AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 4 Dec 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Tue, 4 Dec 2001
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* Zambian and World Bank Officials Fail to Agree on $42M Loan to
  Fight HIV/AIDS
* Malawi Government Announces 20% Antiretroviral Price Cut
* Journalist, UNAIDS Official Discuss New HIV/AIDS Statistics
* South African Scientists, Healers Unite to Spread Word of Medicinal
  Plant Used to Treat HIV Before Drug Companies 'Cash In'
* TAC Chair Zackie Achmat Calls HIV Testing, Treatment the 'Most Ef-
  fective Way' to Slow Spread of AIDS


--
Zambian and World Bank Officials Fail to Agree on $42M Loan to Fight
HIV/AIDS

Zambian officials have failed to reach an agreement with the World 
Bank for a $42 million loan package to fight HIV/AIDS, Reuters re-
ports. At the invitation of Vice President Enock Kavindele and Fi-
nance Minister Katele Kalumba, World Bank officials visited Zambia in 
October to work on the deal. However, no agreement was reached be-
cause the World Bank mission was unable to meet with health and fi-
nance ministry representatives. The package included $6 million ear-
marked specifically to supply antiretroviral drugs, which would have 
been a "huge boost," as workers in the country are paid an average of 
$75 a month and the cost of AIDS medicines averages $60 a month. A 
health ministry official said that "haggling" among government de-
partments over responsibility for drug procurement could have also 
delayed negotiations. Under the loan agreement, the Zambian parlia-
ment would have had to enact a law criminalizing the "deliberate 
transmission" of HIV and establish a national AIDS council. Kavindele 
said he was unaware that the World Bank mission was unable to meet 
with the necessary personnel, but said the government "remain[s] 
keen" on the deal. However, because the deal requires the passage of 
certain laws, it will be impossible to meet all of the requirements 
in the near future, as parliament has adjourned pending elections on 
Dec. 27. A Western ambassador familiar with the negotiations said 
that it is unlikely that the loan will be taken up again until the 
first quarter of next year, after the new government "has found its 
feet." One in five Zambian adults is HIV-positive (Reuters, 12/3). 


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Malawi Government Announces 20% Antiretroviral Price Cut

The government of Malawi will cut the price of antiretroviral drugs 
by "at least" 20% before April 2002, Reuters reports. George Liwomba, 
chair of Malawi's Antiretroviral Drug Committee, said that the price 
cuts should reduce the cost of a monthly supply of antiretrovirals to 
"$30.20 or below." The price reduction would be the latest in a se-
ries of cuts by the government, which in March halved the price of a 
monthly supply of antiretrovirals. In July, the government further 
reduced the price of a month's supply of drugs from $155 to $40. Li-
womba said the government will continue to subsidize antiretrovirals, 
but analysts have said that the price after the new cut will still be 
too high for many poor people in the country. The National AIDS Com-
mission estimates that 10% of Malawi's population -- one million peo-
ple -- is HIV-positive (Reuters, 12/3).         


--
Journalist, UNAIDS Official Discuss New HIV/AIDS Statistics

The "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" last night hosted a discussion with 
Dr. Desmond Johns, a South African who is head of the UNAIDS office 
in New York City, and Newsday medical correspondent Laurie Garrett on 
the newly released UNAIDS global HIV/AIDS statistics that show that 
the number of HIV cases continues to rise worldwide. Johns said that 
the increasing numbers, which UNAIDS estimates are "probably an un-
derestimate by three- to five-fold," can be attributed to intravenous 
drug use, unprotected sex, migrating populations, poverty, gender 
inequality and tainted blood transfusions in China. Garrett added, "I 
think when you combine sex, death and narcotics, you hit every taboo 
imaginable, and everybody runs for cover and doesn't want to talk 
about [AIDS]." She said that the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade 
Center and the Pentagon "shifted the entire global radar screen" away 
from AIDS, adding that Congress responded "by saying, well, we had 
committed a hefty $750 million to the global fund for AIDS, but now 
we need to shift our attention to bioterrorism and we're going to 
lower our commitment to about $120 million." Garrett noted that the 
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has "been deeply 
controversial" and is "still mired in some real difficulties," as 
AIDS activists are pressuring the United Nations and the World Bank 
to have the fund active by early next year. However, only Italy has 
deposited money with the World Bank, Garrett said. Johns said that 
the report shows that "we need to bear in mind that this is a global 
epidemic of enormous proportions. And it's going to require a re-
sponse on the same scale" (Ifill, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 
12/3).


