveness of folk media in changing negative social and reproductive 
health behaviors in rural Africa is clear," the authors conclude, 
adding that it is "therefore imperative for projects whose goals aim 
at behavior change and sustainability in rural African settings to 
recognize and use the potential of folk media for the benefit of the 
rural folk as well as project implementers and funding agencies" 
(American Journal of Public Health, October 2001).


--
British Pharmaceutical Companies Say Drugs Alone Will Not Improve 
Health of HIV/AIDS Patients in Developing Countries

In a series of meetings this week with U.K. Industry and Development 
Secretary Clare Short, representatives from British pharmaceutical 
companies said that drug discounts and tax incentives for pharmaceu-
tical companies alone will not improve drug access in developing 
countries, adding that proper health infrastructure to facilitate the 
distribution and monitor the use of such medications is just as im-
portant, Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal Europe reports. 
Trevor Jones, director general of the Association of the British 
Pharmaceutical Industry, explained that the drug industry "can't be 
banker and health service to the world," saying that money from other 
sources is needed to provide the health infrastructure to administer 
the drugs. Only a partnership between the drug industry, governments 
and nongovernmental agencies can successfully improve drug access, 
GlaxoSmithKline Chair Richard Sykes said, adding that the initial 
meetings were "constructive" (Rodgers, DJ Newswires/Wall Street Jour-
nal Europe, 10/11). Jones said that the drug company representatives 
were encouraged by the involvement of Short because she "is one of 
the few people who really understands the issues behind this" (Rod-
gers, Dow Jones Newswires, 10/5). 


--
Next Round to Tackle Intellectual Property Rights

Representatives from the ABPI, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca PLC, the 
U.K. Treasury, WHO, the World Trade Organization, the European Com-
mission, the Wellcome Trust, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ugan-
dan High Commission took part in this week's talks and are scheduled 
to meet again in January and April. Intellectual property rights and 
differential pricing, two topics that have "dogged discussions on 
[drug] access" in recent months, will be discussed at the upcoming 
meetings. A spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline said that the industry 
also continues to be "concern[ed]" over the potential for donated or 
discounted drugs to be illegally re-exported from developing coun-
tries back to the West, but added that the companies' "greater worry" 
concerned the lack of personnel in developing nations trained to ad-
minister the drugs. Short is scheduled to present a summary of the 
meetingss to U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair in May (DJ Newswires/Wall 
Street Journal Europe, 10/11). The talks were similar in tone and 
content to those recently held with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi An-
nan. Last week, after his latest meeting with industry representa-
tives, Annan said that drug companies had taken "significant steps" 
toward making HIV- and AIDS-related medications more affordable for 
developing nations. AstraZeneca has recently opened a tuberculosis 
research center in Bangalore, India, while GlaxoSmithKline has 
enlisted 15 countries in its accelerating access program, with an-
other 71 additions possible. Glaxo also announced on Sunday that it 
will permit Aspen Pharmacare, a South African generic drug manufac-
turer, to produce generic versions of three of its patented AIDS 
medications. Annan said such advances were the result of "intensify-
ing partnerships" with nongovernmental agencies, local communities 
and employers and added that more resources, political will and 
"skills from outside the pharmaceutical industry" are needed to suc-
cessfully expand drug access (Rodgers, DJ Newswires, 10/10).


--
South African Mining Union Calls Anglo American Decision to Cover An-
tiretrovirals Only for Senior Staff 'Racist'

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said Thursday that min-
ing conglomerate Anglo American's policy to include coverage of anti-
retroviral drugs only for its senior employees is "inherently racist" 
because senior officials are mainly white or members of the "black 
elite," Reuters reports (Reuters, 10/11). Anglo American initially 
agreed in November to supply its HIV-positive South African workforce 
with antiretroviral medications, but on Monday the company announced 
that it cannot afford to give the drugs to all of its HIV-positive 
workers and their spouses as promised. Anglo American's Vice Presi-
dent for Medical Operations Brian Brink said that the company would 
provide its 14,000 senior staff members with the drugs as part of 
their medical insurance packages, but said that extending that cover-
age to all employees would be too expensive (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS 
Report, 10/10). An estimated 20% to 25% of South African mineworkers 
are HIV-positive. In a statement, the union said, "Preference given 
to senior employees is inherently racist and discriminatory with 
beneficiaries of the scheme being, in the main, white workers and the 
black elite." NUM added that Anglo American's decision "puts us 
firmly in dispute with the company. Our right to strike is restored. 
But we will first engage Anglo in this regard" (Reuters, 10/11).


--
United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Receive Centenary 
Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Committee announced today that the United Nations and U.N. 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan will share the centenary Nobel Peace 
Prize, Reuters reports. The prize, named after Swedish philanthropist 
and inventor Alfred Nobel, was first awarded 100 years ago. Nobel 
Committee chair Gunnar Berge said that Annan has brought "new life" 
to the United Nations and has "risen to new challenges such as 
HIV/AIDS." Although specific U.N. committees have won the prize in 
the past, it is the first time that the United Nations has won as a 
whole and the second time the U.N. Secretary-General has won the 
award; Sweden's Dag Hammarskjold won the award posthumously in 1961 
(Doyle, Reuters, 10/12).

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The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, 
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National 
Journal Group Inc. c 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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