Claim: Complacency a concern as AIDS treatment improves in Africa.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: condom (ABC) strategy to prevent HIV infection promotes safer sexual behavior and emphasizes the need for fidelity, fewer sexual partners, and a later age of sexual debut. The implementation of ABC differs among those who use it. For example, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has focused more on abstinence and fidelity than condoms while Uganda has had a more balanced approach to the three elements. The effectiveness of ABC is controversial. At the 16th International AIDS Conference in 2006, African countries gave the strategy mixed reviews. In Botswana, [M]uch of the ABC message was getting through, but ...

title: HIV/AIDS in Uganda
text: and a general complacency or 'AIDS fatigue'. It has been suggested that antiretroviral drugs have changed the perception of AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable, manageable disease; this may have reduced the fear surrounding HIV, and in turn have led to an increase in risky behaviour. Although prevention interventions, like safe male circumcision, have been shown to effectively reduce HIV transmission, studies in Uganda have shown delayed uptake of these interventions and attributed this to contestations over evidence by high-level leaders. Although abstinence has always been part of the country’s prevention strategy it has come under scrutiny since

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: increasing infidelity. This increase has caused alarm. The director of the Centre for Disease Control – Uganda, Wuhib Tadesse, said in 2011 that, for every person started on antiretroviral therapy, there are three new HIV infections[,] and this is unsustainable. We are ... very concerned. ... [C]omplacence could be part of the problem. Young people nowadays no longer see people dying; they see people on ARVs but getting children. We need to re-examine our strategies... Leaders at all levels are spending ... [more] time in workshops than in the communities to sensitive the people[,] and this must stop." Western Africa

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: in HIV prevalence. The global response to HIV and AIDS has improved considerably in recent years. Funding comes from many sources, the largest of which are the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of HIV positive people in Africa receiving anti-retroviral treatment rose from 1 million to 7.1 million between 2005 and 2012, an 805% increase. Almost 1 million of those patients were treated in 2012. The number of HIV positive people in South Africa who received such

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In response, a number of initiatives have been launched in various parts of the continent to educate the public on HIV/AIDS. Among these are combination prevention programmes, considered to be the most effective initiative, such as the abstinence, be faithful, use a condom campaign and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation's outreach programs. According to a 2013 special report issued by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of HIV positive people in Africa receiving anti-retroviral treatment in 2012 was over seven times the number receiving treatment in 2005,

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: years, they have now begun to work toward solutions. AIDS was at first considered a disease of gay men and drug addicts, but in Africa it took off among the general population. As a result, those involved in the fight against HIV began to emphasize aspects such as preventing transmission from mother to child, or the relationship between HIV and poverty, inequality of the sexes, and so on, rather than emphasizing the need to prevent transmission by unsafe sexual practices or drug injection. This change in emphasis resulted in more funding, but was not effective in preventing a drastic rise

title: HIV/AIDS in Lesotho
text: only 3% of urban patients walked. Those too ill to travel alone require accompaniment, at the risk of worsening existing health conditions. Preexisting or concurrent health conditions, both communicable and chronic, can increase an individual's risk of HIV contraction as well as exacerbate the progression of the disease. Malnutrition may be the greatest obstacle to effective HIV treatment. Starvation allows rapid progression of HIV by undermining the body's natural defense mechanisms and promoting viral replication. This can lead to increased toxicity of HIV/AIDS treatment drugs. General maternal malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies can increase risk of MTCT. In 2015, the World

title: Human rights in South Africa
text: of schools and the controversy surrounding that, the government did not focus on providing quality sex education that specifically focused on HIV/AIDS. Additionally, the local and federal governments had contention about the allocation of funds for HIV/AIDS prevention, thus causing inefficiency and gridlock. Also, some of the money allocated to HIV/AIDS prevention was misused. For example, a musical called "Serefina II" was projected to increase awareness about AIDS and AIDS prevention. However, the play was not clear and did not significantly help with sex education. Much of the HIV/AIDS treatment and progress have been funded by non profit organizations such

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: tested and found effective a tenofivir-based anti-retroviral vaginal gel that could be used as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Testing of this gel was conducted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. The South African government has indicated its willingness to make it widely available. The FDA in the US is in the process of reviewing the drug for approval for US use. The AIDS/HIV epidemic has led to the rise in unethical medical experimentation in Africa. Since the epidemic is widespread, African governments sometimes relax their laws in order to get research conducted in their countries which they would otherwise

title: Demographics of Africa
text: these are combination prevention programmes, considered to be the most effective initiative, the abstinence, be faithful, use a condom campaign, and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation's outreach programs. According to a 2013 special report issued by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of HIV positive people in Africa receiving anti-retroviral treatment in 2012 was over seven times the number receiving treatment in 2005, with an almost 1 million added in the last year alone. The number of AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 was 33 percent less than the number in 2005. The number of

