Archive for category: Health

Information and stories on health topics.

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10 Facts About Poverty in Latin America

10 Facts about Poverty in Latin America
Within the past decade, 70 million people were able to escape poverty in Latin America due to economic growth and a lessened income gap. However, millions still remain in the cycle of poverty. Presented below is key data about poverty in Latin America.

 

10 Leading Facts on Poverty in Latin America

 

  1. One in five Latin Americans lives in chronic poverty conditions. Latin Americans account for 130 million of the nearly 500 million who live in chronic poverty worldwide.
  2. Poverty rates vary from country to country in the Latin American region. With estimated poverty rates floating around 10 percent, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile have the lowest chronic poverty rates. Meanwhile, Nicaragua with 37 percent and Guatemala with 50 percent have the highest chronic poverty rates in Latin America, which are well above the regional average of 21 percent.
  3. Poverty rates can also vary within a country. A single country can have both ends of the spectrum with the highest poverty rate that is eight times higher than the lowest. For example, Brazil has a chronic poverty rate of 5 percent in Santa Catarina, but 40 percent in Ceará.
  4. Poverty in Latin America encompasses both urban and rural areas. Most assume that rural areas have higher poverty rates than urban areas, like in Bolivia, where the amount of people living in rural poverty is 20 percentage points higher than those living in urban poverty. However, the number of the urban poor is higher than the number of rural poor in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
  5. Poor Latin Americans lack access to basic health care services. Approximately 20 percent of the Latin American and Caribbean population lack access to health care due to their poverty conditions. The region also has high rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and cancer.
  6. Those living in poverty in Latin America lack access to safe water and sanitation. The World Water Council reported that 77 million people lack access to safe water or live without a water source in their homes. Of the 77 million, 51 million live in rural areas and 26 million live in urban areas. An estimated 256 million rely on latrines and septic tanks as an alternative to basic sanitation.
  7. The lack of education in Latin America lowers prospects of rising out of poverty. One in 12 young people ages 15 to 24 have not completed primary school, and therefore lack the skills necessary to find decent jobs. The same age group represents 40 percent of the total number of unemployed in many Latin American countries. When they are employed, six out of 10 jobs are informal, lacking decent wages, contract agreements and social security rights.
  8. Limited economic opportunities keep the poor in poverty. The biggest factor that led to poverty reduction from 2004-2012 was labor income. The Huffington Post reported that in poor households every Latin American country had an average of 20 percent “fewer human resources to generate income” than non-poor households and those households who managed to escape poverty.
  9. Chronic poverty levels are falling. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of Latin Americans living on under $4 a day decreased from 45 percent to 25 percent. The Latin American population living on $2.5 per day fell from 28 percent to 14 percent.
  10. The falling poverty levels in Latin America can be attributed to improved public policy. Latin American governments created conditional cash transfers (CCT), which substituted subsidies for money transfers for the poor who invested in human capital beginning in the late 1990s. As a result, child attendance in schools has risen and families have more food and more diversity in diets.

In 2010, the middle-class population exceeded the low-income population for the first time in the region. However, with one-fifth of the population still in poverty, there is much work to be done.

– Ashley Leon

Photo: Flickr

Prevention and Treatment: The Top Diseases in Malawi

Top Diseases in Malawi
Malawi’s Ministry of Health states that their current overall policies are meant to focus on: “the development of a sound delivery system capable of promoting health, preventing, reducing and curing diseases, protecting life and fostering general well-being and increased productivity.” In recent years, the country has made substantial advancements in the field of medicine in terms of addressing their most pressing health issues, namely the top diseases in Malawi.

Infant and child mortality have been declining, and HIV rates among citizens have begun to level out. Despite having made progress, Malawi continues to be characterized by the burden of high infectious disease rates. The average life expectancy of a person living in Malawi is 57 years for males, and 58 years for females, making it the country with the twentieth lowest life expectancy in the world. However, the five top diseases in Malawi are all either preventable or treatable with basic medical care.

HIV/AIDS: 27% of deaths

Malawi is making impressive strides in combating their HIV epidemic, specifically in the prevention of mother to child transmission of the disease. However, Malawi’s HIV presence is still one of the highest in the world. It is home to roughly four percent of all people with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As of 2015, 10.3% of the population was living with HIV or AIDS; 9.3% of these people were between the ages of 15 and 49 years. That averages to around 980,000 people. The disease disproportionately affects females in Malawi, with an average of 4.5% of young females, and 2.7% of young men from 15 to 24 years living with HIV.

It is estimated that only 61% of all infected adults are on antiretroviral treatment. This epidemic, which killed 48,000 people in 2013 alone, is largely responsible for Malawi’s low life expectancy of 57.5 years.

Lower Respiratory Infections: nine percent of deaths

Lower respiratory problems have topped the charts as a reason for hospital admission in Malawi prior to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Lower respiratory infections cover everything from pneumonia to bronchitis, and Malawi has seen an increase in these infections particularly in its citizens with the HIV virus.

Pneumonia is the single biggest killer of children in Malawi, prematurely ending the lives of an estimated 1,000 infants in 2010 alone.

Malaria: six percent of deaths

Despite progress, malaria continues to be one of the top diseases in Malawi. Malaria is responsible for nearly 40% of hospitalizations in children under the age of 5, 30% of all outpatient visits and is one of the highest causes of mortality in all age groups.

Transmission of the disease occurs mostly from November to April, during Malawi’s rainy season. However, with global support, the Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Control Program in Malawi has been able to distribute treatment more easily throughout the population.

Since efforts were put in place in 2004, the mortality rate for children 5 years and younger has fallen by more than 36%. This is largely due to Malawi introducing the pneumococcal vaccine as part of routine childhood vaccination in November 2011, and the additional rotavirus vaccine in October 2012. Malawi is one of the four countries in the African Region that offers these vaccinations.

Diarrheal Disease: five percent of deaths

Diarrheal disease poses a serious threat, particularly to 5% of the children of Malawi, as it claims nearly 600 lives of Malawian children per year. Support from such initiatives as the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the GAVI Alliance has given us an opportunity to offer those in Malawi protection from diarrheal diseases.

More lives could be saved through basic interventions, such as improving drinking water, increasing sanitation efforts and distributing a simple solution of oral rehydration salts and zinc supplements during bouts of diarrhea.

Perinatal Conditions: three percent of deaths

Perinatal conditions are any conditions existing in a baby before or immediately after birth. These conditions often stem from preexisting conditions in the mother, and are more easily prevented than treated. Solutions posed for this problem include better sex education for women, easier access to contraceptives — only 41% of Malawian women showed an understanding of preventative measures for sexually transmitted diseases in 2015 — and more accessible treatments for diseases such as HIV and malaria.

Currently, Malawi faces problems in addressing many of their health issues with regard to domestic funding and external stigma against the country. However, Malawi is committed to addressing the challenges of the top diseases in Malawi at the national level with cooperation and innovation in order to have a lasting impact.

– Kayla Provencher

Photo: Flickr

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Identifying and Preventing the Top Diseases in Chad

Top Diseases in Chad
Since its independence from the French in 1960, the northern Central African nation of Chad has faced political instability in addition to harsh desert climates in the north. Due to complex political and environmental situations, Chad is ranked 185 out of 187 countries on the 2014 UNDP Human Development Index.

Health resources in Chad are low as a result of its poverty and politics, compared to the rest of Africa. Chad has a large refugee population of over 380,000 and 80 percent are Sudanese. With a deficit of proper resources and infrastructure to combat communicable diseases, here is a list of the top diseases in Chad.

Hepatitis

Hepatitis is an infection in the liver and is identified through five different hepatitis viruses. Chad is at risk for hepatitis A, B, C and E. Hepatitis A and E are spread by contaminated food or water and human waste. Chad’s hepatitis A and E risk is correlated with its sanitation and water practices. About 44% of Chad’s population does not have access to clean water.

While hepatitis A and E are endemic because of contaminated food or water, hepatitis B and C are spread through blood, semen and other bodily fluids. Hepatitis is resolved after four weeks of medical treatment.

Vaccines are recommended for children, as hepatitis can develop without symptoms during childhood. Vaccines for hepatitis B are more prioritized since it’s transmitted from person to person. In 2015, WHO-UNICEF estimated only 55% of people were vaccinated for hepatitis B, compared to the government’s estimate of 925.

Some solutions to solve hepatitis include more coverage of hepatitis B vaccines to prevent people from infecting others. Improving water conditions and sanitation would eliminate hepatitis A and E.

