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These are some of the most important events that have occurred in the history of HIV/AIDS over the period 2003-onwards. This is one of a group of HIV/AIDS history pages. Other HIV/AIDS history pages can be found in our HIV and AIDS history and pictures section. 2003 HistoryIt was suggested in the UK that potential National Health Service (NHS) workers would face tests for HIV and hepatitis B and C before they can take up certain posts.1 Swaziland was believed to have the world's highest rate of HIV with almost four out of 10 adults infected with HIV. The Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini said that the official rate had risen to 38.6% from 34.2% in January 2002. This figure was just under Botswana's rate 38.8%, which is still officially the world's worst. But health officials said that Swaziland's figures were already out of date.2 Jerry Thacker, a controversial Christian extremist chosen by the White House to sit on a presidential AIDS advisory panel and who once described the virus as the 'gay plague' was forced to withdraw his name after protests from gay rights groups. 3 In February, a rare case of female-to-female sexual transmission of HIV was reported. Doctors suggested the woman may have been infected through sharing sex toys after drug resistance tests found striking similarities between the HIV strains of the woman and her female HIV-positive partner.4 US president George Bush proposed spending US$ 15 billion in combating AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean over the next 5 years in his State of the Union address. He called the scheme ' a great mission of rescue'.5 The Senate approved this 'AIDS bill' in May.6 US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson was elected as the new chairman of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria. This move was hoped to prevent a conflict between the Bush administration and the international health community.7 A leading UK soap opera 'EastEnders' wrote out an HIV-positive character, Mark Fowler, after many years on the programme.8 There has been no dramatic increase in HIV transmission in Cuba since the beginning of the epidemic. The rate of infection was 3% and thought to be one of the lowest in the world. There has been virtually no transmission of HIV through injecting drug use, blood transfusion or newborns at birth. The government has ensured that all HIV-positive mothers are treated with prophylactic AZT therapy and then the babies are delivered by caesarean section. The country has produced enough antiretrovirals to supply the country's patients.9 HIV/AIDS reduced the global population estimates by 0.4 billion to 8.9 billion for 2050. "The long-term impact of the epidemic remains dire…HIV/AIDS is a disease of mass destruction and we do not see a vaccine coming soon." - Joseph Chamie, director of the UNPD -10 An expert group reaffirmed that unsafe sexual practises are responsible for the majority of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. This review was in response to claims made in 2002 that unsafe medical practises were to blame for an important portion of HIV transmission in Africa.11 Vaxgen announced that their AIDS vaccine failed to reduce overall HIV infection rates among those who were vaccinated. The vaccine showed a reduction in certain ethnic groups, indicating that black and Asian volunteers may have produced higher levels of antibodies against HIV than white and Hispanic volunteers. However, many outside observers were sceptical of the ethnic group part of the study.12 In November, the AIDS vaccine also failed in clinical trial in Thailand. "The outcome of this trial is one more reminder of how difficult it is to combat HIV and how important it is for the international public health community to redouble the effort to develop an effective vaccine." - Donald P. Francis, Vaxgen President - 13 Researchers warned that the number of women being diagnosed with HIV in Europe was rapidly catching up with men. The researchers also noted that the initiatives that supply drug users with clean needles have been effective in Europe. HIV transmission through injecting drug use was said to be almost eliminated in France, Germany and the UK and significantly reduced in Spain and Italy.14 The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) filed manslaughter charges against the health minister and the trade and industry minister in South Africa. The TAC held the ministers responsible for the deaths of 600 people a day who could have been saved if they had had access to ARV drugs.15 Russia received an approval for a long delayed loan from the World Bank to tackle HIV/AIDS and TB in the country. For its part, the Russian Government promised to match the loan with $ 134 million in new money over 5 years for HIV/AIDS and TB. This contribution from the government signalled growing recognition that both HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics represented a threatening crisis for Russia's development.16 The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new four -part initiative to reduce the number of new HIV infections in the US. The initiative proposed changes such as introducing HIV testing as a routine part of medical care, use