About half a million children were born with HIV in Africa last year.
According to a UN Report made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today, most of the children were destined to die before their second birthday despite the presence of drugs that could help prevent the transmission of the virus from the mother to child.
A new UNICEF UK Report dubbed, Born Free from HIV, has revealed that less than 10 per cent of HIV positive pregnant mothers in poor countries have access to medicine and care necessary for preventing the transmission of the virus to the unborn baby.
The Report, however, suggests that the risk of transmitting the virus from the mother to child could still be reduced significantly at minimal cost.
The report further suggests the need to expand the provision of services that offer pregnant women HIV testing, post-test counseling and specific doses of anti-retroviral medicine during birth to prevent their babies from contracting the virus.
With a current shortage of about 4 million doctors, nurses and support workers world wide, UNICEF UK is lobbying the UK government at the G8 made a promise to deliver more aid to developing countries.
However, without more health workers, babies will continue to be born with HIV.
The G8 leaders have been urged to stick to their promises and make sure more aid is delivered.
It has been estimated an additional 3.4 million children under the age 15 will be living with HIV by 2010.
Howard calls for HIV migrant ban
Australia has seen a rise in the number of HIV cases in recent years
Australia should refuse to allow migrants or refugees with HIV to enter the country, Prime Minister John Howard has said.
Mr Howard said there may be special cases when an exemption could be considered but as a rule HIV-positive people should be denied entry.
Mr Howard was asked about the issue during a visit to Victoria state, which has seen a sharp rise in HIV cases.
Any ban for migrants with HIV/Aids would need a change in the federal law.
Mr Howard, on a visit to Melbourne, told a local radio station he wanted to seek more advice on the issue, but said his gut feeling was that HIV sufferers should not be allowed in to the country.
In the US, everyone arriving at Ellis Island was given a health exam and if you were found to be a carrier of certain diseases, you were sent back
Gerald, Chicago, USA
Send us your comments
“My initial reaction is no,†he said. “There may be some humanitarian considerations that could temper that in certain cases, but, prime facie – no.â€
Victoria’s public health officials have blamed the rise in HIV cases partly on overseas immigrants, but also on Australian residents relocating from other parts of the country.
Tuberculosis ban
Mr Howard, who has been in power for 11 years, is known for his tough stance on immigration.
He likened his proposed ban to the ban already imposed on people suffering from tuberculosis.
John Howard has a reputation for being tough on immigration
“I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide, and I know the health minister is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up,†he said.
Solicitor David Puls of the New South Wales HIV/Aids Legal Centre said the law allowed immigrants to be denied access where there are public safety concerns.
“The Medical Officer of the Commonwealth does not consider HIV to be a public safety concern,†he was quoted by the Australian newspaper as saying.
He added that HIV should not be compared with tuberculosis as the latter is airborne and contagious, while HIV is transmissible but not contagious.
Australia has been alarmed by the country’s rise in HIV cases. Infection rates rose by 41% between 2000 and 2005.
There is particular concern about the rapid spread of HIV and Aids in neighbouring Pacific countries, such as Papua New Guinea.
So the disease is not limited to Africa alone, it is still spreading across the globe.
There is something the world leaders and scientists are not telling us
Also, immigration is not the spread of the illness. Look at Japan, a closed net community like Japan has the problem.
AIDS is being spread across the globe on purpose.
TB is back, next will be polio, and other horrible diseases etc…..
Sorry to be a pain, I was just wondering if all these 1 million children were tested for the virus? If they were, what kind of test was carried out?
However, it must have cost a fortune to run these tests. AIDS testing is very expensive, it is not like a malaria test. These organisations should have given the money to the hospitals or used the funds to build more hospitals, and start treating curable diseases than focus on AIDS which is a killer and cannot be cured.
Let us stop AIDS testing and start preventing the spread of it. By testing so many children that is if you are, you are spreading the virus to other children who do not have it. This is done due to lack of equipment and hygienic materials.
“By testing so many children that is if you are, you are spreading the virus to other children who do not have it. This is done due to lack of equipment and hygienic mater.”
in other words no test should ever be carried out on children in africa is what you are alluding to, the thick drop in malaria testing is also a blood sample!and so is everything else.AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease which spreads like wild fire,theres nothing hidden just sex.
a contact trace done cuba showed a soldier who contracted aids in congo later moved to guinea and then thailand etc the man single handedly spread aids to more than 30 people and think of the 30 people too.
as long as sex exists AIDs will spread if people dont use condoms and adhere to a single partner.japan is a close nit society but the big business men are well know to take certain women for relaxation purposes who are based in the sex industry!
immigration does spread disease!
Flu virus killed millions in the world due to migration,in my view there should be a difference between aids victim full blown and an individual who is hiv positive.
the carrier with adeqate councelling can live anywhere just like anybody else and why not.
if you have full blown AIds with all its complications you are better of close to your family in a stress free enviroment and not in a forign land where no one will ever visit you and despite the developed health care you still die from depression.
from time in memorial since the AIDs dilema started people who were found to be hiv positive were expelled from universities in the old eastern block countries and that is still done today in russia.
So make AIDS an African illness caused by poverty? Africa has suffered and injustice and a lot trade discrimination due to AIDS?
Cancer is killing at lot of people in the west, isn’t that the same as AIDS except people do not get through SEX.
Why are we seeing more head lines on AIDS than we do on cancer, malaria and flu doctor.
Some news for a change:
Haemophiliac not told he had HIV
Haydn Lewis was HIV positive for eight months before he was told
A man who contracted HIV after receiving treatment for haemophilia has said he was not told that he had the virus for months.
Haydn Lewis, from Cardiff, said he thought it was during this time that his wife also became infected with HIV.
An independent inquiry has begun into how patients with haemophilia were given contaminated NHS blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
More than 1,700 patients have since died, and many more are terminally ill.
It is thought nearly 5,000 people were exposed to hepatitis C and, of these, more than 1,200 were also infected with HIV.
Celibacy is quite easy when you are told you have a life-threatening condition
Haydn Lewis
Mr Lewis, who now helps a campaign group called Tainted Blood, is raising concerns about the procedures followed in his treatment.
He said that when he checked his medical r
AIDS is everywhere. It is only to sound bad for Africa because the world expects Africans to die out from excessive sex habits, as some people put it.
What about the people in west then, have they stopped having sex?
Malaria test is done differently, remember we are talking about a virus which is supposed to die within seconds of exposure.
Prones live longer, vCJD, BSE etc….
These are found in west but there are not making headlines
Max… AIDS testing kit is not very expensive. It is the confirmatory test that is expensive ( the one done after HIV antibodies have been detected)as the specimen has to be sent to the lab (western blot). our zambian government can afford that if they only set their priorities right? NGO can even request for them for free (oral sure & oral advance… twenty minute test). In the USA people that do not have insurance can still access the HIV meds through companies that manufacture the drugs…. or you need is the confirmation from you doctor and the Rx. People in developed nations are pro-active (annual check ups), as opposed to the situation in Zed. we come to know of our illness when the incubation period has elapsed ( bed ridden). Other wise the oral test kit is not expensive at all!
The annoying thing is that zambia has only a population of about thirteen million, and yet the health ministry inconjuction with the social welfare dept (ministry ) fails to implement a structure that can provide the basics (meds, medical care, nutrition)needed to individuals that have been affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. To start with we already know the stigma that is attached to this illness… and yet we provide no privacy to those receiving antivirals as they have to line up to collect the meds at the HIV centers we have created. can’t we at least maintain their dignity and privacy? some of our ministers are on antivirals … and yet we do not see them at these centers! We should all be entitled to the same treatment… after all …we are all zambians and entitled to copper? If we do not demand for better care, our greedy men and women at manda hill will never implement the desired change.
April in the late 70 and 80s there was litte evidence to suggest blood products were contaminated with the HIV virus and besides little was known about the disease then, so its a tricky issue but in the legal world we are living its pretty tough, Hormone replacement treatment for women: excellent but does cause ovarian cancer so one has to weigh the benefits:in the next 20 years Iknow alot of people on retroviral medications who will be living near normal lives will be suing for the side effects from the altered distribution of fats. will it be right yes because the world is evolving and fast.
when penincillin was discovered it killed alot from those who reacted to it but it was still a major break through of the century.AIDS is a disease like any other and no speacil labeling ought to be attached to it apart from how to curb it just like if you are hypertensive avoid stress and loads of salt and exercerse
The whole credibility of the UN system regarding HIV stats is in grave danger. First, it was in Uganda where the modelling grossly exagerated the infection rates (and credited Museveni for supposedly bringing it down when it wasnt as high in the first place). Now we know (after a series of population validation surveys) that even in Botswana, Swaziland and many other places, their figures were way over the top. Am not saying the problem isnt big, but PLEASE let people understand that these just are model-generated statistics-with a high degree of uncertainty around them. No one knows the truth. It would be interesting to see what the upcoming DHS will reveal in Zambia (around 1999 they said 1 in 3 zambians is infected, the DHS showed 1 in 6 in 2001).
