RWGNYC's Blog
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Measuring HIV-AIDS, Preventing Its Toll Part 2
World Health Organization
Geneva
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization have been working with countries and experts to generate data to strengthen the AIDS response. But because most people do not know their HIV status, numbers cannot be obtained directly. Contrary to an April 10...','') ;
The April 6 front-page article "How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated" and the March 31 news story "HIV Drops in Worst-Infected Parts of India" might lead readers to believe that the world can breathe a sigh of relief about the HIV-AIDS pandemic.
But HIV-AIDS continues its widespread devastation and rages disproportionately among women of reproductive age. Buried in these articles is the acknowledgment that HIV rates are sometimes four times as high among pregnant women than in the general population.
Pregnant women not only face their own illness, but the possibility of losing their babies to the virus. Yet fewer than 10 percent of the millions of women worldwide who become pregnant each year have access to HIV testing and a simple drug regimen to protect their infants from the virus.
Further, a recently released U.S. government study found that programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV are being shortchanged.
AIDS continues to be a monumental catastrophe for all of us.
PAMELA W. BARNES
President and CEO
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Washington
Found in the Washington Post
Geneva
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization have been working with countries and experts to generate data to strengthen the AIDS response. But because most people do not know their HIV status, numbers cannot be obtained directly. Contrary to an April 10...','') ;
The April 6 front-page article "How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated" and the March 31 news story "HIV Drops in Worst-Infected Parts of India" might lead readers to believe that the world can breathe a sigh of relief about the HIV-AIDS pandemic.
But HIV-AIDS continues its widespread devastation and rages disproportionately among women of reproductive age. Buried in these articles is the acknowledgment that HIV rates are sometimes four times as high among pregnant women than in the general population.
Pregnant women not only face their own illness, but the possibility of losing their babies to the virus. Yet fewer than 10 percent of the millions of women worldwide who become pregnant each year have access to HIV testing and a simple drug regimen to protect their infants from the virus.
Further, a recently released U.S. government study found that programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV are being shortchanged.
AIDS continues to be a monumental catastrophe for all of us.
PAMELA W. BARNES
President and CEO
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Washington
Found in the Washington Post
:: posted by R. W. Graf, 5:23 PM
1 Comments:
There is more to it than just polititians. Different countries have different approaches, but also different religious groups try ti interfere with the work by making demands how "their" funds will be used in other countries.