of rapid test, to offer HIV-positive women routine HIV testing as part of their antenatal care and increased focus on people who are already infected with HIV and their partner tracing. South Korean Lee Jong-Wook took office as the new Director- General of WHO and named HIV/AIDS as his top priority in his first speech.17 In 2003, the Global Fund faced a serious shortfall in funding that was needed to cover the grants for different countries.18 New HIV/AIDS figures were released in India and it was estimated that between 3.82 and 4.58 million people were HIV positive.19 The World Health Organisation declared that the failure to deliver treatment to nearly six million people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries was a global public health emergency. Only about 300,000 people in developing countries received the drugs at all, and in sub-Saharan Africa, where 4.1 million people were infected, just over 1% or about 50,000 people had access to antiretroviral treatment.20 Vatican cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo stated that condoms were not safe and do not protect against the transmission of HIV. "I simply wished to remain the public, sustaining the opinion of a good number of experts, that when the condom is employed as a contraceptive, it is not totally dependable, and that the cases of pregnancy are not rare. In the case of Aids virus, which is around 450 times smaller than the sperm cell, the condom's latex material obviously gives much less security." - Cardinal Trujillo - 21 In response the WHO said: "It is quite dangerous to claim the contrary when you realize that today we are facing an epidemic which has already killed 20 million people and 42 million people are infected today."22 There was a sharp rise in trafficking of heroin through central Asia. This caused an increase in drug addiction and cases of HIV in many impoverished states including Tajikistan. Since the fall of the Taliban, who banned growing of opium poppies- the raw material for producing heroin- production skyrocketed in Afghanistan.23 The UN World Food Programme said it would shift its humanitarian aid effort in southern Africa from traditional emergency food supply to a greater response to HIV/AIDS including providing nutritional support, awareness campaigns, food baskets and other services to HIV-positive people.24 Many drug manufacturers lowered their prices of antiretroviral drugs during the year. These price reductions were welcomed by many countries and organisations but it was also understood that 'lower price medicines alone will not deliver treatment'. But what was also needed was the ability of countries to deliver these drugs, building of stronger health systems and training of more health care workers in resource poor countries.25 South Africa approved the long-awaited provision of free antiretroviral drugs in public hospitals. The cabinet instructed the Department of Health to proceed with implementation of the plan. The plan envisaged that within a year there would be at least one service point in every health district across the country and within five years, one service point in every local municipality.26 The UNAIDS warned that the efforts to stem the world's AIDS epidemic were 'entirely inadequate'. It was estimated that every day in 2003, an estimated 14,000 people got infected with HIV. It was estimated that 40 million around the world including 2.5 million children were living with HIV/AIDS.27 The World Health Organisation announced a new plan, known as '3 by 5', to provide HIV/AIDS treatment for many resource poor countries. The plan had many different elements, but the WHO were not planning tp provide the drugs themselves. WHO was hoping to have 3 million people in resource poor countries on AIDS drugs by 2005.28 "Nothing close to this has ever been tried. It's not like finding babies with diarrohea and treating them for a week, or adults with tuberculosis and treating them for six months -both of which have been major efforts by the WHO in recent decades. …. HIV infection is a chronic disease. The 3 million - and the millions who will come after them - will have to take their medicine for years, until they die."29 Wen Jiabao became the first Chinese premier to shake the hand of an AIDS patient. Mr Wen's handshake broadcast in close-up was the most dramatic of a series of government moves that demonstrate a new determination to fight AIDS. "This was like breaking the ice…It's something that a lot of people working in the AIDS field inside China and outside have been hoping for and waiting for." - Joel Rehnstrom, the co-ordinator in China for UNAIDS - 30 India's health minister said that there would never be an AIDS epidemic in the country. "I will prove all experts wrong. We are taking on the disease from all fronts. We are tackling it very bravely." - Sushma Swaraj - 31 The number of people infected with HIV in the UK increased by almost 20% between 2001 and 2002, from 41,700 to 49,500 with 31% remained undiagnosed. "World AIDS day reminds us that the problems we face with HIV are not going away, despite it being a disease that is largely preventable." - Kevin Fenton, a public health consultant -32 2004 HistoryBrazil's government reached a deal with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the