AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 12 Nov 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 12 Nov 2001
-----------------------------------------------

* Members of Congress, NGOs, Pop Stars Call on Bush to Appropriate
  US$ 1.2B in Emergency Spending to International AIDS Fund
* AIDS-Related Deaths Among South African Teachers Increased 40% Last
  Year
* Thousands Demand Death Penalty for Six South African Men Accused of
  Raping Infant, Likely Due to HIV 'Virgin' Myth
* In Compromise, WTO Negotiators Agree TRIPS 'Shall Not Prevent' Mem-
  bers From Taking Public Health Protection Measures
* Swazi King Pays Fine For Violating Sex Ban


Members of Congress, NGOs, Pop Stars Call on Bush to Appropriate US$ 
1.2B in Emergency Spending to International AIDS Fund

More than 70 members of Congress, 130 non-governmental organizations 
and 35 pop stars on Wednesday urged President Bush and Congress to 
earmark US$ 1.2 billion in emergency funds for the Global Fund to 
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The United States has so far 
contributed US$ 250 million to the fund, which is estimated to need 
between US$ 7 billion and US$ 10 billion annually. Speaking at a 
press conference in Washington, D.C. yesterday to announce the ef-
fort, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who has spearheaded the movement 
for more money in the House, said, "Today, we present an opportunity 
for the United States to further its commitment to [fighting HIV/AIDS 
in the developing world] by providing more resources to the global 
AIDS fund." More than 60 members of the House have signed a letter to 
Bush, proposed by Lee, asking that the emergency appropriation be 
made this fiscal year. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has lead a similar 
campaign in the Senate. Yesterday, Leahy cited the severity of the 
international AIDS crisis when calling on Bush and his congressional 
colleagues to give the fight against disease the "priority it de-
serves." Leahy noted that the United States has "responded with great 
urgency to the attacks of Sept. 11th, but we and the world have yet 
to mobilize to combat AIDS, the worst public health emergency in half 
a millennium. Far more resources are needed to prevent the deaths of 
tens of millions of people." 

AIDS Threatens Security, Stability

More than 130 non-governmental organizations, including the Global 
AIDS Alliance, the African Faith and Justice Network, the American 
Nurses Association and Physicians for Human Rights, also sent letters 
to Bush requesting emergency aid. "Those of us working in Africa to 
stop AIDS welcome this determined effort, which all Americans should 
join," Chatinkha Nkhoma, Africa program director for GAA, said. The 
GAA also noted that the Central Intelligence Agency has listed AIDS 
and other infectious diseases as a "major threat to stability and se-
curity" in affected regions, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, where 
TB is prevalent. 

Africa is AIDS 'Ground Zero' 

Thirty-five recording artists affiliated with Artists Against AIDS 
Worldwide also sent letters to members of Congress asking them to 
join Lee and Leahy's campaign. The artists, including Bono of U2, 
Destiny's Child, Britney Spears and Wyclef Jean, recently recorded 
several renditions of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" to benefit AIDS 
programs in Africa and the Sept. 11th fund. Gaye's daughter, actress 
and singer Nona Gaye, said that the song should serve as a "wake up 
call to President Bush and our Congress" (Global AIDS Alliance re-
lease, 11/7). Gaye, speaking at the press conference yesterday on 
Capitol Hill, said the "real issue is that AIDS has been a major pan-
demic for years now," adding that Africa was "ground zero" for the 
epidemic (Grove, Washington Post, 11/8).


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AIDS-Related Deaths Among South African Teachers Increased 40% Last 
Year

AIDS-related deaths among South African teachers increased by more 
than 40% in the last year, according to a report compiled by the 
South African Democratic Teachers Union and published in the latest 
issue of the union's newspaper, the Educators' Voice, the Johannes-
burg Sunday Times reports. One thousand and eleven teachers died of 
AIDS-related complications such as pneumonia and cryptococcal menin-
gitis between June 2000 and May 2001, according to statistics re-
ported to the funeral scheme of South Africa's largest teachers' un-
ion, with 216,000 members. Because doctors cannot legally list AIDS 
as a cause of death, most of the teachers officially died of AIDS-
related opportunistic infections. The average age of the teachers at 
the time of death was 39. According to the union's first survey, 701 
teachers died between August 1999 and May 2000. 

