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  • Title: [African mobilization against AIDS. After the Kinshasa Conference].
    Author: Poissonnier A.
    Journal: Jeune Afr; ; (1556):30-1. PubMed ID: 12316497.
    Abstract:
    The AIDS epidemic in Africa has become too massive to ignore. A sign of increasing awareness of the AIDS threat was the attendance of some 1200 participants at the 5th international conference on AIDS in Africa held in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October 1990. An African society to combat AIDS has been formed and is based in Nairobi. The new association will be responsible for organization of coming conferences to be held in Africa rather than in Europe. Sub-Saharan Africa contains less than 10% of the world's population but 2/3 of adult AIDS cases and almost 90% of maternal and child cases. The epidemic is even more worrisome because it has brought with it a recrudescence of other illnesses such as tuberculosis. The World Health Organization estimates that 5 million Africans were seropositive in 1990 vs 2.5 million in 1987. Predictions are necessary and allow planning to begin for the care of the 10 million orphans who will be found in Africa by the year 2000 and for other serious problems created by the disease. But the situation is already very dire. There has been a certain stabilization in the number of cases in countries such as that Congo, Zaire, or the Central African Republic. As yet the stabilization cannot be explained. The pessimistic view is that the pause results from a purely statistical phenomenon due to increased mortality. The optimistic view is that sexual behavior is responding to health information campaigns. Although the experts had expected the AIDS epidemic to be limited to urban zones in Africa, rural rates already approach urban rates in several countries such as the Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. Mother-infant contamination is the greatest worry of health officials. The number of infants infected during pregnancy or birth is expected to double to 1 million by 1992 and reach nearly 10 million in 2000. Some 20-25 million Africans will be seropositive by 2000. A cure for AIDS is unlikely in the near future. Products delaying the onset of symptoms are beyond the financial reach of virtually all Africans. 2 teams working to develop vaccines are awaiting approval of international health authorities to begin widescale tests. The greatest controversy at the conference was produced by the "miracle" drug Kemron developed in Kenya. Kemron is based on interferon and is administered orally. Its promoters claim that it causes almost total disappearance of symptoms in 2 or 3 months and that cases of "seronegativization" have occurred. Kemron had not been subjected to strict testing but is selling for about US $3 per dose on the black market.
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