Nuclear Safety Plan Has Ukrainians Worried

March 27, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Pavol Stracansky

KIEV, Mar 27 (IPS) – A 300 million euro loan to improve nuclear safety in the Ukraine has been attacked by environmental groups who say it will instead be used to keep ageing reactors working well beyond their planned lifespans – increasing the risks of a nuclear accident – while doing nothing to address serious issues with the country’s energy intensity.The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which approved the loan earlier this month, has said that the money will be used to upgrade safety at nuclear plants to international standards.

But environmentalists say it will instead be used by state energy company Energoatom to keep open or restart ageing reactors and that the EBRD should be helping the Ukraine move away from nuclear power and support renewable energy projects.

Iryna Holovko of the pan-European Bankwatch NGO, which together with other environmental groups has opposed the loan, told IPS: “Energoatom and the Ukrainian government is imposing another 20 years of additional nuclear risk – because of the increased risks associated with ageing of reactors – on the people of Ukraine without developing or offering an alternative option.”

Nuclear power is key to Ukraine’s energy production. Fifteen plants around the country provide almost half of its electricity.

But while many countries in Europe have recently reaffirmed their opposition to nuclear power or abandoned or scaled back their reliance on it in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Ukraine’s energy policy has been amended in the last two years to include new nuclear capacity and the extension of the lifespans of existing plants by, in some cases, 20 years.

Environmental groups in the Ukraine point to an accident at the Rivne nuclear power plant’s Reactor 1. Its original lifespan had expired at the end of 2010 but it was given an extension for 20 years. One month later there was an accident, although no radiation leaked.

The funding provided by the EBRD, together with a further European Commission loan under the Euratom Treaty, will support a programme including more than 80 measures addressing safety issues at plants, such as replacing equipment and improving accident management.

Environmental groups claim that Energoatom has not properly analysed the risks and safety issues related to the safe operation of nuclear units for decades beyond their original lifespans.

In particular, they argue, a reactor at the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant will be restarted again using the financing approved by the EBRD. The reactor’s lifespan has expired and it is no longer generating electricity. But Energoatom has been told its lifespan can be extended and the reactor restarted if it carries out safety upgrades.

Holovko told IPS: “It is one thing to improve the safety of nuclear reactors that still have some years of their original operating time left, but it is not OK to finance measures at facilities whose lifespans have expired and which have already stopped working and at the same time saying the loan has nothing to do with lifespan extension.”

Greenpeace and other groups such as the German NGO Urgewald have said that the EBRD, as one of the largest investors in the Ukraine and other European countries, should be spending money on decommissioning old nuclear reactors and supporting renewable energy instead.

Jutta Matysek of Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe said: “European public money should be used to support renewable energy to help Ukraine overcome its dependence on nuclear energy and imported carbon fuel. A country which is still suffering from the terrible effects of the Chernobyl disaster will not survive another nuclear catastrophe.”

The EBRD has vigorously defended the financing. The bank says its energy policy is geared towards improving energy efficiency, but that it has a clear mandate to financing nuclear safety improvements at an operating facility.

In a statement following approval of the loan, the bank said: “Nuclear safety is a consideration of the utmost priority at any time regardless of whether a unit has just been connected to the grid or has been producing electricity for decades.”

Stressing that the bank has no mandate to force a sovereign state to rule out the use of any source of energy, it added: “Ukraine is currently reviewing its own energy strategy but has made it clear that it will continue to use nuclear power generation. Consequently, addressing the safety issues and raising standards is the EBRD’s primary concern and its due role.”

It also emphasised that Energoatom’s safety upgrade plan had taken into account recommendations from the International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukrainian and international experts.

EBRD representatives in the Ukraine who spoke to IPS stressed that the bank has invested more than 200 million euros in renewable energy projects in Ukraine to date. It has also lent tens of millions of euros to local municipalities for energy efficiency projects.

EBRD Ukraine representative Anton Usov told IPS: “The EBRD should get more recognition for its efforts to make Ukraine more energy efficient and for the renewable energy projects we have implemented in this country – something which no other institution has done.”

Environmental groups say sensitivity to nuclear safety remains particularly high because of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

A nationwide poll carried out in April 2011 showed that 39 percent of respondents believed Ukrainian plants were “quite dangerous” and that 25 percent said they were “extremely dangerous”. More than 69 percent said they were completely opposed to the construction of new nuclear power plants.

But Usov said that there was no widespread opposition to extending the lifespans of ageing reactors, and that the public accepted that nuclear power was essential to meeting the country’s energy needs.

He told IPS: “People in Ukraine are generally sensitive to nuclear industry-related subjects for obvious reasons….There is a broad understanding in society that the country cannot survive without nuclear power plants, at least in the short-term.”

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This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Energy, Environment, Europe, Health, Report Tagged With: , ,

Obesity and Hypertension – Signs of Inequality in Chile

March 27, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Chile-small1

Promoting friendship and outdoor games for children is part of Elige Vivir Sano’s programme to combat obesity. Credit: Elige Vivir Sano

Marianela Jarroud

SANTIAGO, Mar 27 (IPS) – The prevalence of obesity and hypertension among the poor in Chile is a factor that aggravates inequality, requiring public policies for prevention and mitigation of the high cost of a healthy diet.The most recent national health survey, carried out in 2012, found that 8.9 million people in Chile are overweight or obese, equivalent to 67 percent of the population.

The figures indicate that there are 2.1 million more obese people now than in 2003, when the previous survey was done. Morbid or extreme obesity has increased by more than 100 percent and now affects 300,000 people.

Broken down by socioeconomic level, 35.5 percent of the poorest, least educated segment of the population is overweight, compared to 24.7 percent of the middle-income segment and 18.5 percent of the highest.

Chile’s statistics are in line with the results of a 2012 study by the World Health Organization (WHO), which found that the prevalence of obesity worldwide nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008.

