The academic alliance for AIDS care and prevention in Africa

Abstract

In the continent of Africa, AIDS is the leading cause of death, responsible for over 20% of all fatalities. To date, over 16 million people in Africa have died from AIDS, and approximately 26 million or 70% of the world’s total of HIV infected people reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Howe ve r, little or no treatment, either for HIV infection itself or for its complications, is available to HIV infected Africans. This inequity in care between Africa and western countries has been attributed to lack of infrastructure, poverty, lack of financial support from developed countries, insufficient health care delivery systems, lack of knowledge by African physicians on the use of these drugs, insufficient laboratory support,political inaction, and many other factors. Although increasing attention has been focused on the problem, particularly in the lay press, and although pharmaceutical companies have reduced the cost of their drugs, most Africans still cannot afford these medicines, and little has been done to bring good clinical care to the millions of HIV infected Africans. To address this problem, a new organization was formed in June 2001 called "The Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa," led by a group of Ugandan physicians from Makerere University and the Infectious Diseases Society of America with HIV/AIDS care experts from North America.