Meningococcal Meningitis

Meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial form of meningitis and infects the meninges in the brain membrane. The potentially fatal disease can cause brain damage and deafness. Outbreaks are prevalent during the dry season in the Sub-Saharan meningitis belt.

The Sub-Saharan meningitis belt is a wide region of countries with a high risk of the disease, stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. During the 2012 outbreak, there were 2,828 cases of meningitis in Chad and 135 deaths.

There are many campaigns supporting meningitis vaccine coverage in the belt. In 2014, meningitis epidemics reached their lowest levels. After Chad’s campaign, meningitis cases dropped by 94%.

Typhoid

Typhoid is a gastrointestinal infection transmitted from one infected person with poor hygiene to another person when handling food and water. The bacteria can multiply and enter the bloodstream and cause high fevers and fatigue. Typhoid is common in countries that have poor water and improper sanitation. Typhoid vaccines are highly recommended for travelers visiting Chad.

Malaria

Chad has a very high risk of malaria, with a greater incidence rate of over 85% of plasmodium falciparum malaria. Because of the high amount of malaria cases, Chad is receiving help for malaria prevention.

While progress for adopting preventative therapy for children is slow among WHO member states, Chad is the only country that adopted the recommended policy for infants.

There still is a lot of progress needed for top diseases in Chad to be completely combated against and its health resources to be improved. However, solutions are available to prevent most of these top diseases in Chad.

– Taameen Mohammad

Photo: Flickr

Canada’s Global Health Initiatives and Commitments

Canada's Global Health InitiativesThis article details a few examples of Canada‘s global health initiatives.

Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research

Founded in 2001, the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research describes itself as a “not-for-profit organization promoting better and more equitable health worldwide through the production and use of knowledge.” The coalition started as an informal network and has since transformed into an important tool in Canada’s health research.

The coalition’s main purpose is to bring together groups of people to communicate and take action regarding global health issues. Members of the coalition include global health researchers, organizations that have an interest in funding global health research, and members of the general public who share the passion of fighting to improve health worldwide. Research challenges are then analyzed within low and middle-income countries.

University of British Columbia

Located in Vancouver, the University of British Columbia has focused on a neglected global diseases initiative. Neglected global diseases are illnesses that are disproportionately present in the world’s poorest areas, including malaria, HIV/AIDS, conditions affecting maternal and child health and various tropical diseases. These illnesses can be classified under this category because they are able to thrive in places that generally have unreliable water supplies, poor sanitation and inadequate access to healthcare facilities.

The university’s initiative is to build a network between the fields of biology, pharmacology, business, social policy, economics and law. These fields are important because together, they are able to examine the underlying causes and social climates that generate poverty and furthermore trigger neglected global diseases. With these social factors in mind, Canada’s global health initiatives and research can become more targeted and efficient. This interdisciplinary approach is highly innovative at a time when social determinants are becoming increasingly intertwined with global health.

G7 Health Commitments

This September, representatives attended the G7 Health Minister’s Meeting in Kobe, Japan. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together health leaders of G7 nations and organizations to discuss how to advance progress regarding global health, particularly regarding the subjects of combating antimicrobial resistance and achieving universal health care coverage.

Leaders were able to reiterate elements of Canada’s health research actions, namely strengthening emergency responses to health crises and addressing the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. The meeting also provided Canadian leaders with the chance to hold additional meetings with health leaders from Japan, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in order to exchange experiences and organize future collaboration in the fight against global health issues.

Overall, one can see that Canada’s health research and commitments are both diverse and robust. The nation has focused itself on working to improve established health concerns as well as creating new strategies to combat them. All of the examples above involve cooperation between different organizations and nations, which is certainly a key factor for being successful in the fight against global health concerns.

– Nathaniel Siegel

Photo: Flickr

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WHO Targets Efforts to Reduce Neonatal Deaths

Reduce Neonatal Deaths
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released three new publications that will help strengthen knowledge on how to prevent stillbirth and neonatal deaths. These publications are aimed to assist countries as they develop their classification, analysis and investigation processes on unreported deaths.

Over 2.7 million babies die within the first month of life, according to the U.N. health agency. Another 2.6 million are stillborn, and over 300,000 women die during childbirth. Most of these deaths are preventable if paired with the appropriate health care. “By reviewing the causes of maternal and infant deaths, countries can improve quality of health care, take corrective actions and prevent millions of families from enduring the pain of losing their infants or mothers,” stated the Director of Health and Research at WHO, Ian Askew.

