Jul 15, 2010  Africa: AIDS Treatment 2.0 http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/hiv1007a.php
    As donor commitment to the fight against AIDS threatens to falter, UNAIDS, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, has issued a new report with ambitious proposals and an upbeat perspective on the prospects for advances in both treatment and prevention. Proposing simplified treatment practices under the rubric "Treatment 2.0," the report also cites significant advances in prevention, particularly among African youth, and widespread global awareness of the importance of the pandemic among issues requiring high priority.

Jul 15, 2010  Africa: Global Fund Results http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/hiv1007b.php
    According to a new report from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, the Fund's efforts have contributed to saving an estimated 4.9 million lives by December 2009. The coming years will see even more results, as half of the total disbursements by the Global Fund were delivered in 2008 and 2009. Much of the US$ 5.4 billion of financing approved in Rounds 8 and 9 will reach countries in 2010 and 2011, and will continue to significantly boost health outcomes.

May 21, 2010  Africa: AIDS Activists Speak Out http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/hiv1005a.php
    "In 2001 in Abuja, African heads of state promised us 15% of budget spending on health - where is this money? ... Only two countries in the continent have met the Abuja target, which African finance ministers recently dismissed as a colossal mistake. the true colossal mistakes are the wasteful spending habits of many governments who prioritise wars, luxury for politicians and sports over social spending, which cost thousands of lives every day".- James Kamau, Kenyan Treatment Access Movement

May 21, 2010  Africa: World Backtracks on HIV Treatment http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/hiv1005b.php
    "Around the world thousands of doctors, nurses, legislators, and activists helped make treatment scale-up possible. Now a few power brokers and politicians who claim AIDS receives too much money seem intent on bringing to an end this remarkable effort, in effect saying to millions of people: drop dead. Without treatment, this is certainly their fate." - Gregg Gonsalves, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition

Mar 15, 2010  Africa: Staying the Course on AIDS? http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/hiv1003.php
    We must end the false dichotomy between prevention and treatment. If we choose one over the other we will fail. We know from our experiences in the 1990s, that if treatment isnt there, people will not come to the health centers and doctors and nurses will not stay. We know from our long experience that it is virtually impossible to have successful public sector health and AIDS treatment programs where some people get therapy and others in dire need dont. - Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, Joint Clinical Research Centre, Kampala

Feb 2, 2010  Africa: Solidarity with Haiti http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/hai1002a.php
    "Despite $402 million pledged to support the Haitian government's Economic Recovery Program [in April 2009] ... as of yesterday we estimate that 85% of the pledges made last year remain undisbursed. ... [we don't need more pledges] We need a reconstruction fund that is large, managed transparently, creates jobs for Haitians, and grows the Haitian economy. We need a reconstruction plan that uses a pro-poor, rights-based approach far different from the charity and failed development approaches that have marred interactions between Haiti and much of the rest of the world for the better part of two centuries." - Dr. Paul Farmer, U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti January 27, 2010

Dec 18, 2009  Africa: New Books from AfricaFocus Subscribers http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/sub0912.php
    This AfricaFocus Bulletin has recent books (2008 and 2009) from AfricaFocus subscribers, including authors, editors, contributors, and publishers. It's a very substantial list, but I'm sure some have escaped my notice. If you are an AfricaFocus subscriber, check this out for your own books and those by the your fellow subscribers. If you are an author or editor and don't find your recently published book here, do let me know (at africafocus@igc.org), and I'll add it below.

Dec 15, 2009  South Africa: 30+ New Books http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/sab0912.php
    The most popular of these new books from and about South Africa is undoubtedly that by John Carlin on Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, now available in two editions as well as in the newly released Clint Eastwood movie. But probably the one most in need of greater international attention is the one edited by Tawana Kupe and colleagues - Go Home or Die Here: Violence, Xenophobia and the Reinvention of Difference in South Africa. This photographic and analytic portrayal of the xenophobic violence of 2008 poses fundamental questions about the shape of today's South Africa.

Dec 6, 2009  USA/Africa: AIDS - No We Can't? http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hiv0912a.php
    "It was ordinary people, people living with AIDS and those who loved them, who spoke up, demanded action. Activists in Brazil, Thailand, South Africa, Uganda and elsewhere shamed their countries, the world into action. [international AIDS programs ... were swept into place by the force of the voices crying out for justice only a few years ago. It is almost 10 years later and we're in danger of losing everything we've achieved on AIDS this decade." - Greg Gonsalves

Dec 6, 2009  Africa: HIV/AIDS 2009 Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hiv0912c.php
    "Through its partnerships with more than 30 countries through September 2009, PEPFAR has provided direct support for life-saving antiretroviral treatment for over 2.4 million men, women and children. The Global Fund has supported treatment for 2.5 million people worldwide. Approximately 1.3 million people receive treatment supported by both PEPFAR bilateral programs and the Global Fund, and thus are counted in the totals for each organization. These numbers reflect the strong country-level partnership between PEPFAR and the Global Fund." - Joint press release by the Global Fund and PEPFAR, December 1, 2009

Dec 6, 2009  USA/Africa: AIDS - Yes, We Can? http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hiv0912b.php
    "If we are to sustain the gains we've had and have made against this epidemic, PEPFAR must work in closer collaboration with country governments to support and mount a truly global response to the shared global burden of disease. ... But unmet needs are still the dominant feature of this program. ... we're going to begin transitioning from an emergency response to a sustainable one through greater engagement with and capacity building of governments." - Dr. Eric Goosby, Ambassador, Global AIDS Coordinator for U.S. government

Nov 27, 2009  Africa: Ending Malaria in Sight? http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/mal0911.php
    On the Comoran island of Moheli, with a population of 36,000, malaria has been eliminated with the aid of a comprehensive Chinese-assisted treatment campaign. And at the 5th Pan-African malaria conference, held in Nairobi in early November, Kenya's minister of public health, Beth Mugo, announced that her country had set the goal of eliminating the disease by 2017.