--
South African Scientists, Healers Unite to Spread Word of Medicinal 
Plant Used to Treat HIV Before Drug Companies 'Cash In'

An "unconventional alliance" of scientists and traditional healers is 
trying to spread the word about a South African plant that could help 
people with HIV/AIDS before pharmaceutical companies "cash in" on the 
herbal remedy and market the plant "in expensive drug form," the Lon-
don Independent reports. The group is circulating information about 
Sutherlandia frutescens microphylla -- which "looks like a small 
gladiola" and "grows like a weed" -- in an effort to ensure that the 
plant remains in the "public domain," therefore rendering it unpat-
entable. Nigel Gericke, a botanist and physician who owns Phyto Nova, 
a company that grows and sells the plant, says that while there is no 
reason to think Sutherlandia will cure HIV, "none of the [multina-
tional drug companies] are claiming a cure either." The plant con-
tains elements that are already patented by drug companies for use in 
cancer, diabetes, fungal disease and anxiety treatments, but Suther-
landia itself has yet to be patented. The small, flowering plant, 
which is already being sold in tablet, tea and gel forms, will un-
dergo clinical trials next year to determine the validity of the 
claims that it prompts weight gain, enhances energy levels and im-
proves mood in AIDS patients (Smith, Independent, 11/30). The South 
African Medical Research Council is setting up a Phase I/II trial to 
confirm the "anecdotal evidence" that the plant, used for centuries 
by indigenous South Africans, is safe and effective in treating some 
of the symptoms of HIV/AIDS. Previous research by botanist and pro-
fessor Ben-Erik van Wyk of Rand Afrikaans University and medical sci-
entist Dr. Carl Albrecht of Stellenbosch University determined that 
Sutherlandia has antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antidepres-
sant properties. The trial, which will include 40 volunteers, will 
begin once the MRC receives approval from the South African Medicines 
Control Council (Cullinan, Health-e News, 11/30).

Verifying Herbal Remedies' Success

Recognizing that there are not enough "conventional drugs" to aid all 
HIV-positive Ugandans, the Irish charity Concern is financing re-
search and training to improve the quality of and access to afford-
able herbal medicines in the country, the Belfast News Letter re-
ports. Researcher Sophia Kerwegi of the National Chemotherapeutic Re-
search Laboratory in Uganda said that the research is "just verifying 
what the community already knew from knowledge that has been passed 
down through thousands of years." Ugandans have been relying for 
years on herbal medications for various ailments, such as headache 
and cough, but are just now investigating the herbal medications that 
can help people with HIV/AIDS. Concern's support extends to legal 
protection against "bio-pirat[ing]" from drug companies wanting to 
profit from the herbal remedies. While Kerwegi acknowledged that 
there is no known herbal cure for AIDS, she said that herbal medicine 
"definitely extends life and is extremely effective at relieving pain 
and curing symptoms" (Bradley, Belfast News Letter, 11/30).


--
TAC Chair Zackie Achmat Calls HIV Testing, Treatment the 'Most Effec-
tive Way' to Slow Spread of AIDS

Zackie Achmat, chair of the South African AIDS group the Treatment 
Action Campaign, states in a Guardian op-ed that there are "two 
critical barriers" to access to antiretroviral treatment in South Af-
rica -- a "lack of political will" by the government and the "fail-
ure" of drug companies to allow generic competition in the country. 
Achmat says that although TAC supported the South African government 
during its court battle with 39 pharmaceutical companies over generic 
drug production and importation, South African Health Minister Manto 
Tshabalala-Msimang's "failure ... to take the epidemic seriously left 
us with no choice but to take her to court over the issue of mother-
to-child" HIV transmission. Achmat adds that although a program to 
stop vertical transmission is "essential," drug treatment for all 
HIV-positive people is "even more important." Achmat states that drug 
companies have made "some compromises" on the price of AIDS medi-
cines, but "they have not gone far enough," and patents "still remain 
a barrier to affordable treatment." Achmat outlines TAC's proposal 
for increasing access to AIDS drugs: pharmaceutical firms should 
grant non-exclusive licenses in the developing world to generic drug 
makers in exchange for a 5% royalty on their sale prices. "If drug 
companies do not take up this offer, they will once more face activ-
ists around the world when these licenses are obtained via litiga-
tion," Achmat writes. Achmat also says that the European Commission 
and the World Health Organization are trying to "hijack" the Global 
Fund to Fight to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. These organi-
zations are making a "concerted attempt" to prevent the fund from go-
ing toward antiretroviral treatment, he states. "It is on this issue 
particularly that people concerned about the inequities in health 
care between rich and poor countries need to campaign. The most ef-
fective way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS is to offer people the 
chance to be tested, treated and counseled about how they can change 
their behavior," he concludes (Achmat, Guardian, 12/1).         

--
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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