AIDS Drugs Offer Hope of Normal Lifespan in Africa
July 18, 2011
Over the last 30 years life expectancy rates in Africa plummeted, as HIV/AIDS claimed millions of lives. But a new study says antiretroviral drug treatment can dramatically reverse that trend.
Professor Jean Nachega co-authored the study of some 20,000 patients in Uganda. He said, “The overall key finding of our study is that the patient in Africa receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV can expect to live a near normal lifespan.”
The findings were released at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome – and published in the
Annals of Internal Medicine.
Lost years
Before the HIV/AIDS epidemic, expected lifespans in many African countries had risen sharply. Nachega, who is a professor of medicine at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, witnessed the change caused by the disease, cutting 15, 20 or more years from life expectancy.
“All what
we’ve been able to gain in the past with the access to clean water, expanded immunization programs were totally reversed with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. So now we are seeing some good news that investing in antiretroviral programs, those investments are now paying off,” he said.
He credits PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
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