Latin America leads that increase. Mexico has one of the highest obesity rates in the world. And in South America, Chile has the third highest obesity rate, after Argentina and Venezuela. It is also the country with the highest proportion of men with hypertension or high blood pressure in South America.

Juan Carlos Prieto, a cardiologist at the Clinical Hospital of the University of Chile, said the figures are not new and reflect complex aspects of social inequality.

"Chile also has record carbohydrate consumption, especially of refined flours, like bread," he told IPS.

"If you make a quick survey, especially among low-income people, you find the staple food is bread: a person can eat up to six to eight servings a day, which means consuming the same number of grams of salt a day," he said.

In his view, that is the nub of the problem. "A salty diet, plus obesity derived from over-consuming carbohydrates with the calories they imply, explains the environmental factor of the level of hypertension in Chile," he said.

Prieto, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Chile School of Medicine, said the prevalence of hypertension and obesity is higher among people with low incomes, "and there is quite a significant difference" between this group and other sectors of the population.

The problem, he said, is that the prices of fruit and vegetables, essential elements of a healthy diet, have soared in Chile in the past 10 years.

For instance, a kilo of apples used to cost 20 cents of a dollar in street markets, and now costs 1.50 dollars. In supermarkets, the price is even higher.

As a result, Chileans are eating on average 86 kilos of bread a year, an amount that is worrying the experts.

"People on low incomes resort to the cheapest foods, like pasta or bread, which fill them up quickly and do not cost very much," Prieto said.

This, together with sedentary habits and high levels of stress in society, led the government of President Sebastián Piñera to implement the Elige Vivir Sano (Choose Healthy Living) programme, aimed at changing dietary habits and fomenting the practice of sports among Chileans.

When Piñera took office in March 2010, "over 88 percent of the population did less than 20 minutes exercise three times a week," the director of the government initiative, Pauline Kantor, told IPS.

She added that this is a social problem, as it affects mainly the most disadvantaged sectors.

"Chile is a sick country, and if we do not take care now, in another 10 years we will be in deep trouble when it comes to heart disease and diabetes, and we will have health costs that will be difficult to sustain," she said.

Elige Vivir Sano, headed by Piñera’s wife, Cecilia Morel, is one of a number of public policies being taken forward jointly by several organisations.

For example, the Education Ministry decided to increase the time allotted to physical education in schools, from two to four hours a week, while the Health Ministry extended the traditional children’s programme of health control to teenagers, so that overweight adolescents are referred to nutritionists for treatment.

Another novelty is the installation of exercise equipment in public squares, now called "active plazas." These have been set up in 172 out of the 346 municipalities in the country.

"We are not asking people to join a programme at a gym, but only to learn some exercise routines so they can work out at home or in nearby squares," Kantor said. The campaign includes radio and television advertising that invites homemakers to exercise using one-kilo packages of rice or beans as weights, to get people to adopt a home exercise routine.

Kantor said that while it would take 10 years to see real change, some progress has already been made. "The last survey of physical activity and sports found that 500,000 Chileans are no longer sedentary, an important achievement," she said.

Also, "40 percent of the people who contacted Elige Vivir Sano said they had changed at least one habit," she said.

Now the goal is to turn the programme into law. The draft bill, which will be presented to Congress soon, includes the creation of an executive secretariat, under the Ministry of Social Development, that will coordinate programmes from different ministries. The aim of the bill is "to give the changing of habits the priority that Chile needs," said Kantor.

In the view of Prieto, the cardiologist, the initiative is "interesting," but the main thing is to create concrete possibilities for bringing about change.

"When it comes to diet, I repeat, people are urged to eat five fruits a day, but you have to look at the cost of that compared to a plate of pasta, for a family living on the minimum wage," which in Chile is only 400 dollars a month.

"It has to be evaluated whether this depends only on individuals, or whether the state has to take action to make this happen, for instance by increasing access by the lowest-income sectors,” he said.

Promoting friendship and outdoor games for children is part of Elige Vivir Sano’s programme to combat obesity. Credit: Elige Vivir Sano

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This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Featured, Health, Inequality, Latin America, Poverty Tagged With:

Spain Leads the EU in GM Crops, but No One Knows Where They Are

March 27, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

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Genetically modified corn in Spain. Credit: Friends of the Earth

Inés Benítez

MÁLAGA, Spain, Mar 27 (IPS) – Spain has more large-scale plantations of genetically modified seeds than any other country in the European Union (EU).Based on the number of trials conducted and the area of land planted, Spain accounts for 42 percent of all field trials of genetically modified crops in the EU, according to figures from the European Commission Joint Research Centre.

“Experimentation is being carried out on a wide scale with no knowledge of its consequences for human health, the environment and the future of agriculture,” environmentalist Liliane Spendeler, director of Friends of the Earth Spain, told Tierramérica*.

Her organisation has launched a campaign, “Únicos en Europa”, to inform the public about these crops.

Genetically modified organisms or GMOs, also known as transgenic organisms, are the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species of plant or animal and inserting them into another species in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic, such as resistance to pests or adverse weather conditions like drought.

There is no conclusive evidence that GMOs are harmless to human health and the environment, which has led the World Health Organization to recommend that they be studied on a case-by-case basis.

In 2012, more than 116,300 hectares of land in Spain were planted with MON810 corn, produced by the U.S.-based biotech transnational Monsanto. This was 20 percent more than in 2011, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment calculated on the basis of seed sales.

Environmentalists are critical of the fact that these figures are imprecise estimates, and that there is no public registry specifying the location of these transgenic corn fields.

When certified organic crops are contaminated by genetically modified crops, the farmers lose their organic certification, but cannot sue the owners of the transgenic crops because of the lack of a registry. They cannot demand compensation for losses and damages, either, because there is no provision for this in Spanish or European legislation, explained Spendeler.

In Spain, as in the rest of the EU, only transgenic corn is authorised. Genetically modified soy and cotton are imported from Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

“Transgenic crops produced in developing countries are filling the bellies of cows and pigs in industrialised countries,” Luís Ferreirim, the head of Greenpeace Spain’s anti-GMO campaign, told Tierramérica.

According to a report from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), published Feb. 20, “From 1996 to 2011, biotech crops contributed to food security, sustainability and climate change” (sic).

A record 170.3 million hectares of transgenic crops were grown globally in 2012, up six percent from 2011, the ISAAA reports. The United States is the biggest producer, followed by Brazil.

But despite the benefits touted by their promoters, such as increased productivity and efficiency and decreased pesticide use, genetically modified seeds have been banned by a significant number of European countries, noted Ferreirim.

In Europe there are 11 countries that prohibit the use of genetically modified seeds, eight of them in the EU, following the addition of Poland in 2013. And in 2012, only Portugal, Spain, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic planted transgenic crops, he added.

A whopping 95 percent of these crops in the EU are concentrated in Spain (88 percent) and Portugal (seven percent).

The bulk of this transgenic corn is used to produce animal feed. “Given that the food pyramid has been turned upside down and there is an ever greater demand for animal protein, it ends up right on our plates,” said Ferreirim.

European legislation requires that food products be labelled if they contain GMOs, unless these account for 0.9 percent or less of the total ingredients.

The animal feed sold in Spain is a mixture of transgenic and conventional corn, which represents a serious violation of cattle farmers’ right to choose non-GMO feed for their livestock, said Spendeler.

Environmental activist Carmela San Segundo, a member of Ecologists in Action in the southern Spanish city of Málaga, stressed the “great power” wielded by the agrochemical corporations that sell genetically modified seeds.

Through the efforts of the non-governmental organisation she works with, a dozen towns in the province of Málaga have declared themselves Transgenic-Free Zones, a legal status recognised by the EU.

“It takes a lot of work, talking with community associations, farmers’ associations, members of local governments. It’s not a problem that people worry about much, because they know very little about it,” she told Tierramérica.

In Spain, the planting of transgenic corn began in 1998 as a means of confronting the economic consequences of insect invasions, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

But today there are no figures on the real incidence of the European corn borer, the crop’s main insect enemy.

“Can the use of this technology be justified without concrete figures on the losses caused by pests?” asked Ferreirim.

He explained that Monsanto’s genetically modified Bt corn does away with the need to use pesticides because its flowers produce a bacterium that is toxic to these insects.

But even though there is not always a threat of insect infestation, the corn constantly releases this gene, and after harvesting, it remains in the soil, decreasing its fertility, Ferreirim said.

“It has been shown in transgenic crops in various countries that over the long term, secondary pests appear, leading to the need to use other pesticides,” he added.

In addition, GMO field trials are not subjected to any safety controls in Spain, Ferreirem stressed.

According to a survey published in 2010 by the EU, 53 percent of Spaniards were against the splicing of genes from other species into food crops, while only 27 percent were in favour.

* This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment, Europe, Health, Report Tagged With: ,

Q&A: Venerable Sierra Club Gets Radical on Tar Sands

February 17, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

brune

Michael Brune. Courtesy of Sierra Club.

George Gao

NEW YORK, Feb 15 (IPS) – The term “civil disobedience” takes its roots from an 1849 essay by U.S. poet, philosopher and environmentalist, Henry David Thoreau, originally entitled “Resistance to Civil Government”.Civil disobedience is often used as a non-violent tool of protest against widespread injustices, such as in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

On the morning of Feb. 13, prominent activists gathered in front of the White House in Washington, DC, and participated in an act of civil disobedience, to protest the idea behind the Keystone XL Pipeline.

This pipeline would run from Alberta, Canada all the way across the United States, to its coastline in the Gulf of Mexico. It would carry about a million barrels of crude oil each day, and according to protestors and scientists, contribute dangerously to climate change.[pullquote]3[/pullquote]

The protestors – who include NASA climate scientist James Hansen, poet Bob Haas and lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., among others – were arrested after blocking a main thoroughfare in front of the White House and refusing to move.

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, was among the participants in this event. It was his organisation’s first act of civil disobedience in its 120-year old history, and the first time its executive director was arrested.

Brune spoke with IPS correspondent George Gao about his experience at the protest, as well as the environmental significance of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: Can you describe what unfolded on the morning of Feb. 13 outside of the White House?

A: We organised about 50 community leaders from across the country who have been resisting various aspects of both the tar sands and other destructive projects in civil disobedience outside of the White House.

The point of this was to call on President (Barack) Obama to make sure that he’s doing everything within his power to turn away from extreme energy sources, and to embrace clean energy as much as he can.

Q: What specifically makes the tar sands’ oil deposits in Alberta, Canada – and the Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport these deposits – unique and deserved of such attention, as compared to other pipelines?

A: The tar sands is the most carbon intensive fuel source on the planet. It’s hard to access and takes a lot of energy to extract this thick gooey oil out of the ground. So we are deeply concerned that by expanding production of the tar sands, it will make it almost impossible to stop runaway climate change.

We have been advocating that instead of building a massive pipeline that would take almost a million barrels of oil per day, from Canada down into the U.S., that we should investing that same money, seven billion dollars worth, in clean energy instead – solar, and wind and energy efficiency and advanced energy technologies.

So we were fighting this both because the pipeline itself was highly destructive, but also because it’s a symbol of the kind of investments that we need to turn away from as a society.

Q: Proponents of the pipeline argue that this will create easy jobs for a slumping economy – ready jobs that the U.S. know how to allocate. Is this a misperception?

A: We have to be honest in this debate: there are jobs in installing a pipeline, and for many people those are important jobs. Any energy investments create jobs. If you create a coal plant, that will put people to work, if you create a pipeline, that will put other people to work.

But if we’re going to be honest about that, we should also be honest about the big picture, which is that we can produce more jobs – we have produced more jobs in clean energy than with dirty fuels.

There are at least three times more jobs that come from solar and wind than for an equivalent amount of gas or coal or oil. So if we care about climate change, of course you want to move to clean energy. If you care about the economy and producing jobs, you should probably move to clean energy as well.

The folks who are the most defensive and resistant towards a clean energy transition are the ones who are profiting from our dependence on fossil fuels.

Q: Does the pipeline run through any environmentally sensitive areas or protected lands in the United States?

A: It runs through Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska, which is one of the most important drinking water supplies in the country. It also runs through people’s farms and ranches, many of whom have been farming and ranching in those areas for generations.

I was next to a couple of ranchers yesterday from Nebraska. They don’t want any part of a dirty oil pipeline running through their farm. They don’t feel as though companies like TransCanada and others have any right to take their property, risk their water supply – all for a substance that will pollute our air and pollute our atmosphere.

Q: What executive powers does U.S. President Barack Obama wield over this situation?

A: An enormous amount. The president can reject this pipeline outright. The State Department is currently reviewing the proposal, will issue a recommendation – or what’s known as a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement – and then it is the president’s decision about whether the pipeline should be built or not.

One person gets to decide. That’s why we were out in front of the White House.

Q: Do you see this decision as a significant moment that sets the tone for future climate change policies in the U.S.?

A: Absolutely. We’re having the largest rally in U.S. history on climate change in the National Mall this Sunday, and it’s coming at a time where there are several important decisions that the president will make: about mountain top removal, about fracking across the country, about drilling in the arctic, whether or not to build a deadly and destructive pipeline.

What we’re seeing is a resurgence of committed, passionate Americans who are willing to advocate and fight for clean energy, and it’s really inspiring to be a part of.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Americas, Energy, Environment, Health, Interview, Politics Tagged With: ,

Tsunami’ of Diseases Waiting to Hit

February 6, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Isolda Agazzi

GENEVA, Feb 05 (IPS) – A tsunami is looming on the horizon and the world is unprepared for it. This one won’t be a massive wall of water but a tidal wave of disease – and experts say the international community needs to act fast to keep it from crashing.“Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, among others – have become the leading cause of death worldwide,” Jeffrey Sturchio, senior partner at the U.S.-based consulting firm Rabin Martin, told a conference organised by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) on World Cancer Day in Geneva.

“Some 36 million people die from (NCDs) every year, 80 percent of them in low and middle income countries – a figure that will increase by 17 percent in the coming years and by 25 percent in Africa,” he added.

Tuberculosis and malaria, in comparison, kill one to two million people around the world every year.

“The disease burden is shifting to NCDs, but since developing countries still have to fight infectious diseases, they face a double burden,” Sturchio warned.

However, developing countries do not appear to be paying adequate attention to the impending crisis.

“In 2010 HIV/AIDS was responsible for 3.5 percent of deaths worldwide, malaria for 1.5 percent, cancer for 12.6 percent and heart diseases for 14 percent,” Cary Adams, chief executive officer of the Union for International Cancer Control, told IPS on the sidelines of the conference on Feb. 4.

These statistics alone should be sufficient for governments to put NCDs high on their list of national priorities. “But in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS caused 13.3 percent of deaths, malaria 6.7 percent and cancer 4.5 percent”, he said, which explains why African health ministers keep putting cancer on the back burner.

“But the (reality) is, the problem will double in the next 15 years. There is a tsunami of NCDs approaching and we need to tackle it today,” Adams stressed.

To tackle this “tsunami”, four health federations – the International Diabetes Federation, the Union for International Cancer Control, the World Heart Federation and the Union against Lung Disease and Tuberculosis – came together to form the Non-communicable Diseases Alliance. With a network of over 2,000 non-governmental organisations based in over 170 countries, it seeks to amplify the voice of civil society in the global debate on NCDs.

The Alliance was also instrumental in pushing the United Nations General Assembly to organise, in September 2011, a high-level meeting that officially declared NCDs a “challenge of epidemic proportions”, which, if it is to be addressed, requires the cooperation of governments, civil society and the private sector.

“This is not an easy thing to do,” Adams, who chairs the NCD Alliance, conceded to IPS. “We have tried to work on a common agenda and find consensus, but some NGOs would not talk to us because we engage with the private sector. We try to embrace the private sector without compromising on integrity and independence and everything we do is based on science.”

Still, the mobilisation has borne some fruits. Five years ago, non-communicable diseases were barely on the agenda. The U.N.’s political declaration and a series of follow-up activities built tremendous momentum, resulting in a plan of action that stretches to 2025, with clear targets such as reducing NCD-related deaths by 25 percent in that time frame.

But financial resources are stretched thin, and it is unlikely that the funds needed to launch a massive global campaign will be readily available.

“The reality is that in the last 20 years, tens of billions of dollars in official development assistance have gone to developing countries, mainly (to fight) HIV/AIDS, and it is unrealistic to think that the same will happen again,” Sturchio admitted.

It will therefore be necessary to capitalise on existing investments and reallocate some of the resources already in circulation, he said.

“Hundreds of HIV clinics were created across sub-Saharan Africa that can also be used for NCDs. When patients come to these clinics, they can also be tested for other infections or provided with vaccines,” he suggested.

For Margaret Kruk, a professor at Columbia University’s school of public health, primary care must be reconceptualised to tackle NCDs in low and middle-income countries.

“In theory, many NCD services can be provided in primary care, like primary prevention of hepatitis B, immunisation, smoking cessation, cholesterol and glucose testing, mammography and opportunistic screening for depression,” she said.

“But primary care in (developing) countries is not able to meet NCD challenges. The patient is not seen in a holistic way.”

She added that the challenge is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa, where, for the last half a century, national health plans have been oriented towards the “traditional killers” like infectious diseases, and have also focused heavily on maternal and child health.

This is partly due to the fact that the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) laid out by the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 placed a great deal of emphasis on these “preventable causes of death”.