Nov 6, 2009  Africa: Donors Retreating on AIDS http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hiv0911.php
    "After almost a decade of progress in rolling out AIDS treatment we have seen substantial improvements, both for patients and public health. But recent funding cuts mean doctors and nurses are being forced to turn HIV patients away from clinics as if we were back in the 1990s before treatment was available" - Dr Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of MSF's Access to Essential Medicines Campaign.

Nov 6, 2009  USA/Africa: Supporting Global Health http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/gh0911.php
    "Overall, we call for a doubling of U.S. aid to global health from nearly $8 billion a year to $16 billion by 2011. A six-year scale up of a sufficiently resourced initiative would total $95 billion. While this reflects higher levels than the President's original announcement, 40% of this increase is for the total of $14 billion that must be invested in health workforce - which we believe could make or break the effort." - http://www.theglobalhealthinitiative.org

Sep 28, 2009  Africa: Financing Global Health http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/fin0909.php
    The G20 Summit meeting in Pittsburgh last week marked a significant expansion of international fora on global problems, with the official announcement that it was replacing the more restricted G8 as the primary venue for coordination of the world's major economic powers. The Summit's conclusions, focused on macroeconomic and financial issues, offered little for Africa, apart from generic expressions of support for development and protecting the most vulnerable. But the changing policy climate was also reflected in the parallel release of incremental proposals for new financing mechanisms for global needs that would be more consistent than promises of "aid" from rich countries.

Jul 28, 2009  Africa: Backsliding on AIDS Funding http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hiv0907.php
    "Why is it not possible to allocate sufficient money for every aspect of global health, of which AIDS is but a part, and in so doing, meet the Millennium Development Goals - money which is but a fraction, a miniscule fraction of all the public dollars that have found their way, in one short year, into the bottomless pits of greed and avarice?" - Stephen Lewis, speaking at the opening of the International AIDS Society conference in Cape Town

Jun 8, 2009  Africa: Innovative Global Financing http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/tax0906.php
    "Innovative financing ... is no longer in the experimental stage. It has already produced over $2 billion dollars in three years. But there is still an enormous need for financing: to ensure primary education for all, improve maternal health, combat hunger and the great pandemics, guarantee environmentally-friendly development, etc. We know that $175 billion is needed every year at the global level to finance climate mitigation policy. We all know that $35 billion is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the health sector alone." - Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, France

May 10, 2009  USA/Africa: Underfunding Global Health http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/gh0905.php
    President Obama's global health budget plan, pegged at $63 billion over six years and announced on May 5, one day in advance of the full budget statement, met with predictably mixed responses. The administration spin was that it was a major new commitment to a comprehensive approach; health activist groups charged that it actually marked a cut from prior commitments made in campaign promises and by Congressional pledges.

Apr 27, 2009  Africa: Progress on Malaria http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/mal0904.php
    "A new phase in the fight against malaria has begun. Data presented here show that the malaria community has accelerated efforts to deliver critical interventions, while also reducing bottlenecks in their production, procurement and distribution. Countries have been quicker to adopt more effective strategies that would have been out of reach with less funding available ... [there are] substantial increases in coverage of insecticide-treated nets, with 19 of 22 sub-Saharan African countries with trend data showing at least a threefold increase in insecticide-treated net use among children since around 2000." - UNICEF

Mar 1, 2009  USA/Africa: Waiting for Change http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/usa0903.php
    "While low visibility for Africa policy may not be entirely unexpected, considering the multiple crises the President faced entering office, it has disappointed many who had hoped the administration might quickly mobilize the high level attention that is needed to spur action on vital issues." - Reed Kramer,

Feb 25, 2009  Africa: Public Health Care Must Lead http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hc0902a.php
    "A growing number of international donors are promoting an expansion of private-sector health-care delivery to fulfil this goal [of universal health care]. The private sector can play a role in health care. But ... the evidence shows that prioritising this approach is extremely unlikely to deliver health for poor people." - Oxfam International

Feb 25, 2009  USA/Africa: Global Health Policy http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/hc0902b.php
    "We believe that U.S. health and development assistance should address both the root causes of ill health - poverty and inequality - and be directed toward building public sector institutions to help governments respond to the needs of their people. Aid should be transparent on both donor and recipient sides and accountable to the target population - the poor who need services most." - Global Health Recommendations for a New Administration and Congress

Dec 18, 2008  USA/Africa: Global Health Commitment http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/iom0812.php
    "The U.S. government [should] demonstrate, through policies and actions, that this nation fundamentally believes in the value of better health for all. The committee is calling on the next President to highlight health as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy. .. The U.S. government should act in the global interest, recognizing that long-term diplomatic, economic, and security benefits for the United States will follow." - The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the New Administration from the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences

Dec 1, 2008  Africa: Ending AIDS? http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/hiv0811.php
    "The [WHO] findings suggest that HIV transmission could be virtually eliminated by 2020 in countries with high levels of HIV prevalence, such as South Africa, if it were possible to persuade everyone in the community to test for HIV infection once a year and then provide antiretroviral therapy to all who test HIV-positive. ... [But there are many questions that require answers before such a strategy could be implemented.]" - HIV & AIDS Treatment in Practice

