2RHPZ
09-20-2005, 02:37 AM
U.S., South Africa Fight AIDS in Military
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
The Associated Press
Monday, September 19, 2005
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Across Africa, hospital wards are filling with military casualties. The cause: not another African conflict _ but AIDS.
More deadly than any of its wars, AIDS is hitting at Africa's ability to defend itself at a time when its countries are shouldering a growing share of the peacekeeping burden.
"HIV and other diseases represent a readiness challenge to militaries throughout the world, and security for us all demands that we pay attention to this," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Theresa Whalen told a recent gathering of African military health officers.
South Africa, which has more people infected with HIV than any other country, has responded with a groundbreaking clinical research program in partnership with the United States that is investigating how best to manage the virus in a military setting and providing treatment to hundreds of infected members and their families.
Few of its neighbors, however, have the funding, expertise or infrastructure to do likewise.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some 25 million of the world's nearly 40 million HIV-infected people.
"Members of the armed forces are in many ways at the coal face (forefront) of the HIV and AIDS epidemic," South African Deputy Defense Minister Mluleki George said at the Cape Town conference. Their age, mobility and access to casual *** put them at high risk of catching and spreading the virus.
Few African militaries have even tried to produce reliable figures, but their infection rates are estimated to be up to twice those in the wider population, according to the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.
The South African National Defense Force says 23 percent of its 75,000 members are infected, on par with national adult prevalence. Seven out of every 10 military deaths overall are AIDS-related, according to figures presented to lawmakers in 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
AIDS is also the biggest killer in the Ugandan armed forces, said Lt. Col. Kenneth Ochen, a military doctor in Kampala who lost 200 patients to the disease last year.
"They are dying. Oh, they are dying," he lamented.
While most militaries screen recruits for HIV, many soldiers are spending weeks, even months on sick leave, disrupting unit cohesion, availability for deployment and chains of command.
... read more ... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900777_2.html)
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
The Associated Press
Monday, September 19, 2005
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Across Africa, hospital wards are filling with military casualties. The cause: not another African conflict _ but AIDS.
More deadly than any of its wars, AIDS is hitting at Africa's ability to defend itself at a time when its countries are shouldering a growing share of the peacekeeping burden.
"HIV and other diseases represent a readiness challenge to militaries throughout the world, and security for us all demands that we pay attention to this," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Theresa Whalen told a recent gathering of African military health officers.
South Africa, which has more people infected with HIV than any other country, has responded with a groundbreaking clinical research program in partnership with the United States that is investigating how best to manage the virus in a military setting and providing treatment to hundreds of infected members and their families.
Few of its neighbors, however, have the funding, expertise or infrastructure to do likewise.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some 25 million of the world's nearly 40 million HIV-infected people.
"Members of the armed forces are in many ways at the coal face (forefront) of the HIV and AIDS epidemic," South African Deputy Defense Minister Mluleki George said at the Cape Town conference. Their age, mobility and access to casual *** put them at high risk of catching and spreading the virus.
Few African militaries have even tried to produce reliable figures, but their infection rates are estimated to be up to twice those in the wider population, according to the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.
The South African National Defense Force says 23 percent of its 75,000 members are infected, on par with national adult prevalence. Seven out of every 10 military deaths overall are AIDS-related, according to figures presented to lawmakers in 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
AIDS is also the biggest killer in the Ugandan armed forces, said Lt. Col. Kenneth Ochen, a military doctor in Kampala who lost 200 patients to the disease last year.
"They are dying. Oh, they are dying," he lamented.
While most militaries screen recruits for HIV, many soldiers are spending weeks, even months on sick leave, disrupting unit cohesion, availability for deployment and chains of command.
... read more ... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900777_2.html)