AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 6 Dec 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Thu, 6 Dec 2001
----------------------------------------------

* New National Party Member Sworn in as Premier of South Africa's
  Western Cape, Supports HIV/AIDS Link
* Nigerian AIDS Group Head Receives Death Threats After Criticizing
  Reported AIDS 'Cure'
* Second 'Space Tourist' Plans to Conduct HIV Research While on In-
  ternational Space Station
* 'Lack of Will' Responsible for Limited Access to Treatment in De-
  veloping Nations, Op-Ed Says


--
New National Party Member Sworn in as Premier of South Africa's West-
ern Cape, Supports HIV/AIDS Link

Peter Marais, former mayor of Cape Town and a member of the New Na-
tional Party, was sworn in yesterday as premier of South Africa's 
Western Cape province in a power-sharing deal made with the ruling 
African National Congress and immediately voiced his support for 
anti-AIDS efforts, Agence France-Presse reports. In his inaugural ad-
dress, Marais said that "HIV causes AIDS, full stop," a statement 
that appears to "sho[w] little caution" for the views of South Afri-
can President Thabo Mbeki, who is a member of the ANC and has repeat-
edly questioned the causal link between HIV and AIDS. Marais called 
on the ANC government to make antiretroviral drugs more widely avail-
able. The government has argued against distribution of the drugs, 
saying they are too expensive and that the country lacks the health 
infrastructure needed to dispense and monitor the drugs (Agence 
France-Presse, 12/5). The NNP recently split with the opposition De-
mocratic Alliance to join the ANC. Many AIDS activists and Democratic 
Alliance members feared that relinquishing D.A. control of the West-
ern Cape would hinder the province's HIV/AIDS efforts. Western Cape 
provides AIDS drugs to pregnant women and rape survivors (Kaiser 
Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/14).


--
Nigerian AIDS Group Head Receives Death Threats After Criticizing Re-
ported AIDS 'Cure'

Mohammed Farouk, head of the Nigerian AIDS Alliance, received death 
threats Tuesday after publicly criticizing Dr. Jeremiah Abalaka's 
claim to have discovered a cure for AIDS, the Washington Times re-
ports. Farouk, a former military officer who was one of 30 people to 
test the "cure," told Agence France-Presse that the threats "came one 
after the other. They warned me against speaking out again against 
those claiming to have the cure for HIV/AIDS," adding that he was 
"not bothered by the threats," but that his wife was "worried." 
Abalaka's claims have been "dismissed as nonsense" by the Nigerian 
Health Ministry, and according to Farouk, 12 of the 30 officers who 
tried the "cure" last year have died of AIDS-related complications 
(Washington Times, 12/6).


--
Second 'Space Tourist' Plans to Conduct HIV Research While on Inter-
national Space Station

Twenty-eight-year-old South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, 
who made his fortune by developing an Internet security business, 
will conduct HIV experiments as part of his 10- to 12-day trip to the 
International Space Station next year, the Washington Post reports. 
Shuttleworth, who reportedly paid US$ 20 million for the trip to the 
space station aboard a Russian rocket, will become the second "space 
tourist" after American businessman Dennis Tito made a similar jour-
ney in April. "I hope and anticipate my journey will inspire South 
African youth and increase their interest in science and technology," 
Shuttleworth said in a statement (Merle, Washington Post, 12/6). Ac-
cording to Interactive Africa, which is handling Shuttleworth's pub-
lic relations, Shuttleworth will take part in four scientific experi-
ments while in space. One study will examine the interaction of im-
mune cells in a microgravity environment. Because the cells are too 
small to be observed directly, the research will use a process called 
soluble protein crystallization to examine immune cell reaction. The 
other experiments will involve stem cells, the effect of microgravity 
on the human body and the impact of the launch on educational objec-
tives. The costs for the experiments will be covered by Shuttleworth, 
and the results will be made public. "I have always dreamed of space 
as a platform for inspiration, education and technology, and am work-
ing to realize that dream for South Africa," Shuttleworth, who is 
currently training at Star City, outside of Moscow, said (South Afri-
can Press Association, 12/4).


--
'Lack of Will' Responsible for Limited Access to Treatment in Devel-
oping Nations, Op-Ed Says

"The barrier to the use of AIDS drugs for all HIV patients is not 
some physical or educational impossibility; it is lack of will," How-
ard Hiatt, a professor at Harvard Medical School and senior physician 
at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, writes in a New York Times 
op-ed. Hiatt notes that "no more than 25,000" of the 28 million Afri-
cans with HIV have access to AIDS medications. Some officials in both 
Western and affected nations say that developing countries lack the 
necessary health infrastructure to administer drugs and that the 
populations are "too poorly educated" to follow treatment regimens 
properly, but such notions are a "misconception," Hiatt states. He 
says that Partners in Health, a not-for-profit program begun in Haiti 
in 1983 by Harvard physician Paul Farmer and Anglican priest Rev. 
Fritz Lafontant, runs a clinic that should be used as a model for 
treatment programs in disadvantaged settings. The Haitian clinic, 
which operates on donations, treats about 1,400 HIV patients. One 
hundred of the sickest patients receive antiretroviral medications 
under the supervision of local health workers trained at the clinic. 
The program in Haiti and a sister program in Lima, Peru, which treats 
tuberculosis patients, have been largely successful with most clients 
"function[ing] normally." The Partners in Health program is "a small 
effort against a huge worldwide problem," Hiatt states, adding that 
the program could treat more people with drug donations from major 
pharmaceutical companies. He concludes that the program has "shown 
that if we do not treat the millions of Africans who are dying of 
AIDS, it is because we have chosen not to, not because we can't" 
(Hiatt, New York Times, 12/6).

--
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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