price of HIV/AIDS drugs by around a third. It was believed that the deal saved the government about $100 million in 2004 and cut the average treatment cost per patients to a new low of $1,200.33 Also, 10 million free condoms were given out to people in Brazil during the carnival season as part of an AIDS-prevention campaign.34 In February, the president of Malawi, Bakili Muluzi announced that his brother had died from AIDS. This was intended to highlight issues of stigma and discrimination in talking about HIV/AIDS. President Muluzi made the announcement as he launched the first AIDS policy in a country where an estimated 15% of the 15 million population were HIV-positive.35 The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria suspended payments to three HIV/AIDS programmes in Ukraine, citing concerns over slow progress and management problems. It was the first time in its history that the Global Fund stopped funding to a scheme that it had supported. 36 In parts of Russia and eastern Europe, HIV was spreading at the fastest rate in the world. A survey by the United Nations Development Programme estimated that almost one in 100 Russians were HIV-positive and that AIDS could claim up to 20.7 million lives by 2045.37 The head of the UN Development Programme, Mark Malloch Brown, criticised Russia's efforts to combat the virus: "President Putin mentioned it last May, but one speech is not enough and one reference in a speech is not enough."38 Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa warned that the WHO's attempt to get three million people onto treatment by the end of 2005 was compromised because of lack of financial support from the world's richest countries. "There has never been a more determined plan of action…If 3 by 5 fails, as it surely will without the dollars, then there are no excuses left, no rationalizations to hide behind, no murky slanders to justify indifference. There will only be the mass graves of the betrayed." - Stephen Lewis, UN Special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa - 39 In April, the Chinese government announced that it was starting to offer everyone free HIV tests.40 South Africa began a programme to give out free HIV/AIDS drugs after years of confusion and delays. The program started in South Africa's richest province, Gauteng, where five major hospitals, including Chris Hani Baragwanath, the largest in Africa, were selected to administer the drugs.41 "To me, it means a lot," said the frail man, whose girlfriend and 2-year-old daughter have also tested positive for HIV. "I have a child to raise. ... I want to take her to her first day of school, and I can only do that if I am healthy." - 27-year-old HIV-positive South African man -42 A study found that the HIV prevalence rate in Uganda had been reduced by 70% since the early 1990s. It was estimated that half of million Ugandan are HIV positive in 2004, compared with 1.5 million a decade before. It was believed that the reduction in HIV prevalence was due to the fact that people limited their number of sexual partners as well as effective prevention efforts in local communities. 43 "In Uganda people became engaged with the epidemic at the community level. Local care groups, religious movements, non-governmental organisations and care networks all spread the message. Families, friends and neighbours began talking about HIV prevention and care, and sexually transmitted diseases stopped being a taboo subject." A survey of US media coverage of the AIDS epidemic revealed that the number of AIDS-related stories peaked in 1987. This rapidly declined in the early 1990s, despite these being the peak years for AIDS deaths. The stories increased slightly in 1991, when Magic Johnson spoke publicly about his HIV-status. The amount of stories revived again in 1996-7 with the introduction of combination therapy.44 In May, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV were sentenced to death by a Libyan court. The medical staff were detained in 1998 and the trial started in 2000.45 The US porn industry was hit by fears of HIV outbreak among its stars. By May, five porn actors had been found to be HIV-positive.46 The porn business in the US is believed to be worth billions of dollars every year and its stars are frequently monitored for HIV.47 A man jailed for eight years, in October 2003,for inflicting biological grievous bodily harm by infecting two lovers with HIV won the right to a retrial. Mohammed Dica, was the first person in 137 years to be convicted in England and Wales for sexually transmitting a disease. The Court of Appeal ruled that the judge at Dica's trial in October should not have withdrawn from the jury the issue of whether the women consented to intercourse, knowing Dica was HIV positive. The judge at the trial in October had held that consent was irrelevant and provided no defence because, under legal precedent, the women had 'no legal capacity to consent to such serious harm'.48 The references for this page can be found here. There are four other history of AIDS pages History of AIDS up to 1986, History of AIDS from 1987 to 1992, History of AIDS from 1993 to 1997 and History of AIDS from 1998 to 2002. This page was written by Annabel Kanabus and Jenni Fredriksson-Bass. Last updated January 10, 2005 |