title: PharmAccess Foundation
text: and quality healthcare among low income populations in sub-Saharan Africa through the introduction of financing mechanisms (including health insurance) and the improvement of healthcare quality. Prof. Joep Lange of the Academic Medical Center (AMC) initiated PharmAccess in 2001, with support from the Dutch Aids Fonds, to bring life-saving antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS treatment to Africa. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was introduced in the developed world in the mid-nineties and immediately led to dramatic reductions in AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. In Africa, for the great majority of the population, adults and children, treatment was not available and many of the

title: HIV/AIDS in Rwanda
text: adoption of the test and treat strategy for discordant couples, sex workers, and the adoption of the new WHO treatment guidelines and the availability of treatment for prisoners. However, challenges still remain with regard to pre-ART care, treatment for opportunistic infections and improving adherence. With regard to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), the development of OVC standards of care has recently taken place. The National Strategic Plan focuses on strategic needs of OVC such as protecting their human rights and ensuring access to adequate food, shelter, education and health services, and protection from abuse. Major challenges include the continuous increase

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: and HIV related stigma and discrimination—at the centre of the HIV prevention agenda. "It is the consensus in the HIV scientific community that abstinence, be faithful, use a condom [(ABC)] principles are vital guides for public health intervention, but are better bundled with biomedical prevention approaches; lone behavioral change approaches are not likely to stop the global pandemic." Uganda has replaced its ABC strategy with a combination prevention programme because of an increase in the annual HIV infection rate. Most new infections were coming from people in long-term relationships who had multiple sexual partners. The abstinence, be faithful, use a

title: African Union
text: develop these life-saving medicines. The third pillar, enhanced leadership and governance, tries to invest in programs that support people and communities to prevent HIV and ensure that leadership at all levels is mobilized to implement the roadmap. There are several organizations that will ensure the smooth implementation of the roadmap, including NEPAD, UNAIDS, WHO, and several other UN partners. When the conflicts in Libya began in 2011, the African Union was initially criticized for not doing much to prevent the escalation of conflict in Libya. Additionally, the AU hesitated to take a side when the conflict in Libya began. There

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: Africa and among the global community". Numerous public education initiatives have been launched to curb the spread of HIV in Africa. HIV and AIDS has attracted a stigmatization that is overwhelming. This is due to many factors such as a lack of understanding of the disease, lack of access to treatment, the media, knowing that AIDS is incurable, and prejudices brought on by a cultures beliefs. "When HIV/AIDS became a global disease, African leaders played ostrich and said that it was a gay disease found only in the West and Africans did not have to worry because there were no

title: HIV/AIDS
text: of progression to AIDS and a decreased risk of death. In the developing world treatment also improves physical and mental health. With treatment there is a 70% reduced risk of acquiring tuberculosis. Additional benefits include a decreased risk of transmission of the disease to sexual partners and a decrease in mother-to-child transmission. The effectiveness of treatment depends to a large part on compliance. Reasons for non-adherence include poor access to medical care, inadequate social supports, mental illness and drug abuse. The complexity of treatment regimens (due to pill numbers and dosing frequency) and adverse effects may reduce adherence. Even though

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: than one involving all areas of economic and social life. Because public health authorities perceived AIDS to be an urban phenomenon associated with prostitution, they believed that the majority of Africans who lived in "traditional" rural areas would be spared. They believed that the heterosexual epidemic could be contained by focusing prevention efforts on persuading the so-called core transmitters—people such as sex workers and truck drivers, known to have multiple sex partners—to use condoms. These factors retarded prevention campaigns in many countries for more than a decade. Although many governments in Sub-Saharan Africa denied that there was a problem for

title: HIV/AIDS in South African townships
text: the disease. Following the completion of the AIDS awareness programme, the students who had participated were more knowledgeable about HIV transmission, prevention, and the course of the disease. However, hostility toward HIV-positive individuals decreased only slightly among the students after the programme and the students did not demonstrate any intention to increase their use of condoms. Most of South Africa's current anti-HIV/AIDS efforts involve treatment rather than prevention. Although prevention programmes are considered more cost effective, the pervasiveness of the disease has made treatment facilities increasingly important. A 2005 study determined that the introduction of antiretroviral medication, mother-to-child transmission prevention

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: solutions for enhancing shared responsibility and global solidarity for AIDS ... responses in Africa on a sustainable basis by 2015. The solutions are organized around three strategic pillars: diversified financing; access to medicines; and enhanced health governance. The Roadmap defines goals, results and roles and responsibilities to hold stakeholders accountable for the realization of these solutions between 2012 and 2015. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS reported that the following sixteen African nations in 2012 "ensure[d] that more than three-quarters of pregnant women living with HIV receive antiretroviral medicine to prevent transmission to their child": Botswana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,

title: HIV/AIDS in Africa
text: identity. The rewards of being considered normal' in the context of high-HIV-prevalence Sub-Saharan Africa are varied and great... such rewards for which there is empirical support in this context include perceived sexual freedom, avoidance of discrimination, avoidance of community or family rejection, avoidance of losing one's job or residence, and avoidance of losing one's sexual partners. Other potential rewards of being considered normal include avoidance of being associated with promiscuity or prostitution, avoidance of emotional, social and physical isolation and avoidance of being blamed for others' illness" (150). The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS defines combination prevention programmes as: