Global AIDS - Botswana
BAM Report No. 1 - Melbourne - February 1, 2004
This first report for 2004 has been written by BAM President,
Maxwell D. Nhlatho for the University of Melbourne's campus newspaper.
"There is no war more serious, there is no war causing more death
and destruction, there is no war on the face of the earth right now
that is more serious, that is more grave, than the war we see here in
Sub-Saharan Africa against HIV/AIDS." - Colin Powell, US Secretary
of State
New cases have been increasing since 1980 while in highly industrialised
countries they have been decreasing. Certainly Africa is the continent
most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and least able to fund the
research and buy the latest drugs.
Imagine a country more than twice the size of Victoria, with a population
of 1.8 million people, only 2 referral hospitals across the land and
one doctor for thousands of people and no medical school. Imagine that
country with about 35 - 40 % of its population HIV positive, about a
third of whom living with AIDS. Those between the ages 15 to 49 years
are the most affected, the manpower of the country. What will happen
to the economy of that country, what does the future hold for a teenager?
This is the situation today in Botswana, which has the highest HIV
infection rates in the world. Botswana may simply cease to exist in
a few years. South Africa, which borders Botswana to the South, has
the
highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the whole world.
Botswana and other African countries have a great shortage of doctors.
Many Batswana doctors prefer to work overseas where the pay is much
better, but also where there are a greater variety of clinical cases.
An average doctor in a normal hospital/clinic setting in Botswana will
have almost all his patients HIV positive, compared
to here in Australia where a doctor can go for months and not see a
single case of HIV/AIDS.
The government of Botswana spends US$ 70 M every year just on HIV/AIDS.
Merck Pharmaceuticals, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations each
donate $US 10 M every year for HIV/AIDS treatment together with contributions
from non-governmental organizations in the country and some international
organizations, bringing the total to about $ US100 M a year. Botswana
should be a lucky country, as it is relatively wealthy, owing to the
diamond mines, cattle ranching and tourism but despite a stable economy,
WHO estimates that the life expectancy for Batswana women is only 40
years and 39 for men and still falling because of AIDS. Some estimates
suggest that it may fall as low as 29 by 2016 if things continued as
they are.
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As medical students from Botswana at Melbourne University,
we formed a group in October 2003 that we have named Botswana
AIDS Melbourne (BAM). The objectives of this group are to take
part in the fight against HIV/AIDS, especially in Botswana. Studies
in Botswana show that children between the ages of 6 and 15 are
free of HIV (those who were born positive would have died before
the age of six) and we aim to reduce the risk of them becoming
infected with the virus for the remainder of their lives.
The Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, a collaboration
between the government of Botswana and Harvard University has
a research center in Botswana that is in the capital city, Gaborone.
We are liasing with them and starting projects of our own that
include promotion of male circumcision and creating youth awareness
of AIDS, initiatives that we hope could make a difference in Botswana.
At the end of the day, prevention is always more likely to be
more cost-effective than treatment.
We also hope to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS here in the
Melbourne University, and the Botswana High Commission in Canberra
has asked us to make our campaign Australia wide. If you want
to know more about what we are doing, please contact me at the
email below. The Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences, Professor
James Angus, and Professor Roger Short in the department of obstetrics
have also offered us assistance.
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Maxwell Nhlatho
President, Botswana AIDS Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, University
of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Email: mdnmax@yahoo.co.uk
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The following are the objectives:
- To develop the most effective HIV prevention strategies for Botswana.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of promoting ABC - Abstinence, Be
Faithful, Condoms, as an HIV preventive strategy for Botswana.
- To promote male circumcision for HIV prevention in Botswana.
- To pioneer youth-to-youth HIV prevention programmes in Batswana
schools, and to disseminate the information on a dedicated website,
www.firstaids.info
- To raise HIV/AIDS awareness within the University of Melbourne,
and to relay the latest research findings back to our colleagues in
Botswana.
- To train a group of Batswana medical students in the University
of Melbourne, so that they will be able to teach HIV/AIDS in the new
Medical School to be established in Gaborone in 2007.
- To provide input to the Australian websites, www.aids.net.au
and www.circumcision.com.au,
so that they reflect the challenges and achievements of Botswana.
- To liaise with the Botswana High Commission in Canberra and the
Ministry of Health in Gaborone, so that they are kept informed about
all the above activities.
At the end of 2003, the University of Melbourne was ranked 92 in the
world after universities like Harvard (1), Cambridge (5) and Oxford
(9).
This means that Melbourne University is a world-class university that
could play a major role in world health; as Nelson Mandela has said,
HIV/AIDS is the greatest threat to health in the history of mankind.
The Government of Botswana is building a Medical School and has asked
several universities in the world to help bring it up to international
standards, including the University of Melbourne and some universities
in South Africa. The medical school's first enrolment is expected to
be in 2007. The Medical School will continue to work in
collaboration with Melbourne once the school is established. The University
of Melbourne also has a great opportunity to expand its borders by helping
study health in developing countries like Botswana.
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No parents should have to bury their children. Help the children
in Africa and other parts of the world to avoid becoming infected
with HIV/AIDS so that they can continue fulfilling their lives.
We all have a role to play in life, even if it is to encourage
others; don't waste your opportunity to make a difference. Play
your part.
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Maxwell D Nhlatho
mdnmax@yahoo.co.uk
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