45,000 AIDS Patients Get the Shaft from Roche Pharma

With everything going on with our political crises at home and abroad, not to mention the countless other chaotic happenings that smack against our already overburdened eye-balls, it’s easy to see how potentially serious and disturbing naratives can stay off the front page and our collective consciousness at large. The NY Times reported that a large Swiss drug company, Roche Pharmaceuticals, performed a massive recall of an AIDS medicine called Viracept after detecting that some shipments were contaminated with a potnentially harmful subtance. The action spread accross several countries where the drug is a cornerstone in affordable treatments for indigent patients. According to their own press release, dated June 6, the re-call is nearly 6 weeks old. So what does the first name in news have to say about this extremely late-breaking story?:

The scope of Roche’s recall is extraordinary, if not unprecedented, in the battle against the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, global health officials say. Dr. Lembit Rago, an official at the World Health Organization, said tens of thousands of people take Viracept worldwide, many of them poor people with H.I.V. in developing countries. The recall has left those patients with the painful choice of discontinuing a lifesaving medicine, or using a drug that might contain a dangerous contaminant.

….The company made the recall worldwide “in order to avoid confusion,” she [Martina Rupp, a Roche spokeswoman] said. Roche estimates that about 45,000 patients were affected by the recall.

According to the drug’s own website, the consequences of stopping treatment are serious:

When used in combination with other medication, VIRACEPT reduces how much HIV is in your blood. VIRACEPT suppresses the virus. This stops the virus from making copies of itself. With less of the virus in your blood, you’re at lower risk for life-threatening infections.

But VIRACEPT can’t work if you don’t keep enough medicine active in your blood. When you have less medicine in your system, either because you missed a dose or stopped taking it, the virus starts to make copies of itself quickly. HIV can develop resistance to HIV medicines this way. That’s why it’s so important to take all of your VIRACEPT, exactly as prescribed.

Worst of all, there are very few substitutes available, and those that are are many times more expensive, effectively rendering it useless to the people who need it. The contaminent found in the drug, ethyl mesylate, is what is known as a genotoxic, a substance that can damage DNA. Though researchers are unsure as to the level required to become dangerous to humans, realtively high levels have been shown to cause cancer in lab animals, and since it attacks genes, children are especially at risk.

As troublesome as all this sounds, what might be more disturbing is what we don’t know:

Officials at the W.H.O. in Geneva and the European Medicines Agency in London said Roche had not provided information they consider essential for safeguarding public health: which countries the tainted medicine was shipped to, the concentration of the contaminant and what the company will do for its patients.

….Roche said the recall affected “Europe and some other world regions” but has not been more specific.

This is ridiculously irresponsible, especially when compared to other recalls we’ve seen. When Firestone tires were exploding off the rims of Ford Explorers or when some Renu contact lens solution was shown to cause infection, it was plastered over every news organization and local media outlet, even the federal government got involved with Firestone. These were consumer products used by healthy people. You would think that finding dirty medicine for people with already severely impaired immune systems would engender a similar reaction, but it seems we can afford to lose 45,000 patients who are going to die anyway. How does a pharmaceutical company, or any company for that matter, get away with this kind of behavior?

An article in the International Heral Tribune gives a couple insights:

Roche announced that first-half profit rose to 4.92 billion Swiss francs, or $4.1 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. Sales climbed 15 percent to 22.8 billion francs, led by a 17 percent gain at the pharmaceutical division.

…Shares of Roche rose 6.1 francs, or 2.85 percent, to close at 220.5 francs in Zurich. They had dropped 1.9 percent this year, compared with the 4.6 percent decline in the 13-member Bloomberg Europe Pharmaceutical Index.

“Roche is the company with the strongest growth profile” in the European drug industry right now, Andreas Theisen, an analyst at WestLB, said.

Not only is it an extremely powerful and profitable drug company, but it has a lock on a potential future monopoly:

The Swiss drug maker has one of only two drugs that show promise in helping battle a bird flu pandemic. Orders for Tamiflu, originally designed to treat seasonal influenza, reached 215 million treatment courses as governments and companies from 80 countries stockpile the product.

