CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Congo-Brazzaville |
AIDS
The government increases its initiatives for reducing the incidence of AIDS,
thus providing confidence when faced with disturbing statistics
On 1 December 2002, World AIDS Day, some disturbing statistics were published. There are approximately 100,000 HIV-positive individuals and more than 15,000 children orphaned because of AIDS. Women are particularly afflicted: 20% of Brazzaville’s female population, and 15% of Pointe-Noire’s.
A common initiative for fighting AIDS is being prepared by the United Nations agencies in Congo. A recent research carried out in eight hospitals in Brazzaville, Dolisie and Ouesso, pinpointed the fact that of 207 beds occupied in infectious diseases wards, 78 were occupied by confirmed AIDS patients and 32 by tuberculous patients not yet tested for AIDS. In other words, 38%-53% of patients in these wards were AIDS patients.
Further research revealed that of 927 dead people in Pointe-Noire’s mortuaries during the period 30 June to 25 August 2001, a number were AIDS victims: 17% among the 15-24 years and 54% among the 35-44 years.
AIDS constitutes an enormous public health problem and prevents development because it’s rampant among the working population. People who are not infected by the disease, experience it’s consequences because of AIDS‘ social implications. They’re the ones who have to look after the patients. Since the epidemic was first reported in the middle of the 1980s, Congo has organised a national programme for fighting against AIDS. Backed up by NGOs with a similar programme, the government-sponsored programme is primarily directed towards informing the public about HIV, and encouraging the use of the condom. A medical, psychological and social follow-up of AIDS patients started in 1994, with the establishment of Brazzaville’s Mobile Treatment Centre. Since 1999, Pointe-Noire has also had a similar Centre. In the Centres, patients are tested for AIDS and when necessary, provided with free medical care.
A bold policy
We’re now living in the age of anti-retrovirals, and the government wants to place particular stress on the treatment of AIDS patients. On 16 November 2001, the Cabinet authorized an annual expenditure of 584 million CFA francs for the treatment of 1,000 patients. This includes a three-year strategy to once again provide an effective way of combatting AIDS in Congo.
From 2002 onwards, AIDS patients in Congo have been able to receive appropriate anti-retrovirals — at a cost of anything between 21,000 CFA francs and 56,000 CFA francs per month, as against 350,000 CFA francs to 450,000 CFA francs previously. Patients make a contribution to the treatment of 5,000 CFA francs.
In order to reduce the cost of anti-AIDS drugs, ever since the end of 1999, four UN agencies, the United Nations AIDS Programme (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank have been negotiating with the five large pharmaceutical firms which produce drugs against AIDS. The government has also decided to relax customs duty on anti-retrovirals coming into the country and duty on the drugs when re-exported to other countries, so as to profit from offers made by these firms in the current negotiations.
The government has also drawn up a project to prevent the transmission of the disease from pregnant mothers to their offspring. The project has a steering committee and a scientific committee, and enables women to profit from its various services:
The last section of the government’s strategy for fighting against AIDS, consists in setting up an initiative agreed on by countries bordering the Rivers Congo, Oubangui and Chari. The initiative is aimed at reducing the vulnerability, risk and impact linked to the incidence of sexually transmissible diseases and HIV, because of people travelling to and fro on these rivers. This initiative pertains to Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad.