Lack Of Funds Prevents HIV-Positive People In Uganda From Receiving Antiretroviral Treatment

Some health service providers in Uganda have had to turn away “HIV patients who qualify to receive free antiretroviral therapy,” because the “credit crunch” has created a lack of funds, the Observer reports. Uganda’s antiretroviral program is about 95 percent donor-funded, according to the Observer, which writes that the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and PEPFAR are the two major contributors to the program (Bogere, 7/5).

Yemen Times Examines Malaria In Yemen

The Yemen Times reports though the disease “is preventable, curable and practically nonexistent in the rest of the Middle East,” 160,000 cases were reported in Yemen last year, but officials estimate that as many as 900,000 people had malaria. Since the government does not know how many people contract malaria every year, or “exactly where they are infected,” education and communication are some of the major obstacles to malaria control in the country (Murdock/Al-Hilaly, 7/6).

IRIN Examines Shortcomings Of Global Response To Seasonal Hunger

IRIN examines how donor and government mischaracterization of seasonal hunger as an emergency situation caused by conflict or natural disaster limits the response to recurring hunger. “Anti-poverty programmes deal with chronic hunger and poverty and emergency programmes deal with short-term crises but no one is focusing on routine hunger,” Stephen Devereux, an Institute of Development Studies research fellow and author of a new book on seasonal hunger, said. The Institute of Development Studies will hold a conference on Wednesday on how to support populations facing seasonal hunger – “the first time global experts convene to discuss this theme in 30 years,” IRIN writes (7/3).

Maternal Deaths In Zimbabwe Largely Preventable

Seventy-three percent of maternal deaths in Zimbabwe can be prevented by “affordable interventions,” according to a report published by the Ministry of Health and Child in partnership with various other groups, the Standard reports. Among the highest causes of maternal death were HIV/AIDS (25.5 percent), postpartum hemorrhage (14.4), hypertension (13 percent) and puerperal sepsis or infection (7.8 percent). The Standard writes, “‘The sad thing is that interventions exist to treat complications, and deaths from them are avoidable,’ says the report. ‘None of the interventions are complex or beyond the capacity of a functional health system in Zimbabwe'” (Shoko, 7/4).

Polio Immunization Campaign Launched In Nigeria

A national polio immunization campaign attempting to reach 800,000 children ages five years and below in the northwestern Nigerian state of Sokoto kicked off over the weekend, the Daily Triumph reports. “The Director of Primary Healthcare in the state, Dr. Abdulrazaq Gandi said that over one million doses of polio vaccines were distributed to the local governments in the state,” and trained personnel “had been deployed across the state to ensure the success of the exercise,” the newspaper writes (Ado, 7/6).