Sep 19, 2008  Africa: Malaria Control Up, Majority Not Covered http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/mal0809.php
    "Despite big increases in the supply of mosquito nets ...the number available in 2006 was still far below need in almost all countries. The procurement of antimalarial medicines through public health services also increased sharply, but access to treatment, especially of artemisin-based combination therapy (ACT), was inadequate in all countries surveyed in 2006. ... Supplies of insecticide-treated nets (ITN) ... were sufficient to protect an estimated 26% of people in 37 African countries. Surveys in 18 African countries found that 34% of households owned an ITN; ... 38% of children with fever were treated with antimalarial drugs, but only 3% with ACT." - World Malaria Report, 2008

Aug 2, 2008  USA: AIDS & Black America http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/hiv0808b.php
    "U.S. policy treats AIDS as a foreign policy priority, but virtually ignores the epidemic among Black citizens here at home, U.S. policy makers seem to be much more interested in the epidemic in Botswana than the epidemic in Louisiana. This is an unnecessary and deadly choice. Both need urgent attention." - Rev. Al Sharpton

Aug 2, 2008  Africa: AIDS Updates & Analysis http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/hiv0808a.php
    "The scale up of antiretroviral therapy in the developing world is the most ambitious public health undertaking of our lifetimes, ...We were told it couldn't be done, and shouldn't be done, but we persevered, set ambitious goals and targets, and now 3 million people are on antiretroviral treatment." - Gregg Gonsalves, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC)

Jul 16, 2008  Nigeria: Curse of the Black Gold http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/nig0807.php
    "This book lays out the dynamics of oil and development in Nigeria and Africa. It reveals the complicity in this perfect storm of international oil companies, foreign governments, corrupt oil-producing states and U.S. consumers. ... the future of oil in Nigeria is now in question in an unprecedented way. As we speak, something like 25 percent of Nigerian oil is locked in or deferred because of the attacks by militants." - Michael Watts

Jul 7, 2008  Africa: G8 Issues Roundup http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/g8-0807.php
    "A staggering 9.7 million children die each year before the age of five. Most would survive if they had the basic healthcare taken for granted in rich nations. ...We're campaigning for a world where all children have an equal chance of reaching their fifth birthday." - World Vision, campaign for G8 Action on Child Healthcare

Jun 9, 2008  Japan/Africa: More but Not Enough http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/jap0806.php
    In recent years, Japan's role in Africa has attracted little attention from international media, in comparison to the high profile of China and, sometimes, India. Nevertheless, with the world's 2nd largest national economy, behind the United States, Japan's relations with the continent are significant - and growing. As host of the G-8 Summit in July, Japan will be in the spotlight and its record on global and African issues under scrutiny.

Apr 28, 2008  South Africa: Women, AIDS, and Violence, 2 http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/ai0804b.php
    "In the Southern African region the results of a large scale household survey conducted in eight countries showed that nearly a fifth of the women interviewed reported being a victim of partner physical violence in the preceding year. ... South African based-studies have found that women who experience intimate partner violence are at long-term increased risk of HIV infection, particularly where their partners were involved in multiple concurrent, unprotected sexual relationships." - Amnesty International

Apr 28, 2008  South Africa: Women, AIDS, and Violence, 1 http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/ai0804a.php
    "Despite gradual improvements in the government's response to the HIV epidemic and the adoption of a widely-welcomed five-year plan, five and a half million South Africans are HIV-infected - one of the highest numbers in any country in the world. Fifty-five percent of them are women. South African women under 25 are three to four times more likely to be HIV-infected than men in the same age group. ... the level of new HIV infections amongst women in South Africa continues to increase, while overall incidence of the disease has levelled off." - Amnesty International

Mar 27, 2008  Africa: "Diagonal" Health Financing http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/diag0803.php
    The dichotomy between "vertical" financing (aiming for disease-specific results) and "horizontal" financing (aiming for improved health systems) of health services in developing countries is both destructive and unnecessary, argue a team of health activists and researchers in a new peer-reviewed policy paper published in the journal Globalization and Health. They propose expanding a "diagonal" approach that recognizes the necessary complementarity between disease-specific programs and improvement in health systems, with costs shared by both international and domestic funding sources.

Mar 3, 2008  USA/Africa: Health Policy Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/heal0803.php
    The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week approved a commitment of $50 billion over 5 years for spending on global AIDS and related diseases, $20 billion more than the President's original proposal. The bill, which also includes other provisions such as funds for training of health care workers, and is expected to pass the full Congress. But health activists note that additional pressure on U.S. presidential candidates is needed to ensure other measures, such as ensuring access to essential medicines.

Feb 21, 2008  USA/Africa: Images and Issues http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/usa0802.php
    As President Bush winds up his 5-day trip to Africa, the initial focus on his legacy in the fight against AIDS and malaria has been enlivened with debate on the new and highly controversial AFRICOM military command (See, for example, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/world/africa/21prexy.html), Commentators have also highlighted the contrast between Bush's itinerary (Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia) and unresolved crises in Kenya and Sudan. But from AIDS to AFRICOM, coverage of the trip was also revealing for points hardly mentioned by either Bush boosters or critics.

Feb 5, 2008  Africa: Dramatic Anti-Malaria Results http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/mal0802.php
    New anti-malaria interventions, when applied together, can have dramatic results, according to a new World Health Organization study. The study reported declines in cases in children under five of 60% in Ethiopia, 64% in Rwanda, 29% in Zambia, and 13% in Ghana, between the period 2000-2005 and the year 2007. The greater impact in Ethiopia and Rwanda was clearly associated with massive campaigns of free distribution of long-lasting insecticidal-treated bednets.

