ImpActAIDS Newsletter

The Labour Party's annual conference took place between Sunday the 26th and Thursday the 30th September. This conference is likely to be the last time the party meets before the next general election and was one of the last chances to influence the platform that the Government will take to the country.

Development had a massive profile throughout the week, and many of the Consortium's members had highly successful fringe events and discussion meetings.

On the Sunday the Trade Justice Movement held a 'Ballot on the Beach' demonstration of 6,000, as part of its 'Vote for Trade Justice' initiative. Further details can be found at http://tjm.org.uk/.

Before delegates even began debating policy they had seen the strength of public feeling about development issues, and this pressure continued throughout the week.

Later that evening the Fabian Society held a fringe entitled 'Can we manage migration?' addressed by the First Minister of Scotland and Des Browne, the Immigration Minister. Brain drain was discussed in passing, with reference to developing country health systems but without specific reference to HIV.

This was followed by a Treasury Q and A, at which he addressed HIV in response to a question on the MDGs, and to a specific HIV one from me (relating to potential for further direct funding increases after the last CSR, and about whether he'd be raising the question of equitable contributions to GFATM with the other G7 Finance Ministers when he flew to Washington at the end of the week). The biggest thing to note is how dogged Brown is in his commitment to the IFF, and that this frames his response to virtually any question on international development. The Consortium should develop some thinking on the IFF and HIV as a matter of priority.

That evening the New Statesman held it's debate, 'The MDGs- are they realistic and achievable?', addressed by Hilary Benn. During questions from the floor I asked about HIV falling down the G8 agenda and being subsumed under the Africa banner, as well as the role of 2005 as the first Trips compliance deadline, while Jenny focussed on building youth leadership and responses, and Cecily's Fund tackled OVCs.

We went straight from this to a joint fringe held by the IPPR, Oxfam and Save the Children, entitled 'Are we Failing Africa?'. The Save the Children panel speaker devoted her entire speech to HIV and OVCs during what was one of the best-attended fringes of conference.

The Stop Aids Campaign fringe meeting was held on the Tuesday, in partnership with the Foreign Policy Centre and with World Vision, who generously sponsored the event and provided Rudo Kwaramba as a speaker. She was joined by Christophe Benn of the Global Fund, Gareth Thomas and Zackie Achmat of the Treatment Action Campaign. We were delighted to have such a strong panel and an audience of over 100 (which, to put it in context, is roughly four times the average). I would strongly recommend that the Campaign and Consortium do another fringe event next year, and work to expand the fringe programme to include the conferences of other political parties.

Wednesday saw what was undoubtedly the largest event of conference after the Leader's speech; Bono's address as the international speaker. The full text of his speech can be found at http://www.labour.org.uk/ac2004news?ux_news_id=ac04bono Aids featured prominently, both in Bono's speech and in the interviews he gave after it.

Throughout conference, the Terrence Higgins Trust made significant impact with their 'Make Sex a Priority' stickers, given out from their stand in the exhibition hall.

Overall, development probably had a better conference than ever before. What was clear though was that under the development umbrella HIV activists could still do more to raise the profile of the epidemic at these kinds of political events.

Although we scored some significant strategic hits at conference this year we both can and should do better. Next year we should consider having a programme of HIV-related events, in line with the profile afforded to other development issues.

Cheap HIV tests show false results
October 6, 2004

By Jo-Anne Smetherham

Many companies are using HIV tests that may show up false or unclear results, with devastating consequences for some people tested.

Gary Maartens, a UCT professor of infectious diseases and the head of clinical pharmacology in the Western Province health department, said "a whole lot" of companies were using inadequate tests after being offered cheap deals.

Companies frequently phoned him to discuss these tests, he said.
Adrian Puren, deputy director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, said he too has had many discussions with companies about using these cheap tests.

Maartens said the national Health Department uses a test that does not show up any false negative results. If a person tests positive in the public sector, a different brand of test is used to confirm the person has HIV.

Brett Anderson, a well-known HIV activist and consultant, has had HIV for five years but recently tested negative three times at a corporate event. He volunteered to have the test, along with management and other staff, to encourage workers to follow suit.

"The implications around this are enormous. I want answers," said Anderson, who took anti-retrovirals for three years. His life would have been turned "upside-down" if he had been HIV-negative, he said.

"Everybody who's positive has hope, at the bottom of their hearts, that they will test negative. And to hang on to false hope is terrible.
"Imagine the trauma of a false positive test." Anderson subsequently had other HIV tests, which confirmed that he had the virus.

Anderson tested negative at a Nampak event. Andrew Marthinusen, a Nampak executive director, said the company would do a "complete investigation" into Anderson's incorrect result. "If our protocols are found to be wanting, we will change them," he said.

Nurses trained in HIV testing conducted the Nampak tests, he said. Anderson's incorrect result was obtained using a test manufactured by Acon Laboratories, a US-based company that has factories in China.

Jaco Henning of NHM Diagnostics, the company that distributes the tests in South Africa, said the Acon test was a screening test like other "rapid" HIV tests, and should not be used as the only diagnosis.

The test had probably been false because Brett had taken anti-retrovirals, he said. Several HIV experts have refuted this claim.

The Acon HIV test had been tested by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases. Of the total 500 people tested, two results were incorrect and one was invalid.

Bradley Streak of Umzimba Healthcare, which imports the tests, said the Chinese factory manufacturing the Acon tests has been certified by regulatory bodies in China and Germany.

