March 2004

News In the World

South Africa: The South African National Defence Force has opened the first of six planned clinics where army personnel and their families can get HIV/AIDS testing and treatment. Staff at the clinic also plan to conduct clinical research into the most appropriate and effective treatments. The military will be assisted by local academic and research institutions and by NIH and the U.S. Department of Defense. South African Deputy Minister of Defence Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said, however, that “this clinic can achieve its set objectives only if those members and their families voluntarily enroll and participate fully.” The clinics are part of Project Phidisa, which means “to heal” in Tswane.

Developing Countries: Because of the high cost of drugs in developing countries, families with more than one HIV-positive person are being forced to choose which member will be treated, advocates at the World Social Forum told the Associated Press in January. “People with a steady income can afford these drugs,” Alice Wynne Willson of ActionAid said, but “unless the AIDS drugs are bought by governments and made available through health care systems, it will be impossible for the poor to afford.”

UN Media Campaign: More than 20 leading media companies are cooperating in the Global Media AIDS Initiative announced early this year by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Company leaders signed a declaration promising “to expand public knowledge and understanding about HIV/AIDS” through their companies practices, Reuters reported. UNAIDS estimates that as many as 30 million of the 45 million new HIV infections projected to occur worldwide over the next 10 years could be averted by effective prevention and public education efforts. It has been found in 40 countries that more than half of young adults aged 15 to 24 do not know how HIV is transmitted. A study in 21 African countries found that 60% of girls had at least one major misconception about HIV/AIDS or have not heard of the disease.

Cooperating media companies range from the BBC, Viacom, and Black Entertainment Television to Gazprom Media, the Lebanese Broadcasting Co., and the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria.

The idea was generated by a partnership between UNAIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Canada: Canadian AIDS groups have asked the Quebec Human Rights Commission to investigate a new Roman Catholic Church policy requiring all men who apply to the seminary in Montreal to take an HIV test. The coalition says the policy promotes discrimination in the workplace.

Summit of Americas: Leaders of 34 nations at the Special Summit of Americas signed the Declaration of Nuevo Leon expressing concern about the spread of the disease in certain countries and the danger the epidemic poses to security. The declaration said, “We recognize that in order to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we must intensify our prevention, care, and treatment efforts within the Hemisphere” and called for increased global cooperation. It is widely believed that HIV prevalence in the region is severely underreported.