When a baby is stillborn, they are not recorded in either a death or birth certificate. Therefore, many of the above numbers are an underestimate of the true amount of stillborn and newborn deaths. Countries are unable to truly investigate these deaths and find out appropriate prevention methods for future cases. This is why WHO decided to improve education efforts for countries by releasing these three new publications:

  1.  “WHO Application of the International Classification of Disease-10 to deaths during the perinatal period.” This publication aims to help countries link certain stillbirths to relevant causes. Such causes could be conditions like diabetes or hypertension in the mother. Before this recent publication, there was no classification system that would help countries record this information.
  2. “Making Every Baby Count: Audit and Review of Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths.” This will be a guide to assist countries’ investigation of deaths, allowing them to develop solutions for future cases. It will incorporate the above classification system to publish a basic review of every stillbirth death. According to Anthony Costello — WHO’s director of maternal, children’s and adolescent’s health — every death review gives valuable information about what can be done in the future to prevent a child’s life from being lost.
  3. “Time to Respond: A Report on the Global Implementation of Maternal Death Surveillance and Response.” This will help strengthen countries’ review process of deaths in hospitals and clinics. It also details guidelines for hospitals to better improve their quality of care. WHO recommends hospital committees to meet at least twice a year. They also suggest conducting mortality audits and reviews of their past patients.

To strengthen other countries’ health information systems, WHO is partnering with more than 30 other global health organizations in hope of developing a more easily understood package of guidance and tools for countries to prevent neonatal deaths.

– Katie Grovatt

Photo: Flickr

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Access to Hepatitis C Drugs Improves for Egyptian Patients

Hepatitis C Drugs
Three years ago, a 90% effective hepatitis C medication, called Sovaldi, was released by Gilead Sciences. A three-month round of treatment costs $84,000. Janssen Pharmaceuticals released its own drug, Simeprevir, at $66,000 per round of treatment, and other pharmaceutical companies like AbbVie and Zepatier charged similar prices as they released their own hepatitis C drugs.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne disease that can lead to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, as well as other neurological problems. Worldwide, there are four times as many patients infected with hepatitis C as there are with HIV. About 150 million people live with chronic hepatitis C and 500,000 people die of hepatitis C complications every year.

Before Gilead, Janssen and other companies developed their newer, more effective medications, hepatitis C patients were treated with ribivarin and interferon, an antiviral drug and an immune-system modulator. The drugs caused fatigue, nausea and depression, and after one year of treatment, only 50% of patients were cured.

The WHO added hepatitis C drugs to their list of essential medicines, which they update every two years and some pharmaceutical companies offered deals with low-income countries. Gilead, for example, sold Sovaldi for $900 per round of treatment in Egypt in 2014.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative made a deal with an Egypt-based pharmaceutical company last spring to sell a highly effective drug combination for $300 per treatment round.

Hepatitis C is especially prevalent in Egypt, affecting over 10% of the population, because of a vaccination campaign in the 1960s and 70s where syringes were reused for multiple patients. The disease is so widespread that barbers wear gloves and use disposable razors. Hepatitis C has even been spread between family members through sharing toothbrushes and nail clippers.

However, 80% of new infections happen in medical centers; in response to these figures, UNICEF and the WHO are working with the Egyptian government to educate both clinicians and the general population about hepatitis C.

Many patients await treatment, but the Egyptian government anticipates treating 1 million people for hepatitis C in 2016. As the cost of treatment decreases and sterilization and infection control practices are improved, the presence of hepatitis C in Egypt and elsewhere will diminish.

– Madeline Reding

Photo: Flickr

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Top Diseases in Cambodia

Diseases in Cambodia
Despite their impressive economic growth in recent years, the impoverished, southeast Asian nation of Cambodia still struggles to treat diseases. The small country of 15 million, which lies between Thailand and Vietnam, has received very impactful aid from the U.S. for more than 50 years. Unfortunately, diseases in Cambodia can be detrimental to preventing and alleviating severe poverty.

High rates of malnutrition and extreme income inequality — not to mention a health system that crumbled during years of war — exacerbate many persistent public health issues, including a variety of menacing diseases. Here are some of the top diseases in Cambodia and what progress the government and health organizations have made in fighting them.

