Malawi

International Activity Report, 2009 Malawi has been hit hard by the HIV/AIDS pandemic: nearly one million people, that is 12 per cent of those aged between 15 and 49 are infected. There is chronic shortage of health professionals and demand for antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains considerable. At the end of 2009, more than 300 centres were supplying ART to more than 183,000 patients, but 300,000 people were still on the waiting list. HIV/AIDS programme Good-quality HIV care is now provided in the districts of Chiradzulu and Thyolo, but is rare throughout the rest of the country. Indeed the scale of the need combined with the shortage of health staff has led MSF to adjust its approach, simplifying treatment protocols and...

For people living with HIV the greatest battle is having a normal life. Up to a decade ago without readily accessible antiretroviral treatment this was unthinkable and HIV and AIDS was seen as a death sentence. Three MSF’s patients from Chiradzulu share their personal testimonies of living in good health for the last 10 years on treatment two MSF medical staff talking about preventing the transmission of HIV from mother to child, and the future challenges for HIV care in Malawi.   Read MSF’s report: 10 Years of antiretroviral treatment in Malawi by MSF 10 Years of ARVs in Malawi A brief overview of MSF's 10-year HIV treatment programme in Chiradzulu, Malawi...

Read the report> MSF introduced ARVs in Chiradzulu (CHDZ) in 2001. Today, more than 55% of the patients who started treatment in 2001 in are still actively followed by MSF as well as alive and healthy. By September 2011, MSF is following 30,000 HIV positive patients in CHDZ, 22 000 are receiving ARVs, 12.5% of whom are children.  

Latest UNAIDS treatment numbers show progress, but funding crunch is major threat   The growing number of averted HIV/AIDS deaths according to data released by UNAIDS represents important progress, but the number of people put on treatment must increase dramatically in order to reap the benefits of the new science showing that HIV treatment both saves lives and helps prevent new infections, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors WIthout Borders (MSF) said today. This will require significant additional funding for HIV treatment, yet, as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria’s Board meeting opens today in Accra, Ghana, AIDS funding has now declined for two years...