12th World AIDS Conference - Developing Countries face brutal choices


Bridging session Developing countries face brutal choices
"Economics is the science of making choices, so let me tell you how we as economists view the choices in HIV treatment and the kind of advice we are giving to governments," began Mead Over of the World Bank. In the bridging session Tuesday on the implications of therapy for developing countries, Over showed a chart comparing the cost of treating one person living with HIV in the developing world against annual school fees for 10 primary school students. The figures were the same. He also stressed that "governments must do what others will not do to stop the epidemic and help the poor." The World Bank is advising governments to adopt a "fairness approach" that offers funding levels equal to those for other illnesses, such as cancer. Tanzania and Ivory Coast, for example, have achieved this balance whereas Mexico provides little funding for treatment.		The economic realities of treating HIV in Africa are also a daily reality for Aliou Sylla of Mali's Arcad Sida, a volunteer organisation that promotes access to treatment for ordinary West Africans. "We are not dreamers," says Sylla. "We have a realistic agenda and time scale. We are trying to make the first crack in our people's fatalism and immobility, and in the cynicism of prejudice." Nothing is possible without involving the people who are themselves touched by HIV, Sylla stresses. To that end, Arcad Sida trains volunteers to carry out HIV testing, organise support groups and home care. But from that perspective, Sylla said the need for pharmaceutical industry support is abundantly clear. this story can also be found in The Bridge, the onsite print newspaper
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LAST UPDATE: Thursday, 2 July, 1998 09:13 GMT C O M M U N I T Y ...all the news, as it happens