Malaria

Cambodia is tropical and rainy and dense jungles cover much of the countryside. With a monsoon season that can last five months, Cambodia has a climate and geography that are perfect for mosquito-borne diseases — including malaria. The parasite is still a major killer in Cambodia and threatens the lives of young children. According to the latest WHO statistics, malaria is among the top 10 causes of death for kids under five.

While malaria remains one of the top diseases in Cambodia, the government has partnered with WHO and USAID to make significant progress in the fight against malaria, creating better disease surveillance and preparedness and reaching patients who live in rural areas. Since 1999, malaria deaths in Cambodia have been cut in half by such efforts.

Epidemiologists are concerned with the sheer burden of malaria as well as the intense drug resistance that seems to always develop in western Cambodia. According to Science AAAS, since the 50s, the Pailin province near Cambodia’s border with Thailand has been ground zero for multiple-drug resistant strains of malaria. Such outbreaks have threatened the region and the global fight against malaria.

It is not clear exactly why Pailin is so prone to drug-resistance but a multitude of reasons have been suggested. The region’s dense Cardamom Mountains make providing quality healthcare a great challenge and many migrant workers travel through the area hoping to find precious rubies, going under the radar of health organizations.

Scientists are on the frontlines of understanding the latest strains of drug resistance in Cambodia, but controlling such illusive outbreaks will likely take a huge effort and cooperation on the part of Cambodia and its neighbors.

HIV/AIDS

Cambodia experienced one of Asia’s worst HIV epidemics in the 90s and continues to grapple with the disease today. AIDS killed as many as 3,300 Cambodians last year, according to UNAIDS, and upward of 82,000 live with HIV currently. It is not uncommon for marginalized Cambodians to turn to commercial sex and other high-risk behaviors, which may contribute to the spread of the disease.

Nonetheless, the government and aid organizations have made progress in containing HIV and providing affordable treatment to many Cambodians. Infection rates have fallen by more than 50% in the past decade and almost all HIV patients have access to proper treatment. “Voluntary and confidential HIV testing and counseling are widely available free of charge,” for Cambodians, according to a press statement by UNAIDS from 2014, and “people living with HIV have access to free antiretroviral therapy across the country.”

The government continues to work with aid organizations to prevent the disease and help sick patients more efficiently and effectively. According to USAID, in Cambodia it is still “crucial to improve the quality and coverage of HIV/AIDS services while reducing their costs.”

Tuberculosis

According to the most recent data from WHO, tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading cause of mortality in Cambodia. USAID reports that TB kills about 13,000 citizens annually. Likewise, Cambodia has one of the highest rates of incidence of the TB bacterium, which roughly two-thirds of the population is estimated to carry.

While these statistics may seem bleak, Cambodia has exhibited phenomenal successes in alleviating the scourge of tuberculosis. USAID reports supporting 271 community-based health centers across the country that have successfully diagnosed and treated a vast majority of the 10,000 cases so far. WHO reported that in the nine years between 2002 and 2011, massive grassroots programs that made TB treatment free and accessible halved the prevalence of TB in the country.

Malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are still some of the top diseases in Cambodia and pose real challenges for a country that is working hard to improve public health. But the success that Cambodia has exhibited in the fight against these diseases is a clear testament to what governments and international aid programs can achieve in the face of some of the world’s worst public health issues.

– Charlie Tomb

Photo: Flickr

New Technology Helps Diagnose Cancer in Papua New Guinea

Cancer in Papua New Guinea
The vision of developing a digital technology to diagnose cancer in Papua New Guinea and compensate for the country’s shortage of pathologists recently became a reality at the Kumul GameChangers competition. The Kumul GameChangers initiative is designed to introduce creative entrepreneurial solutions to development challenges in Papua New Guinea. The initiative was implemented by the U.N. Development Program in association with the Kumul Foundation and supported by the Australian government.

Applicants to Kumul GameChangers must submit innovative enterprise ideas that exhibit financial stability, sustainability and the potential to mutually benefit customers and the businesses themselves. Ideas are also expected to identify a social or environmental problem and address it.

ePathway for Papua New Guinea (ePathPG) is a digital image management system used to take microscopic images of tissues for cancer diagnosis. Medical professionals use digital microscopes and smartphones to capture the images. Preliminary tests have used tissues from the cervix, mouth, breast or endometrium to detect cancer.

ePathPG can be used to conduct endometrial and breast examinations as well as biopsies for cervical cancer. In addition to this, it can help detect mouth cancer and identify potential complications in high-risk pregnancies. ePathPG can also be used to diagnose blood disorders like leukemia, malaria, anaemia, lymphoma and filariasis.