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HEALTH-KENYA:
AIDS Drugs Create A Few ”Have's”, Many ”Have Not's”
Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Nov 18 (2003) (IPS) - The sight of the tiny, mud-walled shelter located in a slum just outside of Nairobi was heart-breaking.

Heaps of clothes, shoes, papers -- and a sack of potatoes -- were stashed in different corners of the one-roomed dwelling. The picture became still more disturbing when IPS spotted a figure at the far side of the room panting, and sometimes groaning with pain.

This is Muthoni Njeri, a woman in her 30s who is living with HIV/AIDS. She lay helplessly on a tin-supported bed, her eyes fixed on the rusted iron roofing above that looked as if it might fall in at any time. Members of the Maarifa Women's Project, who were visiting Njeri and other AIDS sufferers, could not hold back their tears.

”I have nothing to eat; I have no medicine to make me feel better. I have no financial support because I'm not working, and neither is my daughter. I have nothing except to wait for death,” said Njeri, who was diagnosed with AIDS two years ago.

”But, at least my daughter takes care of me. She washes me and cleans my wounds,” she said, displaying a frail arm, patched with sores.

For Carol Olwana -- also HIV-positive -- the situation is quite different. She is currently taking anti-AIDS drugs, also known as anti-retrovirals or ARV's. Olwana looks healthy, and acknowledges that her life has improved greatly since she started the treatment in April this year.

”Before being put on this therapy, my CD4 count was 44 and my weight was 42 kilogrammes. I was bed-ridden, and prone to opportunistic infections. I got continuous bouts of acute pneumonia, and people (thought) I would not live to see the next day,” she told IPS. (A person's CD4 count refers to the number of so-called ”helper cells” that they have in their blood. A CD4 cell count helps doctors to assess someone's level of immunity. Under normal circumstances, the count is between 400 and 1,500 per cubic millimetre of blood.)

”I started regaining my health within two weeks of being put on ARV's. >From that time, I have never fallen sick. My CD4 count has risen to 250 and my weight is now 53 kilograms,” says Olwana, who chairs a non-governmental organisation called Campaigners for an AIDS-free Society.

She gets free ARV's from the Belgian branch of Doctors Without Borders, which will supply her with the life-prolonging drugs for the next five years. Thanks to this programme, Olwana is part of a tiny minority in Kenya who have access to the medicines.

The scenarios of these two women bring to the fore the quagmire that Kenya finds itself in as it struggles to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic ravaging the country.

According to the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Programme (NASCOP), about 270,000 people urgently require ARV treatment. But, at most, only 11,000 Kenyans are receiving the drugs -- 6,000 of whom are on government programmes. The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that more than two million people in the country are HIV-positive, this out of a population of about 30 million.

The government recently announced plans to distribute ARV's free of charge in all its health facilities --about 3,400 hospitals and clinics across the country. It is relying on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to provide the backing for this ambitious programme, which is intended to supply ARV's to every Kenyan that needs them.

Concerns are being expressed, however, about whether the Global Fund is itself receiving enough money from donor countries. Aidspan, a non-governmental organisation based in the United States, believes that about five billion dollars will need to have been pledged by the end of next year if the fund is to meet expectations. To date, only half that amount has been provided. The fund has been in existence since Jan. 2002.

If it has any fears on this score, the Kenyan government is not admitting to them. ”The money will come, I have no doubt,” says Kenneth Chebet, Director of NASCOP. ”If something happens and it fails to arrive, the government will put in other resources,” he added, without explaining further.

But, President Mwai Kibaki inherited a declining economy when he took power at the end of last year. According to the World Bank, the country's annual growth rate fell from 6.5 percent between the 1960s and the 1970s, to just over two percent in 1990 to 2001. Domestic investment has also declined significantly in the last decade. In the early 1990's, it was put at 20 percent -- but in 2001 had fallen to about 13 percent.

With statistics from the Ministry of Health indicating that about 700 people are dying each day from AIDS-related ailments, health activists have launched campaigns calling for pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of ARV's.

The government has already achieved some success in this regard.

According to Richard Abura, spokesperson for the ministry, the drugs now cost 19 dollars a month -- rather than the 897 dollars that they cost a year ago. This dramatic fall in prices means little to the average Kenyan, however.

The 2003 UN Human Development Report estimates that 23 percent of people in the country live below the poverty line of a dollar a day.

AIDS activists further contend that tests which are necessary for the drugs to be administered are also exorbitant for the average Kenyan. These include tests to establish CD4 counts.

”Each of these tests costs 128 dollars and they are all very necessary before one is put on anti-retroviral treatment. They are important because it is from them that the doctor is able to tell which combination of drugs one's body will require,” says Olwana.

”The question is: how many Kenyans can afford this amount of money?” she asks.

The urgent need to expand access to ARV's was highlighted recently, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) reiterated its commitment to make the drugs accessible to all people in developing countries who are living with AIDS. In September, it declared the failure to provide these medicines a global health emergency.

Statistics from WHO indicate that some six million people in developing countries require ARV's, but that fewer than 300,000 are being treated. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the pandemic is most acute, only 50,000 people are accessing the drugs. About 30 million Africans are HIV-positive.

For another AIDS sufferer in Kenya, Malda Atieno, every day that passes without significant progress on his matter, is a trial.

While Carol Olwana speaks excitedly about the positive effect that her improved health has had on her children, Atieno describes a life dogged by exhaustion: ”My body has been deteriorating day by day. I'm always feeling sick, and (I'm in) bed all the time. I cannot do anything constructive, because I'm always tired.”

”How I long for anything that can reawaken my body,” she says. (END/2003)