Foreign
Fully financing HIV response in Africa will save millions of lives – UNAIDS
Fully financing HIV response in Africa will save millions of lives – UNAIDS
The Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has said that fully financing the HIV response in Africa will produce substantial health, social and economic gains for the continent.
UNAIDS said this in a report entitled “A Triple Dividend: The Health, Social and Economic Gains From Financing the HIV Response on Africa” published on Wednesday.
The report, based on research by the Economist Impact partnership across 13 African countries, estimates that millions of lives will also be saved if funding is forthcoming.
“Not only would there be between 40 and 90 per cent fewer new HIV infections, depending on the country, but investing in ending the HIV epidemic would also enhance educational outcomes, especially for young women and girls, reduce gender inequalities and boost economic growth.
“This report comes at a critical time with evidence that should act as a catalyst for political decisions to ensure full HIV funding that will have substantial social and economic outcomes.
RELATED STORY: UN Secretary-General Condemns Call To Assassinate Sudan Envoy Perthes
“It will put African countries on a path towards building more resilient healthcare systems and be better prepared for future pandemics,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director.
The report demonstrates that failing to mobilise the required funding to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 has substantial health, social and economic costs.
“Countries in Africa are up against significant challenges to secure the necessary resources to increase domestic funding for the HIV response,” said Rob Cook, Clinical Programme Director at Economist Impact.
“Policymakers will need to think innovatively about how they can use existing financing more effectively.
“Drawing on existing community-centred networks could play a key role in both mobilising additional resources for the HIV response and ensuring that it is equitable and reaches those most in need,” he said.
Recent global crises, including COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, have compromised efforts to address the HIV epidemic and placed strong pressure on financing for health and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to UNAIDS, young women, children and other vulnerable populations will pay the highest price as pre-existing health and socio-economic inequalities grow.
The significant fiscal challenges facing African countries has limited their ability to increase domestic financing for HIV response and constrained overall health budgets.
Economist Impact’s research points towards the need for policies that aim to both generate new revenue streams and maximise the use of existing funds and resources.
Global 2025 targets include reducing new HIV infections to under 370,000 (from 1.5 million in 2021), reducing HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women to less than 50,000, and reducing the number of people dying from AIDS-related illnesses to less than 250,000 compared with 650,000 in 2021.
Fully financing HIV response in Africa will save million of lives – UNAIDS
South Korean president apologises over scandal involving gift to wife
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has apologised for his wife’s decision to accept a luxury handbag as a gift, revelations of which have caused a scandal.
Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was secretly filmed by a hidden camera accepting the expensive handbag from a third party.
The ensuing controversy has also politically ensnared the conservative president himself.
Yoon said on Thursday that his wife had behaved unwisely at the time and that her behaviour had caused unrest for which he apologised.
His remarks came at Yoon’s first press conference since August 2022, and several weeks after his party was soundly defeated in April’s general election.
The scandal surrounding the first lady was also seen as one of the factors that helped determine the outcome of the election.
Yoon, who previously served as South Korea’s attorney general, rejected the political opposition’s call for additional special investigations into the handbag scandal.
There are already investigations into the incident, he said, and dismissed calls for a special prosecutor as a “political manoeuvre.”
The YouTube channel Voice of Seoul published a video in November that allegedly shows Kim accepting a designer handbag worth around three million (2. 2 thousands U.S. dollars) from the hands of a pastor in Seoul.
The pastor is said to have worked with the YouTube channel and was wearing a hidden camera on his watch during the meeting with Kim.
The channel had reported Kim on allegations that she had violated the anti-corruption law, although it remains unclear whether she actually violated the law, which would require a direct connection between her behaviour and her husband’s political office.
South Korean president apologises over scandal involving gift to wife
Helicopter crashes in India’s Maharashtra, pilot injured
A pilot was on Friday injured after a private helicopter he was flying crashed in India’s western state of Maharashtra, police said.
The PJ helicopter crashed while the pilot was attempting to land at a makeshift landing strip in Mahad of Raigad district.
This is about 170 km south of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra.
According to officials, the chopper was scheduled to pick up Sushma Andhare, a leader of the Shiv Sena political party.
Sushma was for a public rally in connection with the ongoing general elections in the South Asian country.
Helicopter crashes in India’s Maharashtra, pilot injured
King Charles III returns to public duties after cancer treatment
King Charles III is returning to public duties after the positive effect of his cancer treatment.
King Charles has been receiving care as an outpatient since early February, and sources have said that in spite of the welcome news the king still has cancer and will continue to be treated for the undisclosed form of the disease.
Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will visit a cancer treatment centre on Tuesday to meet medical specialists and patients.
The event aims to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and to highlight innovative research, supported by Cancer Research UK, taking place at the hospital.
King Charles’s diary of events will not be a full summer programme, and attendance will be announced nearer the time and “subject to doctors’ advice,” with “adaptations made where necessary to minimise risk” to his recovery.
It is understood the warmer weather would allow events to be staged outside and lessen the risk posed by other people that many cancer patients face.
In January, King Charles spent three nights in hospital for a procedure on an enlarged prostate, during which his cancer – not prostate cancer – was discovered.
After his diagnosis was announced on February 6, he postponed all public engagements but continued with his duties as head of state behind palace walls, conducting audiences and Privy Council meetings.
Meanwhile, William, the prince of Wales, is to carry out engagements in the North East on Tuesday, visiting an Earthshot Prize finalist firm which makes low-carbon construction materials in Seaham, and opening James’s Place – a centre offering free, life-saving treatment to suicidal men in Newcastle.
A previously unseen portrait of the prince and Kate, princess of Wales, was released by Kensington Palace on Monday in celebration of the couple’s 13th wedding anniversary.
Kate, who is undergoing chemotherapy for an undisclosed cancer, married future king William in 2011.
The photograph by Millie Pilkington – who took the most recent picture of the King and Queen to mark Charles’s return to public duties – shows William and Kate on their wedding day.
The black and white image was posted on the Waleses’ social media accounts on Monday, captioned “13 years ago today!”
King Charles III returns to public duties after cancer treatment
-
Education11 months agoMathematics Teacher Reportedly Stung By Bee While Preparing Students For Exam
-
Health3 weeks agoOnly 58,000 doctors renewed licence out of 130,000 registered doctors – MDCN
-
News1 year ago3 escape death in Ore-Sagamu expressway accident
-
Politics3 weeks agoAPC IN A FIX AS GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS REJECT THE ONDO STATE PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS
-
Crime3 weeks agoPolice arrest cultists who killed rival in his daughter’s presence
-
Sports3 weeks agoAsaba to host Wheelchair Basketball Atlantic Conference League
-
Education3 weeks agoUTME: JAMB to refund registration fees to deserving visually-impaired candidates
-
National3 months agoResidents gather to scoop engine oil as tanker falls in Ojuelegba