Feb 5, 2008  USA/Africa: Health Budget Falls Short http://www.africafocus.org/docs08/pep0802.php
    United States President George W. Bush has asked Congress to vote an U.S. $30 billion for the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) over the next five years. .. But critics say this is only maintaining the current funding levels when large increases are still needed. Physicians for Human Rights, for example, has called for U.S. $59 billion to fund the fight against Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and other global health programs. And Aids-Free World co-director Stephen Lewis has pointed out that the war in Iraq is taking far more: up to $108 billion a year.

Oct 15, 2007  Africa: Health Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/heal0710.php
    "Donors are expected to give the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria] at least $9.7 billion over the next three years, 57% more than they gave over the past three years. The pledges made at last week's Global Fund Replenishment Meeting in Berlin, chaired by Kofi Annan, constituted the largest single financing exercise for health that has ever taken place." - Global Fund Observer, September 30, 2007

Aug 14, 2007  Nigeria: AIDS Advice Available http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/hiv0708b.php
    "We are indeed succeeding in our sensitization and public enlightenment efforts. ... While we chose to whine and lampoon acts such as the incident at Covenant University [which decided in June not to allow HIV-positive students to graduate], the insurance executive who was fired for testing positive to HIV and many more, we cannot ignore ... condemnation such acts have attracted especially through newspaper editorials, columnists, opinion polls and wait for this - even discussions at amala joints, fast foods outlets, drinking bars, pepper soup joints, discussions at taxi parks." - Journalists against AIDS Nigeria

Aug 14, 2007  South Africa: AIDS Action Relapse http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/hiv0708a.php
    "Unlike other African countries, South Africa has the financial resources and the medical talent to successfully take on its H.I.V./AIDS epidemic. What it lacks is a president who cares enough about his people's suffering to provide serious leadership. .. Unless he finally starts listening to sensible advice on AIDS, he will leave a tragic legacy of junk science and unnecessary death." - New York Times, August 14, 2007

Jun 18, 2007  Africa: Two Cheers for G8? http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/lew0706.php
    "In 2005, at its meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, the [G-8] pledged to provide 'as close as possible to universal access to treatment' for all people suffering from AIDS by 2010. That should mean at least 10 million people in treatment by then ... Yet at the recent meeting, the G-8 said it was aiming to treat only some five million patients in Africa by an unspecified date. That sounds like consigning millions of untreated people to death and disability." - New York Times

May 23, 2007  Africa: Eyes on the G8 http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/g8_0705.php
    The G8 (Group of 8) summit of the world's richest nations is scheduled to meet June 6-8 on the Baltic coast of Germany, and activists are demanding action not rhetoric on commitments to Africa. ActionAid, for example, is calling for at least 8,000 people, the number dying of AIDS every day, to upload images of their eyes to signal the leaders that the world is watching. Visit http://eyes.actionaid.org.uk/ to add your eyes and your message.

May 23, 2007  Africa: Medicines without Doctors http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/gf0705.php
    "The World Health Organization estimates that to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), health systems need at least 2.5 health workers per 1,000 people. In Mozambique, ... per 1,000 people there are 0.36 full-time equivalents of health workers (2004 figures).Mozambique's health workforce would have to be multiplied by seven to achieve the MDGs."

Apr 12, 2007  Africa: "We will hold you to your promises" http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/heal0704.php
    As African Union ministers of health gathered in South Africa this week to discuss strategies, civil society health activists demanded that African governments live up to previous commitments to expand health access. "We will not go back," the activist coalition statement concluded, "We will be watching you."

Mar 4, 2007  Africa: Global Fund Advances http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/gf0703.php
    The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has a new executive director. And the Global Fund Observer reports that the Fund is in better financial shape to cover the anticipated cost of Round 7 grants than it was at this stage with any of the three previous rounds. But the fund still needs to triple its funding levels to meet the estimated needs for the period 2008-2010.

Jan 25, 2007  Africa: Health Promises, Time to Deliver http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/heal0701.php
    In his State of the Union message this week, U.S. President George Bush declared "To whom much is given, much is required." He went on to pledge to "continue to fight HIV/AIDS, especially on the continent of Africa." But while activists acknowledge the additional attention given to health in recent years, they say both African and international leaders are still falling far short of fulfilling their promises.

Nov 24, 2006  Africa: Water, Health, and Development http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hdr0611b.php
    "We estimate that the African region loses five per cent of GDP annually as a result of both women having to walk huge distances to collect water - which diverts labor, apart from the huge personal cost that it puts someone in - and the impact of disease on productivity." - Kevin Watkins, lead author, UN Human Development Report 2006

Nov 24, 2006  Africa: Global Apartheid Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hdr0611a.php
    Speaking at the global launch of the 2006 Human Development Report in Cape Town, South African President Thabo Mbeki called for the world to fight "domestic and global apartheid in terms of access to water." The report documented high levels of inequality both within and between nations, with sub-Saharan African countries losing some five percent of GDP annually as a result of the water and sanitation crisis, far more than the region receives in international aid.

Nov 15, 2006  Africa: Global Fund as Legacy of Innovation http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/gf0611.php
    After more than 20 hours of deliberations early this month, the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was unable to agree on a new executive director. Despite the resulting delay, some observers say the failure actually indicates how seriously the Fund is taking its mandate to build a consensus between developed and developing countries.

