Building on lessons from HIV/Aids treatment

There has been quite a passionate debate going on in health circles recently, about whether too much money and too many resources have been devoted to HIV/Aids, while other diseases and health problems get no attention.

The critics of what is called 'HIV exceptionalism' argue that internationally, HIV/Aids accounts for only 4% of deaths, and that the money and resources ploughed into fighting the disease are therefore excessive. They also argue that the funding of specific HIV/Aids units and organisations at local, regional, national and international level has caused wasteful duplication and funneled funds away from other important health concerns.

Today, a report was released which begins to address some of those criticisms. The report is called Missing the Target 6 -- it is the latest in a series of reports monitoring the roll-out of anti-retroviral therapy in a number of countries around the world. The report is issued by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. The latest report looks at the impact of the scale up of HIV/Aids services on broader health systems.

The research for round six of the report was undertaken in six countries:  Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In general, the research teams found that while HIV/Aids has placed a burden on health systems, the response to the epidemic has had a positive impact -- and that resources devoted to HIV/Aids are benefitting health systems in general.

For example, in Zimbabwe, while HIV/Aids-related funds were used for hiring or retaining medical staff, and buying medical equipment, the medical personnel funded in this way also treated patients with other medical conditions. Likewise, equipment bought for HIV/Aids, was used for other purposes too.

The other impact is that the response to HIV/Aids has led to increased activism by citizens and clients of health services. This has helped educate people and also led to increased accountability on the part of governments, doctors, nurses and managers of health services, and increased urgency in responding to health problems.

It is important to remember too, that while internationally HIV/Aids accounts for a fairly small percentage of deaths, in Africa this percentage is much higher. And of course many other diseases, such as TB and pneumonia, are often linked with HIV.

The report's authors conclude that what is needed is not to now take away money from HIV/Aids in order to fund other areas of health care, but to use the lessons learned and advances made in HIV/Aids, in strengthening health care systems as a whole.

For more detail see: www.aidstreatmentaccess.org