The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has a variety of strengths and weaknesses inherent within the program. Some of these strengths include the increased access to healthcare that it provides. For instance, of the population of those in Sub-Saharan Africa that are eligible to receive anti-retroviral therapy, an estimated 56% of them are in fact receiving it. This 2012 figure has increased significantly from less than 5% who had received this treatment in 2012.
Of households at risk of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 53% of these own 1 or more insecticide-treated nets. This is a significant improvement from the year 2000 where the estimate was as low as 3%.
The program is also financially effective, as the Fund has been able to help countries to significantly lower the prices of medicines and other tools.
One of the Global Fund’s guiding principles is that of “Country Ownership”. It isn’t a matter of the Global Fund entering into a country and trying to “run the show’”, but rather a manner of assisting countries to do that which they already know how to do. The solutions to battling malaria, TB and AIDS are determined by the countries being assisted and they are responsible for carrying them out to fulfillment. In addition to country ownership, the Global Fund is committed to partnership between various entities including governments, civil societies, and faith based organizations, among others. The best way to overcome these deadly diseases is through a collaborate effort of organizations and individuals working together.
While this program has many strengths, there are also weaknesses and challenges that come along with these. As a program increases in size and impact, there is typically an incre...
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...ue to the distribution of 110 million nets treated with insecticide. Insecticide sprayed into millions of dwellings has also prevented countless cases of the disease. As is the case with most public health issues, prevention is extremely important. Cases of the disease were still significant though, with 140 million suspected cases being treated through the funding provided.
The total impact of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is an immeasurable one. Only estimates can be made of the millions of lives that have been forever altered for the better because of their efforts. The public has been provided with increased access to prevention tools, counseling, as well as treatment for these various deadly diseases.
Has the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria impacted public health in sub-Saharan Africa for the better?
Absolutely.
According to the CDC, almost 1.1 million people in the United States have HIV, yet almost 20% of those people are unaware that they are living with the condition (CDC, 2013c). When the HIV broke out almost 30 years ago in the United States, the number of new cases in a year was 130,000. Now, each year the new number of cases being presented is approximately 50,000 (CDC, 2013c). In locations like Sub-Saharan Africa, the statistics are higher. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) states, “In 2011, an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV resided in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 69% of the global HIV burden” (UNAIDS, 2012). The World Health Organization (WHO) reinforces this point by saying, “Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region [of HIV], with nearly 1 in every 20 adults living with HIV. Sixty nine per cent of all people living with HIV are living in this region” (WHO, 2013a). The statistics of infected people living in the United States is alarming but there are other countries, like Africa, which have higher rates of HIV due to very limited
According to WHO in 2007, “more than 95% of HIV cases are in developing countries, with two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. “ In addition, there were 2.1 million deaths related to HIV and 2.5 million...
Statistics have been show a frightening increase in AIDS/HIV cases. As of the year 2012, South Africa has had the most cases of HIV/AIDS coming to a total of 6,070,800 ("Country Comparison :: HIV/AIDS”). This is a huge contributing factor to this conspira...
...trategy addresses the areas in which they believe the foundation is best positioned, among a broad spectrum of partners, to help reduce the burden of malaria. They support R&D for more effective treatments, diagnostics, mosquito-control measures, and a safe and effective malaria vaccine. They also support the development of strategies to make progress toward malaria elimination. To date, they have committed nearly $2 billion in malaria grants. They have also committed more than $1.4 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which supports the expanded use of proven prevention and treatment tools for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. Beyond their own direct investments in the fight against malaria, they also advocate for sustained and increased funding of malaria control and elimination efforts by donor governments and endemic countries.
AIDs has become an epidemic in the African country of Zimbabwe where even though through the recent years the toll of AIDs has been diminished. Zimbabwe is a third world country where living conditions are not up to par as well as the inadequate attention towards the health of the people. The people of Zimbabwe have toiled and live in very basic areas where there is not an emphasis on sanitation as well as the hygiene of the people who live in the areas. Hygiene is one of the most important factors that affect the transmission of disease such as washing hands, discourage sharing needles, etc. Improvements in sanitation would slow the propagation of diseases, which would in turn lower the risk of infections from other diseases as people who are infected with AIDs would have a compromised im...
African governments have given in to the whim’s of international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in social and health policies, and with this, has come a shift away from former emphasis on social justice and equitable market efficiency to public health services for all now being perceived as a major threat ...
As a result, the virus has greatly affected people in countries across the world, especially Africa. In Africa there are thousands of medical facilities in South Africa and they all have a high occupancy rating. In South Africa today, 80% of patients hospitalized in facilities have HIV (“Impact of HIV and AIDS...”). People working in these facilities such as doctors and nurses put themselves at risk because they are at risk for getting HIV related illnesses. In Africa there is a high demand for treatment of the disease and the hospitals have very low resources and training to treat HIV patients. When HIV first started there were very little resources to use for the patients that needed help.
Africa seems to be, in its own way booming. As a whole, incomes have doubled since the year 2000. Life expectancy increases by one year every three years. HIV rates are down significantly in South Saharan Africa, to a point where 600 000 less people contract this disease every year. The fight against malaria is being won, where ...
Africa is a region of the world often associated with HIV due to the infection’s enduring prevalence on the continent. Specifically, Sub-Saharan Africa is the area of the world with the most infected individuals, approximately 26.6 million with roughly 1.4 million new infections each year (Bowler; White). This equates to 2/3 of all HIV infected individuals around the world. In this region it is harder to obtain treatment than in other areas of the world, with only 41 percent of people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa having access to ART (“Data”). A subset of Sub-Saharan Africa that has the highest epidemic rate is Southern Africa, which consists of nine countries. Table 1 lists the countries in Southern Africa and shows
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, commonly known as HIV/AIDS is a disease, with which the human immune system, unlike in other disease, cannot cope. AIDS, which is caused by the HIV virus, causes severe disorder of the immune system and slowly progresses through stages which disable the body’s capability to protect and instead makes it vulnerable for other infections. The first blood sample to contain HIV was drawn in 1959 in Zaire, Africa while molecular genetics have suggested that the epidemic first began in the 1930s (Smallman & Brown, 2011). Currently, according to the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, 35.3 million people worldwide are living with HIV. In 2012, an estimated 2.3 million people became newly infected with the virus and 1.6 million people lost their lives to AIDS (Fact Sheet, UNAIDS). It is due to the globalized international society that a disease which existed in one part of the world has managed to infect so many around the world. Globalization is narrowly defined by Joseph Stiglitz as "the removal of barriers to free trade and the closer integration of national economies" (Stiglitz, 2003). Globalization has its effects in different aspects such as economy, politics, culture, across different parts of the world. Like other aspects, globalization affects the health sector as well. In a society, one finds different things that connect us globally. As Barnett and Whiteside point out (2000), “health and wellbeing are international concerns and global goods, and inherent in the epidemic are lessons to be learned regarding collective responsibility for universal human health” (Barnett & Whiteside, 2000). Therefore, through all these global connections in the international society, t...
...eration strategic plans from 2010 to 2015 (“Malaria,” UNICEF). Emergency situations are also a remaining challenge. These emergency situations include humanitarian emergencies and malaria epidemic outbreaks, which demand a prompt and effective response from the UNICEF. Aid is not reaching to countries with small percentages of the malaria infection, but if malaria is not treated promptly, it will grow into an even larger global health crisis.
...at researchers are doing to try to eradicate malaria in underdeveloped countries such as Africa.
Other areas of focus of the Global Health program include HIV/AIDS, malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases.
There is more than enough data that shows the extent to which AIDS cripples millions of individuals and households around the globe. Also, there are verified methods we can take to address this pandemic. We, as citizens of the world, need to recognize the severity of this problem and take action. Those in power must better distribute resources so that more is spent on saving the families and lives of AIDS stricken patients.
The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.