Sep 30, 2006  Africa: Innovative Financing http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aid0609b.php
    Beginning in July, international air travelers from France have been paying a 4 euro tax on an economy ticket and 40 euros on a first-class ticket, with proceeds going to pay for treatment of children with AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Eighteen other countries have pledged to implement the tax, including Brazil, the United Kingdom, Norway, Mali, and South Korea.

Sep 30, 2006  Africa: Making Aid Multilateral http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aid0609a.php
    The current international aid system, says a new UN report, is chaotic, and suffers from high transaction costs, politicization, lack of transparency, incoherence, and unpredictability. What is needed, says the report, is a shift to a multilateral model similar to the Marshall Plan and to the European Community's regional funds.

Sep 23, 2006  Africa: Girl Power http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/educ0609.php
    "Girls who complete secondary school are up to five time less likely to contract HIV than girls with no education," according to a new ActionAid review of over 600 research studies. But in Africa, an estimated 22 million girls have never been to primary school.

Aug 18, 2006  Africa: Too Little for Too Few http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/msf0608.php
    Ten times more people in Africa are getting life-saving HIV drugs than three years ago, reported Reuters this week from the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, but most still get no treatment and the pandemic continues to spread worldwide. Fewer than ten percent of HIV-infected pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries get treatment to protect their newborn from infection.

Jul 1, 2006  Africa: AIDS Treatment Progress Reports http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aids0606.php
    Newly-compiled performance results show that as of end April, 544,000 people have begun antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through Global Fund-supported programs - up from 384,000 six months ago. And despite the pressures for competition between the U.S. bilateral PEFPAR program and the Global Fund, reports from implementing agencies say the stress on operational level is on how to use resources from both programs to maximize action against AIDS. But sustainability of funding is a looming obstacle, with the projected overall funding gap for this year at some $5 billion.

Jun 3, 2006  Africa: Backsliding on AIDS Commitments http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hiv0606b.php
    "U.N. Strengthens Call for a Global Battle against AIDS," reads the headline in the New York Times. But AIDS activist groups that demonstrated and lobbied for specific commitments and strong language at the UN meeting on AIDS disagreed. Instead, they accused governments of backsliding and failing to adopt specific targets against which they could be held accountable.

Jun 3, 2006  Africa: AIDS Epidemic Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hiv0606a.php
    "Sub-Saharan Africa remains the worst-affected region in the world. ... Overall, HIV prevalence in this region appears to be levelling off, albeit at exceptionally high levels in southern Africa. Such apparent 'stabilization' of the epidemic reflects situations where the numbers of people being newly infected with HIV roughly match the numbers of people dying of AIDS-related illnesses." - 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic

Apr 28, 2006  Africa: Keeping Health Commitments http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/hiv0604.php
    The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced a sixth round of grant proposals for this year, despite fears that the global effort could falter for lack of sufficient funds. But the momentum of global health efforts is still in doubt, with crucial evaluation meetings coming up in Abuja, Nigeria and in New York this month.

Apr 2, 2006  Africa: User Fees http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/user0604.php
    "The government of Zambia today (1 April) introduced free health care for people living in rural areas, scrapping fees which for years had made health care inaccessible for millions. The move was made possible using money from the debt cancellation and aid increases agreed at the G8 in Gleneagles last July, when Zambia received $4 billion of debt relief; money it is now investing in health and education." - Oxfam International

Mar 4, 2006  Africa: Universal Access Initiative http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/acc0603.php
    AIDS activists and observers say the new "universal access by 2010" initiative is disturbingly vague and short on specific targets, with at least 4 million people still facing premature death from AIDS if they do not receive treatment. The "3 by 5" initiative, launched in 2003, targeted having 3 million people in developing countries on antiretroviral treatment for AIDS by the end of 2005. The last report, in June 2005, showed that the number had more than doubled, from 400,000 at the end of 2003 to approximately 1 million. But the year-end target was missed by at least 1 million, and there is still no detailed report for December 2005.

Feb 16, 2006  South Africa: New AIDS Statistics http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/aids0602.php
    A new study released this month estimates that 4.8 million people, or approximately 10.8 percent of South Africans over the age of 2, are now living with HIV/AIDS. The nation-wide survey, carried out by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), was close to the estimates produced by the latest Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) computer model, released in December. Both studies provide new detailed breakdowns of data, with the HSRC survey showing, for example, rates of AIDS prevalence as high as 17.6 percent in informal (slum) residential areas.

Feb 16, 2006  Africa: AIDS Optimism http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/farm0602.php
    "[Four years ago] people like me were sick and tired, already, of defeatist arguments [about AIDS], which had gone on way too long already. To ask doctors, nurses, and other providers to give up on treating the sick because they're too poor to pay was never, ever acceptable to my co-workers in the field....We're still arguing, it's true, but we're not arguing about the same things. Instead of arguing whether or not to treat the poor who suffer from AIDS, or drug-resistant tuberculosis, or even drug- resistant malaria, we're arguing about what drugs should be used to treat these diseases." - Paul Farmer, November 2005

Dec 6, 2005  Africa: Health, Patents Clash http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/trip0512.php
    In 2001, the World Trade Organization (WTO) approved the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health which affirms the right of countries to prioritize access to medicines and public health over intellectual property rights. However, this statement did not address the issue of how countries with insufficient manufacturing capacity can make use of these rights. Now developed countries want the WTO to extend a complex interim "solution" to the problem that has not worked.

