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Facts:-
About 50,000 people die every day from
communicable diseases that can be cured or treated (20,000 from AIDS, 20,000
from Malaria and 10,000 from Tuberculosis (TB)). More people die of these
diseases than in any war, civic unrest or natural disaster in our history.
If Malaria can be cured for US$5, TB for US$10 and AIDS treated/managed for
US$200, how can we neglect our fellow citizens and let them suffer or die?
Millions of people in Africa, especially the young and women, remain without
treatment. They suffer and die leaving their families devastated and in
debt. Such loss of manpower cripples economies of already poor countries.
What have we done so far?
As a UK Member of the European Parliament
(1999-2004), I was the author of the European Parliament’s Report on
“Combating Communicable Diseases: HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria”. In this report,
I outlined the global strategy to fight these diseases: the financial
commitment required; the need for tiered pricing for poor countries to make
medication affordable; requirement for distinctive packaging to prevent
re-export to western countries; training of personnel to diagnose and treat
patients; investment in public education to promote prevention and funding
for development of vaccines that could be administered globally to eradicate
these diseases. I proposed a Global Fund, including contributions from
oil-rich countries, to implement these policies.
Fortunately, my Report was well received by
the European Parliament, the European Union, western countries led by the
USA, WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF and other well established charitable organisations
like the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. The UN Secretary General
initiated the Global Fund for fighting these diseases and to this day many
countries, NGOs and charitable trusts have donated money to the Fund.
What is the most effective way to combat
these diseases?
Like all diseases, HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria
require accurate diagnosis before treatment can be administered.
People affected by these diseases live in rural areas of poor countries
where clinics are not able to perform these tests. Social stigma in
disclosing AIDS or TB as well as high travelling costs prevent most people
from taking tests available in towns and cities. Consequently, the poor
rural population remains unchecked, undiagnosed and continues to suffer
and/or die from these diseases. Donors offering medical and financial help
to developing countries do so without scientific knowledge of the number and
location of those affected by each of these three diseases. Therefore, it is
not surprising that a significant part of this donation is misused by
corrupt politicians who re-export the medication to western countries or
sell in their domestic market making huge profits for themselves. They
deprive the poor of what they need and deserve
What can we do to target the sick and
protect the uninfected?
It is essential that, under the UNAIDS
programme, we establish a division called UN DIAGNOSTIC (UND) that
will be responsible for collecting diagnostic data for HIV/AIDS, TB &
Malaria to help build a database to show the number and location of those
affected in each developing country. A network of mobile diagnostic clinics,
with blood testing equipment, IT equipment and trained personnel, should be
established. Using specially equipped vans as mobile clinics, UND would go
to rural areas of affected countries to test and identify those infected,
disease carriers unaware of symptoms and the uninfected. For each country,
UND will record electronically the patient’s name, age, tribe, address and
results of medical tests.
This electronic data would be analysed by
UND/UNAIDS to yield the country’s DISEASE INFECTION MAP (DIM) showing
clearly the spread of each disease - geographically, tribally and for age
and gender. UNAIDS would use DIMs for each developing country to monitor the
global spread of these three diseases, to determine the need for treatment
and to plan a strategy to minimise risk for those uninfected. DIMs would be
essential for UNAIDS, WHO, existing and potential donors in saving billions
of dollars in wasted aid. Information collected by UND, including DIMs,
would help governments of developing countries in planning their health
service budgets. UND could be self-financing if it accepted subscribing
members wishing to receive selected data e.g. pharmaceutical industry.
The significance of this project requires a
sound sponsor like UNAIDS or the European Union (EU). As a pharmacist with
work experience in a developing country, I would be delighted to offer my
services to initiate it. |
