Number of people
infected with AIDS rises by almost five million
• According
to UNAIDS total of those infected reached
39.4 million this year
BY
LILLIAM RIERA—Granma International
staff writer—
THE
latest report of the United Nations organization
that combats HIV-AIDS (UNAIDS) indicates that 4.9
million people have become infected with the immune
deficiency virus this year, which raises the total
number of infected to 39.4 million, of whom
37.4 million are between 15 and 49 years of
age.
In
recognition of December 1 as World Aids Day, the UN
organization warned of the danger of the disease
spreading. According to UNAIDS, in 2003 the virus
claimed 3.1 million lives, and the growth rates of
the disease increased most of all in East Asia, East
Europe and Central Asia.
In
the case of Cuba, which has one of the world’s
lowest incidence
rates (0.05) the epidemic has be brought under
control, but it has not been possible to halt its
transmission.
Dr.
Rosalda Ochoa, director of the National Center for
the Prevention of Sexual Transmitted Infections and
HIV-AIDS, informed the press that according to a
recent study, there has been a reduction in the
number of cases in the sexually active population
aged 15-29. But the 30 years and over group is
demonstrating an upward curve.
In
Cuba, there is one woman for every four men
infected, according to statistics collected by Cuban
specialists from 1986 to date and facilitated to
U.S. scientist Cecil H. Fox, who is on his third
visit to the country for information on the
prevention, control and treatment of AIDS.
This
“independent scientist” indicated to this weekly
that in Cuba “ the probability of healthy women is
greater” which, according to him, means that the
level of infection will be less in relation to other
countries in the world where the numbers of women
infected has grown.
According to
this doctor, who works as a volunteer specialist in
the immune-regulation
laboratory attached to the Allergy and Infectious
Diseases Department of the National Health
Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, what has favored “a
small” epidemic in Cuba is the existence of a public
health program, that includes primary care for the
family provided at doctor and nurse offices and also
offered at clinics and hospitals.”
In
Cuba, in addition to education on the use of
condoms, information in relation to infection and
strict control of blood donations, those infected
receive free therapy using anti-retroviral
medications manufactured in the country.
Precisely
because of the increase in the number of women
inflicted in the world, this year the theme of the
campaign against HIV is directed at women.
Controlling and eradicating this epidemic, detected
for the first time in the 80’s, requires the
political will of governments, which need to develop
health programs based on prevention and also
guarantee those who are infected access to treatment
including the necessary anti-retroviral medication.
According to UN estimates, $2 billion is required in
2005 and $20 billion in 2006 to combat the epidemic.
However, the major donors have cut back on health
programs and increased their defense budgets.
UN General
Secretary Kofi Annan, who launched the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2001,
indicated that the said fund spent $4.7 billion
dollars in 2003 and has some $6 billion for 2004,
still far from reaching the $12 billion dollars it
hopes to spend in 2005.
The Fund’s
shortfall is compounded by U.S. administration’s
announcement in mid-November that the program would
have to rely on subsidy grants until its priorities
are reviewed.
Peter Plot, director of UNAIDS, maintained that “at
least one decade of promoting appropriate policies
and priorities with the correct level of resources
to support them” is needed and added that the Fund
is a key element for achieving this.
In the last
few years, 58% of subsidies granted have gone to
countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa, the area with the highest number of people
infected – a total of 25.4 million up to 2004 – and
which is unable to front the costs of adequate
medical treatment. Up until June of this year, only
440,000 virus carriers in countries with low and
medium revenue in the south of the Sub-Saharan
area received any type of treatment.
The
World Health Organization, which has an ambitious
plan to provide anti-retroviral treatment to three
million infected people during 2005, confirmed that
it is dealing with a difficult objective.
The
UN has identified combating AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria as priorities within its millennium
declaration, approved in 2000 by the heads of state
and government and whose objective is to halt and
revert the advance of this epidemic by 2015. Will it
be able to reach this goal?
UN: Cuba an exception in the
Caribbean for its low incidence of HIV
Cuba
represents an exception in the Caribbean for its
very low prevalence of HIV, the United Nations
office (UNAIDS) acknowledged in a report released
this past November 23, as confirmed by PL.
UNAIDS contrasts Cuba with the rest of the region,
the second in the world most proportionately
affected by this pandemic after Sub-Saharan Africa.
With
the exception of Cuba, in almost all countries in
the Caribbean, the infection has reached or exceeded
2% of the population, an alarming rate that in the
opinion of specialists is tending to “shoot up.”
The
document attributes the Cuban results to the
quarantine policy used during the 80’s and the
subsequent universal access to therapy with
anti-retroviral drugs. It indicated that as a result
there is a very low incidence of AIDS cases and
deaths from that cause.
The
report revealed that, nearing the end of the present
year, 440,000 people are living with HIV in the
Caribbean and 36,000 patients have died during that
period.
In
regards to Latin American, the numbers of people
infected total 1,700,000 and the number of deaths
stands at 95,000.
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