So it now seems that we’re willing to sweep these 45,000 patients under the rug for a lock on a Bird Flu vaccine. I’m not about to play one epidemic against another, and we should absolutely take both seriously and face each with the best modern medical science has to offer. But if Roche can’t make a clean drug for a 20-year-old virus, let alone clean up the mess they make with it, my faith is thin for their go at the next plague. What happens when we find a contiminent in the Bird Flu pill? Will we be as willing, or able, to hide the recall? What will the consequences be then?

Before the contamination, Roche was doing everything that a major drug company should have been doing. They had been spending and working diligently on treatments for arthritis and cancer, Viracept was sold at a cost of around 28 cents per dose providing governments and NGOs with tools vital to their fight against AIDS. Contaminations are a fact of life in the world of manufacturing, I don’t think anyone who has made anything has done so without error. But by doing the re-call so clandestinely, with more emphasis on public relations than public health, it shows a complete lack of concern for one’s customers, let alone a callous disregard for poor AIDS patients. And what does it say about us that they will continue to earn a profit after effectively killing the population of an average American city?

To be fair, AIDS treatment on the whole has vastly improved, from 240,000 to 1.3 million patients in the last 5 years, and spending has increased in similar leaps and bounds. But many recent studies – including one delivered by our own government’s advisor, have shown that the spread of the disease continues to outpace our efforts to combat it. This demonstrates that our current prevention policies that have been dictated by religious ideology – that recommends abstinence only education and denys access to condoms and needle exchange – are ineffective. Smarter, more aggressive prevention grounded in fact and empiracle evidence is needed to increase our effectiveness. It also shows that AIDS isn’t going anywhere and it will become an even greater threat to our culture and society in the coming years. If we are to address this issue with the dedication and determination it requires, then we must be able to hold ourselves accountable for our faults as much as our successes.

 

 

Safe Rape: Condoms Go to Jail

Federalism is really something else. A couple weeks ago, South Carolina wanted their prisoners to donate their organs in exchange for time off, and now Illinois wants them to use jimmy hats. A recent story from the Chicago Tribune outlined the pros and cons of a proposed plan to distribute condoms throughout the Illinois state penitentiary system. Despite the harsh rules banning sexual activity – along with any kind of activity for that matter – in prisons, HIV is a growing threat to inmates and will become a larger issue once they are released back into the world. Though there are obvious differences between the two scenarios, distributing condoms in prison looks to hit the same roadblocks as condoms in High Schools.

The first issue is that prevention in prison starts far before a condom enters the equation. The very concept of “safe sex” is dependent upon the partners being consensual and the most readily available allusion to Prison Sex is, of course, rape – a kind of “sex” that won’t ever be safe. There is, it seems, room in the chapel for another couple:

In reality, much of the high-risk homosexual contact in prison involves men who don’t consider themselves gay outside prison, former prisoners and researchers said. About 1 percent of prisoners report having been raped.

According to an in-depth study the CDC published last year on HIV transmission in Georgia prisons, most sex among prisoners was either consensual or what the authors called “exchange sex.” Those inmates said they use sex as a bartering tool to get cigarettes, drugs, food or protection from other inmates.

One striking finding of the Georgia study was that a third of HIV-infected prisoners said they had sex with male prison staffers, and one-fifth had sex with female staffers.

Sex, though not without it’s pleasures behind bars, is used both as currency and weaponry. Just like anything else, it is a useful tool in the contraband economy and politics of prison life. And though we can draw all kinds of pithy remarks about sex and prison economics – Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” (eh?) – we can give protections to these consumers the same way we give them protections on the outside. Just because dude takes it for a carton of Newports doesn’t mean he should get Herpes as well. The introduction of condoms might also introduce a sort of competition and health codes for these business owners. Vendors who chose to use protection can be preferred over those who don’t, thereby eliminating a threat of contamination through the free choice of the market system. This analogy is a little out there, I admit, but the realities of sex in the cells in no less potent. :

The objections to condom distribution seem detached from real life to Keith DeBlasio, who said he contracted HIV after being raped by another inmate at a federal penitentiary in Michigan, where DeBlasio was serving time for embezzlement and fraud. DeBlasio said his attacker probably wouldn’t have agreed to use a condom, but making condoms available could prevent other prisoners from getting the disease.

“I was sentenced to 5 years, and I got a death sentence,” he said.

