Happy World AIDS Day

Happy World AIDS Day! 

With global economic crises, funding for HIV and other health-related programs has been frozen. I have been in Malawi now for almost 5 months where the implications of HIV are incredibly apparent, at least compared to the States. It is painfully clear how important this funding is to keep HIV at bay, prevent new infections, reduce poverty, improve quality of life - anything, you name it. Funding really should be increased - with ART, many people are living longer (and are otherwise healthy!), particularly children. This is great! But it also means that medications and treatment need to continue to be available and needs to be more accessible otherwise the virus will come roaring back on individual and population levels. Additionally, despite very effective PMTCT options, mother-to-child transmission still occurs. Many of the exposed infants we saw in the last study I worked on either did not receive PMTCT or their moms didn't for whatever reasons. Access to PMTCT needs to improve - many moms don't go to hospitals to give birth or can't make it, don't know their status, are newly infected, etc and so there is a much higher risk of vertically passing HIV to their babies. Malawi recently implemented Option B+ - HIV-infected pregnant or breastfeeding women will be initiated on drugs and on them for life - which theoretically should drastically reduce vertical transmission rates (ART -> less virus -> less chance infant will become infected). This, however, requires money. I realize the effects of aid and donor money can be debated endlessly and that all (or almost all) governments and people are tight on cash, but I believe this is a matter of human rights and dignity. HIV might not be curable right now, but it certainly can be managed. The tools exist, but they need to be more available and accessible.

Here are some facts about HIV in Malawi:

• About 12% of the population is infected with HIV - that is around 930,000 people 
• An estimated 84,000 new infections occur annually
• ~35% of HIV-infected people are on ART
• Only 55% of those who need ART receive it
• 63% of new adult TB patients have HIV
• 91,000 kids are HIV-+ (as of 2007) 
• More than 500,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS

(http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/Countries/africa/malawi_profile.pdf)