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12/05/2004 |
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The Community of Saint Egidio � a Roman Catholic lay group based in Rome that enjoys the support of the Pope � has carried out a pioneer pilot scheme in Mozambique to prevent the spread of the HIV virus from mothers infected with AIDS to their offspring. Now six other African countries �including South Africa - have been persuaded by the community to join in an expanded international effort to bring to Africa the relatively expensive anti retroviral drugs that have prolonged the lives of thousands of AIDs sufferers in the developed world. Among those taking part in the Rome meeting were representatives of the world bank, the world health organisation, and the us government�s global AIDS coordinator. The Saint Egidio Community argues that it is ethically unjust to have two standards of health care for AIDS sufferers, one for the developed world, and another much less costly one for developing countries. Among sponsors of the scheme for a new model to fight AIDS in Africa are an Italian bank, international pharmaceutical groups, and NGO�s. Dr Paulo Texeira, a senior adviser to the world health organisation�s HIV department, said that although previously anti retroviral therapies had been thought to be too complicated for use in developing countries, as well as too expensive, new simplified standard tools were being developed for delivering treatment. Although the Vatican advises sexual abstinence, not condoms, to combat AIDS, the Rome meeting provided evidence that that an internal debate IS taking place inside the Catholic church over how best to fight the epidemic. A senior United Nations official Peter Piot, said on Tuesday in Geneva that the Roman Catholic Church and its institutions have a vital role to play in the therapy and prevention of AIDS in Africa, and that a dialogue is going on with Rome.
David Willey
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