From a health standpoint, it’s not much different from inoculation against disease. If we are already using medical means to protect inmates from contagious illness, how are government-sponsored condoms a stretch?

But, of course, there are those pesky moral issues. As if gay inmate sex wasn’t enough to make the conservatives grumble in the first place, the idea of combining it with prophylactics is a seething beast-monster:

Some criticisms of the proposals to let prisoners use condoms recall the debate from the 1980s over promotion of condoms as a “safe sex” tool. Many religious groups argued then that condoms would encourage immoral or dangerous sexual behavior, though public health forces effectively won that debate.

Rev. Harold Bailey, former chairman of the Cook County Board of Corrections, said he believes the moral implications of condom use among homosexuals remain paramount.

“Anytime anyone puts two men together, which is against the law of God, then gives them permission to do it with a condom, that’s despicable,” said Bailey, who served as the county’s jail chief until 2004.

“Having that sexual involvement, even with a condom, is not righteous,” Bailey said. “If they’re going to [have sex], they’re going to do it on their own, and not with my permission. … I’m not going to hell for nobody.”

I’m sure the Rapture will spare thee for thou compassion, Reverend. Granted, no one forced you to go to prison, you’re there due to your own mistakes, so why should the state now ensure your homoerotic escapades are “safe”? Being that there’s no shortage of unsavory characters in the joint, the argument to treat them with more humanity than they’ve shown the rest of us doesn’t quite carry water. That being said, the question of condoms “encourag[ing] immoral or dangerous sexual behavior” is a little moot when you drop that soap or really need that Heroin. Chastity might have sway in the context of a horny 14 year-old Freshman, but once you’re in jail, the whole “morals” thing doesn’t really resonate beyond practicality. The fact of the matter is that it’s already happening without permission anyway, though I can see how handing over ribbed Trojans to the guys over in Gen-Pop denotes a kind of compliance.

Violence is also against the rules in jail and we all see how effective it is as a deterrent. They do, though, put offenders into solitary confinement, so why not isolate those with STDs or HIV in their own separate wing? This seems unlikely as our prisons are swelling past capacity by the hour. The only choice the penal establishment has with sex is the length of the consequences. There are many aspects of prison a man will live with for the rest of his life, though STDs and HIV are a couple that could easily spread to his family, girlfriends and other innocent people once he gets out. Which is more moral?

The very idea that the conservative perspective on the use of prophylactics is “moral” and anything else “immoral” is one of those unfortunate consequences of political word fighting, not unlike “Pro Life” or the “Death Tax”. I agree that morals themselves should remain a constant in society, yet moral values are intrinsically subservient to personal choices and as such, swing both ways. Living a just and chaste life and promoting healthy living are both moral goals, but it’s the value one places on them that determine their position on the issues. Just because someone advocates safe sex, it doesn’t mean they encourage sex (as if sex needs encouragement) Considering the appetites of our youth, especially in this age of hyper-sexual content-inundation, it’d be stupid to send ’em out in the rain without an umbrella. In any case, though, there needs to be a balanced incorporation of both sides to create effective policy.

In regards to schools, condoms should be made available, but all efforts should be made to preach the responsibility and consequences that come from coital relations, this goes beyond waiting for marriage and the Bible, by the way. Teenage hormones are a formidable enemy that usually gets their way, this is true. But show those star football players a couple slideshows or have them wait a week for the results of their STD/HIV tests and you might not have to work so hard for abstinence. At the very least, they’ll think twice before taking advantage of some young girl, and maybe the girl will have the sense to play the cock-tease a little longer. The same can be said for prison. You’ll never prevent rape, and there’s little chance that there’d be a condom used during such a horrendous act even if given the option. For the rest of the lonely, desperate souls trading anal intercourse for a week without a beating, it really can’t hurt to have the choice, even if it’s not taken. If it’s cost effective and done responsibly, condoms in prisons can and should be allowed to work, our prison population is far too great to ignore this problem. But the question remains, would convicts chose to use them? Would it make sex any better or worse for a guy doin 15-20? And just out of curiosity, am I alone in wondering what Illinois’ Senator – Mr. Obama – thinks about this?