But as the 2015 deadline for achieving these targets draws closer, priorities will have to be re-examined.

Adams believes that one of the Alliance’s most important tasks over the next two years will be to make non-communicable diseases central in the post-2015 international development process.

Indeed, relatively simple public policy measures can go a long way in reducing NCDs – such as pushing people to consume less sugar and salt, eat less fatty foods, give up smoking and exercise more.

Already developing countries are becoming conscious that they don’t need additional funding for those measures. But when it comes to drugs, costs are much higher in developing countries than in the United States, for example.

From the manufacturer to the wholesale distributor, to the intermediaries and the clinics, monopolies, taxes, regulations and administrative hurdles push the price of medicines up to prohibitive rates in the global South.

The Southern African Development Community and the East African Community have undertaken initiatives to harmonise regulations at the regional level, but for Sturchio these are not enough: “Countries must be able to make sovereign decisions on the medicines they use, but today a lot of duplications make the supply chain inefficient.”

He does not believe intellectual property issues constitute an obstacle to stemming the wave of NCDs.

“Most of the medicines needed to treat NCDs are off patent,” he told IPS. "The challenge is to find ways to bring them to the people. Hundreds of medicines (to treat cancer) are very inexpensive and yet unavailable.”

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Featured, Health Tagged With: , ,

Northern Mali Faces Food and Currency Shortages

February 5, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

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Communities in northern Mali are in need of humanitarian intervention. Pictured here are civilians in Niono, northern Mali. Credit: Marc-André Boisvert/IPS

Emmanuel Haddad

NIAMEY, Feb 05 (IPS) – Communities in northern Mali are in need of humanitarian intervention following the recent military intervention in Gao and Timbuktu, leading non-governmental organisations to call for deliveries of food aid, fuel and even currency notes.“Since last year, Malians have had to face a triple crisis: firstly, drought and poor harvests; then a political crisis and finally open conflict when radical Islamist groups took control of the north,” said Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commissioner responsible for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response during her visit to the capital Bamako, Jan. 22.

The European Commission has announced that it will release emergency aid worth 20 million euros for the West African country.

The funds are highly needed, as residents of Gao and Timbuktu, the two largest cities of the north, are struggling to keep food on the table as supplies dry up.

“As French and Malian forces advanced on the Islamist militia…many of the key suppliers of food and fuel fled the area, especially in Gao,” international NGO Oxfam International said on Monday.

“There have been no food supplies in Gao for the past two weeks,” according to Lucile Grosjean, the spokesperson for the international humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF).

Since April 2012, northern Mali has been taunted by a coalition of armed groups composed of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and Ansar Dine, an Islamist group among Mali’s Tuareg population that live across the country’s southeast.

“Because of the occupation by the Jihadist groups, farmers have not had the support they normally receive from the Ministry of Agriculture to improve rice production on plantations on the banks of the Niger River,” Grosjean expained. “So the harvest has been much lower than in previous years.”

In addition, “many of the livestock markets are closed as movement between Algeria and Niger is difficult and the prices are not good.”

A spree of animal thefts has locals fearing for their livestock, according to Grosjean, while looting adds to the insecurity that still characterises the overall situation in Gao and the surrounding countryside, which suffered the brunt of the occupation by the MUJAO forces.

Since the Islamist groups took flight as a result of French air raids, Arab-owned stores were looted, leading Arab and Tuareg shop owners to close their doors and hide their stock till the situation improves, further adding to already limited food supplies.

“Goods have gone up 30 percent in general and 66 percent for fuel,” Grosjean said, adding that even if the supplies were there, there is simply no money left in Gao.

“After the closure of banks, traders went to Bamako to get cash to bring to the north, but since the start of the bombing, there has been nothing.”

The need for a political solution

In Timbuktu, the humanitarian situation is less alarming, but there is a great fear of reprisals. There, too, Arab- and Tuareg-owned businesses were looted on Jan. 29, following the arrival of French and Malian forces.

France has called for the rapid deployment of international observers to prevent inter-ethnic tensions from throwing northern Mali into chaos.

Meanwhile, the most urgent priority is to restore access to healthcare in northern Mali.

“We are waiting a day or two before we open the Gao health centre, as we are expecting a huge inflow of patients,” Grosjean said.

Aid to Mali, particularly from the European Union (EU), was suspended in March last year, when the Malian army ousted the democratically elected civilian government.

Following the onset of France’s so-far-successful offensive against the rebels, International governments, including the EU have pledged over 450 million dollars for Mali, as well as human resources to support the training of the country’s army.

Political leaders and international organizations are expected to meet in Brussels on Tuesday, Feb. 5 to discuss a political process that would lead to democratic elections and ways to strengthen development and human rights in Mali once political order has been restored, according to Reuters on Monday.

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This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Africa, Economy, Featured, Health Tagged With:

Salvaging Waste Food for the Hungry in Spain

December 21, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Inés Benítez

MÁLAGA, Spain, Dic 21 (IPS) – A recurring question in crisis-stricken Spain is how to ensure that surplus agricultural products reach those most in need. One response is citizen initiatives to protest the waste of food and to advocate efficient management along the full length of the food chain."We want government agencies and private companies to take measures," said Luis Tamayo, one of the promoters of "Comida Basura: Tu basura es mi tesoro" (Waste Food: Your Trash, My Treasure), a citizen’s platform combating food waste, created in Madrid in 2010. It promotes activities like collecting food in good condition that has been thrown out by supermarkets, asking for leftovers at restaurants and organizing soup kitchens.

Tamayo said "the laws on surplus food have been designed with an economic approach," and producers and shopping centres are required to throw out tons of food still fit for consumption.

But those responsible for most of the waste in industrialised countries are consumers, who throw out perfectly good food on their plates or get rid of food that has gone bad in their larders through sheer neglect or for lack of a little basic planning before shopping.