So all the projections about life expectancy being 35 in many southern african countries has crumbled.
Westerners have a tendency to exaggerate negativity in Africa and under-report their own masses wallowing in real poverty.
The MOH records less than 2000 annual deaths from malaria in the whole of Zambia in their HMIS. At the same time, the National Malaria Control Program reports that 50,000 deaths occur each year.
The WHO modelling exercise suggest 24,000 deaths in the year 2000.
Just who’s to be believed? The idea that HMIS is only counting deaths at facilities seems to me wholly inadequate to rationalise such enormous variation.
I rest my case.
Before we really get ahead of ourselves, lets just get back to a few basics: HIV/AIDS are in our midst,Testing doesn’t spread the disease, we do need to test in order to quantify the problem to enable to strategise. The biggest weapon we have in our fight aginst the two,is INFORMATION & EDUCATION, in how to avoid contracting them – which is nothing new!! Problem is educating ourselves over a number of issue i.e. SELF DENIAL doesn’t help us; SAFE SEX isn’t just condoms, it’s also about being responsible enough to know our own HIV status and continued adherence to safe sex.Avoiding use of HERBAL DRYING agents. PROTECTING our partners if our own status is compromised. Thinking REALLY HARD about starting a family Knowing & without knowing our status. Just think about how CRUEL and SELFISH for one to inflict this on an innocent child, YOUR OWN CHILD for that matter!! ARV’s are not a cure, users are given a chance to lead an almost normal life, I’d hope this gives impetus 4 mo responsibility
Am inclined to comment on CIRCUMCISION and HIV. I don’t blame lay persons for having their hopes raised.
Circumcision does allow the Glans penis to develop a stronger and thicker skin more resistant to SIMPLE abrasions, which is as far as it will stop HIV. GENITAL ULCERS, and ABRAISIONS due to DRY SEX(herbal drying agents) unfortunately remove this apparent protective effect. But that isn’t the only problem, SEXUAL FLUIDS are exchanged during intercourse, the URETHRA the tube one pee’s and ejaculates thru is lined by a THIN mucosa which has no protective effect at all, hence is an entry point for HIV!! You’ll ask about the published studies, well, the East african studies have very BIG ETHICAL questions still unanswered!! For a study to be valid, participants shud be able to weigh the risks they face, now tell me WHO were these HIV negative men, put in the studies, KNOWINGLY allowing themselves to be infected in the name of science.R they gettin free ARV’s from the investigators??
Continuing on the Circumcision issue, reading thru the literature and obtaining some background knowledge of “the CIRCUMCISION LOBBY”, it has come to light that some have interests TRADITIONAL, RELIGIOUS or otherwise to advocate for its promotion. For a treatment or prevention strategy to be promoted, its efficacy shud reach a certain statistical level. Circumcision falls in the range of about 45 to 55% chance of preventing. An effective strategy shud reach a level of AT LEAST 70% and above. I leave you to judge for yourselves, for more info, google, “Circumcision and HIV/AIDS prevention”. Compare the Pro and Con comments that follow on, then educate your friends!!!
People shud also understand, actually, more so, those that have their status compromised, that not practising safe sex EXPOSES them to FURTHER VIRAL LOADS, hastening or quickening their failing HEALTH. So practising safe sex isn’t just about protecting others it’s about protecting ONESELF WHETHER INFECTED OR NOT!!! Always THINK b4 REACHING!! REACH FOR THE CONDOM, IT’S THE CLOSEST TO BEST PROTECTION when CELIBACY FAILS!!
Undeniably imagine that that you said. Your favorite justification seemed to be at the internet the simplest factor to remember of. I say to you, I certainly get irked whilst folks consider worries that they just do not understand about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top and also outlined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thank you
You really make it appear really easy along with your presentation but I to find this matter to be really one thing that I feel I might never understand. It sort of feels too complex and very huge for me. I am having a look ahead for your subsequent post, I’ll attempt to get the hold of it!
You realize therefore considerably relating to this matter, made me individually imagine it from numerous various angles. Its like men and women don’t seem to be fascinated except it’s something to accomplish with Woman gaga! Your own stuffs nice. All the time handle it up!
of course like your web-site however you have to test the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to inform the truth on the other hand I will surely come again again.