HIV-positive soldiers no longer to be forced from Mexican army

From Upside Down World:

Mexico’s Supreme Court has reversed a law that allowed the military to force HIV-positive soldiers out of the armed forces. 11 members of the military brought the case to the court after more than 300 HIV-positive soldiers had been fired in the last 13 years, judged ‘‘useless’’ by the military. Five of the members may be reinstated.  Two died before the ruling, but their families could be helped by receiving benefits formerly denied to them by the former law. The decision was approved 8 to 3 on February 27…

Brookings’ 10 Noteworthy Trends for 2006

Brookings Inst:

For the first time in 2005 there are more poor residents of suburbs than central cities.

Six percent of the population of large U.S. metropolitan areas lives in exurbs.

More than one-third of the nation’s loss of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 occurred in seven Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

America’s older, inner-ring first suburbs make up 20 percent of the nation’s population and are more diverse and older than the nation as a whole.

The average U.S. household spends 19 percent of its budget on transportation, rendering household location a key component of housing affordability.

Nationwide, more than 4.2 million lower income homeowners pay a higher than average APR for their mortgage.

The leading refugee destination metro areas have shifted away from traditional immigrant gateways, like New York and Los Angeles, over the past two decades to newer gateways—such as Atlanta, Seattle, and Portland.

The fastest growing metropolitan areas for minority populations from 2000 to 2004 now closely parallel the fastest growing areas in the nation.

Middle-income neighborhoods as a proportion of all metropolitan neighborhoods declined from 58 percent in 1970 to 41 percent in 2000, disappearing faster than the share of middle class households in these metro areas.

Of the $109 billion in federal appropriations dedicated to Gulf Coast funding In the first year after Hurricane Katrina, only $35 billion, approximately, went toward the long-term recovery of the region.

World Health Org Gets New Head Honcho

Dr Margaret Chan is the new head of the WHO. The Chinese health expert, who came to prominence during the Bird Flu and SARS scares in China, says she will butt heads with her native country if need be. One bio is available on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website (it’s English).

Tanzania Sees Water Privatization-Driven Resistence, Violence

I was living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 2003, during the “build up” to the Iraq inavsion. I was about 4 miles from the fortress that was the newly opened US Embassy — it replaced the US embassy bombed in 1998.  It was painful to be an American in another city that had also been victimized by Al-Queda (I was coming from NYC, where I was on 9/11/01) . Many of the people in Dar, like many in NYC, saw the attck on Iraq as a pitiful distraction from the true perpetrators of NYC/DC attacks in 2001, but that is a story for another day…

While in Tanzania, I analyzed a World Bank-induced public utility privatization scheme that was clear to me to be an impending disaster. Beyond the complications that would arise from tiered access to safe water and increased prices, the sheer number of landholders without deeds in Dar es Salaam, I believed, tipped the equation of potential problems beyond even that of Bolivia’s wonderfully horrific water privatization scheme. (My opinionated, poorly written report on Dar’s plan is at my old blog. It includes interviews w officials from the city’s to-be-privatized water utility, representatives from the World Bank  and the Tanzanian government, as well as ‘everyday’ Tanzanians I played basketball with while there.)

My study focused on the land rights of residential properties, not that of unregistered and “unofficial” businesses. The problems, though, are similar in many ways. 

There is unfortunate news from Dar today. As reported by the BBC:

Thousands of Tanzanian market traders are up in arms after being moved away from the centre of the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

More than 40,000 traders have been relocated to the city’s remote Kigogo area. They say they now have to pay taxes before they can ply their wares…

But the government insists that the traders have been occupying space in the city centre illegally – preventing the installation of sewage and clean water pipes and reducing traffic in the busy area to a single lane… In March, two people were killed in violent clashes between police and street vendors in the northern town of Mwanza.

Mwanza is the section I lived in and Kigogo is way out there. I mean, it is WAY out there. There is no way these vendors will be able to do the same type of business as they would in downtown Dar. Especially since much of their business is based on downtown-oriented foot traffic, as opposed to foot traffic intending to go to the market.

This is part of a much larger conversation of the suburbanization of the poor.  It is happening in the US (usually boiled down to the concept of gentrification, although these ideas are not synonymous) and it is happening in countless cities throughout the world.