A European Parliament (EP) report in late 2011 said that Spain wasted 7.7 million tons of food in good condition every year, an average of 163 kgs per person.

This squandering is at odds with the fact that over 21 percent of Spain’s 47 million people are living in poverty, according to the Economically Active Population Survey by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The same EP report indicates that 42 percent of the 89 million tons of food wasted in the European Union comes from households, 39 percent from industry, five percent from the distribution system and 14 percent from other sources.

A special event was held on Oct. 21 in the northern city of Zaragoza, when around 1000 people got together for a lunch prepared from leftover food in good condition.

It was organised "Feeding Zaragoza", promoted by the Aragonese Alliance Against Poverty and modelled on actions like "Le Banquet des 5,000," held in Paris, and "Feeding the 5,000" in London.

As a result of the "impressive" popular response to "Feeding Zaragoza," a campaign was launched to protest food waste and raise awareness, activist Sonia Méndez, who helped promote the event, inspired by Tristram Stuart, the author of "Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal", told IPS.

A study in May 2011 commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and carried out by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK) warned that 1.3 billion tons a year of food are spoiled or go to waste worldwide.

"How can we waste one-third of the food we produce when so many people are hungry?" protested Méndez, who said "we are living in a food bubble."

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said one-third of the food produced globally is thrown away, a quantity that could feed 500 million people.

People scavenging for food in the trash bins outside supermarkets are now a common sight in Spain, where more than five million people are unemployed.

Solving the problem of leftovers is "difficult" because making use of them "requires infrastructure and management," and the laws "guiding and controlling the market make donating food difficult," Javier Peña, head of Bancosol Alimentos, a food bank in the southern city of Málaga, told IPS.

"Our basic task is to find surpluses, make use of the most suitable items that would otherwise be discarded and act as intermediaries to distribute everything from fresh produce to processed and frozen foods," said Peña, who has run the organisation for 15 years along with around 100 people, mostly volunteers.

There are 52 food banks in Spain, associated in the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (FESBAL). They are not-for-profit bodies run by volunteers who deliver food donated by firms and agencies to social assistance organisations for redistribution to the needy, in order to avoid waste.

Millions of tons of food fit for human consumption are wasted due to over-production, but also as a result of defective packaging, imperfections in shape or size, or short “sell-by” dates.

"For the last year-and-a-half an organisation has been coming to collect what we have not sold. We used to throw it out," an attendant at a large commercial centre in Málaga told IPS as he removed several tomatoes from display "because they don’t look good.”

The EP report recommends modifying the "sell by" dating system that forces large quantities of food to be discarded, diversifying packaging sizes and introducing a food course in school curricula.

"One of the biggest problems is the squandering of food in homes," said Peña. "Half of what is bought goes into the bin because people don´t check sell-by dates."

Last year Bancosol Alimentos distributed 5,000 tons of surplus food from wholesale markets, supermarkets and donations from corporations and individuals, to 230 social organisations.

"Many people are hungry and poor," Roberto Suárez, the head of the Málaga Association of Ecuadorean Immigrants (ASIMEC), told IPS. Once a month, he and several fellow Ecuadoreans go to Bancosol to collect food and then distribute it to over 100 families of different nationalities.

On this occasion, Choro Sonko from Senegal, who works occasionally as a dancer, has joined them on the errand. She is an activist in Sunugal, an association through which she wants to distribute food to her fellow-Senegalese, "who are having a very rough time and feel ashamed for having to ask for food," she said.

Food banks are currently overwhelmed by requests. "They are essential," said Tamayo, who added that it is also necessary to raise awareness about efficient management of surplus food.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Agriculture, Economic Crisis, Economy, Europe, Health, Lead, Poverty Tagged With: , , , , ,

There’s Life in the AIDS Ribbon

December 3, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Sanjay Suri

HYDERABAD, India, Dic 01 (IPS) – Thirty-year old Swapna Raj of Hyderabad is a woman in a hurry: in time for the International AIDS day Swapna, a HIV positive person on anti-retroviral therapy (ART), has received a contract from the state government to deliver 5,000 red ribbons.She bends over the bundles of red silk ribbon spread on a reed mat, swiftly cutting and stitching dozens of upside-down, teardrop-shaped loops, each of them two inches long. On AIDS day these shiny ribbons are being worn by thousands of government staff and social activists in a symbolic show of their fight against the deadly HIV/AIDS.

For Swapna, who has been living with HIV for past 11 years, these ribbons are more than a symbol; sold at a rupee (two cents) a piece, they are also an important source of sustenance.

“AIDS control in India is still largely limited to providing free counseling and ART,” says Swapna, founder and former president of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in the southern Indian city Hyderabad – a network of HIV positive men and women with 2,00,000 members.

“But most of the HIV infected or affected people in the state (of Andhra Pradesh), especially women, are ostracised by society, thrown out of their homes and have no way to support themselves financially. So, besides counseling and medication, what they also need is a way to earn a living.”

Swapna’s belief arises from her own decade-long personal struggle to survive as a HIV positive person. At the age of 20, she was infected by her husband. Following her husband’s death two years later, Swapna was on her own, fending for herself and her toddler son. A counseling job in an NGO gave her the chance to interact with thousands of HIV positive people across the state, and she gained deep insight into challenges and possible solutions.

The main challenge, she said, was that every woman feared her health would deteriorate to a point when she could not travel out of her home to take up a job.

In 2007, Swapna formed the PLHIV network in Hyderabad and started to train HIV positive women in making candles and Christmas trees, beads and paper lanterns, in embroidery, making flower bouquets and garlands and above all, stitching clothes, banners and ribbons.

“So far, more than 500 women have been trained in Hyderabad alone. Each of them is a member of a self-help group. The group gave each woman a micro-loan of 2,000 to 3,000 rupees to start a business. Some of them are now earning as much as 10,000 rupees a month.”