Nov 28, 2005  USA/Africa: Global Gag Rule Expands http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/gag0511.php
    The "Mexico City Policy," also known as the "Global Gag Rule" denies U.S. funding to foreign non-governmental organizations that work on safe abortion issues. It was reimposed by President George W. Bush in 2001, but in 2003 the administration said that the rule would not apply to funds for fighting HIV/AIDS. Now, according to the Center for Health and Gender Equity, the administration is reversing that policy in a new $193 million program in Kenya.

Nov 20, 2005  Africa: Africanizing Malaria Research http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/mal0511.php
    Research on malaria must increasingly be centered in Africa and be led by African researchers, stressed participants in the Fourth Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Malaria Conference held last week in Cameroon. In addition to a wide variety of scientific papers on the latest research, the conference featured the designation of researcher Genevieve Giny Fouda Amou'ou as recipient of the Young Malaria Scientist Award, and the announcement of the move of the MIM secretariat from Stockholm, Sweden to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Nov 9, 2005  Africa: Stalled Growth at Global Fund http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/gf0511.php
    "I have spent the last four years watching people die." With these wrenching words, diplomat and humanitarian Stephen Lewis opens his 2005 Massey Lectures. Lewis, who is the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in Africa, has been outspoken in his criticism of African governments and international and bilateral donors alike for their slow response to AIDS and their neglect of women in particular.

Sep 15, 2005  Africa: Human Development Report http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/hdr2005.php
    Among the many reports issued as world leaders gather in New York to discuss their commitment to fighting world poverty, the annual Human Development Report is among the most blunt in concluding that the "promise to the world's poor is being broken." In addition to documenting the failures and presenting its annual measurement of the Human Development Index (HDI) for 177 countries, this year's report identifies specific actions that could begin to reverse the trend.

Sep 9, 2005  Africa: Global Fund Progress Report http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/gf0509.php
    "While the latest progress report points to a steady improvement in results and a persistent trend of a high-performing grant portfolio, it stresses that the Global Fund needs to sharply increase the rate of program acceleration in the next four years if it is to achieve its five-year targets." - Press Release from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, August 23, 2005.

Jun 24, 2005  Africa: Health Resources Shortfall http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/hr0506.php
    "When the G8 industrialized nations gather in Scotland next month, they should commit to subsidizing the salaries of African health workers to keep them from leaving their home countries in search of higher pay and better conditions in wealthier countries. ... All the well-intentioned efforts [to address AIDS and other health needs] are limited by the lack of personnel on the ground for both prevention and treatment programs." - Boston Globe, June 24, 2004

Jun 11, 2005  South Africa: AIDS Treatment Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/tac0506.php
    Despite good outcomes in many treatment centers, the message from reports and demonstrators at the Second South African AIDS Conference in Durban last week was that the government's 18-month-old plan for AIDS treatment in the public sector is still falling far short. Results are very uneven among provinces, few children are receiving treatment, nutrition programs as well as antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are failing to reach the majority of those needing treatment, and there is still no plan to address the critical shortage of medical personnel.

May 4, 2005  Africa: Rolling Back Malaria? http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/mal0505.php
    The World Malaria Report 2005, a new comprehensive report released yesterday by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, clearly lays out the strategies needed to fight malaria, which kills at least one million people a year. But despite claiming progress in more widespread adoption of these strategies, the report also acknowledges that these measures are only beginning to have an effect. More skeptical observers, such as the medical journal The Lancet in an April 25 editorial, say that lack of resources and lack of capacity for implementation have in fact crippled the war against malaria.

Apr 15, 2005  Africa: AIDS Resources Gaps http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/aids0504.php
    Despite increases in recent years, funding to fight the global AIDS pandemic is still only approximately half the minimum of more than $12 billion a year estimated to be needed. But the gaps are not only financial. Activists are increasingly emphasizing the even larger gaps in adequate human resources and upgraded health systems, that are essential for turning small-scale successes into sustainable larger programs.

Mar 29, 2005  Ghana: Medical Skills Drain http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/migr0503.php
    Among the most daunting barriers to addressing Africa's urgent health needs is the migration of health professionals to richer countries. Skilled personnel representing investment by poor countries end up filling in the gaps for the UK, USA, and other countries. The problem is widely acknowledged. But a new paper from Medact, based on the experience of Ghana and the UK, argues that current policy responses are not only inadequate but also based on many false assumptions.

Mar 7, 2005  India/Africa: Threat to Generic Drugs http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/ind0503.php
    Proposed changes in Indian patent law being considered by Parliament this month threaten to limit production of generic alternatives for newer drugs. Generic drugs from India have played a key role in lowering the price of antiretroviral treatment to make it feasible to scale up treatment more rapidly for 3.7 million Africans with AIDS who do not have access to treatment. But the new law could add one more obstacle to turning that promise into reality.

Feb 22, 2005  South Africa: Mortality Statistics, AIDS Action http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/tac0502.php
    Between 1997 and 2002, according to a new report from Stats SA, South Africa's official statistics agency, the number of recorded annual deaths in the age group from 20 to 45 more than doubled, from a little over 100,000 to more than 200,000. Although most deaths likely to be linked to AIDS are officially recorded as due to associated diseases such as TB and pneumonia, the age and disease pattern provides strong evidence of the growing impact of AIDS.

Jan 28, 2005  Africa: AIDS Progress Real but Limited http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/who0501.php
    The number of Africans receiving anti-retroviral treatment more than doubled from 150,000 to 310,000 in the last six months of 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported this week. For those on treatment, treatment adherence and survival rates were comparable to or even better than the rates in developed countries. But there are still more than ten times that many Africans who need AIDS treatment now but are not receiving it: 3.7 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone, out of 5.1 million worldwide.