'Break the Silence'

The statistics also show that deaths among female primary school 
teachers outnumbered deaths among men in five of the country's nine 
provinces. The report cited the "inability of women to insist on the 
use of condoms" as a factor in their higher death rate. SADTU Media 
Officer Hassen Lorgat said that the study demonstrated that the 
teaching profession is "in a crisis," adding that teachers need to 
"break the silence on HIV." SADTU President Willie Madisha said that 
the government needs to reevaluate its teacher training programs be-
cause many teachers are dying "even before [they] can share their 
skills" (Govender, Johannesburg Sunday Times, 11/4). "The death of 
teachers has serious implications for education planning and provi-
sioning ... But challenging a recalcitrant government can only be one 
part of union strategy. We must do whatever we can to help our mem-
bers and society at large," the union said in a statement (South Af-
rican Press Association, 11/4). Kgobati Magome, the Education Depart-
ment's HIV/AIDS program coordinator, said the department recently 
discussed decreasing teacher training from four years to two years in 
light of the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

Undisputable Figures

The figures were submitted to the South African Education Department 
and "accepted as authentic," the Sunday Times reports. Magome said 
that the figures were "not something that we as a department can run 
away from," adding that she has "no reason to dispute (the union's) 
data." The Education Department will launch a program at the end of 
the month aimed at giving teachers with HIV/AIDS a "supportive envi-
ronment." The program will also seek to prevent further infections 
among teachers. "The program's two main objectives are to ensure that 
those who are negative remain negative and those who are infected are 
supported and that living with HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence. If 
you remove the stress and secrecy around HIV and live openly about 
it, you can get the support of your colleagues," Magome said (Johan-
nesburg Sunday Times, 11/4).


--
Thousands Demand Death Penalty for Six South African Men Accused of 
Raping Infant, Likely Due to HIV 'Virgin' Myth

Thousands of South African protesters gathered yesterday in the 
Northern Cape town of Upington to demand that the country reinstate 
the death penalty for six men who allegedly raped a nine-month-old 
girl, USA Today reports (USA Today, 11/6). The men have been charged 
with raping the infant, supposedly because they thought the act would 
cure them of HIV (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/5). The rape of 
children and infants is "surging" in South Africa, as HIV-positive 
men believe a myth that sex with a virgin will cure HIV or protect 
them from developing AIDS (USA Today, 11/6). According to official 
police statistics released on Wednesday, 31,780 cases of child rape 
or assault were reported between January 2000 and June 2001. The Af-
rican National Congress Women's League and the ANC Women's Caucus on 
Friday asked the country's courts to impose a life sentence on men 
convicted of raping "children and babies knowing they (the men) were 
HIV-positive." Northern Cape Health Minister Dipuo Peters said that 
although health officials are "doing their best" to educate people 
about HIV/AIDS, "certain myths [are] hard to dispel" (Kaiser Daily 
HIV/AIDS Report, 11/5).


--
In Compromise, WTO Negotiators Agree TRIPS 'Shall Not Prevent' Mem-
bers From Taking Public Health Protection Measures

A World Trade Organization ministerial working group meeting in Doha, 
Qatar, has "agreed in principle" to a compromise draft declaration 
that would reaffirm the right of WTO member nations to use the 
"flexibility" of the Trade-Related Aspects of International Property 
Rights (TRIPS) agreement to "ensure access to medicines for all," 
Agence France-Presse reports (Agence France-Presse, 11/12). WTO dele-
gates from 52 developing countries on Sept. 19 asked other WTO minis-
ters to approve a proposal that would clarify TRIPS language to say 
that TRIPS would "not prevent governments from taking measures neces-
sary to protect public health," including the production or importa-
tion of generic AIDS drugs. The countries' proposal, however, was 
blocked by the United States and Switzerland, which presented a paper 
stating that "there is essentially no problem with the [TRIPS] agree-
ment and no need for clarifications" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 
10/4). The reported compromise states that TRIPS "shall not prevent 
(WTO) members from taking measures to protect public health" (BBC 
News, 11/12). The draft also reaffirms that WTO members have the 
right "to use, to the full, the provisions in the TRIPS agreement ... 
[to] ensur[e] access to medicines for all" and says that WTO members 
"reiterate their commitment to TRIPS" (Agence France-Presse, 11/12). 
An Egyptian WTO delegate said that agreement has been reached on 95% 
of a compromise draft addressing the issue of patents and pharmaceu-
ticals (Agence France-Presse, 11/12). However, a U.S. trade official 
said that "there was no deal yet on intellectual property rights," 
adding that another round of trade talks may be in the works. At the 
meeting, the United States put forward proposals that would grant de-
veloping nations a 10-year exemption from patent protection and would 
place a five-year moratorium on trade complaints related to HIV/AIDS 
drugs in Africa (BBC News, 11/12). The compromise must still be for-
mally ratified by WTO's plenary session on Tuesday, but World Health 
Organization expert German Velasquez said that the text relating to 
access to medicines "could technically be accepted independently, re-
gardless of whether ministers agree on a new trade round" (Agence 
France-Presse, 11/12).