This will have incredibly negative effects on the poor, in terms of their access to social infrastructure — transportation will be losing funding, public utilities such as electricity and water are currently being installed in cities under the guise of the economies of scale (more water users and payers in the city makes the infrastructure investment feasible) while not being supplied to the suburbs. While saying nothing of the access to health services and disaster relief infrastructure,  first-and-foremost in my book, this facilitates the deeding of the unrecorded class and, subsequently, taxation.

If we can’t get our system implemented on them in their squatter town, the thought goes, let’s move their squatter town to where we can implement our system on them. It’s how the government makes money and maintains social control.

Plus, the thinking follows, there’s good times to be had in the city, let’s freshen it up a bit and give the tourists access to it — those low-wage workers will find a way to get into work for them ‘cuz they got nowheres else to work… except that export processing zone

P.S. Hey, investors! Don’t worry, those pesky “existing” Tanzanian exporters have been disallowed from investing in the EPZ… this is strictly for folks like you!

The World Can’t Wait Demos

Tomorrow there will be a “Day of Mass Resistence,” organized by The World Can’t Wait. They’ve placed ads in newspapers across the country for this event that will be centered in DC, but will have locations throughout the nation. Our friends from Outernational, who Tom Morello says will be the next Rage Against the Machine, will be playing the NYC demo.

It’s going to take all kinds to get the change we need in this world, and this group is one that is making the necssary noise to make people turn and listen. That is for damn sure.

Join in–get loud–demand more. The time to be silent has long since passed.

Vietnamese Trade Pact Facing Resistance [wsj wash wire]

Another on trade issues from Wash Wire…

ADMINISTRATION FACES congressional resistance to Vietnam trade pact.

Textile-friendly Republican Sens. Dole of North Carolina and Graham of South Carolina resist letting Vietnam join WTO. They warn trade representative Schwab of “large-scale job losses in both our states” and seek limits on Vietnamese apparel exports to U.S.

“We’re looking for some way for the industry to defend itself,” says industry advocate Cass Johnson. To soothe domestic companies, Commerce Department official Lavin visits North Carolina textile executives.

After returning from China, Paulson will meet with Sen. Schumer, who may seek floor action on tariff bill.

Activists Walk from World Bank; Bank Also Enumerates Failing States (There’s More!)

What better place to get info on fair trade activism than the laissez-faire WSJ, and who better for Wolfowitz to blame than Singapore (it sure ain’t his fault!):

Antipoverty activists announce a boycott of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meetings to protest Singapore’s refusal to let some of them enter the country.

After massive antiglobalization demonstrations over the last decade, the international lenders have tried to incorporate nongovernmental organizations into their decision-making. But the relationship isn’t always smooth.

Now 163 such groups say they won’t participate in official events in Singapore. They had planned to raise concerns about the often-austere economic policies the IMF urges its 184 member nations to implement, as well as the environmental impact of dams and other big World Bank projects.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz condemned Singapore’s “authoritarian” actions. “The one thing I think I would say is that a lot of that damage has been done to Singapore and it’s self-inflicted,” Wolfowitz told activists at a roundtable, before they walked out. “It is unacceptable.”

An IMF spokesman said of the activist groups: “We have been having productive discussions, and we expect them to continue.”

The letter reads in part:

“In solidarity with those denied entry into Singapore and denied the exercise of their expression, we will stay away from meetings and seminars in Singapore,” the organisations said in a statement.

“We call on all social movements, civil society organisations and networks and individuals to uphold rights of peoples to freedom of expression and association, and to honour this boycott by staying away from official meetings in Singapore.”

The World Bank also enumerated the numebr of “failing/fragile states” in the world this week. I’d say this is the foremost fronteir in the Global War on Terror, but what do I know…

The latest World Bank study on failed and failing states (now called “fragile states”) shows just how rapidly the global situation is deteriorating. As reported in the Washington Post by Karen DeYoung, the number of states that could provide logistical bases and ungoverned spaces for terrorists, transnational criminal organizations and other armed non-state groups has jumped from 17 in 2003 to 26 this year.

The growth of “black holes” and stateless regions is even more alarming when compared to a similar study done by the Bank in 1996, when only 11 states fell into the category of failed states. [more]

Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

Negotiations are gonna be tense on this one:

 

In addition to strenuous negotiations on sensitive agricultural goods, Seoul trade officials are now facing the challenges of responding to irksome U.S. demands concerning the financial sector.

