AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 28 Jan 2002

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Mon, 28 Jan 2002
-----------------------------------------------

* Bush Plans to Include $200 Million for Global AIDS Fund in Fiscal
  Year 2003 Budget Proposal
* South African Anglican Archbishop Calls Government Denial of Nevi-
  rapine to HIV-Positive Pregnant Women a 'Sin'
* Sept. 11 Attacks 'Sidelined' AIDS in United States, Irish Times
  Column Says

Bush Plans to Include $200 Million for Global AIDS Fund in Fiscal 
Year 2003 Budget Proposal

The Bush administration announced yesterday that its budget proposal 
for fiscal year 2003, which begins Oct. 1, includes a $200 million 
contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Ma-
laria, the AP/Los Angeles Times reports. Half of the pledge amount 
will come from HHS, and half will come from the U.S. Agency for In-
ternational Development (AP/Los Angeles Times, 1/28). The United 
States gave $200 million to the fund -- which currently totals $1.6 
billion -- in the current budget year as well. "While I'm heartened 
by [Bush's] participation in this effort, a much larger sum is what I 
would like to see," Jim Mitulski, co-chair of San Francisco's Mayors 
HIV Health Services Council, said, adding that he and others are 
"counting on the president to act as a statesman and counter the im-
age that the Republican Party doesn't care about social outcasts" 
(AP/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 1/27). Dr. Paul Zeitz, executive direc-
tor of the coalition group Global AIDS Alliance, said on NPR's "Morn-
ing Edition" today that he and his coalition found Bush's pledge to 
the fund "outrageous," adding that "global experts estimate that the 
cost to stop AIDS is about $10 billion per year, and the U.S. invest-
ment of $200 million into the global fund is really deeply disap-
pointing" ("Morning Edition," NPR, 1/28). The announcement of the 
pledge coincides with the fund's first board meeting, which is today 
and tomorrow in Geneva, where the 18-member group will accept new do-
nations and finalize the fund management framework (AP/Ft. Worth 
Star-Telegram, 1/27).


--
South African Anglican Archbishop Calls Government Denial of Nevirap-
ine to HIV-Positive Pregnant Women a 'Sin'

The Anglican archbishop of South Africa, Njongonkulu Ndungane, on 
Friday called the South African government policy that prevents HIV-
positive pregnant women from receiving the antiretroviral nevirapine 
to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission a "sin," Reuters reports. 
The South African government is appealing a High Court ruling that 
would force the country under "constitutional duty" to "increase ac-
cess" to nevirapine, which has been shown to reduce the risk of ver-
tical HIV transmission rates by 50%. The government argues that the 
drug is "costly" and that its safety is questionable. Medical ex-
perts, however, say that the drug is a "life saver" and has only 
"limited" side effects. Ndungane said, "If the life of a child rests 
on drugs, but she does not receive them, it's a sin; it's immoral," 
adding, "When the government stands in the way of our right to life 
then the government has overstepped its boundaries." He also said 
that AIDS must be "declared a national emergency." After making a 
deal with a pharmaceutical company that will supply nevirapine for 
free for five years, two South African provinces have said they will 
distribute the drug, against national government policy, to HIV-
positive pregnant women (Reuters, 1/26). Nearly one quarter of preg-
nant women in South Africa are HIV-positive, and more than 70,000 in-
fants are infected with HIV through vertical transmission each year 
(Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/25). South Africa's national govern-
ment, led by President Thabo Mbeki, who has questioned the link be-
tween HIV and AIDS, has continually "come under fire for its haphaz-
ard approach" toward fighting HIV/AIDS (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 
1/22).


--
Sept. 11 Attacks 'Sidelined' AIDS in United States, Irish Times Col-
umn Says

The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have 
"consumed all the attentions" of the United States and its allies and 
"sidelined" the AIDS epidemic, Irish Times writer Paul Cullen says. 
But HIV/AIDS, which has affected 65 million people worldwide in the 
last 20 years, "remains the greatest threat to development in the 
world," according to UNAIDS Director Peter Piot, who was in Dublin 
last week, Cullen reports. Although U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan 
last year said that $7 billion to $10 billion is needed for the 
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, less than $2 
billion has been raised so far, with only $2,000 contributed in the 
three months following Sept. 11. The United States spent the "$2 bil-
lion it was expected to contribute" to the fund on financing two 
months of war in Afghanistan, according to former President Bill 
Clinton. The availability of HIV/AIDS treatments in Western countries 
has slowed the disease's progression for many and taken AIDS "off the 
top of the political agenda," Cullen says. But HIV/AIDS continues to 
spread in countries where AIDS drugs are not readily available, he 
adds. According to Piot, "Wider access [to the drugs] will only come 
about through a major increase in funding internationally." Cullen 
notes that, "[h]appily," Ireland has a "growing aid budget" and a 
"thought-out strategy" to support HIV/AIDS programs in "badly af-
fected countries." In addition, prices of AIDS drugs "continue to 
fall," which could increase access and reduce AIDS-related deaths. 
Researchers also are "showing greater optimism" about the possibility 
of a cure and are testing 80 potential vaccines. However, Cullen 
notes that the world is still "on target" to have $100 million HIV-
positive people by 2005, and he cites a December statement by Clinton 
that the result could be "a bigger threat to peace and security than 
global terrorism" (Cullen, Irish Times, 1/26

--
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. © 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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