Showing 'Compassion'

Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has proposed a 
rival plan that would extend until 2016 the time that the "poorest 40 
or so" nations have to "comply with international patent rules" and 
would "shield" sub-Saharan African nations -- the "epicenter of the 
global AIDS epidemic" -- from "trade actions relating to drug pat-
ents." Zoellick said, "As the United States and our trading partners 
pursue free trade, we need to do so in a way that is consistent with 
our values and draws on our compassion" (Russell, San Francisco 
Chronicle, 11/8). Zoellick also had the U.S. government donate $1 
million to a WTO trust fund for developing countries to use to imple-
ment the TRIPS rules. He has courted developing nations since taking 
over the job of U.S. trade representative this year. "Zoellick under-
stands that developing countries are a new force to reckon with. You 
can't just dictate to them anymore," Moroccan WTO Ambassador Nacer 
Benjelloun-Touimi said. Zoellick's success or failure with negotia-
tions depends largely on the relationships he has formed with minis-
ters from developing nations, the Wall Street Journal reports (Coo-
per/Winestock, Wall Street Journal, 11/9). 

'Empty Gestures'

AIDS activists "dismiss" Zoellick's compliance-extension proposal, 
which they say would exclude South Africa and India, as an "empty 
gesture" (San Francisco Chronicle, 11/8). "If the world's richest 
countries cannot even put the health of the world's poorest people 
ahead of the interests of a handful of drug companies, there is not 
much hope of a comprehensive deal on trade in Doha," Phil Twyford of 
Oxfam International said (Vieth, Los Angeles Times, 11/9). Meanwhile, 
the two main lobby groups for the pharmaceutical industry have in-
creased their presence on Capitol Hill, "draw[ing] attention" to a 
study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of the American 
Medical Association that says poverty, a lack of health infrastruc-
ture, tariffs and taxes are all greater impediments to drug access in 
sub-Saharan Africa than drug patents (Garrett, Newsday, 11/9). 

'Rank Hypocrisy'

In addition, activists have accused the Bush administration, which 
"muscled steep price concessions" from Bayer AG for the antibiotic 
Cipro to treat inhalation anthrax infection, of "rank hypocrisy." HHS 
Secretary Tommy Thompson last month "reportedly threatened to side-
step" Bayer's Cipro patent to negotiate a 50% price reduction on 300 
million Cipro tablets. "The Cipro thing was timely," James Love, of 
Consumer Project on Technology, said, adding, "When the United States 
did not like the price of a medicine, we were very fast to say we 
might override patent rights. When Brazil did the same thing (for 
AIDS drugs), they were savaged" (San Francisco Chronicle, 11/8). The 
Cipro deal is a "very timely example of the double standard that ex-
ists," Seco Gerard, European Union liaison for Medicins Sans Fron-
tiers, added (Itano, Christian Science Monitor, 11/9). 

Congressional Involvement

Proposals are being taken up in Congress that would increase generic 
competition, giving health activists cause for encouragement. The 
Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would "force" 
makers of patented drugs to disclose any agreements they have made 
with generic competitors to keep cheaper versions of their drugs off 
the market. Such disclosures would be subject to Federal Trade Com-
mission review. The Senate is also considering a bill sponsored by 
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would 
close loopholes in the 1984 Hatch-Waxman law that allow companies to 
extend drug patents, staving off generic competition. However, action 
is not expected until next year (Gellene, Los Angeles Times, 11/9).


--
Swazi King Pays Fine For Violating Sex Ban

Swaziland's King Mswati III yesterday paid a fine for violating chas-
tity rules that he established to combat the spread of HIV, USA Today 
reports (Nordwall, USA Today, 11/12). In September, the king ordered 
all young women in Swaziland to abstain from sex for the next five 
years in order to reduce the spread of HIV (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Re-
port, 10/1). The rule bans girls under the age of 18 from having sex, 
and Swazi custom states that a man must pay a cow as a fine if he 
marries an underage girl after the rule is declared. A group of 300 
young Swazi women protested outside the capital after Mswati an-
nounced he would marry a 17-year-old girl. Mswati paid the group of 
young women the fine of one cow (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 11/11).

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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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