In this issue of Alert, several MSF field projects present their insights on treating HIV/AIDS in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
It took coming to South Africa as an MSF volunteer for me to understand that the horror of apartheid had not disappeared. A new scourge, AIDS, had appeared in its place.
MSF currently operates or is implementing nearly 50 HIV/ AIDS projects in over 25 countries.
According to the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS), 95% of the world's 36 million people with HIV/AIDS live in the developing world. Seventy per cent of adults and 80% of children with HIV/AIDS live in Africa.
From Thailand to South Africa, MSF field projects still struggle to overcome cost barriers associated with antiretroviral medicines and treatments for common HIV-related opportunistic infections.
Pierre is a patient at the MSF/PRESICA HIV clinic in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Since January 2001, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been running a pilot project providing antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to people living with AIDS. Pierre is one of the lucky few to receive this treatment, and he is beating the odds.
