Thursday, April 25, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Q&A: "Seven Million People Still Lack AIDS Treatment"
Interview with Pedro Cahn, outgoing president of Int’l AIDS Society* - Tierramérica
- A greater commitment to universal access to anti-HIV therapies and to the defence of health workers in impoverished countries are two achievements noted by Argentine physician Pedro Cahn as president of the scientific society that organised the XVII International AIDS Conference.
Dr. Pedro Cahn leaves the presidency of the International AIDS Society in the hands of an Argentine colleague. Credit: Courtesy of IAS
Cahn spoke with Tierramérica’s Marcela Valente as he was packing his bags in Buenos Aires for the trip to Mexico City, where he is leading the AIDS conference that started Aug. 3, and is handing over the IAS presidency to a fellow Argentine, Julio Montaner, who directs the Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
In 2010, the leadership of the IAS will go to African physician Elly Katabira, of Uganda’s Makerere University, "an achievement to which I can say I strongly contributed," says Cahn.
In the line of fire since the HIV/AIDS epidemic erupted, Cahn’s name has been closely associated with the fight against the disease in his country, and around the world since 2006 when he took the reins of the IAS, an independent association of more than 12,000 professionals in 183 countries, founded 20 years ago to prevent, monitor and treat AIDS.
Cahn continues to serve as the chief of infectious diseases at the Hospital Fernández in Buenos Aires, and president of the Fundación Huésped, which works to improve medical services and create an appropriate community environment for people living with HIV, the AIDS virus.
TIERRAMÉRICA: Why is the XVII Conference on AIDS, to take place in Mexico City, so important?
PEDRO CAHN: It is the first time that this event is being held in a Latin American country, and it comes at a moment when universal access to treatment is being somewhat ignored.
TA: What did you achieve during your term at the head of the IAS?
PC: Above all, I must say that it is not a personal effort, but rather the result of a collective endeavour. We have been able in great part to demonstrate that the IAS is more committed to two important issues: universal access to treatment and the rights of health workers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
TA: What challenges do those workers face?
PC: They suffer poor working conditions and low wages. Then, paradoxically, the countries that provide financial assistance to fight the epidemic in the poorest countries lure them away to work for them. There is a true brain drain from the South to the North. This is a problem that we exposed publicly in all forums. It is essential to improve the conditions so they don’t leave, because we need them.
TA: What were the results of efforts towards greater access to antirretroviral treatments to fight AIDS?
PC: The IAS participated actively with UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and the WHO (World Health Organisation) to analyse how to quickly improve access to medication. In 2004, 10 percent of people who should have been receiving treatment did so, and in 2006 the proportion rose to 25 percent. Now we are at 31 percent.
TA: That sounds like progress.
PC: It could be considered good news, but it isn’t. There are some 10 million people who need AIDS treatment in the world – the vast majority in poor countries. We reached three million people. That was what the WHO proposed for 2005, and we are working hard to achieve it in 2008. But the bad news is that we are missing another seven million people. In Brazil alone, to cite an illustration from Latin America, 190,000 people rely on costly treatment that they couldn’t afford without the government’s commitment.
TA: What is needed in order to advance more quickly?
PC: More resources, political will, and leadership in the anti-AIDS efforts. Greater awareness that this isn’t about numbers, but about people dying from a disease that nobody should die from anymore. We still have some 7,000 people who contract AIDS each day, which is to say that we are running faster and faster but we are farther and farther away from the goal.
TA: Has there been medical progress in the last few years?
PC: For now, there are no vaccines, nor has there been much development in the area of (vaginal) microbicides. We don’t yet have an effective prevention tool for women, only the condom. Yes, the value of male circumcision has been confirmed, as well as the effectiveness of any strategy that combines prevention with treatment. Because the greater the access to treatment, the more people achieve an undetectable viral load, and they more they reduce the possibility of transmitting the virus to others.
TA: And in the field of AIDS among children?
PC: There were advances in the pharmaceuticals developed for children, but the only acceptable achievement on this point would be eliminating mother-to-child infection. This is why there must be better primary medical attention to pregnant women, otherwise it will all fail.
(*Marcela Valente is an IPS correspondent. Originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)
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