Nillamma Marakka, a 47-year-old HIV positive woman was a commercial sex worker who migrated from the coastal district West Godavari to Hyderabad in 1999. Three years back her failing health forced her out of sex work, pushing her close to starvation.

In 2011, Nilamma joined the PHLIV network and received training in tailoring for three months. Today, she has a comfortable life stitching ribbons of different colours, each symbolising a fight of a certain kind – red (AIDS), purple (domestic violence) pink (breast cancer), orange (leukemia) and white (peace).

Nilamma says demand for red ribbons is the highest. Government departments, NGOs, political parties and churches buy thousands of red ribbons around AIDS day, which is observed with growing enthusiasm in the state. According to the National Aids Control Mission, Andhra Pradesh has a quarter of India’s 2.4 million HIV positive patients.

“For every thousand ribbons, I spend about 250 rupees (five dollars) on buying silk ribbon, thread and safety pins. So, I can save at least 3,000 rupees (60 dollars) out of every order of 5,000 ribbons. Since these are bought directly by the customers, there is no need to pay a middleman. These are indeed ribbons of life.”

K. P. Rangacharylu, a livelihood expert working on several state government HIV/AIDS projects says the recently concluded health programme ‘Bal Shyayoga’ found that most HIV positive women in the state were incapable of laborious jobs.

“The programme ran from 2007 to 2012, during which we found that 42 percent of the HIV affected families in the state were headed by women. Of them, nearly half were above 50, unable to work for hours together or travel outside their homes.

“The best way to support them was to build ‘soft skills’ like making candles, stitching blouses and banners and making ribbons. As an initial investment, each woman was given 8,000 rupees (160 dollars) by the government.” The programme, he says trained 56,000 people.

Encouraged by the success of Bal Sahyoga and NHPLIV, positive women networks in other states of India have started to promote ribbon making as an alternative livelihood. Muthu Kani, a 29-year-old HIV positive woman in Chennai says that making ribbons has not only helped her earn a living, but also overcome to recurring suicidal thoughts.

“In 2006 when I first learned that I was HIV positive I wanted to kill myself. I felt very helpless and didn’t how to take care of myself or my two children – one of whom was also HIV positive. Four years ago I met some people from the Positive Women Network who trained me in basic accounting, screen printing, embroidery, and red ribbon making.

“Of all these, I find screen printing and ribbon making the least physically exhausting. I get orders all through the year and can earn about 6,000-8000 rupees each month. I feel confident of my own abilities now. I have HIV, but I can still live like a normal person,” she says with a smile.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Health, Report Tagged With: ,

Nepal Unprepared for Imminent Earthquakes

November 24, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Naresh Newar

KATHMANDU, Nov 23 (IPS) – Nepal now ranks 11th on a list of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, yet it remains one of the least disaster-prepared nations globally.Two major earthquakes in the last two years, one on Sep. 18, 2011 and the other on Oct. 5 of this year, have failed to spur the government into action.

Seismologists have warned that another big earthquake is imminent and disaster experts claim that the population of 30 million will grow more vulnerable on a daily basis unless authorities “wake up” to the dangers posed by such catastrophes.

“In our current situation, the consequences of (a) disaster will be out of control and unmanageable. We have to move fast,” Ganesh Kumar Jimee, disaster preparedness manager of the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), told IPS.

Experts are particularly concerned about the 1.5 million residents of Kathmandu city, an earthquake epicenter in which most school buildings, hospitals and government offices are not earthquake resistant.

Over 90 percent of residential buildings, designed by ordinary masons with no input from professional engineers, are considered unsafe.

School buildings suffer from the same problem with an estimated 60 percent of the city’s public schools “bound to collapse”, according to the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC).

The World Health Organisation says that hospitals, too, are highly vulnerable.

According to NSET, over 60 percent of hospitals are at risk of damage in the event of an earthquake measuring anything more than 7.0 on the Richter scale. Most of the country’s 70 blood banks are not earthquake-proof.

In addition, dozens of bridges will also be impacted, thus cutting off crucial supply routes in case of an emergency.

Organisations like NSET and the Nepal Red Cross Society (NCRS) claim that 90 percent of the city’s water pipes will be damaged and 40 percent of electricity lines and electric substations will be destroyed.

Furthermore, Nepal’s many radio stations, which play a vital role in communicating disaster-related bulletins, are unlikely to withstand the impact of an earthquake.

According to IRIN news, these 350 radio stations, 36 of which are located in Kathmandu, are crucial sources of information for the country’s population, 44 percent of which is illiterate and relies on non-print media.

Disregarding all the available data on the urgency of the situation, the government has yet to take serious action on earthquake preparedness.

A lackadaisical attitude towards legislation on preparedness is a major obstacle. A Disaster Management Act has been pending for many years due to political instability in the country.

The Act would help establish a comprehensive Disaster Management Authority that will comprise a professional team of disaster experts, rescue teams, financial resources and equipment.

As of now, the only legitimate body tasked with overseeing disasters like earthquakes consists of a handful of people working in a small disaster unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

“Hopefully (these steps) will be taken soon and people will take this issue much more seriously from a risk reduction perspective rather than (focusing on) post-disaster activity," Man Thapa, programme manager of the disaster risk management team for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told IPS.

The UNDP is working with local municipalities and organising trainings for masons on how to construct earthquake-resistant buildings, which could “help save people’s lives", said Thapa.

Kathmandu at risk

Kathmandu’s dense population of 1.5 million people packed into a metropolitan area of just over 50 square kilometres presents unique challenges.

The number of housing complexes has more than doubled over the last decade, further crowding the already congested city, according to experts.

Earthquakes are nothing new in Nepal, which has witnessed 16 major earthquakes since 1223. One of the most devastating quakes occurred in 1934, killing over 8,500 people in Kathmandu; another, in 1988, caused 721 deaths.

Given the current population explosion and a boom in unsafe, high-rise buildings, the scale of a similar disaster now is unimaginable.