Jan 9, 2005  Africa: Year of Action for AIDS Treatment? http://www.africafocus.org/docs05/arv0501.php
    "The Indian Ocean tsunami killed 150,000, and triggered a remarkable global relief effort that has raised $4 billion for the stricken region. But AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria alone kill 40 times that number every year, taking no fewer than 6 million lives. And still, the United Nations must scramble for the $3 billion a year it needs to combat these diseases." - Toronto Star, January 8, 2005

Dec 3, 2004  Southern Africa: Gender and AIDS http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hiv0412b.php
    "If we can stop the spread of HIV among women and girls in southern Africa, we can turn the epidemic around. ... gender inequality fuels HIV infection because many women and girls cannot negotiate safer sex or turn down unwanted sex. ... HIV/AIDS deepens and exacerbates women's poverty and inequality because it requires them to do more domestic labour as they care for the sick, the dying and the orphaned." - United Nations Secretary General's Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa

Dec 3, 2004  Africa: AIDS Report http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hiv0412a.php
    Despite over 3 million deaths from AIDS worldwide this year, the number estimated to be living with HIV continued to climb to an all-time high of 39.4 million people around the world. Almost two thirds of those infected (25.4 million), and almost 75 percent of the deaths (2.3 million) were in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nov 11, 2004  Africa: Global Fund Action Call http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/gf0411.php
    The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is holding its first meeting to take place in Africa next week in Arusha, Tanzania. Ironically, one of its decisions may be to postpone announcement of a fifth round of funding, as donors led by the United States press to reduce expectations and pressure for future funding commitments. Activists in Africa and around the world are calling for mobilization to demand that the Fund stick to its original vision and continue to increase resources to fight the three diseases.

Nov 5, 2004  Africa: Obstacles to AIDS Treatment http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/acc0411.php
    There is now a wide international consensus that providing AIDS treatment to all in need of it is essential, along with prevention. But the obstacles are substantial, including lack of resources but also flawed policies and lack of political will. Among particular barriers are the failure to make full use of generic drugs and the policy of user fees that further restricts access.

Oct 18, 2004  Africa: AIDS Time Bomb http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hiv0410.php
    "If we think we are seeing an impact today, we have to brace ourselves because it is set to get very much worse." Alan Whiteside of the United Nations Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA) issued this warning last week at a meeting of the commission in Addis Ababa. Scaling up of treatment is now on the continental and global agenda. But the pace is still far short of that needed to stem the drop in life expectancies and catastrophic damage to all sectors of societies.

Sep 27, 2004  Africa: Blocking Progress http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/act0409.php
    If the international community did come up with the funds required for adequate support to fight HIV/AIDS, spending the money could still be blocked by International Monetary Fund (IMF) guidelines designed to limit government spending in the affected countries. A new report by ActionAid International USA and three other Washington-based groups, excerpted in this AfricaFocus Bulletin, argues that this outcome is both unacceptable and unnecessary.

Aug 9, 2004  South Africa: AIDS Treatment Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/tac0408.php
    "Not more than 10,000 people are receiving anti-retroviral treatment in South Africa at public health facilities. Of these, many are funded by donor agencies. At this rate, the Plan will fall far short of the target announced by President Mbeki of 53,000 people on treatment by March 31, 2005. a target that is already more than 100,000 people less than that proposed in the Plan." - Treatment Action Campaign

Jul 17, 2004  Africa: AIDS Conference Reports http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/acc0407a.php
    At the International AIDS Conference just concluded in Bangkok, the U.S. AIDS program came in for sustained criticism on several fronts. In an interview with the BBC, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan chided the U.S. in particular for failing to keep its promises to support the international war against AIDS.

Jul 17, 2004  Africa: Health Policy Reports http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/acc0407b.php
    Health systems in Africa are being drained by an exodus of health personnel to wealthy countries, even as the need for professionals to implement new AIDS programs and reconstruct battered health systems grows ever more urgent. A new report from Physicians for Human Rights proposes new measures by both rich and poor countries to address this crisis, including compensation by rich countries for the immigrant professionals they are using to bolster their own health personnel shortages.

May 24, 2004  Africa: AIDS Treatment Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/acc0405.php
    The World Health Assembly has unanimously affirmed the continuation of World Health Organization (WHO) programs to assist countries in obtaining low-cost, high-quality essential medicines. The May 22 resolution endorsed the drug prequalification program, which includes generic fixed-dose-combination antiretroviral drugs. According to Agence France-Press, the United States did not oppose the resolution, although it has not endorsed the WHO program.

May 4, 2004  Angola: Humanitarian Update http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/ang0404.php
    Two years after the end to war in Angola, a UN analysis reports, almost all the 3.8 million internally displaced people have returned home. Nevertheless, "the transition [from war to recovery] seems to be on hold," says the report, faulting both donors and the Angolan government for failure to get resources to local communities.

Apr 30, 2004  Africa: Tragedy and Hope http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/book0404.php
    "Africa eludes us; it is so clearly outlined on the map, and yet so difficult to define. From afar, Westerners have long fancied it to be divided into 'black' and 'white,' in the image of their own societies, and yet observant visitors are more likely to be struck by Africa's diversity, and by the absence of any sharp dividing lines."

Apr 27, 2004  Africa: Learning to Survive http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/educ0404.php
    Universal primary education is "the single most effective preventive weapon against HIV/AIDS," says a new report by Oxfam International. But donor countries are failing to come up with even the minimal funds they have pledged to support African countries under an optimistically named "Fast Track Initiative" to expand education funding.

