Comments on: Threat of a global heterosexual pandemic of HIV officially disappear http://www.peripheries.org/2008/06/09/threat-of-a-global-heterosexual-pandemic-of-hiv-has-officially-disappeared/ Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:39:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: peripheries » Blog Archive » Global vs. targetted HIV prevention: Building on sound ground http://www.peripheries.org/2008/06/09/threat-of-a-global-heterosexual-pandemic-of-hiv-has-officially-disappeared/comment-page-1/#comment-54 peripheries » Blog Archive » Global vs. targetted HIV prevention: Building on sound ground Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:51:03 +0000 http://www.rogertatoud.com/blog/?p=11#comment-54 [...] Kevin de Cock, the epidemiologist heading the HIV-AIDS program with the World Health Organisation, briefly acknowledged, before recanting, that the threat of an heterosexual AIDS pandemic outside of Africa had [...] [...] Kevin de Cock, the epidemiologist heading the HIV-AIDS program with the World Health Organisation, briefly acknowledged, before recanting, that the threat of an heterosexual AIDS pandemic outside of Africa had [...]

]]> By: peripheries » Blog Archive » Global vs. targetted HIV prevention: Building on sound ground http://www.peripheries.org/2008/06/09/threat-of-a-global-heterosexual-pandemic-of-hiv-has-officially-disappeared/comment-page-1/#comment-6 peripheries » Blog Archive » Global vs. targetted HIV prevention: Building on sound ground Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:23:29 +0000 http://www.rogertatoud.com/blog/?p=11#comment-6 [...] Kevin de Cock, the epidemiologist heading the HIV-AIDS program with the World Health Organisation, briefly acknowledge, before recanting, that the threat of an heterosexual AIDS pandemic outside of Africa had [...] [...] Kevin de Cock, the epidemiologist heading the HIV-AIDS program with the World Health Organisation, briefly acknowledge, before recanting, that the threat of an heterosexual AIDS pandemic outside of Africa had [...]

]]> By: roger http://www.peripheries.org/2008/06/09/threat-of-a-global-heterosexual-pandemic-of-hiv-has-officially-disappeared/comment-page-1/#comment-5 roger Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:53:05 +0000 http://www.rogertatoud.com/blog/?p=11#comment-5 One step forward and one step backward, on 11 June 2008, UNAIDS issued a statement to correct what <i>was not</i> said in the IoS article, i.e.: <i>First and foremost, the global HIV epidemic is by no means over. At the end of 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people were living with HIV. Some 2.5 million people became newly infected that year, and 2.1 million died of AIDS. AIDS remains the leading cause of death in Africa. Worldwide, HIV is still largely driven by heterosexual transmission. The majority of new infections in sub-Saharan Africa occur through heterosexual transmission. We have also seen a number of generalized epidemics outside of Africa, such as in Haiti and Papua New Guinea.</i> This corrective statement conflates "the threat" of a world pandemic" with the existing "African Pandemic". It would be good if KdC could confirnm if “It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in other countries. Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be a generalised epidemic in Asia – China was the big worry with its huge population. That doesn’t look likely. But we have to be careful. As an epidemiologist it is better to describe what we can measure. There could be small outbreaks in some areas.” One step forward and one step backward, on 11 June 2008, UNAIDS issued a statement to correct what was not said in the IoS article, i.e.:

First and foremost, the global HIV epidemic is by no means over. At the end of 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people were living with HIV. Some 2.5 million people became newly infected that year, and 2.1 million died of AIDS. AIDS remains the leading cause of death in Africa.

Worldwide, HIV is still largely driven by heterosexual transmission. The majority of new infections in sub-Saharan Africa occur through heterosexual transmission. We have also seen a number of generalized epidemics outside of Africa, such as in Haiti and Papua New Guinea.

This corrective statement conflates “the threat” of a world pandemic” with the existing “African Pandemic”.

It would be good if KdC could confirnm if “It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in other countries. Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be a generalised epidemic in Asia – China was the big worry with its huge population. That doesn’t look likely. But we have to be careful. As an epidemiologist it is better to describe what we can measure. There could be small outbreaks in some areas.”

]]> By: roger http://www.peripheries.org/2008/06/09/threat-of-a-global-heterosexual-pandemic-of-hiv-has-officially-disappeared/comment-page-1/#comment-4 roger Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:36:59 +0000 http://www.rogertatoud.com/blog/?p=11#comment-4 This should contribute to make Roger England's paper published in the BMJ last month more prominent on the HIV stage. In the paper, England states that too much international aid money is being spent on HIV compared with other diseases which kill more people. The paper reports that globally HIV causes 3.7 per cent of mortality but received 25 per cent of health aid and argues that money would be better spent on improving health systems within countries. The writing is on the wall for UNAIDS Roger England. BMJ 336:1072, 2008. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/336/7652/1072 This should contribute to make Roger England’s paper published in the BMJ last month more prominent on the HIV stage.

In the paper, England states that too much international aid money is being spent on HIV compared with other diseases which kill more people. The paper reports that globally HIV causes 3.7 per cent of mortality but received 25 per cent of health aid and argues that money would be better spent on improving health systems within countries.

The writing is on the wall for UNAIDS
Roger England. BMJ 336:1072, 2008.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/336/7652/1072

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