NSET estimates that an earthquake measuring seven or eight on the Richter scale could destroy over 60 percent of the buildings, kill up to 50,000 people, injure 100,000 and render 900,000 homeless.

While awareness about the possibility of a disaster is high, very little is being done to retrofit houses, schools or even hospitals.

“People are still not paying serious attention to the information available,” Pitamber Aryal, disaster management director of the NRCS, told IPS.

When a 6.9 Richter scale earthquake occurred in northeast India on Sep. 18 last year, its impact was also felt in Kathmandu, causing widespread panic.

People began to flee the city in a chaotic manner, paying no attention to the safety tips that had been disseminated online and aired frequently through the city’s many local radios.

Fortunately, the brief earthquake took place at six in the evening, when all the offices and schools had already closed for the day.

“If it occurred during school or office hours, a lot of people would have been injured and killed as a result of the panic,” Jimee told IPS.

“That was a drill exercise for all the Kathmandu residents on how to act during a (disaster)…let’s hope they have learnt something,” he added.

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This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Development, Environment, Health, Report Tagged With: ,

Chile in the Vanguard of Monitoring Results of AIDS Therapy

November 24, 2012 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Stephanie Wildes

SANTIAGO, Nov 22 (IPS) – In Chile, not only do all people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS receive treatment, but the country also has advanced mechanisms for monitoring outcomes of the antiretroviral therapy.“Treatment is available in many other parts of the world, but no one knows whether or not it is working,” Marcelo Wolff, an infectologist who studies HIV/AIDS at the University of Chile, told IPS.

In this South American country, “coverage extends to nearly everyone living with HIV,” added Wolff, who won a Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award this year, which recognises innovative research that has made a notable contribution to improved clinical care in the field of internal medicine.

Officially, some 22,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Chile, although the real number could be between 40,000 and 70,000, Wolff said.

“It is estimated that there are two to three undiagnosed people for every diagnosed person,” he said, “which means the total would be between 0.3 and 0.4 percent of the population over the age of 15” in this country of 16.5 million people.

The approach involves a monitoring system in 32 public healthcare centres around the country, which makes it possible to take timely measures addressing the specific needs of each case.

The monitoring is carried out by the Chilean AIDS Cohort (ChiAC), established by a team of professionals like Wolff, who joined a multidisciplinary and non-governmental network, SIDA Chile (AIDS Chile), founded in 2003.

“Knowing about what is happening to the people being treated is the main novelty,” Wolff said. “And the Chilean AIDS Cohort has been able to study that: the survival, morbidity and hospitalisation rates, and labour and social reinsertion.”

The same monitoring system is used for all patients taking the life-extending antiretroviral drugs, to evaluate the results of the therapy.

The data generated is used to inform policy-making. And specific measures can be taken to adapt the therapy to local conditions, based on the results. The information gathered also contributes to global assessments of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“Results from developed countries and poor nations have traditionally been published, but there were few evaluations from the large group of middle-income nations, and the Chilean AIDS Cohort has provided that,” Wolff said.

Law 19,779, approved in December 2001, guarantees the rights of all Chileans to prevention, diagnosis, control and treatment, and safeguards the free and equal exercise of other rights and freedoms of those living with HIV/AIDS, expressly prohibiting discrimination in access to education, work and healthcare.

In addition, the “universal access of explicit guarantees plan”, which guarantees the right to treatment, with specific guidelines, was expanded to those living with HIV/AIDS.

And the “national programme of expanded access to antretroviral therapy”, in effect since 2001, ensures access to the latest treatment options for all patients.

As a result of the alliance between the government’s national programme and the Chilean AIDS Cohort, “mortality has been reduced by more than 80 percent, and the rate of hospitalisation has gone down, which has made it possible for people to take up their day-to-day lives again.

“Among our patients, we have achieved results comparable to those of developed countries,” he said.

Based on this joint effort, the social and economic conditions of those living with HIV/AIDS have improved, said Manuel Jorquera, the coordinator of the AIDS advocacy group Vivo Positivo. “There is more timely treatment, and it is guaranteed, along with the free monitoring,” he told IPS.

These benefits are tangible for Martín (not his real name), a 36-year-old journalist who was diagnosed with HIV four years ago.

“It was difficult to digest at first, but I had the support of several of my friends who are also living with HIV and who have managed to deal with the disease really well,” he told IPS.

Although HIV/AIDS remains underreported, a higher proportion of cases are now documented. Since the first cases were detected in this country in 1984, the highest AIDS (six out of 100,000 people) and HIV (9.6 out of 100,000) notification rates were recorded in 2011, according to the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Department.

The evolution of HIV/AIDS in Chile is in line with global trends that reflect a 20 percent reduction in the number of new infections worldwide and a 17 percent increase in the number of people living with HIV in 2011, compared to 2001, when the AIDS epidemic was at its height.

There are 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, according to the latest global report, published by UNAIDS Tuesday Nov. 22.

But not every aspect involving HIV/AIDS has been solved in Chile.

Martín said that in his company people do not “officially” know he is gay, although “many suspect it.” What they definitely do not know, he said, is that he is HIV-positive and receives antiretroviral treatment at a public hospital.

“I have a totally normal lifestyle,” he said. “I go to work, I go out with my friends. But not even my mother knows I am infected. It would just destroy her.”

His fears are not unfounded. Despite the advances made at the level of public policies in Chile, deep-rooted discrimination persists, which exacerbates the fear of having an AIDS test.

“People feel the real fear of suffering from discrimination once it is known that they are infected,” Wolff said.

In his view, the most important challenge “is to keep people from being infected,” and to do that, “prevention campaigns must be much more direct than they have been.”

In addition, he said, “we have to try and diagnose everyone who is living with HIV/AIDS, and extend treatment to them.”

But to do that, the stigma surrounding the disease must be fought, he added.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2012.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Health, Latin America, Report Tagged With: , ,
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