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Swaziland

Swaziland

Swaziland has the world’s most severe HIV/AIDS epidemic. A report from 2006/2007* estimated the prevalence of the disease among adults to be 25.9 per cent.   Tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-infected people is the number one cause of death, and more and more patients who are being treated by the joint MSF and Ministry of Health teams are being diagnosed with drug-resistant forms (DR-TB). Since November 2007, MSF has been working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health to respond to this epidemic by providing diagnosis and treatment for HIV/TB infected patients via rural clinics.   Currently, MSF is working in the south of the country in the rural Shiselweni region, where a fifth of the country’s population...
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M&G: Swazi Aids Response in Cash Crisis

24 February 2012
Swaziland, MSF, HIV/Aids, funding
An MSF nurse hands over ARV drugs to a patient on a refill day at the Hluthi clinic, Swaziland. Photo: Jonathan Heyer
Swaziland’s problems have been further compounded by the cancellation of round 11 of the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria.  It has withdrawn funding worldwide because a lack of donors – money that, in Swaziland’s case, would have funded a 10% increase in nurse numbers and other badly needed human resource development.Elias Pavlopoulos, the head of mission at Medecins Sans Frontieres in Swaziland, said the combination of the government’s cash problems, poor management of supplies and the global fund withdrawal could be a lethal combination. Read full article below.
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A Month in Focus - February 2012

06 February 2012
Month in Focus: February 2012
Syria, Libya, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Swaziland
Syria – Medicine as a weapon of persecution Libya – Detainees tortured Papua New Guinea – Back to Bougainville Pakistan – MSF within reach of the tribal zone Swaziland - Community takes part in treatment
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Global Fund cuts spell more AIDS deaths, more HIV infections, & rationing lifesaving treatment

25 November 2011
South Africa’s Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum warns *NOTE: The Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum [BEMF] is a group of civil society organisations concerned with HIV/AIDS funding in South Africa and the Southern African region. BEMF includes SECTION27, the Treatment Action Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières South Africa, the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa, the Free State AIDS Coalition and World Vision.   JOHANNESBURG –The shock announcement by the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria that financial shortfalls forced the cancellation of its Round 11 of new grants threatens to run back the clock on the gains made in the fight against HIV. The Global Fund financial...
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HIV Global Fund: an interview with Dr Unni Karunakara

30 November 2011
antiretroviral treatment
Lusikisiki, South Africa. Patient taking her antiretroviral treatment
In a move that could have a profound impact on patients in developing countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has announced it won’t be accepting any grant applications this year to support treatment programmes because of a catastrophic drop in donor funding.  MSF international president, Dr Unni Karunakara The Global Fund, financed largely by governments, was set up ten years ago as a ‘war chest’ to fight the spiralling AIDS pandemic and tackle malaria and TB, the other two infectious diseases that claim millions of lives each year in developing countries. In many countries, MSF works alongside the national health authorities who rely on Global Fund support to...
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IRIN: SWAZILAND: Funding fiasco leaves country short of lab supplies

15 November 2011
antiretrovirals, ARVs, HIV/Aids, Swaziland
A patient holds out her antiretroviral medication - Swaziland chose not to apply for Global Fund money a year before stockouts began
First there were national shortages of HIV medication, then of HIV tests, now Swaziland lacks the lab tests essential for initiating and managing HIV patients on treatment. To make matters worse, the country chose not to apply for the international funding that could have safeguarded antiretroviral (ARV) stocks... According to Aymeric Péguillan, Swaziland head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the consequences of the government's decision not to seek international support for HIV treatment were predictable... Read full article.
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INTERVALO! sporting event against HIV/Aids

06 October 2011
Intervalo! teams from Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa
INTERVALO! teams
To raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and the challenges in treating the epidemic in southern Africa, MSF hosted the INTERVALO! sporting event in Maputo, Mozambique on 14 September, midway during the 10th All Africa Games. The event brought together 24 athletes, made up of patients living positively with HIV along with MSF staff involved in HIV care from 5 Southern African countries – Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. INTERVALO! highlighted the determination and commitment of people on the frontlines of the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and demonstrated the positive impact of antiretroviral drugs in fighting a disease that wipes out 2 million people worldwide each year. Each of the fun sporting events...
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SWAZILAND: A new ward to treat patients with drug resistant tuberculosis

30 September 2011
Swaziland's new TB ward built by MSF
Swazilnad: MSF builds a TB ward
Mbabane - Last week, the first patients infected with drug resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) were admitted in a new wing at Nhlangano Health Centre, in the Shiselweni region (southern Swaziland). The facility was constructed by MSF through private donations. The Ministry of Health and MSF teams will be jointly running this new facility. Watch this video: TB Ward in Swaziland  The new DR-TB wing can attend to a maximum of 30 patients. International standards for infection control were integrated with the use of natural ventilation. The ward also includes a laboratory with state-of-the-art technology. Amongst the features MSF is proud to introduce the molecular analyser, which detects...
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Reuters: Cash crunch hits Swaziland AIDS patients: MSF

20 September 2011
HIV/Aids, funding
Aids patient Sannah Seetotale (R) waits to receive her food from volunteer worker Matshidiso Masuku in Orange Farm in Johannesburg November 29, 2006. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
An acute government funding crisis in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, is disrupting supplies of HIV/AIDS drugs and hampering the fight against the virus in the country with the world's highest infection rate, Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said on Friday. Stocks of testing kits and related chemicals were "almost dry", making it next-to-impossible to chart the progress of the 70,000 patients on therapy or more than 130,000 other people carrying the virus, the aid agency said. "We're running after the epidemic. We're not managing the epidemic," Aymeric Peguillan, MSF's country head, told Reuters in neighbouring South Africa... Read full article
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Securing funding for Swaziland’s health services must be a priority despite financial crisis

09 September 2011
Mbabane. The medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is deeply concerned about the implications of the current economic crisis in Swaziland on people living with HIV/AIDS. To pre-empt stock ruptures, which are already affecting patients, MSF has supplied a contingency stock of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that will serve some 18,000 AIDS patients in its project areas for at least one month. This stock will only cover the needs of a fraction of the 70,000 patients currently on ARV treatment in Swaziland, and will not be sufficient to address the needs of those still waiting to be enrolled. Care Treatment Supporter Samkelisiwe Magagula prepares a...
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by Dr. Radut.