Humanitarian and grassrootsorganizations say 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, testing, treatment and careare falling far short of what's needed. The groups are meeting in Nairobi thisweek to discuss new approaches to deal with the epidemic.
OXFAMAIDS expert Wasai Jacob Nanjakululu, who's attending the conference, says, "Thepurpose of holding this meeting is to reflect on why 30 years down the line?wehave made some progress, but not significant enough."
"Almost80 to 90 percent of people living with HIV and AIDS do not yet know they livewith HIV. It's?sad, especially since in countries like in east and southernAfrica combined carry over 50 percent of the burden of HIV/AIDS globally," hesays.
Hesays that estimate is based on studies by the World Health Organization (WHO)and UNAIDS. Another says about 70 percent of those who need treatment are notreceiving it.
"Weare wondering whether in fact if we've been doing the right thing as NGOs. Weneed to be more critical whether we've been part of the problem or part of thesolution," he says.
"From this citizen summit, come up witha radical action plan that would enable us to achieve universal access,prevention, treatment, care and support services," he says.
One"radical" approach recommended by WHO is called "provider initiated testing andcounseling." The proposed policy calls for offering HIV testing to anyone whogoes to a public health clinic for any reason.
"Sothat we can begin to know people's HIV status early enough and therefore givethem a better chance to manage it better," he says.
AnotherWHO proposal calls for an annual HIV test during generalized epidemics. Thosefound positive would be placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment immediately,rather than waiting for the immune system to fail.
"Wewould use treatment to actually cut down on new infection?.because it has beenfound that people are mostly infectious when they are in the early stages ofinfection with HIV," he says.
Nanjakululusays OXFAM is among the organizations that have the capacity to mobilizecommunities, something he calls the "missing link" in AIDS policies.
"Communitiesmust be involved in deciding how to deal with HIV and AIDS," he says.
He says, "Although sub-Saharan Africais heavily affected by HIV and AIDS, our governments do not seem to live up totheir commitments."
In2001, at the Abuja summit, African governments pledged that 15 percent of theirnational budgets would be devoted to health to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
"Now,eight years down the line, it's only Botswana and The Gambia who have lived upto that commitment. Over 80 to 90 percent of resources going into the HIV/AIDSwar chest is external from donors," he says.
Nanjakululusays it means African governments have "embarrassed" themselves "by ceding theagenda to drive AIDS activities to external actors."
The Nairobi AIDS meeting continuesthrough Friday.