Despite facing a lack of funding and sponsorship for his research, ePathPG co-developer Dr. Rodney Itaki believes the invention has the potential for tremendous success.

“It will have a great, positive, impact on cancer diagnosis in PNG,” Itaki said. “Patients will get their results faster, allowing earlier and faster interventions and leading to better outcomes for cancer sufferers in PNG.”

– Shanique Wright

Photo: Flickr

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Annie Lennox Supports The Global Fund in APPG Meeting

Annie Lennox _ The Globa
Activist and world-renowned musician, Annie Lennox, has become a powerful and influential voice for those suffering from malaria, HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis. Her dedication to the cause became even clearer at a recent All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting in London where she spoke out in favor of the Global Fund and their efforts to reduce and treat disease in impoverished areas.

This is but one of the many ways in which Annie Lennox involves herself in issues of global poverty and disease. In the past, she has fundraised for the Treatment Action Campaign by donating the funds raised from her single, Sing. She is also a recipient of the British Red Cross’ Services to Humanity Award.

At the APPG meeting, she continued her charity work, by vocally supporting the Global Fund and their many initiatives. The Global Fund is a financing institution with the goal of providing support to countries suffering from diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The organization has set a $13 billion funding target for the 2017-2019 period. This money will go toward saving eight million people and stopping 300 million new infections across the span of three years. In order to reach this goal, donor nations will have to increase their offerings by 20%. Multiple nations such as Japan and Canada have agreed to this increase. However, the U.K.’s contribution is crucial to reaching this goal.

In her keynote speech, Annie Lennox urged British members of parliament to invest further in the Global Fund and increase their disease-fighting efforts. She said: “With the upcoming replenishment of the Global Fund, the U.K. government has the opportunity to show that their continued leadership and dedication to saving and improving quality of life has not waned.”

Award-winning actress Emma Thompson supported the call for the U.K. to step up their funding. Other notable speakers, such as The ONE Campaign’s U.K. Director, Saira O’Mallie, spoke on the same subject. O’Mallie addressed the pertinent issue through her statement, “Amid the uncertainty over the U.K.’s position in the world following Brexit, the Government’s continued commitment to the Global Fund will offer reassurance to millions of vulnerable people.”

The Global Fund does wonders to improve health across the globe, and should be supported across all countries in addition to the U.K.

– Jordan Little

Photo: Flickr

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United Nations Plans For The Eradication of AIDS by 2030

eradication of AIDS
Recently, the United Nations unveiled its plan to combat global health concerns. If earnestly implemented, the international community could see the eradication of AIDS by 2030. The plan is a part of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which identified 17 developmental goals and 169 sub-targets.

The SDGs were constructed on the successes of the recently concluded Millennium Development Goals, which addressed global development issues through “time-bound and quantified targets.” The eight U.N.-brokered goals have become synonymous with the “the most successful global anti-poverty push in history” as it has reduced HIV infections by 33% since 2001.

Despite the unprecedented developmental success, the United Nations General Assembly wanted to pursue a refined and more robust approach to the eradication of AIDS. Therefore, in 2015 as the Millennium Goal expired, the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development announced a program aimed at eradicating AIDS, particularly through United Nations General Assembly Resolutions.

Notably, Resolution A/69/856 identifies that the eradication of AIDS and prevention must go beyond providing sufficient doses of anti-retroviral treatments. In addition to medicine, it is necessary for governments alike, the international community and civil society to advocate for safe-sex practices.

The task of implementing treatments towards pursuing a world free of global health concerns should not disproportionately fall on the United Nations, however. Moreover, other actors have provided significantly to health movements such as the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR is a bipartisan policy that supports HIV testing and counseling for more than 14.2 million pregnant women; HIV testing and counseling for more than 56.7 million people as well as training for more than 140,000 health care workers.

Other efforts are being made by NGOs and nonprofits such as The Global Fund, which has given $22.9 billion to over 1,000 initiatives in 151 countries.

– Adam George

Photo: Flickr