Seoul’s Trade Ministry said it expected agricultural talks to intensify, and the services and investment sectors, including financial services, to enter full-fledged negotiations during the four-day FTA talks in Seattle.

While not delineated, here’s a nice note from the piece on corporate hegemony above and beyond national sovereignty (read up on NAFTA’s Chapter 11 [pdf], a.k.a. “investor protections,” for a better understanding on this critical point that will have massive implications over generations):

 

Classified as “special financial institutions regulated by unique laws,” Seoul firmly says they are not subject to the trade talks. The government fears that new complications would emerge, such as foreign financial institutions filing lawsuits against the government for assisting public banks.

[…]

Both countries hope to conclude the talks by March 2007 to get the pact ratified before U.S. President George W. Bush’s trade negotiation authority expires on July 1, 2007. The trade promotion authority allows the Bush administration to negotiate a free trade deal without Congress having to approve amendments.

Thanks to Inner City Press for the heads up on this article. Remember,it is almost three years to the day (9/10/03) that, “Lee Kyang Hae, 55, who headed South Korea’s Federation of Farmers and Fishermen, stabbed himself in protest against the WTO, ‘which destroys Korea’s economy and its agriculture.'”

South Africa Faces “Grave Constitutional Crisis;” Minister of Health Continues Breaking the Law

[Lucio Verani is a volunteer for Friends of TAC-North America and works as an administrative assistant at The Rockefeller University. Previously, Lucio volunteered for TAC in South Africa, interned with the Atlanta Harm Reduction Center and worked for the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He can be contacted at lucio_verani@yahoo.com.]

—

Two developments this week have highlighted the serious incompetence of the South African government’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

First, the South African government is illegally withholding AIDS treatment from its prisoners. The South African Constitution states that healthcare is a right, and based on this, the South African government was ordered on June 26th, to implement emergency treatment programs in Durban’s Westville Prison. The government then appealed this judgment, but the judge, agreeing with the Treatment Action Campaign(TAC) and the AIDS Law Project, handed an interim-order (valid until the government’s original appeal could be ruled upon), which forced government to begin implementing an emergency treatment plan by August 14. The government then illegally appealed this interim-order, and on Monday, August 28^th, the courts once again ruled against the government, saying:

If the refusal to comply does not result from instruction from the first respondent, the Government of the Republic of South Africa, then the remaining respondents must be disciplined, either administratively or in an employment context, for their delinquency. If the Government of the Republic of South Africa has given such an instruction then we face a grave constitutional crisis involving a serious threat to the doctrine of the separation of powers. Should that continue the members of the judiciary will have to consider whether their oath of office requires them to continue on the bench.”

Secondly, on Tuesday, August 29^th, South Africa’s Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala Msimang (commonly known as Manto), was condemned by the South African Medical Association for making illegal and unscientific pronouncements. Manto is a lunatic that deserves to be fired. She is equivocating on the supposed “issue” of proper nutrition versus access to timely HIV medications. Manto highlights the side-effects of antiretrovirals (for treating AIDS), talks about the benefits of nutrition and then says it is each person’s democratic right to choose if they will maintain a healthy diet or try to get on antiretrovirals. Recently, US Senator Barack Obama met with members of TAC in the Khayeltisha township of Cape Town and afterwards declared that “[O]n the treatment side the information being provided by the minister of health is not accurate… It is not an issue of Western science versus African science, it is just science and it’s not right [what Manto is doing].” In addition to offering her poorly informed sisters and brothers this “false-choice” between proper nutrition and HIV treatment, the Minister has refused to distance herself from HIV/AIDS denialists and people who sell multivitamins or traditional remedies as cures for AIDS.

TAC recently held an international Day of Action calling for the Health Minister to be fired and for prisoners to receive treatment. TAC’s explanation of their demands can be found here. The document provides a brief overview of why Minister Manto must be fired and then tried in court for the culpable homicide of one of the Westville prisoners, who died after receiving treatment far too late. According to TAC and the AIDS Law Project, at least four of the 14 remaining plaintiffs in prison are in critical condition, and their lawyers have been denied access to them for the past two weeks. Please e-mail, news-subscribe@tac.org.za in order to sign-up for the TAC Newsletter, the source of most of this information. This newsletter will help you support the most credible HIV/AIDS advocacy organization in the world. Until South Africa’s politicians take the lead on this issue, it will be up to international civil society to support South African civil society in leading the way. Your help is desperately needed.

Finally, I would like people to read the below chart on HIV treatment rates in Africa and the accompanying explanation. This conclusively shows that the South African government is lying when they claim to run the world’s most comprehensive AIDS program.

Country	UNAIDS/WHO estimates
	People receiving treatment in December 2005	People needing treatment in 2005	Treatment coverage
Under 25% coverage: RED Under 50% coverage: YELLOW Above 50% coverage: GREEN
Algeria	<500	1,000	39%
Angola	2,500-3,500	52,000	6%
Benin	3,500-6,000	14,000	33%
Botswana	67,000-77,000	84,000	85%
Burkina Faso	9,000	34,000	24%
Burundi	6,000-7,000	46,000	14%
Cameroon	21,000-26,000	108,000	22%
Cape Verde	<500	–	–
Central African Republic	1,500-2,000	49,000	3%
Chad	5,000-8,000	38,000	17%
Congo	2,000-3,500	18,000	17%
Côte d’Ivoire	18,000-19,000	111,000	17%
Democratic Republic of the Congo	7,000-8,500	209,000	4%
Djibouti	<500	2,000	16%
Egypt	<500	2,000	12%
Equatorial Guinea	<200	4,200	0%
Eritrea	<1,000	11,000	5%
Ethiopia	19,000-22,000	278,000	7%
Gabon	2,000-2,500	8,650	23%
Gambia	<200	1,500	10%
Ghana	4,000-5,000	61,000	7%
Guinea	2,000-2,500	23,000	9%
Guinea Bissau	<200	4,800	1%
Kenya	60,000-72,000	273,000	24%
Lesotho	7,500-9,000	58,000	14%
Liberia	<500	15,000	3%
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	<1,000	1,500	35%
Madagascar	<200	20,000	0%
Malawi	31,000-35,000	169,000	20%
Mali	5,500-9,000	22,000	32%
Mauritania	<500	1,500	40%
Mauritius	<200	–	–
Morocco	<1,000	2,000	48%
Mozambique	19,000-21,000	216,000	9%
Namibia	27,000-31,000	41,000	71%
Niger	<1,000	12,000	5%
Nigeria	37,000-45,000	636,000	7%
Rwanda	18,000-20,000	49,000	39%
Sao Tome and Principe	<200	–	–
Senegal	3,000-5,500	9,000	47%
Seychelles	<200	–	–
Sierra Leone	<500	9,600	2%
Somalia	–	6,000	1%
South Africa	178,000-235,000	983,000	21%
Sudan	<500	62,000	1%
Swaziland	12,000-14,000	42,000	31%
Togo	5,000-8,000	25,000	27%
Tunisia	<500	<1,000	34%
Uganda	71,000-79,000	148,000	51%
United Republic of Tanzania	20,000-23,000	315,000	7%
Zambia	45,000-52,000	183,000	27%
Zimbabwe	22,000-27,000	321,000	8%

“[Gregg Gonsalves from the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa used UNAIDS/WHO statistics to code] countries with greater than 50% coverage in GREEN (i.e. Namibia, Botswana and Uganda); countries with less than 50% (but more than 25%) coverage in YELLOW (i.e. Algeria, Benin, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, and Zambia) and those with less than 25% coverage in RED (i.e. South Africa and all the rest).  So when the Health Minister of South Africa says her country is treating more people than any other country in the region, she is correct in terms of absolute numbers, but South Africa is not out of the RED yet-it is behind all the countries in YELLOW AND GREEN and even within those countries with less than 25% coverage, still Kenya, Gabon, Cameroon, Burkina Faso are ahead of South Africa!  That means 19 countries in the region are doing better than South Africa in terms of the percentage of people on ART who are in need of it. Finally, South Africa has the greatest absolute number of people in need of treatment (i.e. 983,000 people), dwarfing any other countries' number waiting for treatment with the closest rival being Nigeria with 636,000 people still in need of ART.” –posted by Gregg on the Health GAP list-serve, August 26, 2006.

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