Annie Lennox - Sing

Annie Lennox Blogs About HIV Vaccine

Yesterday ITV news asked me to comment on the new HIV vaccine which has just been developed. ( 30% effectiveness, which doesn’t mean 100% by the way)
While I’m  absolutely delighted to learn of this new development, I have to say that my optimism is also tempered by a sobering dose of reality, which is this....Of the approx 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 22 million are in Sub Saharan Africa. Access to treatment for those people is difficult for a variety of reasons, including the fact that most health care systems are under funded, under equipped and understaffed. 
In 2009, the anti retroviral treatment  available in Africa is the old fashioned drug cocktail that people used to take  twenty five years ago over here.  So what will things be like in another 25 years, and how long will it take until people stop dying like flies? In South Africa there are approx 1,000 AIDS related deaths every day, too late for them..... Also bearing in mind that the daily South African HIV infection rate is approx 1,400.
The clock is ticking.

Annie Lennox