Apr 22, 2004  Swaziland: AIDS in Context http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/sw0404.php
    "Swaziland now holds the dubious title of [having] the highest [HIV] prevalence level in the world. ... [It] is a vivid microcosm of all the similarly afflicted countries of Southern Africa. At the grass roots, where it counts, there's a superhuman determination to bring the pandemic to heel, and to overcome the tremendous assault on the human condition." - Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa

Apr 19, 2004  Africa: Malaria Action at Issue http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/mala0404.php
    Malaria kills approximately two million people a year, some 90 percent of them in Africa. These numbers come close to the estimated three million worldwide dying of AIDS. The two diseases differ in many ways, but there are deadly similarities. In both cases, action falls far behind promises, while debates about strategy are used as excuses for failure to provide resources.

Apr 5, 2004  USA/Africa: Policy Prospects http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/usaf0404.php
    A U.S. election campaign, it seems, has room for one foreign policy issue at most. That space is fully occupied by Iraq. So it is no surprise that no African issues - not even the unfulfilled Bush administration promises on AIDS from January 2003 - have edged their way into election debates. The difference that this year's election could make for Africa policy is still largely a matter for speculation.

Mar 25, 2004  Africa: Generic Drugs under Threat http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/gen0403.php
    One of the most important battles affecting how many people with AIDS will receive needed anti-retroviral drugs is to take place in a so-far little publicized conference in Botswana on March 29 and 30. AIDS activists and generic drug manufacturers fear that pharmaceutical companies and the Bush administration will succeed in a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit the most effective generic treatment, recommended by the World Health Organization, in favor of more expensive patented drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Feb 24, 2004  Africa: Questions on AIDS Plans http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hiv0402c.php
    The Bush Administration has formally released a plan for implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and announced initial grants that will provide $92 million this year to four U.S. groups working in 14 "focus countries" in Africa and the Caribbean. But the plan leaves many questions unanswered, These include policy on the use of generic drugs, funding levels for the Global Fund, and how U.S. efforts will be coordinated with other national and global programs.

Feb 11, 2004  Africa: AIDS & Financial Abstinence http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hiv0402a.php
    "You might think that the industrial nations would compensate for a decade of financial abstinence by embracing the Global Fund as the obvious vehicle for resource-constrained countries. But that hasn't been the case. At this moment in time, the Fund is several hundred million dollars short for this year, and almost three billion short for next."

Feb 11, 2004  Southern Africa: AIDS Plans Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hiv0402b.php
    Little more than two months after the announcement of a national plan for providing AIDS treatment, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang have raised new doubts about the commitment of top political leaders to rapid implementation of the plan. A statement by the Treatment Action Campaign issued today accuses the two government leaders of "serious factual misrepresentations" and "causing confusion in the public and despair among people with HIV/AIDS and health professionals."

Jan 22, 2004  Africa: Davos Report Card http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/dav0401.php
    In his New Year's message for 2004, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, referring to HIV/AIDS, poverty, and other global issues, concluded: "We don't need any more promises. We need to start keeping the promises we already made." A report card prepared for the World Economic Forum now meeting in Davos, Switzerland has concluded that the international community is putting in barely one-third of the effort needed to achieve internationally agreed goals.

Jan 6, 2004  Africa: Health for All? http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/whr0312.php
    In mid-December, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its annual World Health Report, the first under the leadership of Director-General Jong-wook Lee. Building on its earlier announcement of a plan to bring AIDS treatment to 3 million people by the end of 2005, the WHO called for a return to the goal of "Health for All" adopted twenty-five years ago. The report calls for strengthening health systems across the board to address the widening gap between rich and poor countries, and it stresses that AIDS treatment will not be sustainable unless it is linked to the strengthening of primary health systems.

Jan 6, 2004  USA/Africa: Health Unilateralism http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/hgap0312.php
    "As the U.S. government plods slowly towards expanded funding for its largely bilateral global AIDS initiative (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and as it sends successive waves of teary-eyed politicians on fact-finding tours to AIDS orphanages in Africa, it has been working hard behind the scenes to undercut multilateral AIDS initiatives."

Dec 1, 2003  Africa: AIDS, Frontline Voices http://www.africafocus.org/docs03/hiv0312a.php
    Leaders of the All Africa Conference of Churches, meeting in Cameroon last week, pledged to "undertake prophetic advocacy until anti-retrovirals are available to all who need them; have zero tolerance for stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive persons, and do whatever possible to eliminate the isolation, rejection, fear and oppression of the infected and affected in the community." Hundreds of the delegates responded to a call to come forward for testing for HIV.

Dec 1, 2003  Africa: AIDS, New World Health Plan http://www.africafocus.org/docs03/who0312.php
    "I feel angry, I feel distressed, I feel helpless ... to live in a world where we have the means, we have the resources, to be able to help all these patients - what is lacking is the political will. ... It does indicate a certain incredible callousness that one would not have expected in the 21st century." - United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Nov 23, 2003  South Africa: AIDS Treatment Green Light http://www.africafocus.org/docs03/tac0311.php
    Last week the South African government approved a comprehensive plan for treatment as well as prevention of HIV and AIDS. The result of years of pressure by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and other activists, this step gives the green light for free public treatment of all those in need of it. Implementing this decision, however, still requires enormous efforts.

Nov 7, 2003  Africa: New Commitments on AIDS Treatment http://www.africafocus.org/docs03/hiv0311a.php
    Despite footdragging by the Bush administration on full funding both for its own initiative and for multilateral efforts, there has been a recent flurry of announcements of new commitments to treat people with AIDS who lack access to antiretroviral drugs.