Malaria control ‘best in decades’, WHO
(AP) –
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says a massive malaria control program since 2008 has helped reduce infections across Africa and eradicate the disease in Morocco and Turkmenistan.
The U.N. health agency says the billions of dollars poured into the program have helped buy anti-malaria nets for almost 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.
It said this has contributed to a drop of over 50 percent in malaria cases in 11 African countries, and two-thirds of the 56 malaria-endemic countries outside Africa. Malaria cases, however, increased in parts of Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and Zambia.
S. African to double HIV patient treatment
(AP)
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s health minister says he has brought down the cost of HIV drugs by 53 percent, enabling the government to treat twice as many patients in the next two years.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said in a statement Tuesday that the government saved 4.7 billion rand ($689 million) by encouraging potential suppliers to participate in the bidding process, requesting a breakdown of costs from suppliers and monitoring price changes.
South Africa has the largest anti-retroviral distribution program in the world but pays significantly higher drug prices than other countries, Motsoaledi says. South Africa has more people living with HIV than anywhere else in the world, with 5.7 million of 50 million people infected
New UN partnership seeks to promote reproductive health in Africa
http://www.un.org
December 2010 – The United Nations has teamed up with the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) to promote universal access to reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing mainly on young mothers.
The partnership between the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and MVP will use the Project’s primary health-care provision strategy and the UN agency’s expertise to promote reproductive rights and sexual and reproductive health.
The MVP initiative seeks to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline – in African countries within five years through community-led development.
Infant mortality rates are almost double among women who have children before the age of 20, compared to mothers in other age groups, a factor that makes it necessary to improve maternal and child health by providing voluntary family planning, medical supplies, training and education among younger women.
The UNFPA-MVP partnership will help local governments to provide supplies to clinics and hospitals in Millennium Village clusters. It will also identify trainers for health personnel.
“We look forward to joining forces with the Millennium Villages Project to widen the availability of sexual and reproductive health services – including family planning, skilled birth attendance, emergency obstetric care and prenatal and postnatal care – across sub-Saharan Africa,” said UNFPA’s Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.
“This partnership will go a long way in saving the lives of more mothers, and allowing more families to enjoy a life of prosperity and good health,” she added.
Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Earth Institute, said: “Many programmes such as those in the Millennium Villages show that scaling up primary health systems in rural and remote areas plays a decisive role in reducing child and maternal mortality.
“It is partnerships like these that will make a difference and enable us to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in the toughest parts of Africa,” Mr. Sachs added.
MVP, a partnership between the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and governments, provides a new approach to fighting poverty.
Currently covering approximately 500,000 people, the Project has shown that an integrated package of development interventions, supported by a modest financial investment, about $110 per person annually over 5 to 10 years, can facilitate the achievement of the MDGs.
[ad#Adsense-200by90]
