HIV projects are in acute danger

MSF: HIV projects in Africa are in acute danger.

(28.05.2010) The organization "Doctors Without Borders" warns of the dramatic health consequences in the treatment of HIV patients (AIDS) in Africa, because donor countries put their massive financial cuts into action. The withdrawal of donor countries undermines all successes in the fight against AIDS, as with Philips, spokeswoman for the aid organization. For example, spending on the PEPFAR program was cut by the US for the years 2009/2010 and the total budget was frozen. Even the largest funding program "Global Funds" is facing a massive financial deficit. In 2009 and 2010 already approved country subsidies were cut by 8 to 12 percent. The result: In the African Congo, the number of new patients for antiretroviral therapy had to be reduced by one-sixth.

"9 million HIV patients worldwide are in urgent need of treatment and still have no access to life-saving medicines," warned Philips in Johannesburg. "How can we give up the fight halfway and pretend that the crisis has been overcome?"

The situation in Africa continues to be catastrophic. For example, in the Kingdom of Swaziland, more than 170,000 people are infected with the HIV virus, out of a population of about 1.1 million. This means that every fourth adult is already infected with the deadly virus. Every year, around 9,000 people die from AIDS as a result of the immunodeficiency syndrome in this small African country. On the African continent, around 20 percent of all people are infected with HIV. (Sb)