Drug initiatives focus of World AIDS Day

CTV.ca News Staff
December 1, 2003 11:58 PM ET

The fight to get generic versions of AIDS drugs into hard-hit countries is the focus of World AIDS Day Monday, as people attend prayers, vigils and rallies around the globe.

Two UN organizations -- the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS -- have unveiled a plan that will aim to provide anti-retroviral treatment to three million people with HIV in developing countries by the end of 2005.

The so-called "3 by 5" will cost about $5.5 billion US over the next two years.

"The Death-o-dometer from AIDS is spinning at 8,000 lives a day and it is accelerating," said Jack Chow, Assistant Director General of WHO.

"These are people whose lives could have been saved through the provision and access to anti-retroviral medicines that are effective, safe and affordable."

In Canada, the government is planning on spending up to $100 million over five years on HIV/AIDS programs in Africa. The money will be used to fund programs for the care, treatment, support and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

The money was allotted for in the 2003 federal budget.

Canada has also led the fight to get generic versions of drugs for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria into countries that need it most. They are the three major killers in Africa.

The AIDS anti-retrovirals are essential to survival for those who are infected with HIV, and prevents them from developing full-blown AIDS. However, the high cost of the drugs has kept them out of the hands of those who need them the most.

According to the WHO, more than five million HIV patients need anti-retroviral drugs, but fewer than 400,000 currently have access to them.

Last week, UNAIDS reported that more than 40 million people are infected with HIV and more than three million died of AIDS in 2003.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted his frustration at the AIDS fight on Monday.

"I am not winning the war (against AIDS) because I don't think the leaders of the world are engaged enough.

"I feel angry, I feel distressed, I feel helpless ... to live in a world where we have the means ... to be able to help all these patients, what is lacking is the political will."

AIDS has had the biggest impact in Africa, where many people live on $1 a day. The UNAIDS report says one in five in Africa has HIV, and in sub-Saharan Africa, 26.6 million people live with HIV.

Rallies held worldwide

From Britain to Botswana, activists and health workers rallied Monday. Some of the events include:

• In Cambodia -- where some 160,000 of the 13 million population are HIV-positive or living with full-blown AIDS -- close to 1,000 took to the streets of the capital, Phnom Penh.
• In Cape Town, South Africa, former president Nelson Mandela followed the weekend success of his benefit concert with a call to fight the stigma that clings to HIV and those infected with it. "That is a tragic mistake, because when you do that, you make the people that are suffering feel like they are not human beings," Mandela said in Cape Town. "Many will die because of feeling less than human."
• In Nairobi, President Mwai Kibaki rallied his population as thousands marched to demand access to essential drugs. "This disease could lead to the collapse of some economies in the next few generations," Kibaki said. "We, therefore, owe it to humanity to fight this disease relentlessly."
• In Calcutta, India, hundreds of prostitutes carried torches and waved posters as took to the streets overnight. In their red-light district rally, they vowed not to have sex without condoms.
• And in Sweden, activists organized a conference called Hope, Insight and Vision that included conferences on children and HIV, the medical outlook for a vaccine and treatments.
• The day's events even touched places where AIDS is yet to make a significant impact. In Albania, where only 116 registered cases have been registered since 1993, scores of high school students led a march in Tirana with candles and a banner that read, Protect Yourself and Others.

AIDS spreading through Asia

Meanwhile, experts are warning that as awareness of the disease's inroads around the world become clear, signs are pointing to burgeoning AIDS epidemic in China and India.

The China Daily newspaper on Monday, citing a new survey by the Health Ministry, WHO and UNAIDS, said at least 840,000 people in China were HIV positive, and 80,000 had developed AIDS.

Experts suggest the total number is closer to 1 million, and say it could skyrocket to 10 million by 2010 without proper prevention.

In India, where an estimated four million people have been infected with HIV, the government says it plans to provide free, generic anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS patients.

Starting with a plan to cover 100,000 patients in the six worst-hit Indian states, the government plans to spend more than $57 million in the first year.

According to a recent U.S. government report, the number of HIV-positive people in India could grow beyond 20 million by 2010. The Indian government rejected the forecast.

AIDS on the rise in Canada

In Canada, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to grow. A survey released by Health Minister Anne McLellan suggests there were 56,000 people living with AIDS at the end of 2002 -- an increase of 12 per cent since 1999.

"Canada is taking important steps to advance the fight against HIV/AIDS and is demonstrating its strong support for the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS," McLellan said in a news release.

"This report, however, makes it clear that we still have work ahead of us and that we must continue to get the message out that HIV/AIDS is fatal and remains a significant threat to the health of Canadians."

In an Ottawa news conference, the president of the Metis National Council joined representatives of Canada's First Nations in describing how the disease is attacking his people.

Calling on the federal government to fund a concerted effort to deal with the crisis among Canadian natives, Clement Chartier said raising awareness is critical.

The Assembly of First Nations' Kevin Barlow agreed.

"We're impressing upon Health Canada that this is an urgent matter, that we require additional funding for the overall Canadian strategy," Barlow said. "Especially the aboriginal component of the strategy on HIV/AIDS in Canada"

According to the latest figures, in the first six months of 2002, 14 per cent of reported AIDS cases in Canada involve aboriginals.